Obesity in Developing Countries

Obesity in Developing Countries Overweight and Obesity: The emerging Trend of Childhood Malnutrition in Urban Centre in Nigeria Abstract Background: Overweight and obesity initially thought to be the problem of the developed countries is rapidly rising in the developing countries constituting a high proportion of nutritional problem in these countries. Several factors, including changing life style and improved economic power are believed to contribute to this trend. This pattern if unchecked is known to lead to several medical complications and hence the need to assess the burden of this condition, factors contributing to the rise and possible ways of reversing the trend. Method: Four hundred and twenty primary school children from public and private schools were selected using multistage stratified random sampling. Relevant information were obtained using a questionnaire, and anthropometric indices were recorded. Data obtained were analysed using SPSS version 16, and frequencies were compared using Chi square. Result: Seventy three (17.4%) of the pupils were found to be overweight/obese. Pupils from private school accounted for majority of these cases with 28 (13.3%) and 29 (13.8%) of them being overweight and obese respectively. High socioeconomic class and consumption of energy dense diet were significantly associated with high prevalence of overweight/obesity (P Conclusion and Recommendation: Prevalence of overweight/obesity among primary school pupils is quite high in Lagos, Nigeria. High socioeconomic class, consumption of energy dense food and lack of adequate physical activities appear to be major factors contributing to this high prevalence. Introduction of daily school meal and mandatory physical activity in all the schools would go a long way in imbibing healthy eating and life style pattern into these children. Public enlightenment and campaign on the importance of healthy life style and complications associated with overweight and obesity would probably reverse the trend. Key Words: Overweight, Obesity, Primary School Pupils Introduction Malnutrition is a serious public health problem that is caused by either deficient or excess intake of nutrients in relation to requirements. Under nutrition (Nutrient deficiency) has been the prevalent type of malnutrition in developing countries like Nigeria.1-3 This has been attributed to the synergistic interaction between several factors, most importantly, inadequate nutrient intake and infection.4-6 This is not the case with developed countries like the United States of America (USA), where over-nutrition is a major challenge amongst the school aged children. Studies done in the USA on the overweight status and eating patterns among adolescents showed that the prevalence of over-nutrition was higher amongst those from a low socio-economic class.7-9 Recently, overweight thought to be the problem of the developed world is spreading to the developing world.10 Several studies in Africa and other developing countries have documented an emerging trend of malnutrition with overweight and obesity increasing at an alarming rate in comparison to under nutrition.10-12 However, in these developing countries, contrary to the finding in USA, overweight and obesity appear to be commoner among the high socioeconomic class.13-15 The effect of urbanization and the associated change in life style have been shown to contribute immensely to the current trend of malnutrition in the developing countries.16,17 However, children of low socioeconomic status from such urban centres remain significantly associated with under nutrition rather than over nutrition.18 This further underscores the central role of socioeconomic status in malnutrition. The increasing rate of overweight/obesity means that obesity-related chronic diseases are likely to become common among the children. Being overweight is known to significantly increase the risk of asthma, Type 2 diabetes, gallstone, heart disease, high blood pressure and several other diseases.19 This will further impose a great challenge to the already over stretched health care system in the developing countries. We thus aim to assess and compare the prevalence of overweight/obesity among primary school pupils attending public and private schools, in Ikeja Local Government area of Lagos and to identify common factors associated with overweight. The information generated would be useful in guiding the concerned authorities in designing appropriate interventions in the various schools. Materials and Methods Study area: The study was carried out in public and private primary schools in Ikeja Local Government Area (LGA) of Lagos State Nigeria. Ikeja is the capital city of Lagos state, the most populated and urbanized state in Nigeria with over 10million residents.20There are 114 registered private primary schools and 32 public primary schools in Ikeja Local Government Area. Study design: It is a field-based cross-sectional descriptive study Study Population: This consists of pupils in public and private primary schools in Ikeja LGA. Sample Size determination: Calculated minimum sample size for each group of school is 200 pupils. Sampling method: Multistage stratified random sampling was used. Based on the numbers of schools, three Private and two public primary schools were selected. Participants were selected randomly using the class register as a template in each of the classes of the schools selected. Exclusion criteria: children whose parents denied consent, children with obvious skeletal deformity and those with known chronic medical conditions like Chronic renal failure, heart disease etc. Ethical consideration: Ethical clearance was sought and obtained from the Ikeja LGA Education Authority. The head teachers of the selected schools also gave well informed expressive approval after receiving appropriate information. All the selected pupils were given consent form and introductory note to the study to their parents for their signature or thumb print. There was no consequence for the pupil if he or she refused to participate or parents denied assess. Data obtained were treated with confidentiality and only for the purpose of this research. Study procedure: A structured questionnaire was used in collection of relevant information required to meet the objective of the study. All the participating pupils were interviewed at school, while the section to be completed by the parents were sent through their wards and were returned the following day. Information obtained included socio-demographic data like: age, gender, parents’ occupation, average monthly income and educational attainment. Information on dietary intake include type of diet, frequency and 24 hours dietary recall. Involvement in exercise and physical activity were also sought. Socioeconomic status was assessed using the model by Ogunlesi et al 21, while the dietary pattern of the child was assessed using food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Weight was measure using a bathroom weighing scale with sensitivity of 0.5KG while height was measure using a stadiometer. Nutritional status was determined using the Z- score system in accordance with National Centre for Health Statistics/ World Health Organization (WHO) reference value.22 Data analysis: The data obtained were entered into and analysed using EPI INFO version 3.5.1. Tables were used in data presentation. Chi square and Fisher’s Exact test were used in comparing frequencies. RESULTS A total of 420 children were studied, 210 pupils from each group. The children from the private schools were younger with a mean age of 7.7Â ±1.9 years as against 10.3Â ±2.6 years for those in public school (t=11.58, p=2=305.34, p= The dietary pattern among the two study groups were significantly different; 90 (42.9%) pupils from the private school consumed beef daily as against 49(23.3) from the public schools. Similarly, approximately half 103(49.1) of the pupils from the private school eat white bread daily as against 45 (21.4%) from the public schools. Seventy five (35.7%) and 29 (13.8%) eats eggs while 44(21.0) and 11(5.2%) eat fried plantain and yam for public and private schools respectively. Again 25 (11.9%) and 13(6.2%) from private and public schools consume at least a can of coke/Fanta daily. These differences were all statistically significant P= Regarding extracurricular activity, the pupils in public schools engaged more in physical activity compared to those in private schools. One hundred and thirteen (53.9%) pupils from the public schools trek daily for a distance of at least one kilometre as against 8 (3.8%) pupils from the private schools. Similarly, 77(36.7%) pupils from the public schools engage in competitive sports daily as against 33(15.7%) from the private. The difference between the two groups regarding physical activity was statistically significant P= Table II shows the distribution of the study population by BMI percentile. The nutritional status varied significantly between the pupils from the public and private school. While under-nutrition was the predominant form of malnutrition in the public schools 33(15.7%), overweight and obesity predominated in the private schools 57(27.1%). Table III below show the effect of various studied variable on BMI percentile. The highest frequency of overweight was observed among those aged 5-6years while the least frequency was among those aged 11 and above. This pattern was statistically significant (X2=21.90, p= 0.01). Although more female pupils when compared to male pupils, were found to be overweight, but this was not statistically significant. More than half (50.9%) of the pupils of low socioeconomic class were undernourished while majority of overweight children (76.7%) were of high socioeconomic class. This pattern was statistically significant (X2=150.0, p= Discussion The overall prevalence of 17.4% for overweight and obesity in this study is quite alarming though similar to the findings from previous studies.6, 12, 23 Owa et al12 reporting from Nigeria in 1997 found a prevalence of 18% for obesity among children aged 5-15 years using fat mass percentage and body mass index based on the US standard. Similarly, Mogre et al23 reported a prevalence of 17.4% for overweight and obesity from Ghana in 2013 among school aged children (5-14 years). This finding from this study and the others above further support the rising trend of overweight and obesity among children in developing countries and that the burden of the problem might not be different from that in the developed countries.24 However, other studies have found much lower prevalence for overweight/obesity. Adegoke et al 14 in 2009 reported a prevalence of 3.1% for overweight/obesity from Ile-Ife South West Nigeria using anthropometry, while Alkali et al 15 in 2015 reported a prevalence of 6.5% from Gombe in North East Nigeria. These lower prevalence reported by Adegoke et al(14) and Alkali et al15 may be due to the difference in socioeconomic status between the study-populations, while greater than 86% of our study population were either of middle or upper socioeconomic class, 48.2% of those studied by Adegoke et al14 were of low socioeconomic class with only 19.6% belonging to the upper class. Although Alkali et al15 didn’t give socioeconomic distribution of their study population but Gombe located in the North East of Nigeria is a small town with small scale businesses and subsistence farming as major occupation compared to Lagos which is the most industrialized City in Nigeria. Furthermore, we studied children in primary schools alone but Adegoke et al14 as well as Alkali et al15 studied both primary and secondary school children. It has been severally documented that prevalence of overweight/obesity decreases in children with advancing age.25,26 In contrast to the developed countries where overweight/obesity is commoner among the low socioeconomic class7-9, majority 56 (76.7%) of these overweight children in this study were of high socioeconomic class. This pattern is similar to findings from other studies from other developing countries13-15,27. This fact was further confirmed by the significantly higher incidence of overweight/obesity among pupils from Private schools compared to those from public schools. In Nigeria, Privates schools particularly in the urban centres charge exorbitant fees affordable only to the rich while public schools are usually free and attended by the low socioeconomic class. In this study, 83.8% of the pupil in public schools were of high socioeconomic class as against 1.9% of those in public schools. Several factors could be responsible for this increasing pattern of overweight/obesity among the affluent class in the developing countries. In the first place, the parents of these children are likely of the working class with little or no time to plan and prepare healthy food for them.28 It is also known that such parents in an effort to compensate for the deficient care constantly provide junk food and snacks for these children.29 Nutritional habit and pattern have been shown to influence the nutritional status of the society.30 These are further driven by aggressive advertising practises, relatively low cost of energy dense food and improved purchasing power which are now most prevalent in developing countries and conducive for the development of overweight and obesity and subsequently the associated morbidities.31 This is in agreement with the finding in this study from Lagos, the most urbanized State in Nigeria, in which Children from the private schools and of high socioeconom ic status significantly consumed food of high energy density such as soft drink, egg, white bread, etc when compared to those from the public and low socioeconomic status. Sedentary life style has been well documented as a cause of overweight and obesity29,32,33 in children. Pupils from the private schools were significantly less involved in physical activities when compared to those from the public schools but engaged more in indoor activities like television viewing and computer games. Similar to previous studies, this practise was significantly associated with overweight and obesity. The low level of physical activity among those in private schools could be due to several reasons. Most of these children are usually driven in car to school by their parents or use the school bus. This is in contrast to the public school which lack school bus and majority, 53.9%, of the pupils trek to school daily. Secondly, while most public schools are usually sited in a planned location with enough space for sporting activity the same cannot be said of the private schools which do not have enough space for outdoor activities with only 15.7% of the pupils engaged in competitive sports. Pressure on the pupils from affluent society for good academic performance including regular extra lessons at home after school hours could also contribute to lack of outdoor activities at home. In this study, overweight and obesity were higher among the younger age groups compared to the older pupils with the highest frequency of 18.2% among those aged 5-6years. Similar pattern of decreasing incidence with advancing age among children less than 13 years was also observed in a study from India25 and Saudi Arabia26. However, other studies have found a contrary pattern: increasing incidence with advancing age34. The reason for this variability in finding is not clear. Females had slightly higher prevalence of overweight and obesity when compared to the male, though this difference was not significant. This is similar to the finding of Mohana et al 35 from India. The effect of gender on overweight and obesity in children remains inconclusive, while several studies have found significantly higher prevalence among the female gender 34,36-38 others have reported significantly higher prevalence among the males.39-41 The reason for this variability is not clear but studies with higher female prevalence have suggested cultural factors as a possible explanation as female children in certain society mostly engage in indoor activities. Conclusion and Recommendations The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children living in urban centres in developing countries like Nigeria is quite high and is comparable to that in the developed country. This problem is mainly a problem of children from high socioeconomic status. Dietary pattern and sedentary life style are important factors contributing to the high prevalence among these group of children. In contrast, under-nutrition has remain a major problem among the low socioeconomic status. We recommend introduction of school meal program in both the public and private school to augment calorie intake among the public school children and modulate same for those in private schools. Provision of sporting facilities must be made mandatory requirement for registering of private school and if already a requirement must be enforced on new and existing private schools. Finally, public enlightenment on the medical implications of overweight/obesity in children should be aggressively pursued by the relevan t agencies before the complications begin to set in. Conflict of Interest The authors had no conflict of interest whatsoever to declare

Best-Self Portrait

| Learning Project 1, Part 4-6 | | | LP1, Part 4: What are others' experiences of me when I am my best? Phase 1: Creating the Reflected Best-Self Portrait When I am at best, I help people. I motivate myself and feel motivated when I get to help others. Whether it’s a stranger, colleague, friends, or family, I feel my passion in assisting those in need. As long as it’s within my capability and moral belief that what people ask for help is ethical and legal, I give them my attention and time. I feel happy that I am able to give a hand, and I feel happy to see people become happy with the help I give them.Helping others put smiles on my face and also on them as well. I feel proud of myself that I have the power to help the others. For families and friends, I am always open for help and be supportive. I believe that if there are people out there who love to help, there will be many people who will return the helping spirit to other people. I always try to be responsible wit h tasks I have been given, and also be responsible with myself. I believe it is important to have trusts and both independence and dependence to others. Being responsible is an important part of me.When I make a promise, I try my best to keep the promise because it is my responsibility. I am persistent and drive myself to bring the end result, a good result, of things I was responsible for. As an employee, I hold onto the responsibilities as an employee to provide my best in each shift, and do all the tasks given by my supervisor and managers. It is in my best interest to never lose any reason to not smile. I try to find reasons to smile everywhere and every day, whether the reason involves weather, my job, friends, or smaller things like I woke up early for the day.So I make reasons to be optimistic, to start the day content and positive. I know that it’s important for me to stay positive and find things to be happy about. I love having opportunities to learn new things and experience and gain new skills. The fact that there still are opportunities for new experiences is important to me. Because I think these opportunities are getting less as you get older, I try my best to grab every opportunity I can do learn new skills that are practical in the future.When an opportunity is shown to me, I commit myself until I achieve in grabbing that opportunity and absorb everything I can do to face new challenges and learn. I adapt to the new circumstances and am open-minded to different things. I may not be competitive, but I am ambitious to get things done and be successive at it. I stay focused on what I have started and never give up until I complete the task. I am a hard-worker, who tries the best to achieve success. As long as I don’t bring negative effects around me in the process, I don’t only give up but also continue to put my best effort to be triumphant.I stay focused. My family is important to me. Because I can’t see them often o r regularly, I am more loyal to them than ever. I care and cherish them. I express my love in many different ways. I let them know I still love them no matter how far I am now today. I support them mentally and orally; I let some tension and troubles away from them; and I always stay responsive to them. When asked for help, I am enthusiastic to help them the best I can. I feel responsible to love them and be a supportive family member to them as they are to me.Like it is my job to love and be dutiful to my parents as a daughter, my job is exactly the same for all the other family members. I am a good friend. I am a good listener, listening to my friends’ problems and worries. I support my friends but I know when to be honest and realistic, with the purpose of helping them Patterns/Themes| Declaration| Examples Given| Helpful| I believe in being selfless, making small differences, putting smiles on others’ faces, being compassionate, and have a heart to help. | 1. Helpi ng Coral out, with the Calgary geography2. Listen to Danny's concerns and problems. Responsible| I believe in giving trust and confidence to others. I believe in being trustworthy, reliable, and accountable to my actions and behaviors, regardless of situations. | 1. Being the daughter to my parents. 2. Be responsible as an employee and a co-worker to help and provide fitting skills at Swarovski. | Supportive| I believe in backing up the people I care about, encouraging them, helping them, defending them, and loving them. | 1. Encouraging and complimenting Coral and her new place. 2. Compliment and Recommending the trendy styles to Danny. Adaptable| I believe in the power to adapt to new surroundings and situations, learning new skills and experiences to make them my own. | 1. Adapting to the new country, new city and new language when first immigrated to Canada. 2. Adapting to the new atmosphere of working places when got the job at the Swarovski. | Ambitious| I believe in being com passionate and eager to have goals, work hard, and successfully achieve them. | 1. Accepting new responsibilities and tasks at work. 2. Got in to the school band, to let off my flute skills. | Loyal| I believe in loving my families, giving them my time and effort.I believe in the presence of family value and care for one another. | 1. Be the best supportive and loving family member to all of my families and relatives. 2. Always be on the side of my friends, trusting them. 3. Have Danny's back with his problems. Cheer him up even when I wasn't very much interested. | Open-minded| I believe in the differences in ideas, interests, and conflicts. I acknowledge those differences and am unbiased and receptive. | 1. Be open to the sensitive questions from Danny3. Be receptive to what can be condescending questions and statements from Danny about my religion2.Open to different cultures, when first came to Canada. | Loving and welcoming| I believe in the loving and welcoming all of those who enters into my life. Once entered, I love and value them regardless of circumstances | 1. Welcoming Coral to Calgary and to my friends. 2. Making Sinae feel at ease at my place. | Appendices Best-Self Stories 1. From a work colleague: I have the ability to give a hand whenever any co-worker asked. For example, there was a time when Choa asked if I could help her with arranging all the inventories in the back room, I agreed to help with a smile.The back room was a mess and it was going to take a long time to arrange because the inventories were not in order of product names. Choa and I started get to work, by prioritizing the sections that we needed to organize. I set the sections in the best order so we could finish by the end of our shifts. Although we didn’t work together many times before, we managed to work together well, helping one another. I didn’t lose smile although there were lot of work to do. I helped her when she was handling heavy inventories. In the end , we managed to finish our jobs, and end up gotten closer than before. 2.From a work colleague: I was fast getting used to the new working place as well as being with new co-workers. When I got the job at the Swarovski, I was the only one who was new and all the others all so close to one another. But I got along with the co-workers, getting used to their system of how they do things in their own ways. Although Choa's way of working was bit different than the others, I soon adapt to her system, so I could help her better and let her work with me more effectively and faster. I was very civil and almost diplomat that she or others did not feel threatened or uncomfortable during my first couple of weeks.By the time my job was near the end, I was friends with everyone, including the manager. 3. From a friend: I am receptive and open-minded whenever Danny wanted someone to talk to. For example, there were times when he talked about religions. Although our religions were different, and th ere may have been times where Danny’s questions were perhaps inappropriate and offensive, I never judged him or get offended. I understood the differences in views of people, and I thought it is normal and possible for others to have such views or questions that might be condescending.I tried my best to help him understand my point of views with all the knowledge I know about my religion. And I listened to what he sees and perceives about religions and actually paying attention to what he is saying without stopping him or correct him. 4. From a friend: I was always nice to a friend, and be the best friend. For example, because Danny loves shopping, he used to ask me if I could join him time to time. If I wasn't too busy, I always accompanied him to the mall, helping him choose the clothes.There were times when I didn't want to go because I end up wasting my money but I still went most of the times because he needed that to be cheered up and I knew he needed a company. I was a lways supportive, even if I was tired and exhausted following him, and even recommended the trendy and fitting styles to him. He trusted me to tell him what was good or bad for him, and I did exactly that when necessary. I listened to his problems and gossips when we are together, when we were shopping, and I backed him up and cheered him when he felt down and discouraged about his relationships or looks. With the best advices thatI could give him, he could steam off some stress and worries for that week. And I was also happy because I could see he became happy. 5. From a friend: I am great at making people happy and comfortable. For example, I visited Korea with Sinae for the summer. And she was staying at my parents' place with me for the whole trip. She was little bit uncomfortable and apologetic that she might disturb any family moments. The whole atmosphere of the Korean neighborhood made her being unease. I made sure that she didn't feel uncomfortable by always being with her and invite her to the family outings.I constantly talked and joked with her when we were with my families so that she can join in the same conversation and be more active and feel welcomed. She later was fully relaxed and was herself. 6. From a family member: I am great being responsible. As a daughter, I did and still do my best to take care of family/daughter duties. For example, it is hard to live alone with both of my parents living in another country. But I always find the time to write them letters for celebrations, to call and email them, and always keep constant interactions with them.Because my parents do not know what’s going on with my life, I let them know, talking to them about almost everything, from small to big things. I feel responsible as their daughter to update them with my life, whether I have exams coming up or I have an interview. But I think it is also my responsibility to not make them worried. So I don’t tell them how stressed I am with my sch ool or having a boy crisis. 7. From a family member: I am great at adapting to new environment and new challenges. When we first immigrated to Calgary, all I know was the simple hi, how are you English.Everything was just so different, with people, language, and the culture. But when I started going to a junior high school, I never complained or cried. I never screamed at my mom, that I want to go back. I adapted well, studying English hard as well as other regular classes. I also got into the school band, because I wanted to play the flute. I was one of the good performers who knew how to play the flute, which helped me make friends lot better. If I didn't have power to adapt, I would've never fully got use to Calgary, made no friends, and cried every night. 8.From a friend: I am always being kind to her. From the moment I met Coral, I tried my best to be supportive and a friend to her because she was new to Calgary. Because she did not have any friends or didn’t know any pl aces to buy things or go eat, I showed her to good restaurants and good stores to buy school suppliers with good prices. If I had time, I sometimes went to the places she wanted to go with her so that she wouldn’t get lost. I introduced her to my friends with the same major as her or similar habits. I invited her when I hung out with my friends so she wouldn’t get lonely.Now, we are closer than anyone, trusting one another. Coral helps me with the problems I have, returning all kindness to me, which I am very grateful for. LP1, Part 6 Personal Integrative Analysis Analysis 1. What are the five ideas or insights from this course, central to the primary question? There are many ways to find out my transferable skills, and I actually have more transferable skills than I previously thought. The exercises taught me to never lose confidence within myself because they showed me different skills that I didn't realize before.Another insight that I learned is that there are many different ways to see things and each way can allow myself to express my transferable skills, capacities and/or values differently. Depends on how I value myself, I can have different skills on one thing. The more I can gain and improve many transferable skills, the more my individual genius to be able to overlap with the world of work. I believe that if I can increase my zone of skills and values, I will easily find the appropriate fit between myself and the world. I will know many skills, both professional and practical, to allow me to adapt to the outside world lot better and faster. . What are three insights that I have been able to integrate within this course? One of the insight that I was able to integrate within this course is that there are many things that I am and should be grateful for and I now know I should be expressing them. I learned that it is important for me to feel appreciated to things around me and within me; I shouldn't take things for granted. Feeling grate ful for even small things can change my mood and the way I feel and act. Another insight is that I should pause my life once in awhile and look at my life in terms of goals, achievement, and stages that I am in right now.Am I in the right path of being happy with my life? Where am I with my goals and achievement? I learned that although things around me, like a job and relationships with people, are important, taking care of myself and evaluating myself is also very important to me too. When I am working and trying to survive in the outside world, I will know better to stop and go through my life mission and goals. The knowledge I was able to grab from this course is that truly knowing who I am, what I want, and what I did and have is priceless.I always thought that I knew myself pretty well, better than anyone else, but this course taught me how and what to do in order to look within myself. I now know that I will try to go over these steps I have learned to update my info to mysel f time to time. 3. My individual genius when interacting with others? I think I am more aware of my individual genius when I'm interacting with others than before. Because I know more about my individual genius, I think I will be able to grab many opportunities to improve on them while interacting with other people.I know what and when I can exercise and best perform my transferable skills. 4. Two new interest or values? One of my new interest is the self-awareness. I think I entered this new level of not only understanding about myself, but of the ways and steps that I am to learn about myself. I never thought that knowing myself is valued this much by everyone in professional world as well as in personal life. I now know that it is in one of my best interest to continue with widen my self-awareness and self-understanding. It is good knowing myself, and it's beautiful being confident.After all the exercises, I now learn to be appreciative. Exercises I did in classes first forced me to find things that I feel grateful, and then after couple of them, I know the importance of being grateful. Things I have been ignoring are now the ones that am grateful for. These exercises opened my eyes. The fact that I feel grateful for small to big things, I feel like I am more positive. I didn't know that this exercise made to see more beautiful things than I did before. 5. When am I most confident? When am I least confident? I am most confident when I am using my top strengths, helping people.When I am in a position to help other, which is whenever, there is no need for me to waste time to see if I'm confident to help or now. If I can help, I help. If the help requires a special knowledge that I do not have, I either don't help or I take instructions. I am most confident when I look at myself. I know myself the best, and I can express myself to me the best. With the help of this course, I think I am better at it. When I'm at least confident, I'm standing in front of the cla ss, getting all the unwanted attention, and have to present.Although I may be most confident expressing myself to me, I am least confident when I am either expressing myself to the group of people or present. It makes my whole body shake and my heart beat fastens like there is no tomorrow even when I'm thinking about speaking out loud in a class full of people. I am also least confident when I need to be the sole leader. I think that even if I am qualified to be a leader, I can't come out and lead because I never had that many opportunities before. I think that when I am assigned to be a leader, that's when I'm scared for myself.

Scrooge s Character And His Character - Why Doesn t The...

Stave One 1. Describe Scrooge’s appearance and his character – why doesn’t the weather affect him? Scrooge is described as an â€Å"old sinner†, a heartless old man who, because he was so cold, had â€Å"frozen features† such as a nipped pointed nose, shriveled cheeks, stiffened gait, red eyes, blue lips, and had a grating voice. He also had white hair, beard and eyebrows. The weather doesn’t affect scrooge as he himself is just as cold as the wintry weather inside and out. 2. Describe the character of Scrooge’s nephew. Scrooge’s nephew is a genuine man and unlike his uncle loves Christmas. He seems to be happy and merry, with an adoring wife. They don’t seem to be particularly wealthy. 3. Summarise the arguments these two men present on both sides of the debate about Christmas. Scrooge’s nephew thinks that Christmas is a time of joy and laughter and believes it should be spent with family and friends. Scrooge on the other hand believes that it is a sorry excuse for holiday and is not worth celebrating, he also believes that it is a very expensive time that is not worth the money or time. 4. What has Marley’s ghost been doing since his death, and what is the warning that it gives Scrooge? He has been wandering the world witnessing things that he wishes he could speak about to those who need it to make them happy. He warns scrooge that if he does not change his ways Scrooge’s after life will be burdened by all his regrets during his short lifetime just like Marley himself. 5.

Ivan Pavlov s Theory Of The Conditioned Reflex - 1706 Words

Abstract In the 19th century, there was a famous Russian physiologist who created the theory of the conditioned reflex. His name was Ivan Petrovich Pavlov. Ivan Pavlov conducted a well-known experiment for teaching a hungry dog to salivate at the sound of a bell when presented with food. This experiment led Ivan Pavlov to become known for his development on Classical Conditioning, which captured the attention of everyone, especially physiologist and psychologist. Ivan Pavlov was born September, 14, 1849 in Russia. Ivan Pavlov’s father was a priest and his mother was a homemaker. Initially, Pavlov studied theology by shadowing his father’s path. Later in the 1860’s, he abandoned his religious studies after reading Charles Darwin’s book (Windholz, 1997, p.941). Darwin greatly influenced Pavlov, so much so that he began a new pursuit in the interest in science. In 1870, Ivan Pavlov attended the University of Saint Petersburg where he studied natural science and physio logy. In the establishment of the institute of experimental medicine, Pavlov helped to facilitate the department of physiology (Windholz, 1997, p.941). For 45 year, Pavlov supervised and devoted his time and efforts to the research program. During Pavlov’s career, there were three major conflicts focus by Pavlov that led to his animal research. This includes the nerves of the heart, digestive glands in which Pavlov won a worldwide recognition and a Nobel Prize in 1904 and condition reflexes. (Schultz Schultz,Show MoreRelatedRunning Head : Man s Best Friend939 Words   |  4 Pagescharacteristics and personalities. Ivan Pavlov didn’t have a particular fondness for dogs, but little did he know that through his experimentation with dogs and their neurological reflexes, he was going to reveal the similarities of conditioning abilities within animals and humans. There were many people that influenced Pavlov and lead him on to experimenting with classical conditioning in dogs. 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Digital Transformation And Its Effect On A Business Essay

Digital transformation reshapes each side of a business. As digital technology continues to evolve, i feel that booming digital transformation would force careful collaboration, thoughtful coming up with, and therefore the inclusion of each department. During recent years, we’ve seen shifts in however ancient leadership roles operate, as silos break down and therefore the scopes of varied roles widen and alter. Digital transformation has morphed from a trend to a central element of recent business strategy. Here square measure the highest ten trends I expect to ascertain in 2017: 1. ability is a lot of very important to success than ever: amendment goes to happen whether or not you pursue it or not—you solely ought to consider however the role of cloud computing in 2016 has evolved to know. trendy enterprises succeed once they adapt to trade and marketplace shifts and incorporate new technology into company culture and regular operations. 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In What Ways Did Sport Reflect Amercian Society in the 19th Century Free Essays

string(46) " was still a divisive factor amongst players\." In what ways did sport reflect American society? This essay will concentrate on looking at the ethnic and class divide within the sports subculture of American society, and how it reflects American Society as a whole. When examining any society there is a always a broad area to cover, while looking at America’s society I will be looking at the arguments that it is the ‘land of the free’ a ‘new nation’ which immigrants flocked to start a new life in a country of much ‘opportunity’. I will be using the sport in the 19th century to examine just how much America was a land of opportunity and of the free, and whether it differed from the attitudes in countries from around the rest of the world. We will write a custom essay sample on In What Ways Did Sport Reflect Amercian Society in the 19th Century or any similar topic only for you Order Now When looking at sport in American society in the 19th century, first we must look at the origins of the sport and games that were played, to see how they were seen within a new growing society. Before the birth of the American colonies, it has been argued that sport in America was a cultural practice for the most part associated with Native American ceremonies and religion, colonisation brought the idea of sport and games for leisure. The English brought with them recreational ideologies, it was not just the particular games and sports but the attitudes and practices in which leisure activities were rooted. The Native Americans had many sports/games similar to that of Europeans before colonisation but they had independent cultural contexts that gave them different meanings. Often the activities accompanied fertility ceremonies, burial rites, healing practices, and attempts to control the weather. It was reported in the American Anthropologist (1890) by James Mooney that Cherokees who played stickball (Also known as Lacrosse) must not engage in intercourse for a month before a game. Also, prior to games they would build fires and dance to the sound of drums, rattles and sacred chants. Players were prepared before games with prayer’s, pipe smoking, body painting and many other rituals designed more to enhance spirituality rather than to ensure them victory. Participation in these games was not voluntary as the reasons they were played were for crucial tribal concerns. Indeed, the English who came and colonised America also played games for similar cultural reasons, though these reasons were not as crucial of a concern for the whole nation, but for smaller areas of society. In general, the British played for leisure, in Europe this formed the counterpoint to the necessity of daily labour, and the ideal of playing sport for leisure is still very strong today all over the world. The English leisure ethic more so than its work ethic became idealised by Virginian plantation owners. They acted like English gentlemen, followed English press, fashion and played English sports such as Cricket, they did this in search of a class distinction. It was mainly for this reason that sporting displays became a big preoccupation among the Virginian gentry; they were some of the few that had the time and money to occupy themselves with such tasks. Due to this, leisure became a very class restricting custom, and the English educated gentry endeavoured to keep it this way. One such example of the class distinctions at this time within American society is that of James Bullocke who was a tailor, he defeated Mathew Slader a ‘gentleman’ in a 1674 horse race on which each man had placed a bet of two thousand pounds of tobacco. However, after this victory the county court told the men that it was â€Å"contrary to law for a labourer to make a race being a sport for Gentlemen†, and fined him one hundred pounds of tobacco. The court also confined Slader (the gentleman) to the stocks for an hour for his loss to a working man. A leading factor in the pursuit of leisure for whites was that slavery made it difficult for them to value hard work, and easy for them to appreciate sport and games. The logic of this was simple, if enslaved blacks had to work; play was proof of freedom and elevated social status. Labour was a burden of blackness, leisure was the prerogative of whiteness. The institution of slavery, in fact, compelled the vast majority of African Americans to â€Å"steal† time for leisure and recreation, just as they stole a certain kind of knowledge when they learned to read and write. The civil war however painful it was, had a good side to it as well, this being that it helped to bring a stop to slavery. This meant freedom, citizenship, and constitutional protections from the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, however this did not mean too much to America’s black population. The good that came from the end of slavery was overshadowed by institutionalised racial segregation and repression that treated African American’s as second-class citizens. Many African Americans turned to sport and leisure to help cope with the racial discrimination, however this was not as easy as one may think it to be. Sport was used as a point of interest that brought many blacks together, Baseball was one of the most unifying of sports for African Americans with many early Black baseball teams, one of the earliest being the Pythian Baseball Club of Philadelphia, they consisted of four teams with players coming from the higher ranks of Black society. The Pythian’s played other black teams from around Philadelphia, including one of the most famous, the Excelsiors (the oldest black team in the city). The Pythian’s played for the unofficial â€Å"Colored Championship of the United States† in 1871, they carried a race’s pride when they played all be it separating themselves from the lower and middle classes in the African American society. This showing that although it became more acceptable for black players to play white sports, they were separated out from the white’s and class was still a divisive factor amongst players. You read "In What Ways Did Sport Reflect Amercian Society in the 19th Century" in category "Papers" So, ‘land of the free’ of ‘opportunity’ it does not look like it, when we see the divide between the players of this sport. Black athletes were involved in almost every sport by the end of the nineteenth century, however, boxing was one they had a larger representation and became most prominent in. Black athletes were more acceptable in boxing as it was believed that it was more suitable to the black athlete’s abilities and there was also a negative stigma attached to the sport. While in baseball black players were cultivating themselves a separate coloured league, boxing was a predominantly white organised sport and black boxers suffered the wrath of much of the white population as well as some from the black population too. A successful and controversial figure in boxing was Jack Johnson, the first American black heavyweight boxing champion, from a white point of view he showed many of the personal qualities disliked of blacks, Johnson was defiant, ill-mannered and incorrigible. Also, he married three white women and he was successful capturing the symbolism of Anglo-Saxon white superiority, the heavyweight boxing crown. Johnson was not just disliked by the whites for his behaviour, many in the black community thought that his actions hindered the progress of the race. He was a hero to many, but also was considered an embarrassment as he refused to act subservient. The way Johnson lived his life could be argued that he was a true pioneer of the ‘American dream’, an operator in the ‘land of the free’ that has taken the opportunity given to him and made it work. His boxing career was a quest for freedom, he formed his own unique style of fighting and his success gained him many of the material things many blacks craved but they would never achieve. Examining boxing, one could argue that this sport showed a truer interpretation of American Society than any of the others, America was supposed to be a ‘land of opportunity’ where people could emigrate, to achieve things that they would not be able to do in their homeland. However, was this sport mirroring American society or one of very few things that actually fell in line with the belief of the ‘American dream’? This being the story of one man, who ac hieved his own dream, at the cost of being disliked by many, surely a ‘land of the free’ would encourage his success. In conclusion, it is hard to fully understand American society from how it affected sport, whether it be racism, gender or class distinctions. One thing that is obvious to any historian looking at this subject, it is that these problems, however much people believe them to no longer be a problem in society, they still are. Class is no longer much of a problem within sport anymore, unless it is stopping you from joining the prestigious tennis of golf club, though these days money will buy you whatever class status you want. However, whether it is gender arguments such as prize funds at competitions such as Wimbledon, or the racism provided by fans to players of all different sports around the world, these problems will never go away. So is it wrong to judge America for its sporting/sociological crimes of the past? When looking at American society now it is still divided between sports which are seen as black and white, white sports such as ice hockey played in the northern states, and NASCAR in the southern states, black players are few and far between while Basketball is predominantly filled with black players. The truth is sport will always divide, the most recent divide in sport has come with homosexuality, David Kopay, was one of the only American Footballers to come out as gay in 1975. After he retired he was considered for many top coaching roles though he believes he never landed one because of his sexuality. Kopay is now on the board of the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Association, an organisation whose purpose is to increase acceptance and visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender athletes in the professional, amateur, and recreational athletics communities. You could use this argument to show that sport does not reflect society as whole but more secular groupings. Modern day racism, homophobia, sexism are all hot topics but society overall is not reflected as any of these things, yet sport still is. To say that trends in sport reflect overall society can be strongly refuted, such as in the army, police force and many working environments these problems have become institutionalised and are a representation of a few minds, not a whole society. However much sport in American society separated and segregated people, the fact is that it has eventually brought everyone together to provide a more sturdy society. America proved itself for a small period of time to be a ‘land of the free’ a ‘new nation’ in which if an athlete was good at a sport it didn’t matter if he was different, the opportunity was still there. It may have taken over a hundred years but the class divide has gone and the divide between race and gender is being depleted. Sport is a catalyst for cohesiveness, and it has helped in the development and the creation of American society as we see it today. Bibliography Books Jable, J. Thomas. Sport in Philadelphia’s African American Community, 1865-1900. Eisen, G. ; Wiggins, D. (1994) Ethnicity and Sport in North American History and Culture. Praeger Publishers. Gorn, E. ; Goldstein, W. (1993) A Brief History of American Sports. University of Illinois Press. Chicago. Wiggins, D. ; Miller, P. (2003) The Unlevel Playing Field: A Documentary of the African American Experience in Sport. University of Illinois Press. Chicago. Vincent, T. (1981) The Rise ; Fall of American Sport: Mudville’s Revenge. University of Nebraska Press. Lincoln. Wiggins, D. (1995) Sport in America: From Wicked Amusement to National Obsession. Websites http://www. glaf. org ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Pg6. Gorn [ 2 ]. Pg5. Gorn [ 3 ]. Pg5. Gorn [ 4 ]. Pg22. Gorn [ 5 ]. Pg21. Gorn [ 6 ]. Pg 7 Wiggins and Miller [ 7 ]. Pg157 Eisen and Wiggins [ 8 ]. Wiggins and Miller pg 34 [ 9 ]. Eisen, G Wiggins, K. Pg 134 [ 10 ]. Eisen, G Wiggins, K. Pg140 [ 11 ]. Eisen, G Wiggins, K. Pg141 [ 12 ]. http://glaf. org/team_bios. html How to cite In What Ways Did Sport Reflect Amercian Society in the 19th Century, Papers

Strategic Management of German Hypermarket-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Strategic Management of German Hypermarket. Answer: Introduction: The report gives an overview of a company named Kaufland opening its stores in Australia. Kaufland is a giant hypermarket chain that entered the retail market of Australia. An analysis done based on the market size and trends followed by Kaufland in Australia. The report also puts forward the companys financial and corporate performance in the Australian market. There is also discussion on the available strategic options for the company in the Australian market. The report also mentions a final recommended strategy for the company along with its implementation. There is also a discussion on the monitoring and control of its future performance in Australia. Market Size and Trends in Australia: Market Size Kaufland, part of Schwartz Group from Germany entered Australias fiercely competitive grocery market and plans to launch its first store on the fringes of Adelaide. Schwartz also owns a discount chain named Lidl and has been targeting a foothold in the $ 90 billion plus supermarket sector of Australia (Armstrong et al., 2014). The new operation in Adelaide would be one of its flagship and inaugural store. With Kaufland, shopper in Australia can have a vast and a completely new experience. This is because the company plans to introduce stores in warehouse styles spread out over an area of 20,000 square meters, something unique compared to the traditional Woolworths and Cole stores that were less than fifth of its size. Thus, Kaufland plans to bring in a new retail experience to its customers by introducing close to about 60, 000 products that included various known brands. The Kaufland stores will also include white goods and groceries. With Kaufland, customers will thus have a destin ation shopping experience ("Kaufland Immer eine Idee frischer! 2017). Key Trends The grocery market in Australia has become more competitive than ever. The present scenario is that two of the largest retailers of the Asia Pacific are battling in terms of online discount, market leadership, the rapid growth of the wholesale channels and the entry of the new contenders in the market (Davey Richards, 2013). There are however five key trends that can shape the market and influence the strategy of the retailer. These are as follows: Woolworths Regaining Its Position: By 2017, Woolworths expected to continue with its progress on the AU$1 billion restructure that might not only outpace the growth of its rival Coles but also prove to be challenging for Kaufland. . Offering Fresh Battle Grounds: The major Australian retailers not only maintain long-term relationship with the suppliers of its fresh food but at the same time tries to strengthen their policies of sourcing (Ward et al., 2012). The retailers also focus on in store execution of all fresh items with stock availability, attractive displays and freshness of the product and staff skills. Kaufland should try to follow such trend in order to gain a foothold in the Australian market. Focus on the Market Entrants: In the recent year, although the density of supermarket is quite high in Australia, still gaps exist in the markets providing a chance for new entrants. This gap is fulfilled by Amazon and as well as Kaufland. Amazon plans to enter the market with either fresh products or physical stores. Moreover, Amazon also focuses on customer service with its prime loyalty program. Kaufland therefore can face a tough competition from Amazon. Intensification of the Online Capability: The market entry of Amazon has forced other retailers including Coles and Woolworths in focusing more attention on the improvement of their online capabilities (Nothhaft, 2016). Kaufland being a part of the retail industry must also focus on its online capabilities for keeping pace with the market. In addition, the retailer should also focus on customer flexibility and service. Convenience is Reality: Melbourne has focused on store innovation with the introduction of new style formats. Stores are increasingly tailoring the ranges for delivering better quality of food for now and the food for later options (Munro Andrade, 2015). There has also been innovation for delivering exciting and new options for keeping the offers different and fresh from the competitors. Thus, Kaufland must take up this trend to be at par with other competitors. Financial and Corporate Performance in Australia: Corporate Performance Kaufland, part of German giant Schwarz Group aims to capture the Australian retail industry with stores that are five to six times larger than the Woolworths and Coles. The Kaufland store is a combination of large supermarket along with generalized merchandize retail (Cohen et al., 2012). The store follows Aldis path for entering Australias supermarket business. Therefore, the giant supermarket store made an investment for setting up a store in Adelaide whose ideal size estimated to be within15000 to 20000 square meters along with car parking facilities of 200 to 300 vehicles. The stores also plan to stock around 60000 product lines. Financial Performance The grocery industry in Australia is quite concentrated. The increase in the level of concentration has taken place over many years with major supermarket chain, Woolsworths and Coles having successfully grown their market share and sales (Shi and Yu, 2013). The major change in the grocery market of Australia brought about by the entrance of the international retailer Aldi in the year 2001. Aldi offered a completely new supermarket experience to its customers by being tough discounter (Metzger, 2014). Australia also had another international retailer in the form of Costco in the year 2009. This retailer presently owns eight warehouses and brings to its customers a completely new supermarket experience in the form of hypermarket. In addition to Aldi and Costo, Kaufland also aims to make its presence felt in Australia. Therefore, the retailer must realize that the grocery industry is gradually evolving in the Australia and hence these international retailers must compete with the major Australian Supermarket to gain a foothold. Kaufland should also note that Coles and Woolworths, the major supermarket chain in Australia are comparatively smaller operations (Bailey, 2017). To capture the Australian market Kaufland should also understand the aggressive pricing promotions of Coles and Woolsworths which the two supermarket chain have undertaken for defending their shares and sales Figure: Financial Performance of Retailing in Australia Source: (Vlachos, 2014) However, Schwarz Unternehmenstreuhand KG mentioned in the above figure owns Kaufland and Wesfarmers own Coles. Strategic Options in Australia The retail giant Kaufland enters the Australian supermarket arena with a strategic $25 million acquisition. The German retailer has thus snapped the sprawling site of Le Cornu located on the Anzac highway in Adelaide for a price of $25 million for building the first Australian supermarket (Price, Bailey Pyman, 2014). The 3.6-hectare site chosen by Kaufland on the southwest corner fringe of Adelaide had initially been a furniture showroom and warehouse marked for disposal after the death of Lance Le Cornu, the patriarch of the Cornu family. Kaufland, a part of the giant Schwarz Group of German is the largest retailer of the world with over 1200 stores in Europe. The stores of Kaufland are five to six times bigger than the size of the Woolworths or Coles store and they put forward a combination of larger supermarket with retail merchandize, stocking up to 60,000 product lines (Voigt, Buliga Michl, 2017). The store built in Adelaide would cover an area between 15000 to 2000 square meters with car parking options for around 300 vehicles. Final Recommended Strategy The Australian retail industry has undergone a bigger change with the rise of e-commerce. The internet access along with the adoption of Smart phone has forced various small and large retailers to include online options for complementing their existing channels. However, the reality lies in the fact that consumers do not entirely devote themselves to one channel. Not only do they appreciate the experience of shopping at a store but at the same time they also find convenience when goods gets delivered at door step with just few clicks. Thus, recommendations put forward for the retailers in the creation of Omni channel Strategy. Implementation of Final Strategy Retailers like Kaufland can implement the Omni Channel Strategy by the following means: Ensuring a 360-degree Customer Experience: The expectation of the customers from its retailers is increasing on a day-to-day basis. The look of the website, the product layout, shipping options, product packaging and customer experience affects the customer experience (Piotrowicz Cuthbertson, 2014). There must be categorization of the products so that customers initiate search based on brand, lifestyle or department. Treating the Online Customers Similar to the Customers in Store: While implementing its Omni Channel Strategy retailers must make sure that they receive the same benefits online as they did while making a purchase in the bricks and mortar location (Bell, Gallino Moreno, 2014). Kaufland should also make sure that the return of the items bought online should be easy as done in the stores. Monitoring and Control of Future Performance There are five essential metrics for monitoring and control of the future performance of retail industry. These are as follows (Condea, Thiesse Fleisch, 2012): Accessing the Customer Traffic: Keeping track of the number of customers represents the straightforward metric for the retail business. Thus, the number of potential customers visiting a store determines the amount of revenue generated. Accessing the Retail Conversion Rate: There is a necessity for distinguishing between the retail customers and visitors. This is because there are some visitors who do not buy anything. Keeping a Track of the Average Sale: Getting more people to the store where everyone is making a purchase it becomes important in calculating the average value of the orders. Taking into Account the Size of an Average-Shopping Cart: In a brick and mortar outlet of a supermarket chain, each sold item helps in estimating the generated revenue. Therefore, determination of the size of the average shopping cart is important. Considering the Sales Profit over Cost: Considering the difference between the revenue and the cost before the consideration of other costs is important. This helps in determining the cost of acquiring or producing the product that is being sold. Conclusion The report ends with a discussion on the monitoring and control on the future performance of the hypermarket store in Australia. The report also discusses about the strategic options of Kaufland in Australia. There is also discussion on the final recommended strategy for Kaufland along with its implementation. One can also find a portion dedicated to the financial and corporate performance of the company. Further, the report also presents a discussion on the size and market trends that Kaufland must follow References: Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S., Kotler, P. (2014).Principles of marketing. Pearson Australia. Bailey, M., 2017. Absorptive Capacity, International Business Knowledge Transfer, and Local Adaptation: Establishing Discount Department Stores in Australia.Australian Economic History Review,57(2), pp.194-216. Bell, D. R., Gallino, S., Moreno, A. (2014). How to win in an omnichannel world.MIT Sloan Management Review,56(1), 45. Cohen, J. R., Holder-Webb, L. L., Nath, L., Wood, D. (2012). Corporate reporting of nonfinancial leading indicators of economic performance and sustainability.Accounting Horizons,26(1), 65-90. Condea, C., Thiesse, F., Fleisch, E. (2012). 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