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Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans

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Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans

Texas gained its independence from Mexico in 1836, and it came to be known as the Republic of Texas. The state could not last long as it retained the title for only nine years after the United States annexed Texas. Texas’s annex led to the Mexican-American war that took lasted for two years (1846-1848), claiming the lives of more than 63,000 people (Min 5-7). The US troops blemished the divided, and unprepared Mexican side as President James Polk of the United States held that the US had a “manifest destiny” to expand beyond the Pacific Ocean. The Rio Grande border skirmish kick-started the fight and was proceeded by a sequence of the US victories. Mexico had lost close to a third of its protectorate by the time things were resuming to normality. Some of the territories lost to the US were Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and present-day California. The dust was cleared in 1948, following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

It has been a halting discussion on how racial discrimination functions in Mexican Americans’ day-to-day social circumstances. Some individuals try to compare Mexican Americans to European Americans who came to the US with modest backgrounds and managed to integrate themselves into society. On the contrary, others view Mexican Americans as subject to racialization, limiting their participation in society. Persistent educational disadvantages further cement the racialization argument throughout their generations, not to mention repeated reports concerning discrimination and stereotyping (Schaefer, 2015). The quality of education they receive shows their racial stigmatization instead of being a mere low human immigrant capital. Throughout the United States history, Mexican Americans had fallen victims of racial discrimination, often viewed as people belonging to the bottom of the economic hierarchy.

In conclusion, Puerto Rican culture has primarily been influenced by its history. The integration of African traditions, Spanish, and Taino Indians brings about a melting pot of individuals and culture impactful enough to drive the US political and social contexts of day-to-day aspects of life.

References

(2020). Retrieved 15 October 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHut4leSchM&feature=youtu.be.

Schaefer, R. T. (2015). Racial and ethnic groups. Pearson.

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Mexican folk songs

Mexican traditional music dates to earlier periods before the colonial era. However, Mexican national music came into existence in the nineteen century as patriotic themes covering topics about national defense and those against foreign invasion. Military bands were created during this time, and band performances including those of the local bands were held in town squares. More transformations on music came in during the porfiriato when foreigners brought in their styles and a mash-up between the national music and English music developed. After the Mexican revolution, foreign music and music styles were abandoned, and composers went back to writing original traditional Mexican music under Carranza.

Mexican folk music is classified into two aspects; by the types of musical forms and styles, and types of ensembles. Corrido is in the category of the music classified by the types of musical forms and styles. Corridor music takes a narrative song of poetry form and often spoke about the old legends, heroes, love stories, drugs, immigration, etc. corridos majorly tell stories. The purpose of this paper is to explain the historical context in which the Mexican folk songs or corridos were written, the major themes in the songs, and the role the songs played in the Mexican American community in the 1920s.

Corridos were characterized by storytelling about the heroes, legends, and the popular folks in the community. Corrido music was sung in local clubs, meeting hall, gatherings, and some musicians recorded the music in the studios for radio play. Composers wrote about the migrant experiences in the United States whereby they described the stories about things such as politics, losses and gains, love affairs, nationality, cultural change, ethnicity, and racial illustrations. Mexicans were marginalized by the Native Americans who viewed the immigrants as a major threat to their political liberty, race, and economic prosperity. There were measures to restrict Mexican immigration into the country which was resisted anyway. Mexicans in the United States were allowed to express themselves through the corridos. Most of the employees in the major plantations in the Southwest and California consisted of the Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans which is why the American employers resisted the restriction of Mexican immigration.

Before the First World War, immigration was not monitored, and Mexican could cross to and from the United States easily. However, when the restrictions were imposed, immigration became tougher, and the Mexicans crossed the borders with regularity. Regularity did not help much though since the number of immigrants double each year. Legislations against the immigrants stemmed out, but the employers resisted them since they benefitted a lot from the cheap labor from the immigrants. In 1917, a bill which required each immigrant to pay taxes to fund the immigration bureaucracy was passed. The bill also required the immigrants to learn the Native American language. Later on, quota restrictions were eliminated, and Mexicans paid visa fee, learned Spanish, and paid taxes to qualify for immigration. Mexican corridistas sang about their audiences with songs about human rights, Mexican governments, the plight of migrant workers, and immigrant life in the United States.

The American employers played a major role in helping the Mexican migrants especially those who worked in their fields get a better life by coercing the Congress to ease restrictions on them. Labor from the Mexican immigrants was a solution to their loss of United States employees who were now getting jobs in the cities. The other advantage of Mexican labor was that it was cheap and benefitted the employers more.

Mexican corridos are purely Spanish in a specific form and content. It is structured in lines each with eight syllables and is in either four or six lines of stanzas. The rhyme scheme is based on the vowels in each line in the stanza. Normally, the first line rhymes with the fourth line, and the second line rhymes with the third line or the first line rhyme with the third line and the second line rhymes with the fourth line. The corrida, who has to be a male, sings along with playing the guitar. The rhythm and the pitch of the entire corrido are similar in all the stanzas except when the corrido has a refrain which may necessitate changing of the rhythm and the pitch.

The structure of the corrido is majorly a narrative story describing a phenomenon of a particular place and time with the aim of telling a view about certain social, economic, or political elements in the story. Since its inception, corridos told stories about national scenarios and are therefore identifies with the cultural pride, community, and political identity of the Mexican people. Nevertheless, corridos can be about the personal lives of people, for instance, the love stories as well. The corridos can also tell a story about women rather than just the males even though initially they narrated heroic stories.

In my own opinion, the corridos played a major role in telling the stories of the Mexican migrants in the United States in an attempt to fight for their freedom. Mexican laborers worked for cheap wages in the fields in California and southwest which were abandoned by the Americans who secured jobs in the city. Apart from that, they faced hostility as the Congress imposed immigration restrictions which required the Mexicans to pay for visas, taxes and learn Spanish for successful immigration. Corridos were the only way they could express themselves.

Works Cited

Herrera-Sobek, Maria. Northward Bound: The Mexican Immigrant Experience in Ballad and Song. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993.

Paredes, Americo. “Ancestry of Mexico’s Corridos: A Matter of Definitions.” Journal of American Folklore 76 (1963): 231-35

Garlaza, Ernesto. Merchants of Labor: The Mexican Bracero Story. Santa Barbara, CA: McNally and Loftin, 1964.

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Major events that increased the sectional tensions that ultimately led Civil war 1848-1860

There are different events that caused the emergency of the civil war in 1848-1860. History records that slavery was among the major causes of the civil war. Some of the civilians advocated for slavery while others were against it. Thus, as a result of slavery the country split into two groups. As a result of this, the groups had different interest during the formation of the constitution over issues such as the establishment of a state-sanctioned religion, the right to bear arms and most important the issue on slavery.

The southerners and northerners had different arguments on the group that should make laws regarding slavery. At the first stages, the southerners maintained the majority in the House of Representatives. As time went by the northerners had greatly improved in trade thus; they required more representation in the House of Representatives. The aim of the southerners was to extend slavery to higher heights because they believed it was a good act. By so doing, they would fulfill their urge for popular sovereignty. When they were in the senate they tactfully said that the senate had the right to make all the laws. This is because they wanted to make laws in their favor regarding slavery.

As more population increased in the north, the population in south remained stagnant. The north manufactured goods, and they required market. And the southern part was their main market. Thus, the northerners wanted the government to impose tariffs on the imported goods to ensure that they got a wide market from the southerners. The northerners depended upon the government to help them solve their problems which included competition, immigration, and population. As a result, the two groups disagreed on different issues.

In the first presidential election, John Quincy Adams won the election, and he represented the northerners. Four years later Jackson who represented the southerners won the election. During President Jackson’s reign, the nullification crisis began. The tariffs that were imposed by the government for the generation of revenue were a factor that led to emergency of the civil war. The main source of capital that the northerners obtained was through imposition of tariffs and the southerners were not happy about this. They tried all means to oppose the imposition of tariffs. On the other hand, the government increased the tariffs so as to obtain more revenue.

The different groups wanted a person who could lead them and favor their rights especially the northerners. The country continued forming different groups because of the difference in ideologies. The western group came in, and they had their own interest hence continued disagreement. Thus, there was fear and hatred among the different groups. Each of the groups pushed for their rights in the federal government. The west pushed for a central bank in the federal government. They urged that the central bank would control the inflation rate. They also said that the central bank would create funds in the form of loans hence increase of revenue on the government part. The disparity in ownership of wealth between the southerners and northerners fueled the civil war. The southerners saw expansion of government as a problem while the people from the north and west supported a large government this lead to the emergence of the civil war.

Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom

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Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom

Book Report

Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom is a book by Katherine Eban, was published by Ecco, 2019, and covers 512 pages of investigative work on the Pharmaceutical industry. A lot of people have considered the use of generic drugs a crucial public health revolution in the twenty-first century. Today, the United States pharmaceutical market is made up of generics amounting to almost 90 percent most of which are manufactured overseas. Doctors have been reassuring patients that these generic drugs are identical to their brand alternatives, just less costly.

Katherine Eban in her book Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom exposes the sham behind the manufacturing of generic drugs- and the consequent threat to global health. The author draws from select versions from whistleblowers and regulators, as well as numerous pages of confidential FDA paperwork, to expose an industry characterized by fraud, falsified data from manufacturers and executives finding loopholes in every principle of safe manufacturing to generate more profit and to cut costs, assertive in their facility to fool inspectors. Meanwhile, patients have prescribed drugs with unpredictable and hazardous effects.

The generic drug narrative is truly global, connecting middle America to India, Sub-Saharan Africa, China, and Brazil, and is a complete representation of the litmus test of globalization. The book creates the dilemma of whether the risks of moving drug manufacturing of shore are worth the savings.

Katherine embarks on a decade long investigation across the globe, with high-stakes risk-taking and a huge investment to disclose how the world’s greatest public-health revolution is now one of the most shocking deceptions.

Katherine is a New York’s bestselling author, an investigative journalist who writes articles for Fortune Magazine and a fellow at Andre Carnegie. She has also contributed content for Vanity fair, the New York Observer, the New York Times, Self, The Nation, and other publications. She has written several books including Dangerous Doses: A True Story of Cops, the Contamination of America’s Drug Supply. and Counterfeiters. She also does lectures from time to time on pharmaceutical integrity. Her narrative that is based on investigative work including an article on pharmaceutical counterfeiting, unlawful questionings by the Central Intelligence Agency and gun trafficking, has drawn international attention and won her numerous awards.

It is no doubt that Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom a comprehensive investigation if callous, indictment of a number of major Indian Pharmaceutical companies who operate a huge chunk of generics made and used in the United States and various parts of the Globe. The author does not downplay the unpleasant aspects of generic drugs manufacturing in her narrative and calls out companies indulging in Fraud. She also casts doubt on the story of India as the world’s pharmacy. The book does not shy from attacking the United States Food and Drugs Administration, which has had its measure of rule-bound administrators, reluctant to act with the necessary enthusiasm.

Katherine discusses the evasive, dubious and dishonest practices of various manufacturers including Ranbaxy, GVK Biosciences, Mylan, Wockhardt, and the CRO Vitma Labs. She also mentions the smaller roles of Zydus and Dr. Reddy’s in producing, documenting and shipping medical supplies to the United States. A number of these companies are or were huge industry players. The USFDA’s strict standards are somewhat just implied.

The book discusses the violation of the regulatory requirements of importing countries. It narrates that the manufacturing companies falsified documentation from their manufacturing sites, They did not conduct dissolution and stability as well as Chromatograms test and used those from the reference drug and recorded that they actually did them. There were blue glass particles in the drug atorvastatin but this problem was pursued to concealed and tablets containing such faulty bulk drug was shipped. The workers were also found to be unhygienic and unsafe practices were routine. Even after the companies were afforded the opportunity to rectify these mistakes, they did not. Medicine consignments that did not meet GMP and quality requirements, were sent to Africa instead of being destroyed. Indian executives’ perspective on the regulatory system was one of an obstacle to be maneuvered. All of these even by capitalist principles of maximizing gain is irresponsible.

By reading the book as a concerned individual who has come across this revelation with this much depth almost for the first time, you cannot help and wonder what happens with our own manufacturers. If this huge Indian companies raking in billions of dollars in sales can play hard and fast with the safety and quality practices for products sold to a country with apparently the most sophisticated drug regulatory agency in the entire globe, what is the local pharmaceutical manufacturing industry doing with their products considering the regulation is decidedly less effective.

The author paints although subconsciously, the stereotypical Indian storyline: dilapidated, developing county, with poor ethics, developing country, and poor hygiene. “Employees did not wash their hands after using the toilet” (Eban, 2019). This is damage resulting from the dishonest behavior and careless manufacturing practices.

The book then discusses the issue of Bioequivalence of generics and the innovator product but chooses to underemphasize the nuances of this debate. A generic is bioequivalent if it serves the same purpose and acts by all intents as the innovator drug. It is always a requirement by many regulators for first-time manufacturers to prove bioequivalence to an existing drug.

The book as mentioned earlier relied also on accounts given by whistleblowers narrates the story of one Dinesh Thakur, an Indian America who gave up his desirable job in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the United States and moved to India to work for Ranbaxy where he encountered Unimaginable manufacturing and data integrity practices. His moral decency could not allow him to watch what was going on and remain silent, he went on to expose Ranbaxy. Many people In Thakur’s position would have resigned and searched for better jobs or disappeared but he decided to do a huge service to the Indian pharmaceutical industry. The book also mentions the relentlessness of some personalities in the FDA who took the initiative to flush out fraudulent practices, in India’s pharmaceutical industry and at very huge personal risk.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan the Indian health minister at the time dismissed the suggestions of Thakur or did not give them the rightful attention. A little investigation after reading the book confirms that Dr Vardhan is back in that position, even after he called out the country’s drug regulatory agency the CDSCO by terming it “a snake pit of vested interests (Pulla, 2014), and terming his own position a “poisoned chalice “ may be a sign that he may be willing to listen to whistleblowers (Thakur, 2016).

Summary

Eban’s riveting work opens up what was Gandhi’s well intention initiative for his country that has turned into a hellish globalized sham. What was once a tale of tragic heroism and an expansive but succinctly written epic, portrays a picture of how and industry created with the intention of counteracting being pharmaceutical companies has effortlessly merged with it resulting in a two-headed monster whose tentacles grab both the unlucky consumer and would-be regulators.

The author provides a general idea of Ranbaxy’s malpractices through the eyes of their former employee and whistleblower, Dinesh Thakur. She takes the reader through “Jugaad” a mindset used in the production of generics in India. She also delves into the adequacy of the settlement between the United States and Ranbaxy back in 2013, the role played by a stakeholder from Japan Daiichi Sankyo and the ability of the FDA to effectively inspect generic manufactures from various parts of the world. She continues to discuss the recent and upcoming congressional action on this issue, and how inadequate production practices obscure dealing with the problem of drug shortage and the precautions patients should adopt before they can use generic drugs.

The book is centered on a David and Goliath whistle-blower narrative with the likes of Dinesh Thakur and Ranbaxy which is a giant in the drug manufacturing industry. It emphasizes the key to safe manufacturing of drugs being close observing and hands-on control of each aspect of the production with everything recorded to create a guarantee that each vial, pill or capsule perfectly mirrors the formula.

The contents of the book have gone through intensive research before being written like a crime thriller. The opening chapter with a real audit experience of the FDA at a factory in Aurangabad gives the reader the chills and sets the heart racing. It might be a good read for a professional with an interest in audits of the medical industry. Also, the doctors that enthusiastically recommend generic drugs to patients should grab a copy. A reader can only hope that this is a wake-up call for action to make India and the rest of the world healthier and more honorable.

This book is a good read even for non-professionals in this field because there is so much on how the regulatory infrastructure works they can learn. It may be an oversight that explores options or alternatives to this issue, where readers can reason and come up with the resolution to avoid medicine coming from India (which to be honest is near impossible).

References

Eban, K. (2019). Bottle of lies: the inside story of the generic drug boom. Ecco, 512 pages; ISBN: 978-0062338785

Pulla Priyanka. (2014). Medical Council of India is corrupt, says health minister BMJ; 349: g4762

Thakur, D. S. (2016, March 12). A sincere attempt to improve the quality of medicine for people around the world. Retrieved from https://www.governancenow.com/views/columns/a-re-tempt-improve-the-quality-medicine-people-the-world

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A Swan Lake Ballet Dance by Alexander Ekman

In this paper, I will do a dance critique on a dance known as Swan Lake by Alexander Ekman, which has music played by Mikael Karlsson. It was completed by the orchestra along with sound effects, which made my heart miss a beat. In the introduction before the dance, we see Ekman’s overview made on a New York roof terrace. This ballet dance is a new version that fulfills a function about Swan lake and time. There is the usage of water which is something new, something that individuals have never seen before, in a way that draws attention. This dance is something different, wild, and big. In Swan lake, there is a new full-length work made for the Norwegian National Ballet. The dancers are joined on stage by musicians, actors, a soprano, and 1,000 rubber ducks. This dance work by Choreographer Alexander Ekwam is internationally much-admired for its musicality, inventiveness, and humor. The dressing of the costume of all the personalities in the dance video was done by a Danish fashion designer called Henrik Vibskov. A swan Lake dance takes a witty and fresh look at Tchaikovsky’s ballet of all ballets. It is a remarkable dance show that transcends boundaries.

Something that the choreographer is trying to say or achieve is portraying a timeless love story that combines tragedy, magic, and romance into four acts. Along with the dance, the ballet Swan Lake is the creation of the first ballet music. The most exciting part of this dance is the dancers having a strong emotional connection with their character. They are vulnerable dancers, full of emotional depth. A Swan Lake ballet choreography happens to be a new surrealist interpretation of the Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman and the classical ballet, which has shown to be a great hit for the Norwegian National Ballet. The staging of this dance performance transformed the stage into the appearance of the actual lake. The ballet is entirely one of the best dance performances I have ever seen. The first act of this dance video blends humor, theatre, dialogue, and modern dance. The music references original ballet classes and Tchaikovsky’s classical music. The water in the dance video is just like a separate actor on stage, both restraining the dancers’ movement and providing an entirely new means of visual expression. Alexander Ekwam makes the water itself more than scenography. The story of this ballet is more modern than the original one. There are no more sorcerers changing women into swans. It is no more a good against evil tale where everybody perishes in the end.

The choreographer uses the element of composition in the manipulation of the dancers’ bodies in several ways. He also arranges them within the stage area, which brings a certain uniqueness making it fabulous. This dance video uses visual effects and props to catch the attention of the viewers. The choreographer is very visual and utilizes a lot of humor in his pieces, which is not common in modern dance. It looks fantastic upon viewing how the dancers move along the stage. The nature of the movement is that they dance with energy and move along the stage in a different pattern. They use different graduations of energy to perform movements that entail adding a dynamic quality to their movement. They use different movements such as sustained, swinging, vibratory, and percussive. The dancers are skilled in a way that they have a thorough knowledge of dance; they adapt to different types of moves, have confidence and self-belief, and physical fitness and stamina. The dancers’ skills and dance moves were appropriate for the mood and message of the piece.

The choreographer’s witty, inventive take on this ballet is one of the famous dance videos. It is a stage piece, part dance play, narrating the story of the very first disastrous production of Swan Lake in 1877. As it proceeds, the stage is filled with a lot of water, and the swans are given a 21st-century makeover in neoprene costumes. The choreographer of this dance video has demonstrated his unique ability to pair playfulness and wit. The multifaceted talent is reflected in the moves of the dancers and the music, light, and set brought together uniquely and surprisingly. It is the most impressive ballet. The dancers use different dance moves such as arabesque, battement tendu, and barre. This dance piece of choreography is one of the most well-known in the staging, famous for its dramatic cohesion and technical difficulty. In Swan Lake, the dances are unique with dope melody.

In conclusion, everything about this ballet dance is outstanding. The music is, in fact, glorious, and the choreography is full of energy with so many dramatic lifts. While the dancers go along with music, they happen to be incredible. A swan Lake dance is graceful, powerful, thoroughly professional, and one with excellent stamina. The sound is excellent, and the orchestra is wonderful. On the other hand, the story of the dance is simple yet powerful. Lastly, the lighting is effective and dramatic. I like the technique of the dancers, the costumes, and the music. All of them were lovely. The dancing is gorgeous, and the choreography is unique. Watching A Swan Lake by a Swedish choreographer and dancer feels so nice close to discovering an entirely new world, with its logic and norms.

Bottled Water Business

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Bottled Water Business

Discovering a market gap is key to entrepreneurs as it is them a basis to capitalize on the opportunity. Planning is essential in every business aspect. It’s important to have a comprehensive plan that highlights your mission, vision, key objectives, and market state, which will help analyze your opportunity to maximize and futuristic threats that may affect your operations as well as strength and weaknesses. When planning is complete, it is important to create a beguiling company profile that differentiates you from other businesses. One should also have required business licenses from national and various local government stakeholders. It will allow the business to run and also maintain hygiene. Create a business account as it is expensive to have separate ones. A business account gives your company legalities and creates trust among your customers.

Sources for bottled water can be amassed from both localized sources such as taps and natural ones such as springs and streams. So it’s best to determine the location of your business and the proximity of the raw material. Once the water has been collected from its source, it needs to undergo various purification processes from filtration to UV-lighting treatment to become purified. With your company logo and graphics, look for art that will be identified by your customers on your bottle. Choose a company bottle to print the bottle to your specifications ranging from size and color. With water packed in bottles digitally, the next key step is to know the product gets to your customers. It’s important to get reliable and cost-efficient means. It’s also an enormous advantage of having our business online as it creates a wider market reach to customers globally.

After getting the product to the customers, it is important to establish ways to keep the environment green by recycling the plastic water bottles. Waste management is critically important as it reduces the amounts of materials ending up in the fields as the adverse effects are vital not only to humans but also to other organisms in the ecosystem.

A SWOT Analysis of the Status Quo of Developing and Positioning Ma Wan as a Solar Panel Island

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Word Count: 1127

Introduction

The focus of the paper is on Ma Wan Island in relation to its branding as a solar panel destination. Ma Wan Island is a small island encircled by a residential complex complete with recreational spaces, big bridges, museums, and beaches and home to a lot of tourist attractions. Additionally, there is a Solar Tower scheduled to be a major boost to the local tourism sector as Ma Wan brands itself as a sustainable tourism destination. Ma Wan is a museum devoted to the history of Chinese astronomy, replete with a public solar telescope. The aim of this paper is to conduct an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the status quo of developing and positioning Ma Wan as a solar panel island. The paper presents the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and then provides recommendations.

Strengths

The richness of tourist attractions in Ma Wan is further complemented by developing and positioning Ma Wan as a solar panel island. Following recent global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, mass tourism can no longer be depended on. For tourist destinations and countries that wish to tourism tourism in a responsible manner, more must be done. Force, Manuel-Navarrete, and Benessaiah (2018) advocate for a change of tact turning major destinations into green and eco-friendly destinations. For major tourist locations such as Hong Kong, a new approach to tourism, such as alternative tourism, is thus necessary, as is the case with other emerging markets. Ma Wan has what it takes to achieve this, especially when the island is packaged and positioned as an eco-tourism destination.

Ma Wan’s solar tower and its perception as a green destination is a major strength as it will attract more people while operating on an eco-friendly platform. It promises not just ecotourism, and a unique form of alternative tourism in the global tourism industry. Gould (2017) expresses that these types of tourism are more likely to be conservationist, nature-oriented, or environmentally sensitive. Therefore, the perception of a green destination is an advantage for Ma Wan.

Weaknesses

The status quo of developing and positioning Ma Wan as a solar panel island will limit what the island is able to do in terms of expansion or incorporating new ideas. Despite the popularity of green tourism and alternative tourist activities, Cheng et al. (2018) assert that such activities may limit expansive measures that will be necessary in the later stages of the destination. For example, further activities to build larger establishments such as hotels and resorts to support tourism activities in the island will be hampered by the status quo of the solar panel island. Therefore, the status quo may reduce the growth of the island.

A major weakness of the status quo is that it may taint the image of the entire island if the perception does not meet the expectations of tourists and travellers. It is likely that the status quo of Ma Wan is a fake. Gould (2017) found that creating false perception of a tourist destination will affect the perception of all related products. For Ma Wan, the status quo may be damaging in the long term if the perception fails to meet expectations.

Opportunities

The status quo of developing and positioning Ma Wan as a solar panel island will likely open up opportunities to grow the entire island into an eco-friendly destination that incorporates elements of green tourism with full sustainability. Lenzen et al. (2018) found a growing demand for sustainable tourist destinations as more people aim to protect the natural environment. therefore, a deeper sense of sustainability and more actions to preserve the natural environment is an opportunity that can be explored in the future.

A transformative change in the tourism sector in Hon Kong is an opportunity that Ma Wan can use to grow in the future. Change in dynamic systems, such as tourism, depends on the cultural adaptation of the many individuals who participate (Zimmerman, 2018). It is essential for Ma Wan that it be able to adapt, which requires an evaluation of core values and how they are expressed in social structures, processes, and human actions. Therefore, the change is an opportunity for Ma Wan to grow and adapt.

Threats

The success of the status quo of developing and positioning Ma Wan as a solar panel island may be its own enemy and threat. Success will mean overcrowding and overtourism. For example, Milano, Novelli, and Cheer (2019) report how Asian top destinations in the Philippines and Thailand have lost their appeal due to visitors exceeding the ability of the local areas to cope. Therefore, success, albeit being what the Ma Wan management desires, may be a major threat to the long-term success of the destination.

Pollution and climate change are going to be the biggest threats to the status quo of developing and positioning Ma Wan as a solar panel island as rules and regulations being implemented will significantly reduce participation. Environmental degradation is at an alarming level (Hultberg, 2018). As more pollution and adverse effects of climate change are experienced, it is likely that more people will reduce global travel. Therefore, pollution is a threat to the branding and positioning of the destination as a solar panel island.

Recommendations

In line with the above analysis, it is recommended that Ma Wan pursues the image and status quo of developing and positioning itself as a solar panel island. The strengths and opportunities are too significant to ignore. The strengths of this approach will help the destination to explore the opportunities mentioned. However, the weaknesses must be addressed in order to enable Ma Wan to remain ready to meet the threats. The opportunities mentioned must be seized in order to create a wider portfolio for Ma Wan. As green tourism and alternative tourism expands, Ma Wan must position itself as a pioneer in the sector.

Conclusion

Branding Ma Wan as a solar panel island is in line with ecotourism and sustainable tourism. Ecotourism is the intentional and responsible travel to areas in the natural environment in a manner that safeguards the environment, supports the well-being of indigenous people, and incorporates interpretation and education. Such practices seek to educate the entire tourism stakeholders about environmental issues. The study faced a limitation and challenge of inadequate literature on Ma Wan’s approach. The research implication is that more research is needed in the field of destination branding for Hong Kong and Ma Wan. Specifically, data collection approaches will need to consider the analysis made, especially on the issue of the success of the project being a threat to its wellbeing. Implications of the discussion suggest their importance to policy and subsequent research. The implication on policy is that it will force Ma Wan to rethink attitudes towards sustainable tourism.

References

Cheng, J. C. H., Chiang, A. H., Yuan, Y., & Huang, M. Y. (2018). Exploring antecedents of green tourism behaviors: A case study in suburban areas of Taipei, Taiwan. Sustainability, 10(6), 1928.

Force, A., Manuel-Navarrete, D., & Benessaiah, K. (2018). Tourism and transitions toward sustainability: developing tourists’ pro-sustainability agency. Sustainability Science, 13(2), 431-445.

Gould, K. A. (2017). Ecotourism under pressure: The political economy of oil extraction and cruise ship tourism threats to sustainable development in Belize. Environmental Sociology, 3(3), 237-247.

Hultberg, P. (2018). Trade openness, economic growth, and environmental degradation in Asian developing countries. Journal of Applied Business and Economics, 20(5), 61.

Lenzen, M., Sun, Y. Y., Faturay, F., Ting, Y. P., Geschke, A., & Malik, A. (2018). The carbon footprint of global tourism. Nature Climate Change, 8(6), 522-528.

Milano, C., Novelli, M., & Cheer, J. M. (2019). Overtourism and tourismphobia: A journey through four decades of tourism development, planning and local concerns. Tourism Planning & Development, 16(4), 353-357.

Zimmermann, F. M. (2018). Does sustainability (still) matter in tourism (geography). Tourism Geographies, 20(2), 333-336.

EM 599 Research Proposal

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Major Factors of Cost Escalation in Construction Projects in Saudi Arabia

Abstract:

Cost escalation on construction projects, whether public or private, has a long history in almost all global projects. These escalations lead to an overrun of the initial budgets and a delay in the completion date. Many studies and researches have recognized factors that lead to increased project cost. After deep investigation of the previous literature review, we highlight major causes of this overrun. Twenty factors, which affect the cost of any project, have been identified. Engineers and researchers who identified these factors believed that we could improve the cost estimates for any projects by mitigating the influence of these factors.

Introduction:

Definition

By definition, cost escalation is a change in the initial budget of various goods or services of a given economy in a certain period. In construction projects, it refers to the additional amount of money required to execute and construct a project over the primary budget. Cost escalation occurs if the actual costs exceed the previous estimates. Escalation and inflation are almost similar except that escalation is for a particular item or a group of items in a project. For a long period, escalation will seem to be more-or-less equal to inflation since there is an up and down shift of the market supply and demand, unless efficient changes occur or there is an emergence of sustained technology in the market.

Examining the cost variation is usually calculated through price index measures (PIM), Wholesale Price Index (WPI), or Consumer Price Index (CPI). Unfortunately, the indices can be hard to establish since escalation can emerge in a micro-market and become difficult to quantify with surveys, unlike inflation.

In the context of project management and cost engineering, escalation is considered as risk funds, which should be part of any project estimates. When escalation is minimal, it can be controlled easily. On the other hand, it is not the best practice to execute, especially when escalation is significant.

Finishing projects on time within the initial cost is an indicator of efficiency. Unfortunately, the construction process is subject to many predicted and unpredicted factors.

1. Objectives of the study:

The main objective of this study is to identify the cost escalation factors in construction in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

2. Literature Review:

The History of Cost Escalation:

Cost escalation is a global problem almost in every area of the world especially on government highway projects. In India, most of the escalations on government projects come from the delay between the planning stage and the implementation stage. The last statistics show that around 77% of the highway projects in the United States experience cost escalation. For example, the construction of the Holland Tunnel in 1927, which is the longest underwater tunnel ever constructed. Its initial cost estimate done by renowned civil engineer George Washington is $12 million, and the execution will be done in three years. Another chief engineer takes care of the execution of the project, and when doing his analysis found that:

The proposed width is very narrow to accommodate all vehicles.

The concert will not hold the entire load.

The construction method, which is suggested by Gather, is not trivial.

The estimated cost and duration are very low.

These factors lead to the proposal of another scope of work and increased the cost to $28,669,000, and the execution will be done in 3.5 years. In addition, the schedule has also been changed. The inflation in materials and labor led to an increase in the cost of the project by $6 million. Fourteen (14) million has been added to the contract because of the scope creep. The ventilation system has been changed and affected the cost by $4,422,000 because of the change in the scope. These factors and others, such as unforeseen conditions and events, and challenges in controlling cost caused the final cost to be $48.8 million, and the execution will be done in 7 years. Moreover, Zambia faced the same problem over the past years, which spent huge resources on road construction projects. For example, in 2005, 2006 and 2007, the Zambia government spent around US$ 118.7, US$ 227, and US$197 million respectively. Overall Rail projects have the worst project underestimation record of accomplishment with an average cost escalation of 44.7% (Table 1)

Most of the time, estimated project costs increased multiple times during the years of construction. Usually, projects with a long lead-time and high budgets experience this problem more often than smaller projects with a low budget. If we revisit the Holland Tunnel example, we will notice that the cost has escalated eight times during execution. This is due to the scope creep, schedule delay, inflation, cost of labor and materials, unforeseen conditions, change in controlling costs, change in chief engineer’s position and a leak in the work force. In addition, when steel prices rose drastically in 2004, the cost of projects around the world also increased by almost double, from $300/TN to $600/TN.

Current Problem:

Managing execution of any project needs a lot of coordination between the employees and the organizations, and the technical issues need to be resolved in a timely manner. Furthermore, natural resources and materials need to be purchased and coordinated in an efficient way. Unfortunately, construct complex projects are dominated by social, economic, and political challenges. In Saudi Arabia, the construction industry is estimated to grow from the $80.2 billion of contract awards in 2011 to $86.1 billion by 2013 with the majority of the investments coming from the government. For example, the ministry of transportation executes roads projects of a length of more than nineteen (19) kilometers at a cost of forty two (42) billion SR. With this large number of projects, the government faces a major challenge in controlling the cost within a limited time because the many factors can interfere with the effect of the final cost. High demand in housing construction includes Saudi citizens, government public works projects, and housing projects. A shortage in resources such as cement, steel and other construction materials, lack of trained labor, and export of construction materials out of the kingdom lead to cost escalation. Large companies in Saudi Arabia, such as Saudi ARAMCO, SABIC, and Ma’and face this problem because of the gap between the design and the execution time. Another government sector facing the same problem is the education sector. Last statistics show that 700 (around 2.8%) school projects were put on hold due to securing logistics and cost of the land. Since 2003, the Kingdom spent over SR 6 ($1.6) billion to secure the land only.

2.1 Methodology:

Many researches and thorough studies have been conducted in order to find out the major factors leading to cost escalation. These factors were classified based on their nature as internals (controllable) and externals (uncontrollable). Internal factors are those that come from the organization itself and can be controlled under its authority. On the other hand, external factors refer to the factors that are out of the organization’s hands, and there is need to contact another organization such as the government or an act of God.

Methods in Research

Student’s Name

Institution Affiliation

Course Name and Code

Professor’s Name

Date

Methods in Research

Question 1

The term operationalization refers to the process of defining a factor or a concept into a measurable variable. Usually, operationalizing is crucial to a research study because it assists in the creation of research methodology. Once variables are operationalized in the study, the researcher can easily examine the relationship between them and define whether and how variation in one of the variables of interest may result in variation in the other.

A variable refers to something that has the potential to have more than one value or meaning, such as a number. For instance, age can be expressed in different years or months. There are two main different types of variables: independent and dependent variables. The most important difference between these two variables is that an independent variable’s value or presence defines the value of other variables, while the dependent variable’s values are determined by an independent variable’s value or presence. In a study examining the impact of virtual learning on student academic performance during the COVID-19 pandemic, the independent variable is virtual learning, while the dependent variable is academic performance. In this example, a student’s academic performance is determined by the adoption of virtual learning.

Question 2

Subjects, also referred to as participants or samples, are the individuals who participate in the study. To select a sample for a study, sampling is performed. Sampling is the procedure of selecting who to take part in the study and is determined by the nature of the research questions and variables in the study. The sampling frame or population is a group of people from whom the researcher selects their study sample. Sampling may take two forms, probability/random sampling and non-probability/purposeful sampling. The main difference between non-probability and probability sampling is that probability sampling gives all subjects in the sampling frame an equal chance of being selected to participate in the study since participants are chosen at random and without researcher bias. On the contrary, in non-probability sampling, all subjects in a sampling frame do not have equal chances of being selected to participate in the study, which is associated with researcher bias. Probability sampling is considered to be more scientifically valid compared to non-probability sampling. An example of random sampling is whereby if the researcher wants to choose ten people out of 100, the researcher will select the 10th person in every group of 10. On the other hand, an example of non-probability sampling is where a researcher chooses only individuals who engage in physical exercises, such as people who go to the gym, when examining the impact of physical exercise on mental health.

Question 3

My currently proposed research question examines how narcissism contributes to antisocial behavior in men. This proposed research question looks at the relationship between narcissism and antisocial behaviors among men. It also has both dependent and independent variables. In this research question, the independent variable is narcissism, while the dependent variable is antisocial behavior.

Question 4

In my currently proposed research question, which examines how narcissism contributes to antisocial behavior in men, I think the subject is to collect data from would-be male students in a US-based university who are above the age of 18 years. The sample frame that I might use to select to solicit these subjects from would be public universities in the US. I believe it will be more realistic to conduct a non-probability sampling for my proposed study because public universities have more male and female students, as well as male students below the age of 18 who would have wanted to participate in this study. Thus, using non-probability sampling will eliminate the chances of selecting these subjects.

Metropolitan Museum Assignment

Name

Institution

Introduction

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, popularly known as the MET, is a large museum that swarms with people and is filled with exquisite-looking works of art that look like nothing anyone has seen before. There are enormous paintings, ornaments and jewelry, and life-size sculptures placed in strategic places for the sight and pleasure of all museum visitors. It was my first time in the museum, and I was keen on finding art about modern history. Such art in the Met dates from early 1900 to the present. I found four such works of art.

Chance Encounter at 3 A.M. by Red Grooms

The oil on canvas painting by Red Grooms caught my eye instantly because it appeared like a comical cartoon cut-out from a newspaper or magazine. Upon close inspection, I realized there was much more detail to it. Two men were sitting on a bench by a railed park, and another was walking by in front of them with his dog. Close to them stands the statue of an Italian war hero, only known as ‘Garibaldi.’ Rounded cars are winding around a corner further in the background, meaning that perhaps the painting was set in the 1960s. The art also features the words of George Washington on an arch overlooking a block of buildings. The painting is set in early in the evening.

Red Grooms made the painting in 1984. I imagine that it relates to the theme of historical leadership and artistic pursuits of the modern art movement. Looking hard at the faces of the seated men, I noticed the faces belonged to Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning, who were both famous artists of the modern era. The painting draws an observer to reflect on the opportunities and prospects for contemporary political leadership based on the political climate in the Ronald Reagan era.

The Banks of the Bièvre near Bicêtre by Henri Rousseau (circa. 1908-09)

The first thing I thought looking at the painting was what calming effect it had on my mind. The painting was available in Gallery 911 at The Met Fifth Avenue. It depicted a neighborhood covered with tall trees and lush vegetation, and people walking on a pathway. The oil on canvas painting was created by Henri Rousseau (Hoving, T. 1994) in 1909. The landscape also shows a river that flows between two trees past the gated neighborhood.

The unique painting tells a story about social classes (high and low society) and the pollution of the environment in Rousseau’s time (1844- 1910). I noticed that a woman walking on the path was dressed like a maid, and she was holding a basket. The river also appeared to have dark water. These two observations were in sharp contrast to everything else in the painting, which seemed to be magnificent. In my opinion, Henri Rousseau was trying to show the beautiful side of a middle-class community in Paris without ignoring their interaction with their immediate surroundings.

The Street Pavers by Umberto Boccioni (1914)

Umberto Boccioni was among the first Italian pioneers of the Modern Art movement. His oil on canvas painting, which sits in Gallery 830 of the Met Fifth Avenue, appears to be brushes and strokes of many colors and particular shapes. The painting shows men chipping off with their tools on the street. It is clear from the use of sharp rectangles and linear forms in the art that the men were performing a hard task. They appeared to be fully bent over, and all their tools were on the ground, perhaps in forceful contact.

The 1914 painting, to me, depicts the life and plight of Italian laborers in the early twentieth century. I imagine the use of bright colors like blue and orange is meant to celebrate the modern laborer. The theme of urban development is evident in the painting, considering the street pavers’ faces are blurred to blend in with the street setting they are working on. I thought it was interesting that such a painting made in 1914 looked like it had been imagined when the Labor Movement of the United States was declining in 1920.

Dancer Putting on Her Stocking (Third State)

The last piece I observed was the first 1920 bronze cast of Edgar Degas’ sculpture. The wax sculpture is of a young girl pulling up the right stocking with the leg raised. The sculpture is a symbol of sports and the contemporary urban lifestyle. Dances and theatre performance is a significant feature in French history and culture and a valid form of recreation.

Conclusion

My visit to the MET was an exciting and insightful experience. I learned that so much had happened in past civilizations to put us where we are. The modern paintings and sculptures told stories urban and rural life, politics and leadership, and other activities that were relevant in the 20-21st century.

References

Hoving, T. (1994). Making the mummies dance: Inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. simon and schuster.

Howe, W. E. (1913). A History of the Metropolitan Museum of Art: With a Chapter on the Early Institutions of Art in New York (Vol. 1). Printed at the Gilliss Press.

Villaespesa, E. (2019). Museum collections and online users: development of a segmentation model for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Visitor Studies, 22(2), 233-252.