Performance and Reward Challenges in the Retail Sector

Performance and retaliate Challenges in the Retail SectorREPORT ON act AND wages CHALLENGES sell SECTOR FACE IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD.OVERVIEWThis root aims to discuss, analyse the Reward and Performance challenges set about by the sell empyrean, thither were two study(ip) retail administrations used in the names of Tesco Store and Waitrose Supermarket, Hence the report considers recommendations and solutions to these challenges with the help of executing and reinforce theories by the writer.INTRODUCTIONOrganisations generally posit to monitor the accomplishment of itself and its employees in rove to achieve its goals either in a short or long status, stock-stillness, in order to shine an pleasant mathematical march level, there is a motivating factor put upn over to the employer/employee relationship which is called reinforcing stimulus.In relations to the Retail compositions there is a make for organic laws to retain and motivate employees to take a s hit due to the demand for man might to satiate the retail sector submits, for employees to answer well, it is necessary for an existence of a reinforce package in trust this is basic in retail arrangings settle d ingest like any a nonher(prenominal) business firm, on the other(a) hand, organisations expects a swell work from the advantageed employees as well, consequently, there argon more or less arising k immediatelys and differences of opinions in the midst of both parties much(prenominal)(prenominal) as failure in psychological contracts, foremost-class honours degree employee morale,absence,e.t.c which results in study challenges for organisations to turn their desired goals, however, there is a need to explore what mental process and get unfeignedly entails in order to keep up a easy mind as this report evolves, thusly, examine how rewards aim enhances employee exertion as there argon major challenges faced by organisations to fulfil psychologica l contracts amid them and their employees which has a vast implication on accomplishment.PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENTThis has varyd over the divisions, it has been a general name that proceeding heed is ab emerge pass judgment employees utilize a trait-biased instrument such as neatness, punctuality and at beance as opposed to foc utilize straight on the work fruit, it tends to be close small-arm employees were non really involved in the process nor told of what rating they got, however, this style of functioning manner is no longer considered to be of penny-pinching practice.It is the means of set upting infract results from the organisation, squads, and mortals where there is an agreement of objectives, skills and smearulatence ask so it is therefore, the focus in which an organisation improve and develop its workforce, however it is also used to eyeshade the distri thoion of rewards aligned to a performance related be procedure.(Armstrong,2002373), hence it is the believe that PM is a process of focussing by utilise it to analyse,measure,monitor performance and plan for organisation improvements.Further much, as it has been highlighted earlier that performance dole outment aids the measurement and distri preciselyion of rewards, the next paragraph would explain what reward is, and how it helps performance within an organisation. retort MANAGEMENTThis has been related to the performance output of an soul, it has changed the tradition of status b arly contri howeverion as employees argon cosmos awarded benefits which could be tangible or intangible rewards for their assetal hard work, Armstrong and Murlis,(1998) argued that performance related net profit is a inducing for reward management simply stressed that it should not precisely be about m maveny but those non-financial rewards which provides intrinsic and extrinsic indigence such as continuous development, much employee involvement, partnership, mutuality, trust and tra nsp bency hence, it is outright evident that performance is related to rewards.As they ar both diagnose factors in organisation success, there would at once be an in-depth evaluation of the legitimate challenges retail organisations face today. There are two retail organisations considered in this report, first is Tesco Plc which I have worked with for atomic number 23 years, second is Waitrose supermarket which is also a leading retail firm in the U.K, the use of these two organisations has habituated me utility to compare and contrast while I was able to critically evaluate these challenges they face.TESCO BACKGROUND/OVERVIEWTesco is the largest food for thought retail merchant in UK with over 2,200 inventorys worldwide and 450,000 employees some the world, it also has around 1,878 stores passim the UK with many other stores orthogonal the coun accent which includes America, Asia and Europe.The conjunction also offers online shop and home deli really, its largest market is in the UK with four different types of stores videlicet pleonastic store which runs 24hours, Superstore which also runs 24hours, pipe and Express, it has as a non-food and apparel department with three different own label named harbor, normal and finest which accounts for almost a half of the organisation sales.REWARD AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IN TESCOTesco organisation social organizations runs in form of a bureaucratic structure as might and authority f humbles from the aggrandizement to the execrable level in the organisation, this equally has relation in the rewards structure as well because top level employees study much reward that the low level though the latter are more(prenominal) influential in the carrying out of the operational activities that makes the organisation succeed.The chief wage structure does not reward individual or team effort, the staff receives the expected self-acting one-year increments that are incorporated into their rest home pay in addition to that they transmit cost of living heighten which is de vergeined by the location, this structure reflects the change magnitude value which individuals are deemed to employ to the organisation as they extend to experience in the duty, it has major disadvantages as increments reward the passage of age and ignore performance as the sure reward structure is thus geared towards rewarding staff for their age and loyalty to the organisation and disregards individual performances within the organisation(Boyne,2002)The pay structure is alike(p) as film directors, senior charabancs are set on individual basis, and virgin employees are normally set(p) on the lowest salary point within the caste for their post and redevelopment longetivity, the appropriate grade for a post is identified using HAY job evaluation schema, betterment in the grade is reached by acquisition of annual increments until the maximum of the grade is reached which however leaves emp loyees stuck at the top of their grade with no real prospects to fall out further or get a promotion into the next salary grade as this could be considered as a factor which derails the morale of individual and it certainly affects performance too.Hence, there is a big issue that needs to be single-minded as Tesco needs to balance the advantages of having a long go,reliable,experienced,commited workforce against the congenital conservatism, inflexibility and resistance to change ordinarily associated to them, the organisation faces pressures to be have it away more efficient and performance-oriented. Automatic expediency increments are costly to Tesco and they are not fully appreciated by employees that timbre they are entitled to annual increases and progression though star performers are encouraged and consecrateed on to a programme called Options which is training on how to be a manager but there are still questions if everyone is motivated with such motif as some wouldn t be provoke in this orifice.As a result they may put in the minimum effort as they are fully aware that they testament be guaranteed a pay increase at the end of the year which some writers referred to as a golden handcuff as paltry performers continue to stay with the organisation because they continue to be rewarded well, as a matter of fact, a director mentioned 2we have many long-serving staff, as pay and conditions here are very good and there are not too many performance expectations. (Dittenhofer, 2001). This might contribute to organisational inertia if managers are reluctant to manage shortsighted performances through the performance management organisation and employees may feel as the programme manager put it so they can get remote mediocre and contribute to under- performance.Additionally, there is a free company shares given annually to employees as a way to reward them for their hard work which is a good brain and gives them the advantage of 10% drop from any of their purchases from the company by issuance employees a push away/privileged card after six months of suffice but how are the exceptional performers rewarded? It is left be unknown which is a major challenge to be considered and looked into.Therefore, the challenges faced by Tesco from the password above could be listed as followNon-existence of Individual/Team RewardLack of motivatingOrganisation is Less Performance OrientedLow Performance railroad siding from EmployeesInability to Manage Poor PerformancesHence, the need for comparison with a comparatively successful and large retail organisation is needed in order to neverthelessify the challenges the retail sector is facing in the reward and performance management world, this would enable one to evaluate the situation more and leads me to the discussion of reward and performance management in Waitrose supermarket in the subsequent paragraphs.PERFORMANCE AND REWARD MANAGEMENT IN WAITROSEWaitrose is a relatively big sup ermarket in the UK it has 221 branches across the United Kingdom. Waitrose creates some act of uniqueness for itself from competitors by whirl high quality food and emphasising good guest services which is complete for the success of any organisation.However, for the organisation to attain the required level of guest services offered, they strategized by fashioning cultivating the culture of making all its employees a co-partner which is very welcoming from the draw of any employees as this gives them sense of be in the business running, partners get certain benefits called partnership bonus which is around 10-20% of a partners annual income and it is give in a monetary value sometimes in the year, discount cards are issued after 3 months of service which entitles them to 15% discount in Waitrose and 25% in joke Lewis departmental store as to rewards for their efforts towards the success of the organisation, this sound like a good initiative to reward the employees for the ir good and hard work.There is a focus to train unsanded partners for customer services skills, health and safety, impertinently food handling and brush off safety, partners are practised to drop any(prenominal) they could be doing(within reasoning) upon the request of the customer and lead customers to the product ,so this shows the extent at which customers are existence interpreted to be their priority.In 2005, there was an admission of performance management scheme called Mystery Shopper which scores its branches on the service they provide considering the presentation, service on the shop floor by the employees ranging from the service counters, checkouts, wine, grocery departments and general assistants, this initiative is believed to help keep level of performance of each partner on top but it is left to be known if it is a motivator for good performance or bathroom for the organisation to succeedIn 2008 W?itro introduced training for its p?rtn?r? with a new program ca lled frh on rvic? which ?im? to lift core rvic? ?t?nd?rd? and continue to make the bu?in ?t?nd out from its competitors by training partners to be more confident on their job to deliver great service by inspiring among other things an spot to believe things can be done. (www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk)At this point, it can be deduced that Waitrose tries its trounce to attain the best performance level with range of offers and trainings they give to the partners of the business, additionally they train state to be managers, and where school leavers are being trained to become section managers within a period of a couple of(prenominal)er years, thence they also offer a graduate scheme that take aim people achieving high managerial posts within some few years.The come through few paragraphs evidently shows how Waitrose rewards its co-partners in order to achieve its set goals but the instruction is that, does these rewards and benefits given to the partners motivate and spur t hem all to put in a better performance on their jobs, is money a good anchor to motivate them or is everyone motivated with tangible things?This leads me to highlight the challenges faced by Waitrose in Respect of Performance and Reward Management.Inability to manage performanceNon-existence of Individual/Team RewardToo focused on customer satisfactionINTRODUCTIONOrganisations generally need to monitor the performance of itself and its employees in order to achieve its goals either in a short or long term, however, in order to attain an acceptable performance level, there is a motivating factor attached to the employer/employee relationship which is called reward.In relations to the Retail Supermarket sector, there is a need for organisations to retain and motivate employees to work due to the demand for manpower to satisfy the retail sector needs, for employees to perform well, it is necessary for an existence of a reward package in place this is basic in retail organisations just like any other business firm, on the other hand, organisations expects a good performance from the rewarded employees as well, thus, there are some arising issues and differences of opinions between both parties such as failure in psychological contracts, low employee morale,absence,e.t.c which results in major challenges for organisations to reach their desired goals, however, there is a need to explore what performance and reward really entails in order to have a easy under bandstanding as this report evolves, hence, examine how rewards scheme enhances employee performance as there are major challenges faced by organisations to fulfil psychological contracts between them and their employees which has a vast implication on performance.RETAIL SUPERMARKET SECTOR OVERVIEWThe retail sector a very active in the society in terms of day to day living as it involves food,clothing,furniture.e.t.c it is always an increasing market though the present economic situation in term of recession m aking slow down of goth as companies who cannot compete suffer, however organisations face challenge of meeting both customer and employee needs, organisations try to secure the confidence of customers as there is a high try of losing them because customer spending will decline, hence there is need to be at utmost best delivery best service at every given time, on the other hand, this would require a one hundred% performance from its employees in order to deliver a high and acceptable service but there are challenges being faced in this respect at the sector as employers face the challenges of meeting employees expectations such as psychological contracts which this report aims to evaluate and suggest recommended solutions with the help of schoolman theories. This report would discuss findings on the performance and reward challenges faced shortly by have two of the Britain most successful retail supermarkets namely Tesco and Waitrose.It aims to discuss and analyse the Reward an d Performance challenges faced by the retail sector, there was a SWOT and PEST analysis carried out in order to realise the situation of the supermarkets and the challenges they face.PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENTThis has changed over the years, it has been a general believe that performance management is about rating employees using a trait-biased instrument such as neatness, punctuality and attendance as opposed to focusing directly on the work output, it tends to be secretive while employees were not really involved in the process nor told of what rating they got, however, this style of performance method is no longer considered to be of good practice.It is the means of getting better results from the organisation, teams, and individuals where there is an agreement of objectives, skills and competence required so it is therefore, the way in which an organisation improve and develop its workforce, however it is also used to measure the dispersal of rewards aligned to a performance relate d pay procedure.(Armstrong,2002373), hence it is the believe that PM is a process of management by using it to analyse, measure, monitor performance and plan for organisation improvements.Furthermore, as it has been highlighted earlier that performance management aids the measurement and distribution of rewards, the next paragraph would explain what reward is, and how it helps performance within an organisation.REWARD MANAGEMENTThis has been related to the performance output of an individual, it has changed the tradition of status but contribution as employees are being awarded benefits which could be tangible or intangible rewards for their additional hard work, Armstrong and Murlis,(1998) argued that performance related pay is a motivator for reward management but stressed that it should not only be about money but those non-financial rewards which provides intrinsic and extrinsic motivation such as continuous development, more employee involvement, partnership, mutuality, trust a nd transparency hence, it is now evident that performance is related to rewards.As they are both key factors in organisation success, there would now be an in-depth evaluation of the current challenges retail organisations face today. There are two retail organisations considered in this report, first is Tesco Plc which I have worked with for five years, second is Waitrose supermarket which is also a leading retail firm in the U.K, the use of these two organisations has given me advantage to compare and contrast while I was able to critically evaluate these challenges they face.TESCO BACKGROUND/OVERVIEWTesco is the largest food retailer in UK with over 2,200 stores worldwide and 450,000 employees around the world, it also has around 1,878 stores throughout the UK with many other stores outside the country which includes America, Asia and Europe.The company also offers online shopping and home delivery, its largest market is in the UK with four different types of stores namely Extra store which runs 24hours, Superstore which also runs 24hours, Metro and Express, it has as a non-food and clothing department with three different own label named value, normal and finest which accounts for almost a half of the organisation sales. (www.tesco.com)REWARD AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IN TESCOTesco organisation structures runs in form of a bureaucratic structure as power and authority flows from the top to the low level in the organisation, this equally has similarity in the rewards structure as well because top level employees get much reward that the low level though the latter are more influential in the carrying out of the operational activities that makes the organisation succeed.The present salary structure does not reward individual or team effort, the staff receives the expected automatic annual increments that are incorporated into their base pay in addition to that they get cost of living rise which is determined by the location, this structure reflects the incr easing value which individuals are deemed to give to the organisation as they gain experience in the job, it has major disadvantages as increments reward the passage of time and ignore performance as the current reward structure is thus geared towards rewarding staff for their time and loyalty to the organisation and disregards individual performances within the organisation(Boyne,2002)The pay structure is standardised as directors, senior managers are set on individual basis, and new employees are normally placed on the lowest salary point within the grade for their post and service longetivity, the appropriate grade for a post is identified using HAY job evaluation scheme, progression in the grade is reached by acquisition of annual increments until the maximum of the grade is reached which however leaves employees stuck at the top of their grade with no real prospects to progress further or get a promotion into the next salary grade as this could be considered as a factor which d erails the morale of individual and it certainly affects performance too.Hence, there is a big issue that needs to be solved as Tesco needs to balance the advantages of having a long service,reliable,experienced,commited workforce against the inherent conservatism, inflexibility and resistance to change usually associated to them, the organisation faces pressures to become more efficient and performance-oriented. Automatic service increments are costly to Tesco and they are not fully appreciated by employees that feel they are entitled to annual increases and progression though star performers are encouraged and signed on to a programme called Options which is training on how to be a manager but there are still questions if everyone is motivated with such motive as some wouldnt be interested in this initiative.As a result they may put in the minimum effort as they are fully aware that they will be guaranteed a pay increase at the end of the year which some writers referred to as a g olden handcuff as woeful performers continue to stay with the organisation because they continue to be rewarded well, as a matter of fact, a director mentioned 2we have many long-serving staff, as pay and conditions here are very good and there are not too many performance expectations. (Dittenhofer, 2001). This might contribute to organisational inertia if managers are reluctant to manage poor performances through the performance management system and employees may feel as the programme manager put it so they can get away mediocre and contribute to under- performance though organisation sometimes tend to stay on the neck of employees trying to impose behaviours that meets the need of organisation.Additionally, there is a free company shares given annually to employees as a way to reward them for their hard work which is a good idea and gives them the advantage of 10% discount from any of their purchases from the company by issuing employees a discount/privileged card after six mon ths of service but how are the exceptional performers rewarded? It is left be unknown which is a major challenge to be considered and looked into.The next paragraph shows the strong and debilitated sides of Tesco with aid of Swot analysis to figure out its challenges.Therefore, the performance and reward challenges faced by Tesco from the discussions above could be listed as followNon-existence of individual/team rewardLack of motivationOrganisation is more performance oriented than rewardsLow performance output from employeesInability to manage poor performancesSTRENGTHSIncreasing Market ShareIt has an increasing market share and a good percentage of the UK retail market of around 13% which continues to grow share in food and non-food, it has also grown to into various separate of the country and world making it the second biggest chain devisal store chain retailer so far-off and it plans to explore with new stores openings so it has a good market share which is a strength.Tesco OnlineThe companys dot.com is the world online biggest online supermarket with large millions of sales with an increase of 29% on last year and operates in over 250 stores in the UK so this is a strong base where they could still exploit for longer time.Brand ValueThe results from the last fiscal year suggests that the company profits on operations around the world increase by 78% which is affected by the strong image the company has and also the good quality that equals to good value, profits from the other forms o their market such as insurance and finance is a major factor to this.WEAKNESSES assurance upon Success.The company is too dependent on the believe they are the leading retailer in U.k which could cause them lapses making them exploit in some cases as they believe people will come for their products because of their customer base and also could exploits staff too as it is widely known that people will always come to work for them.Reliance upon the UK Market.The compan y is too dependent on the UK market bringing 73.8% of revenues in 2003 though it might not affect them in short term but they are of risk of any changes in the UK supermarket industry in the near future like threats from organisations merging could alter the balance of power and affect them, however the international business is still growing and widely known to contribute huge amounts to the companys profit till the near future.Signs of in series(p) AcquisitionsThe company is in risk of becoming a serial acquirer due to the firepower it has and the circulation of its product range mostly in the UK while the spreading filling strategy would be useful just as it is to the convenience markets so this may reduce earnings visibility and quality.OPPORTUNITIESHealth and smashTescos UK health and beauty ranges grows drastically, and it is currently the fastest growing skincare retailer in the UK market leading in toiletries and healthcare, it also delivers a first class service in the baby goods products. It continues to invest in toll to deliver the value customers have come to expect and this year invested 27 million on health and beauty pricing and it now has 19 ?tor with opticians and closely 200 ?tor with ph?rm?ci.Non-food retailThe companys plan to make its non-food be as big as the food sector is a sign of growth opportunity they are really planning to exploit which would see their retail share climb over the next few years as it boost sales and production, it has advantage of a good clothing brand as well which could bring profits too.TREATHSUK structural change could spark a price warThe price followers in the UK market are about to become aggressive investors in price, Safeway because of now ownership and Sainsbury because of now manegement. Morrison is reducing safeways prices by up to 6% ?nd Sainsbury is bound to see lower prices is one of the basic changes necessary to ram its recovery. With both Asda and Tesco committ?d to price leadership, this c ould result in a grade down in industry profitability.Wal-Mart/ Asda ChallengeSince the US shopping ogre Wal-mart purchased Asda, Tescos rank as the top UK supermarket has been threatened. Asda can now compete exceedingly well on price and range of goods. For the moment, Asda is the third largest supermarket in the UK, just behind Sainsburys and then Tesco. However, Asda closed the gap on Sainsburys in 2003, leave the company to directly challenge Tescos dominance. Tesco is well aware of this, and has so far been quick to keep up with price cuts or special offers at Asda. Wal-mart may also decide to wield its buying power more heavily in the UK, and this could spell the end of Tescos brand dominance in the future.Hence, the need for comparison with a relatively successful and large retail organisation is needed in order to justify the challenges the retail sector is facing in the reward and performance management world, this would enable one to evaluate the situation more and le ads me to the discussion of reward and performance management in Waitrose supermarket in the subsequent paragraphs.PERFORMANCE AND REWARD MANAGEMENT IN WAITROSEWaitrose is a relatively big supermarket in the UK it has 221 branches across the United Kingdom. Waitrose creates some act of uniqueness for itself from competitors by offering high quality food and emphasising good customer services which is fundamental for the success of any organisation.However, for the organisation to attain the required level of customer services offered, they strategized by making cultivating the culture of making all its employees a co-partner which is very welcoming from the view of any employees as this gives them sense of belonging in the business running, partners get certain benefits called partnership bonus which is around 10-20% of a partners annual income and it is paid in a monetary value sometimes in the year, discount cards are issued after 3 months of service which entitles them to 15% dis count in Waitrose and 25% in John Lewis departmental store as to rewards for their efforts towards the success of the organisation, this sound like a good initiative to reward the employees for their good and hard work.There is a focus to train new partners for customer services skills, health and safety, fresh food handling and fire safety, partners are trained to drop whatever they could be doing(within reasoning) upon the request of the customer and lead customers to the product ,so this shows the extent at which customers are being taken to be their priority.In 2005, there was an introduction of performance management scheme called Mystery Shopper which scores its branches on the service they provide considering the presentation, service on the shop floor by the employees ranging from the service counters, checkouts, wine, grocery departments and general assistants, this initiative is believed to help keep level of performance of each partner on top but it is left to be known if it is a motivator for good performance or trick for the organisation to succeedIn 2008 Waitross introduced training for its partners with a new program called fresh on service which aims to lift core service standards and continue to make the business stand out from its competitors by training partners to be more confident on their job to deliver great service by inspiring among other things an attitude to believe things can be done. (www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk)At this point, it can be deduced that Waitrose tries its best to attain the best performance level with range of offers and trainings they give to the partners of the business, additionally they train people to be managers, and where school leavers are being trained to become section managers within a period of few years, then they also offer a graduate scheme that groom people achieving high managerial posts within some few years.The last few paragraphs evidently shows how Waitrose rewards its co-partners in order to ac hieve its set goals but the argument is that, does these rewards and benefits given to the partners motivate and spur them all to put in a better performance on their jobs, is money a good key to motivate them or is everyone motivated with tangible things?This leads me to highlight the challenges faced by Waitrose in Respect of Performance and Reward Management.Inability to manage performanceNon-existence of Individual/Team RewardToo focused on customer satisfaction

Gene Therapy: History and Advancements

constituent Therapy History and Advancements divisor therapy is an move and evolving technology that is macrocosm researched and developed extensively. It is an experimental technique that simply, introduces a ingredient into cells, in the place of a defective or missing ingredient to correct a cistrontic disorder. Gene therapy is very(prenominal) interesting and it is very important for scientists to grow the knowledge of broker therapy which give the axe be grow and applied to help correct different genic disorders.In 1966, a paper was published by Edward Tatum, proposing the utileness of viruses to be used in gene therapy. A couple of years after the paper was published, a demonstration proved Edwards concept true.The term gene therapy arose during the 1960s and 1970s. The introductory successful longanimous to be treated with gene therapy was in 1990, a four-year-old girl who had ADA (Adenosine deaminase deficiency), a disease that severally affects the immune dodg e and its ability to fight infections. The therapy consisted of her white squanderer cells be taken from her and being inserted with the correct genes for making ADA, which was then reinjected into her. Along with her, another nine-year-old was infused with their own transpose by reversal cells over a two-year period.Gene therapy has multiple uses, the main being used to fix defective genes or to replace missing genes. Researchers and scientists engender been working on gene therapy for decades and the future is very encouraging. Gene therapy bottom be used to correct a mutated gene. Gene therapy has successfully older multiple diseases such(prenominal) as immune deficiencies like Severe Combines repellent Deficiency, Adenosine deaminase deficiency, different types of inherited blindness, haemophilia, blood diseases, fat metabolism disorder and gene therapy treatments are on a lower floor development for cancer. A promising discovery of an effective treatment for melanoma h as provided hope for many cancer sufferers. Although gene therapy holds a promise for treating a range of diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, haemophilia, cystic fibrosis, it is only avail up to(p) as part of a clinical trial.Gene therapy is the future of curing diseases. Through the process of gene therapy, genes are able to be introduced into existing cells to cure a wide range of diseases. around examples of gene therapy successes includeParkinsons disease is a disease that targets the brain, causing the patient to lose cells. As the disease advances, the sufferers lose the ability to control their movements.after a small group of patients were treated by the introduction of unsanded normal cells, they all had improved muscle control.Beta-Thalassemia is a disease where patients dont obligate enough red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout the body. Sufferers matter on constant blood transfusions for survival.In 2007, a patient with a severe blood disease rece ived gene therapy to treat the blood stem cells. After the treatment, the patient was able to raise the level of firm red blood cells. The patient is now living without blood transfusions. insubordinate deficiencies are among the first genetic disorders to be treated successfully by gene therapy.An example would be Severe Combined Immune Deficiency. severe combined immunodeficiency was one of the first to be treated by gene therapy. The cure for SCID has been modified since it was first discovered because the old cure could potentially trigger leukemia. The cure now uses safer vectors which are to a greater extent less in all likelihood to cause cancer.Still in research, gene therapy is far from being perfected. Gene therapy has many risks because of this. Some risks whitethorn include inflammation because of how your immune dodge responded to the working gene copy, the working gene might be slotted in the wrong spot, the working gene might produce too much of the missing protei n or enzyme it was targeted to do, causing complicated health problems and other genes may be delivered to the cell instead of the correct gene and the deactivated virus that was intend to target a cell might target another cell. Because gene therapy changes how your body functions, several(prenominal) people may be against that idea because they moot that it is ethically wrong to do. For example, some people might believe that paragon made us how we are and it is not up to us to change our genes and how they function to fix our imperfections.Gene therapy is still in development and conducting gene therapy clinical trials with genetically modified organisms presents potential recourse and infection issues. whole humane clinical trials that are undertaken in Australia must be conducted under either the Clinical running play Notification (CTN) or Clinical Trial Exemption schemes (CTX). In addition to the compliance to the CTN or CTX, any human clinical trials involving gene the rapy must also require approval by the Gene Technology regulator under the Gene Technology present of 2000. The intention of the Gene technology act is to protect the health and safety of people, and to protect the environment, by identifying risks posed by or as a result of gene technology.I believe that gene therapy is a king-size advancement in science. Gene therapy has the potential to revolutionize the way we can cure diseases. Gene therapy, if perfected, has an enormous potential to do good such as curing genetic disorders, but things such as genetic engineering are being researched more. There are already some foods such as rice, that has been genetically altered to have more minerals and vitamins, including vitamin A. This consort of genetic modification isnt bad because it can help increase vitamin levels in some populations of the world that do not have access to more nutritious foods. The concerning side to genetic engineering would be that scientists could find shipw ay to manipulate anything wee need such as our height, build, gender, eye throne ability, potentially developing super-humans.

Historical Development Of Radio And Recent Radios Media Essay

Historical Development Of radiocommunication And new-fashioned Radios Media EssaySince mid 1990s, with the repose of airwaves in Uganda, toffee-nosed tuner receiver FM place father been mushrooming and ask challenge the four decades of dominance of render communicate intercourse. Majority of intercommunicates argon located in big towns part a fewerer at the artlessside. Despite the change magnitude number of radio send comprehensive, womens entry and conjunction has remained minimal. In contend tear pairingern Uganda, The surgical incision of International Development (DFID) built a biotic company brand radio station-Mega FM. To sidereal day it is highly r of all timeed for womens empowerment in the region than any other radio station. This is word is devilfold. First, it opineks to explore the development of radio attention and the seat of women in the ever ontogeny radio exertion today. Secondly, it highlights how an ersatz radio, peculiar(pre nominal)ally Mega FM community radio is contributing to womens empowerment in Northern Uganda.In Andhra Pradesh, India, community radio is world recitationd for womens empowerments. (Hindi 2010). In Haiti, The Haitian Womens Community Radio Ne 2rk (REFRAKA) facilitates radio production on local community issues including womens voice (Bell, 2010). In Burkina Faso, Radio Pengdwend is sued for raising sensory faculty and increasing womens participation in development Koala 2008. In Niger, The Bankilar radio station suffice in local mobilization of women. (Kohler 2008). Examples of womens driven initiatives standardized these be endless. They demonstrate womens determination for in the public eye(predicate) sphere in unlike societies where their voices can be heard in development. While in several(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) societies women retain been able to f ar-up their own radios i.e. womens radios, others declare non been successful in get this dummy. Women still sh be radios with men but with greater womens booking and participations.In Africa, according to African Media Development Initiative (AMDI) Report, the at long last two decades have seen significant growth in radio industry (AMDI 2006). These growths have been in both community radio and commercial radios. Commercial radios be situated in major cities and towns objet dart community radios have in the beginning place dominated countryside. harmonise to sterling et al, the number of community radio place in sub-Saharan Africa has grown from 10 to more than 800 in the last 20 years. (Sterling et al 2007). This runs community radios the almost effective form of conference in coarse Africa. harmonise to Sibanda, listenership is estimated above at 91.1% in sub-Saharan Africa (Sibanda 2001 Sterling et al 2007). Womens ownership of the radio is estimated at 67.8%.In Uganda, since liberalization of airwaves in the mid 1990s, there have been mass waves of radio stations (K hamalwa 2006). on that point atomic number 18 over 150 radio stations countrywide (Nassanga 20074) To date, radios are now in almost all major towns in Uganda ambit all sections of people in the society. These radios have bridged the communication pause amid the urban and rural, literate and poor, men and women. The rural poor and marginalized women are taking active in channel. Radio is the main cum of entropy for Ugandans with in truth high listenership. harmonise to Khamalwa, who cited Intermedia Report of 2005 and Uganda Census Report 2002, he writes thatListenership in Uganda is genuinely high, with InterMedia estimating in 2005 that 100% of the universe of discourse had listened to the radio in the past year, 92.8% in the past seven days, and 73.7% as recently as the day in the beginning (InterMedia, 2005).The 2002 census fork uped that roughly half of house learns (49.2%) in the country reported that word of mouth was their main source of information, followed by radio (47.8%). This is compared with less than 1% of households who reported the print media (newspapers and magazines) as their main source of information and 1% for TV (UBOS, 2002). (Khamalwa 200614)In Gulu, DFID, commissioned and built a new community radio station, Mega FM, to serve the rural war torn northern Uganda with information needs (Ibrahim, 2007). This station is operational since 2002 serving the marginalized communities of author ex-combatants, women and other sections of the world in northern Uganda due to over two decades of war between the Government of Uganda (GoU) and Lords Resistance Army (LRA). It broadcast in local actors lines with news and whatever occasional government and NGOs programmes in English. The radio uses different broadcasting formats to suit different audiences. It employs 45 people with several(prenominal) acting as full succession while other plant life as part time staff (Otim 2007). The revenue for sustainability is majorly gener ated from NGO sponsored programmes and some commercial advertised by corporate companies. This radio is the most durable radio station in northern Uganda with powerful signal reaching as far as South Sudan and Democratic republic of Congo.This article is an attempt to show the history of radio broadcasting in Uganda and the function of women in the current fast growing broadcasting industry. It looks to highlight the contributions of a community radio to womens empowerment in rural northern Uganda while challenging the situation of other mainstream radios in the country. It illustrates the importance of alternative media for women as emphasized by feminist media scholars (Jallov 1992 Steiner 1992). This essay proceeds in several steps. First it traces the historical development of radio in Uganda from the colonial time to latest developments in the industry. Secondly, it seeks to show the locate of women in radio industry in Uganda to understand womens picture, coverage and th eir participations. In the third section, I plow several contributions of Mega FM community radio to womens empowerment in rural northern Uganda and finally highlight the challenges of community radios for womens empowerment in countryside northern Uganda.Growth and Development of radio in UgandaIn 1937, a direction on Broadcasting aids in the Colonies was set up by the British government. This delegation was charged with the responsibility of investigating the role of broadcasting in the colonies (Chibita 2006 ). This committee recommended that radio broadcasting was to be instrumental non only, and perhaps non even earlier for the entertainment, but for the enlightenment of the population for their instructions in public health, agriculture, etc (Kiwanuka-Tondo 199050). Acording to Chibita, it was until the 1940s, the British felt the need for communication more tha ever because they needed to explain it polcies, plans, programmes and intentions. It was by now choke that th e print media could not carry out this roles. On recommendation of the Plymouth Report,The Uganda Broadacsting Servies was set up to cater for the interest of the colonial officials (Chibita June 2006112). Kiwanuka-Tondo adds that this service was set up for major tether reasons Keep foreigners informed, mobilization and governance and public program line (Kiwanuka-Tondo 199054). These reasons are similar to one at the Gold Coast, the modern day Ghana (Head 1979). in that respectfore in 1954, the first radio named the Uganda Broadcasting assistance set up by the British colonial government (Matovu march 1990, Kiwanuka-Tondo 1990).English became the dominant language on the station with a few Ugandan languages. (Chibita 2006 Chibita 2010 Matovu 1990). Indeed, radio was used by the governement as an information parentage for the primary benefit of the British perosnnel in Uganda, the Asians, and the small but growing group of Uganda elite. (Matovu 1990348). The radio remained un der the control of colonial govenrment. harmonize to Chibita, before independence, the colonial govenrment controlled the radio. She adds thatUnder colonial rule the locals had little access to radio as a policy-making quad either as employees or participants in the programme. Apart from monopolizing the airwaves, the colonial government enacted or applied particularized laws and statutory instruments including the Penal Code Act of 1950 which criminalized a wide set off of media offences including defamation, publication of false news, sedition and embarrassing foreign princes and dignitaries. Inevitably, at the tallness of the independence struggle, the role of radio as a governmental distance was limited (Chibita 2010 )By 1957, Ugandan languages had started to dominate the station but they had very limited time on the air. 8 languages were incorporated into the programming (Chibita June 2006). The languages ac fellowship English, Luganda, 4Rs, Ateso, Lwo, Lugbara and Hi ndustani (see Chibita June 2006). The languges shows attempts at regional represnetationby the Bristih governement. For example, 4Rs, (Runyoro, Rutoro, Runakore and Rukiga) are langauges in westsideern Uganda, Lwo is primarily Acholi Langi and Alur in the north while Ateso is primarily eastern and Luganda, the dominant language in the central region. Lungauges like Lugbara were incorprated because of their disticnt aspect.In 1957, a committee once again set up to evaluate the broadcasting service in Uganda (Chibita 2006 Matovu 1990). This committee was led Gervase Harley Chibita 2006). The committee finding was came out in what came to be know The Report of the Committee of Enquiry into the Organization, Policy and Operation of the Governments Information Services. According to Matovu, this report underscored the relevance of broadcast services in the country. The report was similarly critical of the short broadcasting period in Uganda. Among the problems,It cited the want of a more comprehensive news services as well as the low standard of translation and presentation over the microphone. Other criticisms were leave out of sufficient programs reflecting the life, interests and culture of the African outside towns, insufficient attention to the needs of women listeners and lack of diversity of feelings on current semipolitical affairs. The report withal accountd that local talent in many field was not being fully encouraged and developed. Also, little was being through with(p) to put up broadcasting as a patron of the arts. On the whole, the report summed up, the logical implication of many of the important elements in Ugandas life and society was not being adequately brought out in the programs. (Matovu 1990349)Besides being critcal, It in like manner make major recommendations on which the evolution of the Uganda Broadcasting services was to rely. It set up goals for the stations. Some of the recommendations include Brodcasting in both English a nd Uganda local langaguges congruous prgramme content including information, education and entertainement integration of local talent and music and playing period introduce broadcast in secondary schools and finally encourage use if English as a unifying langauge because if varity of Uganda langauges (Matovu 1990349-350).In 1962, Uganda gained its independence. Uganda Broadcasting Service became a government broadcast station (Kiwanuka-Tondo 1990). It was renamed Radio Uganda (Matovu 1990350 Chibita 2010). Ugandan started getting access to the radio. Radio became a tool for national consolidation (Chibita 2010 ). umteen different programmes and languages were added. By December 1962, Radio Uganda was bordacsting in 13 languages and the every week total number of hours brodacst has recrudescen from 19 hours in June to 112 in Decmeber 1962 (Matovu marchland 1990351). There was no language policy guideline developed by the British for inclusion of the different languages. Chibita posits that The Bristish Colonial governement did not have a written policy on language use in the media. She adds that in the post-independece years, The local langauge that got adpoted by state brodcaster came on board one by one, first basing on demographic consideration and later through political pressure (Chibita 2006114).Due to increasing number of languages, broadcasts started on two bring .i.e. red channel and blue channel. The blue channel is for listeners who speak the Bantu language of the east, west, south and central regions. The red channel broadcasts to listeners who speak vernaculars from the north and north-east (Kiwanuka-Tondo 199054). To increase coverage, four booster stations were set up in the four regions of Uganda to ensure countrywide coverage. These booster stations included Bobi in the north, Butebo in the east, Mawagga in the south and Kyeriba in the west (Kiwanuka-Tondo 199054) This did not mean every person had access to the radio. It did not reach everyone since very few people could afford to own radio in the earlier post independence years.To complement radio Uganda, the first television station in Uganda was opened in 1963. This came to be called Uganda picture customaryly referred to as UTV. This was a Black and White model. It was until 1975, that Idi Amin, a man known globally for his reign of terror in Uganda from 1971-1979, introduced the first coloured television in the face of Ugandans (Kiwanuka-Tondo 1990). To enhance coverage, countrywide, The TV boosters were set up in Mbale in the east, Soroti in the north-east, Lira in the north, Masaka in the south-west and Mbarara in the west (Kiwanuka-Tondo 199054-55). The television access was much harder. It was accessible to only a few privileged persons especially elite and government civil servants. It is important to note that the introduction of Radio Uganda and Uganda Television laid the free-baseation for development of the broadcast media in Uganda.From 1963, U gandas politics started changing drastically. There was no clear seam between the central government and Buganda kingdom. When Apollo Milton Obote became the first prime minister of the democracy of Uganda, tension developed between the central government and Buganda kingdom because Kabaka of Buganda was accorded the the position of ceremonial president (Chibita 2010) at the time of Independence. The tension between the land and Buganda kingdom continued for a long time eventually culminating into what is a flock referred to as Uganda crisis of 1966. Obote abolished kingdoms and he went a address to proclaim himself as the president of the republic of Uganda. According to Kasozi et al, the traditional rulers were deposed in 1966-1967 not through votes of their subjects but by reignendorsed by the members of parliament (Kasozi et all59). Kabaka Mutesa was deported to UK. According to Chibita, Radio Uganda slowly mutated into a government mouthpiece that was used to denounce th ose perceived as opposition, who, gratis(p) to say, had little access to this channel. She adds that political programming gradually became highly unguaranteed so radio resorted to parroting government propaganda and patriotic songs. (Chibita 2010 ). This souring relation between the central government and Buganda kingdom greatly affected the development of a free media in Uganda.In 1971, Amin came to power through a force machine coup. He seized power from President Milton Obote, the man who led Uganda to independence in 1962. (BBC). On assuming power, he reconstituted all the ministries and replaced them with his right hand men. The host became the centre of the government. He re social organisationd the ministry of information by employing military people to head the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, hiring and firing editorial staff at will and interfering, sometimes physically, in editorial policy and content. (Chibita, 2010 ) The years in between byword Idi Amin kill journalists and nationalize newspapers, a reversal that . . . significantly limited the role that the media could play. (Tabaire 2007194) This greatly affected the growth of media in Uganda. Only radio Uganda and Uganda Television operated but with firm grip on them by them by the prideful regime.When Idi Amin was deposed by the support of government of Tanzania in 1979 (Tabaire 2007), in 1980, Ugandans went to poll to elite their president. Former president, Obote, was again elected as the president although there are claims of rigging. His second term popular known as Obote was short-lived. umpteen observers including the incumbent president, Yoweri Museveni, claims the elections was not free and fair. He formed the NRA and started a guerilla war against the and then democratically elected government of Uganda but in 1985, Obote was pass onpled internally by his army man General Tito Lutwa Okello in a military coup. Obote for the second time was deposed by his own army leaders. Immediately, Okello urged all political and insurgent groups to support the new government, but the large NRA group refused to join. sleep talks occurred between the government and the NRA, but no agreement was ever reached.(Marblestone 2005) The prevailing political atmosphere and legal regime combined to make it impossible for Radio Uganda to serve as an arena that contributed meaning(prenominal)ly to political competition or participation.(Chibita, 2010 ).On January 26, 1986, Museveni seized power from General Okello (Borzello 2007, (Natukunda-Togboa 2008)). According to Batabaire, Museveni took the jinx of office on 29 January 1986 promising that the occasion did not only amount to another mere change of guard but a fundamental change. In the spirit of this statement, Musevenis NRM government has indeed allowed freedom of feeling to a greater extent than previous Ugandan governments (Tabaire 2007230). He was then been glorified for making significant improvement co mpared to the past regimes of Obote and Amin. There was libration of airwaves in 1990s. Kavuma remarks that Museveni was originally labeled one of a new breed of African leaders was because of media freedoms. Magazines and newspapers thrivedand broadcast media were liberalised, leading to the creation, over the years, of more than 150 private radio and television stations (Kavuma 2010). In 1995, the new constitution of the nation of Uganda bestowed the freedom of speech on Ugandans (Constitution of Uganda 1995) This according to Tabaire earned president Museveni planetary praise for cultivating a relatively liberal media climate (Tabaire Bernard 2007204).There was a rise in private FM stations in Uganda. Radio Simba became the first private radio station in Kampala and Uganda. In 1994, detonator radio was again licensed. Later Sanyu FM turn upd in 1995. All these were commercially driven radio stations. Radio Simba broadcast in Luganda while cap and Sanyu are predominantly broad cast in English with only tidings in vernacular Luganda only. These first three private stations showed the fashion and in a decade the airwaves became so crowded. Each region started saddle horse up a radio that would broadcast in its own languages. It value noting that as several private radios emerged the government owned Radio Uganda upset popularity due to attractive and more entertaining programme from private FMs. In 2005, the Ugandan two giant media houses Uganda Television (UTV) and Radio Uganda were merged through the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation Act of 2004 and became into effective on November 16, 2005. (Chibita, 210 ).Women and radio in Uganda.After a decade and half of the United Nations Fourth mankind Conference on Women in September 1994 in China, it recommended among many things increase participation and access to media for women, there have been little gains for women in the media? There is still Little women participations and access of women to media. T here is still continued crazy in media and stereotyped portrayal of women. In Africa, women still lag shadower both decisiveness making and participation in media programming. This paper surveys women access to radio in Uganda. It covers among other things number of women in radio, women coverage, portrayal and participation and finally a snapshot of factors hindering women participations.In Uganda, there is wretched data if not almost none on women in decision making and participation in the radio industry. Many surveys on the state of media in Uganda only illustrate Radio as the most popular media in Uganda. It estimates radio access to be at 92%. It also shows radio is also the main source of information for most Uganda. Many show ownership of the radio stations. Some surveys also show the increasing popularity in community radios while some also highlights the competitions among commercial radios. no(prenominal) of these shows exhaustive data on womens access and participati on in mushrooming radios in Uganda.However, according to Global Report of Women in Media in New Media conducted in the Eastern African countries of Ethiopia Kenya and Uganda surprisingly, it shows Uganda has the highest proportion (42 percent) of women employees in media organizations (Kiage and Macakiage 20091) followed by Ethiopian and lastly, Kenya at 30% and 26 % respectively. The report shows gender segregation in three radio station in Uganda. It points out that The Central Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Uganda employs 12 womanly and 48 males. KFM, a Kampala based radio station affiliated to the Monitor News Papers of the Nation Media Group, it employs 11 female and 9 male and Radio Mama employs 23 female and 12 male. However the report does not show what the male and female employees do but it highlights that There is widespread shortage of women professionals at ranking(prenominal) and executive take aim. Only about a third of positions in cover song management and sen ior management are women (Kiage and Macakiage 20092). The absence of women in top managerial positions makes it harder for women to participate effectively through expression and decision-making in media. According to Daisy Anne Namono, Board member of Uganda Television, There is a woman at the level of Deputy Managing Director at the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation and a few others at the level of Manager Radio or Editors. . . . The institutional structure does not allow effective participation of the Deputy Managing Director in decision making (UN Public Information 2009). This illustrates the challenges of women in the mainstream media in Uganda.The reportage of women in Uganda is found to be very little (Nassanga 2002). According to Nassanga, citing Uganda Media Womens Associations baseline survey in 1994, women received 16% of the media coverage (Nassanga 2002). This coverage are agin concentrated on urban women or those who occupy significant position in society (Nassanga 200 2). Women are potrayed as mothers and caretakers (Nassanga and Nattimba 1994). Nassanga copes that media often potray women as inept, loose, trip out objects, and so on. Women were usually portrayed in traditional domestic roles, and in feminine occupations which involved caring or giving service. The few in professional jobs were often shown as social misfits, especially if they had marital problems. (Nassanga 2002), Mukama remarks that women are also invariably portrayed as brainless, dependent, indecisive, subservient and sport for mens pleasure. She adds that improve working women activists are portrayed as audacious insubordinate agitators, while those who opt to remain single are portrayed as prostitutes, social degenerates, and immoral beings who sleep their focussing to the top. (Mukama 2002147). According to Uganda Media Womens Association and Fredrich Ebert Siftung media report of 1998, findings show thatWomen are perpetually stereotyped as domesticated, given to leisu re, fashion and beaut interests. They are also invariably portrayed as brainless, dependent, indecisive, subservient and sports for mens leisure. Women are persistently objectified as mens possession. It adds that Educated working women are projected as audacious insubordinate agitators, while those who opt to remain single are portrayed as prostitutes, social degenerates, and immoral beings sleeping their way to the top. Those who hold high political or administrative positions are branded as incompetent and insufficient. They are ultimately demonised and isolated as irrational and inefficient. (UMWA tarboosh 199811)Lewis and Boswell, citing Nassanga, the Ugandan mainstream media institutions are ruthlessly masculinist environments that wholly ignore gender-sensitive reporting, and practice exceedingly hostile forms of gender discrimination. (Lewsi Boswell 2002). As a reslut, mens dominance, Wanyeki argues that women do not have the means to express their own realities, debate t heir interpretations of those realities and engage in discussions about potential solutions with decision and policy makers (Wanyeki 200033). Ojiambo asserts that Mianstream meida has done very little to help women organisations and women at alrge demistify (this kind) of stereotypical thinking (Ojambo 199911). Conclusively, Nassanga points that in terms of types of media, radio was found to be accessible than print media to women (Nassanga 2002).Finally, on factors hindering entry in managerial position and participation and, several reasons are cited. Anyango cites negative portrayal and poor working condition (Anyango 200924). Nassanga see it as due to lack of gender policies. and keeping women for special purpose reporting (Nassanga 2002). According to According to Anyango, Research findings indicate that the Ugandan patriarchal society places a lot of barriers in a womans career path thereby inhibiting professional advancement. right from birth, it is written that societal nor ms, values and practices are inculcated into boys and girls such that the boy acquires knowledge and skills for self survival and independence. (Anyango 200925). Ojiambo mainstream are doing very little in to facilitate womens position (Ojambo 1999). NassangaIn sum, the reviewed kit and caboodle illustrates inadequacy of data and insights in Ugandas media on women. They reveal little coverage on women and the negative portrayal and several factors hindering women in achieving a gendered media in Uganda. However, not all negative. For example, Khamalwa claims that in the last five years, more women compared to men joined Journalism (Khamalwa 200613) According to Anyago, there has been womens improvement in media coverage due to affirmative live up to by the governement and aslo the rise of women like Action for Development (ACFODE) and Uganda Media Womens Association (UMWA) which have championed womens by advocating for positive portrayal and public education and sensitization (An yango 2009). In Uganda, with the growth of alternative media especially community radio stations, there are avenue for women participations and expressions. In these stations, womens participate in programming. Women have enough space for voicing their concerns although they still lack representation at managerial level. still study is entreatd to fully understand the women in radio industry, if meaningful gender balance is to be accrued in Ugandas radios and media. How is it then done with Mega FM community radios?Women are underrepresented in media content when compared to the 50% of the population which they constitute. In reality many more women work than we get to see or read about in media content. (Zoonen 199430)Towards contributions of Mega FM to womens empowermentThere has been contestation about the status of Mega FM. This has generated a great deal of debate. sensation group argues that Mega FM is a community radio while others refuse this proposition and claim that i t not a community radio at all. A community radio by definition according to UNESCO is A community radio station is one that is operated in the community, for the community, about the community and by the community.1It adds that It serves a recognizable community It encourages participatory democracy It offers the prospect to any member of the community to initiate communication and participate in program making, management and ownership of the station It uses technology appropriate to the economic capability of the people, not that which leads to dependence on external sources It is motivated by community well being, not commercial considerations, It promotes and improves problem solving.2Whatever their view points, Mega FM calls itself a community radio and has been revered for according space for womens participation in their programming. It employs and produces many women programmes than any radio station in northern Uganda. It has been awarded for participation of women and c hildren.3David Okidi, the station manager Our programming is based on the fact that we need to inform and entertain so even when we are informing we need to do so in a way that is very interesting. So, coming from a background of conflict, our kind of programming should not forget the fact that listeners are depressed and the programming should appeal to them.4Its programming is similar to womens community radio in Andhra Pradesh, India, where The radios team of reporters collect stories tie in to agriculture, education, health issues, womens empowerment.5Womens programmes are mainly pre-recorded and played as magazines. This is because of lack of access to telephone access by women. Besides recording, womens participations are still congenial through phone-in into on-air programmes and letters which are read on the stations.ContributionsThe power of community radio to mobilize groups and bring change to societies is well recognized.)6Community radios and formative broadcasting M ega FM promotes plastic communication for in northern Uganda. Their constructive broadcasting is shape by their rationality concerns and challenges in the community. Programme makers argue that they have wealth of reporters who constantly keep them informed in most community events. According to one radio presenter, doing a community programmes require mind of the community.7One radio producer adds that our programming is not save about giving women platform to talk, it about involving them in programming and development content while aiming at one outcome together.8This reflects through understanding of radio programming. Elisa et al believe that Using radio as a catalyst for social change and development requires thorough understanding of the principles of radio programming. Such principles include the importance of clearly identifying and defining the specific target audience, ensuring continuity of radio programming and making certain that programmes have a strong, locally relevant message.9In this way Mega FM works to show positive portrayal of women while carefully highlighting the issues for public understanding and tackling issues that emerge within society. Programmes are tailored to moderated and tailored to work needs. According to Dyere womens group leader, who is a regular on Mega FM, she notes that Mega FM deals with womens issues that emerge within our different places.10Additionally, another one woman adds that It does not seek to damage women but it reports in an honest, responsible way.

Visual cryptography

Visual cryptanalysisIntroductionOne of the habitual solutions for plan encryption is opthalmic cryptography. Secret manduction concepts are use to encrypt a unavowed figure into the shares (customized versions of the original moving picture) which sight be transmitted over an undeveloped communication leave and by overlap shares, the secret message is scramed Visual cryptanalytic solutions are based on binary star or binaries inputs. Due to this, natural images moldiness be counterbalance trans work angiotensin converting enzymed into halft ace (this is a technique which uses different density of dots to video display the image) images to simulate the original patriarchal or colour levels in the rump binary image To create the shares, the halftone version of the input image is use instead of the original image. The decrypted image is made by stacking the shares together. Because binary selective information skunk be displayed in an apparent form when printed on transparencies or viewed on the screen and overlapping shares that contain apparently haphazard information can expose the secret image. to a greater extentover, the decrypted image is darker, contains a b break of opthalmic damages due to the algorithm that is employ for the process and the final result of secret image is incr heartseased by close of visual cryptography solutions (Lukac at el,2005) and(Lukac 2006).1.1 ObjectivesThe base of fostered communication among users using insecure channel is known as cryptography. In order for cryptologic security to strike place, an algorithm is involved for the practice of encrypting and decrypting messages In its basic form, one image is split into cardinal separate images c completelyed shares. When the shares are busty on slip by of from each one other, the unique image is retrieved A general n out of n visual cryptography intrigue involves n participants in which a secret image is split into n random looking shares and all n shares are required to recover the original image.1.2 Aims The important topic lav Visual steganography is to encrypt information in the form of images in a secure and flawless way The information must be encrypted before it is send, so that it cannot be illegally read or modified in the middle of transmission. Suppose 4 persons cause deposited their funds in a bank account. These persons obviously do not affirm each other. In particular, they do not want a champion member of themselves to withdraw the money. However, they assume that withdrawing money by both members of the group is not considered a conspiracy rather it is considered to have received authorizations Therefore, they clear-cut to set the bank regulation (with a trusted computer) into 4 partitions so that any two or much partitions can be used to reconstruct the code. Since the persons encounteratives forget not have a computer with them to rewrite the bank code when they come to withdraw the mone y, they want to be fitting to decode visually each thief gets a enhancer The transparency should yield no information about the bank code (even implicitly). However, by taking any two transparencies, stacking them together and aligning them, the secret proceeds should pop out. How can this be done? (Naor and Shamir, 1994) proposed a solution and introduced a simple but perfectly secure way that allows secret sharing without any cryptographic computation, which they termed as Visual cryptanalytics Scheme. The simplest Visual Cryptography Scheme is given by the following setup. A secret image consists of a collection of black and clean-living pels where each pel is tough independently To encode the secret, the original image is split into n customized versions (referred as shares). To decode the image, a subset S of those n shares is picked and display each of them onto a transparency In this throw, a new visual cryptography end is intended for shadow images. The proposed scheme willing be flexible, easily implemented, and more secure for shadow images. Moreover, shadow image structure is augmented to pare the chances for an attacker to guess the secret. Literature Survey2.1 introductionVisual Cryptography was introduced by (Naor and Shamir, 1994) at Eurocrypt, an annual conference sponsored by the International tie-up for Cryptographical Research (IACA) to encourage discourses and seminars among cryptologists all over the world In that, the description is about a new cryptographic scheme that encodes a black and white image into n shares. Decoding is done with the pitying visual arranging when the n shares are placed on transparencies and stacked on top of each other. They included several schemes to implement a visual cryptography system in their presentation Since that time, the paradigm of visual cryptography has attracted wide attention all over the world. Several papers and projects have been presented to extend visual cryptography. Sche mes have been invented for a general k out of n sharing scheme and to cover gray outmatch and colour images as well(Jim Cai and Zhou,2000) Even today, research continues in the field of visual cryptography and papers regarding contrast, extended schemes are being published regularly This research addresses the few questions concerning visual cryptography, and will attempt to answer these questions in the context of the research by using experimental approach into the difficulty of visual cryptography, these questions are what is cryptography? What set of features should be used in visual cryptography? How to reduce chances for attackers to get the secret of shadow images? 2.2 surmisalThis section will attempt to explain the basic theory behind visual cryptography. Consider a black and white image (not gray scale). It is made up of black pixels and white pixels grouped such that when viewed with the gentle eye, the picture (or word, symbol etc.) can be seen. To encrypt this ima ge, each pixel from the original image is taken and converted into sub pixels. For sake of this discussion and for simplicity, let us assume that each pixel will be converted into two sub pixels and there will be two shares If a pixel is white, then one of two combinations of sub pixels will be randomly chosen to represent the pixel on each of the shares. When the shares are stacked and properly lined up, the sub pixels for the white pixel produce the result In both sets of sub pixels for the white pixel, it can be seen the result is one black sub pixel and one white sub pixel following to each other. When viewed with the human visual system, the result appears to be gray (combined effect of white and black next to each other) On the other hand, if a pixel is black, then one of the two combinations of sub pixels will be randomly chosen to represent the pixel in each of the shares (same idea as the white pixel). However with black pixels gives two sub pixels next to each other. To t he human eye, this appears as a share by itself gives no visible information from the original image because the sub pixels are evenly distributed on each share (one black sub pixel and one white sub pixel for each pixel in the original image). These combinations (black/white and white/black) kick the bucket with probability 1/ 2 providing a share with randomized pixels and and so not revealing any hint of the original image. When the shares are stacked, the white pixels are seen as gray, while the black areas remain black (Naor at el, 1994 ,Lee at el,2003 and Voyatzis,1996) (Naor and Shamir, 1995) thought about the problem of encrypting material such as printed text, handwritten notes, pictures, etc in an absolutely secure way which can be interpreted directly by the human visual system Furthermore, they have explained that the basic model includes a printed page of cipertext (which can be sent by mail of faxed) and a printed transparency. The system they developed can be used by anyone who lacks knowledge of cryptography and without dischargeing any cryptographic commutations. Moreover, they noted that the best way to visualize the visual cryptographic scheme is to consider a concrete example In cryptography, the process of transforming data (referred to as plaintext) where the process uses an algorithm (called cipher) is called encryption. The encrypting process make the information un legible to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The encrypting process results encrypted data (in cryptography, referred to as cipher text). To read encrypted data, the encrypted data should be made readable. So the reverse process is called decryption. In real world, the package for encryption can typically also perform decryption to make the encrypted information readable again (ElGamal,1985 and Rivest,1978) encryption has long been used by militaries and governments to facilitate secret communication. Encryption is now used i n protecting information at heart many kinds of civilian systems, such as computers, storage devices (e.g. USB flash drives), net profitworks (e.g. the Internet, e-commerce), nomadic telephones, wireless microphones, wireless intercom systems, Bluetooth devices and bank automatic teller machines. Encryption is also used in digital rights management to obstruct unlicenced use or reproduction of copyrighted material and in software also to protect against reverse engineering (Encryption) Encryption, by itself, can protect the confidentiality of messages, but other techniques are still needed to protect the rectitude and authenticity of a message for example, verification of a message documentation codes (MAC) or a digital signature. Standards and cryptographic software and hardware to perform encryption are widely available, but success soundy using encryption to ensure security may be a challenging problem. A single slip-up in system design or executing can allow successful attacks. Sometimes an adversary can obtain unencrypted information without directly undoing the encryption. (Maurer,1994 and Diffie,1976) Moreover, The optimality of VC is determined mostly by its pixel expansion and the relative contrast and, the relative contrast needs to be as large as possible to ensure visibility (Alvarez at el,2005). In the scope of this research, the works related to contrast optimization will be explored. Works related to deriving lower bound of pixel expansion m can be found in (Naor and Shamir, 1995), (Rivest at el,1984) etc. The research on contrast optimization was motivated by the problem of extra graying erect introduced to decoded image. This occurs because the decoded image is not an exact reproduction of the original image, but an expansion of the original, with extra black pixels. Research methods-Doing a thorough investigation into basic visual cryptography -Careful study of algorithms used in visual cryptography -Checking out a suitable growth e nvironment and a suitable frame work that can ease the image processing tasks -investigating shadow image structure for visual cryptographic practices such as pixel expansion and the relative contrast -This project emphasizes, intends and evaluates a computer-based system using appropriate processes and tools, as follows Front destroy coffee bean Back End Microsoft SQL Server OS Windows XP and Windows vista IDE net beans 6.7 The net bean IDE is used for following features In this project, net beans structured Development Environment (IDE) is used because its tools, debugging and performance monitoring. Net bean IDE for create applications saves the time by managing windows, settings, and data. In addition, an IDE can store repetitive tasks by macros and abbreviations. Drag-and-drop features make creating graphical user interface (GUI) components or accessing databases easy and highlighted code and debugging features alert to errors in the code The application is developed b y coffee bean because of following features Java is a graphical user interface schedule language Java supports to programme independent mechanism Java is a general purpose and object oriented programming language The most striking features of the language are that it is platform neural language Java program is under the control of JVM the JVM can contain the program and prevent it from generating side effects outside the system. Thus safety is included in Java language.Java is mainly adopted for two reasons Security Portability These two features are available in java because of the byte code. Byte code is a extremely optimized set of instructions to be executed by the Java flow time system called JVM. The features of Java which are adopted for the network system explore are Multithreading Socket programming span Multithreading Users perceive that their world is full of multiple events all happenings at once and wants their computers to do the same. Unfortunately, wr iting programs that steal with many things at once can be much more difficult than writing conventional single threaded programs in C or C++. Thread safe in multithreading means that a given library functions is implemented concurrent threads of execution quiver Swing refers to the new library of GUI controls (buttons, sliders, checkboxes etc). Swing is a quick GUI outgrowth tool that is part of the standard Java development kit. Swing is a set of classes that provides more powerful and flexible components. Swing components are not implemented by platform specific code. sooner they are written in Java and therefore are platform independent (java doc).

An Overview Of The Date Palm Environmental Sciences Essay

An Overview Of The get word Palm Environmental Sciences EssayDate palm (Phoenix dacty biographyra L.) is cognise as tree of life plays an imperative role in the life of the people living in scorched regions of the world. It is an ancient and valuable harvest, as the designations name has been and is mentioned in holy books like the Quran, Torah and Buddha (Belarbi et al., 2000 Falade and Abbo, 2007). Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is inform to aim said that the beat out assets is the fight palm, that it is apply for curing m any(prenominal) disorders, and He (PBUH) urged Muslims to consume designations (Zaid and de Wet, 1999). Muslims deem it as a virtue to eat reckons at Iftar in the month of Ramadan. It has been cultivated in the Middle East since at least 6000 BC (Al-Qarawi et al., 2003). At least 2000 or more several(predicate) cultivars of understand palm exist all over the world (Ali-Mohamed and Khamis, 2004). The Date return provides a good source of carbohyd enumerat es, fibre, minerals, and vitamins, but it contains a refined amount of fat and protein (Baloch et al., 2006 Al-Farsi et al., 2005 Mohamed, 2000). Date issue is also suitable for hypertensive persons because of its high amount of potassium and low content of sodium (Al-Hooti et al., 2002). red- white-hot studies befool reported that date production has antimutagenic and anticancer action (Ishurd and Kennedy, 2005 Vayalill, 2002).The mature of the date takings is considered by four different stages/phases based on food colouring, softness, moisture, and scribble content. (1) Kimri stage at this phase the produce is quite hard, the color is green and it is not fit for eatable purpose. At this phase the fruit attains a rapid increment in weight, volume and build up of reducing sugars that will weaken at the shutting of this stage. (2) Khalal stage at this stage, date fruit gains its maximum weight and size. The dates total sugar and tartness will boost as its urine conten t decreases. At the destruction of Khalal stage, the fruit is physiologicly mature and hard. (3) Rutab stage aging of date fruit starts at this stage. Its colour changes and its texture become soft. It begins to lose astringency and starts getting a darker and less attractive colour than the previous stage. (4) Tamar stage the date fruits argon fully ripe at Tamar stage and texture of the course is soft. At this stage, date fruit contains its maximum total solids and it is in the best gibe for storage. Some references have mentioned another a very aboriginal stage named called Hababauk. This term is used for the female flower and also used for the period by and bywards pollination, in which the young fruit is still creamy before gradually turning green at the Kimri stage. Generally, date fruit is harvestable and marketable at three stages including Khalal, Rutab and Tamar that depend on cultivar characteristics, especially water- meltable tannins levels (Ismail et al., 200 1 Hong et al., 2006 Awad, 2007).Although there are nigh(prenominal) cultivars of dates, some have become pre noble-minded in the world market (Krueger, 2001 Nixon, 1950). Deglet Noor, heart date of the light in Arabic, comes from the Algerian Sahara and is one of the leading cultivars grown in North Africa and California. Halawy, meaning sweet in Arabic, is a soft, high- case date with rich flavour from Iraq. Khadrawy, meaning green in Arabic, is a short and moderately productive tree with soft fruit from Southern Iraq.Climate is one of the major factors that light upon all aspects of life and realistic crops cultivation depends on proper understand of climatic condition. Proper understanding of climatic condition can succor farmers in doing cultivation at an opportune time and supplying coifs necessitate during emersion period. The festering normalize of date palm starts with the rise in summer temperature with July and August, which is the peak production period. Unf ortunately, the monsoon rainwaters also falls within these months of the year, which is a real bottleneck for this crop. Hillawi and Khadrawi are the major varieties cultivated in Punjab. These varieties are semi dry and ripened early in July and face a huge problem of monsoon rains. The coincidence of date ontogenesis period with the monsoon season means the crop receives heavy violate by rain and a few minutes of rain can destroy upto 80% of the date crop (ASF, 2010) The fruit during this period is at eatable (Khalal/Rutab) stage and prostrate to infestation by insects/birds and diseases that invade at a rapid rate under the favourable climate of relatively reduced temperature with high humidity. This ill situation persists for several weeks. The extent of the losses contributes to accumulate so commodious as the fruits stay on the trees for want of Dong formation until the end of July (Saleem et al., 2005). Rain and high humidity may cause physical damage to the fruit in pe riod preceding the mature. When this happens, cracks appear on the fruit surface through fungi and bacteria may enter make fermentation and souring of the fruit rapidly (Olin, 2002). It is worth mentioning that the amount of any particular rain is of less importance than the conditions under which it occurs (Nixon and Carpenter, 1978).Traditional methods of date fruit ontogenesis/curing are popular in many areas of the country, in which fruit at the Dong stage are gap on the mats or plastic sheets and exposed to sun in an establish air. The quality of sun dried product under dusty condition becomes very poor and non-uniform with a low yield. Due to persistent rain and stormy conditions a large amount of the harvested dates become mouldy, fermented, and dusty, damaged by the birds and insects.The present study will be therefore conducted on the ripening aspects and fruit quality of date palm with respect to monsoon rains, by evaluating the potential of preharvest ethephon indu stry on ripening enhancement and fruit quality of date palm at Kimri and Khalal stages, studying the role of different chemicals on the ripening behaviour and fruit quality and ripening and quality assessment of date fruit will also investigated by the influence of hot water handling by harvesting the fruit at the physiological delinquent date (Doka/Khalal) stage.V) REVIEW OF LITERATUREFruits should be harvested at the correct physiological matureness and state of ripeness (Harman and Patterson, 1984). They are self sufficient with their own catalytic machinery to admit an independent life, even when detached from the set up plant. Based on their respiratory pattern and ethene biosynthesis during ripening, harvested fruits have been classified as climacteric and non-climacteric based on the respiration pattern and ethene production during ripening. climacteric fruits, harvested at physiological maturity, can be ripened off the parent plant. The respiration rate and ethene for mation though minimal at maturity, raise salientally to a climacteric peak, at the bombardment of ripening, after which it declines (Gamage and Rehman, 1999). In climacteric fruit, onset of ripening is attach to by a sharp join on in respiration and ethylene production. The climacteric ethylene is thought to regulate fruit ripening by inducing the facet of many ripening-related genes responsible for autocatalytic ethylene production, cellwall metabolism, chlorophyll degradation, synthesis of carotenoids and volatilizables, and renascence of starch to sugar (Gray et al., 1992 Theologis, 1993 Alexander and Grierson, 2002). Non-climacteric fruits are not capable of keep their ripening process, once they are detached from the parent plant. Also, these fruits produce a very small quantity of endogenetic ethylene, and do not resolve to external ethylene manipulation. Such fruits show comparatively low compose and a gradual decline in their respiration pattern and ethylene pro duction, throughout the ripening process (Gamage and Rehman, 1999). In non-climacteric fruit, there is no dramatic change in the rate of respiration, and ethylene production remains at a very low level. However, in some plant species, some aspects of ripening, such as chlorophyll degradation and fruit softening, are controlled or at least partially controlled by ethylene (Goldschmidt et al., 1993 Wills and Kim, 1995). Ethylene is biosynthesized from methionine via a welldefined path stylus in which 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) synthase (ACS) and ACC oxidase (ACO) function as key enzymes.Fruit ripeningRipening is defined as changes that occur from the latter stages of growth and nurture through the early stages of senescence and result in characteristic artistic and/or food quality (Watada et al., 1984). It is a highly co-ordinated, genetically programmed, and an permanent phenomenon involving a series of physiological, biochemical, and organoleptic changes that lead to the developing of a soft and edible ripe fruit with desirable quality attributes. A roomy spectrum of biochemical changes such as increase respiration, chlorophyll degradation, biosynthesis of carotenoids, anthocyanins, essential oils, and touch sensation and redolence components, increase activity of cell wall-degrading enzymes, and a transient increase in ethylene production are some of the major changes manifold during fruit ripening (Brady, 1987).The color change during fruit ripening is due to the unmasking of previously present pigments by degradation of chlorophyll and tear down of the photosynthetic apparatus and synthesis of different types of anthocyanins and their accrual in vacuoles, and appeal of carotenoids such as -carotene, xanthophyll esters, xanthophylls, and lycopene (Tucker and Grierson, 1987 Lizada, 1993). The increase in flavor and aroma during fruit ripening is attributed to the production of a complex mixture of volatile compounds such as ocimene and myrcene (Lizada, 1993), and degradation of bitter principles, flavanoids, tannins, and related compounds (Tucker and Grierson, 1987).The taste development is due to a general increase in sweetness, which is the result of increased gluconeogenesis, hydrolysis of polysaccharides, especially starch, decreased back breaker-ity, and accumulation of sugars and organic window panes resulting in an excellent sugar/acid blend (Lizada, 1993 Grierson, Tucker, and Robertson, 1981 Selvaraj, Kumar, and Pal, 1989). The metabolic changes during fruit ripening include increase in biosynthesis and evolution of the ripening hormone, ethylene (Yang and Hoffman, 1984), increase in respiration mediated by mitochondrial enzymes, especially oxidases and de novo synthesis of enzymes catalyzing ripening particularised changes (Tucker and Grierson, 1987). Alteration of cell structure involves changes in cell wall thickness, permeableness of plasma membrane, hydration of cell wall, decrease in the structu ral integrity, and increase in intracellular spaces (Redgwell, MacRae, Hallet, Fischer, Perry, and Harker, 1997). Fruit softening is associated with cell wall disassembly (Seymour and Gross, 1996) and modifications to the pectin fraction are some of the most apparent changes that take place in the cell wall during ripening (Marin-Rodriguez, Orchard, and Seymour, 2002). The general observation is that softening is accompanied by solubilization of pectin, involving the action of enzymes pectinesterase (PE), polygalacturonase (PG) and pectate lyases (PL) (White, 2002) and hydrolysis of starch and other storage polysaccharides (Selvaraj et al., 1989 Fuchs, Pesis and Zauberman, 1980). This notion was back up by reports of changes in cell wall pectic material in ripening mango (Roe and Bruemmer, 1981), tomato (Besford and Hobson, 1972) and pear (Ahmed and Labavitch, 1980).Fruit ripening and ethyleneThe gaseous hormone ethylene regulates a number of plant growth and developmental process es, including fruit ripening. Ethylene plays a major role in fruit ripening in a wide range of plant species (Abeles et al., 1992 Lelievre et al., 1997 Giovannoni, 2004). It is a fruit ripening phytohormone, in minute amounts can installation many events of cell metabolism including initiation of ripening and senescence, particularly in a climacteric fruit. A number of reviews have been published on the role of ethylene in fruit ripening, particularly in mangoes as well as its biogenesis (Adams and Yang, 1979 Kende, 1993). The pathway for ethylene biosynthesis has been elucidated in apple, and other fruits such as avocado, banana, and tomato (Kende, 1993 Yang and Hoffman, 1984). The first step is the rebirth of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) to 1- aminocyclopropane carboxylic acid (ACC) by the enzyme ACC synthase. At the onset of fruit ripening, aspect of multiple ACC synthase genes are activated, resulting in increased production of ACC. In most cases, it is the ACC synthase activit y, which determines the rate of ethylene biosynthesis. ACC is then oxidized to ethylene by ACC oxidase. potency of ethephon in fruit ripeningFruit ripening has been described as an oxidative phenomenon that requires a turnover of active oxygen species, such as H2O2 and superoxide anion (Jimenez et al, 2002). Ethephon (2-chloroethylphosphonic acid), releases ethylene in plant tissues, has aroused interest because of its physiological inwardnesss in many fruit species (Cooke and Randall, 1968 Warner and Leopold, 1967). The responses to ethephon appear to be chiefly caused by the action of ethylene (Anderson, 1968). Now ethephon is widely used in agriculture for promotion of flowering, fruit ripening, defoliation and so on. Orange, grapefruit, tangerine and green lemon fruits dipped in ethephon stems for a few seconds to several minutes develop satisfactory marketable color in seven to ten geezerhood after treatment. (Fuch and Cohen, 1969 Yong et al., 1970). In pomegranates, how ever pre-harvest application of ethephon decreased the soluble solids, pH and vitamin C content of the fruit juice (Shaybany and Sharifi, 1973).Rouhani and Bassiri (1977) reported that when date fruits were hard-boiled with 0, 125, 250, 500, 1000 or 2000 ppm ethephon and stored in sealed bags or bags with 10 holes. The part dry weights of pulp and seed, titratable acidity, soluble solids and respiration rates increased, whereas pH, firmness and astringency decreased with greater maturity. The application of ethephon increased respiration and titratable acidity significantly. Although ethephon preoccupation and bag type affected ripening, their effects were relatively small endogenous factors controlling ripening were more important. Ethephon application at 1500 ppm shortly after full bloom on Zaghloul and Samani date palms grown in Egypt in advance(p) fruit ripening by about one month (Kamal, 1995). genus Musa (2001) reported that effectiveness of ethrel in enhancing the fruit r ipening of Mishrigi rechewed food Khatib and Mishrigi Wad Lagi dates grown in Khartoum, Sudan, was 2-3 fold higher by injecting 2ml of ethrel (480 g/l a.v.) into a pit made in the peduncle compared with 1000 ppm of ethrel atomiser over the fruit.Preharvest ethrel application significantly increased the Rutab fruit yield per fate (7 kg) as compared to the control (4.5 kg) and postharvest dipping of fruit at khalal stage in ethrel at 4.2ml/l and abscisic acid at 1.0 mM significantly enhanced the ripening, compared to the control (Awad, 2007). Ethephon accelerates ripening and improves the peel color of the mangoes (Lakshminarayana et al., 1975). Mixture of ethephon, sodium hydro oxide and water, kept in the vicinity of mango fruit, facilitate the ripening in natural way (Sudhakar, 2006). Nair and Singh (2003) reported that fruit quality in terms of TSS, TSS/acid ratio, sugars and eating quality of mango cv. Bocado was found to improve with ethrel at 2000 ppm. profit in salt concen tration progressively increased the Dong/Rutab formation of khadrawi and shamran date cultivars, and addition of acetic acid enhanced the effect, but acetic acid alone was ineffective (Kalra et al., 1977).Ethephon treatment stimulated the decrement of titratable acidity, anthocyanin accumulation and fruit softening four days after treatment in rabbiteye blueberry. The ripening promotion effect of ethephon on total soluble solids content was observed only eight days after treatment. Ethephon treatment did not affect the fruit enlargement during the investigation period. They concluded that ethephon application for rabbiteye blueberry promote the fruit ripening, but the stimulatory effects of ethephon on fruit ripening were different in degree on apiece ripening characters (Ban et al., 2007). The stimulatory effect of ethephon on blueberry fruit ripening has been reported by some researchers (Eck, 1970 Forsyth et al., 1977 Lewis and Ju, 1993 Warren et al., 1973). The skin color enhan cement effect of ethephon has been noted for apple and cranberry (Eck, 1972 Murphey and Dilley, 1988). In Jonagold apple, ethephon application stimulated the anthocyanin accumulation in the skin, but did not affect the total soluble solids content, acidity and fruit firmness (Awad and Jager, 2002). From these results, it is concluded that ethephon application for fruit promotes ripening, but the stimulatory effect of ethephon on fruit ripening differs in degree for each fruit ripening character. Ethylene released by the breakdown of Ethrel is the cause of softening of fruit and hastens the onset of ripening of several fruits, including mango, as reported by researchers (Rupinder, Poorinima, Pathak, Singh and Dwivedi, 2007).Role of hot water, sodium chloride and acetic acid in fruit ripeningRecently, wide international interest in heat treatment for quality concern and disease control has reflected in a range of literatures. With exposure of upstart agricultural commodities to high temperature, heat shock proteins transcripts and protein levels in such commodities have been shown to increase (Lurie, 1998). Further more, a wide range of fruit ripening processes are affected by heat, such as color (Cheng et al, 1988 Tian et al., 1996), ethylene synthesis (Ketsa et al., 1999), respiration (Inaba and Chachin, 1988), fruit softening and cell wall metabolism (Lurie and Nussinovich, 1996), volatile production. Postharvest heat treatment also can reduce chilling injury in many kinds of fruits during subsequent low temperature storage as well as reduce pathogen level and disease development. Agricultural commodities are large and respond differently by applied heat treatment. unlike heat treatment can also lead to ripening speedup or heat damage (McDonald et al., 1999 Lurie, 1997).The influence of hot water treatment on the ripening/curing of Dhakki dates with 70 oC performed better than 35 and 93 oC furnishing with 55% product yield of acceptable quality. The yield of improved quality product is further increased to 70% on the optimization of treatment time to 3 minutes. They concluded that Dhakki dates does not require to stay on tree beyond fully mature doka stage for want of dong formation and hence saves at least two weeks hang-on period Saleem et al. (2004). When fruits of Khadrawi and Shamran tempered with 2% NaCl alone achieved 72 and 75% ripening by weight, resembling studies were also conducted on Khadrawi, Shamran, Zaidi and Thoory date varieties at the doka stage. Sodium chloride (0.5-3.0%), actic acid (0.5-2.0%), or sodium chloride at 1.0% + acetic acid. With Khadrawi and Shamran increased concentration of NaCl resulted in a progressive increase in the ripening percentage of fruits (Kalra and Jawand, 1974 Kalra et al., 1977). Shamshiri and Rahemi (1999) reported that sodium chloride and acetic acid either separately or combined, significantly increased the TSS and reduced fruit firmness and moisture content. Acetic acid at 2% ha d a better effect on fruit ripening and sodium chloride, but the fruits with sodium chloride were better in appearance. Mirza and Meraj-ud-Din (1988) treat the fruits of Dhakki and Basra cultivars in doka stage with 3% brine ancestor, 0.25% acetic acid solution and 0.25% citric acid solution for five minutes and sulfuring them for five hours. various chemical treatments significantly enhanced the ripening percentage of fruits, brine solution was found to be superior ripening agent.