The Magnificent World of Coffee Essay Example for Free

The Magnificent World of Coffee Essay When you wake up in the morning and you do NOT feel like P. Diddy sometimes all you need is a big ole cup of coffee to jump-start your day. Coffee has gone by many different names, wakey juice, mud, plasma, go juice, jo, cuppa, the daily grind and brewtus. However, unlike the many names over the years, the feeling of the warm and welcoming liquids filling every inch of your body will always stand the test of time. Waking up can be the ultimate struggle. Just imagine a normal morning, lying in bed, dreading having to get up from the toasty little nest of pillows and blankets, eyes starting to close again†¦ drifting in and out of sleep: and then, the sweet aroma of fresh coffee beans being ground up make their way around the house, leaving neither room nor corner untouched by its delicious essence. Coffee can drive even the sleepiest bear out of slumber purely by its intoxicating scent. But nothing can compare to that first sip. How the hot liquid tickles the tongue, and slides down the throat, making sure to send shock waves everywhere, finally exploding throughout the body. Squinting through barely opened eyes, the sight of the richly dark contents pouring from the pot to the mug sends shocks throughout your body. Raising the mug up, eyes tightly closed, the smell travels up the nose. The strong scent immediately opens the senses and gets the blood running. The first sip does not disappoint. As expected, the hot liquid tickles the tongue, slides down the throat, making sure to send shock waves everywhere, and finally explodes throughout the body. The world has come alive. Most coffee beans come from Latin America, Southeast Asia, Africa and South Asia. With only seventy countries in total harvesting coffee beans around the world, it has become the most traded good, agriculturally speaking. This just goes to show how necessary coffee is in daily life. In fact, coffee is the most-consumed beverage worldwide. Just in America alone there are 100 million people who have had a cup of coffee this morning, 68% having their first cup within the first hour of being awake. Whether the coffee is homemade or bought from Starbucks, all coffee enthusiasts agree that they need that jump-start in the morning. Now imagine waking up, lying in bed all cozied up in a little nest of pillows and blankets, but something is†¦ off. Crawling out of bed, feet dragging, lumbering like a zombie towards the kitchen: but wait, where is the delicious aroma of that highly anticipated and routinely drunk morning coffee? Where is the divine sound of the coffee beans being ground up as the pot fills to the brim with that hot liquid that tickles the tongue, and slides down the throat, making sure to send shock waves everywhere, where it finally explodes throughout the body? The day, officially ruined, creates the tragic world that is without coffee. To the hundreds of millions of coffee drinkers, it is not just a drink that wakes them up: but a tradition, a way of life, a gateway into adulthood. No matter what the first cup of coffee was, no matter what it was called, no matter where it was from, no matter whether it was enjoyed or not, everyone will always remember what the first sip was like.

Methods of Lipid Analysis in Food

Methods of Lipid Analysis in Food Lipids are defined as the biomolecules whose solubility in water is less than that in non-polar solvents. This definition puts structurally distinct classes of compounds such as fatty acids, terpenes, steroids, prostaglandins and carotenes in the same class (Carey Giuliano, 2014). Other definition for lipid has also been suggested (Eoin, et al., 2005). They perform a variety of functions in living system including but not limited to structural integrity, energy storage, digestion and communication (Nelson Cox, 2005). Although lipids are essential for many body functions, not all lipids are required in same amount. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recommends that total fat of the food contribute to 20-35% of energy for adults. This should include 8% saturated fatty acid(SFA), 11% poly unsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) and less than 1% trans fatty acid (TFA) (FAO, 2010). Chances of insulin resistance is more in overweight person in high SFA diet (Lovejoy, et al., 2002). Similarly, excessive TFA intake also increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (Song, et al., 2015). Fat content also affects taste. It is proposed that fat has a unique taste Oleogustus that is dependent of chain length and is unique from five conventional tastes: sweetness, sourness, bitterness, saltiness and umami (Running, Craig, Mattes, 2015). Butter produced from milk with high unsaturated fatty acid (UFA) was found to be more spreadable, softer and less adhesive (Bobe, Hammond, Freeman, Lindberg, Beitz, 2003). As the fat content and type effects health as well as taste and texture, it is essential to know the fat content of food. Fat sample is characterized by a variety of criteria and methods. The selection of the criteria and method depends upon the sample type, purpose, accuracy, precision, legal requirement as well as available funds. Hence, despite having limited significance for nutritional purpose, total lipid (TL) measurement is widely carried out as many food labelling regulations require the TL report. Similarly, iodine value can be used for unsaturation study when sophisticated chromatography or spectroscopy methods are unavailable (Greenfield Southgate, Review of methods of analysis, 2003). This review intends to compile the available methods of lipid analysis of food products. Focus will be given on the type of sample required, result provided, resolving capacity of each criteria and method. Only brief discussion will be done on the theoretical and experimental process of the method. Sample preparation is very essential part of analysis of lipid sample. A separate section is dedicated to sample preparation.          In order to analyze the lipid, suitable sample must be prepared. If the sample has lipid inside cells (such as meat) the lipid should be extracted from the cells (Christie Han, Lipid Analysis, 2012). Samples must undergo some pretreatment before they can be used as test sample. Depending on the nature of sample one or more of the following work is necessary. 2.1. Storage Vessel Plastic container should be strictly avoided to store lipids. Plasticizers can leach into the sample and contaminate it. Glass vessels or Teflon coated vessels should be used. The atmosphere should be argon or nitrogen to prevent oxidation. (Christie Han, Lipid Analysis, 2012) 2.2. Protection from Oxidation Unsaturated fatty acids are prone to oxidation from atmospheric oxygen. Once the oxidation starts, autocatalysis accelerates the process. Different products are formed during oxidation and it may follow various mechanisms. Light, heat, metals, enzyme are known to catalyze the reaction (Angelo, 1996) Oxidation interferes with lipid analysis not only by destroying the unsaturated fats but also by formation of conjugated double bonds which show strong absorption at UV, thus providing false positive results (Christie Han, Lipid Analysis, 2012) Elimination of oxygen is the major step in prevention of oxidation. Therefore, all steps should be done in nitrogen atmosphere as far as possible. Equipment should be flushed with nitrogen before experiments. Small amount of antioxidant like 2,6-di-tert-butyl-p-cresol, which do not interfere with analytical process, may be added. Excess of these antioxidant should not be used as they can facilitate oxidation in high concentration. (Christie Han, Lipid Analysis, 2012) 2.3. Drying of Sample Lipid sample containing water can make analysis difficult and might be a source of error. Solvents cannot penetrate sample with >8% moisture easily. Hygroscopic solvents like diethyl ether can absorb the moisture, decreasing its extraction efficiency. Low moisture also facilitates grinding and increases the surface area of sample (Shahidi Wanasindara, 2008). Petroleum spirit, the most widely used solvent requires completely dried sample. (Greenfield Southgate, Review of methods of analysis, 2003) Depending on the type of water present (free, adsorbed or water of hydration) different methods may be required for water removal (Bradley, Jr, 2010). Care should be taken during drying as high temperature might lead to decomposition and combination of lipids with other components. These associated lipids cannot be extracted by solvents. Lyophilization (freeze-drying) and vacuum drying methods are preferred drying methods. (Shahidi Wanasindara, 2008) 2.4. Particle size reduction (Grinding) Solid food sample might need grinding. Grinding increases the surface area and decreases the length through which solvent need to penetrate the sample (Min Ellefson, 2010). Care should be taken that the particles are not too fine, too much heat is generated or too much moisture is lost. (IUPAC, 1979) 2.5. Hydrolysis Lipids in food may be bound ionically or covalently with non-lipid components such as carbohydrate or protein. Solvents are not able to extract them efficiently. Therefore, lipid needs to be hydrolyzed with acid or alkali to turn them into free state. Significant error in lipid extraction is reported when no hydrolysis is carried out. (Min Ellefson, 2010) Hydrolysis also breaks emulsified fat. (Shahidi Wanasindara, 2008) Acid hydrolysis is used for most foods except diary and high sugar content food which require alkaline hydrolysis. Hydrolysis is not preferred when the lipid extract needs to be further analyzed for fatty acid components because they can cause decomposition and oxidation of the sample components. (Greenfield Southgate, Review of methods of analysis, 2003) The given sample of food might not be entirely lipid. The amount of lipid in the food sample is called total lipid concentration. It is usually expressed as percentage or per 100gm food (Moreau, 2005). Although total lipid is widely used for food labelling and regulation of food composition, it has limited value as it does not provide the type of molecule in the lipid. (Greenfield Southgate, Review of methods of analysis, 2003) There are various methods to determine total lipid in food like solvent extraction, non-solvent extraction, instrumental methods. The selection of methods depends on a number of factor which is discussed below. 3.1. Solvent Extraction In solvent extraction, the lipid component of the food is extracted by dissolving in suitable organic solvent(s). The solvent selectively dissolves the lipid while leaving the non-lipid portion undissolved. The solvent is then evaporated to leave fat residue. Total lipid is then determined gravimetrically as: -(i) The above data gives the total fat. However, a significant portion of the fat includes glycerol (from triglycerides) phospholipids and other unsaponifiable matters. Thus, corrections are required so as to represent the correct amount of fatty acids in the sample. The correction factor is provided by FAO. (Greenfield Southgate, Appendix 5, 2003) The extracted portion of solvent extraction is highly dependent on solvent use. Hence selection of solvent is discussed in detail next. Solvent Selection Ideal solvent should extract all lipids and lipids only. However, due to wide range of polarity of different lipid types, no single solvent can provide an ideal solution. Moreover, the solvent selected should preferably be low boiling, non-flammable, non-toxic in liquid as well as solid, easily disposable after extraction, inexpensive and non- hygroscopic. It should also penetrate sample thoroughly (Min Ellefson, 2010). Petroleum ether is the most commonly used solvent for its selectivity towards lipid, cost and availability. However, diethyl ether is better solvent for lipids but its fire hazard and hygroscopic nature makes it less favorable than petroleum ether. Ethyl ether and petroleum ether is also sometimes used alternately or together for extraction. (Pomeranz Meloan, 1994) n-hexane is preferred for oil extraction. (IUPAC, 1979) Mixture of polar and non-polar solvents has shown to extract all the lipids from most food. However, care should be given so as to prevent extraction of unwanted portion. The lipids extracted by this method without hydrolysis is suitable for further treatment to determine fatty acid fractions. (Greenfield Southgate, Review of methods of analysis, 2003) Alcohol-ether can be used to remove fat from tissue. Water-butanol is used in cereals. Chloroform-methanol is preferred for animal tissue (Pomeranz Meloan, 1994). Solvent extraction is the standard method of analysis for many types of food. Hence, it is widely used and is undergoing continuous improvement. There are different types of solvent extraction, each with its pros and cons. 3.1.1. Batch Extraction Batch extraction is a very simple, yet widely used method of extraction. The sample is mixed with one or more solvent which along with endogenous water (if any) forms multiple layer of varying concentration. As the lipids are more soluble in non-polar solvents than in water, lipid portion goes to the layer with more solvents and non-lipid component remains in the layer with more water. The lipid part is then separated using a separating funnel. The separation is based on partition principle hence multiple extraction of the aqueous phase is necessary to obtain most of the lipid. The weight of lipid not extracted is given by the equation below: (Pomeranz Meloan, 1994) -(ii) Where, is the weight of lipid remaining, the volume of aqueous layer, volume of solvent in each extraction step, the distribution ratio of lipid in solvent, the number of extraction steps. The selection of solvent is then done using the distribution ratio of lipids in known solvents. Folch method uses chloroform-methanol extraction followed by washing with water. This extracts all lipid from tissue except strandin which remains with the non-lipid phase. (Folch, 1957) Folch method was improved by Bligh and Dyer to improve the speed of extraction and purify the sample at the same time. (Bligh Dyer, 1959) Extraction using low toxicity solvents like hexane: propanol has also been developed. (Hara Radin, 1978) Batch extraction is usually slow and requires a large amount of solvent. When other faster and easier methods are available, this method is not preferred. However, as no sophisticated equipment is necessary, batch extraction is very useful where the cost of equipment outweighs the usefulness of more accurate data. 3.1.2. Continuous Extraction Continuous solvent extraction recycles the solvent used so that small amount of solvent can accomplish the equivalent extraction of several steps. This process is preferred for solid samples and sample where the distribution ratio is low. These samples need multi step extraction as very little lipid is extracted to the solvent in each step. (Pomeranz Meloan, 1994) Soxhlet extractor is widely used extractor for lipid. Although first developed to measure milk fat it has developed as a standard extractor for lipid as well as other substances. (Soxhlet, 1879) It has gone various improvements since its first publication and now various modifications are commercially available. Goldfish extraction is a faster extraction system which suspends the sample in the solvent vapour. Although faster than Soxhlet based system, it might not completely extract the lipid due to channeling i.e. solvent may take a preferential path in the solid sample and may not cover whole of the sample. (Moreau, 2005) As continuous extraction is faster and uses less solvents than batch extraction it is the most widely used extraction system. Moreover, the equipment used is not very expensive and can be used for extraction of other materials. However, these processes are slow and disposal of solvent is an everyday problem. 3.1.3. Pressurized Fluid Extraction Pressurized fluid extraction (PLE) is carried out in high pressure and high temperature. In literature, this process is also called Pressurized Solvent Extraction or Accelerated Solvent Extraction. The term ASE ®is the registered trademark of Dionex Corporation which manufactures pressurized fluid extraction apparatus commercially. (Dean, 2009) Richter et al. studied the effect of variables like temperature, pressure, solvent volume on extraction. Their work showed that the ASE ® extractor could provide results comparable to Soxhlet but with reduced extraction time and solvent volume. This is attributed to decreased viscosity of solvent, weaker bond between components and increased diffusion capacity of solvent at higher temperature. Increased pressure is primarily applied to keep the solvent liquid, however, it provides the added advantage of forcing the solvent into pores blocked by insoluble matter. (Richter, et al., 1996) However, there is evidence that PLE is not selective to lipids for certain foods. (Boselli, Velazco, Caboni, Lercker, 2001) Moreover, no significant difference was seen on lipid extracted from poultry meat between Folch, Soxlet or ASE ® method. (Toschi, Bendini, Ricci, Lercker, 2003) Pressurized solvent extraction can be highly useful in labs where routine extraction is required as it greatly reduces the extraction time and solvent use. On the other hand, the investment on the apparatus may not be economical if extraction is not carried out regularly. In all cases the stability of temperature sensitive components should be known before using PLE. 3.1.4. Supercritical Fluid Extraction Substance in temperature above its critical temperature and pressure is called supercritical fluid. (IUPAC, 1997) Solvent property of supercritical fluid was first demonstrated in 1879. (Hannay Hogarth, 1879) They have huge prospects in extraction because they combine the solubility power of liquid with penetration power of gas. Moreover, their solubility can be fine-tuned by changing the pressure and temperature. Carbon dioxide and water are the most promising fluid for supercritical extraction due to their non-toxicity and environmentally friendly nature. (Hedrick, Mulcahey, Taylor, 1992) 3.2. Non-Solvent Liquid Extraction In this method, the sample is treated with some liquid reagent which separates the lipid from sample and the lipid fraction is then measured. This method is mostly used to determine milk fat. They require specialized vessels for each method and cannot determine phospholipids. (McClements, 2003) Several methods are present: 3.2.1. Babcock Method 3.2.2. Gerber Method 3.2.3. Detergent Method 3.3. Instrumental Methods Different instrumental methods have been developed to determine the total lipid content of the sample. They rely on some physical properties that vary systematically with lipid concentration. (McClements, 2003) Based on the property measured it is mainly of three types: 3.3.1. Measuring Bulk Properties Density: Density decreases as lipid content increases. This relation can be used to know the percentage of fat in a sample. (McClements, 2003) Electrical Conductivity: Conductivity decreases as lipid content increases. Thus, it can be used as fat concentration measure. (McClements, 2003) Ultrasonic Velocity: This is a fast and non-invasive method for fat content calculation. Amplitude and brightness analysis can be used to find the fat content and also distribution. (Abdul, N, Mohd, Abu, Z, 2013) Moreover, attenuation(absorption) of ultrasound is linearly proportional to the amount of fat in the body. (Dukhin, Goetz, Travers, 2013) 3.3.2. Measuring Absorption of Radiation UV-VIS: Fatty Acid absorb UV light proportional to its concentration. This method requires sample preparation to remove substances like proteins and hydrophobic peptides which interfere with the measurement. (Forcato, Carmine, Echeverria, Pecora, Kivatinitz, 2005) Because of the extraction and dilution needed the process can be time consuming and labor intensive. (McClements, 2003) IR: Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is mainly used to analyze fatty acid content in food. (Mossoba, Azizian, Kramer, 2012) Fat show strong absorbance at 5.74 mm which provides rapid and online fat composition measure. (McClements, 2003) The carbonyl absorption is the major reason for lipids NIR activity. This method requires intensive calibration with other approved methods hence is mainly used for routine analyses of large number of similar sample. (Greenfield Southgate, Review of methods of analysis, 2003) NMR: NMR is also a non-destructive and fast method of total fat analysis. Although it requires a calibration curve, it is better suited than IR or UV because it can be operated by non-experts and the calibration curve is long lasting. (Oxford Instuments Molecular Biotools, 2010) X-Ray: Fat absorbs less X-Ray than lean meat. Hence, by building a proper calibration curve, fat content in meat can be determined by X-Ray absorption (McClements, 2003) 3.3.3. Measuring Scattering of Radiation Light and Ultrasonic Scattering: Light as well as ultrasound waves are scattered by oil droplets present in emulsions. The linear relation between concentration of droplet and light scattering can be used to measure total fat, provided no other interfering molecules exist. (McClements, 2003) X-Ray: Fat molecules show a sharp X-Ray scattering peak at 1.1 nm-1 while a water rich tissue shows a peak at 1.6nm-1. Thus, varying amount of fat can give a scattering profile which can be used for fat content determination. (Elshemey, 2011) 3.4. Other Methods 3.4.1. Solid Phase Extraction 3.4.2. Microwave Assisted Extraction Total Lipid Concentration is a very simple data about food. As lipid contain diverse chemical species, in addition to total lipid, the type of lipid and their distribution also plays a major role to determine the purity, nutritional value, aesthetic look and taste. Hence, complete information about the type of lipids is necessary for scientist as well as legal bodies. (McClements, 2003) Sample preparation is the most important part in most method to analyses lipids. As the lipid is extracted, care should be given to prevent the change of one form of lipid to another. Hydrolysis should be rigorously prevented as it reduces triglycerides and increases free fatty acids. Extraction should cause as less oxidation as possible. (Greenfield Southgate, Review of methods of analysis, 2003) Extraction in chloroform, chloroform-methanol and hexane-isopropanol is preferred. Storage of sample in cold at -20oC is preferred. (AAFCO Lab Methods Services Committee, 2014) The various method present have their advantages and drawbacks and the preferable method depends on the type of food and the type of lipid to me examined, (Greenfield Southgate, Review of methods of analysis, 2003) 4.1. Chromatography It is a very powerful tool for lipid analysis. It can give compete profile of the lipid molecules in the given sample. Chromatography separates the different components of lipid in fractions, these are then subject to spectrometric analysis which gives the molecular identity as well as relative concentration. IR, NMR and Mass Spectrometry are most commonly used. (McClements, 2003) These methods, although very reliable and comprehensive are very expensive due to the instrumental and reagent cost and is only carried out where complete molecular identification is required. (Greenfield Southgate, Review of methods of analysis, 2003) Three types are used: TLC: Thin Layer Chromatography is used to find concentration of different lipid groups. The TLC plate is prepared with suitable adsorbent and kept in proper solvent. A drop of sample is placed on one end and let to flow. The plate after separation to different fractions is compared to standard plates to identify the lipids. The spots can be analyzed further by GC, MS, NMR. (McClements, 2003) After the advent of HPLC, TLC use has decreased considerably. However, after the availability of pre-coated plates, the use of TLC for instant result is still carried out when there are few samples only. It is cheaper than HPLC. However, care during experimentation is required. (Christie, Thin-Layer Chromatography of Lipids, 2011) This method cannot be used to separate different types of phospholipids. (Zaima, Goto-Inoue, Adachi, Mitsutoshi, 2011) HPLC: High Performance Liquid Chromatography is now a preferred method for lipid analysis. This is because it is more versatile than TLC and operates at room temperature, thus can be used to analyses labile groups that cannot be done using GC. (Christie, Thin-Layer Chromatography of Lipids, 2011) GC: Gas Chromatography is the preferred method for analysis of trans fatty acid. It can also be used for triglycerides and fatty acids; however, methylation is necessary. (Greenfield Southgate, Review of methods of analysis, 2003) Fatty acids are non-volatile, hence before carrying out GC, the lipids are saponified and methylated to give Fatty Acid Methyl Esters(FAME) which are volatile and can be used for GC. (McClements, 2003) -(2) It is now possible to convert a lipid sample of a fraction of a milligram in size to the methyl ester derivatives, separate these by gas chromatography, and have a quantitative result in under one hour. (Christie, Chapter 1 Introduction and Summary, 2011) 4.2. Chemical Methods These methods are very cheap and do not require expensive machinery. However, only crude and average results are obtained. Following test gives different information on fat: Iodine Value: It gives the average degree of unsaturation in the lipid. The lipid to be analyzed is titrated with ICl and the consumption of ICl gives the amount of unsaturation in lipid. Saponification Number: It gives the average molecular weight of triglycerols. The triglycerols are saponified with KOH and the amount of KOH used is determined. This is the saponification number. High saponification number corresponds to low molecular weight and vice versa. Acid Value: It gives the amount of free fatty acid. Here, the lipid is titrated with KOH until the solution turns alkaline. Other acids may interfere with results. (McClements, 2003) 4.3. Instrumental Techniques Various instrumental techniques for fat analysis are present. Methods like NMR, IR, MS are usually coupled with chromatography. Measurement of density and refractive index can be used to measure change in chain length and unsaturation. (McClements, 2003) Lipids with high unsaturation undergoes aerial oxidation. This includes variety of reactions usually summarized as follows: reactants à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ primary products à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ secondary products (unsaturated lipids and O2) à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ (peroxides and conjugated dienes) à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ (ketones, aldehydes, alcohols, hydrocarbons) 5.1. Chromatography Loss of reactants as well as formation of specific products can be monitored by using time profile. 5.2. Oxygen Uptake Measures the amount of oxygen consumed over time while maintaining constant oxygen concentration on the reaction vessel. 5.3. Peroxide Value Measures the amount of peroxide formed by titration with iodine. 5.4. Conjugated Dienes Measures the concentration of conjugated dienes by UV spectroscopy (at 233nm for diene and 268nm for trines) 5.5. Thiobarbituric Acid(TBA) Measures the secondary products (aldehydes) in the sample. The sample is treated with TBA and absorbance measured at 540nm. The absorbance value corresponds with the concentration of aldehyde. 5.6. Accelerated Oxidation Tests The sample is oxidized in oxidation friendly environment and the time taken for rancidity to form is measured. These tests help to know the physicochemical characteristics corresponding to flavor, appearance, flow etc. 6.1. Solid Fat Content(SFC) Measures the fraction of fat present as solid. Density measure is mostly used (3) Where is the density at given temperature and are the density if it was completely liquid or solid at the same temperature. NMR signal decay rate is also being used recently. More solid component, faster is the signal decay. Differential Scanning Calorimetry uses latent heat measure are also used to measure SFC-temperature profile. 6.2. Melting Point Used when SFC is not required but only the temperature of melting is required. Due to different components present no sharp melting point is seen. Instead different melting points are used: Clear Point: The temperature at which fat completely melts and becomes clear Slip point: The temperature at which the fat in a capillary tube starts to slip. Wiley melting point: the temperature at which a disc suspended in alcohol-water mixture turns to a sphere. 6.3. Cloud Point The temperature at which a completely melted lipid starts to develop turbidity. 6.4. Smoke Point The temperature at which the lipid starts to smoke at standard condition 6.5. Flash Point The temperature at which a flash appears on the surface at ignition at standard condition 6.6. Fire Point The temperature at which a continuous flame stats to form at standard condition 6.7. Rheology The measure of deformation and flow. Viscosity, elastic modulus and other relevant flow or plasticity measure is used. (n.d.). (FOSS) Retrieved from Analytical Solutions for Food Analysis and Quality Control FOSS: http://www.foss.dk/~/media/images/ca/soxtec8000/soxtech_extraction_sketch-jpg AAFCO Lab Methods Services Committee. (2014, January). Crude Fat Methods Considerations. Retrieved from Association of American Feed Control Officials: http://www.aafco.org/Portals/0/SiteContent/Laboratory/Fat_Best_Practices_Working_Group/Crude_Fat_Methods_Considerations.pdf Abdul, H. M., N, B., Mohd, S. M., Abu, K. R., Z, M. (2013). The Use of Ultrasound As a Fat Measurement Sensor. International Conference on Smart Instrumentation, Measurement and Applications (ICSIMA), (pp. 315-320). Kuala LAmpur. doi:10.1109/ICSIMA.2013.6717974 Angelo, A. J. (1996). Lipid Oxidation in Foods. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 36(3), 175-224. doi:10.1080/10408399609527723 Bligh, E. G., Dyer, W. J. (1959). A Rapid Method of Total Lipid Extraction and Purification. Canadian Journal of Biochemistry and Physiology, 911-917. Bobe, G., Hammond, E. G., Freeman, A. E., Lindberg, G. L., Beitz, D. C. (2003, October). Texture of Butter from Cows with Different Milk Fatty Acid Composition. Journal of Dairy Science, 86(10). doi:10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(03)73913-7

Cognitive View of Depressive Disorders

Cognitive View of Depressive Disorders Compare and contrast the psychoanalytic explanation with the cognitive view of depressive disorders. Freud debated that people whose requirements weren’t met during the uttered stage of psychosexual occurrence are exposed to emerging melancholy in maturity because this causes low self-respect and extreme reliance.Persons who are exceptionally reliant on another people are notably expected to arise recession after such a demise. Resentment at the death is vicarious onto the self, which influences self-respect and affects the person to re discover damage that appeared in nonage. Has frontage authority, Early harm does not constantly foretell dejection and the main flaw of Freud’s theory is the lacking firsthand support and so is neither provable nor falsifiable. As stated in this approach, gloominess is caused because of maladaptive education. The mores of operant conditioning have been realistic to clarify misery with the help of boosting and mistreatment. Lack of positive support or too much rough treatment leads towards depression. As stated by Lewinsohn (1974,) that sadness is because of decline in positive backup as a outcome of certain type of damage, e.g. redundancy, relationship breakdown. Moreover, once depressed, the person may get encouraging vibes such as kindness and devotion. In 1974 Hiroto run down three clusters of human members: such as wide open to a booming noise they couldn’t break; exposed to a rowdy noise they could stay by pressing a button; and was unable to hear a loud pitch. All candidates were then positioned in face of a rectangular pack with a knob on it and exposed to loud pitch. Unidentified to the candidates, the pitch could be switched off by affecting the grip from one side to another. The participants previously exposed to a loud pitch they couldn’t end showed experienced helplessness by failing to move the handle. Reductionist Environmentally deterministic Ignores nature Extrapolation Face validity Ecological validity Population validity Cognitive dysfunction in attribution way (attribution model of Abramson et al.’s ) and theory of self, the universe, and the expectations (Beck’s cognitive triad) have been interconnected to the growth of depression. Negative schemas develop at some stage in childhood as a result of serious interpersonal outcomes, and are started when the entity facing the same situations in upcoming life. Abramson, Seligman, and Teasdale (1978) established Seligman’s effort with the model, which visualizes how people react to failure. Abramson again with Metalsky, and Alloy (1989) presented the actual theory because they linked few significance to the focused attributions and more significance to the concept that depressed person present a general logic of hopelessness. Evans et al. (2005) also presented a prospective theory and found that females with the highest ranking for negative self-beliefs at the time of pregnancy were 60% more possible to become depressed consequently t han those at the bottom side. An upper number of stressful life events mainly precede depression. During the survey, Interviews of depressed women resulted that 61% of affected women had badly faced at least one very stressful event in her life as compared to 19% of a non-depressed normal women. Social and family support was recognized as an entity that protected from depression, only 10% of women having a close and true friend faced depression compared to 37% of the women without an warm and dear friend (Brown Harris, 1978). According to socio-cultural theorists the frequency of key depressive disorder is inclined strongly by demographic factors. Marital rank is one more important social and demographic factor. Blazer et al. (1994) noticed that individuals with divorce were high depressed than those who are married or had never been into any relation. Culture has an impact on the natural world of the symptoms experienced because people in non-Western countries state mostly physical symptoms (e.g. sleep, fatigue and disturbances), on the other hand self-blame and guilt are more common symptoms in Western countries. Throughout the whole discussion it can be observed that Freud’s’ ideas are very explicit in making a clear direction about the components to make up a human personality in different stages of life (Lanea). According to Sigmund Freud’s theory, there are two basic components of the conscious and unconscious mind. These parts contribute in identification of the self-personality by the human. Every personality has different states of mind as conscious and unconscious mind together makes interaction to develop human personality. His ideas also helped in revealing the elements dividing the human personality like id, ego and superego. The fundamental structure of human mind is actually the primary base of the human behaviors and personality in different life stages. Bibliography Lanea, Christopher. Philosophy of the unconscious: Vacillating on the scene of writing in Freuds project. Prose Studies: History, Theory, Criticism (1994): 98-129. Brown Harris, Vulnerability Factors, 1978. Blazer et al, Lifetime risk of Depression, 1994. Abramson, Metalsky, and Alloy, Hopelessness Depression, 1989. Why is the concept of disease not suitable when discussing personality disorder? Sigmund Freud is a prominent figure in psychology known as a creator of psychoanalysis i.e. analysis of the mind. He was the one who presented a complete set of theories and ideas about the personality and ultimately made composition of an interchange between the psychic structures and events within psychosexual stages of development (Gallinek). Despite his theories and ideas faced high level of criticism in terms of their circularity and gender specificity, a relative fact cannot be undermined that reflects his theories and ideas can be used to make identification of person’s personality in different life stages (Vivas). Both the Abraham Maslow and Dostoevsky have showed and given their perceptions and descriptions about concept of disease not suitable when discussing personality disorder and the needs of an individual in life and their priorities in their individual statements. However, Abraham Maslow’s idea looks more practical and realistic as the major population in the world first seeks for the necessity like food (Caldwell and Mou). It can be noted here that how the person is capable of doing anything in his life even searching for his identity or the purpose in his life, in the absence of the physical energy provided by him in the form of food. Some needs of the people hold priorities over others. The Maslows hierarchy of need place fundamental emphasis upon the need for the satisfaction of the hunger. Order of prioritization can be deemed as a basic element of the disagreement between two statements (Frankl). In order to understand how Freud’s theories and ideas are helpful for the identification of the personality in different life stages, it is necessary to understand the new way introduced by him in making analysis of the human behavior. According to him, metal energy is the basic source of devising a human behavior (Ahmed). These energies are produced by the libido, which is a part of Id and creates the energy through survival and sexual instincts. A worth noting point about his theories and ideas is that these revolves around the unconscious mind as according to him unconscious mind play a vital role in developing human behaviors and ultimately his personality (Harvard Womens Health Watch). On the other hand, when we consider the statement written by the novelist, Fyodor Dosteovsky, he gave the priority to self-actualization needs of an individual, which means search for the personal identity (Ndimunkum). His individual believes can be proved from the verses of Bible as the book gave the same idea in the place of different references representing that man does not survive only on the bread alone, but also all those things that are made available by the God for him (Coleman). The individuals accepting the teachings of Bible would be capable of reacting and sensing in the same way (Green). The another example supporting the statement of the Dostoevsky is the act of fasting that is experienced by the humans in their life, sacrificing their need of love for the sake of accomplishment of the purpose. Additionally there are number of individuals suffering from the different types of mental confusions and disorders, and in this situation, they do not give any importance to the food or diet simply because of the depression, anxiety and insecurity practiced by them (Frankl). However, both the statements can be implemented with respect to certain situations and even with the mutual integration. It can be depicted that though the priorities of the two psychologists are different, yet there are numerous activities that are used to satisfy the human needs can at the same time respond to both the priorities including food and hunger. Farming, planting and transportation activities on the one hand can provide the platform for earning money to get food for the satisfaction of hunger as well as also become an edge for the searching of the individual purpose to lead the live (Green). It is true that no man can survive without food and give reference to it over love and self-esteem, yet without a clear purpose and identification, individual would soon be bored with the life he is leading, even though he has enough food to eat. Conclusively, these needs cannot be studied in isolation as they have great significance on the quality of life of a man and upon the psychological satisfaction of him. Nothing is less important as each element in the life possess its individual place (Hessong and Weeks; Journal of human behavior) Bibliography Hessong, Robert F. and Thomas Harold Weeks. Introduction to education. Macmillan, 1987. Green, Christopher D. A Theory of Human Motivation. 2000. Classics in the History of Psychology. 20 July 2012 http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Maslow/motivation.htm>. Frankl, Viktor. Mans Search for Meaning. Beacon Press,, 2006. Coleman, James Kaii. Living by Bread Alone: Mans Quest for the Good Life. iUniverse, 2008. Ndimunkum, Mike Tangunu. The Greatness of America. AuthorHouse, 2009. Harvard Womens Health Watch. Psychoanalysis: Theory and treatment. Harvard Womens Health Watch (2006): 4-5. Ahmed, Sofe. Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory Oedipus complex: A critical study with reference to D. H. Lawrence’s â€Å"Sons and Lovers†. Internal journal of English and literature (2012): 60-70. Frankl, Viktor. Mans Search for Meaning. Beacon Press,, 2006. Caldwell, Linda and Shela Mou. Integrating Social Science Ecosystem Management: A National Challenge. DIANE Publishing, 1997. Vivas, Eliseo. THE LEGACY OF SIGMUND FREUD. Kenyon Review (1989): 110-118. Gallinek, M.D. Alfred. The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud. (1964): 87-91. Explain the difference between positive and negative symptoms. How do these symptoms affect the functional outcomes and quality of life for individuals with schizophrenia? The conceptualization of stress and schizophrenia along with their impact on mental and physical health of patients has gained significant importance. It is obvious that the organisms are subjected to evolutionary pressures from the environment. The ability to respond to environmental threats along with stressors has enhanced survival along with the physiological responses. Alzheimer’s disease responses to stressful situations can be the part of adaptive responses because the risks inherent in the situation (Harrell). Therefore, the paper is discussing the conceptualization of stress and immunity regarding the stress and immunity on health of patients. These aspects are discussed in the context of the counseling while discussing the consequent impacts on normal functioning abilities of patients. There are different studies contributing to the conceptualizing of Alzheimer’s disease as situations that can be considered as stressful. The taxonomy can be adopted to characterize the stressors, which has the advantage of differentiating the stressors on important dimensions namely duration and course. It further includes five categories of stressors. Acute time limited stressors involve laboratory related challenges such as public speaking (Cervantes and Castro). The brief naturalistic stressors involve a person confronting a real life challenge for short term period. In stressful event sequences, a focal event causes the emergence of a related sequential events and challenges. It is found that affected people do not know when these challenges will subside but they are aware of the fact that the challenges will subside in future. It can be said that the situation in which a body perceives a threat, series of chemical and physical responses occur. The major response is the activation of the autonomic nervous system involving a part of the nervous system that is abnormally under control. The sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system regulates the stress response while the relaxation response is controlled by parasympathetic nervous system (Hwang and Ting). The body secretes catecholamines helping in preparation of the person to fight or turn from the threat and run. The release of such hormones triggers the fight or flight response in patients. The increase in the chronic stress can affect the human body negatively as it can increase the risk for developing heart disease, asthma, arthritis, hypertension, migraine, and ulcers (Cervantes and Castro). According to experts panel report of Experimental biology 2004, it is identified that mechanisms as well as pathways through which the hormonal response to situations of schizophrenia influence functions of person social responses. These changes represent to have effects on susceptibility, onset and exacerbation of different mental as well as health diseases such as atherosclerotic, depression, multiple sclerosis and others. It is observed that stress makes interface in between endocrine hormonal and the immune system active. However, if the perception of stress represents to lie for short-term basis hormonal alterations ultimately fade away (Eisenman, Bergner and Cohen). In reference to the cases when the stressful sensory input continues it initiates dysregulation of immune system, at the same time it tends to influence the production of distinctive soluble aspects that refers to have impacts on brain. Specifically these intense responses of clients preferably linked with enhanced vulnerability in order to create a clinically considerable depression in between chronic immune stimulation. There are number of stressful situations of patients that ultimately influence immune system of client such as divorce that preferably generate chronic stress. It is observe that stress immediately affects immune system as grabbling with swirl of different negatively influencing thoughts and emotions, as there is not a surprise if immune system of patient takes a abrupt nosedive. Disease generates profound impacts on biological functions of individual, it is due to the reason that central nervous system of human body is directly associated with brain, spinal cord as well as closely functions with endocrine system that is responsible for hormonal distribution. In the similar way, stress also enhances chances of heart disease, causes blood pressure, chest pain and other heart related problems. In conclusion, there are also some other stress related issues other than heart disease that most of the depression patients represent these involves asthma, obesity, anxiety, diabetes, gastrointestinal issues, accelerated aging and most obvious is premature death. While conducting analysis it is identified that the death rate it almost 63% of patients with persistent stress in comparison with normal (Berk). However, there are number of studies that denote that there are number of ways through which people can fight against stress such as deep breathing or reframing the situation can generate higher positive responses. In the similar way, stress also make patients crave for fats and carbohydrates that cause weight gain and rises risk of diabetes. Bibliography: Berk, Jay H. Trauma and resilience during war: A look at the children and humanitarian aid workers of Bosnia. Psychoanalytic Review 85.4 (1998): 639-65. David P,Eisenman and Sharone Bergner and Ilene Cohen. A model victim: idealizing trauma wounds causes traumatic stress in person rights workers. Person Rights 4 Review (2000): 106-114. Cervantes, Richard C. and Felipe G. Castro. Stress, Coping, and Mexican American Mental Health: A Systematic Review. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 7.1 (2003): 1-73. Hwang, Wei-Chin and Julia Y. Ting. Disaggregating the effects of acculturation and acculturative stress on the mental health of Asian Americans. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology 14.2 (2008): 147-154. Harrell, Shelly P. A Multidimensional Conceptualization of Racism-Related Stress: Implications for the Well-Being of People of Color. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 70.1 (2000): 42–57.

The Evolution of Public Administration in American Society Essay exampl

Public administration as a field of study and as a practice has continually evolved with American society. The United States has survived and thrived through major cultural shifts, varying degrees of economic climates, and both civil and world wars. Through out all these changes in our country, one thing has always remained the same, the fact that we are an ever evolving and always changing nation. Theories and forms of practice of public administration have also evolved parallel with the history of the United States. There have been numerous events in American history have lead to changes in society and the practice of public administration has both led and followed in the adaptation process of such monumental changes. Public administration formally became a recognized academic and professional field in the late 19th century. Many public administration scholars contend that the start of public administration becoming a field of study was the 1887 Political Science Quarterly article â€Å"The Study of Administration† by a young Woodrow Wilson. (Shafritz, Russell, & Borick, 2011, pg. 28) Woodrow Wilson was classified as being a member of the Progressive Movement. The Progressives were a varied group of politicians, academics, advocates and activists who sought to abolish what they saw as the corrupt practices of the patronage system and to reform the new industrialized society that America had become. They objected to the pervasive corruption of government and sought to do away with the political machines that had become the standard of the time. The study of public administration only continued to grow over the course of the next two decades. As the study of public administration expanded, so did the development of s... ...ice of public administration will continue to change with the further advances in society. Already there are many of issues that tomorrow’s public administrators will be dealing with. These issues will be varied and complex and will concern the ongoing development of computers, possible advancements in health care and science, and even major social and legislative shifts. â€Æ' Works Cited Jay M. Shafritz, E.W. Russell, Christopher P. Borick. "Introducing Public Administration" Pearson. 7th Edition, 2011. Florida Department of Law Enforcement "Florida Domestic Security Strategic Plan" https://www.fdle.state.fl.us/Content/Domestic-Security/Domestic-Security-Documents/2015-2017DomesticSecurityStrategicPlan.aspx United States Census Bureau "Computer and Internet Use in the United States: 2013" https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/acs-internet2013.pdf The Evolution of Public Administration in American Society Essay exampl Public administration as a field of study and as a practice has continually evolved with American society. The United States has survived and thrived through major cultural shifts, varying degrees of economic climates, and both civil and world wars. Through out all these changes in our country, one thing has always remained the same, the fact that we are an ever evolving and always changing nation. Theories and forms of practice of public administration have also evolved parallel with the history of the United States. There have been numerous events in American history have lead to changes in society and the practice of public administration has both led and followed in the adaptation process of such monumental changes. Public administration formally became a recognized academic and professional field in the late 19th century. Many public administration scholars contend that the start of public administration becoming a field of study was the 1887 Political Science Quarterly article â€Å"The Study of Administration† by a young Woodrow Wilson. (Shafritz, Russell, & Borick, 2011, pg. 28) Woodrow Wilson was classified as being a member of the Progressive Movement. The Progressives were a varied group of politicians, academics, advocates and activists who sought to abolish what they saw as the corrupt practices of the patronage system and to reform the new industrialized society that America had become. They objected to the pervasive corruption of government and sought to do away with the political machines that had become the standard of the time. The study of public administration only continued to grow over the course of the next two decades. As the study of public administration expanded, so did the development of s... ...ice of public administration will continue to change with the further advances in society. Already there are many of issues that tomorrow’s public administrators will be dealing with. These issues will be varied and complex and will concern the ongoing development of computers, possible advancements in health care and science, and even major social and legislative shifts. â€Æ' Works Cited Jay M. Shafritz, E.W. Russell, Christopher P. Borick. "Introducing Public Administration" Pearson. 7th Edition, 2011. Florida Department of Law Enforcement "Florida Domestic Security Strategic Plan" https://www.fdle.state.fl.us/Content/Domestic-Security/Domestic-Security-Documents/2015-2017DomesticSecurityStrategicPlan.aspx United States Census Bureau "Computer and Internet Use in the United States: 2013" https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/acs-internet2013.pdf

Shamanism Essay -- Spirit Shaman Shamanism Essays

Shamanism To truly understand the meaning of shamanism one must uncover the original definition. The word shaman comes from the language of the Evenk, a small Tungus-speaking group of hunters and reindeer herders from Siberia. It was first used only to designate a religious specialist from this region. By the beginning of the 20th century it was already being applied to a variety of North America and South American practices from the present and the past. Today people have gone as far as defining the word shaman as any human that acknowledges that he/she has had contact with spiritual entities. Well at least the term still refers to human beings. The Siberian shaman's soul is said to be able to leave the body and travel to other parts of the cosmos, particularly to an upper world in the sky and a lower world underground. How can anyone know what the people of Mesoamerica were seeing if they in fact were even in these states of trance. A broader definition is that shamans would include any kind of person who is in control of his or her state of trance, even if this does not involve a soul journey. This broader definition stills does not include a culture that no one was around to document. Does anyone really know if these ‘shamans’ controlled their state of trance? Not to mention, there is no evidence of a written language of either the Olmec or West Mexican regions to date. These definitions of shamanism are very brief and really can not be upheld as a specific precise and accurate definition, however shamanism within these parameters has been widely accepted both in the early and late twentieth century, and into today. Shamanism due to its many definitions could be just about any being that can be observed practicing. Shamanism is not a single, unified religion but a cross-cultural form of religious sensibility and practice. It is a complex set of practices, beliefs, values and behaviors that enable the practitioner to elect a shift from ordinary consciousness into a trance state with a specific goal in mind. Such as healing, obtaining information, power, vision, divination, contacting the spirit of the deceased, soul retrieval or guidance for right action. Shamanism is scattered and fragmented and should perhaps not be called an -ism at all. There is no doctrine, no world shamanic church, no holy book as a point of reference, no priests with... ...ght to be a part of some religions. Some have completely discredited the theory of Shamanism as a way of coping out in research. To completely convince readers of a theory, there should be a firm base to their argument and there is not one when it comes to shamanism in Ancient Mesoamerican cultures such as the Olmec and West Mexican cultures. (Hamayon, 1-5) The word ‘shamanism’ has been thrown around a great deal these days, and attached to a variety of behaviors, sometimes with only a vague understanding of its meaning. Most people who study the existence of shamans have very little knowledge of what actual tribal shamans practiced in any given culture. A researcher or interested seeker, looking through all the widely varied literature, will notice both similarities and differences between anthropological descriptions of long-ago tribal shamans and similar iconography of Mesoamerica. Similarities could mean that there were rituals of a similar magnitude but it does not prove that they are all a part of a giant web that stretches across the world. Confusion on the topic and its many interpretations cloud its origin and force a compromising stance on the very word ‘shamanism’.

Case Study Analysis on an Organisation Essay

Organisational change is something that occurs throughout an organisation’s life cycle and effects the entire organisation rather than one part of it. Employing a new person is one example. Change is increasing due to a number of forces including globalisation led by rapidly advancing technologies, cultural diversity, environmental resources and the economy; therefore the ability to recognise the need for change as well as implement change strategies effectively, in a proactive response to internal and external pressures is essential to organisational performance. Internal changes can include organisational structure, process and HR requirements and external changes involve government legislation, competitor movements and customer demand (Wood et al, 2010). Change does not need to be a painful process, as it may seem when observing the amount of failed change management initiatives with reports as low as 10% of researched success rates (Oakland & Tanner, 2007), when successful change management strategies are utilised and planned, including effective communication strategies, operational alignment, readiness to change and implementation, which all lower and overcome resistance (Wood et al, 2010). There is a great amount of literature on the negative aspects and difficult management with employees resisting change, however Wood et al (2010) challenge this notion by questioning the change management process as people do not resist change itself but aspects of the change that affects them personally such as fear of the unknown, status, remuneration and comfort. Resistance to these changes is a healthy reaction and can be managed effectively in the beginning by ensuring communication and using one of the change initiatives described here. Background Information Truelocal is based in Sydney, with small sales branches in Brisbane and Melbourne. It employs over 150 staff, an increase of approximately 50% over the past two years. It was founded in 2005 by NDM as part of an expanding operation of online websites to provide across the board consumer services, including news and magazine websites; online sport and weather information; and shopping comparison search engine, web-based recruitment, and travel search engine solutions [http://www. ewsdigitalmedia. com. au, accessed 25/08/2010]. As the world shifted into what is often referred to as the ‘digital info age’, consumer demand for online media as a way to source information significantly increased and demand for printed media decreased putting pressure on newspaper companies to expand to producing news and information online in digital format. This included News Corporation which decreased its newspaper operations and increased its digital expansion. As an employee at Truelocal for over six years, I have acquired this information presented here through interviews with management, company information and my own observations internally within the organisation’s sales department working in the roles of sales executive, account manager and senior retention account manager. The Need for Change – Management & Structure Truelocal needed to align its culture, values and structure with the parent company in order to meet strategic growth goals not long after it was founded. Wood et al (2010) describe the work of an author, Noel Tichey on managing strategic change. Experts use three fundamental sets of change in their approach; technical design, political allocation and culture/ideological mix problems. It is one of these problems that become a pressing issue at any one time of which then initiates the change. In Truelocal’s case there were a number of changes evolving and at this time it was culture problems. NDM has been growing in size since its establishment in 2006 with a number of acquired website operations, each operating as a separate business unit with the support of HR, Finance, IT, Commercial Operations and other support services provided by the parent company (NDM). A decision was made to align the organisation in terms of operations, culture and strategy so it could concentrate on innovation and performance to achieve its goal of becoming the number one provider of online information in Australia. As a result NDM redesigned its organisational structure as Truelocal and most of the other business units merged together in one location. Not long after this relocation, Truelocal began flattening out the company structure lead by a new management team and CEO. It has since been under constant change to achieve it’s goal to continue growth (both in number of staff and performance) and excel as a high performing and innovative company with an agenda of being the second largest online directory service in Australia after it’s competitor Sensis (Yellow pages online). Wood et al (2010) explain the performance gap is a desire to move from one less desired state to another. This can be seen by the increased performance after the change occurred and culture change was implemented. What changed Fundamental changes that occurred were a shift from the existing vertical, bureaucratic structure to a horizontal structure and change in specialist functioning of divisions creating a professional, corporate environmental culture that was customer focused. The existing culture was a casual attitude towards dress requirements, starting and finishing times, breaks, informal communication expression and channels and many staff were employed as friends of existing staff rather than based on competency and job skills. Some managers had their partners working for them and a few were family members. There didn’t appear to be any dress code and people came and left work at varying times. Additionally management employed more skilled staff, retrained existing staff and created processes of which procedures were then put in place. One of the ways these objectives were achieved was by the reduction of management layers resulting in more direct reporting. Wood et al (2010) explain as organisational size increases, the more interconnections and less direct communication between people takes place (Wood et al, 2010). Change Process When management at Truelocal uplifted existing management and reporting structures, staffs were initially left without direction, reporting channels, processes and goals were not clearly communicated causing a lot of uncertainty. Consequently many staff resigned as they felt upset and confused about what was happening. Truelocal however, retained some of the more experienced staff with new career development propositions and new managers were encouraging and open about future improvements that were to take place within the organisation. One of the ways Truelocal could have managed this change is by using the Freeze/Unfreeze concept; Wood et al (2010) explains Kurt Lewin, a famous organisational Psychologist’s three-force phase, which is needed for any organisation to be motivated to bring about the change of which are; 1) Unfreezing focuses on preparing people for change. This is a critical part of the change phase prior to implementation by analysing and influencing resistance and need to change. A common tool that is used at this stage is called Force Field Analysis, this measures these forces. ) Changing of people; tasks; structure; technology. Ideally the organisation will be completely unfrozen, ready for change and its goals made clear. It is recommended that staff are not perceived to have a sense of high or low security at this stage in order to avoid resistance. 3) Refreezing is the evaluation and reinforcement of the changes that took place. The new managers were recruited by Truelocal for their exp erience in organisational transformation within the type of professional, high performing, corporate environment the organisation desired and who worked at their competitor company. These managers were expected to manage the entire change process themselves. Change agents are people or groups who take responsibility for the change of behaviours and existing patterns in a supportive manner (Wood et al, 2010). The perceived risks however, are the responsibility of the organisation’s leader who decides on the direction of the change (Oakland & Tanner, 2007). Planned changes that took place were; Structure – change in organisational design by reporting systems, operational processes and size of teams, while roles were redefined by definition, job title and remuneration. Tasks – Most jobs were redesigned including more responsibility for staff in management roles and multi functional tasks for other staff. One of these job designs is called job enrichment, which is the increase and deepening of motivating factors built into a job (Wood et al, 2010). Some of these enrichments used by new management were increased responsibility and accountability, less control and more freedom in the job and more recognition. People – improvement of recruitment and selection process by advertising formal job vacancies on the organization’s intranet and incentives for staff to nominate candidates who were then formally interviewed by a number of managers. Additionally training sessions for new staff, coaching and certification courses were made available. Carless (2005) describes her research on the compatibility of job-person-organisation-environment fit. She believes a person must assess their attributes and personality with the job and organisational characteristics, which is likely to improve job satisfaction and adjustment to the environment. Culture – organisational values and beliefs were communicated from the parent company of which staff was rewarded when their behaviour displayed these values. Recognition was given in addition at meetings and performance appraisals. This is the observable culture, however as Wood et al (2010) explain, shared meanings and stories are other powerful aspects of culture and this can be observed at Truelocal by the high turnover of staff by both stories and norms that communicate the need to work hard to perform in the job or leave. Cultural symbols include trophies for ‘employee of the month’ awarded to the highest performer. These symbols serve to transmit cultural meaning (Wood et al, 2010). In the sales department a large subculture can be observed. Wood et al (2010) explain strong subcultures are often found in high performance task forces where people share similar values and backgrounds. This subculture included men between the ages of 22-30 yrs that have no formal education, drink alcohol excessively, and are passionate about technology, highly materialistic and view women as sex objects, which can often be observed by their language and behaviour. Moreover this culture is likely to be influenced by the national culture of which the organisation is embedded (Wood et al, 2010). In fact this subculture existed in the old culture before the restructure of which the company held ‘diversity training’ focused on discrimination and fairness within the workplace resulting in terminations. According to The Economist (2008), in the economic downturn companies need ‘Generation Y’ as hungry 25-35 year olds without commitment, for marketing and product innovation with emerging technologies, able to put in the time and energy to help them deal with recession hazards, especially in sales. Strategy – operations and planning were clarified at monthly and quarterly meetings including product changes. These were addressed by department managers regularly and CEO meetings irregularly, to engage staff. Wood et al (2010) explain leadership has changed from the traditional trait and behaviour approaches to transformational, charismatic, visionary focus and is separate from management. The leadership team at Truelocal formally includes the CEO and parent company (NDM) leaders. Their leadership function can be observed by their language and behaviours they use a transformational and visionary change approach. Objectives – specific performance targets were set allowing staff to earn a higher commission by overachieving set targets, recognition and prizes to increase motivation consistently. Purpose – both the CEO and the parent company made organisational goals clearly communicated vision and clarified progress regularly. Recognition was given for the contribution of each department and each business unit to the overall success of the organisation. These changes were managed by senior staff using a combination of change strategy approaches as explained by Wood et al (2010) that include a forced approach of top down command, one way communication, coercive reward and punishment approach, rationalisation approach and shared decision making, empowered approach. Of these approaches no single approach was concluded best by researchers on organisational change and it is advised that more commonly a combination will occur, however guidelines are offered to change agents and managers (Wood et al, 2010); – consider use of expert consultants – communicate the need for change feedback from employees – avoid changing for the sake of change – study organisational change and structures From this perspective Truelocal management took the right approach by varying the way they managed the change. Change Results The facilitation of clearer and faster communication channels enabled staff to work more efficiently and g et things done faster, along with improved technology. Further benefits of this structure were people collaborating in teams, using initiative and increased spontaneous communication while rules, procedures and close supervision were reduced as described in (Tushman, Anderson & O’Reilly, 1997). Wood et al (2010) describe the matrix structure is common in large organisations wanting to improve customer responsiveness. Truelocal’s reporting structure utilised this organisational design as part of the change, for example the finance manager reports to the CEO of Truelocal and to the Commercial Director of NDM, however Wood et al (2010) note each organisation’s structure is unique and there is no single observed design. This change is described by Wood et al (2010) as radical. Radical changes are fundamental reorientations and transformational, often initiated by the arrival of a new CEO. Culture & Performance Change Since the change occurred, Truelocal’s sales department recorded a growth rate of 15% per full time employee (FTE). Some strategies used were; – Performance appraisal review (PAR) – staff are asked to grade themselves on their performance and their use of company values of which are discussed by their managers. For example one of the values is ‘Impact’ and an employee is asked how much impact they contributed to the organisation since the last performance review and they are required to give examples of this behaviour. These PARs are held quarterly and annually. Reward and remuneration – staff are given targets according to their job level and experience with incentives to over achieve. These targets are called Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The person’s job is broken into task components of which each component consists of a target behaviour that is rewarded. Remuneration is based on the overall percent age of KPI achievement. – Recognition – employee of the month award was created by encouraging staff to use an online submission for their preferred co-worker who had gone over and above their job requirement displaying one of the company values. In addition the company awards the sales department with the person with the highest dollar value in sales and yearly a larger reward of which one year was a new car. Similarly a newsletter recognises new sales people who achieve early in their job. All of these reinforcements are called extrinsic which are rewards given to someone by another person’s valued outcome and because they are environmentally impactful are valued in influencing behaviour through the law of effect (Wood et al, 2010). Cultural change can take years according to Wood et al (2010); however effective cultural change strategies can be used to shorten the timeframe. One of which is explained by Oakland & Tanner (2007), it is important to align the culture to support the desired change in behaviour. For example Truelocal needed a professional, customer focused culture which required staff to develop professional skills and behaviour. The result was all departments undertook a full training programme designed to increase awareness in communication, with a focus on questioning and empathy. Conclusion Truelocal is a young company and part of the larger and still relatively new parent organisation, NDM, operating under the global News Corporation. The industry it operates in, digital media is one of the fastest growing and changing environments globally. It changed from a structure and culture of casual, unprofessional work practices managed within a more bureaucratic structure that was under performing to a transformational, high performing, innovative and professional culture that is customer focused. Truelocal achieved its goal of growth, productivity and change in culture, however many staff were lost in the process and not much planning appeared to be in place. It is unclear as to the lack of planning, communication or use of external consultant in the case of radical change that occurred. One assumption might be due to budgetary restrictions as the company has been running at a loss since it started, reporting a loss this year of over one hundred million. Apart from the successful change management strategies that were used by the change agents, in particular the motivational strategies used by nominated change managers, numerous other approaches were identified that may benefit the organisation for managing future changes more effectively. Reference List Carless, S. A. (2005). Person-job fit versus person-organisation fit as predictors of organisational attraction and job acceptance intentions: a longitudinal study. Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology. 78 (3), 411-429. Generation Y goes to work (2008, December 30). The Economist (US). Retrieved from http://www. economist. com/business/displaystory. cfm? story_id=12863573 Oakland, J. S. , & Tanner, S. (2007). Successful change management. Total Quality Management, 18 (1-2), 1-19. Tushman, M. L. , Anderson, P. C. & O’Reilly, C. (1997). Technology cycles, innovation streams and ambidextrous organisations: organisaiton renewal through innovation streams and strategic change. Managing strategic innovation and change. Oxford University Press, NY. 2-23. Wood, J, Zeffane, R. , Fromholtz M. , Wiesner R. , Creed A. , Schermerhorn J. , Hunt J. , & Osborn R. , (2010). Organisational Behaviour, Core concepts & applications. 2nd Ed. John Wiley & Sons, Australia, Ltd. Milton Qld.

Brand Personality Framework Essay

Sincerity: Sincerity brands are those which makes caring image towards customers by showing honesty, wholesome and Cheer. Examples: Dalda is comes under sincerity category because the positioning statement (JAHA MAMTA WAHA DALDA) shows the sincerity towards customers and culture. Cadbury dairy milk is also the good example of sincerity because they are positioning themselves as â€Å"Toh phir kuch meetha ho jaye† which shows that it is used on the occasions of happiness and also shows sincerity and respect toward customers. There customers are kind and family-oriented. Excitement: These type of products promote daring, imaginative and adventurous environment and target people which are experiencers. Examples: Mountain dew and Marlboro cigarettes create daring and adventurous environment in their ads and usually target young people who are experiencers. They show the different style in their ads which are apart from regular drinks and regular cigarette brands. There customers are care free, youthful and spirited in nature. Competence: These brands are famous and successful in market. These products attract customers because they are reliable and intelligent. Examples: Most of the Sony customers are loyal and not ready to shift to other brands. Same case is for Lipton, many people have tradition of drinking Lipton tea because their ancestors also drink this also. Sony and Lipton, these types of brands have loyal customers and are successful and reliable in market. Sophistication: Sophisticated brands are those brands which targets upper class and have charming look. They promote executives and decent style. Example: Mercedes and Rolex both brands have similar image in customer’s mind, both offer luxury and charm. These both brands target upper class and their advertisements are not for everyone, there advertisements are very rare and in some specific regions.Their customers are elegant, prestigious and pretentious in nature. Ruggedness: In this category tough and outdoor products comes which have long durability and strong nature. These are usually outdoor products which can be used in travelling and have long life. Examples: Hummer and woodland both targets the people with tough personalities who likes to travel and hike and prefer adventure in their lives. They both gives strong durable quality products to survive the ridged and tough areas in travelling like in villages and hilly areas. Their customers are outdoor loving, loves travelling and have athletic behavior.