Prejudice in Mr Sumarsono Written by Roxana Robinson Essay

Stereotype is a largely false belief, or set of belief, concerning the characteristics of the members of a racial or ethnic group (McLemore, 1983). Stereotype may be positive or negative in mind which is based on limited and minimal knowledge about a group of people. Incomplete information, mistaken perceptions, isolation and segregation have resulted many stereotypes. Viewing of a person with oddity based on the stereotype will limit what we expected and how we respond to them. Prejudice is an unfavorable attitude towards people because they are members of a particular racial or ethnic group. Discrimination is unfavorable action towards people because they are members of a particular racial or ethnic group. (McLemore, 1983). These both are negative manifestations of integrative power. A prejudiced person may not act on their attitude. Therefore, someone can be prejudice towards a certain group but not discriminate against them. Also, prejudice includes all three components of an attitude (affective, behavioral and affective), whereas discrimination just involves behavior and involves some actions. Prejudice and stereotyping parallels attitudes and opinions or beliefs (Stroebe & Insko, 1989) Prejudice also sustains stereotype, while stereotype is a generalization or interpretation toward a person or group of some physical, behavior, belief or other factors. For a 10-year-old girl, she must have got a first bad impression to a stranger, especially a foreigner. She spontaneously thought that someone newbie in another country is a kind of alien with different skin, face structure or another physical body. In that point, this attitude includes a racial stereotype which provokes a prejudice side. Roxana Robinson is a biographer and scholar of nineteenth and early twentieth century American art. She graduated from Buckingham Friends School, in Lahaska, and from The Shipley School, in Bryn Mawr. She attended Bennington College and studied with Bernard Malamud and Howard Nemerov. She received a B.A. degree in English Literature from the University of Michigan. Roxana Robinson is the author of the four novels Cost, (2008) Sweetwater, (2003) This Is My Daughter, (1998) and Summer Light (1988); the three short story collections A Perfect Stranger, (2005) Asking for Love, (1996) A Glimpse of Scarlet, (1991) and the biography Georgia O’Keeffe: A Life, (1989). Mr. Sumarsono is listed as one of the best American Short Stories at 1994. Statement of Problems: 1. Why do Susan and her sister give bad impression toward Mr. Sumarsono? 2. Why did Mrs. Riordan welcome Mr. Sumarsono warmly? 3. What is the cultural aspect of this short story? What is the connection with it? Discussion Mr. Sumarsono is a worker in UN which involved many Western people in it for a long time. Because of the environment, he tried to adapt the style like an American. According to the story, both daughters of Mrs. Riordan, Susan and Kate, with Mrs. Riordan herself fetched Mr. Sumarsono in a Trenton Station in New Jersey and they saw him for the first time with bad impression and underestimate toward Mr. Sumarsono. However, at that time, he was clothed as an American businessman. â€Å"Mr. Sumarsono was wearing an neat suit and leather shoes, like an American businessman, but he didn’t look like an American. The suit was brown, not gray, and it had a slight sheen. And Mr. Sumarsono was built in a different way from Americans: he was slight and graceful, with narrow shoulders and an absence of strut.† (Page 265 line 1) â€Å"Kate and I stood next to my mother as she waved and smiled. Kate and I did not wave and smile†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Page 265 line 11) In this case, it proved that both sisters didn’t like and give bad thought for Mr. Sumarsono because they didn’t know who actually Mr. Sumarsono was, since Mr. Sumarsono had an Asian figure with pale brown skin. Besides, there were few Indonesian that came to America, or else almost never. Mr. Sumarsono was the only Indonesian who arrived in New Jersey. â€Å"It was 1959, and Mr. Sumarsono was the only Indonesian who got off the train in Trenton, New Jersey.† (Page 264 line 25) Next on, the displeasure of the sisters continued until they were in way home. They were acting like they didn’t need a middle-aged Indonesian in where were they belong to. Moreover, they avoided the lunch time which their mother prepared for them and Mr. Sumarsono. And also, they showed an impolite attitude toward Mr. Sumarsono in the table. â€Å"We were going to watch the mallard nesting, and I hope we didn’t have to include a middle-aged Indonesian in leather shoes†(Page 267 line 1) â€Å"Dev-il,† Kate said, Speaking very loudly and slowly. She pointed at the eggs and then put two forked finger behind her head like horns, Mr. Sumarsono looked at her horns. (Page 269 lines 25) Another evidence occurred at the dinner time when Susan saw her mother wearing a pink dress. She thought her mother’s dress was overlooked just for dinner with a stranger who can not understand their language. â€Å"I was irritated to see that she had put it on as thought she were at a party. This was not a party: she had merely gotten hold of a captive guest, a complete stranger who understood nothing she said.† (Page 270, line 12) Although they kept underestimate him, they were quite surprised that Mr. Sumarsono wasn’t someone like usual Asian guy they were thinking about. He was different in presence. Not only the appearance of him but also his gesture was shown when they were already at home. Somehow, The stop! gesture was making the sisters wondering what makes that Indonesian was different. This gesture is shown by Mr. Sumarsono when he tried to prevent his suitcase as Susan offered to pick up upstairs. â€Å"What struck me was the grace of his gesture. His hand extended easily out cuff and expose a narrow brown wrist, as narrow as my own. When he put his hand up in the Stop! gesture, his hand curved backward from the wrist, and his fingers bent backward from the palm. Instead of the stern and flat-handed Stop! that an American hand would make, this was a polite, subtie, and yielding signal, quite beautiful and infinitely sophisticated, a gesture that suggested a thousand reasons for doing something, a thousand ways to go about it.†(Page 267 line 13) On the other hand, Mrs. Riordan was greeting him cheerfully. She showed an excessive behavior since Mr. Sumarsono decided to spend his weekend in New Jersey. Furthermore, he stayed in Riodan’s as well. Mrs. Riordan tried to catch attention from Mr. Sumarsono. Apart from being dressed in pink, she treated him as best as she can. â€Å"Oh, I’m glad we’re having rice!† she said suddenly, pleased. â€Å"That must make Mr. Sumarsono feel at home.† She looked at me. (Page 273 line 7) She also thought that Mr. Sumarsono was far from his family and being lonely, Mrs. Riordan conclude that he was missing them and she tried to give something that Mr. Sumarsono would feel like he came back to the warm atmosphere when a family was gathered supposed to be. It is shown when Mrs. Riordan asked Mr. Sumarsono to show his wife and children photograph. She saw a strange condition on Mr. Sumarsono with complicated and unfinished look when she asked and he even wanted to take a picture with them. â€Å"The poor man, he must miss his wife and children. Don’t u feel sorry for him, thousands of miles away from his family? Oh, thousands. He’s here for six months, all alone. They told me that at the UN. It’s all very uncertain. He doesn’t know when he gets leaves, how long after that he’ll be here. Think of how his poor wife feels.† (Page 272 line 24) As from the both sisters misjudged all about Mr. Sumarsono and what they have done, they thought that they would feel ashamed, instead of underestimating him. Their prejudice has made them blind to not know who actually Mr. Sumarsono was. Beside it was from their mother, they also felt embarrassed him because they can not be an appropriate hostess to him while Mr. Sumarsono showed his unruffled courtesy. Although Mr. Sumarsono couldn’t speak English well and only responded all Mrs. Riordan and her daughters with simple nodded and smile, at least he knew what attitude he supposed to do when he was visiting people’s house in other country. â€Å"I was embarrassed not only for my mother but also for poor Mr. Sumarsono. Whatever he had expected from a country weekend in America, It could not have been a cramped attic room, two sullen girls, voluble and incomprehensible hostess. I felt we had failed him, we had betrayed his unruffled courtesy, with our bewildering commands, our waving forks, our irresponsible talk about lizard. I wanted to save him. I wanted to liberate poor Mr. Sumarsono from this aerial grid of misunderstandings.† (Page 274 line 24) This story is pertaining aspect of prejudice side. Therefore, prejudice has both cognitive and affective components. Affective component is the positive or negative attitude or feeling while cognitive component contains stereotypes. Stereotypes are beliefs about people based on their membership in a particular group. Stereotypes can be positive, negative, or neutral. Stereotypes based on gender, ethnicity, or occupation are common in many societies. Stereotypes often results from, and leads to, prejudice and bigotry. The reasons appearing of stereotype is variable, It occurs When people encounter instances that disconfirm their stereotypes of a particular group, they tend to assume that those instances are atypical subtypes of the group. Second, People’s perceptions are influenced by their expectations. And last, People selectively recall instances that confirm their stereotypes and forget about disconfirming instances. As a branch from stereotype, prejudice is a destructive p henomenon, and it is pervasive because it serves many psychological, social, and economic functions. It allows people to bond with their own group by contrasting their own groups to outsider groups. Conclusion This short story which Roxana wrote showed about an experience of Indonesian immigrant who visited and spent the weekend at one of New Jersey’s families, Riordan’s house. Based on discussion above, it is described that the two daughters, Susan and Kate had first bad impression toward Mr. Sumarsono as a strange foreigner. This signs that their attitude showed the prejudice aspect of the racial differences.

buy custom Education by Paulo Freire essay

buy custom Education by Paulo Freire essay Most education systems set the learner as an empty tank to be filled by the teacher. Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educationalist, drew on this system of education and thought about progressive educational practices and liberation. In 1994, Gibson Richard of Pennsylvania State University conducted research into Freires liberation theory in education settings. Gibson found out that social justice could only be imposed through liberation, critical consciousness, reading the world and the word and finally comprehension of surroundings. Gibson states that literacy is the key to overcome irrationality and subordinate groups are bound to engage in political activities, and the result will be changes in governance structures. Servaes Jan conducted an undated research on participatory communication from a Freirean approach. Jan discovered that authentic participation helps in addressing issues that relate to democracy. This method involves dialogue, access to ideas, and self-management. In a dem ocratic process, the key aspects of democratic communication should be embraced. In this research, access refers to the use of mainstream media to serve the public while participation involves self-management in public participation. The outcome of participatory communication is empowerment of every citizen in the community and the fruits are the formation of an egalitarian society. According to Freires Pedagogy, the role of the learner and the teacher are usually alternated and a common ground of searching for the truth is established (Freire Macedo, 1987). In 1997, Bandura studied on learning models in the conventional classroom. He posited that students attribute their failures or successes to self-efficacy (Kember, 2002).). This approach is essential in promoting learning in a social setting, leads to social transformation and leads to conscientization among students. In the fall of 2002, Chuk Keung Wong and Jane Siu-Ching Wong conducted a research on forty three students at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Kember, 2002). The method used was based on Freires theory of interactive learning and the utilization of students experiences as fundamental themes in the learning system. The findings showed that self-determined subgroup projects proved to be very successful in forming an atmosphere where students are motivated within their interests. The students need to deliberate the aim of their projects aided them to develop consciousness about their computer structures that went past the learning skills. The Identified Gaps Nationalists like Mandela gained global authority with the exception that very few persons had seen his works. A difficult link has to be made while constructing a model of literacy, human consciousness, and liberation. A critical observation of Servaes ressearch is that there is no collective path to progress. Every community has different plans, culture, and resources in regards to its own situation. One major failure in Banduras study is that, there are several validated ways of learning apart from the conventional way. In addition to that, there are several kinds of intelligence. Wong and Chuks research had one major shortcoming in terms of uniform resource allocation. In a learning situation, there are students endowed with resources and those that lack resources. Other students prefer to be directed by the instructor in every step. Other students may not be satisfied with the approach because of its lack of structure. Areas Recommended for Further Research Studies should be conducted on the attributions and believes of students in learning. Research should be done to track the differences in learning methods across various classes. This research should use both natural and quantitative methods and may establish dissimilarities in learning across racial subgroups and gender. Selfish groups can enhance their own interests through participatory communication. Although Freire posited that participatory communication can enhance empowerment, activists may use that platform to increase levels of dependency among individuals. Researchers should look into ways that participatory research can lead to dependency rather than empowerment and vice versa. Buy custom Education by Paulo Freire essay

Presidents Without a College Degree

Presidents Without a College Degree There are very few presidents without college degrees in American history. Thats not to say there havent been any, or that its impossible to work in politics without a college degree. Legally, you can be elected president of the United States  even if you didnt go to college.  The U.S. Constitution  does not set forth any education requirements for presidents.   But its a  pretty extraordinary achievement for a president without a college degree to be elected today. Every chief executive elected to  the White House in modern history  has held at least a bachelors degree. Most have earned advanced degrees or law degrees from Ivy League schools. In fact, every president since George H.W. Bush has held a degree from an Ivy League university.   Bush was a graduate of Yale University. So was his son, George W. Bush, the 43rd president, and Bill Clinton. Barack Obama got his law degree from Harvard University. Donald Trump, the billionaire real-estate developer and businessman elected president in 2016, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, another Ivy League school. The trend is clear: not only do modern presidents have college degrees, but theyve also earned degrees from the most elite universities in the United States. But it wasnt always common for presidents to have earned degrees or even attended college. In fact, educational attainment wasnt a prime consideration among voters. Education of Early Presidents Fewer than half of the nations first 24 presidents held college degrees. Thats because they just didnt need to. For much of the nation’s history a college education was a prerequisite for the rich, well-connected or both; of the first 24 men who became president, 11 had not graduated from college at all (though three of those had attended some college without earning a degree), wrote  Drew DeSilver, a senior writer at the Pew Research Center. The most recent president without a college degree was Harry S. Truman, who served until 1953. The 33rd president of the United States, Truman attended business college and law school but graduated from neither. List of Presidents Without College Degrees George Washington: The nations first president never took college courses but did earn a  surveyors certificate.James Monroe: The nations fifth president attended William Mary College but didnt graduate.Andrew Jackson: The seventh president did not attend college.Martin Van Buren: The nations eighth president did not attend college.William Henry Harrison: The ninth president of the United States  attended both  Hampden-Sydney College and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; he didnt graduate from either.Zachary Taylor: The nations 12th president did not attend college.Millard Fillmore: The 13th president did not attend college.Abraham Lincoln: The 16th president did not attend college.Andrew Johnson: The 17th president did not attend college.Grover Cleveland: The 22nd president did not attend college.William McKinley: The 25th president took courses at both Allegheny College and Albany Law School but did not graduate from either.Harry S. Truman: The 33rd presiden t took courses at Spaldings Commercial College  and the University of Kansas City School of Law but didnt earn degrees from either. Why Presidents Need College Degrees Now Even though nearly a dozen U.S. presidents - including some very successful ones - never earned degrees, every White House occupant since Truman has earned at least a bachelors degree. Would the likes of Lincoln and Washington be elected today without degrees? Probably not, wrote  Caitlin Anderson on CollegePlus, an organization that works with students to earn degrees.  Our information saturated society believes education must take place in the traditional classroom setting. Having a college degree makes candidates attractive. It makes anyone attractive. It’s essential.

China is more important to the USA's national interest than Taiwan Research Paper

China is more important to the USA's national interest than Taiwan - Research Paper Example It was able to make Wake Island to be its territory in 1900 and soon started to build the Panama Canal. All these were aided by Taiwan and the navy of the US continued to expand to a state whereby by the end of the Second World War, no nation would compare or compete with the navy. Taiwan has also aided in the building of the economic relations in the United States. Despite this however, China is considered to be more important than Taiwan and has been regarded to as an obstacle to building of the relationship between China and the United States (Copper, 2011). The first reason that supports the argument of China being more important to interest of the United States than Taiwan emanates from the fact that China has maintained a steady increase in the political as well as the economic growth. This has increased the political and economic influence that it has on the other nations. China has been rated as being the third largest exporting and importing country in the global market at the beginning of twenty first century and the fourth largest in the economic rating. It therefore comes after United States, Japan and Germany. It is also among the top three states that are highly involved in foreign direct investment in the global market. It has also acquired more benefits from globalization than any other country in the world and this is evidenced by the share of the market it has in the global market. Its annual growth for exports averaged 4.5 percent while the country that followed attained only 1.8 percent and this was the United States. T he Gross Domestic Product of China has also been observed to grow at a higher rate compared to the other developing countries. China has focused on ways of improving its performance in the global market and in this respect has considered the importance of liberalization and has encouraged economic integration by focusing on the involving the private and public investments. It has improved its

Marketing for Zappos Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing for Zappos - Essay Example Consequently, the kind of packaging used should be appealing to the customers especially in their appearance (Stolze, 91). Zappos should also consider the economic and social factors that relate to the environment and the reactions of the targeted consumer groups. A study should be conducted to determine price regulations depending on seasons. Zappos should also analyze the competitive environment and determine the strengths and weaknesses of their competitors. As a result, it should take advantage of their competitor’s weaknesses by overcoming their strengths. Any potential future competition should also be analyzed to ensure none or few threats in the market and the continuous improvement of sales at all times. Zappos must ensure that it offers a wide variety of products in addition to the products offered. The products include electronics and their accessories, clothing and shoes. The business should venture majorly on long-term opportunities that ensure continuous flow of income that is mandatory for business continuity. On the other hand, certain short term investments are that are highly profitable should be considered. This depends on the seasons that they are highly demanded and when they are on recession. Products that have long shelf life should be stocked in lesser quantities especially in the low seasons. Consequently, their quantities can be increased in high seasons. This calls for market research to determine such seasons (Hoover, 67). External sources of funds must be considered to ensure that the company is cushioned incase of an emergency. Statistical quality control must be conducted during product expansion to realize what to accept or ignore including the measures to take to protect the company. A number of actions should be initiated once the risks associated with the product expansion are analyzed. This should be followed by business expansion and protection efforts. Zappos must ensure to carry out more research on target

Fanatic perceptions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Fanatic perceptions - Essay Example Fanatic perceptions Support is important in every area of life. The support is given to players from fans. The fans have different types of antics that are used to lift up the player’s spirits and encourage them to endure. It is true in the sense that this spirit lifting renders a subtle affect that helps the players get on with the game. Fans and spectators may differ on opinions of what they see and what they believe. It is this inner reaction that is produced by the fans that give off different emotions during the game. Some fans have so much energy built up for the game that they become fanatics. The fanatic can sometimes have violent outbursts while being so caught up in the game. These types of violent actions happens in more cases then are needed. Fans become so caught up in the game that excitement is quickly turned into anger and violence. This anger and violence can be dangerous to those nearby. A good example of how these fanatics lose their self control and cause violence is demonstra ted in an incident that recently happened. The incident happened at a game between the Boston Celtics and the Utah Jazz. Viewing this particular game can demonstrate how fans lose self control. The NBA game held between the two teams could have been prevented by self control. The game shows how spectators come from different walks of life. The spectators from the game have different opinions and feelings toward the game. Not everyone in the crowd will share the same beliefs. Some spectators are attending the game to experience a good time. This is proven by the many beer bottles and whistled that surround this type of spectators. Other spectator’s attend games because of the dedication they have to the home team. These spectators dress in colors of the team they adore. The spectators also may purchase season tickets so that no game is missed. Many bring cameras in hopes to catch that perfect shot which can be kept as a sacred memory. Whichever way the spectator has chosen to show his or her appreciation, it is easily shown. Regardless of the sport, each fan has their own motivation that persuades them to be a fan. These fans are what bring the spirit to the game. Alt hough each fan may have a different motive, the fan is there for one reason and that reason is to support the team. The way people of different walks of life are able to come together and cheer on a team shows dedication. Some fans are so caught up in the moment that they put all ethics aside and turn to violence. This is clearly reviled in an incident at an NBA game. A game between the Celtics and the Jazz left people injured and fans in an outrage. During the game, â€Å"the filmmaker was even struck blurring the camera from taking clear shots of the event†. (gazette.com) Incidents of violence happen quite often, and can often be prevented. The different ways that the fans link their personalities to support the same team are similar to the writings of Karl Marx. These incidents between the fans and the games follow them for the rest of their lives. This is also true with writing created by Karl Marx. KARL MARX People from all over the world have different perceptions on ev ents that happen around them. It is certain that each person in life will hold a different viewpoint then the person next to them. This is true for everything in life. The different perceptions that are shown from the players are similar to the

Analysing Aquafina Bottled Water

Analysing Aquafina Bottled Water Aquafina bottled water is bottled around the country in 33 different locations from municipal tap water. It is both filtered and purified in a process that involves seven separate steps called the HydRO-7 Purification System. Included in the steps are processes such as filtration, exposure to high intensity light, osmosis, polishing, and ozonization. What results is water that has a Total Dissolved Solid (TDS) content of 4 parts per million (ppm), 2.5 times lower than the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maximum amount. The packaging of the water goes through a long process and creates some muda. Many of the Pepsi bottling processes are outsourced. For example, the bottles are manufactured by Amcor PET Packaging North America. The process is also very detailed and complicated in order to ensure both safety and a reliable product. We will also be explaining every material in the packaging process. Additionally, we will be discussing the recent boom of the water industry and its environmental implications over the last decade. The amount of natural resources being used to produce the entire bottled water package, is extraordinary, and causing a real problem. The environment is also being contaminated on a daily basis with a majority of the bottles being thrown away as opposed to being recycled. Along with the destruction of our planet, plastic bottles and the water contained within them are starting to be seen as a serious health threat. For the economical part of this paper, we will touch on Aquafinas numbers over the past few years and try to predict the future. We will also make suggestions on how to gain a bigger market share, and how to make safe products in a business perspective. Pepsi-Colas Aquafina, which has reigned as the number-one brand for several years, has become the U.S. bottled water businesss first billion-dollar brand in 2004 has sustained strong growth in 2005 when wholesale dollar sales neared $1.3 billion. Introduction Bottled water is one of the biggest selling beverages in the world due to its convenience and quality taste. Whether due to the uneasiness of the safety of tap water or the convenience of the bottle, bottled water continues to gain profit share for companies in the industry. Specifically for busy college students such as ourselves, it has become increasingly important for us to be able to drink water when not near a water source. Hence, the product we chose to study is Aquafina bottled water. When one purchases a bottle of Aquafina, he will receive the purified water and the bottle in which it is contained including its label, nutrition facts and ingredients, and a sealed cap. Although the Aquafina water bottle is only meant for one use, many choose to refill their bottle with ordinary tap water. Because Pacific Lutheran University contracts its beverages and vending machines through Pepsi, Aquafina is the most consumed bottled water for our campus. This report is the study of the Aquafina bottled water process, value stream, muda, and economic evaluation of the bottled water that is widely circulated not just on our campus but around the world. The HydRO-7 Purification System Purifying the Water Achieving Aquafina water is a complex and complicated process. Aquafina bottles water in 33 different municipal locations around the country from underground formation springs, the same location as our tap water. Whereas tap water is merely filtered and treated to remove bacteria and contaminants, Aquafina takes an extra step by purifying the water using the Hydro-7 purification system which removes substances according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards. Creator of the state-of-the-art purification system, the HydRO-7 removes substances in seven different steps. The Aquafina website provides the consumer with information related to the filtration and purification steps of its product (www.aquafina.com). Prefiltration In this first step, the system removes tiny particles in the water through a filter. Polishing filter Here, this first polishing filter (of 2) catches any particles that were missed in the previous step. High-intensity light A burst of high energy light imparts energy into the water stream to eliminate naturally occurring organic substances in the water. Reverse Osmosis (R.O.) Here, the system uses pressure and a hyper filter to remove 98% of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and organic compounds from the water. The TDS is the sum of all dissolved solids in water in parts per million. This step uses semi-permeable membranes with smaller pore sizes than micro filtration, ultra filtration, and nano filtration to remove substances such as sodium and chloride from the water. Charcoal Filtration This step isolates the elements that affect the taste of the water in a charcoal filter. Polishing Filter This is where the system polishes the hydrogen and oxygen elements in the water to make the water clear. Ozonization The system passes purified, oxygen-rich air through a generating cell. Here, three oxygen molecules are brought together to keep unwanted particles away. When they have done their job, they revert back to double oxygen molecules. Here is a standard Aquafina nutrition facts label found either on the bottle or the packaging. More important than what is in Aquafina water is what has been removed. The Aquafina website suggests that everything that the system removes from the water is unnecessary and perhaps harmful to humans (www.aquafina.com). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires a maximum of 500 ppm (parts per million) of TDSs in spring water and the FDA requires 10 ppm in purified water. Aquafina, a purified water, bottles water at 4 ppm, 2.5 times lower than the FDA standard (Mosko, 2004). The process removes the following trace compounds from the water: Carbonates Bicarbonates Chlorides Sulfates Phosphates Nitrates Calcium Magnesium Sodium Potassium Iron Manganese Calcium and potassium are necessary for the human body, but they are still removed. Aquafina claims that the minute levels in the water have little effect on human health and removing them only delivers a more pure water (www.aquafina.com). However at the end of the purification process,  ¼ of the bottled water that Aquafina bottles is tap water (Mosko, 2004). Aquafina claims to have the purest water in the industry, but even more pure and containing less TDS is Penta water, which goes through a rigorous 11-step process and distributes water with 0.5 ppm TDS. Pentas website also explains the process and the advantages of Penta in detail (http://www.pentawater.com/what.shtml). The Aquafina system at the plant in Austin, Indiana, for example, has bottles 32,000 gallons of water an hour. The system is computer monitored and keeps track of which valves are open and closed and how much is in each tank. The Aquafina system is also used for bottling soft drinks at the plant. All the water is carbon-filtered in one of two tanks; the same process is used for all the water that is used in soft drinks, only the Aquafina water goes through the extra step of ozonization (Investing, 2004). Pepsi/Aquafina Bottling The Bottle Pepsi Bottling Ventures LLC (PBV) In July of 2002 the first products were being produced at PBVs new small-bottle PET line in Raleigh, NC in a 200,000 sq ft production/distribution plant. This was a $40 million investment for PBV that gave the company the ability to increase production. PBV has bottling rights for Pepsi products covering most of North Carolina and a portion of Long Island, NY. One of the facilities that upgraded to the PBV production bottling plant was the Raleigh location with the primary goal being the production of bottled water under the Aquafina label, one of the fastest growing products within Pepsi. The need for this upgraded production facility from PBV offers Pepsi the ability to be competitive and cost-conscious (Mans, 2003). Features Individual sanitary enclosures are designed and manufactured by ICS Intl. These contain washing/capping/filling systems on the PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) lines. The fillers are housed in one room, with a common heating, ventilating and air conditioning system. The PBV plant features an individual sanitary enclosure for each filling system with monobloc filler guards that are integrated into the face of the enclosure. The enclosures have an epoxy floor that is sloped to a stainless-steel drain, vision panels and a complete air-quality control system. The walls and ceiling are made of insulation sandwich panels consisting of inside and outside stainless-steel panels filled with polyurethane foam. The clean rooms come complete with lighting, doors, an air filtration unit, air conditioning, and an air exhaust system. The air-filtration units maintain pressure in the enclosure to prevent outside air from entering (Mans, 2003). Bottles Aquafina uses bottles that are produced by Amcor PET Packaging-North America. Amcor uses PET to make plastic containers for Pepsi products. Amcors website states that this plastic material is manufactured from various by-products of the oil and gas industries, especially ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid. PET consists of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen and can be incinerated without residues for energy recovery. PET is the most valuable of the recyclable plastics. It offers the ability for the container to be lightweight, shatter resistant, resealable and recyclable. The formation of a bottle is blow molded which involves blowing air into a molten plastic tube and then forcing the material to follow the shape of the mold. Injection molding is also involved which is the process of converting plastic pellets by using heat and pressure to inject the molten material into a water-cooled mold. Amcors website explains this technology (http://www.amcor.com/Default.aspx?id=505). Filtration/Sanitation/Air Quality The units have three filtration stages. These stages involve roughing filters, bag filters and HEPA filters for an average air quality of Class 1,000. ICS added an air extractor that sucks the air from the enclosure and ducts it outside the plant to avoid discharging air loaded with sugar or ozone into the surrounding area inside the plant. Air quality is optimized through the limits that are placed on the filler. This also allows the operator to stand outside the room and control the machine (Mans, 2003). Bottling Pre-labeled bottles are delivered to an automatic depalletizer on pallets with cardboard slipsheets between the layers. The depalletizer raises the pallet one layer at a time. A sweep carriage equipped with suction cups swings over and automatically removes the slipsheet and deposits it in a bin for return to the bottle supplier. The depalletizer then indexes the layer of bottles up, and the carriage sweeps the bottles onto a mass bottle conveyor. The bottles on the small-PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) line are then conveyed in mass to two Lanfranchi high-speed bottle scramblers which have rotating turrets that orient the bottles in an upright position. Level sensors in the hopper of each unscrabler turn delivery elevators on and off to maintain bottles in the hoppers. The bottles from both unscramblers converge in single-file and are injected into the neck-guided air-conveyance system, where the bottles are supported by rods beneath their neck finishes. The bottles are then pushed along the chamber by air blowing. The depalletizing workcell includes three depalletizers and is designed to allow two operators to feed containers to three production lines. Empty bottles are conveyed directly via air conveyor into the sanitary enclosure and the infeed star of the monobloc rinser/filler/capper. All bottle-handling within the monobloc is accomplished by supports under the neck rings of the bottles. The bottles are delivered to the gripping heads of the 108-station rinser through the entrance starwheel, and are turned upside down as the unit rotates. Purified water is sprayed into the bottles through nozzles affixed to the gripping heads, and then drains out as the unit continues its rotation. This solution contains ozone for maximum cleaning efficiency when producing Aquafina. Bottles are then turned upright and discharge through a starwheel that also serves as the delivery starwheel to the filler. The filler for these bottles is an isobaric-volumetric machine with 144 filling valves. Each filling valve is connected to the central tank through a product pipe and two gas pipes connected to the carbon dioxide supply. One pipe is used for the bottle pressurization and the other pipe for the pressure stabilization between the tank and the filling valve. When running Aquafina, the system uses nitrogen instead of carbon dioxide. The level inside the filling cylinder is essentially the same as the level in the central tank, and changes in the quantity of fill for different bottle sizes is accomplished by changing the level in the central tank. A piston in each cylinder is adjusted by an external magnetic coupling to set the exact volume to be filled to an accuracy of  ±2 mL. This is done from the operator panel (Mans, 2003). Capping From the filler, bottles travel through another starwheel into the 36-head Arol CSD screw capper. Caps are supplied by Alcoa and are sorted and delivered to the capper by a system from SIDEL, Packaging Systems Div. Caps are loaded into a hopper located outside of the enclosure. Then a nearly vertical belt carries the caps to the top of the enclosure. Caps are contained on horizontal cleats on the belt and if any caps improperly orient they fall back into the hopper. The belt discharges the caps onto a track that carries them down to the capper. A transfer star picks the caps from the track and places them on the capping head, which then rotates synchronously above the bottle turret. The capping head lowers and screws the cap onto the bottle as the unit rotates. Capped bottles leaving the enclosure pass through an Industrial Dynamics Filtec x-ray fill height inspector. The capped bottles then pass two Videojet Excel ink-jet printers that print a freshness date on the bottle cap tamper ring. The plant has installed two of these units to provide redundancy in case one unit malfunctions. For added security a Domino laser printer applies production codes and a freshness date to the bottle. After being coded the bottles then travel onto a multichain mat-top conveyor that slows their transport speed from 350 to 40 ft/min and accumulates the bottles from single-file to mass (Mans, 2003). Label/ Glue/ Packing /Packaging A HiCone machine produces six-packs of 16- and 24-oz, and 500-mL bottles. The bottles are delivered to the machine in two lanes. The two lanes separate six bottles and apply the plastic carrier material. The material is delivered in a continuous web to a large vertical wheel rotating above the bottles. The wheel pushes the web down onto the six bottles, and it is then cut to separate the six-pack. The packs are then diverted into two lanes and fed to a Hartness 2650 continuous-motion case packer that places four six-packs into reusable plastic crates for delivery to the PBV warehouse for distribution. Bottles can also be conveyed to a packing installation incorporating a Model MW7 multipacker and a Model TDL tray former/loader and shrink wrapper, all supplied by Douglas Machine. Each of these servo-driven machines has its own control panel, with intuitive touchscreen interfaces with real-time production data, maintenance scheduling and changeover settings. Bottles are delivered to the multiwrapper where groups of six or 12 bottles are then wrapped in registered film. This is a dual-stream machine that wraps two parallel groups of bottles simultaneously. Bottles are delivered in mass to the machine and are separated into either six or twelve bottle groupings by a proprietary pinless metering system. The groups are then delivered into the wrapping section. The film is placed around the bottle group and the package is conveyed through a heated shrink tunnel. Four six packs or two twelve packs are then delivered to the tray former/loader. The machine forms a tray from a paperboard blank, pushes the wrapped packs onto the tray, and then seals the open sides with hot-melt glue. This glue is applied by a Nordson glue system. Some 500-mL bottles, as well as 20- and 24-oz bottles of all products can bypass the multipacker and be delivered directly to the tray former/loader. After these are placed on the tray, it travels through a shrink wrapper/heat tunnel. Once the products are packaged, they are conveyed past a Videojet ink-jet case coder for application of production codes and then overhead to an automatic palletizer. Each sku is individually palletized to a designed stacking pattern. Individual packages are delivered to the upper level of the palletizer and are assembled into layers. After each layer is completed the platform is then lowered so the next layer can be assembled. Finished pallet loads are released at floor level and are transported by pallet conveyor to an Orion stretch wrapper. PBV uses plastic pallets that have improved palletizing efficiency and eliminated the debris and floor damage that are usually caused by wood pallets (Mans, 2003). Finished Products/ Reductions of Plant Costs Finished products are stacked two or three high, without pallet racks, and are rotated by code dates. The warehouse has been designed to have twin-load pallet racks in the future that will accommodate four-high stacking. The forklifts are also responsible for placing empty pallets into the palletizers. The PBV plant was specifically designed to allow all raw materials and finished goods to be handled on double forklifts. These forklifts allow two pallets to be picked up at a time and greatly reduce loading and unloading time of the production equipment. The dock equipment was engineered to allow the movement of these extra-wide and heavy loads in and out of the building. The double-fork trucks are also used to load trailers with finished products going to the sales centers, unload return trailers with empty plastic pallets and shells, store empty shells and pallets, and feed empty shells to the three lines. Double-fork trucks greatly reduce the number of forklifts and total travel distance in high-volume beverage plants (Mans, 2003). The Need for Water Vs. The Need for Bottled Water Water is a precious resource and the source of life. Its one that many people take for granted on a daily basis, and because of that, a water crisis has been developing over the last few decades. According to a study done in the year 2000, 346,800 million gallons per day (mgd) of freshwater and 61,200 mgd of saltwater were used in the United States (Water, 2006). Based on these numbers, its figured that the typical American single family home consumes, on average, 69.3 gallons of water per day (Water, 2006). Our daily needs include hydrating ourselves, using in food preparation, flushing toilets, showering, kitchen and bathroom sink purposes, and washing clothes and dishes. These uses attribute to the amount of water consumed, both for purposeful reasons, as well as for wasteful and unnecessary reasons. While hydrating ourselves to keep our body functions working properly does not consist of a large portion of the daily water usage among Americans, it is still an amount that is being used and will never decrease. Human beings need, on average, eight to twelve cups of water per day to replenish the approximately ten cups of water lost each day due to body functions, varying either more or less depending on activity level (Lempert, 2004). Because of this physical need, someone realized that they could profit. This profit realization turned into a multi-billion dollar business we now know as the bottled water industry. The thought that one day human beings would spend money on a bottled version of something that they can get from their own home for a fraction of a cent for the same amount, is mind-boggling but has become the norm. Nothing is created without a need or a want; hence, bottled water was created. Since the U.S. is becoming a more on-the-go society each and every day, Americans rely more and more convenience items. One example of this is the rise of fast food restaurants, which happens to be a factor in the current obesity epidemic in America. So, because of this go, go, go! mentality, many just do not have the time to walk to a sink and fill up a glass with water. They instead need to have it right by their side, only needing to open up a cap and just toss it to the side when it is empty and open up the next thats right there. Another beneficial aspect is in times of emergencies, such as a hurricanes or earthquakes, the water supplies to those areas are usually shut down and/or contamin ated. In which case, bottled water is needed for consumption. Besides the convenience and emergency factors, Americans seem to think that bottled water is a safer, and sometimes, tastier, alternative to tap water. Some people fear coming down with gastrointestinal illnesses, while others fear contaminants, such as pesticides, to enter their bodies (Terry, 2005). People live under the impression that all bottled water is safer to drink than tap water because of a typical misconception, the idea that if it is bottled or packaged by a beverage or food company, then it must be safe. This is an idea that can be argued back and forth. Consumption, Recycling, Physical Harm, and Muda The amount of bottled water being purchased is growing almost exponentially each year. According to a bottled water study, based on the year 2004, Americans consumed 6.76 billion gallons of the pricey beverage (Falcone, 2006). This total amount averaged out to 70 million one-serving bottles being drank each and every day (Falcone, 2006). Consuming that many bottles of water everyday is incredible, and it is no wonder that entrepreneurs are coming up with new ideas all the time on how to get into the bottled water industry. A big reason for the increasing amount of bottled water drinkers is because of, as mentioned earlier, the convenience. It is a lot easier to grab a couple of bottled waters from the refrigerator before going somewhere. Aside from the convenience or laziness factor, the rise in bottled water consumption has begun to have a serious impact on our environment. With the amount of bottled water being produced everyday, there is a high amount of left over product once the water has been drank that must be dealt with. That portion left over happens to be the plastic bottle, something that is not the most earth-friendly item. Of the daily amount of bottled water being consumed, 70 million, 60 million are never recycled (Falcone, 2006). On a daily basis, that means that approximately 86% of bottles are thrown away and sent to a landfill, hurting our environment. This also means that 60 million new plastic bottles have to be created each day to replace those that are thrown in the trash, which amounts to more natural resources being used and more future muda being produced. What is more disturbing is that once these bottles are taken to a landfill, they can take up to 1,000 years to fully decompose (Falcone, 2006). First of all, how is someone able to compute that amount, because, after all, bottled water is a fairly new concept? And secondly, wi th 60 million bottles being added to dumps each day all over the U.S., where are the bottles going to be taken to in ten years, when most likely the amount of bottled waste has doubled, or even tripled? So why is it that the majority of plastic bottles are not being recycled? Many experts say that it is because vehicles are not equipped with recycling receptacles (Falcone, 2006). Since a majority of Americans who purchase bottled water are on-the-go all the time, they have less patience and desire to hold onto their empty plastic bottles until they get to a location where a recycling bin is present. It is easier to just throw them in the trash or on the street. It seems ridiculous that it is easier for people to throw a bottle in the trash as opposed to recycling especially when many places are placing recycling bins next to trash cans. This laziness and lack of patience is causing an extreme amount of harm on the environment. To put this idea into perspective the amount of muda in California created ten years from now would create a two lane, six-inch deep highway that stretches the entire coast of California (Wilson, 2003). During the rare 14% of the time when empty bottles of water are recycled, a lot of good can come from them and it is a step in the right direction in helping the environment. The raw materials used to make the plastic bottles can be saved and used for numerous items which helps to save resources from being destroyed to make new products. By looking at California only, it is estimated that one billion plastic bottles get thrown away over the course of a year (Wilson, 2003). This amount calculates to almost three million bottles being thrown away each and every day (Wilson, 2003). That is an incredible, as well as, disturbing, amount of unnecessary trash. If instead of being thrown away each and every one of those bottles were recycled, the materials reused could produce either 74 million square feet of carpet, 74 million extra large T-shirts, or 16 million sweaters (Wilson, 2003). It is incredible to think that a plastic bottle could be turned into other useful items and help save the environment by not using as many natural resources. Some other interesting information about the recycled material is that five recycled bottles can produce one extra large T-shirt, polyesther carpets can be created from the resin contained within the bottles, and the materials of the bottle can be spun like cotton candy and produce filling for quilts and pillows (Recycling, 2006). By looking over these types of statistics, it paints a wonderful picture of how recycling so much can be saved. Many precious fossil fuels are wasted in this process. The transportation of bottled water to other parts of the U.S. as well as being shipped to other parts of the world uses large amounts of fuel on a yearly basis. This fuel is being wasted on a daily basis for a product that a majority of Americans can get for almost nothing just by turning a knob in their own home (Arnold, 2006). Besides wasting fuel on transportation costs, this same precious resource is being consumed during the packaging process. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the type of plastic most commonly used to produce bottles and just so happens to contain crude oil (Bottled, 2005). According to research, 1.5 million barrels of crude oil is used over the course of a year to be able to produce the amount of bottles Americans demand (Bottled, 2005). Putting this amount into perspective, 1.5 million barrels would be enough to fuel approximately 100,000 cars for an entire year in the U.S. (Bottled, 2005). It is no sho ck that our world is currently dealing with a fuel crisis. By wasting such an extreme amount of oil on the production of bottles and transporting the finished product, we are not only hurting the environment but we are ruining the future for the next generations. Previously mentioned was the apparent safeness of bottled water as opposed to tap water. While in some cases this may be true, tap water can be just as good as bottled and it may even be safer. Many scientific studies have been conducted on bottled water over the years and some of the information found is disturbing. Unlike tap water, which is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), bottled water is classified as a food. Hence, it is regulated by the Food Drug Administration (FDA) (Mosko, 2004). The two groups have different standards in which companies are to follow otherwise harsh consequences result. Some differences are that the FDA does not require products to be tested for coliform bacteria whereas the EPA specifies that no confirmed E.coli or fecal coliform contamination is allowed in tap water (Howard, 2003). Also unlike the EPA, contaminants are not required to be listed after testing whereas additives are required (Mosko, 2004). Since 1990, findings of chem ical contamination and fecal coliform during testing have caused 11 major recalls of bottled water (Mosko, 2004). According to a study done by the World Wildlife Fund, bacterial counts in bottled mineral water can jump 1,000-fold after one week in storage (Mosko, 2004). When bottled water is stored in an un-refrigerated environment for a long period of time, the amount of microorganisms that begin to develop are far greater than the amount contained within tap water (Mosko, 2004). Some water companies, including Aquafina, do not use NSF-certification which tests bottled water for 144 dangerous contaminants (Mosko, 2004). Besides the water being unsafe in many cases, the plastic bottles can also cause a health threat to consumers. When bottled water drinkers notice a taste difference between brands, some of that difference can be attributed to the type of plastic used for the bottle. If the type of plastic used can have an effect on the taste of the water, shouldnt that make a person wonder as to what else the plastic is doing to the water microscopically? One such chemical used in PET bottles, known as Bisphenol-A, is a known endocrine disruptor and carcinogen (Mosko, 2004). This chemical found through testing mixes with the water contained inside the bottle (Mosko, 2004). It is one thing for a person to be inhaling smoke from cigarettes and knowing the possible cancer they are creating within their body. But it is absolutely ridiculous and uncalled for when a person unknowingly harms their body on a daily basis by drinking a product they are told is healthy and necessary for survival. With all of these findings from studies, just how good is that three-dollar bottle of water looking to a person now? Economical and Environmental Analysis in the Business Process First, some numbers on PepsiCo and Aquafina: According to the New York Times, The Pepsi Bottling Group posted better-than-expected profit April 18th as strong sales of Aquafina bottled water and Lipton Ice Tea brands in North America offset rising costs for raw material and fuel (Pepsi, 2006). The company had net income of $34 million, or 14 cents a share, compared with $39 million, or 15 cents a share, in the period a year earlier. Earnings were 3 cents ahead of analysts average forecast of 11 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates. Excluding stock option expense, Pepsi Bottlings profit was 18 cents a share. The company, which is 43 percent, owned by PepsiCo Inc., said revenue rose to $2.37 billion from $2.15 billion. In the United States, sales of noncarbonated beverages, excluding water, grew more than 20 percent in the quarter while sales of Aquafina water grew about 35 percent. Pepsi Bottling said first-quarter sales by volume, a crucial gauge of performance in the bevera ge industry, rose 6 percent worldwide as well as in the United States and Canada. The company said worldwide net revenue per case grew 4 percent, fueled by price increases in the United States that helped offset a 9 percent jump in selling, delivery and administrative expenses (The New York Times, April