THE DOLMAN HOTEL Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

THE DOLMAN HOTEL Case Study - Essay Example The Dolman is being operated by David Mannering whose expertise is in financial management. David might be very good in his field but managing an organisation such as a hotel is different. This is probably the reason why the policies at Dolman do not seem to be appropriate for their staff. Another factor that imposes a problem is having David's personal assistant look after personnel administration. In short, the organisation did not have a skilled HR manager to handle the hotel's human resources. This is the reason why a lot of employees at Dolman were having problems and issues. The organisation does not have clear policies on their human resources which affected the staff turnover and the service that the employees provide the customers. As a business advisor specialising in Human Resource Management, I have to find ways to resolve these issues in the company. I will look for alternatives that might be helpful in solving the organisation's problems and implement the appropriate policies in the areas of flexible working, internet recruitment, selecting and inducting people with the right skills, staff retention, and the involvement and participation of staff at The Dolman. Fluctuating demand and supply of labour may impose a problem in an organisation if they are not handled properly. Some employees might find it hard to balance their family life and work. Sometimes, this results to frequent staff turnover and loss of employees. However, there are still a lot of ways that can be done to manage this problem. One of them is flexible working. According to Hewitt (2007), "allowing people to work in a sensible way that allows them to balance earning a living with looking after their children is not only good for families and children, it is good for business too." There are different types of flexible working and some of them might be very useful for The Dolman. One type of flexible working is Part-time working where in the employee can work less than the standard working hours (BusinessLink). This can be useful in the organisation because it will allow their workers to spend more time with their private lives whenever it is needed. Through this, employees will be satisfied with their jobs and will perform in the workplace effectively. Flexi-time is also one of the most implemented flexible working in the U.K.(NHS 2005) where the employee is given the right to change their working time as long as it is outside the set core of hours set by the employer. It also allows employees to arrive early or finish late or the other way around (European foundation for the improvement of living and working conditions 2007). The Dolman can benefit to this because this HRP is capable of reducing absenteeism (Salix software ltd). With flexi-time, it is easier for the employees to accommodate their personal needs so they won't have to leave their job due to family matters and other personal things. The organisation can also benefit in terms of revenues because it can extend its opening hours which will allow them to cater to more customers. However, this will not be a burden to the company since employees are still required to be present during the core time or the peak hours of the business. Another HRP on flexible working that might be helpful on The Dolman is self-rostering where employees choose the shifts they would prefer. With this, the employee is able to give

Voc wk 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Voc wk 4 - Essay Example 141). Students can go into virtual halls where they find a variety of information from assessments they can take to planning their education and work. DISCOVER can be used in conjunction with the SII to find more information on the careers from that assessment. One of the strengths of the SII is that it provides a lot of information that the student can take for further research. Also, it is completed easily, and it is based on the Holland codes which allows the individual to access other assessments that also use the codes. The strengths of the DISCOVER program are that it is computer based, interactive and engaging for the student. The reason it is important to be aware of the issues involved with assessments in special populations is because we cannot make generalizations that match everyone. This is why it is important to know how the tests were normed and the clients demographic profile. Starkey, D.S., and Rasmus, S.C. (2006). Individual and group assessment and appraisal in Capuzzi, D., and Stauffer, M.D. (2006) Career counseling: Foundations, perspectives and applications. Pp. 113-151. At 17 years old, John will have more time to choose a career, but it is a good time for him to explore careers. Although he worries about this now, I would also explain to him that he does not have to choose a solid career at this point because he has his whole life ahead of him. The two ethical considerations that Mrs. Catwick would have to take into consideration would first be to make sure that the test was appropriate for Johns age group. She is giving form R, which she hopefully reviewed or read the booklet to see whether this was appropriate for high school students. Another consideration, according to Engels and Harris (2006) is to make sure to inform John that the SDS is not a test in the way that he is used to taking. The reason for pointing this out is because there is "the high likelihood that clients

The Impact of Evolving Technologies on Political Participation Essay

The Impact of Evolving Technologies on Political Participation - Essay Example While the technology has introduced itself and enforced its presence in the different forms, one of the shapes in which the technology has been used to aid and assist the political participation is that of social media. Social media, which is also dubbed as the Web 2.0 is an invention and gift of the 21st century A.D. it is a totally new concept that was not known to the users or implementers of the digital media in the previous decades. The Web 2.0 is a more dynamically assisted digital interface that has allowed new applications usage and improved service providing. The Social media is a gift of Web 2.0. Through the social media, people from all walks of life get together and express their views, concerns, optimism and other related trends and concepts. They all merge under a unified group of entity followed by the large number of fans. Arab spring one of the most dominant words in the political sphere of global politics has been in practice for last four to five years. It was a movement and agitation activity that turned governments. It was a movement that toppled the governments of dictators who had been in seat for over two to three decades. The Arab spring was a gift of technology. It was spurred by the use of Face book and other social media websites (Howard & Hussain, 2013, 65). It served as a platform for the youth of that area to mobilize, find a platform. While the practical fields were cordoned off by the police and other means of militia and regimental forces, the Face book served as a medium where the people could gather, express their views and express their legal concerns. The Tehrir square which late on became the house and center to over a million people was initially set into fire by the Face book when a group of individuals sat together and discussed the possible actions against the incumbent President

The Work of one Christian Relief Agency Essay Example for Free

The Work of one Christian Relief Agency Essay Christian Aid is an organisation that supplies aid to those in need. It is generally considered to have been the first missionary agency to support indigenous mission boards in countries all over the world. It all began in 1945 when Bob Finley was asked to speak at a rally of Youth for Christ in a Chicago stadium. His testimony was so fresh, unique and powerful that the 25,000 people in the stadium interrupted him several times with spontaneous applause. His words were broadcasted all over the continent and he was sent to speak at rallies throughout the U. S. and Canada. Along with his close friend, Billy Graham, they were enlisted as field evangelists with the Youth for Christ and spoke at youth rallies, churches, public schools, seminaries, colleges and Bible institutes. Between 1948 and 1950 Bob Finley traveled the East China, Korea and Asia preaching the word and lead Korea in the spiritual awakening that took place there in early 1950. Bob Finley returned to America determined to arouse the churches about the need for reform in foreign missions. He said the best way to plant a Christian witness in closed countries was to reach people who were away from home. Then when they would go back to serve Christ in their homelands; get behind them with financial assistance. Following the presentation of his honorary doctors degree, in 1953 he started International Students, Inc. to reach foreign students all over the U.S. and Canada. In 1972 the headquarters of ISI was moved to Colorado Springs, while the AID (Assisting Indigenous Developments) division was spun off as Christian Aid and remained in Washington D.C. with Bob Finley as the President. A competent staff was assembled to travel all over the world searching out indigenous ministries in every country, especially those that were closed to missionaries from America. Christian Aid grew and grew, with a number of new buildings built in co-ordination with the agency. They had a new headquarters with a conference center and more offices. It continued making contact with indigenous missionary groups in closed countries all over the world. Bob Finleys goal was to have a part in planting a witness for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ among every unreached people group on earth. Christian Aid is governed and staffed by evangelistic, Bible believing, born again Christians who uphold the fundamental doctrines of historic evangelical Christianity. The work of Christian Aid is felt in over 60 countries where they try to fulfill its aims of helping people in the long-term. This is achieved in various ways. The first is to raise money that is needed in order to help these people. They gain an income of around 48 Million Pounds a year, which they can use. This is done throughout the whole year where churches may hold collections or some sort of fund raising events where donations go to charity. A considerable amount of this money is collected during one particular week, annually. This is called Christian Aid Week. In 1995, 8.6 Million Pounds was raised in this one-week. Christian Aid has two main policies of donations. They give Emergency Aid and Long Term Aid. Emergency Aid 10% to 15% of their money is when people are in need of some sort of aid, straight away. For example, if there has been a natural disaster, or an influx of refugees to a country then they are in need of emergency aid in order for them to survive. We can see the work of Christian Aid in the Caribbean Sea islands where a 140mile-per-hour Hurricane battered the islands, leaving 20 dead and numerous others in desperate need of attention and shelter. Christian Aid went to the islands to help the suffering people get their lives back on track. Long Term Aid is when Christian Aid helps to set up funds in communities to help them in the future. This is done through churches and community centers. We can see this in place in Bangladesh where Christian Aid workers have been living there to help administer drugs to the people in need of it. They get their money to do this by Christian Aid and have helped many hundreds of people. Bob Finley has now completed 53 years of ministry as an evangelist, pastor, missionary, Bible teacher and Christian statesman. During these years he has traveled over four million miles and preached face to face to more than 20 million people. Additional millions have heard his message through radio, TV, films and videos. His published articles have touched thousands of lives and played a major role in changing the methodology and direction of Christian missions throughout the world. His influence and financial support has been used of God to further the cause of Christ among more than 2000 tongues, tribes and nations. Christian Aid continues to reach out to those who are in the remotest countries and have not heard of our Lord Jesus Christ. They continue to help other struggling ministries to preach the word of our Lord.

The Maasai Tribe Essay -- Kenya tribe Maasai Essays

The Maasai are one of the many southern-most tribes located in Kenya. They are physically related, and also in many other forms related to the Samburu and Turkana. The Maasai have a relatively complex culture and traditions. In fact, for many years they were unheard of. By the late 1800’s we soon discovered more about the Maasai, mostly from their oral histories.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is presumed that the Maasai came from the north, probably from the region of the Nile Valley in Sudan. Also presumed is that they left this area sometime between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, migrating southwards towards he Great Rift Valley. According to the Maasai oral history, they came from a crater or deep valley somewhere to the north, at a place called Endikir-e-Kerio . Although many scholars have called this place the southeastern region of Lake Turkana, many of the oral histories say that they may have come from further up north, near the Nile river. Whichever location this is, the migration was caused by a dry spell. According to the Maasai a bridge was built, and after half the livestock and people had left the dry area, the bridge collapsed, leaving back the other half of the population. These people later climbed out of the valley, and were helped by the present day Somali, Borana and Rendille peoples. The Maasai later entered Kenya, and moved south through the Rift Valley, where there was pasture for their cattle. Because there was very little surface water, the Maasai resorted to pastoralism instead of agriculture.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Maasai have adapted to their environment to ensure survival and the maintenance of their culture.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Maasai have adapted to the conditions of their environment through their religious rituals, which function in keeping their political structure, and maintaining cattle numbers. The idea of religion in the Maasai culture is attatched with the importance they place on the stages of life. Spear indicates that for the Maasai, God is close yet completely unknowable. Each ritual transition between age-groups is a step toward old age and metaphorically a step toward God. According to Emily McAlpin in â€Å"The Maasai culture and Ecological Conditions† the most important event in the ceremony is the sharing of meat which brings all participants clos... ... one is in this society, the more power attained.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The most common form of sharing goods and distributing them is through allied kin groups. There is no doubt sometimes disagreements amongst the Maasai people, therefore most kin groups have an ally kin group. These are useful when a luxury item is sought after and one group has it and is willing to lend or give it to the other, not a necessity. When something is needed for survival, the whole society will help.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Bibliography: 1.Cronk, Lee 2004 From Mukogodo To Maasai: Ethnicity and Cultural Change in Kenya (Westview Case Studies in Anthropology), Westview Press, pp. 27-35 2. Hetfield, Johnston 1997 The Maasai of East Africa (Celebrating the Peoples and Civilizations of Africa) PowerKids Press; 1st ed edition, pp. 9-13 3.Spear, Walker 1993 Being Maasai: Ethnicity & Identity in East Afri Ca (Eastern African Studies), Ohio University Press pp. 214-221 4.Kituvi, Mukhisa 1990 Becoming Kenyans: Socio-economic transformation of the pastoral Maasai (Drylands research series), Acts Press, pp. 193-201 5. Sankan, S.S. Ole 1985 The Maasai ,Kenya Literature Bureau, pp. 77-84

Language and Cognition Essay

Language is very complex and the manner at which humans learn language is even more complex. Language is more than just words and with words there are also definitions this paper will explain what language and lexicon is. Language is connected to cognitive functions in so many ways that this is better explained throughout the paper. There are key features in language that is developed during childhood and continues to grow as children get bigger. Language has a structure and processing through four levels. These levels better help humans understand language and communicate to one another. The connections in language processing and cognitive psychology are better understood later on in this paper. First to start off with a better understanding of what language and lexicon is. When a duck quacks, a dog barks, a horse neighs, and a cow moos everyone knows that they are communicating, these sounds do not however make up language. According to (Merriam-Webster’s Third New Internati onal Dictionary Unabridged) language is an â€Å"audible, articulate, meaningful sound as produced by the action of the vocal organs†. Language and communication is structured, to communicate there must be arbitrary, considered generative and dynamic. Animal sounds are audible they are produced by an action of vocal organs but they are not structured. An animal’s noise is composed of a single sound. In addition to the human cognitive functions and language assimilation, is how the brain has a mental dictionary that holds all of symbols of words. According to (Merriam-Webster’s Third New International Dictionary Unabridged) lexicon is â€Å"a book containing an alphabetical or other systematic arrangement of the words in a language or of a considerable number of them and their definitions†. Lexicon’s record accumulated spelling and pronunciation; humans also recognize words by evaluating what he or she has perceived hearing with these recordings. Humans will compare animal communication sounds using the stored lexicon to decide if the sounds make up a known language. Caldwell-Harris (2008) notes â€Å"words represented with links to their typical linguistic contexts will help explain the ever present influence of context on word meaning† (p. 170). Therefore, there would be no meaning to a human and an animal to communicate between each other because there are not words or contexts to understand. Furthermore, an understanding of language is more than the definition and lexicon, but includes the key features of language. Humans are pre-programmed to learn language; there is also a critical period which is where someone can learn effortlessly. According to (Willingham, 2007, p. 423) â€Å"there is fairly strong evidence that our brains are prepared to learn language, and with relatively little prompting, will do so†. Children learn in stage starting with babbling and cooing. According to (Hollich, 2006, p. 10) â€Å"to learn a word, infants must represent both the acoustic form and then make the connection to an external, possibly unfamiliar, object†. As children are learning to pronounce vowels and consonants they put together words, as they do this they also look at objects to match with the words. Chrysikou, Novick, Trueswell, & Thompson-Schill (2011) note â€Å"specifically, an increase in the spontaneous use of inner verbal strategies during development may support aspects of top-down control in task-shifting, by selecting and maintaining task-relevant goals, remembering task order , or retrieving task-relevant information† (p. 254). With repetition the key features of language are learned, and humans begin to form structure and begin to use the key features of language. There are four key features of language phonemes, words, sentences, and text. These key features are the structure and processing used in cognitive psychology. When listening to the pronunciations a person learning the language also needs to know how to identify it. Cognitive process helps us to learn these different words and how to spell, speak, and the meaning of each word. According to (Willingham, 2008, P. 454) if the phoneme string matches an entry, the word has been identified, and the cognitive system has access to the other properties of the word, including the spelling, part of speech, and meaning. The individual sounds that make up the audible and written copy of words are known as phonemes. There are about 200 phonemes used worldwide, but only about 46 are used in the English language. Through the above mentioned lexicon, people are able to determine a spelling and pronunciation of each word. With this ability humans are able to make coherent sentences with noun phrase and verb phrases. When this is completed it is where the significant formation of actual text is possible. A person can know phonemes, words, and sentences but to really carry on a conversation a person must correctly understand the language this is text. A branch of psychology is cognitive psychology and this area explores the function of mental processes connected to attending, thinking, perceiving, language, and memory. The English language has different sounds for letters as well for example kit and skill, the k sound is different in both words but the letter is the same. Each language has their own pronunciations as well as meanings but they are all diverse. According to (Evans and Levinson, 2009, P. 431) â€Å"the crucial fact for understanding the place of language in human cognition is its diversity. For example, languages may have less than a dozen distinctive sounds, or they may have 12 dozen, and sign languages do not use sounds at all†. There are quite a few functions used in cognitively one of which is memory. Memory is a big part of language and understanding the meaning of words. Humans learn language by repetition and memory to recall definitions and perceptions of the different words in the world around them. In conclusion cognitive psychology and the process of language is connected more than one might believe. Understanding our world around us through experiences is not the only way our mind works. Through language and lexicon, a person recalls information he or she has learned from previous experiences to better understand the lexicon and remember it. The key features of language are that humans are programmed to learn language and understand it. While humans learn the language they move through the four levels of structure and processing to get to communication. Communication is not just understanding the words but also making clear sentences and text as learned in this paper. References: CALDWELL-HARRIS, C. (2008). Language research needs an â€Å"emotion revolution† and distributed models of the lexicon. Bilingualism, 11(2), 169-171. doi:10.1017/S1366728908003301 Chrysikou, E. G., Novick, J. M., Trueswell, J. C., & Thompson-Schill, S. L. (2011). The Other Side of Cognitive Control: Can a Lack of Cognitive Control Benefit Language and Cognition?. Topics In Cognitive Science, 3(2), 253-256. doi:10.1111/j.1756-8765.2011.01137.x Evans, N., & Levinson, S. C. (2009). The myth of language universals: Language diversity and its importance for cognitive science. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32(5),429-48;discussion 448-494. doi:10.1017/S0140525X0999094X Hollich, G. (2006). Combining techniques to reveal emergent effects in infants segmentation, word learning, and grammar. Language and Speech, 49, 3-19. http://search.proquest.com /docview/213732301?accountid=35812 Merriam-Webster’s Third New International Dictionary Unabridged [Accessed June 18, 2012]. Willingham, D.T. (2007). Cognitions: The thinking animal (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Purchasing and inventory system Essay

INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study Batang Convenience Store is a retail business selling dry goods, LPG’s, soft drinks and food that located in Silang, Cavite. It is founded by Yolanda and Eduardo Atienza who started its first operation on 1999. Since its venture to this kind of business, Batang Convenience Store never used any type of record books or computerized systems. The owner arranges the purchasing of  supplies by evaluating documents like delivery receipts and purchasing orders, which is time-consuming, tiresome, and inconvenient. The owner is not aware if product is no longer available or the item is becoming out of stock. If the owner wants to purchase items from the supplier, it must be done in form of writing. Sometimes the owner encounters loss of data due to carelessness. With the company’s manual means of evaluating the inventory and managing the purchasing operations, inaccurate entries are sometimes made. The Purpose of the Computerized Inventory and Purchasing System is to help a company in managing, monitoring and maintaining their Inventory as well as generating necessary reports and keeping important data safe. The researchers of this study will develop a new purchasing and inventory system for the business using Visual Basic.Net and Microsoft SQL Server software. With this system, the evaluation of inventory and management of purchasing operations will become more organized, and thus easier. In this manner, wrong inputs will be avoided, and the checking and organizing of items will be more accurate. 1.2 Statement of Problem 1.2.1 General Problem Batang Convenience Store encounters problems such as in and out of product from the stock room are not properly monitored by the purchasing clerk.Availability of their products is less supervised by the owner that consumes a lot of time by checking each item manually. Human errors in writing reports, miscount of products and tallying of inventory is time-consuming and tiresome due to the nonexistence of record books or computerized system. Purchasing Reports and Documents are also unavailable, hence purchasing processes takes too long and it may affect the overall productivity of the business. Manual process of evaluating, inventory, and managing the purchasing operations by the owner leads to inaccurate entries of data. The lack of proper record keeping also causes the lost of relevant data. 1.2.2 Specific Problems The proposed system intends to answer these following problems: In and out of product is less supervised, Time-consume and tiresome tallying of inventory records, Purchasing processes takes too long, by manually writing each item, Inaccurate entries of data due to manual process of evaluating, inventory, and managing the purchasing operation and Loss of relevant data due to the nonexistence of record books or computerized system. 1.3 Objectives of the Study 1.3.1 General Objective This study aims to develop a computerized Inventory and Purchasing System for Batang Convenience Store. The system will help the business in producing accurate reports, improve transactions and provide a more convenient process for the owner’s /manager and staff. They can also serve their customer in a fastest way and accurate w/out any problem occurs. 1.3.2 Specific Objectives The following specific objectives must be attained to meet the General objective of the proposed system: To develop a system that will help the purchasing clerk to monitor the products in the stock room, To generate a system that will helpto lessen the burden of the store owner in tallying inventory items, To create a system that can help the owner to have faster way of ordering products, To create a computerized system that will help the owner to create evaluation inventory and manage purchasing operation. To develop a system that will automatically keep all the transaction record by updating and putting security measure such as password and backing up of files. 1.4Significance of the Study The Purchasing and Inventory System is one of the key factors to have a successful and profitable business. If the system is not well organized and stable, the business may not be able to meet the target profit in a given period of time. This study will be beneficial to the following: The company, interviewed by the researchers, will be able to monitor the status of materials needed to be purchase on a given period of time. Data inputs will produce an efficient output to be used as basis for making decisions. The owner can easily generate an automated approval report and can monitor the stock with ease and efficiency. Purchasing Clerk can do the processing of order, preparing the purchase order (PO) and monitoring of order status, the Stockman can do the inventory of items easily, and the  Supplier will have a lesser travel time to get the Purchase Order (PO) from the company. Future Researchers can utilize the results of the study as basis or reference when conducting their own research about Inventory and Purchasing System. 1.5Scope and Limitations The researchers of this study will use Visual Basic.Net together with Microsoft SQL Server to develop the system. The proposed system will have three (3) level accesses, one for the owner, one for the manager, and for the Stockman. The owner/manager will have the access to the following modules: The Purchasing Module: This is where the owner/manager approves the Purchase Order (PO), Purchase Request (PR) and in this module the owner/manager can cancel the transaction processing. The Inventory Module: The owner can view the status and movement of the stocks in this module. The owner can also add, edit or deactivate items using this module. The Reports Module: In this module the manager can see the Purchase Order (PO), Purchase Request (PR) and Inventory Reports. The User Account Module: In this module you can add, edit, search and read data that is recorded The Administrative Module: This is for the user’s account creation and editing. The Supplier Module: This is for owner/manager can view the company’s current suppliers, add and deactivate suppliers and in this module the manager can also edit the details of the supplier. The Purchasing Clerk will have the access on the following modules: Purchasing Module: where the input of ordered items, purchase order, purchases Request is being made. Inventory module: where stocks can be viewed. Report module: in this module the purchasing clerk can see the Purchase Order (PO) Reports, Purchase Request (PR) Report and inventory Reports. The Stockman can only access the following modules: Inventory module: where the stockman can report the new products in the inventory and the status of the stocks. Report Module: In this module the stockman can only see the Inventory reports. There will be three (3) workstations in the proposed system – for the Purchasing Clerk, the Owner and the stock room. The workstations will be networked through UTP cables and a switch. We also added a Network Printer which is connected to the  Manager’s Computer for printing Reports and Documents. Limitation The proposed system will concentrate mainly in solving the problems that the company experiences concerning their Purchasing and Inventory System. Some limitations that the proposed system might encounter are the following: Power interruption due to power failure, Exclusion of auditing and transaction of sales, and The network is not connected to the Internet. Our Proposed System will not run in other Operating system environment besides Windows.HIPO

Free Essays on Putting In Two Senses

Putting In Two Sense(s) It is said that being different is part of life, but as with many of these â€Å"parts of life,† there are two extremes on the spectrum of society: being able to hold your own and depending on society to hold your hand every step of the way. Many people may suspect that the latter group is made up of lazy, immature, and incompetent people. Though a certain percentage of these people may fit that description to a â€Å"t,† there are more than a few who are unable to control the characteristic(s) that place them in that group. The human body has been well equipped with five senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste, most of which are vital to one’s survival. If one of the essential senses were to abruptly disappear, one’s everyday world would be turned upside down and dropped into a pool of chaos: everything familiar is suddenly strangely different and unknown. It seems that blindness and deafness are the two most often occurring â€Å"sense handicaps.† This being a common viewpoint, there has been much research done in the areas of defining what causes the disabilities, how to treat those that suffer from them, and, most importantly, how to help them adapt and assimilate to a world of people with the ability to hear and see. The choice of being blind or being deaf would be rather easy, once one realizes that, â€Å"The real problem with blindness is not the lack of eyesight. The real problem is the misunderstanding and lack of information which exist. If a blind person has proper training and opportunity, blindness is only a physical nuisance.† (National Federation of the Blind) Although blindness and deafness are both life altering disabilities, the blind are thought to be able to live a life that lets them become part of society, not form their own world. With services such as Canine Companions for Independence (CCI,) that train dogs specifically for blind people according to the amount of he... Free Essays on Putting In Two Senses Free Essays on Putting In Two Senses Putting In Two Sense(s) It is said that being different is part of life, but as with many of these â€Å"parts of life,† there are two extremes on the spectrum of society: being able to hold your own and depending on society to hold your hand every step of the way. Many people may suspect that the latter group is made up of lazy, immature, and incompetent people. Though a certain percentage of these people may fit that description to a â€Å"t,† there are more than a few who are unable to control the characteristic(s) that place them in that group. The human body has been well equipped with five senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste, most of which are vital to one’s survival. If one of the essential senses were to abruptly disappear, one’s everyday world would be turned upside down and dropped into a pool of chaos: everything familiar is suddenly strangely different and unknown. It seems that blindness and deafness are the two most often occurring â€Å"sense handicaps.† This being a common viewpoint, there has been much research done in the areas of defining what causes the disabilities, how to treat those that suffer from them, and, most importantly, how to help them adapt and assimilate to a world of people with the ability to hear and see. The choice of being blind or being deaf would be rather easy, once one realizes that, â€Å"The real problem with blindness is not the lack of eyesight. The real problem is the misunderstanding and lack of information which exist. If a blind person has proper training and opportunity, blindness is only a physical nuisance.† (National Federation of the Blind) Although blindness and deafness are both life altering disabilities, the blind are thought to be able to live a life that lets them become part of society, not form their own world. With services such as Canine Companions for Independence (CCI,) that train dogs specifically for blind people according to the amount of he...

Essay on Julius Caesar Essay Example

Essay on Julius Caesar Essay Example Essay on Julius Caesar Essay Essay on Julius Caesar Essay Essay Topic: Julius Caesar Julius Caesar was the self-elected dictator of Rome in 44 B.C, for only one year, before being killed.He was born on the 13thof Quintilis, which is now July in 100 BC to Gaius Caesar, which became part of his full name, Gaius Julius Caesar.When Caesar was born, the city of Rome was flourishing, becoming a rich culture, and an advanced form of government. When Caesar was born, the government was a democracy. Nobility governed the state. Nobles were people who claimed consuls or other high officers as their ancestors. Caesars birth was very interesting. His mother did not have a vaginal birth, but had the first Caesarian C-section, hence the name C-section. Caesar was born into a well-bred family called the Julian clan.As he started to grow up, he understood that his family was important and that he had to appreciate the historical importance of the parents claim, of being of a Noble birth.Since he was a noble child, he was to take his fathers place in Romes government. Until the age of seven, Caesar was in the care of his mother. His education was done at home in his big, elegant home. There he was taught the traditional Roman way of living. Some of the things he was taught were endurance, sympathy for others, religion, and the right way of doing things.He was also told a story about Roman war heroes and through that was taught to respect the achievements of his Uncle Marius, a general and a senator. When Julius Caesar was seven, he attended a public school in the towns business district.The school was a very hard school Caesar had to memorize and dictate back to his teacher many things with the threat of being beaten if he made a mistake.He had to memorize Roman law, and had to learn how to be a public speaker.

Convicts to Australia - Researching Convict Ancestors

Convicts to Australia - Researching Convict Ancestors From the arrival of the First Fleet at Botany Bay in January 1788 to the last shipment of convicts to Western Australia in 1868, over 162,000 convicts were transported to Australia and New Zealand to serve out their sentences as slave labor. Nearly 94 percent of these convicts to Australia were English and Welsh (70%) or Scottish (24%), with an additional 5 percent coming from Scotland. Convicts were also transported to Australia from British outposts in India and Canada, plus Maoris from New Zealand, Chinese from Hong Kong and slaves from the Caribbean. Who Were The Convicts? The original purpose of convict transportation to Australia was establishment of a penal colony to alleviate pressure on the overburdened English correctional facilities following the end of convict transportation to the American colonies. The majority of the 162,000 chosen for transportation were poor and illiterate, with most convicted for larceny. From about 1810, convicts were seen as a labor source for building and maintaining roads, bridges, courthouses and hospitals. Most female convicts were sent to female factories, essentially forced labor camps, to work off their sentence. Convicts, both male and female, also worked for private employers such as free settlers and small land holders. Where Were The Convicts Sent? The location of surviving records related to convict ancestors in Australia largely depends on where they were sent.  Early convicts to Australia were sent to the colony of New South Wales, but by the mid-1800s they were also being sent directly to destinations such as Norfolk Island, Van Diemens Land (present-day Tasmania), Port Macquarie and Moreton Bay. The first convicts to Western Australia arrived in 1850, also the site of the last convict ship arrival in  1868. 1,750 convicts known as the Exiles arrived in Victoria from Britain between 1844 and 1849. British transportation records of criminal transportees described on the website of the UK National Archives are the best bet for determining where a convict ancestor was initially sent in Australia. You can also search the British convict transportation registers 1787–1867  or Ireland-Australia transportation database online to search for convicts sent to the Australian colony. Good Behavior, Tickets of Leave and Pardons If well-behaved after their arrival in Australia, convicts rarely served their full term. Good behavior qualified them for a Ticket of Leave, a Certificate of Freedom, Conditional Pardon or even an Absolute Pardon. A Ticket of Leave, first issued to convicts who seemed able to support themselves, and later to convicts after a set period of eligibility, allowed the convicts to live independently and work for their own wages while remaining subject to monitoring a probationary period. The ticket, once issued, could be withdrawn for misbehavior. Generally a convict became eligible for a Ticket of Leave after 4 years for a seven year sentence, after 6 years for a fourteen year sentence, and after 10 years for a life sentence. Pardons were generally granted to convicts with life sentences, shortening their sentence by granting freedom. A conditional pardon required the freed convict to remain in Australia, while an absolute pardon allowed the freed convict to return to the U.K. if they chose. Those convicts who did not receive a pardon and completed their sentence were issued a Certificate of Freedom. Copies of these Certificates of Freedom and related documents may generally be found in the state archives where the convict was last held. The State Archives of New South Wales, for example, offers an online Index to Certificates of Freedom, 1823–69. More Sources for Researching Convicts Sent to Australia Online Australias early convict records, 1788-1801 includes the names of over 12,000 convicts transported to New South Wales.The Tasmanian Names Index includes convicts (1803–1893) and  convict permissions to marry (1829–1857).The Fremantle Prison Convict Database serves as an online index to Western Australia convict registers.Over 140,000 records are searchable in the New South Wales Convict Index, including  certificates of freedom, bank accounts, deaths, exemptions from government labor, pardons, tickets of leave, and tickets of leave passports. Were Convicts Also Sent to New Zealand? Despite assurances from the British government that NO convicts would be sent to the fledgling colony of New Zealand, two ships transported groups of Parkhurst apprentices to New Zealand the  St. George  carrying 92 boys arrived at Auckland on 25 October 1842, and the  Mandarin  with a load of 31 boys on 14 November 1843. These  Parkhurst apprentices  were young boys, most between the ages of 12 and 16, who had been sentenced to Parkhurst, a prison for young male offenders located on the Isle of Wight. The Parkhurst apprentices, most of whom were convicted for minor crimes such as stealing, were rehabilitated at Parkhurst, with training in occupations such as carpentry, shoemaking and tailoring, and then exiled to serve out the remainder of their sentence. The Parkhurst boys chosen for transport to New Zealand were among the best of the group, classified as either free emigrants or colonial apprentices, with the idea that while New Zealand would not accept convicts, they would gladly accept trained labor. This did not go over well with the inhabitants of Auckland, however, who requested that no further convicts be sent to the colony. Despite their inauspicious beginning, many descendants of the  Parkhurst Boys  became distinguished citizens of New Zealand.

Unit 8 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Unit 8 - Assignment Example al substance invites us to think deeply and conclude that ideas built by means of someone’s sense, memory and imagination are the only tools to create the presence of a material substance. By studying the arguments of Berkeley, one learns to incorporate the ideas of different senses to perceive the various objects, substances and materials. In short, Berkeley’s vision highlights the mind along with ideas and offsets the Newton’s absolute space and time. The time becomes merely a succession of ideas in individual’s mind, and the space is reduced to an extension perceived by senses. (Fogelin, 2001) Berkeley’s arguments positively relate with Phillonous who disagrees with majority of the philosophers to believe in the existence of matter. He like Berkeley emphasizes strongly upon mind and argues that every thing in this world depends upon mind. Hylas, who was the student of Phillonous believes in the matter. He states that all the worldly experiences of life remain unexplained without the existence of matter. This philosophy of Hylas does not resemble with that of Berkeley. Because Berkeley seems to stick on his famous principle, â€Å"Esse est percipi† (â€Å"to be is to be perceived†). Berkeley stated in his books that spirit itself cannot be perceived but can be perceived by its own effect. Similarly Locke states that one has a relative idea of substances in

Greek Mythology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Greek Mythology - Essay Example This is why a bull is specially remembered when this cult is mentioned because it is thought that it was the assumption of this shape that actually brought down the end so swiftly on Dionysius. It is stated in a legend that Apollo went to the city of Delphic when he was just a four year old boy to kill a huge serpent because it had, according to legend, molested the mother of Apollo and he wanted to avenge the mistake committed by the serpent. The serpent was not any normal serpent in fact it was the son of Gaia and he sent holy verses by means of fissures in a rock, these fissures were inhaled once by the priestess, pythia and this inspired her to let every know what these cryptic verses meant and hence she wrote down the Delphi oracle which gave a voice to these cryptic verses. Since, Apollo killed the great serpent he was able to take his place. Apollo had numerous affairs; at Delphi he learned archery, music and singing and was very good at it. The first temple to Apollo built by the Romans was in 432 B.C.

Pro's of distant learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Pro's of distant learning - Essay Example eo conferencing, and virtual mode) has been a mechanism that has been used to reach out into communities where individuals want to obtain an education but has not been necessarily easy to obtain using the traditional classroom setting. It has been geared to reach individuals that are at a distance and want to study but are not physically at the university campus and its surroundings and/or do not have time to take these courses using the traditional classroom setting. In today ´s day and age of information technology, distant education continues to exist and many more higher education institutions are offering these non-traditional courses. Information Technology is here to stay. There are different paradigms that are used by institutions of higher education (synchronous/asynchronous). There are forums where the students and the assessor discuss topics, ask questions, and make comments. This type of communication opened infinite possibilities in making distant education accessible to all of those individuals who want to obtain higher education recognition (diploma/degree). The visual mode within distant learning is a powerful asset. You not only communicate by writing and in some instances sound is included, but by having the visual mode incorporated into this virtual paradigm augments the possibilities given the different learning styles. According to Veenema & Gardner (1996) interactive technology could become a valuable tool in education if it takes into consideration how the human mind works. These authors stated that â€Å"†¦cognitivists argue that individuals do not just react to or perform in the world; they possess minds, and these minds contain mental representations-images, schemes, pictures, frames, languages, ideas†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (p. 70) They emphasized that some mental representations that individuals have are that they are born with them or are formed at an early age, have proven to be enduring but that others are created, transformed or dissolved over time

Managers & Organisations - Reflective Portfolio Assignment

Managers & Organisations - Reflective Portfolio - Assignment Example The objectives of this paper is to generate a clear understanding on critical issues an individual can face while performing those tasks. In addition, the paper also provides an insight about how to deal with the problems regarding management of clients, inventory and staffs. Summarising Learning Reflection During the work tenure in my profession, I had confronted with several issues which helped me to gain valuable experience. I had showed good performance on maintaining coordination with staffs along with other stakeholders in the company. My knowledge and expertise had helped me to deal with the clients and to manage other operations such as supervision, monitoring and analysis of documents among others. I always endeavour to provide rapid response to any kind of problems within the organisation so that it does not turn out to be much worse. I possess two major characteristics which influence my decision making which are activist and quick learning ability. The major gaps I had id entified during reflection were ineffective planning and communication. Due to this gap, I often faced difficulties in managing the clients and the staffs. Above all, I am a reflector in learning and can put theory and idea into practice and I always pursued for learning new things in my professional life. Reflection on Practices Scenario 1 The first workplace scenario of my work experience is related to management of client. In any business organisation, it is significant to manage the clients effectively. Client management is concerned with appealing to new clients as well as retaining the existing clients of the company. It is critical for every manager to maintain good associations with clients so that they... During the work tenure in my profession, I had confronted with several issues which helped me to gain valuable experience. I had showed good performance on maintaining coordination with staffs along with other stakeholders in the company. My knowledge and expertise had helped me to deal with the clients and to manage other operations such as supervision, monitoring and analysis of documents among others. I always endeavour to provide rapid response to any kind of problems within the organisation so that it does not turn out to be much worse. I possess two major characteristics which influence my decision making which are activist and quick learning ability. The major gaps I had identified during reflection were ineffective planning and communication. Due to this gap, I often faced difficulties in managing the clients and the staffs. Above all, I am a reflector in learning and can put theory and idea into practice and I always pursued for learning new things in my professional life. S cenario 1The first workplace scenario of my work experience is related to management of client. In any business organisation, it is significant to manage the clients effectively. Client management is concerned with appealing to new clients as well as retaining the existing clients of the company. It is critical for every manager to maintain good associations with clients so that they conduct business with the company regularly and for the long run. In present days competitive business environment, losing a valuable client can cost heavily on profitability.

Ebay Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ebay - Essay Example However, other issues were still seen like the one-sided feedback system favorable to buyers only. Other online options for businesses also competed with the eBay. Amazon also emerged as one of its major competitors. Other issues which the company faced included fewer consumer-friendly payment features for eBay as compared to Amazon; presence of counterfeit merchandise; and bad management choices all. SWOT Analysis Strengths eBay is the world largest online auction websites and it was the first company that came up with the idea of online auction. And because of its unique way of trading, eBay has given the chance for buyers and sellers from all over the world to buy and sell items by going online and without having them to meet up. Diversifying has become one of the major components for eBay. Not only it diversified its products, but eBay also diversified its target markets from, individuals to small or big companies. Moreover, from the past couple of years, eBay did some acquisitio ns over some other companies, such as, PayPal, StubHub, and Skype. With all of these acquisitions, it made eBay as a bigger and better company, and one of the big successes of these acquisitions was with PayPal.

Managers & Organisations - Reflective Portfolio Assignment

Managers & Organisations - Reflective Portfolio - Assignment Example The objectives of this paper is to generate a clear understanding on critical issues an individual can face while performing those tasks. In addition, the paper also provides an insight about how to deal with the problems regarding management of clients, inventory and staffs. Summarising Learning Reflection During the work tenure in my profession, I had confronted with several issues which helped me to gain valuable experience. I had showed good performance on maintaining coordination with staffs along with other stakeholders in the company. My knowledge and expertise had helped me to deal with the clients and to manage other operations such as supervision, monitoring and analysis of documents among others. I always endeavour to provide rapid response to any kind of problems within the organisation so that it does not turn out to be much worse. I possess two major characteristics which influence my decision making which are activist and quick learning ability. The major gaps I had id entified during reflection were ineffective planning and communication. Due to this gap, I often faced difficulties in managing the clients and the staffs. Above all, I am a reflector in learning and can put theory and idea into practice and I always pursued for learning new things in my professional life. Reflection on Practices Scenario 1 The first workplace scenario of my work experience is related to management of client. In any business organisation, it is significant to manage the clients effectively. Client management is concerned with appealing to new clients as well as retaining the existing clients of the company. It is critical for every manager to maintain good associations with clients so that they... During the work tenure in my profession, I had confronted with several issues which helped me to gain valuable experience. I had showed good performance on maintaining coordination with staffs along with other stakeholders in the company. My knowledge and expertise had helped me to deal with the clients and to manage other operations such as supervision, monitoring and analysis of documents among others. I always endeavour to provide rapid response to any kind of problems within the organisation so that it does not turn out to be much worse. I possess two major characteristics which influence my decision making which are activist and quick learning ability. The major gaps I had identified during reflection were ineffective planning and communication. Due to this gap, I often faced difficulties in managing the clients and the staffs. Above all, I am a reflector in learning and can put theory and idea into practice and I always pursued for learning new things in my professional life. S cenario 1The first workplace scenario of my work experience is related to management of client. In any business organisation, it is significant to manage the clients effectively. Client management is concerned with appealing to new clients as well as retaining the existing clients of the company. It is critical for every manager to maintain good associations with clients so that they conduct business with the company regularly and for the long run. In present days competitive business environment, losing a valuable client can cost heavily on profitability.

Predicting Crime with the Uniform Crime Reporting System Assignment

Predicting Crime with the Uniform Crime Reporting System - Assignment Example It is also possible to tell which states and cities are the most dangerous in terms of prevalence of crime, in particular violent crimes like murder, robbery with violence and forced rape. It must be acknowledged that nowadays data is everything regardless of one’s profession or inclination. The most important attribute of UCR is its richness in terms of data; with this data prediction becomes a walk in the park for public safety officials and law enforcement organizations. UCR also facilitates the presentation of crime rates to the American public since public safety officials and law enforcement organizations have crime information at their fingertips. Whenever it is needed they can retrieve and present it (Lynch & Addington, 2006). Question 2 In this section, I will forecast criminal activity for the country, the state of California and the city of Los Angeles. The Country In order to forecast criminal activity for the nation, I examined tables 1 and 1A. ... This shows that there has been a marked reduction in both statistics. Between 2001 and 2010, for example, the percentage change in the volume of violent crime was -13.4, while the percentage change in the violent crime rate was -20.0. A look at other crimes also shows the same trend. My forecast for the nation is therefore that the volume and rate of criminal activity will continue to reduce in the coming years (U.S Department of Justice & the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2004). The State of California Data for criminal activity in California displays similar attributes to that of the country. Between 2009 and 2010, the percentage changes in criminal activity (ranging from violent crime to motor vehicle theft) were negative; this is a pointer to a reduction in criminal activity. As a result of this, I also forecast a continued decline in criminal activity in the state of California as years go by. The City of Los Angeles In 2010, the city of Los Angeles had high volumes and rates of criminal activity compared to other cities in California. The reason for this is that Los Angeles is the largest city in California both by area and population, and therefore statistics like these are expected. However, since the state is showing steady reduction in criminal activity, I predict that the criminal activity rates and volumes in Los Angeles will also keep reducing, even though they might still be considered high. It is worth noting that this is a common attribute in large and populous cities (New York, Chicago, Detroit, etc). Question 3 In 1950, the murder rate in the United States was 4.6 while the volume of murders was 6,932. In 2010, the murder rate was 4.8 while the volume of murders was

Value Chain System Essay Example for Free

Value Chain System Essay The value chain concept was created by Michael Porter and explained in his book â€Å"Competitive Advantage†, published in 1980. The value chain is a series of activities that create and build value- culminating in the contribution of total value to the organization. Porter used the concept of value chain as a systematic approach to examining the development of an organization’s competitive advantage in the marketplace. In using the value chain concept, the total activities undertaken by a business are split into Primary Activities and Support Activities. Primary activities relate to inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service. Support activities include procurement, technology development, human resource management, and firm infrastructure. Intel  No doubt, Intel has emerged as the market leader in the design and manufacture of microprocessors, having an almost unbeatable advantage over its competitors. Yet Intel has realized that the best way to retain its market position is to make it easy and efficient for people to do business with the company. Since 1998, Intel has developed and used an e-business strategy to maintain relationships with its customers, employees and suppliers. The company’s goal is to become a 100% ‘e-business enabled’ corporation. In terms of the value chain concept, Intel has made remarkable progress and reaped tangible benefits in the volume of business it does on the Web, as well as created savings of time and money for both itself and its customers. (Pallato, 2001) Let us analyze Intel’s strategy in terms of the primary value chain activities: Inbound Logistics Prior to implementation of its e-business initiative, Intel used the traditional methods of pen, paper and telephone to place and track its supplies and suppliers. Furthermore it ordered supplies only in response to customer orders. Consequently the company lost out on many business opportunities, where it could not meet emergency demands, changing customer needs or large orders for want of adequate stock. However this all changed with the launch of its e-business initiative in 1998. Today, Intel uses the Internet to speed the flow of information between itself, its suppliers and customers. By tracking its deliveries and supplies over the Web, the company has reduced its order and manufacturing lead times. It tracks its supplies from various countries all over the world. Intel’s goal is to move towards a 100% automated system for its supplies and purchases. Operations Intel uses its Web based e-business system to aid in the quick exchange of details and queries pertaining to customer orders, design specifications and proprietary information. Design specifications and models can change every 6 months. Intel has many made-to-order deals with big volume direct customers and this almost instantaneous system can shave off a week or two in design and delivery of the final product, enabling the product and its suppliers to take full advantage of its novelty and price in the market. Outbound Logistics Intel uses its web based system to track deliveries to customers and resellers. It can thus expedite delivery by noting friction points, ascertaining the reasons and smoothing shipments there. Using its ‘vendor driven’ inventory management system, Intel can maintain its inventory levels to respond to fluctuating customer demand, make reliable forecasts and shipments on time. Marketing Sales Intel has also improved time to market for its products to customers. By putting its customer order entry system on the Web, it has reduced errors by 75%. It can take orders round the clock, where more than 25% of its transactions occurring after normal business hours. Its ability to establish links with over 75,000 system resellers worldwide has led to considerable increase in its sales volumes. Online sales doubled from US$ 1 billion to US$2 billion a month. Hundreds of Intel suppliers use the Web to check the status of inventory levels, payments and shipments. Service Intel focuses on many areas of support and service for all its products. From advanced data centers, application platforms, architecture planning, integration of business applications, e-commerce applications and solutions, system migration and server consolidation. Employing a set of highly skilled consultants having considerable technical expertise in designing, building, implementing and optimizing solutions on Intel architecture. Intel provides a variety of services in the areas of wireless, hardware design, networking and communications, software development, business strategies and solution providers. Intel has established alliances with other leading software technology providers and solutions such as Oracle and SAP to give added value to its customers. It has a variety of solution blueprints on its website advertising its successful applications from a variety of industries. A database of solution providers and resellers of Intel products and solutions has been provided on a technological, geographical and language basis for ease of access and use. Intel Website). The success of Intel’s value chain can be judged by the fact that it helped the company earn revenues of US$30. 1 Billion in 2003. The company has over 78,000 employees worldwide, with 294 offices and facilities for its 450 odd products. Intel was ranked 53 in the list of Fortune500 companies in 2003. By converting from its EDI systems to one using its RosettaNet business process standards with XML forms, Intel is expected to make further giant strides in the way it does business. (1) Spectrum Pharmaceutical Porter’s five force analysis is used to analyze Spectrum Pharmaceutical in the pharmaceutical industry. Porter’s five forces analysis is a method of analyzing an industry and a company’s business strategy. It uses five fundamental forces that determine competition within an industry and how a company functions within that industry. These five forces involve market forces and pricing power of the business, suppliers and customers. The first force that a company must deal with is the bargaining power of customers. In relation to Spectrum Pharmaceutical, the customers have very little power to bargain prices with the company. The products that Spectrum provides are unique niche products that the customer cannot obtain anywhere else. This gives the customers little bargaining power with the company. This makes the products that Spectrum produces more profitable for the company, but more expensive to the customer. This makes the products more expensive however, which makes them more profitable for the company. There are few substitutes for these products, which reduces the buyers leverage to negotiate lower prices. The buyers have little concentration which reduces their ability to negotiate lower prices. Due to lack of alternative products there are few substitutes for Spectrum’s products. All these reasons combined together give the buyer of the products little force to negotiate lower prices, but give the company a lot of power to maintain their high prices. The second force in the analysis is the bargaining power of suppliers. In this instance, the suppliers to Spectrum have little power to affect the price of the final product. There are several different firms that can supply Spectrum with the necessary products for spectrum to manufacture their products. This gives the suppliers little leverage to boost prices to Spectrum, which in turn helps to keep the price of supplies low. There are usually several alternative products on the market that Spectrum can use to manufacture the necessary goods. Due to the lack of concentration of suppliers, they have little leverage to negotiate higher prices which would squeeze the profits of Spectrum. In addition, the cost of inputs in the price of Spectrum’s products is very low compared to the final cost of the product. The regulatory process is a much more expensive input to the final cost of goods than the raw material inputs. All these reasons combined give suppliers little force to raise prices to Spectrum, and have little influence on the price to the consumer. The next force in the analysis is the threat of substitute products. Several different substitute products allow the consumer to switch to other products and lower price products. This price elasticity keeps prices lower for the consumer and limits the ability of the company to raise prices. There are few substitute products for drugs that Spectrum manufactures. Consumers have little alternative choices for Spectrum products. This reduces the ability of the consumer switch to lower cost products. This keeps the product prices high and reduces the leverage of the consumer has to keep prices lower. All these reasons combined, keep reduce the force of the consumer to exert little ability to keep prices low and allow Spectrum to charge higher prices for its products. The next force in the analysis is the threat of new entrants into the market. If it was easy to enter the market with new and competing products, the ability to keep prices high would be reduced. This however, is not the case with Spectrum. It is extremely expensive for new entrants to get into the pharmaceutical market. It is costly in both money and time to get new drugs to market. The regulatory process insures that new products to the market have been tested at several levels. This testing is expensive in time, money and expertise. It takes several years to get new products through the regulatory process and new products to market. This high cost limits the number of new entrants into the market. There are many barriers to entry into the market. In addition, Spectrum holds patents that limit market competition for several years. Even though the pharmaceutical business is highly profitable, there are few competitors in the marketplace due to the high entrance costs and other barriers. The capital costs to enter the marketplace limit the number of competitors in the marketplace. The high capital, labor and other costs limit the force of new entrants to compete against Spectrum in the marketplace. The barriers to entering the pharmaceutical business limit competition and ensure that drug companies can maintain higher prices. The last force in the analysis is the intensity of competitive rivalries. Industry rivalries can increase the competition for the consumer’s money. This can keep costs down and reduce profitability. Even though there are several companies in the pharmaceutical business, the total business is extremely large. The high costs of entering the market reduce competition. The high capital costs, the regulatory process and the barriers to entry, reduce competitive rivalries within the industry. The industry has a high growth rate, especially as the older population grows. In most cases there is little over production and over capacity. It takes a lot of technical expertise in many different areas to get into the pharmaceutical business. There are advertising campaigns in the few areas where there are substitute products, but this mostly limits the size of the market and not profitability. Due to the extremely high profits, most companies have a strong incentive to innovate, market and remain in the business. All these reasons combined limit the competitive rivalry that would reduce the profitability of firms in the pharmaceutical industry. In summary, the Porter’s five force analysis of Spectrum Pharmaceutical show few limits on its ability to compete. Customer’s have little ability to bargain lower prices with the firm. Suppliers to Spectrum have little ability to raise prices to the company and have little influence on the cost structure of the final product. There are few substitute products to the drugs that Spectrum produces, this reduces the ability of consumers to switch to alternative lower price products, and ensures the ability of Spectrum to keep prices high. The high capital costs and the regulatory rocess restrict the number of new competitors in the pharmaceutical industry. This reduces competition for companies in the drug business and helps to reduce completion and keep prices high. The last force in the analysis is threat of competitive rivalries. This is relatively low for Spectrum. The high capital costs to enter the business and the barriers to entry into the market help keep competitive rivalries low. Due to the size of the industry and few competitors that can overcome the entrance barriers, limit the rivalry and allow the industry to by highly profitable.

Mutant and Wild-type Yeast Strains via Mitochondria Proteins

Mutant and Wild-type Yeast Strains via Mitochondria Proteins Differentiating between mutant and wild-type yeast strains via mitochondria proteins    By: Jason Hoang Lab Partner: Daryan Chan Introduction Yeasts are important organisms due to their uses in everyday such as baking, making fermented foods and alcohol production (Steensels et al, 2014). Yeasts have been so widely studied that it was one of the first organisms to have its genome sequenced (Goffeau et al, 1996). Thus, Yeasts are more than capable of acting as a model organism for eukaryotes (Botstein et al, 2011). For this experiment we are working with Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The mitochondria is the powerhouse for cell, as it is the major production site of ATP for the cell. The inner mitochondrial space has an electrochemical gradient, from which ATP is generated by using 5 protein complexes create an electrochemical gradient to assist in ATP production (Alberts et al., 2015). The COX6 assembly accepts electrons from cytochrome c and uses oxygen as the terminal electron acceptor to make water (Alberts et al., 2015). ATP synthase then uses the resulting proton gradient made by those complexes to pump protons back into the mitochondria matrix and make ATP (Alberts et al., 2015). The objective of this experiment was to determine if a given yeast sample was a wild type or a mutant with no COX6 activity. One of the major techniques to be used in this lab is subcellular fractionation. This technique first lyses the cells and then uses centrifugal forces to separate particles by size (Alberts et al., 2015). The centrifugal forces results in the denser particles moving away from axis of rotation creating a pellet which contains the heavier particles and a supernatant which contains lighter particles (Alberts et al., 2015). Another major technique used was Gel electrophoresis. Gel electrophoresis is used so that a fraction with multiple proteins can be separated based on size and shape (Alberts et al., 2015). Protein fractions are loaded on to wells in the gel and an electrode is attached (Alberts et al., 2015). SDS page is popularly used because it can confer a negative charge and linearize proteins being run through the gel (Alberts et al., 2015). The proteins will run through the gel due to their negative charge (Alberts et al., 2015). A standard is used to provide a reference to determine the sizes of the sampl proteins (Alberts et al., 2015). One of the other major techniques used in this lab was western blotting. After proteins are run on electrophoresis a labelled antibody is exposed to the electrophoresed fractions in a process called immunoblotting in order to detect presence of a specific protein (Alberts et al., 2015). The gel is exposed to a membrane where a current is run to dive the proteins onto the membrane (Alberts et al., 2015). The membrane is then drenched in labelled antibodies to detect for a specific protein (Alberts et al., 2015). This process can detect very small amount of specific protein and is useful for detecting changes of concentration of a specific protein in a cell under various conditions (Alberts et al., 2015). To measure cytochrome oxidase activity in this lab, we looked towards Beers Law which states that the ability of a solution to absorb light at a single wavelength is proportional to the concentration of solute in solution (Lukofsky et al, 2009). This show that absorbance and concentration are linearly related. Therefore, this would allow us to determine the rate of cytochrome oxidase activity in a sample. Materials and Methods Experiment was performed according to protocols set by Department if Biology, Winter 2016, Biology 331 for Experiment 1: Subcellular fractionation of yeast cells, pg 2-8, Experiment 2: Yeast growth curve; light microscopy; protein determination, pg 1-4, Experiment 3: Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, pg 1-8, Experiment 4: Development of Western Blot; COX Activity Assay, pg 3-10, written by Dr. Dragana Miskovic where the experiment was performed with no deviations unless specifically noted (Miskovic, 2017) The only deviation occurred in experiment 2 where we had ran out of BSA STD and had to borrow from another group. The borrowed BSA STD was not tested to have exact concentration as specific in lab protocol and may have had different concentration. Results Experiment 1 Yeast Strain Sample: A2 Table 1. Masses recorded for Lysing Yeast Cells Section Items Mass (g) Mass of Centrifuge Bottle containing Yeast 159.2 Mass of Empty Centrifuge with Pellet 49.89 Mass of Pellet 3.23 Amount of STE solution needed to resuspend yeast pellet: 3.23g x 2= 6.46mL Table 2. Volumes recorded for the Aliquoting Yeast Subcellular Fractions Section Solutions Total Volume LPS 3mL + 3.7mL= 6.7mL HSS 3mL + 2.8mL= 5.8mL MITO 300ÃŽÂ ¼L + 300ÃŽÂ ¼L= 600ÃŽÂ ¼L It was also noted that after the MITO fraction was made the pellet was intact and not messy Figure 1: Drawings of 50/100/200 ÃŽÂ ¼L dye drops from pipetman and expected 1 mL dye drop Experiment 2 Part A Table 3. Concentration of Yeast Cell at Two Different Times Time OD600 Reading Concentration (cells/ mL) 2:47pm 0.021A 210,000 4:59pm 0.043 A 430,000 It has been determined that an OD600 value of 1.0 is thought to contain roughly 1 x 107 cells/ mL. An OD600 value of 0.021 A will contain a concentration of 210 000 cells/ mL. An OD600 value of 0.043 A will contain a concentration of 430 000 cells/ mL. Figure 2. This graph shows the change in absorbance of yeast culture at 0 and 120 minutes. Equation to represent growth is calculated and shown above. Calculating Doubling time Formula for growth of yeast is y=0.0002x + 0.021. given initial absorbance reading of 0.021, doubled concentration should give reading of 0.042. Therefore use y= 0.042, where x means time in minutes 0.042=0.0002x + 0.021 where x = 105. Therefore it was found that doubling time is 105 minutes. Part B Yeast cells dyed with methylene blue stain Figure 3. These are some of the cell types that were observed when the overnight culture was stained with methylene blue under 40x magnification. It was found that roughly a third had a stained positive for a nucleus. None of the cells appear to be multi-nucleate. No vacuoles were observe either Yeast cells dyed with neutral red Figure 4. These are some of the cell types that were observed when the overnight culture was stained with neutral red under 40x magnification It was found that over 90% of the cells stained positive for a nucleus. Many of the cells appeared to be multi-nucleate and budding as well. It appeared that 1 or 2 vacuoles appeared to be detected per cell. Part C Table 3. Absorbance Results for the BioRad Protein Determination Assay 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 A 0.27 0.191 0.21 0.201 0.196 0.37 0.397 0.404 0.369 0.036 B 0.246 0.24 0.303 0.192 0.226 0.245 0.272 0.372 0.252 0.035 C 0.23 0.263 0.248 0.294 0.037 0.036 0.036 0.036 0.036 0.036 D 0.256 0.227 0.25 0.277 0.035 0.035 0.035 0.035 0.035 0.034 E 0.246 0.182 0.242 0.215 0.474 0.362 0.306 0.389 0.482 0.035 F 0.289 0.349 0.285 0.246 0.299 0.264 0.347 0.738 0.203 0.036 G 0.203 0.254 0.321 0.249 0.035 0.035 0.035 0.037 0.035 0.036 H 0.2 0.261 0.263 0.274 0.034 0.034 0.035 0.035 0.035 0.034 11 12 A 0.036 0.037 B 0.035 0.035 C 0.037 0.038 D 0.035 0.044 E 0.036 0.035 F 0.035 0.035 G 0.035 0.035 H 0.035 0.034 Figure 4. This graph shows absorbance readings of standard solution using BSA at different concentrations. Calculating concentrations of LSP, HSS, and Mito. Equation for concentration of solution based on absorbance reading was determined based on above graph. Equation yielded was y=0.1264x + 0.2159 Average absorbance readings: LSP was 0.245, HSS was 0.249, and MITO 0.289. Using found readings as y for above equation we calculated concentration of proteins in each sample. LSP: 0.245 = 0.1264x + 0.2159Therefore x = 0.230 mg/mL HSS: 0.249 = 0.1264x + 0.2159Therefore x = 0.262 mg/mL MITO: 0.289 = 0.1264x + 0.2159Therefore x = 0.551 mg/mL Dilution factor needed to get fraction to 2ÃŽÂ ¼g/mL LSP: (0.230 mg/mL)(0.1mL)=> (0.0230 mL)(1/x mL)(10 dilution factor) = 2mg/mLTherefore x= 0.115 mL HSS: (0.262 mg/mL)(0.1mL)=> (0.0262ÃŽÂ ¼g)(1/x mL) (10 dilution factor) = 2mg/ mL Therefore x= 0.131 mL MITO: (0.551 mg/mL)(0.1mL)=> (0.0551ÃŽÂ ¼g)(1/x mL) (10 dilution factor) = 2mg/ mLTherefore x = 0.2755 mL Experiment 3 Figure 5. PVDF Membrane after proteins are transferred over from gel after electrophoresis. Our group is left side (D.C, J.H) Experiment 4 Figure 6. Membrane after detecting solution had been added over 10 minutes ago. Bands on right hand side are the standard Figure 7. This graph shows the distance travelled by each protein in the standard mix against the Log(Mw) on semi log paper Table 4. Cytochrome c Oxidase (COX) Activity Assay Sample Absorbance At 0 sec (OD) Absorbance after 20 sec (OD) Change in absorbance Change in Concentration (ÃŽÂ ¼mol/mL) COX activity (ÃŽÂ ¼mol/ L/min) Blank 0.525 0.525 0 0 0 LSP (1) 1.259 1.253 0.006 0.2143 0.6429 LSP (2) 1.272 1.264 0.008 0.2857 0.8571 HSS (1) 0.493 0.491 0.002 0.0714 0.2143 HSS (2) 0.496 0.491 0.005 0.1786 0.5257 MITO (1) 0.553 0.557 -0.004 -0.1429 -0.4286 MITO (2) 0.537 0.535 0.002 0.0714 0.2143 Table 4. This shows the Sample calculation for COX activity Change in absorbance = Absorbance at 0 sec Absorbance after 20 sec 1.259-1.253 = 0.006 Change in concentration ΆA = ÃŽÂ µ x b x Άc 0.006 = 28mM-1-cm-1 x 1 cm x ΆcTherefore Άc = 0.0002143 mM => 0.2143 ÃŽÂ ¼molAssuming volume of assay is 1.0 mL, change in concentration is 0.2143 ÃŽÂ ¼mol/mL COX activity COX activity = change in concentration / time 0.2143 ÃŽÂ ¼mol/mL / (1/3 min) = 0.6429 ÃŽÂ ¼mol/mL/min Figure 8. Graphical representation of COX activity in LSP fractions Figure 9. Graphical representation of COX activity in HSS fractions Figure 10. Graphical representation of COX activity in MITO fractions Discussion Galactose was used over glucose as a carbon source for our yeast cells. This is because we wanted to determine if the mitochondria was functional in our yeast cells. Different yeast strains will use different metabolic pathways in presences of each. When glucose is used as a carbon source the yeast cells will generate ATP via fermentation, whereas when Galactose is used the cell will perform oxidation. This is important to observe as different yeast strains will have varying levels of cytochrome c usage based on that. To visually determine if cytochrome c will be utilized by the cell we can look at the fractionation experiment earlier. When separating for the MITO fraction if one had found a messy pellet it would have indicated that the mitochondria was not intact while solid pellets would indicate the mitochondria was intact. If one did find a messy pellet it could have been the result of differences in fractionation techniques, cells being lysed prior, or something had disturbed the cell in transport. For our experiment we had found the mitochondria to be intact, which is a strong indicator that the mitochondria for our sample was present. To reach cytochrome c oxidase (COX) we used diferential centrifugation which seperates objects based on size and density, where larger molecules such as the intact cells will settle at the bottom of a tube while mitochondria which is smaller would remain in supernatant. This is also why we had separate centrifugations, to get samples with intact cells and samples with intact mitochondria. Density gradient centrifugation is also a widley used technique that seperates based on density. In that case we would see multiple bands form in tubes with densest molecules gathering at the bottom and bands above it with less dense molecules. Experimentally we found yeast doubling time to be 105 minutes (1.75 hours) when inoculated in YPD (1% yeast extract, 1% peptone, 2% glucose). It has been determined in many other experiments that Saccharomyces cerivisiae has a doubling time of 1.69 hours (Deak, 2008). The difference could be attributed to many factors such as environment (amount of light, heat, and etc) and growth substrates used. But the difference is not very large and would still be considered to conform to literature results. During the methylene blue staining of yeast cells it was noted that roughly a third of yeast cells contained a nucleus but it did not seem to be multi nucleate. While the neutral red stains showed that many cells appeared to be budding with one or 2 vacuoles present per yeast cell. These findings fall in line with what is normally expected from yeast cells as they do have vacuoles in their cells (Armstrong, 2010). Furthermore results also fall in line with yeasts having nucleuses but not being multi nucleated (Roberts and Ganesan 1959) One thing that may have affected a major portion of the experiment was determining the concentration of each respective LSP, HSS, and MITO fraction and diluting it to 2mg/mL. it is important to note that during pipetting steps to get each sample that the suspensions be homogenous beforehand otherwise you may be taking up different components of the fraction and missing others depending on how deep the pipet was inserted. During the remainder of the experiment it was found that after gel transfer to PVDF membrane and during western blotting that very few to no proteins were showing up. If low concentration of protein was a factor then it would most likely be traced back to this step. Many reasons can be attributed to this for instance, poor pipetting technique, the fractions were not homogenized properly before pipetting or even the dilution factor could have been incorrect. As noted during the material and methods during the preparation of experimental samples which would to create o ur protein concentration standard curve we had run out of BSA STD and required taking some from another group. When we created our protein concentration standard curve it came out completely odd, having unexpected drops in absorbance readings. The expected result was a linear curve where a higher BSA STD concentration would have led to a higher absorbance readings. Due to the change in BSA STD this may have had a different concentration due to being taken from a different location in its container it could have had a different concentration. Thus causing inconsistencies for our standard curve. As the standard curve was deemed incorrect afterwards any protein concentration calculations based on it would have been flawed, leading to incorrect dilutions. If the dilutions been calculated incorrectly, as they most likely were, there is the chance that the protein fractions would have been over diluted leading to not enough protein to be present for visible bands for the gel electrophores is and western blotting. For the gel electrophoresis SDS was included in solubilisation buffer to give proteins inserted into the wells a negative charge so that when a charge was applied they would run to the other end of the gel and to help unfold the protein so that it would be able to go through the gel. For this experiment a 12% gel was used in the interest of saving time because a 15% gel would have caused the proteins to go through it slower leading to a lower resolution of identifiable protein bands. The purpose of transferring proteins from gel to PVDF membrane was to be able to visualize the movement of proteins on the gel after electrophoresis. To accomplish this we applied Ponceau stain to the membrane to increase the resolution of the bands and to ensure equal amounts of proteins are loaded onto the gel (Al-Amoudi et al., 2013). It was found that after proteins had been transferred to PVDF membrane that we had very few bands show up for the solubilizing buffer lane, both LSP sample lanes, and both HSS sample lanes. Bands did appear for both MITO samples, however, it appears that got smeared across the gel, bleeding over to other wells. This could have been the result of diluting samples in the wells for reasons noted above, the SDS gel would have been poorly constructed and contributed to the smearing, and poor electrode contact on the gel might have blocked the gel from having proper electrical charge. Issues could have also arisen during transfer of proteins from gel to me mbrane. Air bubbles could have been present during transfer which would have prevented any protein from being transferred as proteins cannot move through air. Additionally, poor folding between membrane and the gel could have attributed to smearing of MITO samples. The purpose of the western blotting was to be able specifically detect for the presence of biotinylated COX proteins. In order for a cell to express a biotinylated protein it needs to be able to take up foreign DNA, be able to properly fold COX-biotin fusion protein, the cell needs to be able to recognize the BSS signal fused to C terminus, and be able to translate COX and biotin together (moving stop codon so that it doesnt not stop halfway across the other.) It was found that after western blotting our membrane with protein fractions that no bands had appeared even after 10 minutes of membrane being in contact with detecting solution. This led to Figure 7. The chart showcasing the relative distances that proteins have travelled is blank as a result. This would imply that when the blocking solution was added that it managed to block the entire membrane (and any present proteins included) from interacting with the probe. However Tween-20 was used to wash excess reagent. So the milk most likely would not have been able to bind to any protein after introduction of Tween-20. Therefore the lack of data could be attributed to low concentrations of protein on membrane for reasons as noted above. Referring to Figure 5 the only proteins that were found on the membrane after were MITO which shows that there would have been no LSP or HSS for probe to bind to, whereas for present MITO sample the concentration may not have been high enough and as a re sult some of it could have been washed out by the methanol step causing concentration of MITO to be so low that it could have been blocked by the blocking solution. There is also a possibility that our yeast samples were not able to biotinylate the COX protein at all which could explain why there were no bands occurring Looking at COX activity graphs for LSP, HSS, and MITO they seem to follow what is expected except for HSS. COX was used as an identifying marker for identifying subcellular fractions containing COX because it is an integral membrane protein for the inner membrane space. If COX activity is present then that would indicate that the mitochondria is intact and functioning. These samples should have seen increased COX activity as cytochrome c was introduced into the fractions which provide electrons to the COX protein allowing it to pump proteins and reduce oxygen to water. Both MITO and LSP experienced increased COX activity as shown by figure 8 and 10 respectively. This falls in line with what was expected with the MITO fractions experiencing higher levels of COX activity then the rest as the cytochrome c had less of a distance to travel to reach inner mitochondrial membrane space than LSP. LSP should have a signal because it would contain intact yeast cells which have mitochondria Albe rts et al., 2015). Therefore LSPs rate of COX activity should be lower because the cytochrome c would have harder time reaching mitochondria. This is shown by Figure 10 having steeper reaction times than Figure 8 and 9. This reaction utilized Deoxycholate (DOC) to speed up the reaction which is why it was only done in 20 second intervals as DOC solubilizes with cytochrome c so that it can enter the mitochondria to interact with COX. If reactions were tested too long after DOC was added then the reaction would have finished before being able to measure absorbance. The one that did stand out was the HSS fraction which appeared to experience negative COX activity or none at all. This was expected as it should have all the remaining parts of the cell that werent the mitochondria, lysosomes and peroxisomes Alberts et al., 2015). This would indicate that these samples did not have an intact mitochondria with a COX protein to interact with cytochrome c. this could be explained by the In conclusion it was found that our yeast strain A2 is the wild type strain. This is because during initial centrifugation the resulting pellet was solid indicating intact mitochondria. Furthermore during COX assay the MITO strain indicated an active COX as shown by its increase in activity, proving that A2 was in fact a wild type strain with functioning mitochondria. References Al-Amoudi, M.S., Salman, M., Al-Majthoub, M.M., Adam,Abdel Majid A., Alshanbari, Naif A., Refat, Moamen S., (2013) Res Chem Intermed 41: 3089. doi:10.1007/s11164-013-1417-4 Alberts, B. et al. (2015). Molecular Biology of the Cell Sixth Edition. New York, NY: Garland  Science, Taylor Francis Group. Armstrong, John. Yeast vacuoles: more than a model lysosome. Trends in Cell Biology 20.10 (2010): 580-85. Web. 13 Mar. 2017. Botstein, D., Chervitz, S. A., Cherry, J. M. (1997, August 29). Yeast as a Model Organism. Retrieved March 12, 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3039837/ Deak, Tibor. Handbook of Food Spoilage Yeasts, Second Edition. Contemporary Food Science (2007): 50-51. Web. 13 Mar. 2017. Glerum, Moira Miskovic, Dragana (2017). Biology 331 Advanced Cell Biology Laboratory Manual Winter 2016. Biology Department, University of Waterloo, Waterloo. Goffeau A, Barrell BG, Bussey H, Davis RW, Dujon B, Feldmann H, Galibert F, Hoheisel JD,  Jacq C, Johnston M, Louis EJ, Mewes HW, Murakami Y, Philippsen P, Tettelin H, Oliver SG  (1996) Life with 6000 genes. Science 274, 546 Lukofsky, David, Jonathan Bessette, Heejeong Jeong, Elsa Garmire, and Ulf ÃÆ'-sterberg. Can precursors improve the transmission of energy at optical frequencies? Journal of Modern Optics 56.9 (2009): 1083-090. Web. 13 Mar. 2017. Roberts, C., and A. T. Ganesan. The occurrence of multinucleate giant cells in yeasts. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 25.1 (1959): 97-107. Web. 13 Mar. 2017. Steensels, Jan, Tim Snoek, Esther Meersman, Martina Picca Nicolino, Karin Voordeckers, and Kevin J. Verstrepen. Improving industrial yeast strains: exploiting natural and artificial diversity. FEMS Microbiology Reviews 38.5 (2014): 947-95. Web. 13 Mar. 2017.

The Future of Social Security :: Papers Politics Welfare Essays Papers

The Future of Social Security Social Security is a system that was set up in 1935 after the Great depression to help people get through tough times. "Social Security is now used by nearly 44 million Americans"(policy.com). Only people who payed into social security are eligible to collect when they retire. Many people think that they receive the money they pay in but that is not total true. The money that you pay in is used for the people that are receiving it now. "In 1950 there were 16 workers for every beneficiary; today there are only three workers per beneficiary"(policy.com). There is more money going into social security then coming out now. The extra money goes into a trust to be used when it is needed. By the year 2032 those numbers are going to drop. By this time most baby boomers will be retired and collecting social security. This will put a big strain on the funds. There will be more money going out then coming in. And it will not take long to use all the money that is in the trust. By th e year 2034 they will only be able to pay 75 percent of the beneficiaries. "The projected average monthly Social Security benefit in 2032 of about 1,100 (in 1998 dollars) would fall to about $800, and would drop further in later years. Average benefits for low-wage earners would drop from $670 to $480"(www.ssab). Theses cut would effect the people just starting to receive benefits and those who are already receiving benefits. And with each year these benefits will decrease. As these benefits continue to decrease "the percentage of aged people living in poverty would rise"(www.ssab).Most people believe this is happening because of the baby boomers generation. There will be more people taking from social security then giving in. By the time my generation is eliable to receive social security there may not be any money to give. Everyone is worried about the future of the social security system. They wonder how long it can last after the year 2030. There are many ways people are suggesting to deal with the problem. Some suggest to raise taxes on social security "In order to continue paying full benefits in 2032 and for about 40 therefore, the law would have to be changed to increase social security taxes by almost one-half, from the current 12.

Efficient and Economical Forms of Team Processes

Purpose: The research aims to study key team processes, through which the team members share their individual knowledge, create shared understanding of the team, situation, task, leading to high team performance. The current research also aims to understand how teams adapt with team processes to high task load situation. Design/Methodology: Video recordings of Nuclear Power Plant operator teams’ activity have been used for collecting and analysing data. 16 operator teams had to follow the selected same scenario, including 96 team members’ interaction. The performance scores were made by the instructors’ evaluation. Team process categories were developed based on different theoretical, empirical frameworks of team processes and semi structured analyses of transcribed communication and video recordings. Results: Specific forms of team processes help team members to build a shared conceptualization of the faced problems, thus lead to higher team performance, such as: providing directions, summarizing, projecting to the future, coherent information flow. Economical forms of team processes may help to lessen and manage high task load situation. Limitations: Team performance evaluations were based on subjective assessments of performance. The study lacks explicit team knowledge measurements. Research/Practical Implications: The revealed team process categories may serve as a valuable input for team members’ social skill focused selection and development methods. Originality/Value: The study aims to capture team processes in a naturalistic and complex work environment. The analyses reveal how good performing teams manage unpredictable high task load situation with team processes from information, knowledge sharing perspective.

Western Civ Continuous or Discontinuous

Is Human Development Continuous or Discontinuous? Human Development is lifelong, continuous and discontinuous and goes in so many different directions throughout a lifespan. It is plastic, multidisciplinary and is embedded in a changing socio-historical context. I truly believe I live in a continuous development pattern, as I believe the rest of us hope our children to follow in our footsteps of continuity. Sigmund Freud addresses continuous versus discontinuous in the understanding of mental illness. We tend to wonder if a mental illness if just an ordinary person taking something to an extreme, or if it is just a matter of degree. I think there is a difference in the way someone with a mental illness experiences reality. There are so many different kinds of mental illnesses so it is far more complicated than a single entity. There is even debate out there as to what exactly is considered a mental illness versus what is not. I guess to some it is all in the eyes of the beholder. What do we know about Sigmund Freud’s theory? His Psychoanalytic Theory is an intrinsic struggle between ego, id and superego. In children, it focuses mostly on the manifestation of disorders as seen from individual case studies. This theory has psychosexual stages which include oral (birth-1year), anal (1-3yr), Phallic (3-6yr), Latency (6-11yr) and Genital (Adolescence). This theory is unique in that it is a kind of lifespan and states that behavioral manifestations are a result of internal struggles. This theory emphasizes on the role of early experiences on child development and the mediating role of parents. Sigmund Freud proposed that if the child experienced anxiety, thwarting his or her sexual appetite during any libidinal (psychosexual) development stage, said anxiety would persist into adulthood as a neurosis, a functional mental disorder. The biggest problem with this theory is that it is hard to verify. A continuity life is one that basically believes of having stages of development. From infancy and learning to walk and talk to adolescence and making decisions on your own a person living a continuity life accepts life as it changes and adapts to it. Whether it be first day of kindergarten and learning to read to becoming a first time parent we accept that something new is about to happen in our lives and adjust for the change. I don’t know how often people would not accept the stages of life and move forward with the stages/changes but o feel it’s important to do so. Another theory from the text I found interesting with respect to continuity was in the sensorimotor period (behavior reflecting on actions) to the formal operations period (perfection of development) are part of Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. The cognitive development theory is one that I found to be quite interestin g. This theory suggests that a child could adjust to the surroundings based on what was happening at the time; that the stage of a child’s life and growth is a continuous process. The stages, according to Cleverley & Phillips Piaget’s theory suggest that â€Å"whenever a difficulty was encountered, it threw the child out of mental equilibrium, and the child was then forced to make some addition to its mental apparatus; cognitive accommodation occurred. † (pg. 87). In other words, what I think this means is that whenever an event would occur in a child’s life that was of a difficult nature, it would force the child to adjust to the situation and then move forward. Ultimately, every decision that is made (whether these decisions are made during infancy, adolescent or adult) these decisions impact the next stage of life. It’s clear that the cognitive theory of Piaget is one that the stages of development occur in the cognitive state of mind. Discontinuity on the other hand appears to me to be more a religious theory and a basis that there are not necessarily stages to life but events and that the events occurring don’t necessarily predict how the future outcome of that individual might be. The idea behind a discontinuity life is that the events or obstacles that a person is faced with are the pre mapped out plan of god. According to Augustine’s theory that all children are born in sin and act of free will it is my understanding that Augustine’s theory is a theory of discontinuity. This is because discontinuity is having a life with â€Å"personal decision, freely chosen, that will profoundly change the direction of one’s life. (Module Commentary – Historical Antecedents II)    From what I’m understanding Augustine’s theory on discontinuity is that a decision has the ability to significantly impact the outcome of one’s life. According to module commentary research suggests that the past of an individual doesn’t necessarily suggest what the outcome of that person may be. When looking at my life and trying to determine whether my life would be of continuity or discontinuity I have to admit I struggled with the differences. I think that I my life could be either actually. However, after reading the text I would have to say that I would think the majority of my life is continuous in that my life has been full of stages. From infancy to adolescence and then into adult hood these were distinctive stages to which I lived through and made distinctive decisions. I recall events during my childhood such as my parents divorcing that helped me to comprehend and realize that life isn’t perfect. Instead of pitying on the fact that my parents were no longer together and revert back to being an infant (i. e. inability to cope with life and depend on others to make decisions for me and becoming depressed) I opted for the continuity approach and accept the event and move forward. I will say I’m one of five siblings and I can tell you that my youngest brother reverted and fell in a life full of bad decisions with severe impacts and he struggles with moving forward and accepting life as it is. I graduated high school and went off to college. My first child was born while I was in my associates program in college but I kept plugging along with my studies determined and focused to get what I was working so hard for. I had many relationships that ended badly, however, I didn’t revert to a life of pity but rather felt the pain, dealt with the impacts of my decisions and moved forward. Every stage in my life whether it be when I was a child and care free to being a mother of two beautiful children and full of responsibility I’ve realized that my life is continuous. I will keep moving forward with all the events and stages that take place in my life. I do believe these events have the ability to mold a person just by the decisions that were made. I believe that people can have an event happen in their life that in turns has a drastic impact. Take the death of Ivan Ilych for example. He struggled with an illness and then was given the opportunity to reflect on his life and to see things differently. This man had an incredible transformation. In essence what I’m suggesting is that while my life is continuity I am married to a man whose life to me appears to be of discontinuity. The more I learn of what his faith and beliefs are the more easily it is to find complications between the two. According to Cleverley & Phillips â€Å"descriptions of typical behavior can only be made in the context of a theory, because what is to count as typical behavior very much depends upon the point of view of the observer, and furthermore, the language that is used to describe the behavior is usually orrowed from theory, or may have political or ideological connotations. Thus, what the observer sees in children depends upon what model he or she brings along. † (pg. 96). Therefore, I take this to mean that how a person views either their life or the life of someone else is a matter of opinion by the basis of what their foundation of knowledge is based on and what they bring into your l ife with. References: Cleverly, John & Phillips, D. C. (1986) Visions of Childhood. Influential Models from Locke to Spock