Monday, September 30, 2019

Early Childhood Education and Creative Learning Essay

1. Analyse the differences between creative learning and creativity. Creativity and creative learning are highlighted by the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework as being a significant aspect in the holistic development of young children. Children need to have the opportunities to respond in an individual and personal way, make choices and follow new ideas uninhibited by adult expectations. Many people believe creative learning and creativity are the same but in fact they are very different. Creative learning is about how children are actively involved in their own learning and their ability to make choices and decisions. Ofstead states that among professionals, creative learning is seen as questioning and challenging, making connections and seeing relationships, envisaging what might be, exploring ideas, keeping options open and reflecting critically on ideas, actions and outcomes. (Ofstead 2010) Creativity however is about seeing things in a new way and using your imagination. Being creative is strongly linked to play and by allowing children to explore and express themselves through a variety of media or materials including, dance, music, craft, drawing, painting and role play, children are able to produce original outcomes in a variety of ways. The National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education (NACCCE) defines creativity as â€Å"imagination, fashioned so as to produce outcomes which are original and of value† (NACCCE, 1999) and believes all people have the capacity and democratic right, to be creative in all aspects of life. 2. Explain current theoretical approaches to creativity and creative learning in early childhood. Western society has for many years supported the idea of nurturing children’s creativity to enhance early childhood education, inspired by Swiss philosopher Jean-Jaccques Rousseau’s ‘Romantic’ view first voiced in the eighteenth century that acknowledged children’s curiosity and capacity to make new ideas and meanings. In 1999, Gopnik, Meltzoff and Kuhl supported this theory with revolutionised ideas on the human mind and childhood. They  believed that babies are born with the ability to make connections to the world around them and with this desire to explore is born curiosity, in turn developing our creativity. However, Woolf and Belloli (2005) state that children also need a supportive environment and the opportunities in which to develop the skills required to support their creativity. Adults should encourage children, provide new materials, such as stories, music and dance in order to explore and offer interest and praise to promote self value and a feeling of achievement. More contemporary theories support Woolf and Belloli’s ideas, such as the Effective Provision of Preschool Education Project (EPPE) 2004, which emphasises the importance of adult supported play. Interaction and acknowledgement during play is significant, for it is the process and not the final outcome that is central to creative learning. It is also believed that creativity and creative learning support holistic development in the early years, improving overall outcomes especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. By developing a child’s innate curiosity and creativity, practitioners are able to build on current skills and expand opportunities. The Thomas Coram Children’s Centre in Camden, London focuses on the Every Child Matters Agenda and the importance of creativity in the early years and shows from a study conducted in 2009, that 90% of the cohort of children who left that year, reached or exceeded expectations for their age, although only 56% were reaching expectations on entry to the centre. Studies have emphasised the importance of developing creative practice in the early years setting and fostering creativity directly from the child, encouraging a child’s ideas and promoting the possibilities. Jeffrey and Craft (2010) believe this practice to be ‘learner inclusive’ by providing young children with the means and resources to demonstrate their own unique skills, initiating their own ideas and developing their own perception of the world around them. 3. Critically analyse how creativity and creative learning can support young children’s emotional, social, intellectual, communication and physical development. Creativity and Creative learning can be delivered across the whole curriculum and can support each of the Early Learning Foundation Stage’s six areas of development: Personal; Social and Emotional; Communication, Language and Literacy; Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy; Knowledge and Understanding of the World; Physical Development (Gross motor and fine motor) and Creative Development. All these areas must be delivered through a balance of child initiated and adult led activities and are all equally significant in the holistic development of young children. Personal, Social and Emotional Supports development through the process of selecting and using activities and resources independently and in taking turns and sharing equipment during imaginative play. Communication, Language and Literacy: Supports development through the listening to and the use of language, both through written and spoken. Uses this to communicate in play and in learning by talking about what they are doing and communicating with others. Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy: Supports development through developing mathematical ideas and methods to solve practical problems and learning new concepts. Knowledge and Understanding of the World: Supports development through the use of senses and the investigation of objects and materials. Physical: Supports development through the use of handling tools, objects, construction and malleable materials, developing dexterity, had and eye co-ordination and general fine motor skills. Creative: Supports development through expressing and communicating ideas, thoughts and feelings, through imaginative play, designing, making, music and song, drawing and painting. Pompts aesthetic awareness and appreciation of shape, patterns, relationships and composition. Bibliography * www. hoddereducation. co. uk/SiteImages/f3/f3966925-d0a6-4 * www. educationstudies. org. uk/materials/comptonf4. pdf * www. ofsted. gov. uk/resources/learning-creative-approaches-raise-standards.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Islam’s View on Suicide Essay

Islam views human life as a gift and something sacred that should be protected for the sake of Allah Ta’ala. No Muslim should take his or her life for granted. In the Qur’an, Allah speaks to His followers and educates them on their purpose of life: â€Å"And I (Allah) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone)†. (Adh-Dhariyat: 56). This indicates that humans should continue living to worship their Lord. Through other verses, Muslims are protected from death through various forms of worship. â€Å"He has forbidden you only the carrion (flesh of dead animals), and blood, and flesh of swine, and that which is slaughtered as a sacrifice for others than Allah (or has been slaughtered for idols, on which Allah’s Name has not been mentioned whilst slaughtering). But if one is forced by necessity without wilful disobedience nor transgressing due limits, then there is no sin on him. Truly, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. â€Å"(Surah Al-Baqarah: 173). These forbidden foods can only cause harm upon a person in the long-run and therefore a Muslim is forbidden to consume them. Consumption of prohibited substances will only entice death. Similarly, alcohol, cigarettes and drugs are explicitly shunned in Islam. During the one month fast of Ramadhan, Muslims appreciate hunger during the day. At the end of the month, they appreciate the life that they are given the opportunity to live with the bounty that Allah bestows upon them. Muslims believe that death is ordained by Allah and no person will die until his or her time is duely prescribed: â€Å"And no person can ever die except by Allah’s leave and at an appointed term† (Imraan: 145). Suicide in Islam Suicide is prohibited in Islam. As killing is prohibited in Islam, killing one’s self amounts to murder. Strict warnings appear in the Qur’an as relayed below: â€Å"Do not take life, which Allah made sacred, other than in the course of justice,† (al-Israa’: 33); and If anyone kills a person – unless it be for murder or spreading mischief in the land – it would be as if he killed the whole of humanity (al-Ma’idah :32) Suicide, generally, is seen as a result of cowardice. Someone who wishes for an easy way to escape from stress and related difficulty in his or her life, sometimes entertain suicide. This type of mentality is frowned upon in Islam as Muslims believe that Allah would never burden a believer more than he or she can bear. It is through a Muslim’s intellect and perseverance, coupled with a lot of faith, that he or she should continue to overcome worldly obstacles by submitting to the Creator. More importantly though, many factors can lead to suicide. Among them are depression, substance abuse, personal losses and problems, personal health and disability. (a) Depression Depression is a medical condition that needs to be treated. A person who has an isolated and detached lifestyle including mental ability, sleeping patterns, the inability to socialise, eating disorders and a dangerous aptitude of stress is most likely to fall under the category of depression. If this person still has the ability to decide for him or herself, treatment should be sought immediately. Alternatively, friends and family who suspect this person is entertaining thoughts of suicide, must seek help from medical practitioners. Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings upon him) reminded his followers that â€Å"Allah had not created any disease (except for cancer) without a cure for it,† (Bukhari). It is therefore vital for a person suffering from depression to seek medical attention. (b) Substance abuse Substance abusers can be often lead to suicide through overdoses. Anything that harms a human’s health is considered as haraam (prohibited). Substances that are intoxicating, such as cigarettes and alcohol have no benefit to mankind. On the contrary, they are harmful to the user and those who surround him or her. Even if this person does not overdose in the short run, steadfast addiction to either can cause cancer in the long run, a disease that does not have a cure. The same ruling applies to the use of drugs. â€Å"Every intoxicant is Khamr, and every Khamr is haram,† (Muslim) (c) Personal losses and problems The loss of a loved one can spark suicidal tendencies. Practicing Muslims however accept death as part of life. The saying â€Å"inna lillahi wa innalillahi rajiun† implies that Muslims accept that from Allah they originate from and to Allah they will return. Muslims accept the passing of a loved one calmly with prayers for his or her happiness in the after life. Personal problems are amass in today’s society. Many people are especially burdened by mounting financial debt. This is usually due to poor planning of resources. Though difficult to overcome, emerging from a financial difficulty is possible. Muslims are prohibited to leave debt when passing, so it is only wise to eliminate debt rather than end one’s life. The first step would be to remove the element of riba (interest) from financial holdings – whether they are assets or liabilities. Pay off all interest first. In assets such as savings accounts, remove all interest income by donating them to charity. When interest is removed, it will be easier to pay-off loans and an opportunity to start saving money will also unfold. Allah condemns usury, and blesses charities. Allah dislikes every disbeliever, guilty. O you who believe, you shall observe Allah and refrain from all kinds of usury, if you are believers. If you do not, then expect a war from Allah and His messenger. But if you repent, you may keep your capitals, without inflicting injustice, or incurring injustice. If the debtor is unable to pay, wait for a better time. If you give up the loan as a charity, it would be better for you, if you only knew. (Baqarah: 276-280) Engaging in a professional financial planning service will induce healthy spending tendencies. (d) Personal health and disability Again, Muslims are not to be disheartened by continuous pain and suffering endured in life. In fact, these experiences expatiate sins. The more suffering a Muslim is subjected to during his life-span, the easier his condition will be during the hereafter. Suicide is not an option. â€Å"Be sure We shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods, lives, and the fruits of your toil. But give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere. Those who say, when afflicted with calamity, ‘To Allah we belong, and to Him is our return. ‘ They are those on whom descend blessings from their Lord, and mercy. They are the ones who receive guidance. † (Baqarah:155-157) Patience is prescribed for Muslims undergoing undue stress. There are blessings in overcoming hardship and the first step to doing this is to patiently accept the course of obstacles with determination and strength. There are cases where a patient who is enduring continuous pain, and is most probably bed-ridden, requires his or her life to be terminated. This is called euthanasia, or mercy-killing. In some cases, a family member or close friend â€Å"feels† that the patient will be better off deceased, and requests for his or her life to end. Muslims are disallowed from practicing euthanasia. â€Å"And do not kill yourselves. Surely, Allah is Most Merciful to you†. (An-Nisa: 29). Assisting a person to terminate his or her life is unlawful in Islam as this translates into assisting suicide. There are blessings in suffering and a person’s life is still as valuable as it would be should he or she be perfectly healthy. A person must continue living until his or her time is due. â€Å"And take not life, which Allah has made sacred, except by way of justice and law,† (Al-An`am: 151). In a case where a person is proclaimed as brain-dead and does not feel any pain, a doctor may recommend terminating the use of the life-support machine. This machine is keeping the patient â€Å"alive† when he or she is actually is not. If there is medical justification that there is nothing in the power of the practitioners to be able to cure the patient in question, it is permissible for families of the patient to discontinue the use of the life-support machinery and allow nature to take its course. Suicide in the news: Suicide Bombing Suicide bombing is synonymous with Muslim followers in the mainstream media. Suicide bombers reap more attention than those who illegally invade countries, causing the lives of innocent civilians – some in their own homes. Suicide bombing entails a person killing him or herself through an explosion of a bomb. This explosion also encroaches of lives around the suicide bomber. Countries like Palestine and Iraq have been warped with suicide bombing. Islam, no doubt, is a religion of peace, and never condones any form of violence. Having said that, Islam disallows oppression in any way. It is not permissible for a Muslim to be an oppressor nor is it allowed for him to be oppressed and remain to be oppressed without seeking options of overcoming such violation of basic rights. A Muslim thus, is required to seek mediation and negotiation with the oppressing party, to release him, his family, his community and country from the shackles of violence. Since Muslims are bound only by Allah’s law, it is prohibited for a country to have the nation’s freedom curbed by an illegal invasion, all in the name of justice. Should there no means of disentangling a country’s operation from being ruled by a foreign party, Muslims sometimes do have to resort to violence in order to regain their rightful land. War is allowed in Islam when a Muslim party requires to defend their land, property and family. Defending a country for the sake of Islam, is mandatory upon every Muslim, man or woman. For example, in the case of Iraq, inhumane sanctions are being imposed on innocent civilians of the country. There are no medical facilities to allow recovery from alien bombs and fire. Children are being killed every day. Women are sexually assaulted. Iraqis are being beaten, wrongly imprisoned and killed by the minute. The country is constantly under attack by missiles and bombs that are released from the air. How are Muslims in this care required to fight? Suicide bombing here is reflected as a need to curb attacks upon innocent people. The Islamic Fiqh Academy affiliated to the OIC, in its fourteenth session, held in Duha (Qatar) 5–13 Dhul-Qi`dah1423 A. H., 11–16 January 2003 C. E. states: The Islamic Fiqh Academy stresses that martyr operations are a form of jihad, and carrying out those operations is a legitimate right that has nothing to do with terrorism or suicide. Those operations become obligatory when they become the only way to stop the aggression of the enemy, defeat it, and grievously damage its power. According to a fatwa issued by Sheikh Faysal Mawlawi, deputy head of the European Council of Fatwa and Research (ECFR), not only are these suicide bombers unassociated with suicide, they are neither terrorists. In fact, these suicide bombers are known as martyrs: those who risk their lives in defense of their country, property, family, and foremost, religion. It is not befitting for a suicide bomber in this context to be condemned. Allah Ta’ala narrates: â€Å"And spend of your substance in the cause of Allah, and make not your own hands contribute to (your) destruction; but do good; for Allah loveth those who do good,† (Baqarah: 195). In the case of Palestine, civilians suffer from displacement of their own kind to aggressive occupation. Such occupation has been in operation for years on end. All Israeli civilians who are occupation of Palestine, are seen as oppressors. In this case, Sheikh Faysal Mawlawi stresses that the demise of non-aggressive Israelis through suicide bombing also constitutes martyrdom and not terrorism. He continues to state that though Muslims should target military personnel over the lay-civilian, every Israeli who is living in hostility on Palestinian land should also be removed as they themselves continue to violate Muslims right to Holy land and to the Holy Masjid of Al-Aqsa. According to Sheikh Faysal, Muslims should retaliate the way they are too, being attacked, and in this case, attacked with great injustice. â€Å"If ye punish, then punish with the like of that wherewith ye were afflicted. â€Å"(An-Nahl: 126). Muslims living in the West Just because the Islamic Fiqh Academy defines suicide bombing as an act or martyrdom and does not associate it with terrorism or suicide, Muslims in countries that do not live under the realm of war, are not entitled to exploit the ruling. Muslims are not allowed to cause harm to other people, regardless of their faith, who are not oppressing Muslim brothers or sisters. On the contrary, Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, head of the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR), and the president of the International Association of Muslim Scholars (IAMS) advises that all Muslims are to act in full kindness and convey the beautiful message of Islam to the best of their ability. Muslims in the West are not allowed to cause destruction in their country of residence, even though Muslim brothers and sisters fall victim to hands of violence. Muslims living under peaceful conditions should take full advantage to speak up on unfair dealings through interfaith dialogues, charity runs, neighbourhood gatherings and through other social events. Muslims should not resort to violence when there is none surrounding them. â€Å"O you who believe! Stand out firmly as Allah’s witnesses to fair dealing, and let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. Be just: that is next to piety and fear Allah. And Allah is well acquainted with all that you do. † (al-Ma’idah: 8) This whole world is made by God. Anything that exists in this world is also made by God. We all are made by God and for God. God has made this earth on which we are living, and the sky. He sends rain to the earth. He has created different kinds of fruits for us to eat like grapes, dates, mango, banana, orange, apple, papaya, pineapple, custard apple and many more. He also created different kinds of vegetables for us to eat like onion, spinach, tomatoes, lemon, carrot, cabbage, cauliflower, ginger, garlic etc. Then He also created different kinds of meat that we eat like chicken, beef, mutton, fish etc. There are also other many different kinds of food we eat, unlimited and uncountable on this earth. Can we live without water? It is created by our Lord. We need water to drink, we need water to grow vegetables, fruits, rice, wheat and other plants. We need water to cook food, we need water to clean ourselves, we need water to clean our houses, wash clothes, wash dishes and then there are much more uses of water. We on this earth can’t live without water. It’s a fact and we known this fact. This water is created by our God so that we can survive on this earth. That is, we cannot survive if there will be no water on this world. This means that we are really and solely dependent on our Lord for His mercy on us, we cannot live or survive without our Lord and His mercy. Can we live without air and oxygen? It is also given to us by our Creator, our Lord. God has sent to us on this world for some purpose in life. He has created all these things and shown His mercy on us for some reason. There is some valid genuine reason for which we sent to this world. We’re not created purpose less. How can we know our purpose in this life then? We can only know this by His books, He has sent to us and learning from His prophets. After sending us to this world God hasn’t left us alone in darkness. From His book we know that when He expelled Adam from paradise, He told Him, â€Å"Go down to earth, and some of you will be enemy of others, and you will live there for small period of time, then you’ll have to come back to me one day. I’ll keep sending you my commandments, whoever will obey me, I’ll take him to paradise, and whoever will deny me and reject my commandments, I’ll reject him and take him to hell. † (Al-Quran, The Cow) From these lines now we know that our purpose of existence is only and only for God. We’re not only created by God but for God. He said in His book, â€Å"I’ve created mankind to worship me and to recognize me. † (Al-Quran) God has created all these things for us on which we’re dependent like food, water, earth only and only to submit to our Lord. We should show our respect to God, be dutiful to Him and become His obedient. Muslims should not be overbearing upon non-Muslims and force them to understand Islam. Lecturing and preaching to followers of other faith must always be done with tact. A more effective method of da’wa would be to lead by action through constructive community projects and general amiable behaviour. Muslims who resort to suicide bombing in countries that do not harbour war, are not considered as martyrs. In fact, they have committed suicide and in turn, have also killed innocent civilians. â€Å"Let therebe no compulsion [or coercion] in the religion [Islam]. The right direction is distinctly clear from error. † (Baqarah: 256) Killing other people just as a form of expression, or rather to merely make a point, is not a trait of a Muslim. â€Å"Allah forbiddeth you not those who warred not against you on account of religion and drove you not out from your homes, that ye should show them kindness and deal justly with them. Lo ! Allah loveth the just dealers. † (Al-Mumtahanah: 8) Different hadith from Prophet Mohammad (salalaho alaihay wasalam) also stresses the same view that suicide is not permitted and extremely prohibited in Islam. References 1. Http://www. inter-islam. org/prohibitions/suicide. html 2. www. therevivial. co. uk 3. www. readingislam. com 4. www. islam. about. com 5. www. submission. org 6. www. islamonline. net.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Bahrain Petroleum Company Bapco Commerce Essay

Bahrain Petroleum Company Bapco Commerce Essay The company has a massive capacity of up to 250,000 barrel of refinery per day. Not only is the gigantic storage capacity of more than 14 million barrels available with the company. Not only that the company owns a marine terminal for marketing and sales of its petroleum products. The new areas of oil and gas reserves are monitored and it is calculated that if the reserves is good enough for exploration that is if the output will exceed the cost that might be input on it. Thus there is a continuous search of oil fields that can help the company to increase its output and sales. Drilling and Production: BAPCO uses advanced drilling techniques and methods to pull out the maximum oil output from its reserves. The company is also working hard to foster more gas as per the rising demand of gas around the world for the vehicle operations. The following diagram shows how the drilling process. Company output: BAPCO has the largest refinery in the Middle East. Its refinery gives an output of 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The company gets 1/6th of its crude oil output from Bahrain and the rest from the Saudi Arabia through a fixed pipeline which is 27 kms on land and the other 27kms under the sea. The following diagram shows the refining process. Marketing by BAPCO: As stated earlier only 5% of the BAPCO output is sold in the domestic market and the rest 95% is exported to other countries of the world. These include the countries in the Middle East, Far East, South East Asia and India. BAPCO also sells aviation fuel to Bahrain International Airport through its affiliate. The company holds 60% of the shareholding in BAFCO or Bahrain Aviation Fuelling Company. Purpose, Mission, Vision and Value statement of BAPCO: Purpose of the BAPCO includes collaboration and growth in its field of business that is petroleum and related industries. The company aims at maximizing its contribution to the national income of Bahrain by earning more foreign currency and bringing full employment to its own country citizens. Mission of the company is to create value for money for its customers in the domestic and international market by improving its present operation and quality of integrated oil and gas business. Vision of the company is to achieve excellence in its field and push back its competitors. Values of the company include the innovation, integrity, teamwork, respect and personal accountability to its customers and the kingdom of Bahrain. Sustainability Report: Sustainability report contains the information about the economic health of the company, its working internal and external environment, social and legal position of the company. Mostly the sustainability report can be found out in the operations part of the financial report of the company. In this article we will take a look at the financial report of the company in year 2010. The sustainability report of BAPCO can be figured out as follows. Economic factors. The economic factors of the company signify the development and progress of the company in the coming years. The key figures of the company economic factors include the followings.

Friday, September 27, 2019

China's Importance to the Global economy Research Paper

China's Importance to the Global economy - Research Paper Example China is the world's second largest economy if we see by both nominal GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and PPP (Purchasing Power Parity)(New York Post, 2010). It is even the permanent member of UNSC (United Nation Security Council). China has been title as the global super power by a number of academic (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2010) military analyst (Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: The Air War College, Air University. p. 33.) and public policy and economics analysts. However, its outputs contribute widely to the world; its demands for raw materials are massive that may poke environmental threat. Despite, China benefiting higher economic growth rate its domestic consumption remain low, as a result higher national saving rate and more overseas investments results. China will move on to become the world’s second largest economic nation in the years to come.    Factors Contributing to China’s Current Status China's rapid growth cannot be term as an accide nt. Behind its success lie the application of right policies from the side of the economic theory and even practically. Decision to Join WTO China's growing economy resulted in a very significant role in global economy. Its decision to be a part of WTO has not only supported its country towards success but also contributed to the worldwide economic development. The practical importance of this success is evident. This year China will probably account for whole of net economic growth worldwide. China's GDP growth would be 8.0% or above. Its economy will grow by 7.9% year-on-year probably in the second quarter and would accelerate. Urban investment rise by 34%, retail sales by 15%. China’s success result explicably because of the normal economic factors. China makes use of series of mutually and interconnected reinforcing policies. Price Control Measures China has very strictly enforced price control measures. It has kept the value of its currency (Yuan) at an artificially low level. Division of Labor Firstly, the economy has a high proportion of exports. Every economist after the great Adam Smith has recognized the vitality of division of labor in acceleration the level of productivity, and division of labor in a modern economy is essentially international. An increasing level of imports and exports are the increasing way of participating in such a division of labor. Economies of Scale The application of division of labor also results in economies of scale for China. The investopedia defines economies of scale as â€Å"The rise in  efficiency of production  as the quantity of goods  being produced accelerates.  Typically, a country that achieves economies of scale benefits from lowering of the average cost per unit through the increase in production units this results fixed costs are shared over an accelerated number of goods.† High Level of Investment Second is China's greater level of investment. Latest econometric research reveal conclu sively that, after division of labor, the largest factor in economic growth results from the rate of increase of fixed investment. This covers not only the developing economy such as China but also even the developed economies. Mr., Dale Jorgenson, the world's leading proficient on the productivity growth notes, "Investment in physical assets is the most essential source of economic growth in G7 nations. The contribution of input capital exceeds that of the total factor

Thursday, September 26, 2019

What is the difference between positive economic analysis and Essay

What is the difference between positive economic analysis and normative economic analysis Give one example each of positive and normative economic issue or question or statement - Essay Example Data collection and analysis is used to assert the validity of the statement by backing up the claim made using facts. For example, inflation rate in the economy can be said to be 6%. This statement presents a fact that can actually be proven by evaluating price changes in the economy over a given period of time. In this analysis, claims made by normative statements and/or theories cannot be neither be tested nor empirically proven. Normative statements in most cases employ factual information to make economic claims, but the statements by themselves are not factual. They are therefore logical claims but lack evidence. Normative analysis encompasses high value judgment and personal beliefs. In this regard, they are hard to falsify or verify. People who make normative statements basically present their own opinions, based on their morals and standards of life (Mukherjee 19). Unemployment is better compared to inflation is an example of a normative statement. This statement has no basis of being tested. Therefore, it cannot be empirically

Advanced Obstetrics for Paramedics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Advanced Obstetrics for Paramedics - Assignment Example lead to acute anemia, delay or even failure of breastfeeding, hemorrhagic shock, pituitary infarction, coagulopathy, renal failure/acute tubular necrosis, coma, prolonged hospital stay, emergency surgery or angiographic intervention, need for hysterectomy etc. In a population-based research, it has been seen that risk of PPH is 5.8% in first pregnancy whether 4-5% in a second or third time pregnancy. However, risk is more than 15% in the subsequent pregnancy. Risk of PPH and average blood loss both are greater in caesarean section operations. Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) can be defined as blood loss of 500mL or even more during and at the time of childbirth. In most severe case, blood loss of 1000mL or more amount of blood loss, which can cause hemodynamic compromise. PPH can be divided in to two categories that are primary PPH and secondary PPH. Primary PPH can occur within the first 24 hours after birth where as secondary PPH can occur in between 24 hours to 6 weeks of postpartum. However, in most of the cases PPH fall under the primary PPH category  (Kapungu, Koch, Miller & Geller, n.d.). Approximately 75% of the primary PPH cases are due to ‘Uterine Atony’. Secondary PPH is due to infection or retained products of conception. In developed countries, it becomes easy to manage in hospitals but in underdeveloped and developing country urgent PPH management is necessary. Risk of PPH can be reduced by almost 50% with administering oxytocic drugs. It has been seen that routine prophylaxis can help to reduce 70% of the need of oxytocics drug to heal excessive postpartum bleeding. Oxytocin is the most preferred uterotonic among the medical practitioners. It stimulates smooth muscle tissue of the upper part of the uterus (Lalonde & others, 2013). Oxytocin helps it to contract rhythmically. It facilitates constricting blood vessels and helps in decreasing blood flow in the uterus. It is an effective and safe choice for PPH treatment. Intravenous mode of infusion is

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Personal Construct of Leading Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Personal Construct of Leading - Essay Example This includes: the wisdom to develop an organizational vision, good communication skills, knowing one’s skills and employing it, ability to empower and motivate his/her subordinates, able to establish trust by being reliable and constantly competitive, creativeness and resourcefulness. The challenge of having outstanding leadership skills in managers continuously increases as a result of the tight competition in domestic and international markets. A good managerial leadership is important since it could lead to the success and profitability of the company. In most cases, effective leadership skills could enhance the business operations. In line with having an efficient operational system, a company could reduce its unnecessary operational costs due to mismanagement and other operational errors due to miscommunication and lack of a structured operational system. The savings that could be derived from establishing good leadership skills could result to the increases in the revenue generation of a company. Leadership in management also has a role in retaining the best talents within the business organization. Failure to have a good leadership within the business organization could result to a lot of dissatisfied employees. Losing these talents could be very costly because of the costs of training and developing new employees to adapt with the mission and vision of the company. Over the years, a lot of philosophers have come to develop a lot of leadership theories in order to enable these organizations to have the knowledge of the different types of leadership strategy. Some of these organizations would even go through a trial-and-error so as to determine which among the existing leadership theories is the best and effective strategy. Trail-and-errors in determining the most effective leadership strategy should be avoided. Businesses organizations today are already facing a lot of internal and

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Obamas 2008 Cooper Union Speech Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Obamas 2008 Cooper Union Speech - Essay Example Obama, in 2008, had a plan to renew America by forcing penalties on poor and greedy corporate leaders, giving consumers housing-related tax credits, and create new regulations that make sure financial institutions do not take on high levels of risk, however, this renewal strategy has not been fully effective. Â  Obama saw that tighter regulation would prevent financial institutions from taking opportunities away from regular, middle-class citizens. He felt that a deregulated environment had been a reason to why investment companies and commercial banks took on far too much debt and there was no system in place to make sure they had enough capital reserves. This is because risky asset-backed securities and derivatives were off-balance sheet transactions. He wanted a crackdown on market manipulation that was causing many companies to experience fast drops in their stock values when short-sellers were using unethical methods to drive down stock prices for their own gain. Â  Obama also saw that building a type of best practice risk management system for banks and for the general economy would renew America. He sees that this change in risk management and a change of corporate leadership attitudes would reshape the economy for the 21st Century and give middle-class consumers more protection against another financial crisis. Many regular citizens lost their jobs and lost their wealth as a result of unregulated investment institutions and Obama saw renewal as a means of putting these stakeholders first. Â  He seems to see that the division between the wealthy and the less-advantaged is taking away the American dream. Therefore, by making sure that corporations and investment firms are held accountable for their actions, it will make sure that middle-class consumers can again seek the American dream without being victimized by an economy damaged by greed and poor government oversight.

Monday, September 23, 2019

Efforts to Reduce the Budget Deficit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Efforts to Reduce the Budget Deficit - Essay Example Indeed in line with the conventional analyses, the United States has been a clear example of how disruptive an increasing debt deficit is to the long-term economic growth. The national debt has not only suppressed the overall national savings, which, in effect, has reduced domestic investments, but has also increased the country’s borrowing abroad, as evident in the current account balances. It is undeniable that sustained national debts over the years have played a lead role in increasing interest rates, making internal borrowing for investments expensive, hence the capital from abroad to finance the federal budget for almost every government that has ever been in place. As a result of the alarming successive decreases in the national income due to the huge returns from the domestic capital stock accruing mostly to the foreigners, a trend that has now erected caps on the national productivity via a mounting unemployment, several statutory budget controls have been enacted by the congress to reduce the budget deficit, with most notable efforts beginning in the year 1985. After years of disagreements between Congress and the President [Regan, to be precise] on either tax increases or spending cuts as a way forward in halting the trend of deficit growth, members of Congress from both sides of the divide finally passed the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 [popularly known as the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act ("GRH")]. Passed and approved by the President as â€Å"an important step towards rectifying decades of fiscal failure† GRH laid down procedures of eliminating the federal budget deficit that stood at $200 billion in 1986 by the year 1991 (Stith, 1988). GRH was essentially a binding enactment, enforced independent of the legislative budget process and the executive orders, which had failed in cutting down the total government spending and/or resisting political pressure for more government programs. The celebration particular ly for President Reagan who had grander ambitions of reducing the share of the national resources consumed by the federal government was, however, short-lived, as the provisions of GRH was ruled a ‘violation of the principles of the separation of powers’ in 1986 by the Supreme Court in Bowsher v. Synar. To save efforts that went into making the GRH from complete collapse, the Congress went back to the drawing board, eliminating the constitutional defects identified by the Supreme Court eventually producing an amended version of GRH that moved automatic sequestration process from the hands of Comptroller General to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the Office of the President (Stith, 1988). Accordingly, the deficits decreased in the subsequent years as a result of substantial cuts in spending accompanied by economic growth that ensured increased revenues. With the turbulent Bush administration in the 1990s, GRH proved insufficient in restricting the growth of the deficits. Congress, thus, reached an agreement with the regime allowing for a combination of â€Å"tax increases and caps on government spendin

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Benefits of an online business presence Essay Example for Free

Benefits of an online business presence Essay In this task I am going to explain the developments in internet technology, describe the benefits of an online presence and give examples of businesses that enjoy these benefits and finally explain the advantages of to businesses of having an online presence rather than having a purely offline presence. Broadband and other developments Nowadays, broadband connections enable data to be transferred much faster than narrowband. The connection does not tie up a normal phone line. The user can choose get online by an ADSL connection, a cable line, wireless or via satellite dish. Also the internet is low cost and is increasing in speed which benefits the commerce online. The new portable devices such as PDA offer the user easy internet access at any time. 80% of the UK can get broadband by ADSL and cable. Most of people use internet every day which enables a great share of data. Secure payments The increase of security enables the use of credit/debit card facilities. But the newspapers and magazine headlines about fraud and hackers quite obviously put people off. To be secured, all the online payments need to be private and confidential between the buyer and the seller, conveyed intact and without any changes during transmission and erased from the system after the process has been completed. The banks are increasing the security of the debit/credit cards of the user. To purchase an item online the user need to key in the password and the date of birth. Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) is a standard protocol for securing credit card transactions over insecure networks, the Internet. SET is not itself a payment system, but rather a set of security protocols and formats that enables users to employ the existing credit card payment infrastructure on an open network in a secure fashion. When the cardholder buys online the credit card company authenticates the card via digital signature. This proves that the cardholder is genuine. Web authoring tools Nowadays there are a number of web authoring tools such as the Microsoft FrontPage program which enables the user to create a website without any specialist knowledge. There are other programs such as the Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Flash technology used to create the effects and designs in a website. Businesses can easily build their website, which enables them to create a service online. Benefits of an online presence A web business presence have global round visibility which means they never close and are available from any location in the world at 24 hours 7 days a week. This benefit can increase the opportunity of trading of the website. Some examples of websites that enjoy this benefit are www.sainsburys. co. uk, www. amazon. co. uk and www. argos. co. uk. Some businesses operating online have opportunity of expansion to access to a wide range of customers especially from abroad. If the business offers an excellent service the opportunity is maximised. But there are worries for example the tariff barriers, quotas and environmental regulations. This is not a problem in the European Community as the goods can be freely traded between member states. Some websites that enjoy this benefit are www. ebay. com, www. hp. com, www. dell. com. A Small business with a good service and well designed can compete with larger businesses. There is an equality of presence regardless of size of business. The costumer never looks on the size of the business only on the service and product provided. Therefore a small business can compete with a larger one. Some websites that enjoy this benefit are www. zonepoint. co. uk and www. computeradvicecentre. com. A web business presence has the benefit of a rapid response to customer interest. But some firms dont take advantage of this benefit. A web can provide several opportunities for customer contact for example the email messages. The speed of response is very important. A response over the internet is faster than the response by phone or letter. An online business presence enjoying this benefit is www. ebuyer. com. A web business presence has the opportunity to analyse online competition. It is quicker and easier to compare competitor activities online than by visiting their stores or obtaining information offline. Also the internet enables businesses to check new competitors and their market share. Businesses operating online have opportunity to keep up with customers. Businesses can check competitors status and then they can improve the product or service offered, speed of the delivery or the design of the website. The internet has made the life much easier. Achieving a responsive integrated supply chain A supply chain contains every single business that is involved in the eventual supply of a product or service. But there are problems associated with the supply chain. If the chain is long the price to the customer may be high and the chain is usually slow to respond to a rapid change. To combat these problems businesses tried to change the supply chain to shorten it, this is done by cutting out or by passing as many intermediaries, and to integrate it, to speed the things by changing the information in one stage to another. An example of business that has a simple and short supply chain is Dell. Dell manufactures computers and sells them online directly to the buyers. This means there are no wholesales and no need for retail shops. This speeds things up and reduces the final price to the customer. If the businesses improve their supply chain there many benefits that follows. Businesses can offer punctual delivery as a sales feature. The seller will have more control over delivery if the supply chain is short and integrated. One example of a business operating online that has this benefit is Dell. co. uk Other benefit is the opportunity for buying the products online. Businesses can improve the product delivery and reduce the time between the order and supply. Customers can check stocks online. If an item is currently out of stock many businesses put a note on the site and email the customer when stocks are replenished. One example of a business that has this benefit is ebuyer. com. Ebuyer is a business like Dell. It sells directly to the buyer; there is no need for retail shops. Online order tracking is another benefit. It enables the customers to check every stage of their order from the suppliers website. The system sends automatically email to customer informing about tracking order. In other systems customers can check at any time the progress of the order. Ebuyer. com is a business operating online that enjoys this benefit. Businesses can reduce overheads and labour costs. A business that has a short and an integrated supply chain has more possibilities to process the orders more cheaply. This is because there is likely to be fewer staff required to process paperwork relating to customer orders, fewer shops required if the business deals directly to the customer, fewer intermediaries required and fewer staff needed to deal with the customer. Ebuyer and Dell are two examples of businesses that enjoy this benefit. Reduced stockholding Businesses can improve cash flow through fewer bad debts. Cash flow improves if the customer is paying as they make a purchase. The transactions over the internet are done by credit or debit card. The card payment is always checked and authorised before the goods are dispatched. Ebuyer. com can choose where to locate. Ebuyer only trades over the internet. It has more freedom in choosing the location than other types of businesses. A business can save money with affiliations with ISPs and portals. This works as the following: a business wants to show the location of the company, the business can do an affiliation using multimap to show it. One example is the BT website. Other benefit is the accessibility to different users. Disabled and housebound people have more advantages to shop at home over the internet. Also people who live in rural and remote areas dont need to worry to go a shopping trip. Only one click can save money and time. Nowadays is increasing availability of public web access points. The internet kiosks and cybercafi s are a common feature in all large towns and cities. They enable anyone without a pc, or away from home, to access the internet easily. Also the pocked Pcs and the portable computers, laptops, enable the access to internet at any time. Advantages of to businesses of having an online presence rather than having a purely offline presence Tesco are ale to sell a lot more groceries as they have both their stores and the home delivery service than Primark which only sells its product to customers who came into their stores. Tesco website would operate globally as well as locally for relatively little extra cost. Tesco can get a wide range of customers because they can buy online at any time. People dont need to worry to go for shopping. Only by one click people can shop online. Also disabled people would prefer to shop online. Primark website only offers the information about the products and where to find retail outlets. In my point of view an online presence has more advantages than a purely offline presence. An online presence can get more customers selling online than an offline presence. The customers are very important for a business because without them a business can close. In conclusion, I mentioned the benefits of an online presence and the advantages of an online presence rather than a purely offline presence. BTEC First in Business Unit 8: Business Online.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Background Study Of The Organization MIS System

Background Study Of The Organization MIS System In this thrilling subject, i would be focusing on the Management Information System of Starbucks. It is no doubt that this firm in question, is one popular and well patronised firm amongst many. That being said, i would be doing justice to the very background of this organization in question and i would elucidate in tangible details their IT systems, schemes and practices and lastly, i would be recommending what i see fit to suite the organisation even in this era of technology. But before i proceed, i would like to briefly define MIS(Management Information System) MIS (Management Information System) This may be defined as a general word for computer systems in an enterprise or organisation which provides information or details on firms business operations. Its also refers to the people who manage and maintain these systems. Furthermore, in a large corporation, MIS or the MIS department refers to a central or centrally-coordinated system of pc expertise and management, and entire network of computer resources in a business organization (firm). Body Background study of the organization Starbucks was first introduced in Seattles Pike Place Market in 1971. Back then, the company was called Starbucks Coffee, Tea ans Spices before change into what we have known today, Starbucks Coffee Company. Today, there are approximately 16, 706 Starbucks stores in 50 countries. The first ever Srabucks store in Malaysia opened on December 1998, located at KL Plaza, Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur. Later, there are more than 115 Starbacks stores in Malaysia.Basically, their buyers will travel to Africa, Asia and Latin America to choose only the best quality of arabica beans. These high quality beans will be sent for roasting and production. Starbucks experts then only combine the roasted beans with Italian style expresso beverages to produce different type of cold and hot coffee beverages. The famous products introduced by Starbucks company and mainly can be found in all of its stores include more than 30 blends single-origin premier arabica coffees. As for their own signature of handcrafted beverages such as hot and iced expresso beverage, coffee and non-coffee blended beverages Vivanno smoothies, Frappuccino bottled coffee or blended and premium ice creams with the and brewed coffee and also tea product,Tazo Tea. Merchandises are also offered by Starbucks are coffee mugs and accessories. Customers not only can enjoy sipping their high quality coffee beverage but also indulging on baked pastries, sandwiches and cakes. The company focuses in providing a relax, comfortable atmosphere with modern fittings. It is an ideal place for hanging out with friends and families, with entertainment magazines to read. Most of the Starbucks company offer free wi-fi for their customers, so it is a great advantage to business people discussing on their work or students doing some research for assignments/ projects. POS The Point of Sale System (POS) or front of house till system; in addition to regular register functions offers some functions to be accessed only by Store Manager(SM), Assistant Manager(ASM) and Shift Supervisor(SS), with the correct security level.The Point of sale consists in two touch screen tills used by deployed partners that need to insert their username and specific password before to start. From the Point of sale, managers can access different managers functions menu, such as paid in and Paid Out, and Refund to customers. These manager functions are security measures for cash management and inventory control in the store. Paid in and paid out occurs when money is taken from the till to buy items necessary for the store operations and/or any kind of emergency. Other functions such as Cash Skim, Void transactions or refunds occur when money is given back due to complaints or customers are returning faulty merchandise. The point of sale is used also to record wastage. In conclusion, most Point of sale functions are related to customer service, sales, refunds, discounts, voids.By ringing items through the tills, data such as time, customer transaction, quantity of food and drinks sold, quantity of wasted items, are transferred to the Management Work Station where data are stored, analysed and produced in form of reports, graphic, charts or diagrams. MWS (Manager Work System) The Manager Work Station can be accessed in the office where there is a computer connected to the intranet, a private communication channel for employees to access the organization network that resembles the internet. To access the system it is required to sign in with a password and the partners ID. The system recognises security level and allows accessing the function assigned to the security level. The normal partners can just access the time punching option, which is that function that record staff punches in and out for breaks and shift. A start of day and end of day is run into the system on a daily base. Shift managers can access cash management functions that are used to count tills, modify or correct transactions and to prepare daily bank deposit. A menu of available reports is available on a report menu. The Store manager can access these reports to track sales, find out customer transactions within different hours range, to check sale by product category, to record wastage, to carry a financial audit. All this information is relevant for Store Managers to identify business requirements and customer needs, to identify peak time in the store, to increase or amend product ordering, to control wastage and track stock and decide whether is necessary to cut labour. Managers can access staff information and personal details in the work station, they can insert new partners, terminate partners, maintain employee records, track employees training and process payroll. The payroll process transfers information to the support centre in order to pay partners. Store Manager and the shift supervisors can use the IRIS System to process electronic ordering for food, stationery, packaging. The IRIS System can also use e-mail set up for communicating with London Support centre and other stores within the district and others. Hardware Hardware components of the computer system used in Starbucks There are two types of modem: The speed touch cable modem and the ISDN (integrated services digital network) modem. The speed touch cable modem and the ISDN connect the store computer system to the STARBUCKS retail network. The Retail Network is the communication access between the store and the internet. This allows the management work station to send and receive large quantities of data and information. There is a wireless internet provided by T-mobile, which allows customers to connect to the wireless network. There are two pieces of equipment; the Cisco Router and the Cisco Wireless access point. Connected to the computer system there is a Printer used to print reports of any nature, and a cash scale which counts Cash in a faster way and more accurately, mainly it is used to count the tills and at the end of this process all data are send to the system. At the Point of sale there are two small printers where all receipts come out, and two (chip and pin) credit and debit card machines. To protect retailers, a new security system has been designed for cards which will use a smart chip. When customers pay using one of these cards, rather then signing a confidential security number (PIN) is entered. Further more, the starbucks firm, uses Intel based systems and fast Computers. In terms of functionality, the starbucks firm is bent on getting hardwares(PC) that have great and outstanding specifications to avoid slow down on business. A sample spec would be: A PC with 512 Memory or 1GB. And A flat screen monitor and processor speed of 2.40GHZ and a HDD of 150GB to 200GB. The company has a nac for greater heights that why its no surprise that starbucks is doing greatly well in terms of their ability to maintain their standards. Software OS (Operating System): As we all know, the I.T age is springing forth with lots of sotwares and technology all with the focus of improving the lifes of humans in all ramification of life. Having said that, the Starbucks company makes use of Windows based softwares for their computers which is categorized in the hardware section. They run applications that aid their business. Example POS, Excel and others. Excel is often used for their spreadsheet needs. When it comes to system software for driving their hardwares, they run windows xp or 7. POS Installing a Point of sale system software into your business can have as dramatic an effect on your retail, bar, concierge, or any other hospitality based business. The right POS system software will enable you to have a more precise level of control over your business operations thus increasing efficiency, boosting profits, and helping you fine-tune your business model. Incorporating the wrong system, however, can be a waste of time, monetary investments and a source of ongoing frustration. Switching from a traditional cash register or as we like to say over sized calculator to a streamline computerized POS software can be a bit of a headache if you do not research your options before buying a new system. There are many factors to consider and various pitfalls to avoid. However you will definitely be impressed with the R.O.I return on investment and benefits your business cannot do without. Thus implementing a POS system can make it worth your time and effort. In the most basic sense, a POS system is a cash register with all the bells and whistles of the new fast paced, internet streaming technological speed. Current themes and practices This Starbucks new idea of POS is currently available for all 6,800 Starbucks stores and Target locations across the US. The solution is not yet in place in Canada. For the uninitiated, the solution works as follows. Consumers download the Starbucks Card Mobile App to their mobile phone; be itiPhone or BlackBerry. Customers with a Starbucks stored value card (effectively a gift card) that is registered on the Starbucks website, enter the card number into their phone when the obtain the app, and that card number is stored. When consumers visit a store, they place their coffee order as usual, and indicate their desire to tender with their mobile. Consumers start the Starbucks Card Mobile App on their mobile and navigate to the payment screen so that a 2d barcode representing the consumers Starbucks card is displayed. The Starbucks associate, selects mobile as the tender in the POS, and prompts the consumer to use the customer facing imager (the same as those used in airports to read boarding passes). The consumer places their mobile device under the imager, the 2d barcode is read, and the POS treats the tender like a gift card, following the usual payment verification procedure. Once tender is complete, the customer obtains their coffee as usual. The discussion on electronic wallet is an industry favourite, and this development will certainly encourage more discussion on the subject and provide some much need experience. Im fully behind this initiative, but at present, this solution is very much a Starbucks specific solution, and it is not easily translatable to other retailers. While retailers can learn a great deal from the obvious careful thought that has gone into the solution, and we can look forward to others moving down this road as well. To clarify for consumers (and non-technical retail executives) who ask why other retailers dont have mobile payment schemes as yet, consider the following unique characteristics of the Starbucks situation that make a solution like this pay off. Use of Stored Value Card Very few retailers have a stored value card with the massive following and ongoing usage that Starbucks have. Effectively consumers are giving Starbucks their funds in advance in exchange for some very small benefits (free drink on your birthday, free pump of flavouring in your drink). Starbucks gets loyalty data on customers, and a nice balance of cash on hand. More relevant to the mobile payment solution, the Starbucks mobile phone application allows consumers to make a payment onto their stored value card, and the applications 2d barcode payment system is connected to that card. Connecting the mobile payment system to the stored value card means that Starbucks can take the risk of a payment system internally. Stored value are not subject to the same roadblocks, legislation, and scrutiny that building a mobile payment system that would access a credit card or a debit card would have. Using the stored value card simplifies implementation and sidesteps many complexities of payment systems like EMV and PCI. Cross Platform While Starbucks are very keen on the iPhone, they have not limited themselves to an iPhone app, but also provided an app for the other key smart phone users via the Blackberry App. Considering the corporate core of Blackberry users and how often meetings now take place in Starbucks stores, this is a wise move to maximize potential users. Given the number of Android Users and the recent release and growing use of Windows 7 Phone platforms, it would not be surprising to see the Starbucks Card App ported to those platforms as well, ensuring maximum potential usage. Valuable App With over 400,000 apps on iTunes, retailers need to make their app unique and useful. Ideally it pulls together the mobile and in store experience in some way. Starbucks has managed both. Any successful retailers mobile app needs something unique to it to encourage download, and having it on a consumers screen on a permanent basis. Customer Demographic Based on my experience, and what I have read in the media over the past few years, the average Starbucks consumer is more likely than average to be a tech-savvy iPhone or Blackberry user, and beyond that, the kind of user who would be comfortable with technology and placing a payment with their mobile. It is important that any solution put in front of a consumer by a retailer fit their target market. A savvy comfortable customer is more likely to use the app, and use it well, to speed transactions and drive convenience for them, and speed throughput for the retailer. Infrastructure Most Starbucks locations have 2 terminals. In order to leverage 2d barcodes, special imagers are required, and this means hardware investment. 2 lanes means only a $300-$400 investment per store for imaging hardware. Considering the potential value of transactions per store, this is a very low cost. The ROI would be far less attractive for a lower margin retailer with dozens of lanes in a store to deploy, as it would be key to have the imagers in every lane to simplify the process for consumers. Transaction Type The slowest portion of any retail transaction, and the most difficult to trim time from, is the tendering process. Given that in Starbucks transactions generally include a small basket size and the ordering time is relatively short, the value of an alternative payment is increased, as it is a greater proportion of the transaction. This value is increased further by the incredible traffic at Starbucks sites. Having many small transactions provides a boost to the ROI of the solution. No Mobile Device Handling In order for any sort of mobile payment solution to increase throughput and minimize operational complications, it is key to streamline the process of scanning the mobile device. Starbucks has done this via a customer facing scanner with very simple signage. This allows the consumer to place their phone in the scanning area with no need to pass the mobile device to a cashier. This simplifies the process by providing a consistent process, not only increasing the scan speed, but also avoiding the potential of store staff dropping or otherwise damaging a customers mobile device. Consumers are also more likely to use the mobile payment solution if they do not have to pass their mobile phone to a cashier, given how consumers increasingly consider the mobile device as a personal item. As with all solutions implemented by consumer facing organizations, ROI is key. Looking at the Starbucks solution, the costs of entry are probably not that high. A mobile app is relatively inexpensive and standalone compared to other point of sale solution implementations. Using the stored value card leverages electronic processes and databases already in place. The crucial part is operationalizing the solution, and that can be put in place for hundreds or low thousands per site. All in all, this is a relatively low cost solution with the potential for a high ROI in both funds, and in good will from consumers. Other retailers looking to implement such a solution would do well to observe what Starbucks have done, but note well that this is not a one size fits all solution. Any future implementers should be sure that the app suits their customer demographic, their transaction model, and has a way of dealing with the complexities of payment. Other solutions will arise, and it will be fa scinating to see what comes next. Evaluation: 4).Starbucks also runs a high scale of management in handling their I.T related issues. They are I.T aware such that, they have good network services. An example would be, Starbucks offers free WIFI Zone. An attraction for a customer on the move. The firm has VOIP services for communication with other chains around the globe. As we live in a net centric age, starbucks has made it a perfect fit, to incorporate most I.T business related schemes into their business. A good analyses on this comoany, would however show us that starbucks uses the I.T based things to builkd their customer range. It is however no secret that most competitors have based their examples on comoanys in the likes of Starbucks. Some practices in starbucks, include some discount sales issued by the management. A customer however sees this as a grand oppurtuinty to have a 50%(Percent) discount on whatever he buys and also enjoys free internet. This indeed is a wise practice. The Mgt Informaion system has in many ways, made things easy for staffs. Most messages to staffs are communicated via the network. As fore mentioned, starbucks uses intranets and internet(Voip). This helps in forwarding swift messages to workers in the company. This comoany also makes judicious use of their MIS by running web based adverts and all. The firm keeps its customers continuesly aware of products and new recipes that might be tried in a given time. Thus, their market base increases undoubtedly. Marketing Analysis: Retails: Recommendation: In my opinion having pratronised starbucks from time to time, i would suggest the following: Starbucks should try in purchasing a reasonably fast internet with low traffic. They should try to maintain their hardwares and try upgrades from time to time, to avoid being left out in the dark age of slow computing. They should employ staffs that are more I.T learned to avoid diffulty in system operations. They should embrace more of touch screen services. And what i mean is, buying gadgets(hardwares) that provide self service for each customer. The MIS should continually see to it that customers are intrigued by the brilliant I.T based services that Starbucks provide thus leaving the customers spell bound to return and purchase more items . They could also provide on screen advertisements for new generation hardwares this in itself, could be an avenue for starbucks to get paid for advertising for I.T firms in the cities and wherever . They could also make a web based system, that would enable customers to order online to ease driving out of the office at lunch. Conclusion: At this juncture, i would like to reiterate that it is of immense importance that the MIS in starbucks embraces more heightened technology hardwares to ease the work load and the number of staffs. We all in the world are aware of the generation of computers. This promises to be huge and phenomenal turn in every industry especially industries like starbucks. As we see Managements improve their information systems, it would be an important part for starbucks to play in their MIS. With an improved and well balanced MIS, starbucks has what it takes to battle up for the future even competitors. Time is of the essence for firms like starbucks this is because each day slips away and more upgrades are made to databases. To this end, i would beseech starbucks, to keep up the very good work and embrace a new era of improved management systems. Thus increasing their profit base and client base.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

The Plays of Tennessee Williams Essay -- Authors

Tennessee Williams was known as one of the greatest and most controversial playwrights in American history. He once said â€Å"I believe that writing or any form of creative work was never meant by nature to be a man’s way of making a living, that when it becomes one it almost certainly loses a measure of purity† (Lewis 54). This statement shows that Williams was a genuine writer who used his plays and poems to express his own thoughts. Williams was known for his Southern Gothic writing style. This is â€Å"a style of writing practiced by many writers of the American South whose stories set in that region are characterized by grotesque, macabre, or fantastic incidents† (â€Å"Southern gothic†). Some critics believe that Williams had sacrificed his talent for fame and fortune; however, other critics believe his writings were original works of art. When Williams’ lover, Frank Merlo, died he went into a deep depression and his writing began to suffer. His plays were becoming less and less desirable and the amount of time each was on Broadway was slimming down little by little. Williams’ beginning writings were works of art, but they became predictable as time went on. Although he did use a lot of recurring themes and symbols, each individual piece had a life and moral value of its’ own. Williams was born March 26, 1911. His mother and father were Edwina and Cornelius Williams respectively. His mother was the divine essence of a southern belle whose main focus was being of the social elite. His father was a drunken shoe salesman who would later be claimed as the reason for Williams’ homosexuality. Williams’ siblings include Rose and Dakin Williams. It is said that his only real company growing up was his sister and their Negro nursemaid, Ozzie. ... ..., Gilbert. Tennessee Williams and Friends. Cleveland: World Pub., 1965. Print. "One Arm and Other Stories." Goodreads. Goodreads Inc, 2007. Web. 31 Mar. 2012. . Smith, Nicole. "The Tragic Figure of Laura in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams." Article Myriad. Article Myriad, 6 Dec. 2011. Web. 01 Apr. 2012. . "Southern gothic." Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 01 Apr. 2012. . Print. "Tennessee Williams." - Quotes, Biography, Quote, Works, Festival, Poetry, Poems, Bio, Writing Style, Autobiography, Bibliography. N. p. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. .

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Abortion in Canada - A Crime Against Humanity :: essays papers

Abortion in Canada - A Crime Against Humanity Every year in Canada, over 100 000 murders never reach the courtroom.1 They never reach the courtroom because they are completely legal. Abortion continues to grow across the world, hurting and killing children, as well as their mothers. Abortion is immoral, harmful, and actions must be taken to stop it. When a woman aborts, she is not only killing her child but is also harming herself. Legal abortion is the fifth leading cause of maternal death.2 Ten percent of women undergoing abortion suffer immediate complications, and one fifth of those are consid ered life threatening.3 Teenage aborters are at an even higher risk.4 These serious conditions include infection, embolisms, convulsions, hemorrhage, and endotoxic poisoning.5 By having an abortion, a woman doubles her chances of getting breast or cerv ical cancer. Every consequent abortion increases these chances.6 Physical damage, however, is merely the beginning. Aborted mothers will also suffer many psychological effects as well. These include nightmares, hysterical outbreaks, feelings of immense guilt, and fear of punishment from God.7 In fact, aborted women visit doctors for psychosocial reasons 180% more than other women.8 Abortion may seem like a quick fix at the time, but there can be many and harsh consequenc! es. Yet even if a mother is willing to accept the consequences, she is taking away a human life. Purely biologically speaking, it is undeniable that a fetus is a human, and an individual. at the moment of conception, the fetus has a DNA that is different from his or her mother. By three weeks, the baby's heart is pumping its own circulatory system with a blood type different from its mother.9 Doctors measure the end of life by brain death. It is then reasonable to say that the beginning of life should be at least measured by the beginning of brain life. By six weeks, an unborn baby's brain waves can be recorded by an electroencephalogram (EEG).10 Between six and seven weeks, the unborn baby will respond to external stimuli, such as touching his or her face.11 While many people believe that a fetus is merely a mass of flesh, and is not nearly as complex as a human, this is completely untrue. By eight weeks, all of the body systems are present, and by eleven weeks, still i! n the first trimester, all of those body systems are functional.12 In fact, the body of an unborn baby is more complex than Abortion in Canada - A Crime Against Humanity :: essays papers Abortion in Canada - A Crime Against Humanity Every year in Canada, over 100 000 murders never reach the courtroom.1 They never reach the courtroom because they are completely legal. Abortion continues to grow across the world, hurting and killing children, as well as their mothers. Abortion is immoral, harmful, and actions must be taken to stop it. When a woman aborts, she is not only killing her child but is also harming herself. Legal abortion is the fifth leading cause of maternal death.2 Ten percent of women undergoing abortion suffer immediate complications, and one fifth of those are consid ered life threatening.3 Teenage aborters are at an even higher risk.4 These serious conditions include infection, embolisms, convulsions, hemorrhage, and endotoxic poisoning.5 By having an abortion, a woman doubles her chances of getting breast or cerv ical cancer. Every consequent abortion increases these chances.6 Physical damage, however, is merely the beginning. Aborted mothers will also suffer many psychological effects as well. These include nightmares, hysterical outbreaks, feelings of immense guilt, and fear of punishment from God.7 In fact, aborted women visit doctors for psychosocial reasons 180% more than other women.8 Abortion may seem like a quick fix at the time, but there can be many and harsh consequenc! es. Yet even if a mother is willing to accept the consequences, she is taking away a human life. Purely biologically speaking, it is undeniable that a fetus is a human, and an individual. at the moment of conception, the fetus has a DNA that is different from his or her mother. By three weeks, the baby's heart is pumping its own circulatory system with a blood type different from its mother.9 Doctors measure the end of life by brain death. It is then reasonable to say that the beginning of life should be at least measured by the beginning of brain life. By six weeks, an unborn baby's brain waves can be recorded by an electroencephalogram (EEG).10 Between six and seven weeks, the unborn baby will respond to external stimuli, such as touching his or her face.11 While many people believe that a fetus is merely a mass of flesh, and is not nearly as complex as a human, this is completely untrue. By eight weeks, all of the body systems are present, and by eleven weeks, still i! n the first trimester, all of those body systems are functional.12 In fact, the body of an unborn baby is more complex than Abortion in Canada - A Crime Against Humanity :: essays papers Abortion in Canada - A Crime Against Humanity Every year in Canada, over 100 000 murders never reach the courtroom.1 They never reach the courtroom because they are completely legal. Abortion continues to grow across the world, hurting and killing children, as well as their mothers. Abortion is immoral, harmful, and actions must be taken to stop it. When a woman aborts, she is not only killing her child but is also harming herself. Legal abortion is the fifth leading cause of maternal death.2 Ten percent of women undergoing abortion suffer immediate complications, and one fifth of those are consid ered life threatening.3 Teenage aborters are at an even higher risk.4 These serious conditions include infection, embolisms, convulsions, hemorrhage, and endotoxic poisoning.5 By having an abortion, a woman doubles her chances of getting breast or cerv ical cancer. Every consequent abortion increases these chances.6 Physical damage, however, is merely the beginning. Aborted mothers will also suffer many psychological effects as well. These include nightmares, hysterical outbreaks, feelings of immense guilt, and fear of punishment from God.7 In fact, aborted women visit doctors for psychosocial reasons 180% more than other women.8 Abortion may seem like a quick fix at the time, but there can be many and harsh consequenc! es. Yet even if a mother is willing to accept the consequences, she is taking away a human life. Purely biologically speaking, it is undeniable that a fetus is a human, and an individual. at the moment of conception, the fetus has a DNA that is different from his or her mother. By three weeks, the baby's heart is pumping its own circulatory system with a blood type different from its mother.9 Doctors measure the end of life by brain death. It is then reasonable to say that the beginning of life should be at least measured by the beginning of brain life. By six weeks, an unborn baby's brain waves can be recorded by an electroencephalogram (EEG).10 Between six and seven weeks, the unborn baby will respond to external stimuli, such as touching his or her face.11 While many people believe that a fetus is merely a mass of flesh, and is not nearly as complex as a human, this is completely untrue. By eight weeks, all of the body systems are present, and by eleven weeks, still i! n the first trimester, all of those body systems are functional.12 In fact, the body of an unborn baby is more complex than

Essay on Song of Solomon: The Names of a Society -- Song Solomon essay

Song of Solomon: The Names of a Society    Think of a time when the black society was still getting used to the word freedom and the white society hated the thought of it. The book Song of Solomon, written by Toni Morrison in 1977, takes place in Michigan on the shores of Lake Superior. The book emphasizes the racial and social tensions between blacks and whites between the 1930s and the 1960s. The Dead family goes through many phases of self-discovery throughout the story. In an effort to hide his southern, working class roots, Macon Dead, an upper-class northern black businessman tries to insulate his family from the danger and despair of the rank and file blacks with whom he shares the neighborhood. Macon can not keep this from influencing his family when he learns that his son has different plans. The book introduces many characters that have received their names from yearnings, events, mistakes, and weaknesses. Some of these names are out of respect and others are given by certain occurrences. Mostly the names are used i n defiance to the "cracker society". The black society used this term to relate to the "white society".    The Dead family lives on a street officially named "Mains Avenue". The only black doctor in town lived on this street and it soon became known as "Doctor Street". Soon it became the unofficial name of the street known not only to the doctor's patients, but also to the rest of the black citizens of the town. White legislators soon put a stop to the incorrect naming of the street and posted notices forbidding incorrect references to it in the black neighborhood. The notices stated that the avenue "would always be known as Mains Avenue and not Doctor Street"(p. 4). In a subtle retaliation, the ci... ...ack society in those days. They kept and used names that the cracker society would forget about in a few days. By keeping such names the black community quietly defied conformation to the white society.    This novel illustrates how the human spirit can not be dominated. The black community is able to fill in the empty spaces, which the "other society" is not able to enter into or relate to. When Milkman thinks back of all of the people that he had met on his journey it reflects the essence of the novel, " Names they got from yearnings, gestures, flaws, events, mistakes, weaknesses. Names that bore witness"(p. 330). The African American population found a way to allow for life and spirit in a world controlled by "crackers". Their defiance shows that the human spirit is unstoppable.    Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon. New York: First Plume Printing, 1987.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Ethical Standards of Mental Health Essay

The contents of all therapy sessions, whether verbal information or written records, should be considered confidential. Therefore, this information should not be passed on to a third party without the written consent of a client nor is legal guardian. However some exceptions are made for certain situations. The state law provides that mental health professions should report the following situations to the necessary person or agencies. Duty to warn the protect A client may disclose his intentions to harm another person to a mental health profession. In this case the mental health professional must warn the supposed victim and report the plan to the authorities. If a client discloses his intentions to commit suicide, mental health professions should inform the authorities and the family members of the client. (2. b. ). Abuse of children and vulnerable adults Health care professions are required to notify the legal authorities and the social service agencies, if a client discloses that he has been abusing a child or vulnerable adult or intents to abuse them. Prenatal exposure to controlled substances. Read more:Â  Essay About Mental Well-being Health care services should report cases of admitted prenatal exposure to abusive and controlled substances that are potentially harmful. In the events of clients death When the client is declared dead, their spouses or parents have the right to access their records. Minorsguardianship The guardians or parents of a non emancipated minor client have the right to access the client’s records. Profession misconduct Health care professionals are required to report, cases of profession misconduct by the other health care professionals. During meetings of professional disciplinary, records of the profession actions should be released so as to substantiate disciplinary concerns. Insurance providers Sometimes insurance companies may require information concerning the client’s services especially, treatments plans, types of services offered and the case notes. (2. b. ). Ethics and Laws Related to Mental Health Record keeping Mental health professionals are required to keep records in a secure place and to protect the client’s confidentiality. Failure of the health care professionals could resent to malpractices claims because it breaches the standard of the care that is expected of a mental health professionals laws and ethics that governing record keeping may include; when a patient is admitted in the hospital, there complete medical record should be made available at all times. These documents should reflect the patient’s continuum of case. Medical records should include entries that are made by individual health care professions. These entries must be made immediately after the event as taken place to avoid disputes. The entries made by the health care profession must be legible and consist of the authors and signature and the patient details. Every record made must state the doctor who was responsible for making decisions of the time of the care event. Health care professionals create; control, store and dispose of records concerning their professional work so as to facilitate the provision of services meet institutional requirements and ensure accuracy of billing and payments. Social workers must take reasonable moves to ensure that the entries in medical records are accurate and reflect on the kind of services provided. 2. c. ). The confidentiality of children Children are deemed to consent to their own treatment if they arte capable. The law states that a capable child is one who understands the need for medical treatment, what the treatment entails the benefits and risks of the treatment. Doctors can treat children without the permission of parents or guardians. If they explain all the details and decide that the child understands them. There is no particular age at which a child is deemed capable. Doctors should use their judgments to make the decision. The medical treatment for children can be kept confidential from their parents if t concerns birth control, sexually transmitted diseases and mental health problems. (2. d. ). Multicultural competence Multicultural competence has been expressed as the appreciation of different cultures in regard to education and psychology multicultural competence is the awareness, knowledge, and skills that enable people to interact respectfully with people from different backgrounds and values. Multicultural competence ensures that people have the ability to work effectively and ethically with people from different cultures. Multicultural knowledge is evident when an individual has a clear understanding of other cultures that are different from their own. Individuals who are multiculturally competent should have an informed understanding of the history, practices, traditions and values of other cultures. Multicultural awareness requires that one be fully aware of how the attitudes, values and beliefs of people interact with others who are culturally different from them. Culturally competent individuals should be able to interact successfully and effectively with people who have different beliefs, values and traditions to them. Multicultural skills refer to skills that are used by individual to interact successfully and effectively with people who have a different cultural background from their own. Multicultural competences arise from an individual motivation to develop skills and believe in certain manner, mainly derived from our personal characteristics and from institutions and organizational backgrounds in which we develop. Multicultural competence is therefore seen as a contribution of both organizations and individual’s efforts. How to promote ethical treatment of diverse populations Today our society has evolved into a culturally diverse society and thus multicultural education and training is very crucial. Our training systems should address the problems of the world as a whole to allow students have a better understanding of actions taken by a certain state should be viewed in terms of how they implicate on other states as well. The monocultural nature of training should be abolished from the training of professional counselors. They should be educated on both multicultural and cross-cultural issues. This way, they will be able to recognize that race, ethnicity and culture are functions of each individual. Usually, the traditional counseling techniques used were only applied to the minority groups. Counseling professionals should be trained to recognize that the client and the therapist are highly linked to historical and current experiences of oppression and racism. As a result, the counselor, client and the counseling process are more likely to be influenced by racial relations in the larger society. Counseling professionals should therefore be trained to offer equal opportunities to services and equal judgments. Ethical provisions require that professionals who have no adequate training in working with clients from different cultural backgrounds should not be allowed to work with clients. This is because they are unethical and could be potentially harmful to clients due to irrational thinking and judgments. Quite openly, the white culture is seen as a dominant culture and thus counselors who are biased by this are likely to cause negative effects on the clients. Therefore counseling professionals must become culturally aware, so as to have a better understanding of their own conditions, those of their clients and their socio-political system in which they both belong. Counseling professionals should understand the world view of each culturally different client. Counselors should be skilled in the sense that they must familiarize themselves wit h he relevant research and latest findings regarding mental disorders of different ethnic and racial groups. They should become more involved with minority groups outside the counseling settings as to broaden their perspectives of the minorities. Clinician’s duty to warn Medical health professionals have a legal and ethical duty of keeping confidential their communications with their patients. A clinicians duty to warn and protect states that if a client discloses his intentions to harm another person to a medical health professional, the professional has the right tot inform the supposed victim and report the plan to the necessary authorities. Confidentiality is a primary right of the client accorded to him during his therapy sessions. (2. c. ). However in some circumstance, confidentiality may be broken for ethical and legal reasons. Various court decisions have been enacted to grant the therapist permission to warn and protect individuals who may be affected by a client’s dangerous actions. If a mental health professional fail to predict that a client is dangerous and fails to warn the supposed victim, he thus exposes himself open to lawsuits. (Harman, 2006). A medical health professional has the responsibility of warning, protecting and predicting, when a client communicate serious threats of harming a reasonably identifiable Medical health professionals working with dangerous clients are often faced with legal, ethical and moral dilemmas. They must carefully access the risks involved to the potential victim, the client and themselves for breaching the confidentiality. Health professionals should inform the clients of the limits of confidentiality, record the steps taken in order to protect those under potential danger and keep record of notes of the client’s threats. Confidentiality can be breached in cases where a client poses danger to others, when a client discloses plans to cause harm to someone or to prevent a dangerous client from causing harm to others. When a patient who is HIV positive discloses to his therapist plans of having unprotected sex with an identifiable other who is not HIV positive, without their consent, the medical professional has the right to inform the potential victim and the necessary social service agencies. In this case, the confidentiality of the patent’s communication with the therapist is breached so as to protect the potential victim. The court provides that if a health professional identifies a clients plan to intentionally harm other people, they should warn the potential victim and report to the necessary authorities or risk facing lawsuits. (2. . ). However, this conflict with ethical requirement that, every patient has the right to strict confidentiality and that there should be no sharing of information outside of the therapist-client relationship so as to have effective therapy. (Simon, 2001). A number of complicated and legal issues arise when a HIV positive person intentionally refuses to tell their partner about the possibility of infecting them. The character of the therapist mainly determines the therapist’s ability to disclose the information to the potential victim. HIV is an incurable disease that causes danger and probable discrimination the victim. When there is existence of a real danger to a potential victim, confidentiality is not considered as an absolute value. Before disclosing this kind of information to a third party the therapist should consult with the client and inform him of the limits of confidentiality. He must be made aware of the fact that there are certain limits to the rule of confidentiality. The client must be informed that in such a case, where a client discloses the intentions of harming a third party, thee medical health professional has the obligation of informing potential victim and the necessary authorities. In most states, the confidentiality of patient’s information is protected by statute except in certain circumstances which are, physicians should report information about a patient without his consent in order to protect the society. (Shaner, 2000). Dual relationships A 40 year old therapist becomes attracted to a 38 year old client and soon realizes that the feelings are mutual. They discuss the situation and mutually agree to terminate therapy and begin dating. They eventually get married. Dual relationships exist when therapists assume two or more different roles at one particular time dual relationships may include socializing with a client or becoming emotionally or sexually involved with a client. This kind of behaviour is seen as unethical in the counseling profession. Such relationships impair the judgment and decisions made by the therapist and result in conflicts of interest and exploitation of the client. (2. e. ). Sexual misconduct is considered as the biggest ethical violation of a therapist and as a result has become a common and serious allegation in malpractice suits. According to the laws and ethics of medical professionals, sexual intimacy with clients is prohibited. These laws provide that counselors should not have any form of sexual relationships with clients and should not counsel people with whom they have had a sexual relationship with. Medical health professionals and other social workers must not get involved in sexual intimacies with clients, whether the activity is mutual or forced. The CCA standards provide that psychologists must not engage themselves in sexual activities with current therapy clients. According to these ethics and laws, the therapist has violated the ethics by becoming sexually involved with a current client. By getting involved with a client and becoming sexually active the therapist violated laws which stated that a psychologist must not get engaged in sexual activities with clients. Sexual relationships between a therapist and a client can have very many negative impacts especially on the client. The experience could cause negative effects on the personality of the client arising from mistrust of opposite sex relationships. The client may become emotionally disturbed and experience feeling of depression. Due to this, the client may have difficulty in pursuing therapy. (2. e. ) By deciding to quit therapy and get married, the therapist made an ethical decision. According to the Canadian professional code of ethics, psychologists must avoid getting involved in sexual activities s with the clients. This is because it interferes with therapist’s judgment and the client’s ability to purse treatment. Therefore, quitting therapy so that they both have respect for the professional code of ethics. Medical health professionals must aim at promoting and maintaining cordial interprofessional relationships. However, despite the fact that the feelings between the therapist and client were mutual, and the fact that they both quit therapy to get married, their actions were unethical because they breached the professionals code of ethics. Therapists are bestowed with the responsibility of setting up appropriate sexual boundaries for their clients, communicating the boundaries and aiming at attaining a professional relationship rather than a personal relationship. The CCA provides that engaging in sexual activities before a period of two years after therapy has been terminated, is a violation of professional code of ethics. Therefore quitting therapy so as to get married was unethical on the therapist and the client’s side. Courts have therefore ruled claims of consent by client engaging in sexual relationships with therapists, due to the vulnerability of clients and also the powerful affects of the opposite sex relationships. (Videbeck, 2007).