Tuesday, October 29, 2019

How Could E-learning Help People to Understand More About Malaria Essay

How Could E-learning Help People to Understand More About Malaria - Essay Example This essay stresses that e-learning also gives the instructor a lot of options in the way through which information is compiled and presented. This allows the entity providing the service to reach out to a more diverse customer base. This could also include various local processes and participants who might benefit from enhanced options and processes of updating their knowledge about a given phenomenon. Malaria has three main pointers of spread and this includes: breeding, contact and injection by the primary vector, mosquitoes. The main difficulty in malaria control lies in the fact that the mosquitoes and parasites’ ability to evolve and circumvent tools and systems used to control them. The main intervention systems include the control of breeding by maintaining more hygienic environments and proper systems and processes of preventing malaria bearing mosquitoes from breeding their young. This paper makes a conclusion that the website has to be functional and it has to meet the needs of all stakeholders, including the users and other third party stakeholders. It will also need to meet all the desires of donors and get their submissions brought into the fore. Therefore, there is the need for all primary stakeholders to be involved. This means that a detailed interview with all stakeholders including the government authorities, NGOs, volunteering organisations, community members and community leaders are also important. E-Commerce will be a crucial aspect and process.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

ASDA Business Strategy

ASDA Business Strategy ASDA is the UKs second largest supermarket chain, holding a 17.2% market share in the UK over 2013/2014 (Kantar Worldpanel, 2014). It was purchased in 1999 and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the US Public Limited Company, Walmart. In order to analyse the business environment, this essay will first consider the ASDA Groups internal environment, including their objectives, policies, organisational structure and reputation. The second focus will be the external environment; first the range of competitors in the market, followed by a PESTLE (Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, Legal, Environmental/Ethical) analysis, to develop a holistic summary of the external environment. Where appropriate, several sections of the PESTLE analysis have been merged to create a more accurate summary of the external environment. Internal Objectives and Policies ASDAs primary operations consist of retail of food, apparel, general merchandise and other services (ASDA Group Ltd, 2013). Their strategic objectives are to provide high quality products, exceed consumer desires and reduce costs (ASDA Group Ltd, 2010; ASDA Group Ltd, 2013). They have an additional series of sustainability objectives designed to reduce environmental impact and reduce operating costs simultaneously. Walmart, ASDAs ultimate parent company, are focused on the opportunities provided by the e-commerce market (Walmart, 2014). To that end, ASDA provides both online shopping and delivery services and a Click and Collect programme, allowing customers to order products online for collection from a local ASDA branch (ASDA Group Ltd, 2013). ASDA have developed a growth strategy, combining expanding reach online and physically, with reduced operating costs overall. They have also identified the need for innovation and expansion into new product ranges, expanding their brand identity. As part of the Walmart group, they benefit from the research and development of other Walmart subsidiaries (ASDA Group Ltd, 2013; Walmart, 2014). In 2013, in the midst of the recession, ASDA continued to open 15 new stores and has opened more in 2014 (ASDA Group Ltd, 2013). Structure Walmart purchased ASDA in 1999, demonstrating a strategy of growth by acquisition. Following this, ASDA has used its core competencies of providing low-cost, good-quality products to gain market share and has become the second largest supermarket brand in the UK. As a subsidiary of Walmart, ASDA is provided with certain benefits. ASDA particularly benefits from the IT expertise from its parent company, in addition to benefitting from the research and development of other Walmart group members (ASDA Group Ltd, 2013). Walmart also benefits by adopting best practices developed by ASDA from their online grocery shopping service (Walmart, 2014). Members of the Walmart group are also able to take advantage of intercompany loans to provide internal financing opportunities. ASDA has over 500 locations in the UK, ranging from supercentres down to supermarkets. This range of shopping facilities is designed to meet customer needs at different levels (ASDA Group Ltd, 2010; Euromonitor International, 2014). They have implemented a price guarantee, ensuring prices remain consistent across ASDA stores, regardless of their size; this is intended to challenge other brands with higher prices in smaller, local supermarket branches (ASDA Group Ltd, 2010). Reputation ASDA have also been able to leverage the reputation of their US parent company and were the first major UK retailer to introduce a Black Friday shopping event in 2013. This was repeated in 2014 by many retailers and drew many customers to take advantage of the low-cost goods. ASDAs reputation for low-cost, high-quality goods can also be leveraged in their growth strategy. Their efforts to reduce operating costs and subsequent price reductions for consumers is intended to be appealing to price-conscious consumers (ASDA Group Ltd, 2013). As detailed below, this is a growing attitude among the UK supermarket customer-base and provides a possible avenue for growth. External Competitors ASDA faces direct from ALDI and LIDL, two supermarket chains who share similar core competencies to ALDI, in that they offer low-cost, high-quality goods. Unlike ASDA, however, ALDI and LIDL offer a range of limited availability products, alongside their food retail. ASDA, by contrast, offers a wider range of general products, available via their online services and in their larger hypermarkets. ASDA is second of the UKs four largest supermarkets. Tesco holds the largest UK market share with 28.7%, and Sainsburys and Morrisons are next with 16.4% and 11.1% respectively (Kantar Worldpanel, 2014). ALDI and LIDL have grown significantly in recent years (Ruddick, 2014), it has been predicted that the profit margins of larger supermarkets, including ASDA, will have smaller profit margins in the short term (Beardsworth, 2014). Political, Legal, Environmental Ethical The House of Lords released a report in early 2014 challenging food waste in the EU and particularly in the UK (Harriet, 2014; House of Lords European Union Committee, 2014). In their report they argued that retailers, including supermarkets such as ASDA, bear significant responsibility for preventing food waste. Specifically, retailers have a responsibility to ensure that customers are aware of how to store food, ensure date labelling is appropriate, avoid cancellation of grown food orders after it has been produced (Harriet, 2014; House of Lords European Union Committee, 2014). Additionally, it explicitly stated: It is clear that retailers must assume a far greater responsibility for the prevention of food waste in the home. Retailers must ensure that incentives and promotions offered to consumers do not transfer waste from the store to the household. (House of Lords European Union Committee, 2014, p. 26). The House of Commons Business Select Committee also considered investigating reports of supermarket aggression when dealing with suppliers, using their market power to demand prices that suppliers cannot sustain (Armitage, 2014). This was motivated by reports of behaviour from Tesco, a competitor of ASDA. ASDA submitted evidence to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee summarising their dedication to sustainability and positive mutually beneficial relations with suppliers in 2011 (House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, 2012). Additionally, they have instituted a policy of minimising food waste by sending no food waste to landfill sites. Instead, food is either given to charities or converted into alternative products. Another source of difficulty is the Food Standards Agencys year-long survey on campylobacter contamination in supermarket chickens. This bacteria is the most common cause of food poisoning in the UK, however it can be killed via normal cooking processes as long as food is properly cooked. The interim findings of this survey showed ASDA to have the highest rate of contamination of raw chicken products across UK supermarkets, above the industry average (Food Standards Agency, 2014) ASDA has agreed to install a new steam sterilisation technology to test the efficacy in reducing contamination. The press have publicised these contamination rates in a pejorative manner, with headlines such as Asda exposed as supermarket with dirtiest chicken (Hyde, 2014) and Supermarket chickens: 70% affected by food bug (BBC News, 2014). This, combined with the condemnation of consumer groups, including Which? (Which?, 2014), poses a significant threat to ASDAs reputation. This political environment could provide new difficulties for ASDA, with the need to introduce new decontamination facilities in their factories and the associated costs this entails. Additionally, the pejorative press response could have a severe impact on ASDAs reputation. The House of Lords Committees criticism of supermarket promotions and incentives could also impact ASDAs retail activities. If such promotions are legislated against, ASDA would be deprived of a major means of drawing price-conscious consumers. Economic Socio-Cultural In 2011 Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, announced that the global financial crisis had significantly impacted standards of living and would continue to do so for the foreseeable future (Bank of England, 2011). 2014 was the first time in 5 years that average pay increased more than inflation, suggesting a possible upturn in the economy (Peston, 2014). This has led to a reduction in consumers disposable income and this in turn has impacted their spending habits in stores. ASDA has been aware of this and has taken efforts to reduce operating costs to offset inflationary pressures on prices (ASDA Group Ltd, 2013). Traditionally, supermarkets had a close link to cultural identity among UK shoppers, based on the British class system (Wallop, 2013). Supermarkets such as Waitrose and Marks Spencer were traditionally associated with upper-middle and upper class customers, while ASDA was traditionally seen as a working class supermarket (Jeffries, 2004). In recent years however, this sense of identity has been disrupted by a combination of the global recession, and the rise of the budget supermarkets ALDI and LIDL. Both brands have been widely accepted by the British middle class, and a wider cultural attitude of thrift and pride in finding savings and low-cost products has developed. In the 2014 Christmas season, Aldi and Lidl, the discount supermarket chains drew a significant portion of the market from other supermarket brands (Butler, 2014) indicating that consumer buying decisions are motivated by price over other socio-economic factors. This could explain ASDAs recent rise to the second largest market shareholder in Britain, due to its core competency in providing low-cost, good-quality products to customers. Where previously, consumers may have had a negative association with ASDAs emphasis on low-cost products, in the recession era, consumers are more concerned with product prices. Technological Walmart, ASDAs ultimate parent company, have noted the rising significance of e-commerce and have begun developing this across Walmart and its subsidiaries (Walmart, 2014). In the UK, there has been a particular focus on ASDAs Click Collect service (Walmart, 2014), through which customers order products online and can collect them from a local ASDA store, widening the range of products they can access. The strategy consultants, OCC, identified Click and Collect as the probable largest source of growth in e-commerce in 2015 (Felsted, 2014). ASDAs competitor, Tesco, offer a similar service, available in over 350 collection points (Felsted, 2014; Tesco, 2014). ASDA is well-suited for this focus on Click Collect and other e-commerce services; as a subsidiary of Walmart, they are provided with IT services from their parent company, giving them access to the resources of a larger firm, with a wide range of experience in e-commerce (ASDA Group Ltd, 2013). Summary Overall, ASDAs external environment is relatively troubled; UK standards of living were significantly reduced by the global economic crisis and only recently have signs indicated that this could improve. This has reduced the disposable income of ASDAs target markets. However, because of ASDAs focus on low-cost products, this could have actually benefitted ASDA, allowing them to become the second largest supermarket brand. The economic crisis has altered the UKs socio-cultural trends, encouraging a savings-focussed attitude, with customers altering their buying habits to pursue better deals. ASDA has also faced difficulties in its public reputation, particularly due to the Food Standards Agencys survey into campylobacter contamination in chicken. ASDAs chicken stocks and suppliers were found to have the worst contamination rates among supermarkets, above the industry average. This finding was well publicised in the press in late November and its full impact may not have been identified yet. ASDA have identified the difficult external environment of UK retail and have oriented their policies to suit the situation. They have endeavoured to gain price leadership, charging the same as or less than their competitors for many household products, in order to draw price-conscious customers. Additionally, they have taken efforts to minimise their own operating costs, using these savings to offset inflationary pressures and passing the savings on to consumers. ASDA have chosen to diversify their focus beyond store-based services. They have invested significantly into technological development, particularly with their Click and Collect service. External strategy consultants OCC have identified these services as having high growth potential in coming years. ASDA have chosen to capitalise on the troubled economic environment by reinforcing their core competency, providing customers with low-cost, good-quality goods, leveraging their reputation as a low-cost supermarket to take advantage of the low disposable income. They have also used this period to advance their technological development, with technical support from their parent company. References Armitage, J. (2014, September 25). MPs considering investigation of supermarkets dealings with suppliers in wake of Tesco crisis. Retrieved from The Independent:  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/mps-considering-investigation-of-supermarkets-dealings-with-suppliers-in-wake-of-tesco-crisis-9755557.html ASDA Group Ltd. (2010). All About ASDA. Retrieved from ASDA Group Website:  http://your.asda.com/system/dragonfly/production/2012/01/04/12_59_19_568_All_about_Asda.pdf ASDA Group Ltd. (2013, December 31). Report and Financial Statements. Retrieved from Companycheck:  http://companycheck.co.uk/company/01396513/ASDA-GROUP-LIMITED Bank of England. (2011). Speech given by Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England at the Civic Centre, Newcastle. London: Bank of England. BBC News. (2014, November 27). Supermarket chickens: 70% affected by food bug. Retrieved from BBC News:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30227342 Beardsworth, T. (2014, October 17). Aldi and Lidl to Capture 10 Percent of U.K Grocery Market. Retrieved from Bloomberg:  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-17/aldi-and-lidl-to-capture-10-percent-of-u-k-grocery-market.html Butler, S. (2014, December 16). Merry Lidl Christmas for German discount supermarkets. Retrieved from The Guardian:  http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/dec/16/lidl-christmas-supermarkets-aldi-asda-tesco-morrisons-sainsburys Euromonitor International. (2014). Passport: ASDA Stores Ltd in Retailing (United Kingdom). Euromonitor International. Felsted, A. (2014, April 21). Click and collect poised to overtake home delivery. Retrieved from The Financial Times:  http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3ac9e120-c653-11e3-ba0e-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3NNAjRRvL Food Standards Agency. (2014, November 27). Retail survey on levels of campylobacter in chicken published. Retrieved from The Food Standards Agency:  http://www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/news/2014/13251/campylobacter-survey Harriet, D. (2014, April 6). MPs accuse supermarkets of morally repugnant food waste. Retrieved from The Telegraph:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/10748455/MPs-accuse-supermarkets-of-morally-repugnant-food-waste.html House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee. (2012, May 10). Written evidence submitted by ASDA. Retrieved from Parliament Publications and Records:  http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmenvaud/879/879vw21.htm House of Lords European Union Committee. (2014). Counting the Cost of Food Waste: EU Food Waste Prevention. London: The Stationery Office Limited. Hyde, D. (2014, November 27). Asda exposed as supermarket with dirtiest chicken. Retrieved from The Telegraph:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/shopping-and-consumer-news/11257553/Asda-exposed-as-supermarket-with-dirtiest-chicken.html Jeffries, S. (2004, March 12). Im rich and Im living well. Shopping here is part of that. Retrieved from The Guardian:  http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2004/mar/12/foodanddrink.shopping Kantar Worldpanel. (2014, November). Market share of grocery stores in Great Britain, for the 12 weeks ending November 9, 2014. Retrieved from  http://www.statista.com/statistics/279900/grocery-market-share-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/ Peston, R. (2014, November 12). End of UKs long living-standards squeeze? Retrieved from BBC News:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30019567 Ruddick, G. (2014, August 28). Lidl sales to reach  £4bn as pressure on supermarkets grows. Retrieved from The Telegraph:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11059821/Lidl-sales-to-reach-4bn-as-pressure-on-supermarkets-grows.html Tesco. (2014). Click Collect. Retrieved from Tesco:  http://www.tesco.com/collect/ Wallop, H. (2013, January 18). How supermarkets prop up our class system. Retrieved from The Telegraph:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/9808015/How-supermarkets-prop-up-our-class-system.html Walmart. (2014). Walmart 2014 Annual Report. Retrieved from Walmart Investor Relations:  http://stock.walmart.com/annual-reports Which? (2014, November 27). Six in 10 consumers concerned at high levels of campylobacter in chicken. Retrieved from Which? Press Office:  https://press.which.co.uk/whichpressreleases/six-in-10-consumers-concerned-at-high-levels-of-campylobacter-in-chicken/

Friday, October 25, 2019

Impact of the Proposed Devolution for Scotland :: History

Impact of the Proposed Devolution for Scotland Britain has never relished doses of constitutional reform, although they have accepted the drip-feed of frequent, unpalatable and ill-fated local government changes. Ambivalence to reform was reinforced in recent decades. The 1974 Labour government proposed an ambitious program of devolution for Scotland and Wales. It was a luckless policy, not least because of Labour’s divisions. Now it is all different. The case for Scottish devolution is being argued with renewed vigour. Its consideration is linked with proportional representation for a Scottish assembly. (Rt. Hon. Lord Biffen) With Britain being so against constitutional reform in the past, the impact of such reform could be perpetuated by such reform coming at the same time as many other policies on reform, such as devolution in Wales and Northern Ireland. These reforms have all come at the same time and in a short span of time since Labour only became government in May 1997. Devolution as described by Bogdanor is the delegation of power to local or regional administration, so power is dispersed from a superior to an inferior political authority, or to be more precise it consists of a sub-ordinate elected body on a geographical basis of functions at present exercised by Parliament. Scotland is to have its own parliament, while still remaining part of the United Kingdom. A referendum held in September 1997 endorsed the Scottish parliament by a substantial majority; 78% voted for a separate assembly, although the turnout was only 62% of the electorate. Now that the legislation has passed through Parliament, it will be introduced as soon as possible. Elections for 129 Members will be held in early 1999. It is expected that the parliament, which will be situated in Edinburgh, will become fully operational in the year 2000. The responsibilities which will be transferred to the Scottish parliament will include: - health, education and training, local government, housing, sports and the arts, economic development, law and home affairs and the environment. Among the areas of responsibility, which will remain at Westminster, are - overseas affairs, defence, national security, economic and monetary policy, employment legislation and social security. Of the 62% of the electorate who turned out to the referendum, 68% agreed that the Scottish parliament should have some tax raising powers, there is however a limit on the amount this tax can be raised which will be up to 3p in the pound.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

The Twilight Saga 4: Breaking Dawn 20. New

Everything was so clear. Sharp. Defined. The brilliant light overhead was still blinding-bright, and yet I could plainly see the glowing strands of the filaments inside the bulb. I could see each color of the rainbow in the white light, and, at the very edge of the spectrum, an eighth color I had no name for. Behind the light, I could distinguish the individual grains in the dark wood ceiling above. In front of it, I could see the dust motes in the air, the sides the light touched, and the dark sides, distinct and separate. They spun like little planets, moving around each other in a celestial dance. The dust was so beautiful that I inhaled in shock; the air whistled down my throat, swirling the motes into a vortex. The action felt wrong. I considered, and realized the problem was that there was no relief tied to the action. I didn't need the air. My lungs weren't waiting for it. They reacted indifferently to the influx. I did not need the air, but I liked it. In it, I could taste the room around me – taste the lovely dust motes, the mix of the stagnant air mingling with the flow of slightly cooler air from the open door. Taste a lush whiff of silk. Taste a faint hint of something warm and desirable, something that should be moist, but wasn't†¦ That smell made my throat burn dryly, a faint echo of the venom burn, though the scent was tainted by the bite of chlorine and ammonia. And most of all, I could taste an almost-honey-lilac-and-sun-flavored scent that was the strongest thing, the closest thing to me. I heard the sound of the others, breathing again now that I did. Their breath mixed with the scent that was something just off honey and lilac and sunshine, bringing new flavors. Cinnamon, hyacinth, pear, seawater, rising bread, pine, vanilla, leather, apple, moss, lavender, chocolate†¦. I traded a dozen different comparisons in my mind, but none of them fit exactly. So sweet and pleasant. The TV downstairs had been muted, and I heard someone – Rosalie? – shift her weight on the first floor. I also heard a faint, thudding rhythm, with a voice shouting angrily to the beat. Rap music? I was mystified for a moment, and then the sound faded away like a car passing by with the windows rolled down. With a start, I realized that this could be exactly right. Could I hear all the way to the freeway? I didn't realize someone was holding my hand until whoever it was squeezed it lightly. Like it had before to hide the pain, my body locked down again in surprise. This was not a touch I expected. The skin was perfectly smooth, but it was the wrong temperature. Not cold. After that first frozen second of shock, my body responded to the unfamiliar touch in a way that shocked me even more. Air hissed up my throat, spitting through my clenched teeth with a low, menacing sound like a swarm of bees. Before the sound was out, my muscles bunched and arched, twisting away from the unknown. I flipped off my back in a spin so fast it should have turned the room into an incomprehensible blur – but it did not. I saw every dust mote, every splinter in the wood-paneled walls, every loose thread in microscopic detail as my eyes whirled past them. So by the time I found myself crouched against the wall defensively – about a sixteenth of a second later – I already understood what had startled me, and that I had overreacted. Oh. Of course. Edward wouldn't feel cold to me. We were the same temperature now. I held my pose for an eighth of a second longer, adjusting to the scene before me. Edward was leaning across the operating table that had been my pyre, his hand reached out toward me, his expression anxious. Edward's face was the most important thing, but my peripheral vision catalogued everything else, just in case. Some instinct to defend had been triggered, and I automatically searched for any sign of danger. My vampire family waited cautiously against the far wall by the door, Emmett and Jasper in the front. Like there was danger. My nostrils flared, searching for the threat. I could smell nothing out of place. That faint scent of something delicious – but marred by harsh chemicals – tickled my throat again, setting it to aching and burning. Alice was peeking around Jasper's elbow with a huge grin on her face; the light sparkled off her teeth, another eight-color rainbow. That grin reassured me and then put the pieces together. Jasper and Emmett were in the front to protect the others, as I had assumed. What I hadn't grasped immediately was that was the danger. All this was a sideline. The greater part of my senses and my mind were still focused on Edward's face. I had never seen it before this second. How many times had I stared at Edward and marveled over his beauty? How many hours – days, weeks – of my life had I spent dreaming about what I then deemed to be perfection? I thought I'd known his face better than my own. I'd thought this was the one sure physical thing in my whole world: the flawlessness of Edward's face. I may as well have been blind. For the first time, with the dimming shadows and limiting weakness of humanity taken off my eyes, I saw his face. I gasped and then struggled with my vocabulary, unable to find the right words. I needed better words. At this point, the other part of my attention had ascertained that there was no danger here besides myself, and I automatically straightened out of my crouch; almost a whole second had passed since I'd been on the table. I was momentarily preoccupied by the way my body moved. The instant I'd considered standing erect, I was already straight. There was no brief fragment of time in which the action occurred; change was instantaneous, almost as if there was no movement at all. I continued to stare at Edward's face, motionless again. He moved slowly around the table – each step taking nearly half a second, each step flowing sinuously like river water weaving over smooth stones – his hand still outstretched. I watched the grace of his advance, absorbing it with my new eyes. â€Å"Bella?† he asked in a low, calming tone, but the worry in his voice layered my name with tension. I could not answer immediately, lost as I was in the velvet folds of his voice. It was the most perfect symphony, a symphony in one instrument, an instrument more profound than any created by man___ â€Å"Bella, love? I'm sorry, I know it's disorienting. But you're all right. Everything is fine.† Everything? My mind spun out, spiraling back to my last human hour. Already, the memory seemed dim, like I was watching through a thick, dark veil – because my human eyes had been half blind. Everything had been so blurred. When he said everything was fine, did that include Renesmee? Where was she? With Rosalie? I tried to remember her face – I knew that she had been beautiful – but it was irritating to try to see through the human memories. Her face was shrouded in darkness, so poorly lit___ What about Jacob? Was he fine? Did my long-suffering best friend hate me now? Had he gone back to Sam's pack? Seth and Leah, too? Were the Cullens safe, or had my transformation ignited the war with the pack? Did Edward's blanket assurance cover all of that? Or was he just trying to calm me? And Charlie? What would I tell him now? He must have called while I was burning. What had they told him? What did he think had happened to me? As I deliberated for one small piece of a second over which question to ask first, Edward reached out tentatively and stroked his fingertips across my cheek. Smooth as satin, soft as a feather, and now exactly matched to the temperature of my skin. His touch seemed to sweep beneath the surface of my skin, right through the bones of my face. The feeling was tingly, electric – it jolted through my bones, down my spine, and trembled in my stomach. Wait,I thought as the trembling blossomed into a warmth, a yearning. Wasn't I supposed to lose this? Wasn't giving up this feeling a part of the bargain? I was a newborn vampire. The dry, scorching ache in my throat gave proof to that. And I knew what being a newborn entailed. Human emotions and longings would come back to me later in some form, but I'd accepted that I would not feel them in the beginning. Only thirst. That was the deal, the price. I'd agreed to pay it. But as Edward's hand curled to the shape of my face like satin-covered steel, desire raced through my dried-out veins, singing from my scalp to my toes. He arched one perfect eyebrow, waiting for me to speak. I threw my arms around him. Again, it was like there was no movement. One moment I stood straight and still as a statue; in the same instant, he was in my arms. Warm – or at least, that was my perception. With the sweet, delicious scent that I'd never been able to really take in with my dull human senses, but that was one hundred percent Edward. I pressed my face into his smooth chest. And then he shifted his weight uncomfortably. Leaned away from my embrace. I stared up at his face, confused and frightened by the rejection. â€Å"Urn†¦ carefully, Bella. Ow.† I yanked my arms away, folding them behind my back as soon as I understood. I was too strong. â€Å"Oops,† I mouthed. He smiled the kind of smile that would have stopped my heart if it were still beating. â€Å"Don't panic, love,† he said, lifting his hand to touch my lips, parted in horror. â€Å"You're just a bit stronger than I am for the moment.† My eyebrows pushed together. I'd known this, too, but it felt more surreal than any other part of this ultimately surreal moment. I was stronger than Edward. I'd made him say ow. His hand stroked my cheek again, and I all but forgot my distress as another wave of desire rippled through my motionless body. These emotions were so much stronger than I was used to that it was hard to stick to one train of thought despite the extra room in my head. Each new sensation overwhelmed me. I remembered Edward saying once – his voice in my head a weak shadow compared to the crystal, musical clarity I was hearing now – that his kind, our kind, were easily distracted. I could see why. I made a concerted effort to focus. There was something I needed to say. The most important thing. Very carefully, so carefully that the movement was actually discernible, I brought my right arm out from behind my back and raised my hand to touch his cheek. I refused to let myself be sidetracked by the pearly color of my hand or by the smooth silk of his skin or by the charge that zinged in my fingertips. I stared into his eyes and heard my own voice for the first time. â€Å"I love you,† I said, but it sounded like singing. My voice rang and shimmered like a bell. His answering smile dazzled me more than it ever had when I was human; I could really see it now. â€Å"As I love you,† he told me. He took my face between his hands and leaned his face to mine – slow enough to remind me to be careful. He kissed me, soft as a whisper at first, and then suddenly stronger, fiercer. I tried to remember to be gentle with him, but it was hard work to remember anything in the onslaught of sensation, hard to hold on to any coherent thoughts. It was like he'd never kissed me – like this was our first kiss. And, in truth, he'd never kissed me this way before. It almost made me feel guilty. Surely I was in breach of the contract. I couldn't be allowed to have this, too. Though I didn't need oxygen, my breathing sped, raced as fast as it had when I was burning. This was a different kind of fire. Someone cleared his throat. Emmett. I recognized the deep sound at once, joking and annoyed at the same time. I'd forgotten we weren't alone. And then I realized that the way I was curved around Edward now was not exactly polite for company. Embarrassed, I half-stepped away in another instantaneous movement. Edward chuckled and stepped with me, keeping his arms tight around my waist. His face was glowing – like a white flame burned from behind his diamond skin. I took an unnecessary breath to settle myself. How different this kissing was! I read his expression as I compared the indistinct human memories to this clear, intense feeling. He looked†¦ a little smug. â€Å"You've been holding out on me,† I accused in my singing voice, my eyes narrowing a tiny bit. He laughed, radiant with relief that it was all over – the fear, the pain, the uncertainties, the waiting, all of it behind us now. â€Å"It was sort of necessary at the time,† he reminded me. â€Å"Now it's your turn to not break me.† He laughed again. I frowned as I considered that, and then Edward was not the only one laughing. Carlisle stepped around Emmett and walked toward me swiftly; his eyes were only slightly wary, but Jasper shadowed his footsteps. I'd never seen Carlisle's face before either, not really. I had an odd urge to blink – like I was staring at the sun. â€Å"How do you feel, Bella?† Carlisle asked. I considered that for a sixty-fourth of a second. â€Å"Overwhelmed. There's so much. †¦Ã¢â‚¬  I trailed off, listening to the bell-tone of my voice again. â€Å"Yes, it can be quite confusing.† I nodded one fast, jerky bob. â€Å"But I feel like me. Sort of. I didn't expect that.† Edward's arms squeezed lightly around my waist. â€Å"I told you so,† he whispered. â€Å"You are quite controlled,† Carlisle mused. â€Å"More so than expected, even with the time you had to prepare yourself mentally for this.† I thought about the wild mood swings, the difficulty concentrating, and whispered, â€Å"I'm not sure about that.† He nodded seriously, and then his jeweled eyes glittered with interest. â€Å"It seems like we did something right with the morphine this time. Tell me, what do you remember of the transformation process?† I hesitated, intensely aware of Edward's breath brushing against my cheek, sending whispers of electricity through my skin. â€Å"Everything was†¦ very dim before. I remember the baby couldn't breathe___† I looked at Edward, momentarily frightened by the memory. â€Å"Renesmee is healthy and well,† he promised, a gleam I'd never seen before in his eyes. He said her name with an understated fervor. A reverence. The way devout people talked about their gods. â€Å"What do you remember after that?† I focused on my poker face. I'd never been much of a liar. â€Å"It's hard to remember. It was so dark before. And then†¦ I opened my eyes and I could see everything† â€Å"Amazing,† Carlisle breathed, his eyes alight. Chagrin washed through me, and I waited for the heat to burn in my cheeks and give me away. And then I remembered that I would never blush again. Maybe that would protect Edward from the truth. I'd have to find a way to tip off Carlisle, though. Someday. If he ever needed to create another vampire. That possibility seemed very unlikely, which made me feel better about lying. â€Å"I want you to think – to tell me everything you remember,† Carlisle pressed excitedly, and I couldn't help the grimace that flashed across my face. I didn't want to have to keep lying, because I might slip up. And I didn't want to think about the burning. Unlike the human memories, that part was perfectly clear and I found I could remember it with far too much precision. â€Å"Oh, I'm so sorry, Bella,† Carlisle apologized immediately. â€Å"Of course your thirst must be very uncomfortable. This conversation can wait.† Until he'd mentioned it, the thirst actually wasn't unmanageable. There was so much room in my head. A separate part of my brain was keeping tabs on the burn in my throat, almost like a reflex. The way my old brain had handled breathing and blinking. But Carlisle's assumption brought the burn to the forefront of my mind. Suddenly, the dry ache was all I could think about, and the more I thought about it, the more it hurt. My hand flew up to cup my throat, like I could smother the flames from the outside. The skin of my neck was strange beneath my fingers. So smooth it was somehow soft, though it was hard as stone, too. Edward dropped his arms and took my other hand, tugging gently. â€Å"Let's hunt, Bella.† My eyes opened wider and the pain of the thirst receded, shock taking its place. Me? Hunt? With Edward? But†¦ how? I didn't know what to do. He read the alarm in my expression and smiled encouragingly. â€Å"It's quite easy, love. Instinctual. Don't worry, I'll show you.† When I didn't move, he grinned his crooked smile and raised his eyebrows. â€Å"I was under the impression that you'd always wanted to see me hunt.† I laughed in a short burst of humor (part of me listened in wonder to the pealing bell sound) as his words reminded me of cloudy human conversations. And then I took a whole second to run quickly through those first days with Edward – the true beginning of my life – in my head so that I would never forget them. I did not expect that it would be so uncomfortable to remember. Like trying to squint through muddy water. I knew from Rosalie's experience that if I thought of my human memories enough, I would not lose them over time. I did not want to forget one minute I'd spent with Edward, even now, when eternity stretched in front of us. i would have to make sure those human memories were cemented into my infallible vampire mind. â€Å"Shall we?† Edward asked. He reached up to take the hand that was still at my neck. His fingers smoothed down the column of my throat. â€Å"I don't want you to be hurting,† he added in a low murmur. Something I would not have been able to hear before. Tm fine,† I said out of lingering human habit. â€Å"Wait. First.† There was so much. I'd never gotten to my questions. There were more important things than the ache. It was Carlisle who spoke now. â€Å"Yes?† â€Å"I want to see her. Renesmee.† It was oddly difficult to say her name. My daughter, these words were even harder to think. It all seemed so distant. I tried to remember how I had felt three days ago, and automatically, my hands pulled free of Edward's and dropped to my stomach. Flat. Empty. I clutched at the pale silk that covered my skin, panicking again, while an insignificant part of my mind noted that Alice must have dressed me. I knew there was nothing left inside me, and I faintly remembered the bloody removal scene, but the physical proof was still hard to process. All I knew was loving my little nudger inside of me. Outside of me, she seemed like something I must have imagined. A fading dream – a dream that was half nightmare. While I wrestled with my confusion, I saw Edward and Carlisle exchange a guarded glance. â€Å"What?† I demanded. â€Å"Bella,† Edward said soothingly. â€Å"That's not really a good idea. She's half human, love. Her heart beats, and blood runs in her veins. Until your thirst is positively under control†¦ You don't want to put her in danger, do you?† I frowned. Of course I must not want that. Was I out of control? Confused, yes. Easily unfocused, yes. But dangerous? To her? My daughter? I couldn't be positive that the answer was no. So I would have to be patient. That sounded difficult. Because until I saw her again, she wouldn't be real. Just a fading dream†¦ of a stranger†¦ â€Å"Where is she?† I listened hard, and then I could hear the beating heart on the floor below me. I could hear more than one person breathing – quietly, like they were listening, too. There was also a fluttering sound, a thrumming, that I couldn't place___ And the sound of the heartbeat was so moist and appealing, that my mouth started watering. So I would definitely have to learn how to hunt before I saw her. My stranger baby. â€Å"Is Rosalie with her?† â€Å"Yes,† Edward answered in a clipped tone, and I could see that something he'd thought of upset him. I'd thought he and Rose were over their differences. Had the animosity erupted again? Before I could ask, he pulled my hands away from my flat stomach, tugging gently again. â€Å"Wait,† I protested again, trying to focus. â€Å"What about Jacob? And Charlie? Tell me everything that I missed. How long was I†¦ unconscious?† Edward didn't seem to notice my hesitation over the last word. Instead, he was exchanging another wary glance with Carlisle. â€Å"What's wrong?† I whispered. â€Å"Nothing is wrong† Carlisle told me, emphasizing the last word in a strange way. â€Å"Nothing has changed much, actually – you were only unaware for just over two days. It was very fast, as these things go. Edward did an excellent job. Quite innovative – the venom injection straight to your heart was his idea.† He paused to smile proudly at his son and then sighed. â€Å"Jacob is still here, and Charlie still believes that you are sick. He thinks you're in Atlanta right now, undergoing tests at the CDC. We gave him a bad number, and he's frustrated. He's been speaking to Esme.† â€Å"I should call him†¦,† I murmured to myself, but, listening to my own voice, I understood the new difficulties. He wouldn't recognize this voice. It wouldn't reassure him. And then the earlier surprise intruded. â€Å"Hold on – Jacob is still here?† Another glance between them. â€Å"Bella,† Edward said quickly. â€Å"There's much to discuss, but we should take care of you first. You have to be in pain___† When he pointed that out, I remembered the burn in my throat and swallowed convulsively. â€Å"But Jacob – â€Å" â€Å"We have all the time in the world for explanations, love,† he reminded me gently. Of course. I could wait a little longer for the answer; it would be easier to listen when the fierce pain of the fiery thirst was no longer scattering my concentration. â€Å"Okay.† â€Å"Wait, wait, wait,† Alice trilled from the doorway. She danced across the room, dreamily graceful. As with Edward and Carlisle, I felt some shock as I really looked at her face for the first time. So lovely. â€Å"You promised I could be there the first time! What if you two run past something reflective?† â€Å"Alice – ,† Edward protested. â€Å"It will only take a second!† And with that, Alice darted from the room. Edward sighed. â€Å"What is she talking about?† But Alice was already back, carrying the huge, gilt-framed mirror from Rosalie's room, which was nearly twice as tall as she was, and several times as wide. Jasper had been so still and silent that I'd taken no notice of him since he'd followed behind Carlisle. Now he moved again, to hover over Alice, his eyes locked on my expression. Because I was the danger here. I knew he would be tasting the mood around me, too, and so he must have felt my jolt of shock as I studied his face, looking at it closely for the first time. Through my sightless human eyes, the scars left from his former life with the newborn armies in the South had been mostly invisible. Only with a bright light to throw their slightly raised shapes into definition could I even make out their existence. Now that I could see, the scars were Jasper's most dominant feature. It was hard to take my eyes off his ravaged neck and jaw – hard to believe that even a vampire could have survived so many sets of teeth ripping into his throat. Instinctively, I tensed to defend myself. Any vampire who saw Jasper would have had the same reaction. The scars were like a lighted billboard. Dangerous, they screamed. How many vampires had tried to kill Jasper? Hundreds? Thousands? The same number that had died in the attempt Jasper both saw and felt my assessment, my caution, and he smiled wryly. â€Å"Edward gave me grief for not getting you to a mirror before the wedding,† Alice said, pulling my attention away from her frightening lover. Tm not going to be chewed out again.† â€Å"Chewed out?† Edward asked skeptically, one eyebrow curving upward. â€Å"Maybe I'm overstating things,† she murmured absently as she turned the mirror to face me. â€Å"And maybe this has solely to do with your own voyeuristic gratification,† he countered. Alice winked at him. I was only aware of this exchange with the lesser part of my concentration. The greater part was riveted on the person in the mirror. My first reaction was an unthinking pleasure. The alien creature in the glass was indisputably beautiful, every bit as beautiful as Alice or Esme. She was fluid even in stillness, and her flawless face was pale as the moon against the frame of her dark, heavy hair. Her limbs were smooth and strong, skin glistening subtly, luminous as a pearl. My second reaction was horror. Who was she? At first glance, I couldn't find my face anywhere in the smooth, perfect planes of her features. And her eyes! Though I'd known to expect them, her eyes still sent a thrill of terror through me. All the while I studied and reacted, her face was perfectly composed, a carving of a goddess, showing nothing of the turmoil roiling inside me. And then her full lips moved. â€Å"The eyes?† I whispered, unwilling to say my eyes. â€Å"How long? â€Å"They'll darken up in a few months,† Edward said in a soft, comforting voice. â€Å"Animal blood dilutes the color more quickly than a diet of human blood. They'll turn amber first, then gold.† My eyes would blaze like vicious red flames for months? â€Å"Months?† My voice was higher now, stressed. In the mirror, the perfect eyebrows lifted incredulously above her glowing crimson eyes – brighter than any I'd ever seen before. Jasper took a step forward, alarmed by the intensity of my sudden anxiety. He knew young vampires only too well; did this emotion presage some misstep on my part? No one answered my question. I looked away, to Edward and Alice. Both their eyes were slightly unfocused – reacting to Jasper's unease. Listening to its cause, looking ahead to the immediate future. I took another deep, unnecessary breath. â€Å"No, I'm fine,† I promised them. My eyes flickered to the stranger in the mirror and back. â€Å"It's just†¦ a lot to take in.† Jasper's brow furrowed, highlighting the two scars over his left eye. â€Å"I don't know,† Edward murmured. The woman in the mirror frowned. â€Å"What question did I miss?† Edward grinned. â€Å"Jasper wonders how you're doing it.† â€Å"Doing what?† â€Å"Controlling your emotions, Bella,† Jasper answered. â€Å"I've never seen a newborn do that – stop an emotion in its tracks that way. You were upset, but when you saw our concern, you reined it in, regained power over yourself. I was prepared to help, but you didn't need it.† â€Å"Is that wrong?† I asked. My body automatically froze as I waited for his verdict. â€Å"No,† he said, but his voice was unsure. Edward stroked his hand down my arm, as if encouraging me to thaw. â€Å"It's very impressive, Bella, but we don't understand it. We don't know how long it can hold.† I considered that for a portion of a second. At any moment, would I snap? Turn into a monster? I couldn't feel it coming on†¦. Maybe there was no way to anticipate such a thing. â€Å"But what do you think?† Alice asked, a little impatient now, pointing to the mirror. â€Å"I'm not sure,† I hedged, not wanting to admit how frightened I really was. I stared at the beautiful woman with the terrifying eyes, looking for pieces of me. There was something there in the shape of her lips – if you looked past the dizzying beauty, it was true that her upper lip was slightly out of balance, a bit too full to match the lower. Finding this familiar little flaw made me feel a tiny bit better. Maybe the rest of me was in there, too. I raised my hand experimentally, and the woman in the mirror copied the movement, touching her face, too. Her crimson eyes watched me warily. Edward sighed. I turned away from her to look at him, raising one eyebrow. â€Å"Disappointed?† I asked, my ringing voice impassive. He laughed. â€Å"Yes,† he admitted. I felt the shock break through the composed mask on my face, followed instantly by the hurt. Alice snarled. Jasper leaned forward again, waiting for me to snap. But Edward ignored them and wrapped his arms tightly around my newly frozen form, pressing his lips against my cheek. â€Å"I was rather hoping that I'd be able to hear your mind, now that it is more similar to my own,† he murmured. â€Å"And here I am, as frustrated as ever, wondering what could possibly be going on inside your head.† I felt better at once. â€Å"Oh well,† I said lightly, relieved that my thoughts were still my own. â€Å"I guess my brain will never work right. At least I'm pretty.† It was becoming easier to joke with him as I adjusted, to think in straight lines. To be myself. Edward growled in my ear. â€Å"Bella, you have never been merely pretty.† Then his face pulled away from mine, and he sighed. â€Å"All right, all right,† he said to someone. â€Å"What?† I asked. â€Å"You're making Jasper more edgy by the second. He may relax a little when you've hunted.† I looked at Jasper's worried expression and nodded. I didn't want to snap here, if that was coming. Better to be surrounded by trees than family. â€Å"Okay. Let's hunt,† I agreed, a thrill of nerves and anticipation making my stomach quiver. I unwrapped Edward's arms from around me, keeping one of his hands, and turned my back on the strange and beautiful woman in the mirror.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Is the Catcher in the Rye Should Be Banned

Is the Catcher in the Rye should be banned? According to Sova B Dawn, â€Å"The novel has long ignited disapproval, and it was the most frequently banned book in schools between 1966 and 1975. Even before that time, however, the work was a favorite target of sensors. † (Dawn) Whitfield also documents that â€Å"In 1973 the American School Board Journal called The Catcher in the Rye the most widely censored book in the United States. † (Whitfield) Why people, especially parents, eager to place the Catcher in the Rye, the classic story of a teenager quest for maturity in the banned book list? â€Å"In late 1980, Mark David Chapman stuck a copy of J. D. Salinger's book in his pocket as he stalked and then murdered John Lennon. Before the New York police arrived, the assassin began re-reading the novel to himself. † Whitfield documents the negative influence the Catcher in the Rye has, â€Å"John Hinckley, who said ‘if you want my defense all you have to do is read Catcher in the Rye. It seemed to be time to read it again. ’† (Whitfield)Both of these men claimed that their defense could be found within the pages of Salinger’s novel. People may wonder why the book has the odd connection with criminal loners. Maybe because they found themselves are so familiar with what happened to Holden Caulfield? Most people counts these crimes as a result of publishing the novel, however, if the book doesn’t exist at all, these two people would still be involved in crimes. In other words, it is not the book that boosts them to shoot people. It is themselves that did so. Obviously, another reason is the book â€Å"included considerable profanity and ‘filthy and profane’ language. † (Dawn) Some parents prohibited their children to read the novel even without reading it themselves. They just flip a few pages and the offending words can be easily found so that they immediately make a judgment that this book is not suitable for children to learn. But the question is, is that really true? If a work contains â€Å"dirty† words is it mean it’s immoral? To answer the question, we have to define the word â€Å"morality†. The definition of morality varies from different people depending on their social position, their careers and their growing path and so on. We should not listen to those who yelling the loudest unconditionally, instead we should choose to listen to our own hearts, to make our own decisions, to find the mature definition. We can take a serious look into Holden Caulfield that whether he sets a bad example to teenagers or not. For this problem, Edwards has her view that the Holden’s suggestive immorality doesn’t influence the readers negatively. On the contrary, it is Holden’s many good qualities that actually influence the readers positively. Edwards then uses five different moral ideas—Unto the Least of These, Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother, Blessed are the Pure, Woe to You, Hypocrites, Suffer the Little Children— to show the relationship between Holden Caulfield and Bible in her article in order to prove the protagonist is not â€Å"guilty† for his actions. The main idea Edwards uses is Holden’s relationship with his family. No one could probably love his family more than Holden does. He admires his older brother, D. B’s skill and work as a writer in Hollywood. And for Allie, Holden’s little brother, died for leukemia about two years ago, Holden described him as â€Å"terrifically intelligent† and â€Å"the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest. † (Salinger 38) When Holden knew about his younger brother’s death, he broke all the windows with his bare fists. He mentioned that his hand still hurts once in a while, which may refer his special feelings for Allie, will not disappear as the time passed by. Another indispensable character is Holden’s ten-year-old sister, Phoebe. â€Å"You should see her. You never saw a little kid so pretty and smart in your whole life. She's really smart. I mean she's had all A's ever since she started school. † (Salinger) One can easily see Holden’s care and love for Phoebe. The leading character of Catcher in the Rye is absolutely not against the family value which society take a really consideration for one to be moral. It is exactly his love for Phoebe, his love for family that keeps him stay rather than escaping to â€Å"somewhere out west where it was very pretty and sunny and where nobody’d know me. † (Salinger 198) Holden’s empathy for other people serves as another reason that this novel is about morality. â€Å"One of the most endearing qualities of the teenage protagonist is his empathy for other people, especially those whom others reject. † (Edwards) Ackley, for example, everyone hates him. He has â€Å"sinus trouble, pimples, lousy teeth, halitosis, crumby fingernails. like June Edwards concluded from the novel. (Edwards) But, says Holden, â€Å"You had to feel a little sorry for the crazy sonuvabitch. † (Salinger) Holden is the only one who does. Though Ackley irritates him, he never turns him away. What’s more, he even invited Ackley to see a movie with him and another boy because he knew he has no friends at all and no one else would hangs out with him. The concern about other people Holden showed doesn’t come very often in the surroundings at his age, which proves that the Catcher in the Rye’s morality. Holden Caulfield claims himself hates people who behave one way in public and another way in private. â€Å"Except if some boy had little old funny-looking parents†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ if a boy's mother was sort of fat and corny-looking†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ then old Haas would just shake hands with them and give them a phony smile and then he'd go talk, maybe for half an hour with someone else's parents. † (Salinger) One of the most important qualities about morality is against hypocrites. Being genuine and honesty towards others is what Holden believes in and he actually did accomplish it. What’s more, after Holden leaves Pency Prep, he made his way to New York City. Afraid of going home to tell his parents the truth that he was expelled from school, again, and let them disappointed, he decided to go to a hotel. Holden said yes to a pimp who persuades him to have a good time in the elevator. However, he found himself â€Å"uncomfortable† when the prostitute approaches him. His inability to a sexual activity indicates the characteristic he has— innocence, which he also wants to protect children from losing. The title â€Å"Catcher in the Rye† reveals the protagonist’s willingness to become the Catcher. Aside of his own innocence, Holden would like to â€Å"catch† other children’ innocence. When Holden comes home without telling his parents just to see Phoebe, he tells her that what he would like to become more than anything else in the world is a Catcher in the Rye. â€Å"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. (Salinger 173) The innocence and simplicity of children holds an especial appeal for Holden as well. For instance, toward the end of the book, Holden's frantic desire to erase all the â€Å"Fuck you† s scrawled throughout the city and around the world is related to Holden's fear of becoming an adult, his disgust with the vulgarity of the real world, and his need to protect the innocence of those younger than him, just like his sister. One cares so much about protecting others from falling to the â€Å"cliff† must be a genuine  and virtuous person. In conclusion, it can be argued that the Catcher in the Rye is a moral book and should not be banned. Though we’ve reached an agreement that problematic words, sentences do exist, we need to learn to look beyond them because we know the intention of Holden is good. Judge a book’s quality and education meaning is not depending on whether it has blasphemous words or not. Actions, not words, reveal a person’s attitude and intention. What truly inside the bad words is a sense of being lost; we can witness a teenager’s struggle and search for finding his value in society. The word he uses is a typical insecure young man’s protection shell during adolescence, which we should be able to understand.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Standard Quality of Care Hcs 451 Essays

Standard Quality of Care Hcs 451 Essays Standard Quality of Care Hcs 451 Essay Standard Quality of Care Hcs 451 Essay Health Care Quality Management and Outcomes Analysis Professor Jodi Sapaguh By Lisa Gresley August 9, 2010 Substandard quality of health care is duly recognized as a major form of medical crises with potential to jeopardize the functioning and purpose of the American health care system. Whereas on the one hand medical costs of treatment are rising, on the other malpractices and non compliance on the part of medical professionals and institutions compounds the problem and seriously questions the quality of health care being provided to citizens. However, before proceeding further it is important to understand what is exactly meant by the substandard quality of care. The substandard quality of care implies that one or more of the requirements mandatory under the federal regulations 42 CFR 483 . 13 involving resident behavior and facility practices, 42CFR . 15 involving quality of life or 42CFR 483 . 25 regarding quality of care are not complied with leading to actual jeopardy to the resident health or safety or having potential for causing more than minimal harm (HealthCare information, 2007). Any nursing home found with delivering substandard quality of healthcare or carrying significant deficiencies in its healthcare treatment plans would be required to immediately address the issue. The following personal experience presents an example of injuries from utilization control healthcare delivered resulting in grievous and permanent injuries to the patient. The problem here is about Lois Battles, my grandmother, who was diagnosed with Leriches syndrome, which is a vascular occlusion. Upon diagnosis, her doctor recommended surgery where a part of an artery was to be replaced with a Teflon graft. The program providing medical care to Lois was Californias medical assistance program, Medi-Cal that was responsible for controlling costs and authorizing treatment. As such, the approval and authorization from state was a requirement to perform surgery. When Lois’s doctors sought approval from Medi-Cal for the surgery, Medi-Cal agreed and also allowed ten days of post-surgery treatment in hospital. However, Mrs. Battles recovery did not take place as estimated and a day before due discharge date, the surgeon and his assistant felt that Mrs. Battles required additional eight days of recuperation in hospital. Medi-Cal was again approached for the approval for this extended stay, but on this occasion Medi-Cal differed from surgeon’s recommendations for eight days extension. The Medi-Cal representative, who was himself a certified surgeon, merely consulted a Medi-Cal nurse on the phone and after evaluating progress of Mrs. Battles on basis of her temperature, diet and bowel function, declined the request and approved only four day extension. In the process he neither reviewed any documents related to the case nor consulted any other vascular-surgery specialist. On denial by Med-Cal, the surgeon attending the case of Mrs. Battles decided not to push for the additional days of care and complied with Med-Cal directives by discharging her at the end of the stipulated period. Mrs. Battles than got an infection and was sent right back in to the hospital for treatment. If Mrs. Battles would have stayed the four extra days she may have been fine. So in order to be a successful organizational and business performance is the ability to manage the accessibility and processing of information. Accurate, timely and relevant data form the basis for planning, monitoring and decision-making processes across an organization. Healthcare, more than other industries, feels the pinch of dealing with substandard and inaccurate information because it is more data rich, data dependant and data sensitive than any other sector of the economy. The practice of medicine requires continuous availability across the various functions to ensure best care outcomes as well as a perpetual state of readiness for possible changes in patient demands, competitive scenario, regulations or disease patterns and new outbreaks. Healthcare information technology forms a pivotal part of todays healthcare system. Improved quality of healthcare, patient safety, drastic reduction in medical errors and enhancement of care delivery is possible because of the induction of these solutions in the healthcare delivery environment. Today, healthcare IT solutions are enabling processes like planning, decision-making related to organizational development, strategic planning to drive growth, recruitment of competent personnel, managing employee benefits, payroll, intra-department communication, etc. One policy that has changed the health care delivery to shift cost responsibility toward the hospital was the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982. This policy has changed hospital reimbursement under Medicare with the introduction of diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) (Sultz amp; Young, 2009). The DRG prospective payment system rewarded hospitals financially for efficient care (specifically shorter hospital stays) and reduced the incentive to consume (Sultz amp; Young, 2009). Another policy that placed the burden of responsibility on the hospital was the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 which required hospitals to provide care to everyone who presented in the emergency department regardless of ability to pay (Sultz amp; Young, 2009). This law was designed with good intent to reduce the â€Å"patient dumping† that had arisen from the DRG system, but it nevertheless increased hospital responsibility without additional financial support. More recently, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 required the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to select at least two hospital-acquired conditions for which hospitals will no longer be reimbursed by Medicare (United States Congress, 2006). The purpose of this new law is to contain costs by penalizing hospitals for preventable conditions or complications resulting from substandard care. The designated conditions were to meet the requirements of being high cost and/or high volume, and reasonably preventable through the application of evidence-based guidelines (S. Rep. No. 1932, 2006). Eight hospital-acquired conditions have been selected thus far and at least nine additional conditions are up for consideration of being added to the list for 2009 (Center for Medicare amp; Medicaid Services (CMS), 2008). The way this law works is that if a patient develops a hospital-acquired condition or complication during their hospital stay that was not documented upon admission, Medicare will no longer reimburse the hospital for the treatment of the condition and the hospital will be forced to absorb the cost. Conditions included in this new rule particularly relevant to nursing include stage III and IV pressure ulcers, injuries from falls, and catheter-associated urinary tract infections. In light of these policy changes, hospitals are under intense pressure to improve quality of care and reduce costs. Many areas of vulnerability for hospitals such as patient safety, prevention of hospital-acquired conditions, and continuity of care, are directly related to nursing. However, instead of areas of vulnerability, it is better to view the current challenges of health care as opportunities for improvement.

Monday, October 21, 2019

The US Penal System essays

The US Penal System essays Prison inmates, are some of the most "maladjusted" people in society. Most of the inmates have had too little discipline or too much, come from broken homes, and have no self-esteem. They are very insecure and are at war with themselves as well as with society. Most inmates did not learn moral values or learn to follow everyday norms. Also, when most lawbreakers are labeled criminals they enter the phase of secondary deviance. They will admit they are criminals or believe it when they enter the phase of secondary deviance. Next, some believe that if we want to rehabilitate criminals, we must do more than just send them to prison. For instance, we could give them a chance to acquire job skills; which will improve the chances that inmates will become productive citizens upon release. The programs must aim to change those who want to change. Those who are taught to produce useful goods and to be productive are likely to develop the self-esteem essential to a normal, integrated personality. This kind of program would provide skills and habits and replace the sense of hopelessness that many inmates have. Moreover, another technique used to rehabilitate criminals is counseling. There is two types of counseling in general, individual and group counseling. Individual counseling is much more costly than group counseling. The aim of group counseling is to develop positive peer pressure that will influence its members. One idea in many sociology text is that group problem-solving has definite advantages over individual problem-solving. The idea is that a wider variety of solutions can be derived by drawing from the experience of several people with different backgrounds. Also one individuals problem might have already been solved by another group member and can be suggested. Often if a peer proposes a solution it carries more weight than if the counselor were to suggest it. ...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Definition and Examples of Vogue Words

Definition and Examples of Vogue Words A vogue word is a fashionable word or phrase that tends to lose its effectiveness through overuse. Also called a  voguism. Vogue words, says Kenneth G. Wilson, are perfectly good Standard English words that suddenly become modish, so that for a time we hear them being used everywhere, by everyone, until we are utterly sick of them (The Columbia Guide to Standard American English, 1993). Examples and Observations [Some] vogue words are technical words clumsily applied to other fields. These include parameter, bottom line, interface, mode, and space; phrases like immediate feedback and close the loop; and, in a sense, ballpark figure, and touch base with you.(Matt Young, The Technical Writers Handbook: Writing With Style and Clarity. University Science Books, 2002)IconicMr. Leopold is not turning 95 years old, but his iconic ice cream business is. . . .Now owned by Peters youngest son, Stratton, and his wife Mary, the iconic sweets shop on Broughton Street still serves its premium recipes in a fun, retro-style soda shop. . . .She says they plan to offer plenty of room for guests to find a seat while hot dogs will be for sale and the iconic Leopolds portable carts will be on hand outside the store.(BDay Bash: Leopolds Celebrates 95 Years. Savannah Morning News, August 14, 2014)ArtisanThere are, I think, two ways one could read the fact that McDonalds is using the word  artisan  to market it s chicken. On the one hand, it could be a self-aware joke meant to finally deal a death blow to one of the most grating words in the pop lexicon. The king of mass-produced fast food has officially appropriated a phrase that once denoted something expensive and handmade, thus rendering it fully devoid of meaning. In which case: McDonalds 1, upper-middle-class foodies 0.The other possibility: The chain is struggling to  reverse its sales woes, and bewildered by the brave new world ushered in by Shake Shack and Chipotle, it has latched on to artisan as an inadvertently desperate-sounding synonym for less industrial.†(Jordan Weissmann, McDonald’s, Bewildered by Modernity, Is Now Selling an Artisan Chicken Sandwich. Slate, April 27, 2015) Favorite and Least Favorite Words: Awe and Awesome!- Awe, a word we are about to lose, that has been robbed of its meaning by the unfortunate adjective awesome. Awe meaning ecstatic, reverential feeling before Beauty, before the Magnificent. Awesome, a tiresome word, flung indiscriminately in all directions, on all occasions until it has become so trivial, it is valueless.Awe, to be used on rare occasions before the marvelous, the extraordinary. It conveys wonder and amazement. Even the sound conveys a feeling. Saying the word, the mouth opens in speechless delight before that which is greater than the self.(Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas, quoted by Lewis Burke Frumkes in Favorite Words of Famous People. Marion Street Press, 2011)- In a world of sensory overload, most terms of acclaim are exaggerations. A pile of french fries hardly makes us tremble in awe, yet we call it awesome, exaggerating for the sake of persuasion. But because awesome is so worn out, the exaggeration doesnt register; it needs an element of novelty to help it to do so. Novelty gets attention. The fries were industrial-strength awesome. The ride was shiver-me-timbers awesome.(Arthur Plotnik, Better Than Great: A Plenitudinous Compendium of Wallopingly Fresh Superlatives. Cleis Press, 2011)- Im just amazed that hundreds of people can gobble up this malarkey and repeat it, with straight faces. Im equally amazed by the high regard in which HubSpot people hold themselves. They use the word awesome incessantly, usually to describe themselves or each other. Thats awesome! Youre awesome! No, youre awesome for saying that Im awesome!(Dan Lyons, Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble. Hachette, 2016)- Vogue words like  awesome  catch on because everyone is using them, and they irritate because everyone is using them. Adopters hear other people using  awesome  to indicate enthusiastic approval generally and pick it up because it gives them a sense of solidarity and group identity. Scorner s resist  awesome  because they do not care to sound like those people.Acceptance or rejection of group identity sharpens the reactions.For example, sticklers will likely carp about impoverishment of vocabulary and semantic drift,  awesome  in the enthusiastic approval generally sense having little or nothing to do with  awe  (just as they would previously have objected to  terrible  for its attenuated connection to  terror). For the stickler, disapproval is a badge of cultural and social superiority. For the adopter, approval is a thumb in the eye of the pretentious.(John E. McIntyre, Shock and Awesome. The Baltimore Sun, December 23, 2015) ViableViable means workable and likely to survive. It has become a vogue word and is commonly used in the sense of workable or achievable. Adjectives such as durable, lasting, effective, and practical are more appropriate.(James S. Major, Writing Classified and Unclassified Papers in the Intelligence Community. Scarecrow Press, 2009)Associate You walk into a PetSmart, a supermarket for dog and cat supplies that allows customers to shop along with their animal companions. You hear a voice on a loudspeaker say urgently, Would an associate report to the rubber-toys aisle. Instantly, a guy with a mop and pail appears, zeros in on the puddle behind a shamefaced puppy and takes care of the problem.The job title of the person doing the mopping-up is associate. No longer is today’s man with a muck rake termed an employee; that description is deemed demeaning. Associate hints at managerial equality.(William Safire, On Language: Vogue-Word Watch. The New York Times, July 15, 2009)Unacce ptableWhy is everyone using the word unacceptable lately? An irate woman on Five Live phoned in this morning and said that it was completely unacceptable that the banks were gambling with our money.Tonight, on East Midlands Today, after a disturbing report about a sawn-up body found in a wheelie bin in a Nottingham suburb, a policeman said, This is a quiet residential area and, as such, this crime is totally unacceptable.A neighbour who was interviewed in the street said, I noticed the bin had been out on the pavement for three days, which is obviously unacceptable.(Sue Townsend, Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years. Penguin, 2010) ImageA great darling among the loosely used pseudoscientific vogue words of recent years is image in the sense impression that others subconsciously have of someone. A jaundiced observer of modern life might well suppose that what we actually are is not nearly so important as the image we are ableto use another vogue wordto project.(John Algeo and Thomas Pyles, The Origins and Development of the English Language, 5th ed. Thomson, 2005)FeedbackFeedback. In its rigorous scientific sense, feedback is the return to an input of part of its output, so as to provide self-corrective action. Feedback is a vogue word in a loose sense for which response would be a perfectly adequate alternative, as in we got a lot of valuable feedback on our advertising campaign.(Ernest Gowers, et al. The Complete Plain Words, rev. ed. David R. Godine, 1988)How to Resist Vogue WordsThe best way to offset the harm of vogues is to stick resolutely, in speech and writing, to each vogue words central meaning. Addre ss an audience or a postcard, but not a problem or a question. Call a substance or a temperament volatile, but not an issue or a situation. Express sympathy far and wide, but keep empathy for aesthetics or psychiatry. Remember Tiny Tim and avoid naming things minuscule or minimal.(Jacques Barzun, Simple Direct: A Rhetoric for Writers. Harper Row, 1975)

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Digital Divide in UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Digital Divide in UK - Essay Example It is right for countries like UK to consider their efforts to tackle the digital divide. More than ten years on from the trendy emergence of the opinion, the digital divide remains an imperative issue that requires renewed attention2. Today, we would argue strappingly against abandoning the digital divide as a feasible area for social intrusion. There is substantial evidence that the digital divide is neither dying through the maneuverings of the market, or being made out of date by improvements in technological developments; nor are the digital inequalities firmly following the well-established lines of social injustice and general inequality3. As such, we would vie that the digital divide has continued to be the most significant social concern of recent times. In addition, it is a social issue that can be addressed by concerned stakeholders and concerned policy makers in the knowledge economy or information society – albeit requiring a carefully coherent loom to any interve ntion. The social rooted and complex nature of issues has prompted a logical reticence amongst sections of the IT industry and community policy, to feel that they are capable of engineering meaningful and sustained change when it comes to folks’ ICT use4. ... This means the use of ICTs when necessary and where applicable. Details of the Digital-divide   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Causes The disparities in the use of information technology should not be assumed to be motionless in nature as individuals drop in and out of ICT rendezvous at different levels in life course as their state of affairs change6. Additional techno-utopian stakeholders go on storing substantial faith in power of market forces to ultimately lead to full dissemination of ICT use pretending that, its use will eventually spread from early adopters to succeeding majorities of users in the due itinerary of time7. Many in the IT industry and policy community consider the digital divide as a dead issue, not laudable intervention of policy8. This has resulted to suggestions that, the digital divide is a historical object of 1990s and nothing like ‘last century concern’9. The primary challenge affecting policy makers is matching the affordances of ICT with daily needs, desir es and interests of individuals. In this respect, the digital divided demands a complex set of responses which go beyond increasing levels of support and hardware provision, and then pretending the breach to have been bridged. Current scenario The research carried out currently shows that, improving access will help in bridging the digital divide to some extent. Motivation and interest are the biggest barriers to accessing information and communication technology. Lack of perceived need follows this category. From the results of the analysis, 53 % of the grown up people who never use the internet say that, they â€Å"do not need to, want to, or do not have an interest.†10

Friday, October 18, 2019

The Suicide Attacks on September 11, 2001 Essay

The Suicide Attacks on September 11, 2001 - Essay Example By the end of the day, close to 3000 people had lost their lives and the government had declared a war on the terrorist groups, in what could be termed as a paradigm shifting moment in US history (David, 2007). This paper is a critical evaluation of the events which occurred on this day and the aftermath. The suicide attacks on September 11, 2001 September 11 attacks, also known as 911 attacks, will always linger in the minds of Americans, who were the direct victims of 4 coordinated suicide assaults, which took place in two cities i.e. New York and Washington, in the morning of September 11, 2001 (David, 2007). At first, there were beliefs that the attacks were orchestrated by the al-Qaeda terrorist network but these were later confirmed by the then leader of this network, Osama bin Laden, who had denied those allegations at first. This was a unique occurrence based on the fact that they defied the norm with regard to the manner in which the network carried it out. The most common s uicide attacks involved individuals delivering explosives and detonating them once they were at the enclosure of their target. In this case, they opted to utilize hijacked air planes as their weapon of destruction. 4 planes were hijacked by the terrorists meaning that they had already identified 4 possible targets and as it later turned out, they included the Pentagon, the world trade center which had twin towers i.e. the north and south towers, and another target, which was alleged to be the white house (David, 2007). The hijacked airplanes comprised of; American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, which were traveling from Boston to Los Angeles, American Airlines Flight 77, which was travelling from Dulles to Los Angeles and United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco (Lee, 2002). According to reports, these air planes combined had a total of approximately 246 passengers, 19 hijackers and approximately 33 crew members, figures which are said to be extreme ly low based on the fact that the planes had a total carrying capacity of approximately 694 passengers. Some reports tend to suggest that there was a possibility that the booking process had been manipulated allegedly to reduce the number of casualties (Spiegel, 2002). At approximately 08.46 hrs local time, flight 11 was crashed into the 96th floor of the north tower, killing all those on board while flight 175 was crashed into the south tower at around 9:30 am, which was about 44 minutes after the first crash. Flight 77 on the other hand was crashed into pentagon at around 9:37 am while flight 93 clashed in Pennsylvania at around 10:30 am. Apparently, passengers aboard flight 93 wrestled with the hijackers in an attempt to seize the control of the flight as they had become aware of the crashes that took place earlier during the day but on realizing their mission had been compromised, the terrorists decided to crash the plane so to avoid losing its control and probably get arrested by the US government (Lee, 2002). The north tower of the world trade center succumbed to the crash and collapsed after approximately 1hour 20 min from the time of impact, while the south tower burned for approximately 1 hour before giving in and collapsing. The result of these attacks was that 2996 people lost

Buy American Act for Government contracts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Buy American Act for Government contracts - Essay Example Particular materials under regulations include â€Å"iron, steel, and manufactured goods† (Zirkelbach, 2009, p. 7). The regulations only allows for use of non domestic materials if either the materials are not â€Å"produced in America† in the required quantity or quality, application of domestic materials will be up to at least twenty five percent more expensive and if application of domestic products will contravene public interest. Any waiver on the mentioned grounds must however be reported in writing. BAA regulations however exempt some countries, countries with trade ties to the United States. These countries enjoy the benefits as though their products were manufactured in the United States. The Buy America act rules have further put more restriction over allowance on construction materials that are products of ‘non-domestic’ raw materials. The raw materials, under BAA, must be at least fifty percent domestic (Zirkelbach, 2009). The provisions of Buy American Requirements are unfair to other countries whose materials are restricted from being used in constructing the United States’ public facilities. The act discriminates against these countries and their enterprises. The regulations specifically undermines developing countries, and their enterprises, that might not be in a position to produce the materials in large quantities, as large as could not be produced by the United States domestic market (Lipsey and Chrystal, 2007). A free market economy is identified by influence of buyers and sellers only, as opposed to government imposed regulatory measures for controlling the economy. Application of the Buy American requirements act, together with its aim of facilitating the ARRA’s goals of strengthening the United States’ economy therefore contradicts the the spirit of capitalism. Policies for a capitalistic economy would for example be aimed at liberating regulations that limits

System analyst Career Managment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

System analyst Career Managment - Essay Example This would be my short term goal. Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities are fundamental skills needed for Systems Analysts (Fisher, 2007). Good communication skills are likewise important, because analysts need to explain complex technological concepts and models to management or clients (Fisher 2007). Working with clients requires good people skills. Most systems analysts possess an I.T. related bachelor’s degree such as computer science or information technology. Two years ago, I was able to secure a job as a Sales/Repair in an Internet Cafe in South London. My work included working with different equipments including computers. The experience enhanced my knowledge of computers. I have also worked as a teacher of students of all ages in summer school (2003). The experience exposed me to dealing with people from different backgrounds. In addition, I was chairman for a youth organisation in Stockholm Sweden for a year (2005-2006). This youth organisation, run by the youth themselves, chose me as a chairman because, according to them, they believed I have the right skills for the job. This experience developed my leadership skills because it gave me the self-confidence and determination. My personal assessment is that I am a good listener and I take criticisms constructively. Listening is an important trait of a good leader. My listening skills were developed through active participation in group projects in school. I believe this experience is important to my future career as a systems analyst as it has developed my ability to work with other people. Furthermore, the ability to listen and communicate well with other people is one key trait that a successful systems analyst possesses (Morn 2005). As far as my weaknesses are concerned, I feel that my written communication skills could be improved. Written communication will be important in the attainment of my career goals. For example, it will be useful

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Development of Total Quality Management in Higher Education Dissertation

Development of Total Quality Management in Higher Education - Dissertation Example The result of administrative developments is one which then begins to change the level of quality which takes place, specifically with the roles of teachers that are within the institution. Developing an understanding of the administrative roles and how this affects the total quality management within a school system also develops a deeper understanding of what is needed within an educational program to create the correct responses among teachers. The way in which administrators define and approach their role has a direct effect on teachers, specifically with the approach to different needs and development within the educational system. The importance is based on the administrative standards creating a sense of sustainability for teachers and with the overall platform of education (Lozano, 2011). By understanding the role of administrators for total quality management, there is also the ability to have a deeper understanding of the changes which this creates with teaching and needs f or teachers. The understanding of total quality management and the effects which this holds with teachers from the administration is the main aim that will be defined in this research study. The research question will ask what the effect of total quality management from administration creates among teachers.... ociated with total quality management among administration Defining ways in which total quality management effects teachers both positively and negatively Understanding how total quality management can be altered to change the effects on teachers The association with this research study will be to define and understand the main difficulties which are associated with total quality management as well as what the effects are on teachers that are expected to work with administrators for various needs. By defining the gaps that are created, there is the ability to understand and relate to the total quality management within the higher educational system for improvements with both the administrative duties and the expectations which are often not met by teachers. 1.2 Background Information Higher education is one which is now considered an institution which one is able to be a part of to move toward a career and other factors that are associated with society. The importance of the institut ion is one which is based on the ability for students to receive the correct level of education while developing a stronger association with the educational system. The nature of the institution is one which demands specific levels of quality to be reached, specifically through monitoring and changes with policies and procedures that take place among administrators and teachers. It is noted that the particular association with total quality management has a direct effect on the teaching levels that are associated with the institution as well as the type of learning which occurs among students in the classroom (Law, 2010). Creating the correct foundation then becomes essential to developing the right environment for both learning and teaching. The concept of total quality management is one

William F. Baker Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

William F. Baker - Essay Example This is because both of his late grandfathers were also engineers though their fame did not equal that of Baker as a skyscraper designer. In his early schooling, Baker used to excel in Maths, Physics and History though before his graduation he had no idea of what he wanted to study while in University (Baker, 2010). Baker’s strong desire to pursue engineering as a career started after undergoing aptitude test confirmation where he proceeded to the University of Missouri and graduated in 1975 (Baker, 2010). Equipped with a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering, Baker worked for various oil companies in 1970s though he decided to quit within a very short time to pursue Masters Degre (Wallace, 2011). To his peers, Baker seemed to have made a wrong decision but in he knew better than they did (Wallace, 2011). This is by going back to school to study Masters in Structural Engineering at the University of Illinois (Wallace, 2011). Baker’s Masters Degree was extremely deman ding due to the course’s many subjects supposed to equip him with right knowledge concerning how to tackle varied tasks that characterized his field of specialization. After graduating, Baker joined Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP (SOM) firm whose staff comprised of talented experts from his former school (Baker, 2010). Here he worked under the supervision of Fazlur Khan who also mentored him on how to design and evaluate tallest buildings besides other structures. Consequently, this was revelation to the young Baker who by then he hardly knew that experience acted as a preparation for great, complex and fascinating projects in future, for instance, Burj Dubai Tower (Baker, Pawlikowski & Young, 2009). Throughout his career, Baker has always collaborated with other numerous and different experts like architects while undertaking extremely involving design projects (Baker, Pawlikowski & Young, 2009). 2. Problem / Issue identification Baker was a structural engineer, but most of his works required architects’ intervention, especially when he was drawing certain figures that entailed refined details. The two fields’ core role encompasses producing effective structural designs that will support and ensure safety to all people. This is by ensuring the load of every designed structure can adequately withstand varied inevitable natural forces, for instance, wind and gravity (Baker, 2010). This study seeks to relay Baker’s experience, expertise and career achievements that have prompted him to the most renowned structural engineer in the world (Baker, Pawlikowski & Young, 2009). Literature Review Mainly, Baker’s major role in every designing project encompasses coming up with a strong and effective plan that will not only meet client’s aesthetic value, but also ensure evenly distribution of the entire structure’s weight. The designing of the entire structure that will be free from adverse effects resulting from gravity a nd wind is the task that cannot be complete without the intervention of architects. This is evident in the recent completed Burj Dubai Tower which, according to Baker and his team, comprises one of the current famed breakthroughs. According to Baker, for a skyscraper to meet client’s specifications, it ought to fulfill key inevitable engineering principles. These are insignificant for the client, but experts must employ them while erecting the required structure as per the stated specifications. For instance, Burj’s design had to be efficient, considerable wide base to support the expected load but narrow enough such that the building is economically viable (Baker, 2010). Therefore, the building despite designed to meet all the client’

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Development of Total Quality Management in Higher Education Dissertation

Development of Total Quality Management in Higher Education - Dissertation Example The result of administrative developments is one which then begins to change the level of quality which takes place, specifically with the roles of teachers that are within the institution. Developing an understanding of the administrative roles and how this affects the total quality management within a school system also develops a deeper understanding of what is needed within an educational program to create the correct responses among teachers. The way in which administrators define and approach their role has a direct effect on teachers, specifically with the approach to different needs and development within the educational system. The importance is based on the administrative standards creating a sense of sustainability for teachers and with the overall platform of education (Lozano, 2011). By understanding the role of administrators for total quality management, there is also the ability to have a deeper understanding of the changes which this creates with teaching and needs f or teachers. The understanding of total quality management and the effects which this holds with teachers from the administration is the main aim that will be defined in this research study. The research question will ask what the effect of total quality management from administration creates among teachers.... ociated with total quality management among administration Defining ways in which total quality management effects teachers both positively and negatively Understanding how total quality management can be altered to change the effects on teachers The association with this research study will be to define and understand the main difficulties which are associated with total quality management as well as what the effects are on teachers that are expected to work with administrators for various needs. By defining the gaps that are created, there is the ability to understand and relate to the total quality management within the higher educational system for improvements with both the administrative duties and the expectations which are often not met by teachers. 1.2 Background Information Higher education is one which is now considered an institution which one is able to be a part of to move toward a career and other factors that are associated with society. The importance of the institut ion is one which is based on the ability for students to receive the correct level of education while developing a stronger association with the educational system. The nature of the institution is one which demands specific levels of quality to be reached, specifically through monitoring and changes with policies and procedures that take place among administrators and teachers. It is noted that the particular association with total quality management has a direct effect on the teaching levels that are associated with the institution as well as the type of learning which occurs among students in the classroom (Law, 2010). Creating the correct foundation then becomes essential to developing the right environment for both learning and teaching. The concept of total quality management is one

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

The buying back of shares is a dangerous financial strategy as it Essay

The buying back of shares is a dangerous financial strategy as it increases the company's capital gearing. Evaluate this - Essay Example There are different motives that would attract the companies to buy back the shares and there are different techniques that can be used to go through the process of stock repurchase. Different techniques that can are used by the companies for their stock buy-back are as follow: Company offers to purchase the shares from their shareholders at a premium price thus it gives value to them and extra return over price they actually had paid for the shares when they were bought. Companies often buy back their shares from the open market like an ordinary investor purchasing shares and making investment. It is often seen that the market and shareholders perceive the decision of the company to buy back the shares as a positive move and shareholders expecting higher returns stimulates stock price of the company (Larry, 1981). Motives for stock buyback Different circumstances and requirements of business conditions can influence management of share repurchase. Such motivating factors along with their reasons are discussed below: Market perception It is the perception of the shareholders and potential investors that exists in the market matters for future of company. Company is believed to use capital or extra finance available to them to buy back its shares thus giving the perception in market that there shareholders would be valued as they are provided the opportunity to trade possessed shares at the premium price (Udo & Richard, 2003). Thus removing any negative market perceptions that the stock price of the company has fallen and they have low future expectancy that what effects dealing of shares in market. It is often due to low earnings reported by the company in past some period, its operations effected by some scandal or lawsuit thus the share buyback is used as an option to remove any negative perceptions that are prevailing regarding the company in the market (David, et al., 1995). It is becomes necessary for the company to make the share buyback as market due to such instances and incidents might value the share price way low and shares are being traded at value that is below the expectancy of company thus in order to keep a standard for their shares in market and keeping value for their shareholders alive however it is believed that hike in share prices through this approach is of nominal period (Mansor, et al., 2011). Financial Ratios It is a usual practice in the market adopted by the investors before making any investment they make decisions on the basis of research and evaluation of the companies that are seem potential for the investment. Financial ratios of the company are most basic and foremost results that are used for the evaluation of the company. It is part of rational decision making of the investor as they evaluate their choice of investment before making the final decision (Amy, 2000). Thus share buyback can be the part of an accounting technique to get the desired results for the company as however it is the personal financ e of the company that they utilize to buy-back the shares thus it is confidence that the companies have on their abilities that makes them repurchase the outstanding shares that are either absorbed or turned to treasury stock. Thus the purchase reduces assets of company as it is the cash that is being paid for purchase of the shares therefore one of most important