The Autonomous Factors

This model demonstrates that the autonomous factors are unite on the left side and the reliant variable is joined on the correct side of the model. In this table all the free factors are centering or specifically influencing the reliant variable and the needy variable is client maintenance. The theory for this exploration is given underneath:2.7 ResearchHypothesis Following are the exploration theory of the examination: H1: Service quality has positive effect on the client maintenance. H0: Service quality has no positive effect on the client maintenance. H2: Customer fulfillment has positive effect on the client maintenance. H0: Customer Satisfaction has no positive impact on client maintenance. H3: Customer reliability has positive impact on the client maintenance. H0: Customer reliability has no positive effect on the client maintenance. H4: Environment   has positive effect on the client maintenance. H0: Environment has no positive impact on the client maintenance.3. MethodologyIn this exploration the easygoing examination has been utilized to clarify the impact of the free factors (benefit quality, consumer loyalty, client steadfastness, condition t) on the needy variable (client retention).The information for this exploration has been taken from 300 members by utilizing the instructive and mental estimation table (Krejcie, Robert 1970) . Add up to number of 160 surveys from out of 300 was returned which were totally and accurately filled by the members which were worthy for the investigation to go ahead. In this examination the helpful testing is been utilized to gather information from the members to bear on the exploration.3.1 InstrumentsIn this paper we have utilized the strategy which was beforehand embraced in the examinations, the poll was made out of aggregate 19 questions. First4 questions were of individual statistic and remaining 15 were of the 5 factors which were utilized as a part of this paper. Measurable bundle for sociologies (SPSS) rendition 20.0 was utilized for the investigation of the factors gathered through the survey.3.2 DateAnalysis procedures Unwavering quality examination is utilized as a part of this paper to check the dependability of the poll. As it is said in the past investigations that dependability examination acknowledgment run is over 0.70(Nunnally, 1978) . Pearson connection examination is utilized to check the connection between the diverse factors. What's more, the direct relapse investigation is utilized to discover the impact of the autonomous factors on the reliant factors.4. DataAnalysis and Results The Frequency table demonstrates that the information gathered from respondents incorporate 60% male and 40% female. Table no.1 Elucidation Keeping in mind the end goal to confirm the entomb thing consistency of things, Cronbach's alpha test was keep running on spss. The Cronbach's alpha test is utilized to recognize that how much our reactions on our examination are solid .The Cronbach's alpha shows esteems in above table including the estimation of every factor .The qualities are above to the standard esteem proposed by (Nummally, 1978) of 0.70, which exhibits that our instrument is dependable and we can irrefutably apply different measurable tests and decipher the results with assurance. Understanding Connection test was actualized to break down the connection between factors. Connection table proposed every one of the factors were emphatically associated to customer buy goal. The most connected variable was CL having Pearson Correlation estimation of r(120) = .648, p

Effects of Having a Boyfriend/Girlfriend Essay

Introduction Do you know what the use of boyfriend/girlfriend? As a student , do you keep on falling in love? Being love by someone can help the student to admire life? Significance of the study This study is about the negative and positive effectiveness of having a boyfriend/girlfriend and its part can be a self concern to enhance the capacity of the students to learn in balancing their time in having a boyfriend/girlfriend, This is a small contribution to the students concerning about its self. The goal of this research paper is to help the students to see how the lovelife can change their life , whether positive or negative. The paper is also designed to gather the opinion of the students on how they look at their love life. The output of this project can be a source material for future improvement. Statement of the Problem see more:effects of having a romantic relationship while studying This study intends to investigate the negative and positive effectivity of having a boyfriend/girlfriend to junior students of St. Thomas Academy Specifically , this study aims to answer the following questions: a.) Does having a boyfriend/girlfriend help them a lot? b.) Does it affect their life here at school or outside of the school? c.) Do their behavior change when they feel love? d.) Are they aware of the consequences of having a boyfriend/girlfriend will bring? e.) Do they understand the true meaning of love in their boyfriend/girlfriend? Scope and limitation of the study The scope of this study are the juniors or the 3rd year students of St. Thomas Academy. The researcher chose them because as far as the researcher see almpst all of the 3rd year students are having a boyfriend/girlfriend. The respondents have more experience in having it. The limitation of this study are only those students ithat are already have or already had a bf/gf and they are the only who are allowed to participate in the research.

Christian and Wiccan beliefs Essay

Two miles south of where Mary Anne lived, I encountered Sheila, a 36 year old self-professed astrology and tarot card reader working part-time for a local pharmacy. My initial data revealed that Sheila belonged to the Wiccan Rede principle which is currently considered radical among traditional Wiccan groups. Fortunately, Sheila was at home on her day-off and was talking animatedly with a client in her front porch. While waiting for her client to leave, I was allowed to wander around her house which was surrounded by huge trees making her home look gloomy. After a few minutes, I was ushered in and Sheila welcomed me graciously knowing full well about my intentions. She began by explaining how their group had grown lesser over the years as the other wiccan practitioners complained on the religious incorporation of Christian and Wiccan beliefs. Sheila added that the element of Wicca which includes fertility and reincarnation is incorporated in the key points of the divinity of Jehovah, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit as retained from Christianity that was also quoted in Guiley (1999). According to her, the combination of two religions, which was traditionally at odds with one another, is frequently criticized by members of other wiccan sects. For her, there is no other One God as the greatest and the Lord of all and that the Earth is the Goddess of common Wicca. She has equated the Holy Spirit as a Feminine deity that may be regarded as the Great Mother Goddess similar to the Christian thought. With this in mind, she showed me a picture of the Madonna and Child and claimed that the Holy Spirit is actually embodied in the Virgin Mary. Their small liberalized group was initiated by the BTW or the British Traditional Witchcraft coven. They were widely criticized according to her because many Wiccan practitioners consider Christianity to be incompatible with the pagan philosophy. She added that the merging of Christian and pagan beliefs was considered a lambaste to the Wiccan religion since the Christian faith is male-dominated and an insufficient acceptance of true Wiccan belief. She explained that Wicca, as a ditheistic religion may contain a male god and female goddess giving equal emphasis to the aspects of both divine beings. Admittedly, she said that the principal tenets of Christian Wicca elevate the status of a God which altogether makes it different as there is no equality between the male and female according to Guiley (1999). In the elements of nature symbolically represented by different objects, the Christian wicca believes in the instance of crystals and stones as objects for the element earth, and seashells for the water element in Salomonsen (2002). Sheila added that their group also worships and observes the eight sabbats of the year and the full moon. Most of the practitioners in their group may practice in solitaries but do attend gatherings and other community events but reserve other rituals when they are alone. Their initiation into a coven begins with a one-year study before the actual initiation that spins a religious dedication. She related her initial experience at the thrill of being able to join the coven six years ago which had been a long time dream for her. She had already ventured in yoga and Asian Buddhism before finally exploring the Christian wicca. Sheila unlike Mary Ann does not want to show me her altar and her wares but pointed out a small hut beside the family house as her â€Å"solitary camp† to prevent family members from disturbing her. For Sheila, wicca should not be mistaken for witchcraft as they are simply a religion with ethical standards to live by.

Health Care Associated Infections Essay

Did you know that healthcare associated infections are in the top ten leading causes of death in the United States? According to Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2010), â€Å"Healthcare-associated infections, also known as HAI’s are the most common complication of hospital care, resulting in 1.7 million infections and ninety-nine thousand deaths each year.† It is unfortunate that so many people suffer each year from infections that could be easily prevented. Slide2 Today my goal is to share some information with you about Healthcare associated infections and hopefully together we can all make a difference by reducing these alarming statistics. To start off I’m going to explain what Healthcare Associated Infections are and then I will go over the different types. Next I am going to go over a couple of the more common pathogens in healthcare associated infections. Following that I would like to talk about the preventive measure that all health care workers should be following to prevent future Healthcare associated infections. (Slide 3) According to Wilkinson and Treas (2011), A Healthcare Associated Infection is an infection related to healthcare given in any setting such as a hospital, during home-care, long-term care, and ambulatory settings. Infections may be spread from one patient to another simply because the healthcare provider failed to wash their hands or wear the proper personal protective equipment. Infections are also commonly spread by devises used during a medical procedure and anything else the patient may come in contact with that has not been properly cleaned such as a call bell or side rail. For instance say you have a patient with MRSA and one of their family members leave the room failing to wash their hands, goes to the front desk to ask for a glass of water for the patient in the mean time she placed her contaminated hands on the desk. Following that a nurse stops by the front desk also placing her hands on the desk then goes in to see a patient and fails to wash her hands prior to patient contact. Now we have just spread the infection and sadly another patient has acquired a healthcare associated infections. Patients whom acquire healthcare associated infections typically have longer duration of recovery time and medical cost are increased drastically. There are many different types of Healthcare Associated Infections, there is Surgical Site Infection (SSI), Central Line Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLABSI), catheter associated infection (UTI), and ventilator associated phenomena (VAP). (Slide 4) Surgical Site Infection A surgical site infection, also known as SSI, is an infection that occurs after surgery in whatever part of a person’s body that the surgery took place. There are three main types of SSI’s. There is superficial incision SSI, which transpires between the integument and subcutaneous tissue. Next is deep incision SSI, taking place at deep tissues such as muscles. The third type is called organ/space SSI, which occurs inside the body at an organ or the open space inside the body around the surgical site. All Surgical infections typically occur within thirty days of the surgical procedure expect in cases of implants, which then surgical site infections can take place with in one year. According to the Center of Disease Control (2012), infections develop in about 1 to 3 out of every 100 patients who have surgery. These infections are not only lengthening hospital stays, but adding unnecessary medical expenses, and are also responsible for unnecessary deaths and long-term disa bilities. (Slide 5) CLABSI Another type of Healthcare associated infection occurs at a central line also known as a catheter line, which is a tube used to draw blood, give medication or fluids through a large vein such as the jugular vein or subcalavian vein. A central line associated blood stream infection is caused when bacteria, or any type of germ enters the blood from the central line, which then causes an infection in the blood stream. –Slide 6- According to The American Surgeon (2011) Nosocomial blood stream infections are one of the leading causes of death in United States hospitals. As stated in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2012), In 2011 there were thirty-seven central line associated blood stream infections reported at Halifax Health Medical Center. (Slide 7) CA-UTI A different type of Healthcare related infection is a catheter associated urinary track infection. This type of infection occurs when the patient has a urinary catheter in place and bacteria or fungus travel up the tubing. The infection can take place any where in the urinary system from the urethra to the kidneys. The longer the patient has the catheter in place the more they are at risk for getting a UTI. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that one in ever two thousand patients who were cared for at Bert Fish Memorial in New Smyrna Beach acquired a catheter associated infection. (Slide 8) VAP Then there are the ventilator-associated phenomena’s, which is an infection that occurs in the lungs due to contaminated ventilation equipment. Patients who are on ventilators are already weakened due to another form of illness and their immune systems are typically compromised making it difficult for their bodies to cope with trying to fight yet another issue. According to Wilkinson and Treas (2011), ventilator associated infection are associated with high mortality rate. Last year alone there were approximately thirty-six thousand reported cases of ventilator-associated infections. (Slide 9) Pathogens Two of the more common types of pathogens in nosocomial infections are Coagulase-negative staphylococci also known as CoNS and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus also known at MRSA. CoNS typically causes catheter related ifections since catheters are not easly removed and cleaned it often makes it complicated to treat. CoNS are also known to be resistant to most forms of antibiotics. According to the European Journal Of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (2011), CoNS infection prolongs treatment with antibiotics and hospital stay by approximately twelve days or up to two and a half weeks. MRSA is a staph germ that is difficult to cure. If MRSA enters the blood stream it can spread any where through out the body, including bones, and organs. According to Clinical Infectious Disease (2012) MRSA infections kill nineteen thousand hospitalized American patients annually. Out of all the MRSA cases, 86% of them are healthcare aquired. (Slide 10) Preventive measures All of these infections could be prevented if we take initiative to follow the proper protocol. One the simplest and most important preventive measures is washing your hands before and after entering a client’s room. Sadly many health providers fail to do this. These infections could be prevented as long as the healthcare team uses proper aseptic techniques. In 2010 Florida’s Department of Health started up a program called the HAI prevention program. One of their main goals is to prevent and decrease the healthcare related infection rates in Florida’s hospitals and long-term care facilities. With in a five-year period the US Department of Health and Human Services plans on reducing Blood stream infections in Florida by 50-70%. That’s a good start, but I believe we should all strive to eliminate all healthcare related infections. A few preventive measures are, if a medical supply accidentally becomes contaminated through it out and start fresh, as soon as our patients are well enough to have catheters removed notify the doctor so that they can be removed promptly, and always wash your hands before and after patient contact and remind others to wash their hands as well. (Slide 11) Conclusion In closing I am sad to say it, but many healthcare providers are in violation of the first rule of health care, Do No Harm. Our patients are coming to us to be relieved of their illnesses not to acquire new ones. So if we could all just follow the simple preventive measures such as washing our hands before and after assisting our patients we all can make a difference. Just think that fifteen seconds it took you to wash your hands may have just saved a life. References Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2010) Ending healthcare-associated infections. Retrieved from http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/haicusp.htm Boucher, H. & Corey, R. (2008). Epidemiology of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Oxford Journals. 46(5), 344-349. Retrieved from http://cid.oxfordjournals.org Florida state plan to address healthcare-associated infections. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/HAI/pdfs/stateplans/fl.pdf Kordek, A. (2011). Concentrations of procalcitonin and C-reactive protein, white blood cell count, and the immature-to-total neutrophil ratio in the blood of neonates with nosocomial infections: Gram-negative bacilli vs coagulase-negative staphylococci. European Journal Of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases: Official Publication Of The European Society Of Clinical Microbiology, 30(3), 455-457. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/ Smith, J., Egger, M., Franklin, G., Harbrecht, B., & Richardson, J. (2011). Central line- associated blood stream infection in the critically ill trauma patient. The American Surgeon, 77(8), 1038-1042. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost Wilkinson. & Treas. (2011). Fundamentals Of Nursing. Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis.

Gender Essay

The history of gender and American policy is one crafted and based on historical events and changes in the men’s and societies’ view of women, especially as regards their roles in influencing policy change’s and implementation. According to scholars women roles for the past two centuries have improved remarkably if current events are to go by. Apparently, the study of gender as regards American foreign policy is a completely new aspect which has metamorphosed over the ages to became a crucial and significant approach of analyzing America’s foreign policies as regards, contribution to war, politics, economics and culture. In essence gender studies indicate the expectations, that the society holds to the different genders and the roles each group play. Dating back to the biblical times, the issue of gender and more so gender imbalance having been predominant in our society is, one coined on the society’s understanding and expectation of the male and female members of the society. It’s upon this that women over the ages have found themselves, marooned and dominated by men in major policies that have affected the society especially as regards warfare, diplomacy and violence. From ancient Greek, Roman, Babylonian empires, women have often being regarded as a weak gender compared to men, this has quite often led to maltreatment and abuse of women by the dominant male specie Braudy states â€Å"certainly the tradition of allying weakness with women and strength with men is a long one† (328). Its upon this conceptual thought that women have been destined, to play if any, a minimal role in matters of war. However it’s the statement of scholars and historians that though regarded as a marginalized group and less often actively involved in war, women â€Å"occupy a privileged place as an alternative source of national moral strength† (Braudy 328). In essence a good woman was always portrayed as pliant, submissive and subordinate. Thus the concept of gender imbalance has been with us for long, this was especially portrayed by the remarks and views held by male and society as regards women. For instance some scholars portrayed them as a â€Å"savagery within civilization† and as Braudy, states a â€Å"source of both fascination and disgust† (328). This is vehemently expressed by the 19th century view of women menstruation as a wound. However scholars do agree that progress has been witnessed over the ages as regards women role in society as research show that women have tremendously established themselves as a dominant force in society though, they still lack behind in a world where war, politics, economics, diplomacy issues are dominated by male. It’s thus upon this views that women remain less actively involved in war. According to scholars women have partly participated in wars and hence as history shows wars have been attributed to men. So is war a man’s affair. War and especially violence was, and still continues, to be a man’s affair in that men have always been attributed to intolerance and aggressive behavior, which is replicated in the art of war. Barash, states â€Å"if we could eliminate or even significantly reduce male violence we would pretty much get rid of violence† (1). For ages the art of war has been and still is dominated by men. For instance looking back at past war events ,its difficult to find any war which might have been instigated by a woman, on the contrary men have been responsible for all major wars and even violence related incidents in the society including genocide and homicide. Experts thus postulate that, war is a man’s affair in which men seek to dominate others, by the crudest of ways. It’s a concept that has been among the male species. The ancient warriors thus were taught to be strong and vicious, going contrally to that was risking ones sexuality in the sense that one would be braded as an â€Å"effeminate† a term often used to refer to men who were weak and coward. Thus it’s an agreed fact that a true warrior or man was identified on his possession of power attributed to ones manhood. Thus in order to show the effect of gender as regards war the male dominated societies used the most atrocious and ridiculous way such as castrating, homosexuality, masturbation and circumcision to humiliate individuals , thought to be weak, a trait that was attributed and reminisce of the women. This was done to portray other men as having qualities akin to women as demonstrated by the act of penetration. For instance during the ancient times homosexuality was used to render punishment on the male enemies. Sodomizing war captives was cogently used by Babylonians. Also studies indicate that war captives were treated on the basis of their gender in that women were raped, children enslaved while the males were subsequently killed and humiliated, in one incidence they were forced to masturbate while get the erect before being sodomized. This according to Trexler proofed to â€Å"show linkage between gender and humiliation in war fare† (20). By castrating the others scholars do ascertain that it was to be â€Å"a basic element in man’s fighting instincts. †(Trexler 19). To crowns it all, this acts were often instigated against other men in order to prove ones superiority over the others. Castrating and cutting the enemies manhood became a way of showing how the enemy had been subdued. This is depicted by the ancient Jewish society where warriors would cut their enemies private parts and foreskins to present to kings as a show of victory in war. In modern society violence and war is overwhelmingly dominated by male, for instance according to a researcher conducted in America, over 90% of homicide cases in America have been perpetrated by men. Moreover a great number of men are enlisted in the national army. What makes it more interesting is how terrorist groups are predominantly male established . In essence any where there is violence and war man is. It has thus been concluded that war is the art of man, as depicted by the studies of ancient history of warfare and current affairs. Barash cogently states that â€Å"what can be called killing establishment, soldiers, executioners, hunters, even slaughters is overwhelmingly male†(1). he concept of war and gender can thus be summarized as follows; war is a mans affair, violence and war is something that men direct at each other, men are the instigators and subsequently victims of their acts of violence, women are the victims of men’s warfare but not partakers or instigators and finally when people are murdered and slaughtered as in case of genocides and war, men are always the culprits. Religion and war According to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary religion re fers to a personal set or institutionalized set of religious beliefs, attitudes and practices. In that point, the debate over whether religion is responsible for the many wars witnessed in the history of mankind has continued to rage with both critics and proponents ascertaining their views and subsequently providing proofs to justify and authenticate their claims. Before understanding this issues it’s important thus to define war. According to Merriam –Webster online dictionary war is thus a state characterized by hostility, conflict, or antagonism Thus the concept of intermarriage between religion and war and especially its contribution to war, its one which has found favour in the ideologies of atheist and scientist as such. So does religion cause wars? Religion has been the greatest threat to mankind and thus it’s been the cause of many bloody confrontations. Charles Kimball, states â€Å"It is somewhat trite, but nevertheless sadly true, to say that more wars have been waged, more people killed, and these days more evil perpetrated in the name of religion than by any other institutional force in human history. †(1) This has often led to some critics of religion pointing that, if man is to live peacefully then religion should be scraped or rather the belief in God should be descanted. Timothy Fitzgerald quips that; â€Å"religion should be regarded as a form of mystification and scrapped† (26). The contemporary attitude on religious contribution to war arises due to a number of factors or rather reason that is religious conflicts, religious wars, religious ideologies based on teachings of some religions and modern fundamentalism attributed to different religious groups. It’s the statement of scholars that the history of religions contribution to war in modern world and as regards organized religions is to be traced to the Roman Catholic which was responsible for some of the greatest conflicts in history of mankind. During the dark reign of the Catholic Church in Europe many people were slaughtered and mercilessly killed due to their beliefs. According to Hitcher, the church has a history responsibility for the crusades, persecution of Catholics, Jews and deserters (17). Thus the Roman Catholic Church which represents Christianity is accountable for grave atrocities that culminated in the murder, persecution of millions of people based on its principle of heresy. It’s been the overwhelming statement and consensus of scholars that the blood birth witnessed during the dark reign of the church by far surpassed the jihads. Also the pope at the time is believed to have contributed tremendously in influencing major wars at the time. On another point, historians ascertain that, the competition for support and the fundamental believe that one religion is superior than the other has fueled animosity between religious groups, often leading to bloody confrontations that have often led to war. Moore in describing about this competition states â€Å"it had to be cruel in the general sense that any group identity is liable to be formed in hostile competition† (29). Its was this religious dreams of superiority that led to the Islamic conquest and expansion during the 18th century ,at that time, its estimated that millions of people were killed and others taken as slaves. This competition among religious groups has often led to war between the different opposing religions. For instance according to Price most of the greatest conflicts such as the Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Iraq and even 9/11 attack are as a result of religious differences. These facts are clearly demonstrated in the crusades that were responsible for fighting the spread of Islam in Europe . during this time the pope coined what was termed as â€Å"just war†. Thus it was believed that some wars were justifiable especially if it entailed safeguarding the very cores of the religion. On their part the Muslim desire for expansion was characterized by forced conversion through war commonly referred to as Jihad. What has come to be the greatest threat to mankind in this century it’s also attributed to religious fundamentalism . Following the aftermath of the 9/11, the world witnessed the rise of terrorism ,a new tool used by Muslim fanatics and which is based on Islamic fundamentalism though the 9/11 event has been regarded by some as not influenced by Islamic fundermentalism,the facts point to the contrary . For instance the known mastermind of the attack and the leader of Alquieda, Osama Bin Laden ,in his speech calling for the murder of citizens in western countries attributed his action to Islam and more so the holy book Koran. These proofs to show that despite the denials by some Islamic leaders, the calls of Osama seek to justify the views held by majority of the Islamic community. The Muslim have also used the word â€Å"Crusade† to describe the policy of western countries especially America to occupy Islamic states. This is a symbolic meaning to the crusades, organized to counter Islamic conquest during the 18th century. It’s thus the belief of scholars, that the Islamic fundamentalism is based on religious beliefs of Islamic faith though some Islamic scholars do oppose these beliefs. Scholars have thus argued that the terrorist attack on America that killed innocent civilians could not have happened if not for religious believes. The Palestinian and Jewish conflict has been continuing for long, this conflict has often led to bloody confrontation between the two groups. According to scholars this conflicts is the brain child of religious fundamentalism based on Islam and Judaism. Thus critics do argue that the history of enmity between this two religious groups, bases its root on hard core ideologies attributed to the groups religious affiliations, thus as long as the groups seek to identify themselves on religious background, it will be hard to tackle has been their for long hence as long as each group seeks to identify the other in terms of religious background, it will be hard to tackle. This conflict has led to the extend of isolating the Jewish state of Israel from the rest of Middle East countries with calls by some Muslim fanatics and religious leaders for the murder of Jewish citizens. It’s thus the statement of historians that the Yom Kippur war between Israel and other Arab countries was as result of religious differences. Thus critic’s quip that religion has led to nations forming alliances on bases of religious believes, thus leading to conflicts which have led to emergence of hardcore ideologies and conflicts across the world. It has also been said that, religion has been instrumental in influencing wars in Europe. for instance the French religious wars are attributed to religion , Holt, says â€Å"the French civil wars which began with the massacre at vassy in 1562 and concluded with peace of the alass 1629 was a conflict of religion†(56) Different religions also have been known to encourage war of such is the Buddhism religion in which the tales of Bhagavad-Gita are based on war and made to justify war as an act of self protection, in its case Judaism and especially the old testament depicted war as necessary in order to defend the convictions of their teaching, in the bible the Israelites who believe that they are Gods children and the chosen ones called on God to fight for their course According to some studies conducted it has further been established that some individuals use religion in order to advance their political ambitions ,for instance , having used Jews and Judaism as a ladder to ascend to political power Hitler gained the channel he so much needed to murder 6 million Jews, in our modern society prominent personalities and politician have been known to make grievous remarks based on religious conviction, the calling by Iranian president for complete annihilation of the state of Israel and calling of Musl ims to unite against Judaism that stands for the Jewish state of Israel is a sure way of describing how religion has been used to sphere head murder of innocent civilians. A true religious individual thus does not advocate for violence. Thus according to proponents of religion it has subsequently been ascertained that the absence of religion in the modern nations especially communist did not deter their leaders such as Stalin from leading any less violently.  Despite the growing claims that religion causes war, proponents and researchers have criticized, this claims by ascertaining that religion and especially organized religions are peaceful the teachings of most religion call for peaceful existence of individuals, this is depicted by the teachings of individuals who have been ardent followers of their respective religions. According to martin Luther king Jr, the knowledge of God brings inner peace, in his teaching also he advocated for tolerance and use of non violence. Also Gandhi one of the staunchest supporter and believer of Buddhism advocated for the use of non violence (ahisma) in his philosophies which have become instrumental in influencing the thoughts and ideas of modern leaders.

Richard Roepers Response to the Dove ad Campaign Essay

Richard Roepers Response to the Dove ad Campaign - Essay Example By using the real woman rather than the slim and shaped woman, in the advertisement was a different dimension of beauty in the real woman. The traditional believe about a beautiful woman is one who is slim and has a figure and those who are different are regarded as ugly, plump or unattractive. Richard Roeper, a famous columnist, developed a criticism of the Dove ad Campaign and suggested that the whole issue was a bad and a dishonest and hypocritical idea. This essay supports the idea of Roeper that the Dove ad Campaign was unsettling and unsubstantiated. The Dove ad campaign was launched little after a research that showed that only 4% of women were bold enough to regard themselves as beautiful in public. The low percentage shows that women have developed an inferior regard of themselves and that this has undermined their public confidence. The launch of this new image of a beautiful woman was aimed at bringing about a new image of the women as part of the responsibility of the med ia to model the beliefs of the society. From this point of view, this campaign was part of the media’s effort to change the idea of the people concerning the beauty of a woman. In this campaign, Unilever printed the images of the average woman and defined this as beauty, images that most men regarded as rather plump and shapeless (Tavris 209-241).

Stereolithography and photo polymerisation Essay

Stereolithography and photo polymerisation - Essay Example Some of the advantages associated with Stereolithography include its low costs, production of durable objects, efficiency and its high precision (BÃ ¡rtolo). Basically, the process of building an object using the Stereolithography entails the creation of a 3 – D model of the object using a desired CAD software, using a software such as lightyear in slicing the produced 3 – D model into series of horizontal slices (Thin slices). An ultraviolet sensor then scans the photosensitive resin’s top layer thus hardening it (Miles, Cillo and Sinn). This builds a new layer which is then attached and lowered below the surface covering the distance of one layer. A new layer is then coated on top of the previously scanned layer and the process repeated till the final product is produced. In the process of printing, a laser is used in drawing the models layers, each at a time, to a photopolymer resins and in the process, each layer is cured at a time. In this process, there is projection of light beam – UV light – in form of a laser on the resin at a specific point and as a result, the parts of the resins reacts and then solidifies. This is then followed by the laser drawing the object’s cross-section resulting in a hardened layer (Newnes). As seen in the above description of the process of the construction of an object using Stereolithography method, it can be seen that light plays an important role in the solidification of the photosensitive resins. The above description is based on a construction using the laser lithography (Stereolithography) but this can be achieved, also, using other technologies such as the Photo – Mask technology. The creation of objects using these technologies is based on the principle of Photopolymerisation. This section of the paper is dedicated to provide in - depth research on the principal of operation of Photopolymerisation. Photo – induced polymerization, otherwise known as Photopolymerisation involves the absorption of Ultra

Leadership and management style in practice king Abdullah of Saudi Essay

Leadership and management style in practice king Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and sir Alex Ferguson - Essay Example This essay discusses that one of the key priorities ‘for all Saudi monarchs in the 20th century has been the modernization of the country’; in the past, the country’s development had faced delays because of the lack of sufficient funds for supporting such initiatives. However, since the appearance of oil as the country’s major product, the improvement of the country’s position in the international community has been continuous; the above trend has been supported by all the country’s governors, including King Abdullah. King Abdullah was appointed as the ruler of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1996; probity was perceived to be one of his key characteristics. It was for this reason that his appointment as the country’s ruler was believed to help towards the update of the country’s practices in the international relations arena. More specifically, up to the appointment of King Abdullah as the ruler of Saudi Arabia, the kingdomâ€℠¢s policy in regard to its relations with the neighboring countries was strongly influenced by the views of the American governments on this field. Reference is made specifically to the development of efforts for ‘establishing peace with Israel by setting the term for the withdrawal of Israel from all territories occupied since 1967’. King Abdullah was the one who first doubted the effectiveness of such policy, criticizing the lack by American governments of sufficient monitoring and review of the relevant plan.  ... King Abdullah was appointed as the ruler of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1996; probity was perceived to be one of his key characteristics (The New York Times, 2010). It was for this reason that his appointment as the country’s ruler was believed to help towards the update of the country’s practices in the international relations arena. More specifically, up to the appointment of king Abdullah as the ruler of Saudi Arabia, the kingdom’s policy in regard to its relations with the neigbouring countries was strongly influenced by the views of the American governments on this field. Reference is made specifically to the development of efforts for ‘establishing piece with Israel by setting the term for the withdrawal of Israel from all territories occupied since 1967’ (The New York Times 2010). King Abdullah was the one who first doubted the effectiveness of such policy, criticizing the lack by American governments of sufficient monitoring and review of the relevant plan (The New York Times 2010). In this way, the ability of King Abdullah to use his power for enforcing the role of his country within the international community was made clear. Another important challenge that the King Abdullah had to face was the control of the negative criticism towards Saudi Arabia after the events of the September the 11th – where ’15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis’ (The New York Times 2010). The king had to establish a series of measures for improving the image of Saudi Arabia globally – which was severely harmed because of the practice of Saudi governors in the past to show tolerance to the development of extremism across the country (The New York Times 2010). In other words, the key advantage of king Abdullah compared to the country’s governors in the past

The Case of Discount Department Stores and Fenwick Essay

The Case of Discount Department Stores and Fenwick - Essay Example In the field of accounts and finance, internal control systems are essential to ensure accountability and transparency. Through the use of internal control system, it is easy to detect and prevent fraud, and errors. From the case study, it can be noted that at Grapevine stores things used to be operated the way anyone felt could suit him. The following are the missing internal controls; control environment, control activities, monitoring activities, and risk management. According to, (Hightower, 2009), internal controls reinforce the flow of activities in accounting and ensure accountability and responsiveness is achieved. Mr. Fenwick will conduct an assessment on the internal control mechanism adopted by the Grapevine Store and offer recommendations to make it robust. The missing internal controls have been expounded in the discussion below. According to Steinhoff, (2001), a controlled environment builds a culture among the employees for them to operate within. Assessing Grapevine Stores this is not the case. It can be identified that the employees at that store used to perform financial and accounting processes based on their thought. It is in the interest of the Discount Department Stores to have uniformity in the reporting of financial status from individual stores. Grapevine conducted their processes differently from what is recommended. Mr. Fenwick noticed that three-quarters of money expected to go in their bank account was from credit cards and a quarter from currency and cheques. The act was contrary to the policies of Discount Department Stores which states that half of the money going to the bank account should be from currency and cheques, and the other half from credit cards. This can be the reason the store was closed. The store offered excess credit services to its client, who maybe defaulted the terms and failed to pay, resulting the store to record losses. The

Labor Relations in Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Labor Relations in Education - Essay Example Because the workers in the labor force are employed by other people, they are called employees. Not included are the self-employed--those who make their living from the fees they receive from their clients or patients. In the early days of industry most business and industrial organizations were run and managed by the people who owned them. As organizations grew larger, corporations were formed. A corporation is an organization in which a group of persons is permitted by law to act as one person. A corporation is permitted to sell shares of stock--representing ownership--in a business. In this way, many people outside an organization may actually own it. As corporations grow, it becomes necessary to hire people to manage them. These people work for salary, but their responsibilities are very much like those of the owner-manager. Their job is to represent the owner in running the business. They belong to management. Management, then, is the group of individuals within an organization that is responsible for setting goals and directing the production of goods or services. This group includes managers who are also owners of the company, as well as managers who are employed by the company. The owner or president and the top officials clearly belong to management, as do managers who represent the owner or those who run the organization. Agreement and Disagreement between Labor and Management Labor and management agree in some areas and disagree in others. Both have a common interest in a healthy economy. Both wish to see the economy grow, so that more goods and services are bought. This in turn means that more jobs are provided, bringing increased wages and salaries to the workers and increased profits to the owners. In an industry or business firm, labor and management have a common interest in producing goods or services that will sell. This means that they must be able to compete in quality, quantity, and price. (Lavan & Martin, 2008) Labor Unions A labor union is an organization of employees whose purpose is to bargain with an employer or a group of employers over pay and working conditions. Historically unions are traceable to the guilds of the Middle Ages, which operated chiefly to establish quality standards for products and prices that were "just "in the sense that they enabled master workmen to support their families at customary levels while also providing training for apprentices. Their English origins are closely linked to the "de-skilling" effects of the technology of the Industrial Revolution on workers, which altered the traditional hierarchy of skills and their associated wage levels. Nevertheless, it was not until the founding of the Trades Union Congress in 1868 and the subsequent passage of the Trade Union Act that the English labor movement flourished. By the late 1800s, British unions allied with socialists to establish the Independent Labor party (later the Labor party). (Carlton, 2007) Collective Bargaining Collective Bargaining, between employers and unions establishes formal rules governing work and conditions of employment. The term applies to negotiations about wages, hours, conditions of work, and fringe benefits, and

North American Agriculture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

North American Agriculture - Essay Example All three originated from the southern Mexico or MesoAmerican area. Squash is named after the Massachuset Indian word askutasquash, meaning "not cooked". Anthropologists think squash may be a major factor in the transition of native people from hunter/gatherers to growers. "The fruits of wild squash were easy to find and offered flesh, nutritious seed, edible flowers and even containersmade from a hard-shell squash known as gourd" (Gilmer, 1). Summer squash is known as Curcurbita pepo, winter squash and pumpkins are C. maxima or C. moschata. All three species are native to the Western Hemisphere. Beans are another of the oldest foods grown in North America and one of the oldest known to man. They have played a significant part in the diet of people for thousands of years. Beans were domesticated about 7000 years ago in both Peru and southern Mexico. Peru developed beans with bright colors and large seeds, while Mexico developed white and black beans with variations of patterns that were small seeded. The tribes in Mexico and Peru traveled across the continent spreading the beans and their techniques for growing these plants. As the New World was being discovered, many varieties of beans were already being successfully grown by the native people. Corn dates back to it's origin as a grass on the Mexican plateau 80,000 years ago. The grass was called teosinte and is believed to have been developed by the native population. The teosinte looked very different from today's corn with small kernels not fused into a husk on an ear like early maize and modern corn. Over time, Native Americans created maize through specialized cultivation. Grass grows in segments and the ears of maize were produced at the joints of the segments. Encouraging the growth of ears on the lower joints and only replanting kernels from those successful plants eventually adapted the crop to a shorter growing season and increased the yield. As the genetics of the plant were changed, its value as a food source increased. Native Americans discovered that maize could be grown, harvested, and dried, then ground into flour. "Surplus maize would be stored in underground storage pits, ingeniously constructed and lined with grasses" (Prindle 2), and used over the winter. Eventually the growing of maize along with beans and squash was adopted into the southwestern and southeastern regions of North America. Native people planted household gardens and larger fields next to their villages. The fields were made of small mounds of tilled earth about one foot high and 20 across, spaced about 4 feet apart and placed in rows or at random. Their method is to plant five to six kernels of corn in a small circle in the middle of the mound. As the corn grew, they would plant seven or eight pole beans in a circle about six inches away from the corn kernels. Several days later they planted seven or eight squash or pumpkin seeds. When the plants began to grow, they would thin out the weak and leave the strongest plants. Author, Tara Prindle wrote, "The corn stalk serves as a pole for the beans, the beans help to add the nitrogen to the soil that the corn needs, and the squash provides a ground cover of shade that helps the soil retain moisture" (2). This is how the Three Sisters work together

Financial statement analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Financial statement analysis - Assignment Example The company aims at creating a great guest love hotel with over 6,76000 hundred rooms in approximate 4600 hotels in one hundreds countries (Intercontinental Hotel Group, 2013). Additionally, the directors report indicates that Intercontinental Hotel and Group provide employment to more than345, 000 people globally for instance, in 2011 the company provided employment opportunities to more than people 7,956 (Intercontinental Hotel Group, 2013). In above connection, the company owns nine brands of distinguished hotels in different countries. Additionally, Intercontinental Hotel and Resort consist of leisure and business hotels operating in more than sixty cities (Intercontinental Hotel Group, 2013). Connectively, the company operates in three basic ways namely; franchising, manager and owned/lease (Intercontinental Hotel Group, 2013). The company further operates an approximate of 3,934 hotels under franchise and 658 hotels under management mode of business operation (Intercontinental Hotel Group, 2013). Additionally, the company has placed a lot of emphasis on franchising mode of business operation (Intercontinental Hotel Group, 2013). ... orne hotel operate as a public limited company and reported a net operating income of one hundred and ninety nine million dollars as at 2011(Millennium Hotel and Resort, 2013). The comprehensive income statement indicates that the company had a net income of one hundred and sixty five million dollars by the end of 2011(Millennium Hotel and Resort, 2013).Connectively, the company operates via an inter-link of various portfolios as well as ensuring there is efficient cost control (Millennium Hotel and Resort, 2013). Connectively, the company operations are highly decentralized making it easier to respond to market demand. The company operates the following brands: Grand Millennium hotel, Capthorne and Kingsgate to name just but a few of the brands (Millennium Hotel and Resort, 2013). 2. Analyze the Operating profit margin (Intercontinental Hotels Group PLC is the main object of analysis, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels PLC is its rival firms, please contrast the two companies). Operating profit margin indicates the amount of revenues/income a company makes after paying its variable overheads (Warren, Reeve, Duchac & Warren, 2012). It is important to not that some items are excluded when computing operating profit margin among the items excluded are; good will amortization, interest to mention just but a few (Vasigh, Fleming & Mackay, 2010). Therefore, operating profit margin may be computed using the formula below; Operating profit margin= Income after tax ? Sales Based on comprehensive income statement for Intercontinental Hotel Group year ended 31st December 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2008 the operating profit margins were 0.29355, 0.2156, 0.171 and 0.19364 respectively (Intercontinental Hotel Group, 2013). This indicates that in 2011 operating profit margin was higher as

Problems with Cosmetic Surgery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Problems with Cosmetic Surgery - Essay Example The main conclusion of the work will be made through the definition of the major backgrounds for such situation.The aim of this work is to perform a clear research on the problems, which now exist in the cosmetic surgery but are often made invisible for usual consumers with the aim of getting higher profits and not loosing the face of the cosmetic surgery industry as it is. The main conclusion of the work is that cosmetic surgery hides vast amount of problems, which should be understood by those who considers the possibility of going through such operation. Cosmetic surgery at present has become a huge industry with enormous turnovers and fantastic profits. It is not a secret that famous people and movie stars got used to create numerous sensations with each cosmetic surgery performed. However, the problems which cosmetic surgery creates should not be underestimated, because the amount of those, who are openly satisfied with the results is lower than of those who are secretly dissatisfied with the results of the surgery and see no need in addressing the public for the solution of these problems. Thus, it is necessary to underline the present state of cosmetic surgery and to distinguish the main problems which it presents. Cosmetic surgery has now acquired the scales of the real commercial industry, and a certain portion of works and studies was devoted to the description of the problems which cosmetic surgery presents. However, not much has been said about commercialization and the background reasons for such cosmetic surgeries' popula rity. Why women strive so much for making cosmetic surgeries, and why even teenage girls undergo such operations The reasons are to be defined in this paper. The more money the person is able to earn, the more seducing challenges this person desires to meet. Cosmetic surgery has become the challenge, which many aging women want to meet as soon as they have enough money for that. They often make it the brightest event in their life, though not understanding that such surgery may present serious consequences. Cosmetic surgery nowadays gives more questions, than answers, and more problems, than solutions. Of course, many celebrities have gone through such surgeries, but very often it is seen at a glance that surgery had been done unsuccessfully - their faces sometimes look as if they constantly smiled or were constantly surprised. These are the consequences of the low-quality cosmetic surgeries, and far not all people understand, that they won't be more perfect than they are in their present state. One of the main problems of cosmetic surgery is that for the aims of acquiring extra profits, the industry does not provide consumers and patien ts with the fullest information about the possible negative consequences and obstacles. Cosmetic surgery is taken by most women as a casual daily routine action, without any serious attitudes and deep understanding of the issue. However, it is still surgery, similar to many others. The number of the operation per year constantly increase - it is stated that for example, in the UK the number of cosmetic surgeries is equal to 75,000 per year which is huge number for such small country, while the number of cosmetic surgeries in the US was more than 11.5 million in 2005. (American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery) However, as many operations are carried out by highly qualified specialists, there

Supply Chain and Operations Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Supply Chain and Operations Management - Essay Example Few businesses understood the entire chain of activities but where inadequately managed which ultimately delivered products to the final customers. Although the activities were brought to fulfilment, often the supply chains were ineffectively led. Supply chain management can thus be explained as the active management of activities related to supply chain in order maximise the value of the customer, thereby achieving a sustainable competitive advantage. Supply chain activities range from product development, production, sourcing to logistics (Ketchen and Giunpero, 2004). The organizations that form the supply chain are closely linked together through information flows and physical flows. Physical flow is characterized by the movement, storage and transformation of materials and goods. Information flows allow the various supply chain associates to coordinate their long term plans as well as control their daily flow of materials and goods up and down the supply chain. However, simple as it may seem, supply chain management is associated with a certain degree of complexity and with complexity comes the risk factor (Halley and Beaulieu, 2009). This topic forms the basis for this research. The following sections will involve a thorough analysis of the main characteristics of material requirements planning (MRP) and Just-in-time (JIT). Advantages and disadvantages of JIT and MRP will be stated and a detailed comparison will be done. Thereafter, the risks associated with the supply chain management will be discussed in details, followed by the ways that can be implemented in order to mitigate such risks. Finally, an overall conclusion will be provided. Discussion Supply Chain Management in Toyota Supply chain management at Toyota Motor Corporation is a constituent of the company’s operations strategy which is systematically based on the Toyota Production Systems (TPS). The supply chain management framework was developed in the 1940s by Taiichi Ohno and Shigeo Sh ingo. With the company’s success becoming attaining a worldwide coverage, the Toyota Production System was followed by other companies with keen interest. The principle idea that was followed in the company’s production system is expressed by the term ‘lean manufacturing’. The components of Toyota’s supplier partnering hierarchy are interlocking structures, mutual understanding and trust, control systems, information sharing, compatible capabilities, kaizen and learning and joint improvement activities. The Toyota production system thoroughly impotents implements the Just in Time Strategy (JIT) which is a system that arranges the resources, information flows and decision rules in such a way that it enables a firm to realise the benefits of implementing such a system. JIT is a business viewpoint for maintaining a competitive advantage which is based on the idea of incessant development and eradication of waste. This system helps to carry out work thr ough various operations by signals (called Kanban). The components of just in time system are very proactive as far as exposing problems within a company’s supply chain management framework is concerned. The components play a crucial role in reducing the problems thereby formulating an even sound supply chain management strategy. The components are based on the principles of pull production which based in Kanban, total quality management, reducing inventory by involving the suppliers in the planning process, elimination of waste, continuous

How American Dream in The Great Gatsby Compares to the Modern American Essay

How American Dream in The Great Gatsby Compares to the Modern American Dream - Essay Example It is noticeable that post World War one is considered as a the most prosperous time of the United States, but still there were great number of people at that time in the US, who had to struggle and suffer hard to make their dreams come true (TCF). One of such stories is written by an American novelist F.Scott Fitzgerald in 1922. This story is about a poor boy, who had a dream, a passion, and a potential to do something outstanding to gain fame and money in life. In this paper, we shall compare American Dream life portrayed by F.Scott Fitzgerald in his famous novel â€Å"The Great Gatsby† with notions interlinked with the modern American dream. Modern American Dream is a vast topic and a heated debate in town hall meeting across the state. Is American dream dead or still alive s a big question keeps on flickering on every American’s mind. And a run to an authentic and realistic answer to this question motivates a study entitling â€Å"Modern American Dream† acros s the nation. With the findings of this study, it has come forward that majority of American population strongly believe that American Dream is exhausted, but not dead. Current, financial downfalls, due to recession are challenging, which hangs the US future in between dark and bright (Ford, Dion and Conway). Many people think that American dream is one of the most significant fundamentals of American identity, for which fundamental change, with modernization and metamorphosis is needed. Additionally, it is noteworthy, with modernization and advancements American dream is no more similar to what it was a few decades before, just a house ownership in the locality. But, now an American dream is much vast, diversified and individualistic. In other words, it can be said that today people do not have one big dream, but they have now lots of little dreams with controlled self destinies (Sawhill). Similar individualistic dreams of a young boy are discussed by F.Scott Fitzgerald. Dreams of Gatsby are no different from an ordinary American of today. It is in a way that both have their individual dreams, smudged with a passion to understand success on their own and a personal enthusiasm to stay focused on one dream at a time. Likewise, from story the story of Gatsby it has been understood that he was an ordinary in fact a poor boy belonged to rural family of North Dakota (Fitzgerald). He had all those similar dreams, which today people have in America of attaining success in each desired aspect. As we have understood that modern American dream is no more confined to saving money, securing montage and buying home, but it is more about traveling to the path towards defined ambitions. Similar cognitive approaches were adopted by the focused dreamer of F.Scott Fitzgerald’s story. Dreams of Gatsby can be relate with the Albert Camus’ philosophy of absurdism, which based on the concept of nothingness referring to the struggles an ordinary individual make in ques t for dreams. Gatsby started weaving his dreams since childhood like children of many working class people, who had to learn sacrifice at a very early stage of life. Gatsby was one of those individuals, who promised himself at a very early age to remove all those situations from his life that discomfort each day, he aimed to get something extraordinary in life, but did not focus particularly on money. Poor Gatsby dreamt to alter his circumstance as he strongly believed that there is a lot to do and rediscover own self

Bed Bath and Beyond Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Bed Bath and Beyond - Essay Example Porter’s better off test revels that competition at the level of business units defines the ability of a company to achieve a competitive advantage within the larger business environment. This section gives a critical analysis of BB&B’s corporate strategies with a view of evaluation the effectiveness of these strategies in enabling the company to have a competitive advantage within the retail business markets. Diversification through Acquisition Porter’s better off strategy demonstrates that it is through acquisitions that companies have been able to expand their business as a corporate strategy of increasing their competitiveness (Porter 4). BB&B acquired Cost Plus as one of its corporate strategies of diversifying business activities. The acquisition of Cost Plus cost BB&B $ 495 million but this strategy in the long run is proving effective in enhancing the company’s competitiveness (DeTar 1). Cost Plus has given BB&B a higher market position in home fur nishings (DeTar 1). Diversification through acquisition is a concept within portfolio management which has allowed many companies to diversify their portfolios. Diversification of portfolios which is achieved through acquisition allows a company to prevent the risks which are associated with business processes (Misonzhnik 1). Porter in his better off test asserts that acquisition corporate strategy becomes effective is the acquired units are autonomous (Porter 10). In light of this argument, it is illustrated that the acquisition that BB&B made on Cost Plus maintained the autonomy of the business units within the acquired company. The need for autonomy within the acquired units was decided upon by the management of the company so that the costs which are associated with change are avoided. Porter further revels that the autonomy among acquired units must be aimed at ensuring that the employees within the new units are compensated and rewarded in accordance to the performance the uni ts (Porter 10). The Cost Plus units as acquired by BB&B comprised of employees who were motivated for increased performance through performance based rewards and compensation scheme. This is shown by the fact that â€Å"the company plans to hire 35 full- and part-time workers† (Carnopis 1). In return the company has achieved increased performance in the market which justifies its competitiveness within the home merchandise retail business and market. Shared Activities within Value Chains The CEO of Cost Plus pointed out that "Our successful merchandising and product collaborations over the last two years have demonstrated that our organizations work well together† (DeTar 1). The CEO was referring to the collaboration between the company and Bed Bath & Beyond. Porter’s better off test further postulates that when the value chains of activities of a company’s units are shared as a corporate strategy, competitiveness in the business environment is guaranteed. It is therefore through the collaboration between the acquired units and the existing ones that Bed Bath and Beyond is able to achieve increased success and competitiveness within the market. Transfer of Skills The values chains and business units of Bed Bath & Beyond and the acquired Cost Plus have more experienced, talented, creative and skilled expertise. As a result, the company has utilized the abilities of the employees through transfer skills corporate strategy

Business Plan and Business Planning Process Essay

Business Plan and Business Planning Process - Essay Example In this write-up, Stutley’s assertion that â€Å"The chief executive of the business or business unit should take overall responsibility for the plan, but the best business plans are developed by the whole†¦.for an enterprise-wide plan, all departments†¦should contribute to the planning process and the final documentation† (2007, 17) shall be linked to how an all-inclusive policy in the construction of a business plan can lead to successes for companies. Difference between business plan and business planning process Ward (2000) explains that â€Å"a business plan is a document that summarizes the operational and financial objectives of a business and contains the detailed plans and budgets showing how the objectives are to be realized.† Giving a closely related definition, Berry (2011) explains that â€Å"a business plan is any plan that works for a business to look ahead, allocates resources, focus on key points, and prepare for problems and opportunities.† On the other hand, Gleeson (2011) posits that â€Å"the business plan process is simply the steps you go through and actions you take when producing a business plan.† From these definitions, the differences that can be drawn between a business plan and the business planning process are that whereas a business plan is a document, the business planning process is an action. Again, whereas a business plan is an end product, the business planning process is a means to an end and is actually the means that results in a busine ss plan. To this effect, it can be said that an effect business planning process leads to a workable and effective business plan.

The state of Social Security in the United States Term Paper

The state of Social Security in the United States - Term Paper Example The increasing numbers of baby boomers and the recessive trends in the economy have been the major concern of the young people who are the main contributors to the social security funds of the state. The role of the state therefore, has become crucial, while incorporating the new developments in the societal changes of the time in their social policy so that state benefit can reach every one. Social security is primarily insurance programs for the old age, survivors and widows of earning members, disability sector, unemployed and the people who need state benefits to survive with dignity. Popularly known as OASDI or Old- Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance, its major funding for the same comes from taxpayers who have to pay contribution under Federal Insurance Contribution Act or FICA. The tax deposits is transferred to trust funds dedicated under different programs like old age and survivors insurance fund, federal disability insurance trust fund etc. When the revenues exceed ex penditure, the excess fund is invested in government ‘bonds’ that is non marketable and is often used by government as deficit spending. In recent times, it has come under huge controversy mainly due to myriad reasons like increasing number of baby boomers who have retired, the rising numbers of unemployed who are unable to contribute etc. and therefore the burden of contribution to social security fund has increasingly been borne by the current contributors. They feel that the fund might not be able to sustain their old age needs. The changing demographic equation and the old has necessitated reforms within the social security programs of United States so that new mechanisms can provide equity in state benefits to the various segment of concerned population. The following recommendations are designed to evolve innovative input into the state policy matter vis-a-vis social security. It is envisaged that new mechanisms would facilitate for effective and long term sustain able social security programs. 1. Introduce tax benefits and retirement age Coile and Grubber (2000) believe that retirement age should be redefined in terms of years that could maximize social security wealth. Indeed, the retirement age needs to become the personal choice of the working population so that they are able to significantly increase their post retirement benefits. It is found that the tax benefits vis-a-vis age becomes a major incentive for the working population, especially for higher age group who increasingly pay lower taxes. Hence, innovative tax schemes should be introduced so that younger people would be attracted to contribute more towards social security fund. The baby boomers have become major beneficiaries of social security funds. The increasing number of baby boomers has significantly impacted the labor market and reduced productivity vis-a-vis accrued income to expenditure. The baby boomers and retirees who are in good health must be encouraged to become pr oductive through self employment. This would help lessen the burden on the young working population. Social security number should become mandatory for all citizens so that social security umbrella could be extended to the legitimate citizens of America. It is also recommended that the immigrant population should be required to pay extra for their spouse and children until the time they become eligible for permanent citizenship. 2. Investment of SS fund for

Nutrition - Flavor Essay Example for Free

Nutrition Flavor Essay Science tells you what nutrients do in your body and how nutrients work together Explain why people who enjoy their food may absorb more nutrients from it. The brain reacts from the senses (sight and smell). It instructs your mouth and stomach to make chemicals that help digest food. What 5 factors contribute to different cultures having such different cuisines and food customs? Geography, Economics, Foreign Contacts, Religious Belief, Technology. List the 4 main components of the food chain and explain the function of each. Sun: The sun supplies the original energy for the planer in the form of light. This energy is needed to make food. Producers: Some organisms make or produce food. Green plants are important producers. Plants use the sun’s energy to produce food for themselves. Consumers: Organisms that must eat other organisms. Decomposers: Organisms such as bacteria and fungi that break down dead matter and return the nutrients to the environment. List the 5 reasons for using food additives. 1. Additive flavoring 2. Improving nutrition 3. Increase shelf life 4. Maintaining texture 5. Helping foods age Define the following: Nutrient – a chemical substance that your body needs to function, grow, repair itself, and create energy Wellness – good health and positive well-being. Includes physical, mental, and emotional health Comfort foods – are familiar foods that make people fell good Culture – the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively Cuisines – may be particular to a country or region, or it may be a blend from different areas. Staple food – the most widely produced and eaten food in an area Ecosystem – an environment and its community of organisms, which all depends on each other for survival Food chain – is the flow of food energy from simpler to more complex organisms Shelf stable – able to be stored at room temperature for weeks or months in the original, unopened containers Shelf life – the length of time food holds its flavor and quality Food additives – A substance added to food for a specific reason during processing. Food is essential for survival and affects the quality of your life. Healthy food choices promote wellness. Food offers more than nutrition. It also offers enjoyment. Comfort foods may slow the release of stress hormones, making people feel better. Preparing and serving food lets you express your creativity. Different cultures have more than individuals ingredients and dishes, they have entire cuisines. Income had/has an influence on what people have/had to cook certain meals. Cultures absorb new foods through immigration, travel, and trade with other people. The food we eat depends on the health of the world’s ecosystem. The U. S. is fortunate to have abundant resources for raising food. What is one of the most important roles of food processing? To keep perishable foods from spoiling Food additives include natural and artificial flavors. When vitamins and minerals are added to foods like milk, this is labeled as improving nutrition. Increasing shelf life and delaying spoilage is known as shelf-stable.

Importance of Literature Essay Example for Free

Importance of Literature Essay There are a lot of things that come to mind when a person hears the word literature. Usually, one thinks of a book, story, classical work or some variation of the aforementioned but to ask someone to define the term literature, proves to be a much trickier task. Many are stumped when asked this question. People often answer by giving examples of literary works but fail to actually give an encompassing definition of the term. Welcome to the world of Webster (Dictionary that is). Websters Dictionary defines the term literature as the body of written works of a language, period, or culture. This definition seems be broad but continuing on in the definition there was one part that really stood as a more adequate representation of what literature is about. The definition reads as follows; Â…the body of written work produced by scholars or researchers in a given field. This particular definition seems to hit at the core of literature; scholarship and specialization. Some feel that that all written works are forms of literature. I contend that a true work of literature must be written by a person who has studied a given field (specialization) and produced a work that allows the reader to gain some form of a lesson or viewpoint (scholarship), whether agreeing with the writer or taking an opposing stance of the information set fourth in the work. This is not to say that these types of works do not have any entertainment value but they have a type of entertainment that wraps the lesson, argument or viewpoint in an engaging style rather than being force-fed the authors stance. A true work of literature should evoke some form of discussion on the works main point. A work of literature needs all of the above, not only to be called a true work of literature but to also cement its place in history, which is the last piece of the puzzle when defining the term. Literature stands the test of time and can be discussed by great grandchildren as well as great grandmothers and all those in between. This all goes to say that the importance of literature is its ability to connect  a community known as the human race. Classical works of literature have been translated so that all human beings can share in a great piece, even being translated to an audio, so that those who can not read will not be stopped from participating in the act of community that literature provides. It is amazing that even though some might not share the same culture as others, they could start a discussion around a piece of literature. The literature in this instance acts as a unifier rather than just a book or story, thus proving the power of literature and the overall power of the written word. A true work of literature must have scholarship, specialization, a unifying human element and an entertaining delivery in order to stand the test of time. The points mentioned above give literature criteria on which to be compared. The importance of literature goes far beyond just having a good read. Literature possesses an intangible that can have a great impact on peoples lives. Great works of our time have brought nations together, stopped feuds, healed wounds, and have even taught humans how to be human again. Literature is extremely important and necessary to the growth of this world and for a creation of a global society.

New century health clinic

New century health clinic Background Five years ago, cardiologists Timothy Jones and Dolores Garcia decided to combine their individual practices in Fullerton, California, to form the New Century Health Clinic. They wanted to concentrate on preventive medicine by helping patients maintain health and fitness and by providing traditional medical care. Dr. Jones recently asked you to work with him as an IT consultant. He wants you to help New Century develop an information system that will support the clinics operations and future growth. During an initial meeting, he provided you with some background information and asked for your suggestions about how to get started. At your desk, you begin to review New Centurys situation. The clinic is located near a new shopping mall in a busy section of the city. New Centurys staff includes four doctors, three registered nurses, four physical therapists, and six office staff workers. The clinic currently has a patient base of 3,500 patients from 275 different employers, many of which provide insurance coverage for employee wellness and health maintenance. Currently, New Century accepts 34 different insurance policies. Anita Davenport, who has been with New Century since its inception, is the office manager. She supervises the staff, including Fred Brown, Susan Gifford, Tom Capaletti, Lisa Sung, and Carla Herrera. Fred Brown handles office payroll, tax reporting, and profit distribution among the associates. Susan Gifford is responsible for the maintenance of patient records. Tom Capaletti handles most of the paperwork concerning insurance reporting and accounting. Lisa Sung has the primary responsibility for the appointment book, and her duties include making reminder calls to patients and preparing daily appointment lists. Carla Herrera primarily is concerned with ordering and organizing office and clinic supplies. Each of the six office staff people has one or more primary responsibilities; however, all members of the staff help out whenever necessary with patient records, insurance processing, and appointment processing. In addition to their regular responsibilities, all six office workers are involved in the preparation of patient statements at the end of each month. New Century Health Clinics office manager, Anita Davenport, recently asked permission to hire an additional office clerk because she feels the current staff can no longer handle the growing workload. The associates discussed Anitas request during a recent meeting. They were not surprised that the office staff was feeling overwhelmed by the constantly growing workload. Because the clinic was busier and more profitable than ever, they all agreed that New Century could afford to hire another office worker. Dr. Jones then came up with another idea. He suggested that they investigate the possibility of computerizing New Centurys office systems. Dr. Jones said that a computerized system could keep track of patients, appointments, charges, and insurance claim processing and reduce paperwork. All the associates were enthusiastic about the possibilities and voted to follow up on the suggestion. Dr. Jones agreed to direct the project. Because no member of the staff had computer experience, Dr. Jones decided to hire a consultant to study the current office systems and recommend a course of action. Several friends recommended you as a person who has considerable experience with computerized business Based on the given scenario above, what kinds of questions would you ask to assess the initial feasibility of this project information, does the project seem feasible? [25 marks] Describe what will be the plan of action if New Century Health Clinic management decided to contract your services to perform a preliminary investigation? [25 marks] What types of information is needed when you begin the preliminary investigation? From whom will you obtain it? What techniques will you use in your fact-finding? INTRODUCTION The New century health clinic is a fitness and health centre which is well-known and recognized in Fullerton, Carlifornia. The major priority of the listed clinic earlier on, is to concentrate on preventive medicine by giving helping hands to patients in maintaining and monitoring their health, keeping their fitness level and medical status balanced. But it has now become a necessity and a must look into situation concerning the work load and over stressful working conditions which the staffs have to face because, they cant run from their responsibilities. In such circumstances like this, the clinic needs to change its total official system of operation from manual administration /managerial form to computerized management form that will enhance the efficiency and services of the clinic and also save work time. In the mentioned scenario above , an IT consultant is been required to develop the new computerized information system.Whereby the given system will be easier to manipulate and also user friendly in supporting the clinics entire management scheme and functions including the future growth of the clinic. First of all in order to develop the clinics new system, the IT consultant should be able to analyse the issue or problem been faced before taking essential steps in producing a final system that meets the requirements of all end-users. Based on the given scenario above, what kinds of questions would you ask to assess the initial feasibility of this project information, does the project seem feasible? RESPONSE Feasibility study, as we all know, is simply referred to as series of test been performed to the system request/ requirements to check and determine whether it is suitable and convenient to carry on or proceed further on with the development of the given system. Therefore, to carry on with such initial feasible study, the system analyst (SA) or IT consultant needs to interview the end-user by asking important and relevant questions which will make a great impact or effect on the operational, technical and economic feasibilities to be known by urging the IT consultant to take decisions which the system project will follow the next steps to develop or improve successfully. Else, the total work will be ended. Cases like this been faced by New century clinic, this are valuable questions to be asked in order to evaluate the initial feasibility of the proposed new systems development: What are the problems being faced using the current manual system? How does the clinic manage all official works using the manual system? How will the clinic manage all official works if the new system is not implemented? Are the staffs/ end-users of new computerized system in your clinic computer literates? Dose the new computerized system contribute to all depts. And objectives of the clinic? How would the new computerized system enhance or solve problems occurring with the manual system? Does the new system have direct contribution to the clinics business objectives? By asking questions like this, the necessity of implementing or developing new system can be evaluated or measured. However, to be more broad and fluent in the total feasibility of the proposed project, more questions need to be asked concerning the operational, technical and economical feasibility. Operational feasibility: This simply means that the system will be used efficiently after the development and implementation as the user demands because if the system develops defects or become ineffective the end-users face difficulties to work with the system, that means the expected benefit will be tarnished and the new system becomes unproductive. To make sure none of such incidents occur, these are questions that need to be asked concerning its operational feasibility: Do the whole management and users of the new system support the project? Do the users notice the need for change of current manual system? Will the new system reduce workforce? Is the manual system interactive and also being practised effectively by the users? What will be the next step for affected employees if workforce reduction occurs? Technical Feasibility This simply means that the given organisation for which the system will be developed, has enough resources of hardware and software technology to develop, install and operate the new system. In order to operate such new systems adequately, the appropriate technology should be put in effect; even if it requires additional up-to-date and advanced technology. Therefore to evaluate the technical feasibility for New Century Health Clinic, these are relevant questions needed to be asked: Can the clinic manage the needed hardware, software, and network resources to implement the computerized system? Does the clinic have the necessary technical knowledge? How can the clinic acquire the technical knowledge if they do not have? Economical Feasibility This refers to the total benefit of the new system being outweighed than the total estimated cost for implementing the system. Whereby the estimated cost can either be increased or decreased any time while doing the project development and implementation. While doing all this there is something the organisation need to bear in mind; Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) including its continuous support and maintenance Costs with acquisition costs. To verify such Economical feasibility of the clinic, these are relevant questions needed to be asked: Is the benefit of the new system outweighing the estimated costs? What are the probable savings and costs for acquiring, installing and finally operating the new system? Does the current problem have any significance? Are there any intangible factors like patient satisfaction, clinic image etc.? Will the system requirements outcome be a sound business investment? Does the project seem feasible? From the question being asked above, due to relevant aspects, the initial feasibility of the project been detailed can be assessed easily and effectively. It is expected that the above questions regarding the feasibilities are well-answered that enhance to develop the new computerized system for the clinic. Therefore, from the answers to the already asked questions as well as the given information in the scenario, it is understood that the project of new system development for the New Century Health Clinic is quite feasible. Describe what will be the plan of action if New Century health Clinic management decided to contract your services to perform a preliminary investigation? RESPONSE The system requirements from the New Century Health Clinic is totally feasible. In order to continue the project some investigations have to be carried out for studying the system request and for suggesting the specific action. This is called preliminary investigation. To execute the preliminary investigation, the steps given below will be followed: but, before starting the investigation, interaction with Managers and users are prompted: in this particular phase, it needs to meet with the clinic doctors, Managers, Staffs and users to describe the detailed responsibilities, answer questions and request comments of the project. The project will bring a significant change in the clinic after development. The users, staffs and doctors might be curious, concerning the changes or they might even resist it. The primary interaction will be of a good help because the opinion, thoughts and reaction of every member/staff of the clinic is very important to know more about constraints and difficulties in the clinic. These are the main six steps to carry out during such investigation: UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM OR OPPORTUNITY: In the first approach, the business profile and business model will be developed where the business process and functions will be described. That is where the main problem or operations of the clinic may be understood. In the process carrying out this approach the new system request may not reveal the basic problems of the clinic or may be, the proposed system can affect the total clinics operation and system. To eliminate these problems, it must need to understand the systems request and its opportunity of the project at hand. Define the project scope and constraints: This is actually the defining of boundaries or extent of the project where the irrelevant expenses of time and money are been avoided and only the main problem is focused. Constraints are the conditions or requirements that the system must meet and the end results of that constrains and it must be a recorded success. Also, project scopes are described in system constrains. There are characteristics needed to be identified in the proposed system while checking for constrains such as: Internal vs. external constrains Present vs. Future Constrains Mandatory vs. Desirable Constrains etc. in order to avoid misunderstanding and future problems I would lay down a piece of advice insisting that the project scope and constrains are been identified earlier. Performing fact-finding: This is a technique used to find out necessary information from companies and organisations which comprises of various approaches and steps to carry out. We are going to implement these approaches in the clinics doctors, staffs and users for investigating the system request. In this case, the following fact-finding techniques can be used: Interviews Questionnaires and surveys Review current documentation Analyse organization chart Observe operation Estimate time and cost to continue development: The detailed time and cost estimation for the further development phase and the overall project will be developed with some important issues, so that the clinics doctor and manager can understand the total cost and time which will be effective for economic feasibility. Determine Feasibility: Following the previous four step of preliminary investigation, the total feasibility of the project been carried out will be determined in this particular stage. Present results and recommendations to management: in the final stage, a preliminary investigation report will be prepared to management which includes the assessment of the system requirements, the estimation of the total cost and benefits including the recommendation of processing to next phase named system analysis. What types of information is needed when you begin the preliminary investigation? From whom will you obtain it? What techniques will you use in your fact-finding? [20 marks] Response Before starting the preliminary investigations, there are some essential Information to be known about the clinic, its current and proposed system, etc. It can be clearly acquired from the feasibility study consisting of the three main users approaches stated as follows: Operational Feasibility Technical Feasibility Economical Feasibility Some more information like- Clinics background and overview Information about the Doctors, nurses, manager and staffs The projects priority Benefits of the new computerized system Effect of the new system in the clinic etc. Form the chart, it can be measured that the total manpower of the clinic is 17. They are: 4 doctors (with 2 founders) 3 nurses 4 physical Therapists 1 office manager 5 office staff To gain the required information for beginning the preliminary investigations, it required that you meet with these 17 manpower i.e. the clinics doctors, nurses, physical therapists, manager, and staffs of the clinic. In the meeting, by asking questions and collecting some documents, related to the required information or further investigation (if need arises), whereby the essential or wanted information can be gathered. In the preliminary investigation stage, fact-finding is a very important step. From the various fact-finding techniques, any one or more techniques can be used for fact-finding. With appropriate and suitable technique, the needed information for system request investigation can be gathered. In the case of New Century Health Clinic, I would rather say Interview is the best fact-finding technique. An Interview is a planned meeting with any person during which the required information can be obtained in-depth from that person. This is the primary method of acquiring information during preliminary investigation stage where the purpose of interview is to uncover facts of the proposed project. These are the reasons for choosing interview as a fact-finding technique for the clinic: The number of manpower of the clinic is very small (17 people only). That is why, it will not be time consuming and cost effective. It will be possible here to ask necessary and effective questions to person by person as well as listen carefully the answers. It can also be possible to achieve every persons own opinion about the current and new system proposed. It has chance to do open-ended questions as well as a set of questionnaires on a same topic to the every person, so that personal opinion(s) on the same topic also with their own idea can be verified. The reliability of the systems request can be measured appropriately from the interviewing of the people personally. It would be the most effective technique for acquiring all the required information from the personnel of the clinic. However, in this preliminary stage, to save time and cost, it should take interview of the two founder doctors, the managers and the five staffs first. Most importantly, interviews can be carried out on the remaining personnel if need arises. Conclusions: The New Century Health Clinic is suffering from problems to use the manual system for their office works. As an efficient and user-friendly replacement, the clinic management likes to use computerized system. As an IT consultant, a new computerized system for this clinic will be developed in this project by performing all the primary steps like evaluation and understanding the project, feasibility study, preliminary investigation, fact-finding etc. It is expected that the proposed new computerized system project, finally, will perform adequately and successfully for the New Century Health Clinic that will help the clinics management system to do their regular work properly with more efficiency References: [WIK08] Wikipedia (2008), Feasibility study Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feasibility_study [BLU07] Blurtit (2007), What are the basic questions for feasibility study?- The key questions for feasibility study? http://www.blurtit.com/q393090.html [McG97] Mcgraw-Hill (1997), Avison, D.E. and Shah, H.U., The Information Systems Development Life Cycle: A First Course in Information Systems, McGraw-Hill International Editions, 1997, Pages 72 and 92-99. Appendix: As the fact finding techniques for the New Century Health Clinic project, another two approaches can be used with the interviewing. These two techniques are Current documentation Review and Observe Current Operations. Review Current Documentation: It is a process where the current system documentation of the organization is reviewed to understand how the current system is working. For the clinics documentation, it can be out of date. So, at the documentation receiving time, it should check with the clinics persons that it is accurate and complete of information. Observe Current Operations: In this process, the typical working procedure of the worker can be viewed. The staffs of the clinic is currently doing the all the official work manually. In this case, their working procedure, input and output of the work, working time and effort etc should observe. These two techniques are not time consuming and cost effective. Nevertheless, by performing these two, the fact-finding stage will be more resourceful as well as it will be helpful to understand the system requests reliability.

Working hours directive

Working hours directive The European Working Time Directive (EWTD) was adopted in 1993, and came into force in the UK under the Working Time Regulations 1998 as a safety measure, because of the recognised negative effects on health and safety of excessively long working hours. It also provides for statutory minimum rest-break entitlements, annual leave and working arrangements for night workers. The EWTD is also designed to help work life balance by limiting long hours, which is both stressful and harmful to health. For example, some research has shown that driving while tired provided similar results to driving after having drunk alcohol. The EWTD regulations place a legal requirement on employers, which means that if it is not implemented, national governments will be liable for payment of heavy financial penalties and potentially sanctions from the European Union (EU). There are no rights to work long hours, but there is legal protection to protect workers rights to reasonable working environment and conditions, and to family life. The main features of the EWTD are; no more than 48 hours work per week; 11 hours continuous rest in 24 hours; 24 hours continuous rest in seven days (or 48 hours in 14 days); a 20 minute break in work periods of over 6 hours; four weeks annual leave; and for night workers, an average of no more than 8 hours work in 24 hours over the reference period. The EWTD was considered by the UK Government as an issue of working conditions, not as a health and safety issue. As a result, in 1993, the UK negotiated an opt-out clause, which allows Member States not to apply the limit to working hours under certain conditions, such as: prior agreement of the individual, no negative fall out from refusing to opt-out, and records kept of working hours of those that have opted out. The European Commission announced on 23rd September 2004 its controversial proposal to update the 1993 Working Time Directive. This will most likely mean the UK will have to abandon its opt-out clause. If this is the case, and working hours are restricted, there will be many advantages and disadvantages for both employees and employers. The advantages and disadvantages range from health and safety issues to financial issues. The advantages for employees are; firstly, no longer shall employees be pressured into signing a contract with an opt-out clause stating if required, they must work extra time. This will also stop a lot of employers blackmailing potential and/or current employees, which can be often the case. For example, an employer may say to a potential employee, that if they do not sign the opt-out clause contract then they cannot have the job. Health and safety issues will improve for employees, because when they are forced to work longer than what they want/can, then they will inevitably feel ill. For example it is very common for workers to have headaches, muscular problems, stomachaches, stress, sleeping problems and irritability from just simply working too much. Not only improving your health, being limited to a maximum of 48 hour week, will vastly improve a workers family life who had previously been working 60 hours a week. Having a four-week holiday will also be beneficial, as apposed to a lesser holiday the employee most likely used to have. Also, as a result of being more healthy and less stressed, this should improve the workers actual efficiency/quality of work, because the worker will not feel as tired or overloaded with work. Employees who are over worked, often find it very hard to manage their financial issues, due to lack of time. So by limiting employees to a maximum of 48 hours work a week, will help prevent them overlooking their financial matters. One main advantage for women in particular, is the clear link between the lack of women in managerial positions and long working hours. The culture of long working hours in higher professional and managerial jobs is an obstacle to the upward mobility of women, and sustains gender segregation in the work place. Therefore by limiting the working hours of a week will vastly improve the chances for women to improve their status. Flexible working time patterns and part time work have an important impact in this area as well. The disadvantages for employees are mainly financial, because they will no longer be able to earn as much over-time pay as what that may like. This will be especially frustrating for employees who are willing to do extra work in order to save money for their future/family etc. As a result, this could have an advert affect on their moral, because they may find themselves with nothing to do, when they could be quite easily doing more work in order to earn more money. The advantages for employers are; that their employees will be more efficient and motivated; therefore the employees should be more productive than before, thus helping deadlines to be achieved etc. Having a more relaxed workforce will also lead to a better work relationship between the employer and his subordinates (as well as between the employees and themselves), which will therefore improve the communication within the workplace. Given that the employees will be more relaxed and healthy, as a result they will be less absent from work due to illness. So therefore, again the employers objectives will be more likely to be completed, and the productivity of the employees should increase. The disadvantages for employers are that in the past, they would be able to say to their employees that they wanted a certain objective completed by a certain time, for example ‘by the end of the day. This will no longer be an option for employers, as employees will not be able to work longer than 48 hours (or whatever their contract states) a week. Employers may find they will have to hire extra staff in order to get more work done, or pay for employees to do overtime (those that can!) This could end up costing a substantial amount of money; more than what the employer spent in the past on his workforce. As a result budgets will need to be rethought in the future, and also possibly cutbacks will be made if money is an issue. Employers will not like this fact, especially as in the past, they were often getting their employees to put in extra hours of work for free! The situation in the UK, is that the main characteristics of the system governing working time have not really changed since the Directive was introduced. This is largely due to the opt-out clause. Latest figures show that about 16% of the workforce currently works more that 48 hours per week, compared with a figure of 15% at the beginning of the 1990s. About 8% of the workforce say they work over 55 hours per week, 3.2% over 60 hours per week and 1% over 70 hours per week. The UK is the only Member States where weekly working time has increased over the last decade. Approximately 46% of people that say they work over 48 hours a week, are in managerial positions and are covered by the exemption relating to managers. Looking at other countries, ranked by collectively agreed working hours, Germany idles in the bottom third in the EU. In 2003 the contractual annual working time in West Germany was 1,643 hours (East Germany 1,722). The EU-15 average was 1,708. In Germany working time is a problem, particularly for manufacturing. In some sectors, such as metal and engineering or printing, the 35-hour week is standard for a large proportion of the workforce, even for employees salaried above the collectively agreed pay scale. Overall, the collectively agreed working week in West Germany averages 37.5 hours. However, the actual time worked is approximately 6% longer than the collectively agreed hours, and is close to the EU-15 average. This is due to overtime and the fact that an increasing proportion of the workforce, especially in small and medium sized businesses, already work longer than collectively agreed. In the SIMAP and Jaeger cases, the rulings of the European Court of Justice had major financial and organisational implications for the health sector in the EU and following the rulings, France and Germany applied the opt-out to their health sectors. Measures were also put in place to allow opting-out in the hotel and catering industry. However until recently, the UK was the only Member State to have a generalised opt-out clause (Cyprus and Malta took up the option last May), and it is clearly in the firing line of the European Commission who claims that there is evidence that the opt-out is being misapplied, in particular that workers are being pressured into opting-out. The debate has been furious in the UK, fuelled by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), who claims that it should be every workers choice to decide on how long he/she works, and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) who argue that it spreads an unjustified long hours culture. Regardless of the fact, people are working much more than recommended, (which you would assume was in order to save more money), according to the latest research people are squandering away their earnings on treats to reward themselves for their hard work. A quarter of people say they regularly work more than their contracted hours, however almost half admit they often waste money on treats they do not need, with 30 percent of workers wasting away at least  £100 a month. As a direct result, people are usually too busy to try to keep track of their finances, and get a shock when their statements arrive. People are spending so much of their time working, it seems a shame they are not planning for their future and making the most of their money. I think Britain should be compelled by the EU to abandon its opt-out clause under the EWTD, and thus restrict its workings hours, because people are working for far too long nowadays and as a result not only does their health suffer, but their work suffers as well. At the moment, with the current opt-out clause in Britain, almost one in four men in England and Wales are working more than 48 hours a week! The longest hours are worked in the City of London, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster, according to Britains General Union, who say nearly a quarter of men are exceeding the 48-hour limit set by the EU. Therefore, as a result, the UK businessmen are hindering British productivity by working the kind of hours that burn out their enthusiasm, creativity, innovation and forward planning. You simply cannot be at your best if you are continually working more than 48 hours a week. Not only are they hindering the British productivity, but also by persisting in allowing people to work longer than they are capable of they are holding back on the UKs competitiveness with Europe. The Government is burning out Britain by practically encouraging longer working hours. They argue that more than a million people would lose out on paid overtime if they had to stop working extra hours. Or is the Government just worried about the amount of revenue they will loose out on?