Examine the relationship between the designer and the art director Essay

Examine the relationship between the designer and the art director - Essay Example That design shall be used throughout the editorial and advertising pages. Each of the magazine issues "had headlines, text columns and the same kind of illustration" (Hollis, yr of book publication, p. 97). The increasing importance of images, then, as an art element in journalism and advertising also raised the degree of participation of an art director because their reproduction and the layout as a whole became his/her responsibility (Hollis, yr of publication). Raizman (year of publication, p.98) characterized the work of an artist/designer as something that had to embody the magazine's content, while the work of an art director, which is the "artifice behind the elegance of the image, the attention to every detail so that it contributed to the total effect" has to be concealed. An art director during those times himself even added that directors plan, co-ordinates and rehearses but does not perform in public. Public performances are left to designers to create cover illustrations in traditional methods. This was exemplified in the works of designer Norman Rockwell for the Saturday Evening Post from the time of the First World War to the 1960's (Hollis, yr of publication). As an antidote to the hardships of the World War years and the impersonal modernity of factory and city, Rockwell created colored illustrations that presented a variety of familiar themes drawn from common middle-class experience, frequently related to seasonal activities and holidays. His idea is to create a sense of community and comfort provided by the family and neighborhood by using common experiences and techniques of naturalistic illustrations to communicate those values (Raizman, year of publication). One of the best examples is the Post's cover in November of 1933 where a young mother is seen spanking a child in his belly on a chair. The story is clearly and simply told. The child broke a piece of decorative chinaware which led the mother to resort to a traditional form of punishment but only while holding a psychology book that has guided her actions. In his attempt to experiment with more expressionistic approach to painting, he created illustrations of a festive family m eal, which is one of four from a series entitled "The Four Freedoms" (Raizman, year of publication, p.226). The illustrations make the reader more comfortable with some of the discomforting information that threatens our confidence in dealing with everyday existence. The Great Economic Crash in 1929 led businesses to formulate designs in order to sell their products. Many advertising executives believed that the purpose of advertisements is to gun for sales and "that the reference to individual artists or works of art focused attention upon the ad as an 'object' rather than the vehicle of promoting a product" (Raizman, year of publication, p.225). Art directors and consultants Art directors and consultants from the advertising industry recognized the importance of images in selling the products, but limited the images to be illustrated to familiar and recognizable images that could be easily grasped by the public rather than abstract ones. Art directors let illustrators and designers accomplish this task with the idea of creating images with which the buyers can easily identify and directly connect to the products. However, because of this imposition by the art directors,

Fast Food Essay Example for Free

Fast Food Essay Market and environmental analysis is an essential part of an organization’s External Analysis. The main objectives of a market analysis are; a)To determine how attractive a market is. b)To understand the dynamics of the market and amend strategies accordingly. Here we apply the dimensions of a Market Analysis to McDonalds corp. 1)Emerging submarkets; McDonalds failed to recognize the changing trend in customer’s preferences to better tasting, fresher food. This trend led to new sub markets emerging for tastier, fresher and fast food perceived as healthier. A few of the smaller/privately owned competitors (Cosi and Quizno’s) were able to operate in niche markets selling gourmet sandwiches and salads. The emergence of smaller restaurants offering easy access to exotic foods such as sushi and burritos created a more specialized niche market. 2)Size and Growth; With the emergence of these sub-markets and niche markets, McDonalds started losing market share. It now had to share its fast-food mass market with these newly created markets. Even though these restaurant chains were small in size, their growth opportunities presented a potential threat to McDonalds. They operated on service that was better than McDonalds at the same time providing better tasting food, which led to an increase in its sales. This sector was in the early stages of growth where as McDonalds was past the maturity stage. 3)Profitability; McDonalds profitability can be gauged by using Porters 5 factor model. a)Intensity of competition among existing customers was relatively high. Direct competitors like Wendy’s and Chik-Fil-A were able to out perform McDonalds based on service quality by providing quicker service. In comparison McDonalds had a large number of franchises, but will falling service time. b)Threat of new entrants: Other market niches like quizo’s, cosi and small restaurants offering exotic foods also provided a high degree of competition to McDonalds by offering food that appealed to changing customer preferences. The only barrier to entry that McDonalds used was to open a large number of franchises and offer an inexpensive menu; this is however changing as franchisees are leaving McDonalds, lowering the barriers to entry. c)Substitute products would include fast food options available in leading supermarkets, and cafe’s offering exotic foods like sushi. d)Bargaining power of customers. Customers are the main source of income for McDonalds. Customers were not happy with the menu offered at McDonalds and hence took their custom to other restaurants, leading to a drop in sales. e)Bargaining power of suppliers: McDonalds aimed to keep their menu prices low (source more details about suppliers) 4)Cost structure McDonalds strategic focus was on cost and service. In order to raise service quality new kitchens were installed. However, this installation was done for some franchises that did not need it and where the new additions did not help improve business. In order to keep the price of its burgers low, it asked the franchises to sell at a loss. Example: Promoting a $1 burger when the cost to make it was $1. 07. This lack in foresight resulted in rising costs to franchise owners who responded by leaving McDonalds and going over to competitors. This snowballed into falling investor confidence resulting in falling equity. Another cost issue was investing in too many takeovers which it couldn’t handle at the same time as improving service quality and revamping the menu. 5)Distribution Systems McDonalds distribution system was the large and growing number of franchises. However not many of the franchises were posting profits and as per Exhibit 1, more than 500 would have to be closed. One of McDonalds strengths is its distribution system, where in customers come in and have the same experience that they have at any other store. However, this can also be a weakness as providing a consistent experience soon becomes ordinary. 6)Market Trends The fast food casual market was quickly breaking up into fragments. With the rising immigrant population customers now had a choice of items. McDonalds realize this too late and try to counter this effect by introducing new burgers. However, the testing of the new menu does not gauge strongly enough the changing customer preferences and this poor planning led to its failure. Internally changing trends were also blindsided. Franchisees who were the closest to customers were not included in decision making and were thus disgruntled. Here was the need to change the management style from top-down to bottom-up. This would have solved some of the issues plaguing McDonalds, by providing data on what customers want and what products would have a greater chance of success. 7)Key success Factors McDonalds did have some strengths or key success factors; a)Large number of franchises that led to economies of scale. This however contrasted to the ‘small is beautiful’ concept of the niche markets. b)Complete training for franchisees to begin and run their own McDonalds proved to be a good team building exercise. c)Cost of food was low due to economies of scale and economies of size. Moreover, McDonalds was able to negotiate a reasonable price for high quality food products. McDonalds failed to realize the changing trends in the casual fast food markets, as a result of which, a large part of the market share was taken over by existing brands like Wendy’s and new players like Panera bread co. The company also failed to acknowledge competition from the niche markets serving gourmet and exotic foods. This lack in analysis led to lowering of entry barriers for new entrants, loss of market share to competitors (Wendy’s, Chick-Fil-A. ), disgruntled franchisees, and a drop in sales leading to a fall in equity value. Environmental Analysis 1)Political: 2)Economic: 3)Socio-Cultural: There are three cultural forces that influence marketers: a) persistence of cultural values, b) subcultures and c) shifts in secondary cultural values. Of the three, secondary cultural values carry the largest influence on the fast-food market. When the market is interested in convenience, they are more likely to buy fast food; if the markets secondary values shift and become interested in fitness and health, they will be less likely to buy fast food. (Monash university, 2006) The case shows this shift to gourmet and healthier foods. 4)Technological: McDonalds had begun to notice the importance of technology. The organization was looking at new technological solutions like ERP to improve their supply chain (Newman, 2002) 5)Environmental: 6)Legal: References: Monash university, 2006, Briohny’s Report, Language and Learning Online, Retrieved on 06 May 2008. http://www. monash. edu. au/lls/llonline/writing/business-economics/marketing/3. 3. 2. xml Newman, K, 2002. McDonalds seeks closer electronic relations, iStart. com:Technology in business, www. istart. co. nz, retrieved on 06 May 2008. http://www. istart. co. nz/index/HM20/PC0/PVC197/EX245/AR22537.

Types Of Clinical Decision Support System Computer Science Essay

Types Of Clinical Decision Support System Computer Science Essay Nowadays, technology is growing rapidly. With such tremendously growth of technology, many field of industry is taking the chance in adopting these technologies to transform their business flow to fit with the environment. Medical is one of the industries that changing their services to provide better care and better treatment to patients. Many clinical center, hospitals or medical organization is investing on Clinical Decision Support System to improve the quality of decision making from the progress of diagnosis. What is Clinical Decision Support System? Clinical Decision Support Systems are active knowledge systems which use two or more items of patient data to generate case-specific advice from Wyatt J, Spiegelhalter D, 1991 (OpenClinical 2001-2009) It designed to integrate with a medical knowledge database as well as patient data to generate case specific advises to users. In another words, it is designed to healthcare professional to make medical decision. Instead of taking the place of diagnosis as a job of computer program, it rather intended to support the clinical experts because computer is not able to perform as a human being and it may cause error which may harm and risking others people survivability. In some area, computers can help the clinician in retrieving details needed in the progress of diagnosis such as patients medical history, all kind of examination and laboratory test. In addition, the reaction of drug and allergies toward the patient will be taken into account to help a busy clinician to handle over hundred patients in a day. (Clinical Decision Support System, Citizendium, 2006) What is the purpose of Clinical Decision Support System? CDSS generally is used to assist clinician by using the point of medical to provide some expert opinion or advices. A clinician may interact with CDSS in doing determination of diagnosis, analysis and etc by according to provided patient data. Previous theories of CDSS were to use the CDSS to literally make decisions for the clinician. (Clinical Decision Support System, iScanMyFood, 2010). By now, clinician is able to input information to the system and wait for CDSS to output the right choice to advice them the correct action. By gone through the computer analysis, clinician is not only making decision through own knowledge which may not be most suitable result from a diagnosis but also getting advices from computer to improve the quality of decision making. In another words, it served as a peripheral brain. Functions of Clinical Decision Support System There are 4 basic functions contain in Clinical Decision Support System which are Administrative, Managing clinical complexity and details, Cost control, Decision support by based on Perreault Metzger. Administrative means system must be administrable which means that it must be able to support clinical coding and documentation, procedures and referrals of the medical center. In order to achieve that, CDSS is always created through multiple platforms and it understands very well on every medicals standard procedure. Other than that, it must be able to manage clinical complexity and details. It keeps patients on research and chemotherapy protocols as clinical experts always did. It tracks patient orders, referrals follow-up the status of patient and preventive care after prescription. Cost controllable by avoiding any duplication of process, document or any unnecessary lab test and to monitor medication orders to confirm any incorrect places which might be a direct harm to particular medical centers financial Decision Support is mean to support clinical diagnosis and treatment plan processes and promoting use of best practices, condition-specific guidelines, and population-based management. (OpenClinical 2001-2009) Characteristics and Types of Clinical Decision Support System Characteristics of CDSS There are 4 basic component usually required by CDSS which are Inference Engine, Knowledge Base, Explanation Module and Working Memory. Inference Engine Inference Engine is the main part of CDSS. It used knowledge from database integrated with the system as well as the knowledge about the patient to generate an output or a conclusion based on certain condition. Inference engine control the actions of the system and guide system with the best actions. For an example, it will start to detect the condition to trigger the alert or conclusion to be displayed in a diagnostic progress. Knowledge Base Knowledge Base acquired the knowledge Inference Engine used to present to the users. In Knowledge base, it contains every risk factor to carry out in new lesions and risk scores. It will be built with the involvement of clinical domain experts with also every activity of create, edit and maintenance. In another way, some knowledge base is created through automated process. Automated process knowledge is acquired from external sources such as books, magazine, journal articles and database by a computer application. The process of creating a knowledge base is complex and complicated. In order to make it easier, there are tools specially created to facilitate the acquisition and elicitation of knowledge base. There is an example tool called Protà ©gà ©, a knowledge- based development environment. Working memory Working memory is a collection of patient data or form of a message which is stored inside database. These data may include patients age, name, data of birth, gender and etc or allergies, history medical information or problems and other information. Explanation Module Explanation Module responsible in composing justification for the conclusions drawn by the Inference Engine by applied Knowledge base and patient data. This component is not presented in all CDSSs. In another way, CDSS can work on synchronous mode and asynchronous mode. In synchronous mode, users can communicate directly with application to wait for the output from system. Users will have to wait for the output in order to continue their works. For example, CDSS checks for drugs interaction or any possible medicine that patient allergies to then clinician will only able to continue to diagnose patient by based on the result generated by CDSS. When there is in asynchronous mode, CDSS is performing independently while does not required user to wait for. For an example generate a checkup reminder for patients. CDSS can be categorized as open-loop or closed-loop systems. Open-loop CDSS will generate a conclusion but it takes no action directly by its own. Usually users will take the actions on the final decision. For an example, CDSS generates alert or reminder to users to take the actions. A Closed-loop CDSS is the opposite of open-loop CDSS. It will take actions by its own without any intervention from users. For an example, system will automatic save up all details of diagnosis process. CDSS can be also an event monitor, a consultation system or a clinical guideline. Even monitor is a software application that converts every available data into electronic format and uses its integrated knowledge base to send reminder to clinicians appropriately. Consultation system allows user enters the details of a case and in another way, the system will provide user a list of problems that may explain the case and suggestion the best action to be taken. Clinical Guideline basically developed by a group of clinical experts and disseminated by the government or by professional organization and it apply in most of the CDSS. This clinical guideline has been presented with every statement of best practices regarding to a particular health condition. Other than providing recommendation from various practices, it can be taken as examples in medical education. Type of Clinical Decision Support System Knowledge-based Clinical Decision Support System (Expert System) Knowledge-based expert systems are created by having experts use the biomedical literature to identify relationships between independent variables (such as signs and symptoms) and dependent variables (such as likely underlying diseases). It contains related arranged such as local hospital information, patient data and other compiled data and apply it with IF-ELSE-THEN predefined rules to guide through the whole progress of decision making. However, rules may also be acquired from various types of decision trees. These rules-based CDSS is the most usually found among all the clinical application. It will alert user when there is a possible drug doses or allergies which may harm or risk patient life by based on patient details such as age, sex, weight, height and etc. Example: if the system rules used to determine drug interaction, the formula will started to run and to detect every possible risky drug interaction, the rules might be IF drug A is taken AND drug B is taken THEN alert user. By going through these predefined rules, provided information must be always up-to-dated to prevent any wrong output which might lead to misdiagnosis. To construct a rule-based system for medical decision support, an expert with domain knowledge always must be recruited to create and handle the knowledge base and train the system. To train an expert system is very time-consuming and it the result that produced is only usable in a narrow scope project. Therefore, a rule-based CDSS is not commonly used to deliver the critical message to clinician. (Clinical Decision Support System, Citizendium, 2006) Non Knowledge-Based Clinical Decision Support System Non Knowledge Based CDSS does not apply any data from knowledge base but they used another kind of artificial intelligent called Machine Learning. From the term of Machine Learning, it means a machine will learn from the past experience and previous lesson that given by experts. This kind of idea has implemented in this type of CDSS. Computer will learn everything in previous medical progress and find pattern in clinical data. Non Knowledge based CDSS is trained from the relationship between symptoms and signs (also called independent variables) and diseases (also called dependent variables). Machine Learning is using case-based to proceed every lesson because the system is being trained from previous cases. There are 2 type of non knowledge based systems are artificial neural networks and genetic algorithms. It contains some mathematical models that can observe and emulate the properties of an item and some kind of adaptively learns the simulated properties of the item. (Clinical Decision Support System, Citizendium, 2006). Artificial neural networks type of CDSS can analyze the attributes or patterns from patient data to derive the associations between the symptoms and a diagnosis. (Wikipedia, 2010). It can perform supervised or unsupervised machine learning depending on the way of providing the available information. Genetic Algorithm is based on a several processes of searching and simplifying and use the directed selection achieve optimal CDSS result. The algorithm will first determine properties of sets of solutions to a problem. Every solution that generated will be recombined, mutated and repeat the process again. The rotation of finding solution will not stop until a proper solution is found. The knowledge used in finding solution is derived from patient data. It usually focus on those disease that caused by narrow list of symptoms. (Wikipedia, 2010) Architecture of Clinical Decision Support System 3.1. Basic Concept of Decision Support System Architecture Since Clinical decision support system is a kind of decision support system that is design to assist clinician in decision making tasks. The architecture design of decision support system always consists of two major sub-systems which is human decision maker and computer systems. Construct a decision support system with only computer hardware and software program is not a correct concept because there might be some unstructured or semi structured decision (those decisions cannot be decide through a collection of mathematical model or formula) is not able to be programmed by system because its precisely nature thinking from a human and it is elusive and complex. There is no such independent component in a decision support system. It always needs a human decision maker as another component of decision support system to integrate with computer systems. The function of human decision maker is not to build a database for decision support system. Instead of build a database, it functions a s a decision maker that provides judgment, share their experience and exercises intuition throughout the entire process of decision making. The very first step of decision making is begin with the creation of a decision support model (decision support model is the formula or the way that helps user to filter or decide the specific result) by using some integrated DSS program such as Microsoft Excel. System will interact with database through Database Management Systems (DBMS) and deal the data from database with the decision support model through Model-Based Management System (MBMS). DBMS is an application that used to create, manage as well as control the access to the database. MBMS is an application that embedded within a DSS program that allow user to create, edit and delete the decision support model. By going through DBMS and MBMS, model is able to associate with the data from database to make a specific decision. DSS diagram.png Figure 1.0 Decision Support System diagram The diagram above shows DBMS and MBMS is integrated with the DSS to communicate with the models and database to provide result to users. 3.2. Four-Phase Model of Clinical Decision Support Architecture Four-Phase Model of clinical decision support architecture is referring to 4 type of architecture that has been used in clinical decision support system development. These architectures also representing the evolutionary of clinical decision support system. This 4 type of architecture is standalone decision support system (1959), integrated system (1967), standards-based system (1989), service models (2005). The phases is happen sequentially, every phase is learned and influenced from previous phases. Standalone Decision Support System The first phase is Standalone decision support system which happened in year 1959. They were systems that operate separately from clinical system. The clinician got to purposely seek the system out and enter information of his medical cases and then wait for the system to interpret the result. This kind of system is easy to develop because user that comes with medical knowledge and computer skills can make one of it. It is easy to share as well because the system is easy to develop, it can be categorized as a simple system, user can just make a copy of the program and then mail to another who wishes to use the system. There are limitations such as they required user to enter all the information needed by the system to make it inference. Another disadvantage is user got to seek out how the system works and flow. User that is lack of medical knowledge might have problem in system usage and might causes a lot of medical error. Thus, they cannot be proactive. It also very time consuming, it may takes half to an hour to enter a case because the models feature is very narrow and it required a lot of information to generate an output. Integrated System Due to the significant problems from standalone CDSS, developers begun to involve the architecture into another which is integrated system. The invented of Integrated system have solved a lot of problems. First of them is termination of multiple user input. The information is stored electronically after the first input by the user. Another significant solution is system can be proactive. They can alert user when it detect dangerous between drugs interaction or the dosing error automatically. The major disadvantage of integrated system is difficult to share. This system is very complex because it directly built with large clinical system. Therefore, it cant directly share to others who are not using the same clinical system. Unlike standalone system which built only based on self knowledge and computer skills. It can be send to anyone who wanted to use it. Another major problem is knowledge management problem. When there is an update for knowledge or clinical guideline, it maybe needs to find the source code to know where is guideline used. Standard-Based System In order to make content sharable, several research and effort had been undertaken to standardize clinical decision support content. The standardization of content has overcome many disadvantage of integrated system. It shares the clinical decision support content by separate the code that describing the content from source code. However, it still has some limitations. First, there is way too much standard format to choose. There are over hundred of standard to represent a simple notification. Standardized encoded may constrain a users standard. The standard that user intended to write has the difficulty to compatible with the standardized standard. Service Models Service Models, the most recent CDSS architecture. It recombined clinical information system and clinical decision support system components by using a standard application programming interface (API). This models standardizing both clinical decision support system and clinical system into one interface. Both systems will only look at only one clinical system and one CDSS at a time although the knowledge about patient and medicine are across many places. Clinical Decision Supports Algorithm 4.1 Artificial Neural Network Artificial Neural Network is a method that used by non knowledge-based CDSS. It required training from experts in a form of artificial intelligence. It will base on the past experiences or recognized examples to create a set of solution to a medical problem. They possess the Human-Brain-Like behavior instead of Computer-Like. Due to the capability of knowing the behavior of problem through its experiences, they are commonly used in recognition problems. From the result, this methodology is very well in determining narrow and well-defined clinical problem. Three general type of algorithm used by machine learning which is unsupervised, reinforcement and supervised. Unsupervised Learning Unsupervised learning means the computer identify some natural grouping within a database by based on how similar the items are and what makes a Good group without being provided examples of feature values of items. Therefore, the way of machine learning also called clustering. Unfortunately, unsupervised learning is not being used in many studies of various type of diagnosis. Reinforcement Learning In reinforcement learning, it is not provided any samples of feature values of items. Instead of giving the samples, it is given a specific main point or feedbacks which are able to determine whether the system is on the right track. Supervised Learning In supervised learning, the computer is given the samples of feature value of items. The reason of doing supervised learning is to develop a classifier that can predicts all the possibility from given predetermined classes or samples based on a set of attributes and features to describe the items. 4.2 Bayesian Network Bayesian Network shows a set of variables and dependencies of conditional among the variables via Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG). Each node in the graph represents a variable and particular node will link to its neighbor to show the dependencies among the corresponding variables. This algorithm provides a simple understanding and definition between any two nodes. It helps predict and compute every possibility event might occur in a specific condition. In the stand of medical view, it can compute every possibility diseases by based on the symptoms given. For example, fever, cough, sore throat and chilling might lead to symptoms of Dengue disease. There are two important component consists in this algorithm which are structure and a set of parameters. Structure of the Bayesian Network is constructed from DAG. Every node in DAG may be given value by the parent node. Parameters are describing the relationship and the probabilities of a node to its parent. These components can support Bayesian Network computation by using the chain rule. Therefore, parameter and structure learning must be carrying out to fully represent probability distribution. Parameter learning is to specify each node in DAG is approximately distributed based on varies conditional. Structure learning is to identify the way of distribution throughout the whole network by based on the local data. When learning Bayesian Network, the amount of training data is very important and it directly affected the correctness of the network. Therefore, training data must be provided enough through employment of experts to provide various form of knowledge to improve the accuracy of the models. The experts might provide some knowledge that specifying a condition among the variables in Bayesian Network. Bayesian Network Example.png Figure 2.0 Example of Bayesian Network The example shows that fever and chilling maybe the symptoms of Dengue Disease. In another way, chilling maybe the side effect of fever. 4.3 Logical Condition

Plagiarism - A Severe Threat to the Society Essay -- Argumentative Per

Plagiarism - A Severe Threat to the Society Every day throughout the world, teachers strive to attain the most from their students in every aspect of life, from effective communication and language skills, to the development of individualism and the concept of being the best that you could be. With the use of exams, class discussions, and written assignments, educators subconsciously reinforce the idea that success can only be achieved from within, with personal expression and dedication to each and every task faced in modern existence. The world, as we see it today, has not evolved by people copying one another’s ideas. It has evolved from the willingness of individuals to step up and make their intentions known, to bring about new ideas and concepts to forever change the environment in which we live. All too often, though, due to stress, insufficient time allowance, or just plain laziness, people take the quickest and most unproblematic approach to getting work done, in turn, failing to play their part in soci ety’s evolution by retaining individual ideas and viewpoints. For centuries, plagiarism has been a major stumbling block in the pathway for academic success. Plagiarism, as defined, means â€Å"to steal and pass off the ideas or words of another as one's own". It has existed in one form or another since the advent of time, with individuals copying the work of others to propel themselves forward in their own education or professional work field. The problem is magnified significantly in today’s society as we live in a high speed world where all of the information that you could possibly need is at the convenience of your fingertips. "Across the United States, universities -- and even in ... ... were forced to deal with it. Evaluated more thoroughly, these statistics show not only a problem with student plagiarizing, but also an underlying problem of the failure to recognize it as a severe threat to the future development of today’s society. In order for society to continue to grow and prosper in technology, educators and employers alike must realize that plagiarism is indeed a genuine concern and as a result, must be dealt with in a more severe matter to encourage individualism. Often the threat of a failed grade or expulsion from a university is not enough to deter students from cheating if known instances have not been appropriately dealt with in the past. If the problem is to be mended, educators must make examples of students who plagiarize written material, so we can discontinue the trend that seems to be irresistible to today’s society.

A History of Violence, Released in 2005

â€Å"A History of Violence,† released in 2005, is an American crime thriller which demonstrates and relates to numerous topics discussed in Psychology: An Exploration. Different psychological disorders and theories can be seen throughout the film. Tom Stall, the main character, kills two robbers in self defense and becomes a hero. However, his over night popularity thrusts him into the spotlight and causes members of an organized crime family to begin harassing Tom and his family. The mobsters claim Tom is not who he portrays himself to be. In the beginning of the film, two sought after criminals nonchalantly murder motel workers and a young girl. They exhibit no regret or emotions after the killings and continue on their crime spree. Next they are shown casually plotting a robbery to obtain cash and a free meal. The two men walk into the restaurant, demand service, and attempt to assault and murder the workers and patrons within. However, their scheme is abruptly ended when Tom Stall, the restaurant owner, kills both robbers. Both of these criminals displayed antisocial characteristics. In chapter 12, Psychological Disorders, an antisocial person or sociopath is defined as â€Å"lacking in conscience or morals; users and con artists who experience no regret or strong emotions. † This definition defines the robbers psyche faultlessly. Intermediately in the film, Tom Stall’s son, Jack stall is shown being bullied. Bobby has continually harassed and bullied Jack for no apparent reason. Usually Jack tells jokes and ignores Bobby’s constant harassment. However, in this particular scene, Jack has had enough and retaliates. Bobby is an adolescent and may be dealing with a psychosocial crisis discussed in chapter 7, Development Across the Life Span. Erikson’s identity versus role confusion is defined as the â€Å"fifth stage of personality development in which the adolescent must find a consistent sense of self. † Bobby may have come into this stage without successfully completing the earlier four stages. The aftereffect of such an occurrence may be a juvenile delinquent like Bobby. His acts of bullying may be his way of â€Å"fitting in† or being â€Å"cool. † Tom also has a daughter, Sarah Stall. In one particular scene Sarah is awakened in the middle of the night by a bad dream. She wakes up screaming and expressing her concern of monsters being in her room. Tom rushes to his daughter’s aid and the rest of the family soon follows suit. Tom and others comfort the little girl and emphasize that she is safe and has nothing to be afraid of and should go back to sleep. Sarah eventually calms down and is able to go back to sleep. Chapter 7 discusses numerous parenting styles. One of those styles is authoritative parenting which is defined as a â€Å"style of parenting in which parents combine warmth and affection with firm limits on a child’s behavior. † Although Tom’s first instinct was to comfort Sarah and ease her mind he also made it clear that it was bedtime and time for her to quiet down and rest. Tom displayed a perfect example of authoritative parenting. After repeatedly denying accusations and claims of being an ex-gangster named Joey, Tom finally admits to his wife Edie that he was indeed involved in organized crime. Edie is disgusted by Tom’s confession and becomes ill. She lashes out and says, â€Å"What are you? Like some multiple personality schizoid! † Tom is stunned by her anger but replies by saying â€Å"I went out to the dessert and I killed him (Joey). I spent three years becoming Tom Stall! Schizophrenia is defined chapter 12 as a â€Å"severe disorder in which the person suffers from disordered thinking, bizarre behavior, hallucinations, and inability to distinguish fantasy and reality. † Although Tom’s life as a small town restaurant owner was completely false, he knew this and could distinguish the difference between fantasy and reality. Tom may have somewhat displayed symptoms of Schizophrenia but a different delusional disorder may be a better diagnosis.

What Is the Immigrants American Dream?

?NANA YAA DWUMAAH ENG 102 B PROPOSAL What Is The Immigrants American Dream? If one is asked the future of this country, it is going to be a long debate and an unending talk about the failures and achievements of America. This is because different people see the same subject in different light. The phrase â€Å"American Dream† has made thousands of people leave their native country boldly in search of all that they deem impossible in their country to be possible here. This is why when asked, what the future of this country holds for its people, it will leave the people divided. Dr. Martin Luther King best defines the American dream when he exquisitely explains the Declaration of Independence. He highlights the fact that the American dream is not for a specific race or religion and that all its benefits, that is a right to life and right to liberty includes all mankind. These majestic words within which lies the American dream is what people everywhere search for in their country. They thirst for this dream, making the American dream a dream for all mankind and not only its natives. This is why America is country of people from so many racial and national backgrounds in search of a dream. Whereas Americans do not see how far this country has come, it takes only the immigrants to have them truly value their country. Being an American, yet growing up in Africa makes this issue very interesting since I can relate to both sides. The idea of the American Dream is rooted in the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence which states that â€Å"all men are created equal†. This statement is also backed by James Truslow Adams interpretation of the American Dream which states that, citizens of every rank should be able to achieve a â€Å"better, richer, and happier life. † Hence there are no exceptions to who can and cannot pursue the American dream. In the American dream, Dr. Martin Luther King states, â€Å"Never before in history of the world have so many national backgrounds assembled together in one nation. And somehow if we can’t solve the problem in America the world can’t solve the problem, because America is the world in miniature and the world is America writ large. And God set us out with all of the opportunities. † He then further states, â€Å"Are we taking this seriously? ‘All men are created equal. ’† (Juchartz 105). This is what I also question. This dream, I feel has been misinterpreted by immigrants, or better still immigrants have been lured at the forefront to hold on to this dream because it states â€Å"All men are created equal,† and perceive themselves as equal citizens of America. In reality, there are so many barriers rooted in the American system including racism, strict immigration laws that have prevented immigrants from sharing in this dream. It should be taken into account that if an individual is not a citizen he or she cannot benefit from what the country has to offer. Though the dream includes all men, race and religion, immigrants or the person outside the white American mainstream are perceived as threats to empire building and remain outsiders. This is what I mean when I retort that, the dream has been misinterpreted across various levels of people in America. I believe that the upper class and the lower class do not have the same benefits from this dream, but have similar notions of what it should be, equality for everyone. Even though some immigrants might have managed to make a better life out of this dream some immigrants living in this country can barely make ends meet just because the American dream no longer provide a hope for a better, richer and happier life. In today terms it is just about living in a western country and experiencing perhaps modernity. It beats my imagination when I think about the forces that drive immigrants to leave their native country in search of this dream sometimes risking their lives, leaving loved ones behind irrespective of the difficulties ahead. Maybe it is just to pursue a better education like myself or to earn money.

American Womens Experiences essays

American Women's Experiences essays During the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, American women had a wide variety of experiences. Rural women were moving to the cities to take industrial jobs, there were many immigrant women coming to the country for new opportunities, and working with progressive movements such as socialism and the suffragists. The country was becoming increasingly industrialized and more people were moving to the cities to find work in factories, manufacturing plants, and other businesses. Families were leaving the country to come to the city for better opportunities, and young women were going to the cities to find jobs. Young women were also coming from other countries for the opportunities available in the United States. The New Manifest Destiny promoted business and industry over agriculture, and it promoted building up the military and other interests abroad, and this brought a more diverse group of people into business and industry, and opened up some doors for women as clerks and secretaries in business. The arts were also flourishing, and more women were becoming writers and artists. Women like Susan Glaspell, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Louisa May Alcott were writing stories about strong women or the woman's plight in Victorian society, and they were using literary styles such as modernism and realism to show the true lives of women everywhere. It was becoming more acceptable for women to participate in the arts, as well, and some women's success at writing and other artistic endeavors encouraged others to try their hand as well. Women were becoming much more involved politically, as well. Women were fighting for their own rights, but also for civil rights for blacks, as well. There were many famous reformers, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony who fought tirelessly for women's rights including the right to vote. This period was a time of great change for the country, and it was a time of...

Placebo Effect essays

Placebo Effect essays Medicines that are prescribed to patients can commonly have several effects. Some of the depend directly on medicines pharmacological action; others may have a psychological effect that readily cures or relieves the symptoms troubling the patient, though they may not have any actual pharmacological action. This is known as the placebo effect. The word placebo comes from the Latin verb placere which means, to please Or, placebo is any treatment devoid of any specific actions on the patients symptoms or diseases that somehow can cause an effect upon the patient. The placebo effect is a much-debated phenomenon in medicine. This paper will consist of three topics of discussion. First, what are the two categories of illness to be considered when discussing the placebo effect? Second, what does Pavlovs Theory have to do with the placebo effect and how it relates to stress-induced illnesses. Third, how does the placebo effect relate to the patient/doctor relationship? Does the placebo effec t have the same validity when measured against serious illnesses that typically respond to chemical treatments (such as cancer, Aids, and other bacterial or cellular diseases) as when measured against stress-induced illnesses or symptoms such as asthma, migraine headaches, or blood-pressure/heart conditions? When debating the effectiveness of the placebo effect, consideration must be given to two types of illnesses that car or cannot be affected. They are: stress-related illnesses such as hypertension, asthma, high blood-pressure, migraine and other types of headaches etc. versus genetically environmentally caused illnesses such as Cancer, Aids, heart disease, diabetes, etc. The stress related illnesses are said to show that when the placebo effect works it does so in 7 to 64 % of cases; however, the result are not the same when treating more serious illnesse...

Assignment - Team Work in Business Essay Example for Free

Assignment – Team Work in Business Essay Some management teams are bound to succeed while other are not due to a number of factors. A team, according to Adair (1986), is more than just a group with a common aim. It is a group in which the contributions of individuals are seen as complementary. Collaboration, working together, is the keynote of a team activity. Adair suggests that the test of an effective team is: â€Å"whether its members can work as a team while they are apart, contributing to a sequence of activities rather than to a common task, which requires their presence in one place and at one time. † Below is a discussion of some of the major factors that create a difference between winning and losing management teams . Management teams are usually formed by a sponsor who recognizes that reaching an organizational goal will require a group of individuals working together to provide the leadership necessary to move a company, division or unit towards the organization’s goals. It is the sponsor’s responsibility to create a ‘charter’ that establishes the management team and its primary focus. In addition, the sponsor establishes specific goals the team is to accomplish. The sponsor will also select the team leader and gain his or her commitment to lead the leadership team in defining and carrying out the needed actions. Lack of will or proper direction by the sponsor ( e. g board of directors in a company) can lead to team failure. These include physical factors such as working proximity, plant or office layout. In general, close proximity aids group identity and loyalty, and distance reduces them. Other environmental issues include the traditions of the organisation under which the management team operates, and leadership styles. Formal organisations tend to adopt formal group practices. Autocratic leadership styles prefer group activities to be directed. Small groups tend to be more cohesive than larger groups; small groups tend to encourage full participation; large groups contain greater diversity of talent. A shared understanding of the management team’s stakeholders, their expectations of the team, and the values the team embraces is essential to create the focus needed as the management team members plan and execute the actions necessary to achieve the team’s goals. Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound goals should be established by the team’s sponsor and then broken into sub-goals by the management team. Without SMART goals, the team will lack the milestones necessary to drive action. Team leadership is the most critical success factor for the performance management team. A leader with strong performance management skills and the ability to develop others virtually guarantees a successful performance initiative. Every management team needs a leader who focuses the members of the team on the mission, purpose, and goals of the team. This individual must be committed to the team’s results and must be willing to be held accountable by the team’s sponsor and other stakeholders, for leading the team through processes that insure the team’s goals are reached. The team leader must engage each team member in the processes of the team and build a platform of mutual trust that leads to open debate, collaboration, individual commitment, and personal accountability. The most important element of successful team work is the establishment of a platform of mutual trust that enables the management team to engage in open debate and decision making that leads to commitments to action by individual members of the team. Building this trust requires an openness that allows team members to know and understand the beliefs and behaviors of all members of the team so that team actions can be structured to take advantage of each member’s uniqueness and talents. Behavioral and values assessments are powerful tools in developing an understanding how each member of the management team views themselves and responds to others in the team. An effective management team will have team members who are actively engaged in the work and focus of the team. This will require that each team member emotionally commits to actively and openly participate in the team’s processes in the pursuit of the team’s goals. The team member must willingly commit to carry out action plans to complete individual actions necessary for the team to reach their team goals. The team member must be dependable and carry the full weight of personal responsibility to complete their individual commitments by the date committed to. Engaged team members enthusiastically support each other and add value to other team members. They prepare for team processes and choose to engage others in a positive manner to find solutions to issues and challenges they individually or as a team face. They constantly seek to improve themselves for the benefit of the team and never, never, never quit. The Apollo Syndrome is a phenomenon that having too many people with a high mental abilities grouped together to solve a problem is, in many instances, detrimental to the teamwork process. Team members spend much of their time trying to persuade the team to adopt their own views as well as figuring out ways to point out weaknesses in the rest of the team’s ideas. They have difficulty reaching consensus in decisions and are focused on their own work, paying little attention to what their fellow team members agree doing. Occasionally the team will pick up on the fact they are having problems, but will then overcompensate to avoid confrontation. This leads to even more problems in making sound decisions. A knowledgeable team, skilled at group working, and with a wider range of talents is much more likely to succeed than an inexperienced group with a narrow range of talents. The work of a management team is carried out by individual members of the team. When a team has developed a plan of actions that are necessary to achieve their goals or overcome barriers, individual members must commit to carrying out specific actions which in many cases will include actions by the individual teams they in turn lead. The management team’s collaborative processes must include steps to: * Define individual actions, * Gain the commitments by individual team members to complete the actions, * Document due dates, and * Establish status reporting processes. Team goals will usually not be realized until individual commitments are completed. Management team members must embrace a discipline to complete their commitments as scheduled. They must agree to hold each other personally accountable for completing, as scheduled, the commitments each person has made to the team. Each management team member must continuously report the status of their open commitments to the team so that barriers to completion can be identified early in order to permit the management team leader and other team members the opportunity to deal with the issues before overall deadlines are impacted. 12. Identification and Removal of Barriers Barriers to team and individual progress will occur in every management team effort and must be dealt with quickly to continue progress towards the team’s goals. The team leader must continuously monitor the status of each individual’s commitments and initiate barrier removal processes where appropriate. Team-based processes for developing action plans to overcome barriers impacting individual commitments should be instilled as a part of the team’s culture. The ability for a management team to clearly state it’s goals and objectives and gain buy-in among the people they lead ( e. g. employees )along with a synergistic team that can carry out their responsibilities is vital to performance success. The vision and/or mission of the team must be accepted by all the team members and critical goals viewed as the collective responsibility of the team. If a return to profitability is a critical goal of an executive team, priorities and time commitments must be pulled from elsewhere. Focusing on results that in any way does not support the critical goal(s) of the team will lead to team failure. While a skilled management team can improve performance with very little tools and only an effective approach, with proper technology to support the team’s needs, and the proper data to drive decision making, there is almost no limit to the improvements an organization will yield. Innovating is a key aspect of teamwork and involves challenging the way things are currently being done. Technology is changing so quickly that the way you are currently performing tasks may no longer be the best way. If you are not up-to-date in your practices, your cost structure may be too high or you may no longer be delivering competitive service. Innovating is essential for all work teams. There are always better ways of doing things if you only take time to discover them. To obtain the resources – people, money, and equipment – to carry out your work, you have to ‘sell’ what you are doing to other people. Resources to implement new ideas will only be given if your team can persuade and influence people higher in the organization. Promoting to customers or clients both inside or outside the organization is also important if you are to continually deliver what people want. Many ideas don’t see the light of day because they are impractical. The Developing activity ensures that your ideas are molded and shaped to meet the needs of your customers, clients, or users. It involves listening to their needs and incorporating these in your plans. Developing will ensure that what you are trying to do is possible, given the resource constraints of your organization. Regular checks on work activities are essential to ensure that mistakes are not made. Quality audits of your products or services will ensure that your customers or clients will remain satisfied. Inspecting also covers the financial aspect of work in your team, as well as the security aspects, the safety aspects and the legal aspects. All management teams need to uphold standards and maintain effective work processes. Your car will fail if it does not have its regular service. Teams can fail too, if the team processes are not regularly checked and maintained. Maintaining ensures that quality standards are upheld and that regular reviews of team effectiveness take place. Linking is the activity that ensures all team members pull together, and makes the difference between a group of individuals and a highly effective and efficient team. It covers the linking of people, linking of tasks and leadership linking. Assignment – Team Work in Business. (2016, Nov 20).

Informational Interview Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Informational Interview - Term Paper Example Trust and accountability are good virtues that can help any businessperson establish a good relationship with the customers, which has a positive impact on any kind of business. The experience I have gained so far in supply chain management can be applied to manage supplies in a big international company. Florida Tile Inc has a career opportunity in the supply chain management. Florida Tile Inc is one of the largest producers and suppliers of ceramic and porcelain tiles. Last summer, I did my summer internships in this company though worked in the customer care department. The company has various departments. I contacted Dave Peterson who is the supply chain managers of the company and arranged for an interview to find out more about the position. I explained to him that I am a student who is interested in the position of supply chain management and looking forward to working in the similar position after college. Mr. Peterson was willing to assist. Name: Dave Peterson Job title: sup ply chain manager Employer: Florida Tile Inc Location: 998 Governors lane, Lexington KY 40513 Business telephone number: 859-219-5200 Date/ Time: Questions and Answers: 1) What did you study in college? a) I studied business management and majored in supply chain management. ... I was called for an interview, which I believe I did well and was later contacted as one of the successful candidates. 4) Did you have experience in supply chain management prior to your current job? a) Before landing a job at the Florida Tile Inc, I worked for Acme Brick Company as clerk in the supplies department where my main duty was documenting orders from customers from various parts of the country. The acme brick company manufactures tiles, block, and bricks. 5) What do you do on a typical workday? a) I work for eight hours a day and my main responsibility is to ensure that our products get nearer our customers on time. I make arrangement on transportation of raw materials and finished products to various destinations and also supervise inventory and storage. 6) Which skills do I require to fit in the same position? a) In order to be successful in this position, you need to be critical thinker as this will enable you solve problems and make good decisions that can translate in to great profits. To solve problems articulately, you need to be decisive and in addition posses good communication skills. 7) How does your department relate with other departments within the company? a) Teamwork is one important strategy for any business to achieve goals. We work as a team with other departments in the company. 8) What are the challenges you face as you go about your daily tasks at work? a) One major challenge in this position is the ever growing and changing technology in the business arena. Keeping up with the pace at times pose challenges to my colleagues and I in the supply chain department. 9) According to your opinion, who is the most important person in the company? a) In any business organization or company, the customers are the most

Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 20

Psychology - Essay Example There are a couple of different theories as to how memory works. One suggests that the brain actually stores all the information we have ever experienced and that the problems of forgetting and remembering have more to do with how we store and retrieve information. Another theory indicates the brain works more like old videotape – the older the memory is, the more likely it is to have broken down, lost details or become blurry to the point of nonexistence. Regardless of which theory is correct, if either, understanding the factors that contribute to remembering more and forgetting less can help us strengthen our ability to remember details quicker and perhaps greatly enrich our lives. There are several elements that contribute to forgetting. Forgetting is the term we use to discuss the loss of details about a particular event or memory that we once knew. It assumes that the information was once learned and stored in the brain but is now somehow irretrievable. At least five major theories have been explored to explain this event, all of which suggest what factors might be involved in the process. The decay theory suggests that forgetting occurs over time as unused information in the brain is simply lost because of its lack of importance in the face of other information (Frank, 2010). Information stored in the brain can also be distorted as a result of improper storage of information, allowing important details to be lost, or even through false memory in which wrong information has been stored. However, even memories that are retained correctly can be warped and shaped by the events that have occurred during the retention interval, another factor that contributes t o forgetting. Interference refers to what happens â€Å"before, during, or after learning or memorizing. Activities done before a task may confuse the retention process or what psychologists call as proactive inhibition. The more

Intervention and post-conflict growth (Has to be more specific) Essay

Intervention and post-conflict growth (Has to be more specific) - Essay Example Consequently, the structure of the economy can also be affected by conflicts, and I shall feature the case of the two Latin American countries; Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Furthermore, I shall feature on the causes of conflicts and alternative ways of conflict resolution. This is because, in a conflict situation there has to be a consensus to resolve conflicts for the economy to return normalcy. Instability is one of the factors that have serious adverse effects on the economy. Conflicts have serious consequences on the economy because conflicts, usually, destroy the wheels of the economy one of them being the destruction of the human capital. In post conflict situations, the economy can take a relatively short or long time to recover depending on the measures undertaken to curb the situations in post conflict situations. In the Basque Country case study shows that the GDP dropped by 10% between since the start of the insurgent 1n 1960 (Abadie and Gardeazabal, 2003). The economic growth can be explained from two theories i.e. neoclassical growth theory that predicts that after the conflict the economy recovers quickly. On the other hand, another alternative model explains that the economic recovery may take a long time because the human capital takes a long time to recover (Serneels and Vapoorten, 2010). In some post conflict situations, some countries may fail to progress due to the poor economic performance. Additionally, some of the conflicts inflicted countries experience economy recovery few years after reconciliation (Serneels and Vapoorten, 2010). If physical capital is destroyed during conflicts then an economy is likely to converge quickly but if the human capital is destroyed during the conflict then it will take a relatively long time for the economy to recover to its normal state. According to Serneels and Vapoorten (2010), a civil conflict is less detrimental than an international conflict in terms of physical infrastructure

Roles and responsibilities of community health Essay

Roles and responsibilities of community health - Essay Example Employers should therefore pay people enough money so that the issue of money is off the table. . Autonym involves one being allowed to do something in their own way as long as they produce good results. The urge for better understanding of skills motivates a person to work harder. Extra ordinary conditions are often brought about by having a purpose to achieve a certain goal and hence making people have purpose for something is much more important than monetary motivation. Ken Robinson argues that the current system of education has failed in creating creativity among the students. He indicates that academic inflation is being caused by people not giving value to whatever they study which he terms as ‘shifting beneath or feet. Schools have turned into institutes of constructing hypothetical careers rather than skills that one can measure. He observes that in the recent days people are studying various careers but fail to apply them in life and become completely different people. Ken believes that children have innovative capacity and talents that are squandered ruthlessly by schools. The education system has focused on more on science and humanities leaving behind art that is a subject that exercises the child’s creativity. According to me his hypothesis is very true, and most of our talents fade away with time. While in primary school I was an excellent in painting but when as my level of education goes higher, attention has shifted to science and thus my little talent has faded away. No teacher has motivated me on making a career out of painting and even my parents focus more on me having a different career rather than in my talent. Digitization of the world has led to changes in the academic sector some of which include softcopy notes and virtual schooling. One can attend classes at the comfort of their homes that are convenient to many people. Virtual schooling gives people a

Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson proved that institutions are the Essay

Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson proved that institutions are the ultimate cause of economic development. Do you agree - Essay Example As a result, in societies where political and economic power has been distributed for a long time on a consistent basis, institutions are usually path-reliant. This occurs even in societies where the institutions are socioeconomically below the optimal standards of operation. Acemoglu et al. (2001:1395) state that many scientists and economists hold that contrasts in institutions and government policies are the primary causes of huge disparities in income per capita among countries. They further claim that contrasts in colonial experience may be a genesis of exogenous disparities in institutions. This claim is based on two logics. The first is that Europeans employed very different strategies when colonizing other nations, and these strategies spawned different institutions. On one hand, such as in New Zealand, America, and Australia, they established institutions that implemented the rule of law and promoted investment. On the other hand, in countries like Ghana (Gold Coast) and the Congo, they established exploitative regimes aimed at quickly extracting resources. These institutions impeded economic growth and investment. Secondly, the institutions established in both extremes of the world remain in place today and have led to the differences in econom ic development and stability of the affected countries (Acemoglu, Johnson, & Robinson, 2001:1395). According to Acemoglu et al. (2002:572), Atlantic trade catalysed European growth via ancillary institutional media as well as its more pertinent root effects. However, the crux of their argument, which relates to this paper, is that Atlantic trade earned huge profits for merchant interests in favour of institutional reform in states that satisfied two vital preconditions: democratic initial institutions and convenient access to the Atlantic. The result was a shift in political influence away from the

Intervention and post-conflict growth (Has to be more specific) Essay

Intervention and post-conflict growth (Has to be more specific) - Essay Example Consequently, the structure of the economy can also be affected by conflicts, and I shall feature the case of the two Latin American countries; Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Furthermore, I shall feature on the causes of conflicts and alternative ways of conflict resolution. This is because, in a conflict situation there has to be a consensus to resolve conflicts for the economy to return normalcy. Instability is one of the factors that have serious adverse effects on the economy. Conflicts have serious consequences on the economy because conflicts, usually, destroy the wheels of the economy one of them being the destruction of the human capital. In post conflict situations, the economy can take a relatively short or long time to recover depending on the measures undertaken to curb the situations in post conflict situations. In the Basque Country case study shows that the GDP dropped by 10% between since the start of the insurgent 1n 1960 (Abadie and Gardeazabal, 2003). The economic growth can be explained from two theories i.e. neoclassical growth theory that predicts that after the conflict the economy recovers quickly. On the other hand, another alternative model explains that the economic recovery may take a long time because the human capital takes a long time to recover (Serneels and Vapoorten, 2010). In some post conflict situations, some countries may fail to progress due to the poor economic performance. Additionally, some of the conflicts inflicted countries experience economy recovery few years after reconciliation (Serneels and Vapoorten, 2010). If physical capital is destroyed during conflicts then an economy is likely to converge quickly but if the human capital is destroyed during the conflict then it will take a relatively long time for the economy to recover to its normal state. According to Serneels and Vapoorten (2010), a civil conflict is less detrimental than an international conflict in terms of physical infrastructure

Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson proved that institutions are the Essay

Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson proved that institutions are the ultimate cause of economic development. Do you agree - Essay Example As a result, in societies where political and economic power has been distributed for a long time on a consistent basis, institutions are usually path-reliant. This occurs even in societies where the institutions are socioeconomically below the optimal standards of operation. Acemoglu et al. (2001:1395) state that many scientists and economists hold that contrasts in institutions and government policies are the primary causes of huge disparities in income per capita among countries. They further claim that contrasts in colonial experience may be a genesis of exogenous disparities in institutions. This claim is based on two logics. The first is that Europeans employed very different strategies when colonizing other nations, and these strategies spawned different institutions. On one hand, such as in New Zealand, America, and Australia, they established institutions that implemented the rule of law and promoted investment. On the other hand, in countries like Ghana (Gold Coast) and the Congo, they established exploitative regimes aimed at quickly extracting resources. These institutions impeded economic growth and investment. Secondly, the institutions established in both extremes of the world remain in place today and have led to the differences in econom ic development and stability of the affected countries (Acemoglu, Johnson, & Robinson, 2001:1395). According to Acemoglu et al. (2002:572), Atlantic trade catalysed European growth via ancillary institutional media as well as its more pertinent root effects. However, the crux of their argument, which relates to this paper, is that Atlantic trade earned huge profits for merchant interests in favour of institutional reform in states that satisfied two vital preconditions: democratic initial institutions and convenient access to the Atlantic. The result was a shift in political influence away from the

Investigating the Ratio Between Poly-Vinyl Alcohol Essay Example for Free

Investigating the Ratio Between Poly-Vinyl Alcohol Essay Introduction: Poly-Vinyl Alcohol (PVA) is a water-soluble synthetic polymer that will be used as one element to form the well know bouncing ball, along with Sodium Borate (borax), which has a variety of uses because of its weak base. PVA is ideal for this experiment because it is odorless, nontoxic, has high tensile strength and flexibility. The binder characteristics of PVA offer excellent adhesion to porous, water-absorbent surfaces. A local manufacturer wants to find a material to create a simple toy: a bouncing ball. Research institutions collaborate with local manufacturers and provide professional assistance with their projects. In trying to create a bouncing ball, one must find the appropriate ratio of the two that forms a solid for which have the properties that a bouncing ball consist. It is important that we find the correct ratio so that it is perfect shape, texture, and saltation. The main property that we are testing for is the products bounciness. Figure 1: The reaction of PVA and borax. In the above illustration, two PVA molecules are shown being cross-linked by a hydrated borax molecule. Four molecules of water are also produced. Hypothesis: In this experiment, I predict that if more Poly-vinyl Alcohol over Sodium Borate, then the appropriate bouncing solid will be formed. Methods: With the supplied solutions of PVA and sodium borate, my group and I took 100 mL of each solution. We measured out different ratios repeatedly to find the appropriate ratio. Start with a happy medium of 10mL (PVA) and 20mL (Sodium Borate) and examined the results. The results are not accurate so you have to test the extremes and then examine which way to continue. In my experiment, more of PVA is needed and less of sodium borate is needed. Continue testing until you get closer and closer to an adequate ratio with a good solid product, which we can to the conclusion that 4:1 as well 7:1 worked as good ratios to further test. We tested the ratio by cooling one and heating the other. By cooling the product it was able to harden and somewhat stay in shape. On the other hand, by heating it it doesn’t keep its form thus unable to be bounced. So to harden the heated product follow the theory of heating (50Â °c) to then immediately cooling (12Â °c) the product; this helps to harden the product inside out thus allow the product to keep its shape as well as bounce like a true manufactured bouncy ball. Results: Ratios – table 1 Trial(s)| Amount of PVA| Amount of Sodium Borate| Ratio| Description| 1| 10 mL| 20 mL| 1:2| slimy| 2| 3 mL| 30 mL| 1:10| watery| 3| 30 mL| 3 mL| 10:1| play-dough| 4| 20 mL| 1 mL| 20:1| foamy| 5| 10 mL| 2 mL| 5:1| rubbery| 6| 8 mL| 2 mL| 4:1| slightly crumbly| -| 12 mL| 3 mL| 4:1**| harder/shaped| 7| 15 mL| 5 mL| 3:1| slimy/not keeping form| 8| 7 mL| 1 mL| 7:1| too slimy| -| 14 mL| 2 mL| 7:1**| harder/shaped| Note: ** multiple tests (heated, cooled, heated and cooled) Bouncing Height – table 2 Ratio| Iced (12Â °c)| Heated (50Â °c)| Heated then Cooled| 4:1| 8-10 cm| -| 30-32 cm| 7:1| 9-11 cm| -| 19-20 cm| pH 8 weakly alkaline Discussion: A local manufacturer wanted my team to find a suitable ratio to create the well-known toy, the bouncing ball. In efforts to do so, our TA supplied PVA, along with sodium borate, to the students. Each group could only acquire so much at a time. My group acquired 100 mL of both PVA and sodium borate. To start, we did a 1:2 ratio just as a test to see if it would solidify into a ball. As a result, it came out slimy so we tried to up the amount of sodium borate (1:10 ratio), which lead us to a more watery product. Since increasing the amount of borax lead us in the wrong direction, we increased PVA and lowered sodium borate to a 10:1 ratio. This ratio gave us a play-dough outcome, which was closer to what we needed. Decreasing the amount of solution to a 5:1 ratio, we moved even closer. The 5:1 was starting to feel rubbery. After seeing how close we were with the 5:1, we tried the 4:1. Our 4:1 and 7:1 were fairly similar and the closet to our projected outcome but it was not quite there yet. So, by heating and cooling each result gave us a somewhat reasonable result. The result of cooling our 7:1 product for 30 minutes was a harder but still lacked shape as well as the 4:1 product that was cooled for 30 minutes. The 7:1 result was able to bounce 9-11 cm in height while the 4:1 product was able to bounce to a similar height of 8-10 cm. Both products heated would not bounce or keep form, so we immediately put both on ice. As most people should know, with the rapid temperature (from hot to cold), it causes an object to harden from the inside out. So, with this theory in mind, after the heated products failed we placed them on ice and let it sit there and harden. The products hardened over a 15-minute time frame and we could clearly see the difference between these and the rest of our trials. The heated then cooled product for the 7:1 ratio could bounce to a height interval of 19-20 cm, while the product from the 4:1 ratio could bounce to a height interval of 30-32 cm. Ultimately, we have to accept the best product for the manufacturer to mass produce and market so that the most money can be made. From the data collected, the ratio 4:1 is the closest to form a perfect product (bouncy ball) simply because it bounced higher which meant it was harder as well as kept its shape. But, from this experiment, we can conclude that either just cooling the ratio or by heating then immediately cooling the ratio product creates an adequate bouncy ball that when dropped it bounces like a true bouncy ball. References: Experiment 2. Polymers:. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2012. http://matse1.matse.illinois.edu/polymers/e.html. Polyvinyl Alcohol. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Aug. 2012. Web. 19 Sept. 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvinyl_alcohol. Borax. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Sept. 2012. Web. 19 Sept. 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borax.

Leadership Is About Leading Followers Management Essay

Leadership Is About Leading Followers Management Essay According to Williams, C McWilliams, A, leadership is about leading followers to achieve organization or company goals. The purpose of this essay is to define the differences between transformational leadership and transactional leadership. The former facilitates a redefinition of a peoples mission and vision, a renewal of their commitment and the restructuring of their systems for goal accomplishment (Leithwood, cited in Cashin et al. 2000, pp. 1). While the latter occur when the give and take exchange happens. Transformational leadership usually called as a charismatic leadership. It is the most studied guide of leadership (Bass 1985, 1990; Bass Avolio 1993, 1994; Gastil 1994; Lowe et al.1996; Pawar Eastman 1997; Shamir et al. 1998; Yammorino et al.1997; Yukl 1994), while transactional leadership called as an authoritative leadership, serves to articulate and establish positions held by the leader. This leadership is the least supportive of intentional change (McWhinney 1997, pp. 194). The differences between both of them are the process and the behavior. The process of transformational leadership which is a leadership focusing on team building and strategies where all employees and leaders have a strong bond to make decisions to reach the target. For example: the McDonalds manager obligation is to make strategy how to provide less time to serve the chickens. While the process of transactional leadership is about making sure everything goes as desire and about the reward and the punishme nt. The rewards are given such as honor, wage, etc. While, the punishment is well understood by everyone. The example of transactional leadership is job for McDonalds employees is to sell as many chickens as possible. According to Bass (1985), transactional leadership behaviors which are the leadership aiming at monitoring and controlling employees through rational or economic means. While transformational leadership behaviors are a variety of field studies demonstrating that are positively related to employees satisfaction, self-reported effort, and job performances. Transformational / charismatic leadership usually make a better performance than transactional / authoritative leadership. It will produce a greater satisfaction and make less role conflict.   In addition, Ashkanasy Tse (2000) and Bass (2002) said that, emotions are playing an important rule in the leaderships process. Transformational leadership is very sensitive to the emotions of the followers. This sensitiveness could lead the followers to a good result if the leaders have a positive thought. Example: if the leaders of the groups have a very high self-motivation, the followers can reach beyond what they expected because they can trust their leaders, otherwise if leaders without positive thought, the leaders will not get the employees trust. While in the transactional leadership, it does not seem to be as sensitive as the transformational leadership. In this leadership, the leaders are not supporting the employees and cause the negative effects that make frustrations, sadness and regret to the employees because not getting what they want or expect. So, transformational leadership is more related to the positive effects while transactional leadership is more related to the negative effects.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Everyone personality is different, so do the leaders. Which will provide different impact to the followers. Bass (1985) identified eight dimensions of leadership behaviors. The first transformational behavior is an idealized influence, refers to leaders who have a very high personal regard and who engender loyalty from followers. The second transformational leadership behavior is an inspirational motivation, refers to leaders with a strong vision for the future based on values and ideals. The third transformational leadership dimension is an intellectual stimulation, which refers to leaders who challenge organizational norms. Individual consideration is the fourth transformational leadership dimension, refers to a leader behavior aiming at recognizing the unique growth and development the needs of followers. The fifth is contingent reward, refers to leadership behaviors focused on exchange of resources. The next one is management by exception-active, refers to monitoring performance and taking corrective action as necessary. In the management by exception-passive, the leaders are taking a passive approach. Finally, Bass (1985) included Laissez-Faire under the transactional leadership label.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     An example of Malaysians business which have transformational leadership is Air Asia. The owner of Air Asia is Tony Fernandes who was born on 30th  April 1964, this organization is bought by him from DRB-Hicom. He studied in London, United Kingdom majoring in Finance in 1976 and graduated in 1987. Before he joined Warner Music International London in 1989 and had been promoted four times in twelve years (approximately promoted every three years), he worked in Virgin group majoring in communications. In 1992, he was transferred to Malaysia back to his hometown. And at the age of 28, he received the title of the youngest person in recording music industrys history to head Warner Music Malaysia. Unfortunately, he leave his promising career in music industry which he had earned the position as a vice president, ASEAN region because he was going to build a low price airline based on almost the same business models as in USA (Southwest Airlines) and E urope (Ryanair easyJet). Setia Mahkota Selangor is the title which he got in 1999 and given by his Royal Highness King of Malaysia Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah. In this airline organization he lead, the first priority is the employees, it can be said that this is showing the organizations loyalty. Because of this organizations trustworthiness, the employees give a good service to the customers to show the respect to the organization. This transformational leadership behavior is included into an idealized influence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Even though transformational leadership is more recommended than transactional leadership as it is said above, it does not mean that transactional leadership is not important. Because the function of transactional leadership is to motivate employees to do beyond than they could expect. So both of the leadership is needed in every organization. The organization should balance their leadership between the transformational and transactional leadership. (916 words)

motivation :: essays research papers

I once had an interesting conversation with the owner/manager of a clothing manufacturing company. He operated a large and successful business, principally supplying uniforms for the corporate market. He was surprised by some of his workers. They worked on a piece work rate (paid per item) and some of the very efficient staff did not produce as much as they were capable of. They worked hard at the start of the pay period, but then they tapered off. He expected them to work hard the whole time, as they were paid by what they produced - the harder they worked, the more they were paid. He expected that the extra money reward would motivate them. Motivation is a complex concept. Remuneration is also complex. Individuals react in different ways to pay schemes. A simple explanation for the clothing worker behaviour is that they did not work just for the money. They enjoyed the working environment and the social interaction it provided. They liked to have work, to be employed, and yes they needed a certain level of income. But once they achieved that, the pressure to work hard was reduced. Given that the actual work task was quite monotonous and repetitious, it was not surprising that they exhibited this behaviour. Drastic work design was required. People think that money is a motivator. It does have an effect, but motivation involves far more. Sales people are the classic example. Most are on performance based schemes. But what is one of the main themes sales and marketing consultants write about? You guessed it - how to motivate your sales team! Consultants would not need to write motivation articles if financial reward alone worked. Equity in compensation practices Positive effects come from good financial and non-financial rewards. It is very important to have a well managed remuneration system in place. Fair and reasonable reward is essential and very important for good morale. I believe strongly in the equity theory of motivation. Simply put, the theory states that people have to believe that their pay is equitable with others. When they compare their salary and benefits with their colleagues and co-workers, they must believe that they are being fairly compensated. If they believe their compensation is not equitable, they become very de-motivated and their work performance suffers. Financial and nonfinancial rewards I subscribe to the theory that states it is the nature of the work that is important.

E-Commerce and the New Economy Essay -- Internet Online Communication

E-Commerce and the New Economy The web has transformed our global economy. It is a powerful tool that has changed the way we produce, market and distribute goods and services. Finances and culture have been altered. New styles of commerce have developed. For example, a business call placed in North America could be handled by a technical expert in Asia as business is conducted internationally as well as transnationally. The purpose of this essay is to examine the issues, challenges and opportunities related to commerce in the â€Å"new economy†. The internet became popular in 1995. It creates many opportunities in different kind of industries. Ecommerce is one of the successful examples of buying and selling on the web. It is like a cocoon, which became mature in these recent years. Low start-up costs make online businesses attractive to new entrepreneurs. Establishing their businesses online can eliminate store rental expenses; they don’t have to hire anybody to take care of it (Charles Steinfield). They can upload some pictures and descriptions of their products online. This allows their customers to see what they are buying. Moreover, customers can search for their needs whenever they want as long as they have an access to the internet (Charles Steinfield). Because of globalization, the national boundaries are eliminated as well. Customers can make their purchase anywhere around the world. This expands target markets. Buying products online, customers can ask questions anytime when they encounter any problem or have doubts about what they are buying (Charles Steinfield). Many websites have provided online support services. Buyers can contact sellers directly and discuss their concerns. Therefore, the interaction between b... ...r shopping will be done at home on the web. This will bring society into a new economy. Bibliography 1) Donna L. Hoffman, Thomas P. Novak and Patrali Chatterjee, â€Å"Commercial Scenarios for the Web: Opportunities and Challenges† http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol1/issue3/hoffman.html Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University 2) Charles Steinfield, â€Å"An introduction to the special issue† http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol1/issue3/genintro.html Michigan State University 3) Rolf T. Wigand and Robert I. Benjamin, â€Å"Electronic Commerce: Effects on Electronic Markets† http://www.ascusc.org /jcmc/vol1/issue3/wigand.html School of information Studies, Syracuse University 4) Nonick â€Å"Buying online. Is it safe? What are the Dangers of Buying Online?† http://www.zyra.org.uk/buysafe.htm Zyra 5) Straubhaar and LaRose, â€Å"Media Now† Third Edition, Wadsworth, 2002

Crohn’s Disease: a Patient Education Plan

Sarah is a bright, energetic 18-year-old high school senior. She leads a very active life playing soccer and lacrosse for her high school and excels academically. Recently, Sarah has been losing weight and has been less energetic. For the past few months she has been experiencing abdominal pain, cramping, and diarrhea. Her lack of energy has begun to show by recently missed practices and declining grades. Sarah's parents were concerned about their daughter's health so they brought her to the doctor's in which she was recently diagnosed with Crohn's disease. Sarah lives with both parents and two younger brothers in suburban Maryland. It is noted that Sarah's maternal grandmother had irritable bowel syndrome. Sarah is planning on going to college in the fall and will need a large amount of education on nutrition, medications, and symptoms of the disease so that she can manage the disease independently. Sarah states that she learns best by reading. Crohn's disease is a chronic disorder that causes inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, usually the colon, although it can be found anywhere in the digestive tract. There is no proven cause of Crohn's disease but according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease's (2006), â€Å"the most popular theory is that the body's immune system reacts abnormally mistaking bacteria, foods and other substances for being foreign† (Crohn's Disease, para 5), the intestines become inflamed and swell and ulcers form leading to diarrhea and gastrointestinal bleeding. Other symptoms associated with Crohn's disease include abdominal pain and cramping, bloody stools, ulcers, fever, reduced appetite and weight loss, arthritis, and skin problems. A diagnoses of Crohn's disease to an active 18year old girl can be devastating. At 18, girls are usually concerned with their image and outward appearance. Sarah would also be concerned about her independence and quality of life. Fitting in with her peers and feeling â€Å"normal† are a big concern. She may be concerned about having intimate relationships in the future or going out to eat with friends. There is no known cure for Crohn's disease so Sarah needs to focus on the things she can do to control the symptoms and educe the time between flare ups. There is obviously a lot of emotional stress that can go along with Crohn's disease. A young girl, trying to have a social life may find it difficult to go out in public for fear of having an attack of gas , pain or diarrhea, and not be near a bathroom. Knowing where the public bathrooms are before you go out can reduce anxiety. Special dietary needs may be restrictive when going out with friends. Figuring out the trigger foods and avoiding them is necessary. If surgery is needed, this can impact her self image. Talking with a doctor about possible surgical procedures may be helpful. Sarah will also have to be monitored for depression, which is common when living with a chronic disease. Sarah will need education on how manage her disease independently. Besides medication, there are many other things Sarah can do to manage her disease and improve her quality of life. Sarah will need to be taught about her nutritional needs. She should limit dairy products. Often people with Crohn's are lactose intolerant. Sarah should eat low fat foods. Fattier foods can worsen diarrhea. Drink plenty of liquids avoiding caffeine and alcohol. Eat small meals. Take a multivitamin. She should also pay attention to and avoid the foods that cause gastrointestinal upset. In addition to her dietary needs, Sarah needs to manage stress. Avoiding stressful situations or using exercise or yoga to reduce stress may help prevent flare-ups. Other educational needs for Sarah include teaching about the possibility of surgery if or when the medications and diet modifications cannot control the symptoms any longer. As stated on the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America website (2009), â€Å"Two-thirds to three quarters of patients with Crohn's disease will require surgery at some point in their lives† (About Crohn's Disease, para 24). Sarah will be provided with informational handouts and videos along with a list of website resources such as www. ucandcrohns. org and www. ccfa. org/kidsteens. Counseling will be provided for emotional support. Sarah's family will also be educated and taught how to provide support and acceptance. Sarah may believe her life will be very different but with education and support, she should be able to live a relatively normal life. Diagnoses with a chronic disease at any age is difficult. For Sarah, educational on how to best manage Crohn's disease and prevent flare-ups will decrease stress and help her live a normal life. Follow-up doctor appointments for medication management and updated disease information is important so she has current treatment options. Ongoing emotional support and guidance are needed to maintain a healthy attitude and lifestyle. References American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons. (2008). Crohn's Disease. Retrieved June 12, 2010 from http://www.fascrs.org/patients/conditions/crohns_disease/ Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. (2009). Retrieved June 12, 2010 from http://www.ccfa.org/info/about/crohns Mayo Clinic. (2009). Mayo Clinic. Retrieved June 12, 2010 from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/crohns-disease/DS00104 National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. (2006). Retrieved June 12, 2010 from http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/crohns/ University of Maryland Medical Center. (2010). Crohn's Disease. Retrieved June 13, 2010 from http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/crohns-disease-000043.htm

Case Report of Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital Essay

Six Sigma is a business management strategy designed to meet customer needs and process capability. Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects and minimizing variability in manufacturing and business processes. It uses a systematic project-oriented fashion through define, measure, analyze, improve, and control (DMAIC) cycle, including statistical tools, and creates a special infrastructure of people within the organization (like â€Å"Black Belts†, â€Å"Green Belts†, etc.) who are experts in these methods. Each Six Sigma project carried out within an organization follows a defined sequence of steps and has quantified financial targets (cost reduction, profit increase, etc). Overview: Project name: Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (AMH) Problem: Patients with potentially life-threating injuries and illnesses are waiting for over an hour for treatment in Emergency Department at AMH! Although long wait times seemed to be readily excuses by many physicians due to complexity of managing emergency room and processes and clinical staff, it is still unacceptable for the patients. Targets: help Emergency Department (ED) at Academic Medical Hospital (AMH) to reduce the wait time Method: instituting Six Sigma at AMH and establishing a Six Sigma Foundations Teams, which undertake an application practicum on an assigned AMH project with, cooperate trainers acting as coaches. Six Sigma Foundation TEAM: Champion: Dr. Elbridge (establishes business targets and creates an environment within the organization to promote the Six Sigma methodology and tools) Sponsor: Dr. Terry Hamilton (key communicator and approves final recommendation) Owner: Nancy Jenkins (implementation and accountable for sustaining long-term gains) Black Belts: Jane McCrea (project leaders who are experts in Six Sigma methodology and statistical tool applications) Green Belts: Dr. James Wilson (trained by six Sigma methodology from hospital) The Foundations Team: (a group of local experts who participate in the project) &4 people (Nancy Jenkins, Patient Care Manager; Georgia Williams, ED registration Manager; Bill Barber, senior Clinician; and Steve Small, Senior Clinician and Quality Improvement Coordinator) Seven Process Steps and Activities for patients at the Emergency Department: Triage: The Nurse complete a preliminary assessment of the patient’s condition and ranks his criticality accordingly; Register: The Nurse obtain demographic and insurance information; Lobby: The Patient wait for the nurse call your name; Tx Room& Nurse: The patient do testing and get the results; MD: The patient wait for doctors. Questions: Q1.Describe how Six Sigma Methodology (DMAIC) is implemented in the â€Å"ED Wait Time Project.† As stated, Six Sigma is based on a 5 phase, step-by-step process that was used in the â€Å"ED Wait Time Project.† In the Define phase the team identified expected benefits of the project including expedited medical care delivery, improved patient satisfaction, reduced patient complaints, increased patient capacity and improved operational efficiency. Moving on to the Measure phase, the team determined the baseline measures and the target performance of the original process as well as defined the input/output variables. They collected 2 groups of data sets as well as administered a patient satisfaction survey, which produced the maximum wait times for pa tients. During the Analyze phase the team then analyzed the baseline study and found that two processes mainly influenced the wait time; the waiting room time and the time spent waiting on the MD. As the ED Wait Time Foundations team moved on to the Improve phase it was decided that they would improve: Patient flow, Care Team Communication and Streamlined Order Entry and Results Retrieval Process. By changing procedure by which the Priority Level II patients were moved, it resulted in less or no waiting room time and allowed patients to proceed to the examination room. Modifying ED zone assignments within the patient- care team and using new communication boards would reduce patient complaints and improve satisfaction. This change will also help with new central clerks that will help entering patients and decrease the amount of time that physicians and nurses are occupied. Lastly, in the Control phase the team ensures that the new standard operation procedures for moving patients through the ED are maintained. They compared the performance of the Emergency Department before and after in order to note their progress and set guidelines to preserve their advancement. Q2.Access the pilot results from the process changes. What should the team say to the Project Sponsor, Dr. Hamilton, and to the Project Champion, Dr. Elbridge about the results? According to the results, the pilot Lobby Wait Time mean value came in under the acceptable target of 15 minutes, and the MD Wait Time measure was improving(pilot mean was 8.9 minutes against a study 1 baseline of 16.1 minutes and a study 2 baseline of 11.2 minutes). Although pilot MD Wait Time didn’t reach the target set at 8.0 minutes, it was apparently improved. Pilot Lobby Times were better than established 15 minute target, the defect rate dropped, and the 95% confidence interval test on the study 1 median and study 2 median vs. pilot median validated statistical significance of the improvement in wait times. Results of MD Wait Times were stat istically significant in one of two Mood’s Median tests (study 1 vs. pilot). Positive trending was demonstrated in the comparison of study 2 to the pilot which showed that the MD Wait Time became shorter and the detect rate decreased. The outcome looked promising. However, the Hawthorne effect came into play, particularly in the study 2 data collection activities. Due to unreliable automated data-gathering procedures in the ED’s information systems and the need to use intra-departmental manual data surveyors, the presence of bias was recognized. The team needed to decide whether to redo some aspects of their work in the Improve phase. The data was not convincing enough, and the result of improvement in MD Wait Time was not very apparent. Q3.What are the obstacles to AMH adopting Six Sigma? The equation [Q*A=E] is the cornerstone of successful Six Sigma improvement implementation. It infers that the quality of process solutions multiplied by the Acceptance level of stakeholders is equal to the effectiveness of those results. In this case, the primary obstacle is the acceptance level of the hospital. NO matter which solutions result from the analysis, the potential for success will be limited without the acceptance of the people affected and involved. Getting people to embrace six Sigma reforms in ED was going to be an uphill battle. There are 3 reasons: 1) Physicians are not hospital employees, but independent contractors of a sort from the Medical school. It is almost a disincentive to participate since their incentives lie with research, education, and patient care specialty. 2) Dr. Hamilton who is the sponsor of the project was hesitant to get involved in anything that he was unfamiliar with or which would add to his already full plate. Also, Nancy Jenkins, who is the project owner, implementing significant process and behavior change were not among her strengths. 3) Last, it was noted that the Hawthorne effect came into play. The Hawthorne effect refers to a phenomenon in which participants alter their behavior as a result of being part of an experiment or study. It is hard for the team to get reliable automated date-gathering procedures. Q4.Consider whether or not the team should recommend a change in the Project Sponsor even at this late phase of the project. The project sponsor is supposed to be the reque stor of the project and is committed to its solutions. He/She should also be responsible to identify project goals, objectives and scope; remove barriers and aligns resources; serve as a key communicator of project progress and status and approves final recommendations. However, in this case, Dr. Terry Hamilton, the project Sponsor, had a lot of work in his own domain to focus on (busy vice-chair of the Medical School’s Emergency Medicine Department, active in several other department initiatives and responsibilities) and he was also an involved father and husband. As a result, he was so reluctant and kind of indifferent to this project. We would like to recommend the project team to change the Sponsor. Who’s elective? Dr. George Calhoun, the Emergency Medicine Department Chair, had remained at arm’s length throughout the team’s work. As the chair, Dr. Calhoun was in a position of influence over faculty and long-term changes that could result from the ED Wait Time Project. And we also learned that Dr. Calhoun’s interests and incentives were linked to achieving national emergency medicine program recognition and publications. So Dr. Calhoun is the appropriate candidate for the Project Sponsor. Q5.Based on what you k now of the project’s results, limitations, and key stakeholders, what would you recommend as the next step for McCrea in her role as the Black Belts of the ED Wait Time Project? According to the results and the analysis, there are many improvements we can do. There are four aspects of improvements: Eliminating interference factors They should reduce the Hawthorne effect recording the Wait Time without being observed by the staff. They should think of new methods to record the MD Wait Time more accurately because there were some bias and errors in the measurement. Perhaps we can use video camera to observe staff’s actions to make sure they comply with the rules of Six Sigma and to record the MD Wait Time. 2.Increasing the Acceptance level The equation, Q x A = E, is the cornerstone of successful Six Sigma improvement implementation. No matter which solutions result from the analysis, the potential for success will be limited without the Acceptance of the people affected and involved. I think increasing the Acceptance level is the most important mission for the next step. The tools and techniques are referred to as â€Å"The Change Acceleration Process,† or CAP. Several CAP techniques were used throughout the ED Wait Time project, including Process Mapping, Elevator Speech, Extensive and Creative Communication Plans and The Stakeholder/Resistance Analysis. 3.Quality Improvement Considering that the Pilot MD Wait Time apparently didn’t decrease, I suggest the team should look for some other methods for improvement. The current methods seemed not very effective. Changing some key members As the article mentioned, the project Sponsor, Dr. Hamilton, was not very active. He was very busy and was not interested in Six Sigma project. The project Owner, Nancy Jenkins, was not good at implementing significant process and behavior change. It’s less likely that the implementations will be sustained after the Six Sigma experts leave. Perhaps the two members mentioned above should be replaced by more competent people. As mentioned above, Dr. Calhoun may be the right person for the Sponsor. I also think that Dr. Elbridge should be more positive in this project.