The Co-operative Group (Food,Funeralcare,Banking group, Essay

The Co-operative Group (Food,Funeralcare,Banking group, Pharmacy,Travel) - Essay Example Marketers have started to make different market segments for ensuring an easy access to their target customers. It ensures proper delivering of the products as demanded by the target customers (Wedel & et. al., 2000). Source: (Gelb Consulting Group, n.d.) In relation to the study of market segmentation, The Co-operative Group Ltd has been chosen to demonstrate the features, failures and overcoming of the failures in different market segmentation in terms of this company. The Co-operative Group Ltd is a consumer cooperative based company headquartered in the United Kingdom with having its diverse retain chains including business relating to food, funeral care, banking group, pharmacy and travel. There are many cooperative businesses in the world. Among them The Co-operative Group is one of the largest. It is the biggest mutual business of the United Kingdom. It has been operating with more than 4800 retail outlets and it also employs above 100,000 individuals in its chain organisation . Its annual turnover in over 13billion Pounds a year. It is a kind of consumer cooperative (Co-operative Group Limited, n.d.). ... The reason behind this is that marketing strategies made for a group completely differ by its accessibility to another group. Target markets are actually quantifiable through factors related to their income, age bracket and population. Characteristics should be recognisable in a well defined manner and in measurable format. Substantial indicates that the segment should be large enough to stand as a group and also large enough to become profitable (Gelb Consulting Group, n.d.). 2.0 Features of Segmentation Market segmentation plays a very crucial role for formulating marketing strategy of a majority of successful organisations. Contextually, all markets embrace a different kind of groups of people with different needs along with preferences (Lamb & et. al., 2008). It helps the marketer to define the marketing objectives more accurately. In addition to this, better allocation of resources also should be there. On the other side, performance of the market can be evaluated more preciousl y when the marketers have the precise objectives for the specific segment of markets. Each and every firm cannot serve its potential customers in the same way as it does not have abundant resources (Blyth & Zimmerman, 2005). 2.1 Defining the Target Market Market is a very complex phenomenon from the viewpoint of a company. It constitutes different sets of consumers, leads to different tastes and demands for different products. Thus, from a company perspective, it is quite tough to position products to a specific market as the demand for that particular is distinct with reference to a varied set of consumers. Market segmentation techniques help an organisation to differentiate a market into different target

Project Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Project Proposal - Essay Example This project proposal tries to prove the critics wrong and assert that a coffee shop developed in Kuwait can become internationally significant with its line of products. In Kuwait, a US born coffee shop called Starbucks International is among the leading coffee vender shops (Fullerton, 2005). The main advantage held by Starbucks International is the specialty it offers to its customers, making it a unique coffee shop. In essence, for a coffee shop developed in Kuwait to flourish, it has to offer unique services, and this differentiation of products will result in its popularity nationally, and Kuwait being among the top tourist destinations it will eventually gain global recognition. Currently, there are hundreds of coffee shops in Kuwait, which is a challenge to any ambitious individual or group that intends to go into the coffee shop business. Mission The coffee shop company has to set a clear mission that will see it create a humble place, unique enough to ensure comfortable soci alizing of customers, a relaxed environment that is destruction free as they enjoy their coffee (Giovannucci and Ponte, 2005). The company intends to reach out to the world through opening of numerous branches that offer the same services at affordable prices. In addition, it will work towards investment of the profits realized so as to keep faith with its employees and shareholders (Giovannucci and Ponte, 2005) Problem Definition According to Golding and Peattie (2005), going into the coffee shop business will mean that the company comes with suitable strategies to ensure production of quality coffee that is unique from the other coffee shops. Different people have different preferences and tastes; thus, since the company intends to have branches worldwide a study will have to be conducted on coffee preferences and tastes of different people in influential markets. As Fullerton (2005) argues, the task faced is to investigate and come up with ways in which a coffee shop can be devel oped in Kuwait and extend its services across the world. Topic Relevance According to Golding and Peattie (2005:158), Arabs are fond of coffee, which forms a basis for the development of a coffee shop in an Arabic country. In addition, with the current Freedom of Movement, Arabs are all over the world. This does not mean that Arabs are the only target market since many other non-Arabic people love coffee (Holmes, 2004). The coffee shop, once in place, expects to fetch revenue approximating from ?500,000 in the first year of its operation to ?800,000 by the fifth year. According to Holmes (2004), the company will have to maintain its gross profit margin above 50% and maintain reasonable expenditure in its operations for it to achieve these targets. Research Objectives The new coffee shop has its business objectives just like any other business would have (Giovannucci and Ponte, 2005). In its birth year, the company’s expectations are; i. To be named by the customers and/or loc al restaurant guide as the best coffee shop locally. ii. Maintain a gross profit margin that is above 50% so as to realize its profit targets. iii. Realize immediate profits right from the first month of its operation. iv. Capture a local market of over 50,000 people in the first month of

Economic, Environmental And Social Impacts Of Tourism

Economic, Environmental And Social Impacts Of Tourism Tourism is one of the largest and most dynamic international sectors. Its rapid growth, evolving infrastructure, foreign currency flows, and the introduction of advanced management techniques have influenced numerous sectors positively by contributing to social and economic development. Negative impacts Positive impacts Social Foreign influence may cause society to lose values and traditions. Locals may have their privacy invaded. Creates new job opportunities Helps implement modern ideologies. Travel helps society on a psychological level as it gives people a degree of freedom of movement. Bringing foreign expertise to the destination through conferences, therefore strengthening ties. Developing intercultural understanding Developing friendships Environmental Tourism transportation harms the environment of the destinations of origin and arrival, and pollutes during transit. Harms the destinations appeal to foreigners. Tourism may give national authorities the incentive to safeguard the environment. Economic Pollution causes strain on the national health care system, which may increase government deficit and long term debt. Local economy may suffer because of competition from other emerging destinations. Allocation of funds may be directed towards pleasing tourists rather than pleasing long-term residents. Creates employment which adds to government taxation revenue. Financial gain by stakeholders. Tourisms actual and potential impact is astounding; however such impact is not purely positive. For almost every positive impact, there happens to be a negative one. These may be subdivided into economic, environmental and social impacts, as tabulated below: Society Social contact between tourists and locals may make way for cultural appreciation through understanding, tolerance and awareness. As tourism contributes to beneficial developments in sectors such as education, why not embrace it and ensure that people continue to visit? The human aspect is crucial for the success of any tourism product. Tourists enjoy speaking to locals, and locals should be open to discourse with tourists to add value to their experience. If local culture is the base for attracting tourists to the area, it gives added incentive to preserve the local traditions and crafts which are typical to that area. In certain localities of the Maltese islands, tourists contribute significantly to the preservation of local crafts such as glass blowing and lace, as well as the maintenance of important historical monuments and structures. Although it is fortunate that tourism drives national organisations to preserve historical artifacts and monuments, it is unfortunate to know that little would be done if it were not for tourism. To maximise the positive social impacts, foreigners and locals alike must be educated. Locals must be made aware that they must care for their belongings and surroundings, and respect other cultures to make their destination more attractive on a physical and social level. On the other hand, foreigners must also be educated to ensure that they respect the traditions, cultures and surroundings of host communities. As a result of the lack of awareness amongst tourists, the fortified city of Mdina in Malta is very much disturbed by tourists. It is home to just over one hundred people, but is visited by hundreds of people on a daily basis, often running into the thousands during the summer months. The city has become such a popular attraction that the local people are beginning to feel commoditised. As a result they are developing negative attitudes towards tourists. This concept is know as Greenwashing. Greenwashing refers to the commoditisation of indigenous residents and natural surroundings, creating severe social problem. Residents are often subject to invasion of privacy as tourists fail to respect their daily lives, often gazing into peoples houses, and on many occasions, entering them to take a few quick photos. On the other hand, tourism is often beneficial in helping relatively conservative societies become more open to the world. This is the case in certain regions of Libya for instance, where state leaders have recently given the go ahead for the development of numerous sea side resorts along the coasts, as well as eco-touristic areas. As a result, Libyans may become more open to foreigners in the long run. Even though these plans have been opposed to by numerous nationals, it was done for the long term benefit of the country. During the 1980s, the Libyans were very much resistant to the changes proposed by their leaders. Foreign observers believed that the heads of states were in for a difficult time trying to convince the public of the need for social change. The importance of travel must also be pushed within companies, as it not only broadens ones perspectives but it can also help people become more productive. Travel for leisure is proven to improve psychological health by reducing stress levels. Leave from work is now obligatory in most countries around the world, simply because of the importance of leisure time. Another benefit of tourism on the structure of society may be the introduction of foreign expertise to the destination, which in turn may improve the skills of the local workforce. Foreign experts may visit a destination for conferences, through which they can develop or strengthen relationships with local entrepreneurs. As a result of such relationships, travel has given companies the possibilities to form partnerships or join affiliate programs with overseas companies. The distinctiveness of a destination is instrumental to its success, so national government or international agencies must ensure that the necessary systems are in place to avoid any sense of placelessness. Placelessness is a concept coined by E. Relph which states that places become more and more similar to each other due to globalisation. Although this may seem farfetched to some, it is still a probable scenario in the future as the world becomes even more connected. National and local governments must therefore do their utmost to promote the unique identity of the destination. For instance, Malta is the only island of its size to have its very own official language which is not spoken anywhere else in the world. Over the years Malta has been significantly influenced by foreigners, however, many of its traditions have remained intact, such as the local village feasts and the traditional Maltese folk music called ghana. However, while presenting a culture to tourists may help preserve the culture, it can also dilute or even destroy it. Local communities must therefore present traditions in their purest forms, without excessive tampering. Although the European Unions aim is to create a strong network between European countries, it strongly believes that each country must safeguard its own traditions to remain appealing. Environment The excessive development of a resource can lead to numerous negative impacts such as overdevelopment and loss of natural habitats. From an ecological point of view, some people may see tourism as the more acceptable industry. They may say that it is a lot less damaging than deforestation or overfishing, for instance, which may be true. However, those people who analyse tourism closely from all perspectives will notice that tourism does cause a significant amount of damage to the natural environment. Tourists tend to leave behind a trail of environmental degradation in the form of litter, from the excessive use of water in their hotel rooms, leaving lights on after they leave their rooms, to the burning of fossil fuels when making use of transportation to and from their final destination, as well as within it. It is well known that the tourism industry is not only made up of direct players, but also indirect players, and these play a significant part in polluting the environment. Another important factor to consider is the fact that certain localities can only accommodate a limited amount of people at a time. This concept is known as carrying capacity. Mathieson and Wall (1982) defined the tourism carrying capacity as The maximum number of people who can use a site without an unacceptable alteration in the physical environment and without unacceptable decline in the quality of experience gained by visitors. To ensure the longevity of certain attractions, carrying capacity guidelines must be respected and evaluated to ensure that little harm is caused. Although restricting the number of entrants into a facility may infringe upon profitability, in certain scenarios it is more valuable to protect something unique than to exhaust it. Advancements in environmentally friendly technologies are well underway, and numerous airline manufacturers are designing more fuel efficient aircraft which fall within emissions guidelines. Land transportation is also becoming increasingly environmentally friendly with the introduction of hybrid as well as all electric vehicles, and more fuel efficient fossil fuelled vehicles. US President Barack Obama is setting a big example by wanting all public transportation within the New York area to be environmentally friendly within the next few years. Tourism in Libya is on the rise, bringing increased demand for hotel accommodation and for capacity at airports such as Tripoli International. A multi-million dollar renovation of Libyan airports has recently been approved by the government to help meet such demands. At present 130,000 people visit the country annually; the Libyan government hopes to increase this figure to 10,000,000 tourists. Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, the second-eldest son of Muammar al-Gaddafi, is involved in a green development project called the Green Mountain Sustainable Development Area, which seeks to bring tourism to Cyrene and to preserve Greek ruins in the area. Economy Minimise the negative impacts- Economic The introduction of environmentally friendly transportation systems would reduce health risks, therefore cutting health care costs for national government. This would cause less strain on the economic system. Ensure that local markets are up to date and can compete with foreign markets. Organisations must be dynamic and adaptable to rapid change. Maximise positive impacts- Economic -Promoting a countrys most popular assets will create employment as new business ventures may begin and new job positions will be made available as a result. The government must promote its destination as a secure place for investment, therefore increasing financial gain for stakeholders. Government must improve the state of the environment and make it more appealing to tourists.

Gangs Essay -- Gang Essays

Gangs Introduction I. -A Los Angeles family takes a wrong turn into gang territory and is fired upon. A 3-year-old is killed and her 2-year-old brother wounded. -A Chinese immigrant in Brooklyn is kidnapped by a Chinatown gang which demands ransom payments from her family. She is murdered when the family fails to pay. -Two FBI agents and a police sergeant are murdered inside the Washington, D.C. police headquarters by a gang member. -A Pittsburgh police sergeant walking home with his daughter is killed with his own gun after he stops and confronts a gang spraying graffiti on a street. II. Resolved : that the Federal Government should pass laws to prevent the development gang related youth violence. Definitions- 1. Development: as defined in Websters Dictionary is â€Å"to make more elaborate; to enlarge† 2. Gang: as defined in Websters is â€Å"A group of persons who are organized and work together or socialize regularly; a group of adolescent hoodlums or criminals; gang up on; to attack as a group.† 3. Violence: as defined in Websters is â€Å"Physical force or activity used to cause harm, damage or abuse† 4. Youth: as defined in Websters is â€Å"The appearance or state of appearing young; the time of life when one is not considered a adult; a young person† III. Our current juvenile justice system is no longer adequate for today's hardened young gang members. Demographics indicated this problem is not going away. In fact, only will get worse. This is a serious problem that can not be left unchecked. If this is not addressed it will only lead to the decay of our society. We must take action to combat gangs in a new way. Vice President Albert Gore recently told the White House press corps, "Gangs have been a major cause of the growth in violent crime in the past decade." He cited a Treasury Department report that found the presence of rival gangs, the Bloods and the Crips, in 35 states and 58 cities across the country. At the same press conference, Attorney General Janet Reno cited the impact of disabling one gang in New Haven, Connecticut. Eighteen members of the "Jungleboy" street gang were put in jail, and, according to Reno, New Haven's murder rate fell by one-third in 1993. I. Outline of Need Arguments A. Problem: Many highly rated experts warn of the impending youth crime crisis. Youth violent crime has been... ...where gangs dominate life and rain violent crime. Many of these children join gangs to find purpose, security, and self-esteem. The gang culture gives them a sense of belonging and remakes their value system. Partying, fighting, and vicious gang loyalty become their primary values, thus pushing aside virtues that favor family life. This is a vicious cycle and it must be broken. Given that youth gangs account for a disproportionate share of youth violence, their potential for contributing to a future crime wave is enormous. A recent decline in violent crime appears to be more a result of fewer teenagers than better law enforcement. When the current bumper crop of elementary-age children become adolescents, the violent crime rate is likely to explode. Gangs are the powder magazine, they must be dealt with before the bomb goes off. Rebuttal extensions- Population of 14-18 year olds Now 17,620,472 5 Years 18,628,635 + 6 % 10 Years 20,284,601 + 15%

Competitive Analysis of Crest Whitestrips Essay

Every firm’s marketers must develop an effective strategy for dealing with the competitive environment. A company may position its product or service with an eye towards its ability to sustain that position (Hooley and Greenley, 2005). The most direct competition occurs among marketers of similar products. The indirect competition involves products that can be easily substituted. One company may compete in a broad range of markets in many areas of the world. Another company may specialize in a particular market segment like geographic location, age, or income characteristics. Marketers must make product pricing, distribution, and promotional decisions that give the firm a competitive advantage in the marketplace. The overall health of the economy determines how much a consumer is willing to spend on a particular product. Industry Analysis There are many other companies that have teeth whitening products such as Colgate-Palmolive’s Total Plus Whitening toothpaste, Listerine whitestrips, Rembrandt’s whitening toothpaste and whitening kits, and Aquafresh White Trays. I believe the degree of differentiation within this industry is oligopoly. Oligopoly is a common market form. Oligopolistic competition can give rise to a wide range of different outcomes. Competition between sellers in an oligopoly can be fierce, with relatively low prices and high production. This could lead to an efficient outcome approaching perfect competition. The competition in an oligopoly can be greater than when there are more firms in an industry if, for example, the firms were only egionally based and didn’t compete directly with each other. In an oligopoly, firms operate under imperfect competition. Following from the fierce price competitiveness created by this sticky-upward demand curve, firms utilize non-price competition in order to accrue greater revenue and market share. These firms dominate the teeth whitening industry and form a large proportion of it. Competitive Analysis Crest Whitestrips competitors are Aquafresh white trays, Listerine whitestrips, and Rembrandt whitening system. Crest whitestrips come in various strengths and styles, but the basic model is the same for all their products. They are not uncomfortable to wear. They may cause excessive saliva, which makes it harder to apply. They may sometime cause sensitivity that lasts a few days. Aquafresh White trays can get clumpy and whiten unevenly. The trays may cover more area than Crest Whitestrips, but the trays may not fit all mouths, are less comfortable, and can cause gum irritation. Finally, it’s more difficult to find inexpensive White Trays. Crest Whitestrips are usually about $10 cheaper, possibly because they whiten more gradually. If you need something fast and only have half an hour a day, Aquafresh may be your product, but it will probably be less comfortable and a little more expensive. Learning about customer needs and wants is an important part of competitive analysis. Customer’s priorities should become the companies’ priorities. Analysis of product strategy toward competition Strategic plans should touch on all areas of a business’s operations, including production of goods and/or services, distribution of those goods and/or services, pricing of goods and/or services, and marketing of goods and/or services. Decision makers must continually monitor competitors’ marketing activities, their products, channels, prices, and promotional efforts. Most business’ want to achieve superior marketing performance in their industries and develop a system for continuously comparing and measuring performance against outstanding performers. As competition intensifies, competitors tend to cut prices to attract new buyers. The reduction in price can cause a decrease in revenues for all firms in the industry, unless the lower prices stimulate enough new purchases to offset the loss in revenue on each unit sold. If current customers buy more frequently than they normally did, total sales will rise even though no new buyers enter the market. This firm benefits by developing comprehensive product lines as opposed to concentrating solely on individual products. This diversity allows the firm or company to maximize sales opportunities within the limitations of its resources.

Effects On Sexual Relationship Health And Social Care Essay

Globally human life is exposed to a premier threat of deathly HIV virus which have halted 35 million people to decease and 34 million were populating with HIV boulder clay 2011 HWO study, 2013. In the recent epoch, augmented figure of I.V drug users, insecure blood transfusion and multiple sex spouses are considered high hazards for HIV transmittal, on the contrary fright of stigmatisation, deficiency of credence in the community and effects on sexual relationship are some critical factors which hinder revelation of HIV position and advance rapid spreading of HIV among vulnerable people. Continuing the secretiveness of HIV position means endangering others life. Should the infected hazard the life of others? I assert that unwraping HIV positive position to sexual spouses and household will diminish hazard of HIV transmittal, better entree to medical intervention and increased chances of societal and moral support for the patient. Advocates argue that the foremost of import benefit of unwraping HIV position to sexual spouse and household is to cut down the hazard of HIV transmittal. Although to make up one's mind when, to whom and how to portion the dismaying HIV positive position is hard but after the revelation sexual spouses and household members become watchful to cognize their ain HIV position. To command HIV epidemics Voluntary HIV proving and reding ( VCT ) can efficaciously cut down hazard behaviours among persons vulnerable to HIV ( WHO, 2004 ) . This is non plenty to cognize about HIV position but sharing it with sexual spouse reduces associated emphasis and alteration in behaviour. Sexual spouse become interested to cognize the different path of HIV transmittal to follow preventative schemes. Up till now despite of the singular promotion in the field of medicine no vaccinums are available for HIV. However the lone defensive tool is to affect the vulnerable population in precautional behaviours. Rese arch based literatures have concluded that after unwraping HIV position the most frequent preventative behaviour followed by testing is addition in the usage of rubbers ( Lauretta et al, 2010 ) . Furthermore, in the survey of Niccolai, Dorst, Myer, & A ; Kissinger ( 1999, as cited in Lauretta et Al, 2010 ) it was concluded that the usage of rubber among those who have n't unwrap their HIV position to sexual spouse was about 23 % while 73 % of sample who have disclosed their position to sexual spouse were consistent to condom usage. The above given literature evident the positive result of HIV position that supports the statement of advocates that Unwraping HIV diagnosing limits the transmittal of infection. The advocates besides claim that unwraping HIV increase the inclination towards better intervention chances. Normally in our ain cultural context after sharing any dismaying diagnosing non merely patient itself but customarily the patient close relations remain in battle to place such centre where there is easy handiness and cost effectual intervention. Furthermore others shared their experiences and battles and seems helpful in designation of different agencies to acquire rid of the disease. During my clinical rotary motion I have encountered two HIV positive immature age patients. The parents of both patients knew the diagnosing and the male parent of one patient despite of limited income shifted his boy to Aga khan university infirmary for quality intervention. Certain intervention like HAART therapy if received in initial phase can cut down the lay waste toing consequence of HIV virus. HAART therapy decreases the patterned advance of HIV to AIDS by 86 % ( sterne, 2005 ) . Early d esignation, early revelation and early entree to intervention are good for the better forecast of any disease. Instrumental, informational, emotional and fiscal advantages can be achieved to better entree to medicine through unwraping HIV position to supportive web ( Waddell & A ; Messeri, 2006 ) . In the survey of Waddell & A ; Messeri ( 2006 ) it was concluded that those who did non concealed their HIV positive position from any family member the average odds of intervention was 0.64 with a high support comparison to those who did non unwrap their Status the average odds of intervention was 0.21. Different researches have been conducted to happen out the effectivity of HIV forecast and function of ART Harmonizing to Oppenheim. ( 2009 ) † about 80 % of patients are now alive 10 old ages after sero-conversion † . HIV virus targets the immune system specifically on CD4 cells ( type of immune cell ) finally reduces the defensive ability of the organic structure and the rat e of timeserving infection like Tuberculosis ( TB ) increases. Preventing the patient signifier these timeserving infection can better life quality of HIV persons. In 2010 among 34 million instances of HIV worldwide 1.1 million instances in sub-Saharan Africa were estimated holding HIV related TB ( Suthar et al. 2010 ) . To command the overpowering effects of HIV /AIDS revelation make it possible to entree the support commissions. There are different organisations in the universe which are working for bettering the life criterion of HIV patients for illustration Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association ( 2008 ) supply aid to 300 HIV single yearly in the signifier of money, medicine, supplying occupations, lodging, and instruction in Alaska ( USA ) . Unwraping HIV position seems helpful to acquire societal and emotional support from household. Not unwraping one ‘s HIV position is striping patient from psychological support which is possible to be achieved through revelation. Family members, friends and equal group become more sort, and credence is increased. Disclosure of HIV position to household or sexual spouse strengthen interpersonal relationship which reduces the emphasis related to the diagnosing either to unwrap or non, and every clip HIV patients think about credence in the community, rejection from the household and spouse, stigmatisation and favoritism if the people came to cognize approximately positive position. This lead towards societal isolation and finally produces bad impacts like emphasis, depression, related to maintaining the diagnosing in secrete. Harmonizing to WHO ( 2004 ) â€Å" revelation of HIV diagnosing increases societal support, credence, kindness and edifice relationship of trust among house hold members and septic individual † . These positive attacks from the household non merely cut down stress degree but besides due to the instrumental support from the household patient feels that he/she can stay in the society like others which increases their degree of self-esteem. The important others of the HIV positive patient facilitate induction and attachment to HIV intervention. Harmonizing to amy Norman ( 2006 ) Disclosure of HIV position can enable the activation of household or community support web and cut down the morbidity through better psychological direction, moreover revelation go an entry standard for many intervention plans and is important to adhere with intervention. Oppositions argue that HIV position of patient should non be disclosed because unwraping the diagnosing consequences in stigmatisation and patients feel the fright of rejection in household and community. Furthermore oppositions besides claims HIV positive patients are discriminated in the s ociety, their rights of confidentiality are violated and revelation to sexual spouse affects sexual relationship. Due to the mentioned grounds oppositions are support to maintain the diagnosing in secretiveness. Protecting others from catching disease is ethical and moral duty of every person. To diminish the opposition and increase credence of HIV positive patient, cumulative attempt are needed to convey a drastic alteration in the perceptual experience of people through verbally pass oning emotions and concerns. As a nurse it ‘s our premier duty to aware the people about HIV and alter the perceptual experience of people about HIV persons. I believe that maintaining HIV diagnosing in secrete will do its revelation more dismaying while increase figure of revelation will consequences alter in perceptual experience and the phobic disorder of the disease will be decreased. Once the position is shared with the sexual spouse does non intend that sexual activities can non be continued any longer. There are alternate preventative steps like usage of rubbers and serosorting to forestall the hazard of transmittal. In a peculiar survey HIV positive drug users after sharing their position with th eir sexual spouses were experiencing more comfy and relax with a lower anxiousness degree about transmittal ( Julianne, Daniel, Sarah & A ; Tinal 2005 ) . Evidences exist that reding can assist to increase the frequence of revelation to sexual spouse. The consequence of guidance can be evaluated from a cohort surveies with the result of 56-65 % revelation rate among those who attended six reding session comparison to those who attended three Sessionss and did non unwrap their position. ( Scaly et al 2012 ) . I will reason with the statement that it is more good to unwrap the HIV position of patient to cut down the hazard of transmittal, to hold a better entree to intervention, and to acquire more moral and societal support from household comparison to its disadvantages.

SPED818 Behavior Management by Dr. Maag Essay Example

SPED818 Behavior Management by Dr. Maag Essay Example SPED818 Behavior Management by Dr. Maag Paper SPED818 Behavior Management by Dr. Maag Paper Three-Term Contingency A,B,C AntecendentBehaviorConsequence   Antecedet Circumstances that exist in an environment before a behavior is exhibited. Behavior What individuals doobservable action. Consequence affects future behavior by serving to either increase, decrease, or maintain it.   2 forms:1. new stimulus is presented or added to the environment2. an already-present stimulus is avoided, termintated, or removed from the environment ABC Analysis Reasons 1. To get a general feel for the behavior of the student in order to help target the specific behavior to work on. 2. To determin, in a generally disruptive classroom, during a certain time of day, which students are the main disruptors.3. To get a fix on some environmental cuse to disruptive behavior: Is it occuring at a certain time each day? Is the teacher setting the students off by some cue?    discipline training that is expected to produce a specific character or pattern of beaver, esp training that produces moral or mental improvement. reinforcement increases the probability that the behavior it follows will reoccur punishment decreases the probability that the behavior it follows will reoccur reward (or prize) something given to a person for an accomplishment. applied behavior analysis application of principles of behavior modification as a systematic, performance-based, self-evaluative endeavor performance-based ABA is performance-based b/c its concerned with students behavior and the ways in which environmental factors affect its expression principles of behavior ABA uses this. derived from both lab and field studies that have identified lawful relations between behavior and the environmental variables that affect its occurrence. analytic ABA is analytic b/c functional relations b/t an intervention and a target behavior can be demonstrated. applied ABA is applied b/c it is characterized by the social importance of the behavior to be changed. paradigm set of rules and regulations that establish boundaries and explain how to solve problems within the given boundaries. differential diagnosis offers few practical solutions to our task of managing students challenging behaviors social reciprocity provides a framework for examining and developing classroom contexts that are conductive for promoting students appropriate behavior.. inclusive should provide a reasonable explanation for almost all behavior in which students engage verifiable able to be scientifically tested positive reinforcement is any stimulus, when presented after the occurrence of a behavior, that increases the future occurrence of that behavior superstitious behavior accidental association of a response and a positive reinforcer. conditioning repeatedly receiving reinforcement after the desired behavior occurs, students can make the association that certain behavior results in reinforcement. most likely to occur when reinforcement is administered immediately. premack principle states that a high-probability behavior is contingent on the occurrence of a low-probaility behavior. (moms rule) satiation when students have experienced the reinforcer to such an extent that it is no longer reinforcing. deprivation time prior to students receiving positive reinforcement free-access rule states that the max amount of a reinforcer available to students should be less than that which they would seek if they had free access to it. shaping process of reinforcing successively closer approximations to the target behavior. stimulus-response chain each response produces the discriminative stimulus (cue) for the next response (behavior) backward chaining terminal response in the chain is conditioned first. continuous reinforcement reinforcing every instance of the desirable behavioris used to set a new behavior primary reinforcer any stimulus that is reinforcing in itself (food, shelter, sleep, etc) conditioned reinforcer not originally reinforcing but acquires reinforcing power through association with a stimulus that is reinforcing (money, i.e.) generalized conditioned reinforcer can be exchanged for a limitless number of things (money is not only good for lamps and socks but many things) negative reinforcement certain stimuli whose removal immediately after we perform a behavior will increase the likelihood that we will perform that behavior in the future. negative reinforcement trap coercive relationships that often eve love between parents and children/parents and sometimes teachers/students students learn to behave in ways that allow them to escape aversive stimuli avoidance conditioning behavior is performed to prevent the occurrence of an aversive stimulus fixed ration schedule reinforcement occurs each time a set number of beavers of a particular type are performed variable-ratio schedule resembles fixed-ratio except that the number of responses required to receive reinforcement changes unpredictably from one to next fixed-interval schedule instance of a particular behavior being performed after a fixed period variable-interval time must elapse before reinforcement becomes available, rather than being constant, changes unpredictable from one reinforcement to next limited hold same as FI or VI schedule with slight modification,students must perform the beaver within a set amount of time after reinforcement becomes available. fixed-duration occurs after the behavior has ben engaged in for a certain continuous period. variable-duration amount of continuous time the behavior must be engaged in to produce reinforcement changes unpredictably from one reinforcement to next. application of contingent stimulus involves following a specific behavior with some stimulus (punishment is produced by this) contingent withdrawal of a positive reinforcer any positive reinforcer can become a punisher if it is removed after a problem behavior response cost some behavior costs the individuals something they like conditioned punishers often followed by type 1 or 2 punishment if there person continues to engage in the inappropriate behavior. extinction withholding reinforcement for a conditioned response spontaneous recovery reappearance of an extinguished behavior following a break forgetting decrease in behavior due to not being able to perform it for an amt of time stimulus control certain behaviors n the pretense of some stimuli and and not othersa phenomenon stimulus discrimintation procedure by which students learn to express appropriate behavior in the pretense of the right stimuli and not the wrong stimuli stimulus generalization opposite of stimulus discrimination occurs when individuals respond in a similar manner to different stimuli. fading gradual change of stimulus controlling a behavior, such that the behavior eventually occurs as the respond of a partially changed or completely new antecedent stimulus response class group of responses (behaviors) that have at least one characteristic in common differential reinforement reinforcing a certain behavior from a response class and extinguishing all other members of that class. duration per occurrance involves recording the length of time per episode that students engage in the target behavior latency recording recording how long it takes students to begin engaging in a behavior after instructing them to perform it interval recording measures the occurrence or nonoccurrence of behavior within specified time intervals partial interval recording only interested in whether the target behavior occurred at any time during the interval whole interal recording target behavior must be displayed for the entire duration of an interval time sampling recod the target behavior only if it occurs at the end of an interval placebo effect process by which individuals behavior changes as a result of believing that they received a treatment when, in reality, they received something that lacked any intrinsic treatment value. hawthorne effect phenomenon of working harder and producing more because of a feeling of participating in something new and special even when the innovations have no corrective merit. observer drift can result in different behaviors being observed and recorded than those originally targeted inter observer agreement determining the reliability of recording depends on establishing this. the extent to which two observers record the same behavior accurately permanent product and inter observer reliability % of agreement =agreements/agreements + disagreements x 100 frequency recording and inter observer reliability % of agreement = smaller number/larger number X 100 backup reinforcers items and activities that can be purchased using the conditioned reinforcerin this case, money token economy way to administer reinforcementstudents earn tokens that an be exchanged for a variety of backup reinforcers. behavioral contract written document specifying who is involved, what behaviors are targeted, when and where the behaviors are to be performed, and how much reinforcement students will receive. task record place on contract where the students progress can be recorded good behavior game examples of an interdependent group-orinented contingency scapegoating occurs when unpopular students are unfairly blamed by peers for all types of negative classroom outcomes and behaviors chart move modification of token economy where students connect two of the dots in a dot-to-dot pic when they perform a target behavior differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior (DRI) selecting and reinforcing behaviors that are topographically incompatible with the inappropriate behavior (synonymous with fair pair) Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) similar to DRI in that alternatives to the inappropriate behavior are reinforced. However, unlike DRI, the alt behavior is not topographically compatible with the inappropriate behaviorrather a replacement behavior. Differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) reinforcing students for not engaging in inappropriate behavior for a specified time. Differential reinforcement of low rates of behavior (DRL) involves reinforcing students when the target behavior is at a tolerable or desirable level. schedules of DRO reset schedule, fixed-interval, increasing-interval, progressive schedule interresponse time time that passes between occurrences of the inappropriate behavior

Free Essays on Sparta Vs. Athens

As Greece ascended from the dark ages, two very distinct city-states, Sparta and Athens, each possessing its own unique values, defined its development. Athens emphasized the importance of democracy and shared justice, while Sparta prided its military prowess. Athenians boasted their superior form of democracy, while the Spartans would subject the youth to rigorous military training. A good education and a superior political system define the society in Athens, while aspiration for manliness and military glory shapes Sparta’s sociological structure. The ideal for Sparta was to train soldiers from their youth- to have a country full of able fighters and warriors. In fact, despite the relatively sparse population of Spartans, the community had a strong military presence, and extraordinary power. The ideal life was one striving towards the military. Obedience was the main subject of study among young Spartans, as they were sent to a public guardian, known as a paidonomos, instead of being treated by a private tutor. At the same time that life as a warrior was held in highest regard, death as a soldier was also the most lauded form of decease, as can be seen from the first line of a poem written by Tyrtaeus, a poet active around the Second Messenian War in the mid-sixth century B.C.E, â€Å"Beautiful and honorable it is for a brave warrior to die, fallen among the foremost fighters, in battle for his native land†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Tyrtaeus promotes soldiers to â€Å"not begin shameful flight of fear†¦and do not show love for you r lives when you are fighting with warriors.† When a young soldier falls in battle, it is â€Å"beautiful and honorable when he lies among the foremost fighters.† The Spartans are taught here that he most important ideal in life is the military. The Spartan youth were subjected to a life that would prepare them for every possible situation bound to arise in a military scenario. They did not wear shoes, which would serve only ... Free Essays on Sparta Vs. Athens Free Essays on Sparta Vs. Athens As Greece ascended from the dark ages, two very distinct city-states, Sparta and Athens, each possessing its own unique values, defined its development. Athens emphasized the importance of democracy and shared justice, while Sparta prided its military prowess. Athenians boasted their superior form of democracy, while the Spartans would subject the youth to rigorous military training. A good education and a superior political system define the society in Athens, while aspiration for manliness and military glory shapes Sparta’s sociological structure. The ideal for Sparta was to train soldiers from their youth- to have a country full of able fighters and warriors. In fact, despite the relatively sparse population of Spartans, the community had a strong military presence, and extraordinary power. The ideal life was one striving towards the military. Obedience was the main subject of study among young Spartans, as they were sent to a public guardian, known as a paidonomos, instead of being treated by a private tutor. At the same time that life as a warrior was held in highest regard, death as a soldier was also the most lauded form of decease, as can be seen from the first line of a poem written by Tyrtaeus, a poet active around the Second Messenian War in the mid-sixth century B.C.E, â€Å"Beautiful and honorable it is for a brave warrior to die, fallen among the foremost fighters, in battle for his native land†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Tyrtaeus promotes soldiers to â€Å"not begin shameful flight of fear†¦and do not show love for you r lives when you are fighting with warriors.† When a young soldier falls in battle, it is â€Å"beautiful and honorable when he lies among the foremost fighters.† The Spartans are taught here that he most important ideal in life is the military. The Spartan youth were subjected to a life that would prepare them for every possible situation bound to arise in a military scenario. They did not wear shoes, which would serve only ...

Brainwashing Cases and Freedom of Religion

What is the primary question addressed in this article? What can we learn from this article? Primarily this article delves into detail about certain court cases involving high tolerance sects, referred to as â€Å"cults† and ex-members attempting to sue said cult for various different reasons. The most detailed cases described by the author are of cases in which the plaintiff is accusing the so-called cult of brainwashing the person into joining; seen in cases such as George v. ISKCON (International Society of Krishna Conciousness) as well as Molko and Leal v. The Unification Church [Richardson (1990): 3, 8]. The foremost problem that this presents is whether or not brainwashing is a successful practice that members of sects or â€Å"cults† use to bring in new members. A key person in most cases using the accusation of brainwashing in order to bring a case against a cult religion is Dr. Margaret Singer [Richardson (1990): 3]. She has been used to examine plaintiffs for their emotional distress, symptoms of mental disorders, and come to conclusions if indeed they were brainwashed. Many psychologists and sociologists disagree with her positions, having posted amicus curiae briefs in appeals courts attempting to limit use of â€Å"brainwashing† accusations in cult cases. These scholars claim that psychologists like Dr. Singer ignore a large portion of studies done on new religions that reveal it is unlikely that new members are coerced into joining [Richardson (1990): 2-3]. It represents the research that scholars have put into participants joining new religions voluntarily, for whichever reasons they feel to choose using their free will. This includes the fact that in the 1960’s many people chose different lifestyles that some would refer to as â€Å"hippies† or â€Å"beatniks† instead of what they believe is a hypocritical path following the Second World War and other stresses of the world. The brief also applied that groups such as the Hare Krishna and Unification church have a small number of members and have high drop-off rates; which if brainwashing were true means that they would be expanding rather than contracting [Richardson (1990): 9-10]. The George v. ISKCON case was successful in collecting emotional distress damages and wrongful death of the father (who had heart failure soon after his daughter was returned), totaling $2. 9 million for the plaintiffs. However, now in many courts the position of brainwashing is not accepted as an argument for cult cases [Richardson (1990): 8-9]. What is the next question this article may lead one to answer? A tempting question that this article may lead one to think about is whether or not such circumstances as those presented in court cases against religious sects takes away from their freedom of religion. It does not appear that a Catholic church would be taken to court for handing out pamphlets to spread word of their religion, nor Jehovah Witnesses for walking door to door with the same idea. However, whatever methods smaller sects use to gain more members seem to ultimately deal with lost members claiming them to have used mind control or coercive persuasion to attract the member. In the George case, the claim was that since the Krishna sect helped hide the 15 year old girl from her parents, they were in a sense kidnapping her. This does not take into account that the girl was physically abused and mistreated by her parents, even chained to her bedroom to restrain her from trying different religious practices [Richardson (1990): 6]. While that may not necessarily make the Krishna sect heroic, it does seem to provide insight that the girl was unable to explore religious freedom. In essence, she was not given the choice by her parents of which religion she would like to join, which is exactly how it was argued that ISKCON had brainwashed her; by not giving her freedom of choice. This has to deal with the economics of religion philosophy that humans will make rational choices depending on their knowledge, tastes and preferences. Whether George made a rational decision to join ISKCON in the eyes of her parents, it was a decision she was not obligated to make. Three Finals Questions 1. Name and briefly explain three positions that Dr. Margaret Singer took in the George v. ISKCON case that seem to contradict popular psychologist and sociologist opinion. Singer claims that brainwashing and coercive persuasion used by the accused cults can be likened to that of Korean prisoners of war and those of Chinese Communist reformers. However, there is notable difference that ‘cult brainwashing’ uses psychological coercion while Korean prisoners of war were physically coerced through torture and other extremes. Singer even argues that psychological coercion is more effective despite tons of research that points the opposite [Richardson (1990): 10]. Singer discounts the impact on behavior from George’s parents’ negative reaction to her desire to join the church including the physical abuse she was given. Discredited ISKCON by not recognizing it as a religion having religious practices, that the case did not involve freedom of religion at all, despite the plaintiff George’s claim that she did convert to the religion. Did not accept that the plaintiff may have biases or ulterior motives for the court case, despite only spending a small session with her and claiming that she believes the plaintiff was â€Å"trying to be honest† with her [Richardson (1990): 4]. Does not believe the time in which a patient is examined after the ‘brainwashing’ event is important [Richardson (1990): 6]. 2. Explain what arguments were made by scholars in their amicus curiae briefs in the appeals of cult/brainwashing cases. The Scientific Community agreement argues that a large portion of studies have been done on new religions that reveal it is unlikely that new members are brainwashed [Richardson (1990): 2-3]. This represents the research that scholars have put into participants joining new religions voluntarily, for whichever reasons they feel to choose using their free will. The brief also applied that groups such as the Hare Krishna and Unification church have a small number of members and have high attrition (drop-off) rates; which if brainwashing were true means that they would be expanding rather than contracting [Richardson (1990): 9]. . Explain why these cases provide trouble for the perspective of freedom of religion. Unreliable sciences such as the psychology used by Dr. Singer tend to contradict the majority of scholarly research on small sects, including the study that youth who have joined such a group normally turn out to be in better psychological health individually afterward [Richards on (1990): 10]. It seems as though because of her reputation as a professional psychologist, Dr. Singer can claim whatever she wants to about a religion, using her bias or simply a lack of knowledge, and collect a paycheck for it. Krishna leaders of India fear that â€Å"paying such a large judgment would force the Hare Krishna to sell most of its United States assets, thereby severely limiting its activities here, or even leading to closure of its operations† [Richardson (1990): 9] Cases successful in accusing a small sect of brainwashing can send a negative view to the general population of cults. According to a Gallup Poll, more Americans in a nationwide survey would be less comfortable with sects or cults as neighbors than any other ethnic or religious group in the survey [Richardson (1990): 17]. The general population appears to fear what they believe is brainwashing being done to children of the society and wants to attack religions they are unaware of.

Changes in the American Society and Culture in 1945-1968 Essay

Changes in the American Society and Culture in 1945-1968 - Essay Example Some of the stand out developments that characterized this period includes a consumer-driven economic boom, the civil rights movement and the heightened drive for liberation on a personal level especially among the young Americans. This study explores these three aspects guided by the thesis that they were the greatest forces for change in the American society between 1945 and 1968. Consumerism as a Driver of the Economic Boom - 1945-1968: The twenty years after the World War II were characterized by an unmatched economic expansion in the western world. The GDPs of many countries rose gradually to double the prewar figures, while the living standards grew proportionately. It was an era characterized by the dawn of mass consumerism. However, it is starkly discernible that the US led the way by a huge gap, achieving in the early 1950s the average per capita GDP that western European nations would only reach by the late 1960s. A brief overview of the economic boom indicates that the per capita GDP grew by an average of 2.7% annually and continuously from 1949-1968 in comparison to under 1.5% per capita GDP growth per year from 1913-1949 (Junker and Wagner 256). The consumer culture was also driven by media, as the telling impact of the Seventeen Magazine on teenage consumption and the accompanied attention by the corporate world (Griffith and Baker 122-3). ... Mass consumption included purchase of mass-produced homes in sprawling suburbs as the domestic market drove economic growth forward. This perhaps explains the reason behind the USA experiencing the economic boom much earlier than the rest of the western world. The birth rate was at an all time high bringing forth the baby-boom generation whose parents intended to provide with good life they never had as they grew up during the global recession (Elcott 7). One aspect of this mass consumerism is in the growth of television and its impact. By 1950, less than 3 million Americans had television sets, spectacularly increasing to over 50 million a decade later. This was accompanied by creation of a more uniform culture in the US. It is clear that the surge of capitalism was driven by the heightened consumerism and people’s growing incomes. Pervasive television imagery, booming suburbs and unrestricted spending power changed the culture of Americans and how they viewed themselves (Cob bs-Hoffman and Gjerde and Blum 331-2). A strong home economy was also important in the establishment of US global economic power and influence as efforts could be diverted to global economic issues. Hence, consumer-driven economic expansion is one of the main stand-out aspects and defining phenomena that characterized the period between 1945 and 1968. The Civil Rights Movement: The USA is a nation built upon a melt-point of different cultures, races and ethnicities and thus from inception was plagued by the problem of racism, providing the divisions that shook the very foundations of democracy that the nation prides itself in. Dubois cofounded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people (NAACP) with the aim of protesting the accommodation being pursued by the likes of

Economics, Consumerism and the Environment Essay

Economics, Consumerism and the Environment - Essay Example It is typically measured in tons of CO2 equivalent. (Kyoto Protocol) Many companies can create the carbon offset by introducing the renewable energy such as installation of solar energy system, small hydroelectric projects, geothermal and biomass energies etc. Moreover there are carbon sequestration projects that destroy the carbon dioxide. (David Suzuki Foundation) Especially for large corporations promoting consumerism like Wal-Mart, Kyoto protocol can be an effective scanner to check their accomplishment of their responsibilities towards safe guarding the environment. In this age of consumerism the conservation of energy through efficient usage and the minimization of energy wastage can be most influential measures to ensure sustainable development. The Wal-Mart Supermarkets, Stores, SAM CLUBS and Neighborhood Markets have set example of utilization of daylight through skylights to restrict energy consumption that saves 250 million kilowatt of energy every day. Besides that Wal-Mart system has adopted other measures such as the efficient process of heating and cooling, the white roof system of interior lighting and retrofit program to prove how the energy can be efficiently utilized to restrict energy-demand. (Wal-Mart) However the management of Wal-Mart should keep it in mind that a long way has to be still made to provide a perfect eco friendly operational environment. Efficient energy use, on one hand saves energy and on the other protects the environment. CFL consumes less energy than conventional tube, while providing per unit more luminance; Wal-Mart might reorient the internal lighting system through CFL. Furthermore Air conditioner and refrigerators emits harmful Chlorofluorocarbon, so it might try to ration their use. (New York State: Department of Environmental Conservation) Keeping, the air condition’s temperature at a moderate level results in less consumption of energy and less emission of CFC. Wal-Mart might

Managing Customer Service Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Managing Customer Service - Essay Example Both gaining customer commitment and stimulating employees can produce an outstanding service for the corporation and to ensure that the results first satisfy the client, and then lead to successful target achievements. Service strategies vary from company to company, however, they are some general rules that need to be observed. Each service strategy aims to improve its customer care and to meet the needs of its customers in the most professional manner. Strategic approaches aim to continuously enhance the understanding about the customer service and how to implement it into the routine work with clients. In order for a company to succeed it should have easy to grasp strategy endevours, which are understood by the personnel. This constitutes a great level of the customer service, since they provide diverse pieces of advice and support for its clientele. Cook (2008) also elaborates on modern online technology and explains how those changes affected the overall customer service and employees. Customer engagement is best explained by Cook (2008) illustrating few example from eBay, Tesco and John Lewis. There is a universal structure and service units regardless of where they are positioned in the mar ket chain and as geographical location. Among the other useful tips that Cook (2008) provides her readers is to listen to customers. Listening to customers is one of the most vital principles of service management. Attention should be paid to the customer's demands and requirements. Company representatives should carefully direct customers in order to understand and meet their needs. When customer is speaking, the employees should carefully pay attention and if necessary take notes, especially if the conversation is conducted over the phone. While listening to the customer, the employee should quickly take action on those issues that are easily solved and fixed. Another topic that Cook (2008) reviews is the implementation of customer care strategy. Since customers are becoming growingly sophisticated and inventive in their demands, this requires the implementation of well organized customer care strategy. Every business is dependent on the clients, thus to provide a high level of responsiveness to their desires is the prime aim of every organization. Developing and implementing extensive approaches to customer relation management has increasingly become the cornerstone of service management. There are also training and development programs for customer service which aim to make the servicing more interactive (Cook, 2008). There are integration approaches into these training customer service programs which debate real situations and life experiences and enable the employees to frame their impressions about the ever-changing customers' demands. Recognition and rewards are other inseparable part of excellent customer care (Cook, 2008). The comp any has to recognize the customer as valuable and to indicate that he is important, because he choose particularly us to provide him with the service. To connect reward with customer loyalty we have to show that we try our best to keep the customer. To achieve this we reward him in many different ways - from offering him discounts, to bonuses for returning to us again. Mudie and Cottam (1999) look closely at the relationship between marketing and public sector issues. Besides pointing out to these key areas, they also provide exhaustive examples and case studies

Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security - Essay Example Since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid, the Obama care represents one of the most important regulatory overhauls of the U.S. healthcare system. The significant role of the PPACA was felt in healthcare system due to its incorporation with Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act amendments in the United States. The ACA was enacted in order to increase the affordability and quality of health insurance. Through this health care act, there was a provision of lowering the uninsured rates through the expansion of public and private insurance coverage. This bill, additionally, reduced the cost of healthcare for both the individual patients and the government. Lastly, the â€Å"Obama care† introduced mechanisms like subsidies, mandates and insurance exchanges. This act established a universally single-payer health care system in the United States. It was roughly an equivalent of Canada’s Medicare. Under a single care insurance model, all the medical care were supposed to be catered for by the government of the United States. The major aim of National Health Care Pact was to end the need for private health insurance and premiums. This entirely probably was aimed at recasting the privately owned health care insurance company and boosting the affordability and efficiency of the United States health care system (Mathews, 2014). The external factors that led to the implementation of the Patient Protect and Affordable Care Act and the United States National Health Care Act was to have an efficient and affordable healthcare system to the public. Health care, as a national government policy, is a very crucial docket especially when it comes to the expenses communally incurred to cater for these expenses. The implementation of â€Å"Obama Care† considerably considered the accessibility of health services to the public, which is the basic entity of both the federal and national governments (Institute of medicine, 2005).

Mercks transition to open innovation strategy Essay

Mercks transition to open innovation strategy - Essay Example The paper will focus on the open innovation strategy by Merck pharmaceutical company in form of merging with Schering-Plough. The writer will provide answers to the following questions: 1. Can open innovation help Merck meet the needs of its customers in creative and cost effective ways that also bring value to its shareholders. Why or why not? 2. Assuming open innovative is the path to follow, what implementation issues would you expect? How would Merck overcome its cultural resistance to change? 3. What positive or negative effects will the recent Schering Plough Merger have on Merck’s transition to a more open innovation strategy? Introduction. Merck historically believed in closed innovation strategy. This involves ideas being developed from within the company and the resulting products manufactured and marketed. On the contrary, open innovation involves the search for new ideas from outside and including them in business models. This is through bringing new ideas, personnel and technologies. Open innovation also allows some knowledge to flow outside the companies to other people. Most companies do not use their original technologies because it may be too costly making these ideas unutilized. Open innovations allows some of these good ideas to be shared to companies where they will be put into use. Therefore, open innovations make companies more creative in terms of research and development. ... It has achieved all this success at only one sixth of the cost. Since the approach has worked in other companies, it can also work in Merck. Through open innovation, Merck can develop new cost effective ideas and products. The breakthrough for such products can bring great sales for the company thus benefiting the shareholders. (Rothaemel, 2008) Question 5: Assuming open innovative is the path to follow, what implementation issues would you expect? How would Merck overcome its cultural resistance to change? Merck has been deeply rooted in the culture of closed innovation. This is the culture that they are the best in what they do and need no assistance from outside. Merck assumed that they had the best and brightest personnel. They believe that whatever they invented was the best. Merck believed that all great discoveries were to be unveiled at Merck. This overconfident notion was deeply instilled in the minds of the people at Merck. This makes everyone in the company to be very rigi d to any sought of change. Implementing the new open innovation strategy would therefore, be difficult because of this rigidness. The workers people have strong believe in themselves and would resist any new idea from outside. It would be a problem for the workers at Merck to adapt and accept this change (Rothaemel, 2008). Therefore, for successful development of open innovation at Merck, change has to start with each person. Change from the use of closed innovation to open innovation would mean that people have to change their attitudes and minds. This would erase the earlier culture of closed innovation and replaced it with open innovation. The resistance to change can be dealt with by sending top

Public Opinion and the Global Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Public Opinion and the Global Culture - Essay Example Another definition, by Angell (1991, in Beerkens, 2006), stresses the social dynamic: â€Å"The world economy has become so highly interdependent as to make national independence an anachronism, especially in financial markets. The interdependence is driven by science, technology and economics – the forces of modernity; and these forces, not governments, determined international relations. Thanks to this interdependence, war between nations is an impossibility.† Beck (2000, p. 86), on the other hand, emphasizes the political implications: â€Å"Globalization – however the word is understood – implied the weakening of state sovereignty and state structures.† Millberg (1998) focuses on the economic: â€Å"Globalization is dominated by transnational firms and financial institutions, operating independently of national boundaries or domestic economic situations.† And most perceptively, by Cerny (1999), on the state promoting globalization:  "However, this does not mean that, once the genie is out of the bottle, globalization is reversible.† Taking the layman’s common understanding of the term, the globalization process has been celebrated worldwide as the inevitable key to international economic progress. Less publicized are its negative repercussions, both economically and culturally, upon populations adversely affected by the movement of goods and capital from wealthy countries to those less wealthy, and movement of groups of people from the poorer, crowded nations to those rich importers of manpower and expertise. Landis (2008) notes that the large influx of people of divergent cultures and backgrounds cause crowding into urban centers, creating social tensions and sometimes open inter-ethnic conflict between host populations and the new entrants. Globalization disrupts local communities and livelihoods. Bathelt and Kappes (2008) examined the merged chemicals firm Aventis, from the German Hoechst and the French

Mercks transition to open innovation strategy Essay

Mercks transition to open innovation strategy - Essay Example The paper will focus on the open innovation strategy by Merck pharmaceutical company in form of merging with Schering-Plough. The writer will provide answers to the following questions: 1. Can open innovation help Merck meet the needs of its customers in creative and cost effective ways that also bring value to its shareholders. Why or why not? 2. Assuming open innovative is the path to follow, what implementation issues would you expect? How would Merck overcome its cultural resistance to change? 3. What positive or negative effects will the recent Schering Plough Merger have on Merck’s transition to a more open innovation strategy? Introduction. Merck historically believed in closed innovation strategy. This involves ideas being developed from within the company and the resulting products manufactured and marketed. On the contrary, open innovation involves the search for new ideas from outside and including them in business models. This is through bringing new ideas, personnel and technologies. Open innovation also allows some knowledge to flow outside the companies to other people. Most companies do not use their original technologies because it may be too costly making these ideas unutilized. Open innovations allows some of these good ideas to be shared to companies where they will be put into use. Therefore, open innovations make companies more creative in terms of research and development. ... It has achieved all this success at only one sixth of the cost. Since the approach has worked in other companies, it can also work in Merck. Through open innovation, Merck can develop new cost effective ideas and products. The breakthrough for such products can bring great sales for the company thus benefiting the shareholders. (Rothaemel, 2008) Question 5: Assuming open innovative is the path to follow, what implementation issues would you expect? How would Merck overcome its cultural resistance to change? Merck has been deeply rooted in the culture of closed innovation. This is the culture that they are the best in what they do and need no assistance from outside. Merck assumed that they had the best and brightest personnel. They believe that whatever they invented was the best. Merck believed that all great discoveries were to be unveiled at Merck. This overconfident notion was deeply instilled in the minds of the people at Merck. This makes everyone in the company to be very rigi d to any sought of change. Implementing the new open innovation strategy would therefore, be difficult because of this rigidness. The workers people have strong believe in themselves and would resist any new idea from outside. It would be a problem for the workers at Merck to adapt and accept this change (Rothaemel, 2008). Therefore, for successful development of open innovation at Merck, change has to start with each person. Change from the use of closed innovation to open innovation would mean that people have to change their attitudes and minds. This would erase the earlier culture of closed innovation and replaced it with open innovation. The resistance to change can be dealt with by sending top

History of HTML Essay Example for Free

History of HTML Essay HTML or HyperText Markup Language is the predominant and most currently most popular language for creating web pages. It is a well-designed language to describe the structure of text-based information in a document by using certain tags referred to as HTML tags and using certain text links, heads, paragraphs, tables, lists and headings. While HTML is written in the form of tags, surrounded by angle brackets. HTML can also describe, to some degree, the appearance and semantics of a document, and can include embedded forms, and other scripting language codes, which can affect the behavior of Web browsers and other HTML processors. It is assumed that what made this language a very popular web development language is its English-like characteristic which makes it relatively easy to comprehend, and memorize the tags as compared to most other languages. It was in the late 1980’s, when the physicist Tim Berners-Lee, who was an independent contractor at CERN, proposed and prototyped ENQUIRE, a system for CERN researchers to use and share documents. In 1989, Berners-Lee and CERN Robert Cailliau, a data systems engineer from CERN, each submitted separate proposals for an Internet-based hypertext system providing similar functionality. The following year, they collaborated on a joint proposal, the Worldwide Web (W3) project; this proposal was accepted by CERN and as of now, and the project continued to grow from the day that it was developed, and continuous to grow up until present. In the advent of the interne and in the continuous increase in its popularity, came parallel the advent of the web-development language HTML. Although it has already been an accepted and established concept in the field of academics as early as the 1940s. It was with the advent of he personal computer that hypertext came into popularity. Bill Atkinson came up with the astounding idea in the late 1980s. It was then the he and his team developed Hypercard, an application for the Macintosh Operating System. Hypercard allows users to construct a series of on-screen `filing cards that would be able to contain text and graphics. Users can also navigate through these filing cards by pressing on-screen buttons, which were designed for simple and plain navigation. Hypercard easily became popular and was integrated on many other applications. Toolbox, for Personal Computers was developed and popularized in the 1990s for hypertext training courses. These courses came up with a more advanced navigation system wherein viewers or users were able to view pages with buttons which can help them navigate forward or backward or jump to a topic. Hypercard and its co-programs easily became popularized, however they were still held back by certain limitations. The major limitation was that hypertext jumps were only allowed to be made to files on the same computer. Hypertext umps to computers on other countries or on the other side of the world were still not possible. Hypertext communication was still on the local scale and not available in the global scale. It the increasing demands for global scale hypertext communication that the HTML came into advent. HTML has had a development-span of roughly seven years. During that time, it has evolved from a simple language with a small number of tags to a complex system of mark-up tags, enabling authors to create visually stunning web pages complete with sound and animation. Basically, the language developed from HTML+, HTML 2, HTML 3. 2, HTML 4. And finally HTML 5, which was released in 2008. A document called â€Å"HTML Tags†, was the first publicly available description of the HTML. This was known to public by Tim Berners-Lee in 1991. It describes 22 elements comprising the initial, relatively simple design of HTML, thirteen of these elements still exist up to HTML 4. At that time, Berners-Lee considered HTML to be an application of Standard Generalized Markup Language or SGML. However, it was not formally announced until the mid-1993 publication, by the IETF, of the first proposal for an HTML specification. Berners-Lee and Dan Connollys made an internet draft, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). This included an SGML document type definition to define the grammar. The HTML and HTML+ drafts expires in 1994, and that was when IETF created an HTML Working Group, which in 1995 completed HTML 2. 0, the first HTML specification intended to be treated as a standard against which future implementations should be based. HTML 2. 0 included ideas from the HTML and HTML+ drafts. HTML 2. 0 became the standard for website design until the year 1997. By then, more people were using HTML, and while the previous standards offered some decent abilities, people thirsted for more abilities and tags as to be able to better enhance the appearance of their websites. At this time, a HTML working group, led by Dave Raggett introduced HTML 3. 0. It included many new and improved abilities for HTML, and promised far more powerful opportunities to HTML users. HTML 4. 0 was recommended by W3C in 1997 and became the official standard in April 1998. Browser support was undertaken surprisingly earnestly by Microsoft in their Internet Explorer browser HTML 4. 0 was a large evolution of the HTML standards, and the last version of the classic HTML. At present, the newest version of the HTML is HTML 5. 0. It was published as a working draft by W3C last January 22, 2008, and includes major revisions in the core language of the World Wide Web, HTML. In this version, new features, elements and functionalities had been introduced to aid web developers to further improve the appearance and back-end structure of websites.

Barleria Prionitis Linn

Barleria Prionitis Linn

How To Annoy People Essay -- Process Essays

How To Annoy People This paper will attempt to explore how to annoy people in many different situations these categories are as follows: how to annoy people in restaurants, chat rooms, while driving, and in the grocery store. Also explored are annoying your roommate, your neighbors, public bathroom stall mates, your teacher or professor, and the police. The following are guaranteed ways to annoy at your favorite restaurant: Decline to be seated and simply eat their complementary mints by the cash register. Pretend you do not understand what your server is saying no matter how much he/she yells or how slowly they say it. Ask your server for an extra seat and place setting for your imaginary friend. Wander around the restaurant asking other diners for their parsley. Slurp your soup. Eat out with your friends and forget your wallet. Order a side of pork rinds with your filet mignon or pay for your dinner with pennies. Getting a rise out of people by annoying the heck out of them was never this easy before chat rooms. First, ONLY TYPE IN UPPERCASE or only type in lowercase, and dont use any punctuation either. Invent nonsense computer jargon in conversations and see if people play along to avoid looking ignorant, if they ask what it means be demeaning and rude rather than giving them an explanation. TalkLikeThisInChatRooms. CapitalizeTheBeginningOfEveryWordAndNeverUseSpaces. YouHaveNoIdeaHowAnnoyingThisCanGet. On the other hand, you could simply capitalize letters that ShouLDn't bE capitalized. Go into random chat rooms and say "Turkey," then leave and every 5 minutes, on the dot, send someone an instant message saying "Turkey" as well. Choose someone you do not like and annoy him/her until he/she leaves the chat room. Use the "find member" command and follow this person all over whatever online service you use. This may get you permanently kicked out of all the chat rooms, so make it worth it. Finally, e-mail some random person in a chat room and ask them why they keep harassing you. If your passengers are annoying you, get relief by annoying the other drivers around you. When driving at a slower speed, stay in the left-most lane and when there is a lot of traffic behind you, always drive 8-20 MPH slower than the speed limit. These will definitely get you the finger by everyone who finally gets past you, so use sparingly if weak hearted. When dri... ...assignments, or write your psychology paper on possible genetic anomalies that might cause a person to prefer anchovies. Finally, pwetend you have a speech impediment and awways type w's whenevew you weawwy want to type r's or l's. The last category in our exploration on how to annoy people is the police. We will call this category "How To Be a 3 Time Loser on Your First Dealing With The Police." If you really want to annoy the wrong person, simply use one of these lines the next time you get pulled over: "Aren't you the guy from The Village People?" or "Didn't I see you get your butt kicked on COPS?" You could also try "I pay your salary," "I thought you had to be in relatively good shape to be a police officer," "You're not going to check the trunk, are you," or "So, are you on the take, or what?" I do not recommend the next line unless you would like to experience police brutality, but here it is anyway: "Wow, you look like the guy in the picture on my girlfriend's night stand." I end this paper with my favorite how to annoy a police officer line which is "I was trying to keep up with traffic. Yes, I know there are no other cars around, that's how far they are ahead of me."

Grading System Reform Essay example -- Argumentative Persuasive Educat

Grading System Reform Teachers have always used grades to measure the amount a student has learned. This practice is becoming ineffective. Many students have a wide range of grades, which show that grades may not show what a student really knows. Therefore, the standard grading system should be replaced. Some reasons why grades should be replaced are bad grades can hinder a child’s performance, grades define who a student is in the classroom, and grades are not an effective way to see if students have learned the material. The current grading system should be upgraded and every school should incorporate the plus/minus system in their method of grading. The public high schools began a grading system as a way of telling an individual how they were performing. There was no interest by the public in reporting the school’s progress at teaching. Teachers, in an effort to recognize outstanding performers, looked for a way of rewarding hard-working students for their efforts The grading structure changed from superior and excellent to A’s and B’s. This placed much of the burden of recognizing academic talent on the high schools. Hindering a student’s performance with a bad grade in the middle of the year can make them give up for the rest of the year. Once a student has received a bad grade they might lose faith in their academic ability. By giving up a student does not reflect their academic ability and their bad grades are not based on what they learned. Students are... Grading System Reform Essay example -- Argumentative Persuasive Educat Grading System Reform Teachers have always used grades to measure the amount a student has learned. This practice is becoming ineffective. Many students have a wide range of grades, which show that grades may not show what a student really knows. Therefore, the standard grading system should be replaced. Some reasons why grades should be replaced are bad grades can hinder a child’s performance, grades define who a student is in the classroom, and grades are not an effective way to see if students have learned the material. The current grading system should be upgraded and every school should incorporate the plus/minus system in their method of grading. The public high schools began a grading system as a way of telling an individual how they were performing. There was no interest by the public in reporting the school’s progress at teaching. Teachers, in an effort to recognize outstanding performers, looked for a way of rewarding hard-working students for their efforts The grading structure changed from superior and excellent to A’s and B’s. This placed much of the burden of recognizing academic talent on the high schools. Hindering a student’s performance with a bad grade in the middle of the year can make them give up for the rest of the year. Once a student has received a bad grade they might lose faith in their academic ability. By giving up a student does not reflect their academic ability and their bad grades are not based on what they learned. Students are...

Implementing change Essay

Managers are entrusted with a leadership role for an organization with an aim to set out objectives and create the right environment and effective techniques to meet those objectives. There are supposed to come up with creative ideas on the change needed in the organization and how that change should be implemented with minimal difficulties while at the same time reaping maximum benefits from the change. A manager’s role and responsibility in implementing change One major step towards achieving this is of course through having a very clear sense of goals. When the management is equipped with a clear sense of goals and objectives, then it will be possible for an organization or an institution to have a new direction. The manager is important at this stage. He or she is responsible for coming up with specific objectives and determining what direction the institution is supposed to take. It is imperative that the leader or in this case the manager learn to be patient because in many cases change demands patience. As a manager, one should be well informed on his or her team so as to have a good knowledge on which members can be best used. Banutu & Banutu 2003) The task of management in times of implementing change demands good communication skills. One of the manager’s main tasks is relaying ideas, mission, goals, and objectives of the institution to the subordinates. It is therefore important that the manager is skilled in communication so as to effectively hammer the point home. Good communication skills are two way. The manager should also be a good observer and listener so as to understand any information or feedback that may be coming from the team members. Managers should also act as role models to their team by for instance setting an example of sacrifice. To make the process of change easier, the manager’s behavior should provide a model for motivation. He or she should be ready to listen to team members, respect them, delegate some powers to them, and assist them. Such characters and actions go a long way in motivating the team and elevating their interest to the task at hand. Team members are not only inspired with a mission but also motivated to initiate novelty and new ways of thinking. For a change process to be successful, the manager is supposed to build trust among group members and ensure that they think and work as a unit as opposed to working as individuals. The manager should be able to nurture intimacy among members, demonstrate self confidence, integrity, and honesty. He or she should be able to connect real life personal experiences with transformational requirements or behaviors of the institution. The manager should have a strong sense of involvement with the team and its activities. This way, the influence process becomes easier and more effective. It is imperative the manager fully understands the task ahead and relays that to the subordinates. This attribute should be coupled with high level commitment to the institution. Integrity and consistency are paramount in the change process if the laid down objectives are to be realized. (Banutu & Banutu 2003) Handling staff resistance to change One of the most common characteristics in the change process is resistance towards change by members of the organization. Though resistance to change is mainly viewed negatively, it can have positive outcomes too. For instance, staff resistance can lead to a functional conflict. This sought of conflict stimulates a healthy debate among members and the leadership as well. Such a debate sheds light on the various faces of change and ultimately leads to a better decision in the end. Staff resistance though could act as a major obstacle to an organization’s pursuit to achieve change and progress. If the staff is adamant to change its mindset to fit and adapt with changing times, then the organization will experience difficulties adapting and achieving progress. Managers are supposed to come up with ways to deal with staff resistance and ensure that the staff is collaborative instead of the other way round. (Kelly 1992) Communicating with staff members is a significant step in dealing with resistance. The leadership should take its time in demonstrating the logic of change to the staff and get rid of any chances of misinformation or misunderstanding. As indicated earlier, involvement of the staff in decision making is a beneficial tactic in ensuring that staff members not only implement change but also feel as being a part of it. This reduces the level of resistance, increases the change quality of the staff, and achieves commitment from the staff. The manager can also provide individuals who can handle and manage change activities or act as one. The manager or the change agents can offer facilitation and support to staff members so the idea of change and its actual implementation can be easier and more understandable. (Holton 2003) Another method through which managers can avert potential resistance is through negotiation with the staff. The management can offer the staff something like a reward in exchange of lessened resistance. The manager should however be wary of blackmail because some staff members may take advantage of this and demand rewards in any event of a change process. When ‘clean’ strategies fail or deemed unreliable to avert staff resistance, the manager can use cooptation and manipulation techniques so as to achieve his or her ends. Making facts look appealing more than they really are and hatching force rumors can get the staff to accept change and actually look forward to its implementation. The personalities leading the resistance can be bought off by the manager by offering them important positions in the change process. They are made to feel as if they engaged in opposing change but in actual sense the plan goes unhitched. The last trick on the book is the use of coercion. The manager gives direct threats to the staff members and applies direct force. Other measures include transfer of members, demotion, poor letter recommendation, or outright firing. It is important that the staff understands they are not indispensable as the change that the organization is seeking is more important than an individual career. (Bass & Avolio 1994) Steps of the change process The management with the collaboration and active participation of the staff should engage themselves in assessing the organization’s goals and objectives. There should be an extensive understanding of why the organization is taking the change path and how well equipped it is to actually implement its objectives. In the event that the management feels time is not ripe for a particular change process to be initiated, then it can be shelved until the right time comes. The management should put all facts on the table and analyze them before it starts to implement them. All possible scenarios to the process should be considered. In the planning process, it is important that the manager ensures that staff members fully comprehend the plan ahead of them. It is also important that staff members are to a certain level involved in the process. The reasons for using participation, as discussed earlier, is to gain the collaboration of the staff and reduce chances of resistance. Carrying out the actual change process calls for dedication from everyone involved. Any challenges such as staff resistance should be dealt with swiftly. During the evaluation, the management should go back to the aims and objectives outlined during the planning process. External evaluators should be invited so as to avoid any chances of bias. (Banutu & Banutu 2003) Conclusion Only one thing is certain in any place and that is change. Organizations, just as human beings, are in a process of change. It is up to the management to ensure that this is change is to the positive. The modern world is characterized by cutthroat competition and there is no room for being stagnant.

Computer: Related Studies and Definitions Essay

Password is a string of characters used for authenticating a user on a computer system. Biometrics refers to technologies used to detect and recognize human physical characteristics. In the ITworld, biometrics is often synonymous with â€Å"biometric authentication,† a type of security authorization based on biometric input. Employer A legal entity that controls and directs a servant or worker under an express or implied contract of employment and pays (or is obligated to pay) him or her salary or wages in compensation. Payroll Administrator defined as a person in an organization who is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the employees within the firm are paid accurately and timely. Payroll administrators can either be working on site or outsourced. Transaction Something transacted, especially a business agreement or exchange. Computer Program(Program) a sequence of instructions, stored in any medium, that can be interpreted and executed by a computer; – called most frequently a program. This term is used both for the written program (a document) and for its corresponding electronic version stored or executed on the computer. MSDOS Microsoft Disk Operating System. A computer operating system for personal computers, which has largely been replaced by the more common Windows operating system. MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) was the Microsoft-marketed version of the first widely-installed operating system in personal computers. It was  essentially the same operating system that Bill Gates’s young company developed for IBM as Personal Computer Window Based (Windows-based; upper case â€Å"W†) Refers to hardware and software that use Microsoft Windows. 201 file In most organization, commonly use office forms are standardized and numbered. In this case, an office form numbered 201 is classified as the personal data sheet. Hence, a 201 file contains the personal information of an employee. Biometric Attendance & Payroll Systems by Star Catalyst Now a days companies want to focus mainly on their main area of operations, hence automatic attendance systems are the need of the hour for every small as well as big organization. These biometric systems automate the process of attendance & payroll generation and recording. We offer access and attendance system, biometric time attendance systems, fingerprint time attendance systems and many more. Various technologies being used for attendance & payroll are as follows : 1.Proximity based 2.Biometric based – Retina Recognition, hand print recognition, face recognition 3.Fingerprint basedStar CatalystBased at New Delhi, we are offering turnkey solutions in security domain to the corporate and government sector. Timely execution and proper planning are some of the features of our security services and electronic article surveillance system. Our Team Committed to deliver clients services that have high degree of perfection our services comply with the international standards and specifications.  Making use of technologically advanced machinery and in-depth industrial experience, our team of experts has formulated our services in an industry specific manner. We are competent to maintain and create firm and long-lasting relationship with our clients by providing them quality services for which we have set our own quality parameters. Our team  of production experts uses state-of-art technologies finely blended with their acquired specialized knowledge & technical know-how to bring out effective results.