Scientific Management And Its Relevance Today Essay - 7

Scientific Management And Its Relevance Today - Essay Example Those who hold such views think that scientific management was not effective then and cannot be in the present days. This essay argues that Taylor’s scientific management system had its weaknesses, but the weakness can guide research towards making the theory more relevant to the current management realities. Scientific Management and its Relevance Today The result of years of experimentation and research that Taylor and his colleagues conducted in the scientific management theory.  The following four principles anchor the theory: Establishment of a science that would increase production; selection and training of personnel that will improve efficiency and increase production; application of the science established to tasks designed; and building of teamwork between personnel and management to realise the set targets (Cannon, 2009). These principles have continued to inform management practices since the 19th century to the modern days. There are many areas within management , industrial and organizational psychology that scientific management principles are applicable today. Scientific management principles has had the greatest impact in two management subfields of human resource and accounting management. Many organizations have implemented these ideas to cost?accounting and management of personnel (Wren, 2005). Areas were these principles are in operation today includes job design, selection, group processes, job performance criteria, organizational change and development, motivation and incentive systems, worker’s attitude and performance appraisal (Payne, et al. 2006). Examination of some general business practices and techniques is one of the means to prove this (Haden, Humphreys, Cooke & Penland, 2012). According to Wren (2011), studies conducted in recent years have shown that Taylor is the leading contributor to theoretical and practical approaches in management. Management researchers like Heames & Breland (2010) found Taylor at the top in their studies. Bedeian and Wren list Taylor’s book, The Principles of Scientific Management as the number one among the 25 most significant management books since the turn of 20th century. These studies were conducted decades after Taylor made the introduction of scientific management to the world. The result of these studies shows that scientific management principles have become an essential human resource tool for many managers. Application scientific management is apparent, for example, when a customer support representative picks a call under pressure from the 90/10 practice (regulations demanding customer support representatives to pick 90 percentage of calls and assist customers within 10 seconds). This regulation has its roots in scientific management as it is about efficiency and productiveness of personnel. Thus, scientific management is evident in such situations were machine-like accuracy is required for improved profitability (Bell & Martin, 2011). Taylorâ₠¬â„¢s experimentation on time and motion provides guidelines of how long it should take workers to perform a task. Time study reduces wasted motions and set a suitable standard of task performance (Wren, 2011). The study helps in the elimination of motions that do not add value to the organization’s production process. Time and motion sensors also assist employers to make decisions on strategies and techniques needed for efficient specialization.  

Speaker Independent Speech Recognizer Development

Speaker Independent Speech Recognizer Development Chapter 4 Methodology and Implementation This chapter describes the methodology and implementation of the speaker independent speech recognizer for the Sinhala language and the Android mobile application for voice dialing. Mainly there are two phases of the research. First one is to build the speaker independent Sinhala speech recognizer to recognize the digits spoken in Sinhala language. The second phase is to build an android application by integrating the trained speech recognizer. This chapter covers the tools, algorithms, theoretical aspects, the models and the file structures used for the entire research process. 4.1Research phase 1: Build the speaker independent Sinhala speech recognizer for recognizing the digits. In this section the development of the speaker independent Sinhala speech recognizer is described, step by step. It includes the phonetic dictionary, language model, grammar file, acoustic speech database and the trained acoustic model creation. 4.1.1 Data preparation This system is a Sinhala speech recognition voice dial and since there is no such speech database which is done earlier was available, the speech has to be taken from the scratch to develop the system. Data collection The first stage of any speech recognizer is the collection of sound signals. Database should contain a variety of enough speakers recording. The size of the database is compared to the task we handle. For this application only little number of words was considered. This research aims only the written Sinhala vocabulary that can be applied for voice dialing. Altogether twelve words were considered with the ten numbers including two initial calling words â€Å"amatanna† and â€Å"katakaranna†. Here the Database has two parts, the training part and the testing part. Usually about 1/10th of the full speech data is used to the testing part. In this research 3000 speech samples were used for training and 150 speech samples were used for testing. Speech database Before collecting data, a speech database was created. The database was included with the Sinhala speech samples taken from variety of people who were in different age levels. Since there was no such database published anywhere for Sinhala language relevant for voice dialing, speech had to be collected from Sinhala native speakers. Prompt sheet To create the speech database, the first step was to prepare the prompt sheet having a list of sentences for all the recordings. Here it used 100 sentences that are different from each other by generating the numbers randomly. 50 sentences are starting with the word â€Å"amatanna† while the other half is starting with the word â€Å"katakaranna†. The prompt sheet used for this research is given in the Appendix A. Recording The prepared sentences in the prompt sheet were recorded by using thirty (30) native speakers since this is speaker independent application. The speakers were selected according to the age limits and divided them into eight age groups. Four people were selected from each group except one age group. Two females and two males were included into each age group. One group only contained two people with one female and one male. Each speaker was given 100 sentences to speak and altogether 3000 speech samples were recorded for training. The description of speakers such as gender and age can be found in Appendix A. If there was an error in the recording due to the background noise and filler sounds, the speaker was asked to repeat it and got the correct sound signal. Since the proposed system is a discrete system, the speakers have to make a short pause at the start and end of the recording and also between the words when they were uttered. Speech was recorded in a quiet room and the recordi ngs were done at nights by using a condenser recorder microphone. The sounds were recorded under the sampling rate of 44.1 kHz using mono channel and they were saved under *.wav format. Sampling frequency and format of speech audio files Speech recording files were saved in the file format of MS WAV. The â€Å"Praatâ€Å" software was used to convert the 44.1 kHz sampling frequency signals to 16 kHz frequency signals since the frequency should be 16kHz of the training samples. Audio files were recorded in a medium length of 11 seconds. Since there should be a silence in the beginning and the end of the utterance and it should not be exceeded 0.2 seconds, the â€Å"Praat† software was used to edit all 3000 sound signals. 4.1.2 Pronunciation dictionary The pronunciation dictionary was implemented by hand since the number of words used for the voice dialing system is very few. It is used only 12 words from the Sinhala vocabulary. To create the dictionary, the International Phonetic Alphabet for Sinhala Language and the previously created dictionaries by CMU Sphinx were used. But the acoustic phones were taken mostly by studying the different types of databases given by the Carnegie Mellon University’s Sphinx Forum (CMU Sphinx Forum). Two dictionaries were implemented for this system. One is for the speech utterances and the other one is for filler sounds. The filler sounds contain the silences in the beginning, middle and at the end of the speech utterances. The attachment of the two types of dictionaries can be found on the Appendix A. They are referred to as the languagedictionaryand thefiller dictionary. 4.1.3 Creating the grammar file The grammar file also created by hand since the number of words used for the system is very few. The JSGF (JSpeech Grammar Format) format was used to implement the grammar file. The grammar file can be found in Appendix A. 4.1.4 Building the language model Word search is restricted by a language model. It identifies the matching words by comparing the previously recognized words by the model and restricts the matching process by taking off the words that are not possible to be. N-gram language model is the most common language models used nowadays. It is a finite state language model and it contains statistics of word sequences. In search space where restriction is applied, a good accuracy rate can be obtained if the language model is a very successful one. The result is the language model can predict the next word properly. It usually restricts the word search which are included the vocabulary. The language model was built using the cmuclmtk software. First of all the reference text was created and that text (svd.text) can be found in Appendix A. It was written in a specific format. The speech sentences were delimited byandtags. Then the vocabulary file was generated by giving the following command. text2wfreq svd.vocab Then the generated vocabulary file was edited to remove words (numbers and misspellings). When finding misspellings, they were fixed in the input reference text. The generated vocabulary file (svd.vocab) can be found in the Appendix A. Then the ARPA format language model was generated using these commands. text2idngram -vocab svd.vocab -idngram svd.idngram idngram2lm -vocab_type 0 -idngram svd.idngram -vocab svd.vocab –arpa svd.arpa Finally the CMU binary of language model (DMP file) was generated using the command sphinx_lm_convert -i svd.arpa -o svd.lm.DMP The final output containing the language model needed for the training process is svd.lm.dmp file. This is a binary file. 4.1.5Acoustic model Before starting the acoustic model creation, the following file structure was arranged as described by the CMU Sphinx tool kit guide. The name of the speech database is â€Å"svd† (Sinhala Voice Dial). The content of these files is given in Appendix A. svd.dic -Phonetic dictionary svd.phone -Phoneset file svd.lm.DMP -Language model svd.filler -List of fillers svd _train.fileids -List of files for training svd _train.transcription -Transcription for training svd _test.fileids -List of files for testing svd _test.transcription -Transcription for testing All these files were included in to one directory and it was named as â€Å"etc†. The speech samples of wav files were included in to another directory and named it as â€Å"wav†. These two directories were included in to another directory and named it using the name of the database (svd). Before starting the training process, there should be another directory that contains the â€Å"svd† and the required compilation package â€Å"pocketsphinx†, â€Å"sphinxbase† and â€Å"sphinxtrain† directories. All the packages and the â€Å"svd† directory were put into another directory and started the training process. Setting up the training scripts The command prompt terminal is used to run the scripts of the training process. Before starting the process, terminal was changed to the database â€Å"svd† directory and then the following command was run. python ../sphinxtrain/scripts/sphinxtrain –t svd setup This command copied all the required configuration files into etc sub directory of the database directory and prepared the database for training. The two configuration files created were feat.params and sphinx_train.cfg. These two are given in Appendix A. Set up the database These values were filled in at configuration time. The Experiment name, will be used to name model files and log files in the database. $CFG_DB_NAME = svd; $CFG_EXPTNAME = $CFG_DB_NAME; Set up the format of database audio Since the database contains speech utterances with the ‘wav’ format and they were recorded using MSWav, the extension and the type were given accordingly as â€Å"wav† and â€Å"mswav†. $CFG_WAVFILES_DIR = $CFG_BASE_DIR/wav; $CFG_WAVFILE_EXTENSION = wav; $CFG_WAVFILE_TYPE = mswav; # one of nist, mswav, raw Configure Path to files This process was done automatically when having the right file structure in the running directory. The naming of the files must be very accurate. The paths were assigned to the variables used in main training of models. $CFG_DICTIONARY = $CFG_LIST_DIR/$CFG_DB_NAME.dic; $CFG_RAWPHONEFILE = $CFG_LIST_DIR/$CFG_DB_NAME.phone; $CFG_FILLERDICT = $CFG_LIST_DIR/$CFG_DB_NAME.filler; $CFG_LISTOFFILES = $CFG_LIST_DIR/${CFG_DB_NAME}_train.fileids; $CFG_TRANSCRIPTFILE = $CFG_LIST_DIR/${CFG_DB_NAME}_train.transcription; $CFG_FEATPARAMS = $CFG_LIST_DIR/feat.params; Configure model type and model parameters The model type continuous and semi continuous can be used in pocket sphinx. Continuous type is used for continuous speech recognition. Semi continuous is used for discrete speech recognition process. Since this application use discrete speech the semi continuous model training was used. #$CFG_HMM_TYPE = .cont.; # Sphinx 4, Pocketsphinx $CFG_HMM_TYPE = .semi.; # PocketSphinx $CFG_FINAL_NUM_DENSITIES = 8; # Number of tied states (senones) to create in decision-tree clustering $CFG_N_TIED_STATES = 1000; The number of senones used to train the model is indicated in this value. The sound can be chosen accurately if the number of senones is higher. But if we use too much senones, then it may not be able to recognize the unseen sounds. So the Word Error Rate can be very much higher on unseen sounds. The approximate number of senones and number of densities is provided in the table below. Configure sound feature parameters The default parameter used for sound files in Sphinx is a rate of 16 thousand samples per second (16KHz). If this is the case, then the etc/feat.params file will be automatically generated with the recommended values. The Recommended values are: # Feature extraction parameters $CFG_WAVFILE_SRATE = 16000.0; $CFG_NUM_FILT = 40; # For wideband speech its 40, for telephone 8khz reasonable value is 31 $CFG_LO_FILT = 133.3334; # For telephone 8kHz speech value is 200 $CFG_HI_FILT = 6855.4976; # For telephone 8kHz speech value is 3500 Configure decoding parameters The following were properly configured in theetc/sphinx_train.cfg. $DEC_CFG_DICTIONARY = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc/$DEC_CFG_DB_NAME.dic; $DEC_CFG_FILLERDICT = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc/$DEC_CFG_DB_NAME.filler; $DEC_CFG_LISTOFFILES = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc/${DEC_CFG_DB_NAME}_test.fileids; $DEC_CFG_TRANSCRIPTFILE = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc/${DEC_CFG_DB_NAME}_test.transcription; $DEC_CFG_RESULT_DIR = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/result; # These variables, used by the decoder, have to be user defined, and # may affect the decoder output $DEC_CFG_LANGUAGEMODEL_DIR = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc; $DEC_CFG_LANGUAGEMODEL = $DEC_CFG_LANGUAGEMODEL_DIR/ ${CFG_DB_NAME}.lm.DMP; Training After setting all these paths and parameters in the configuration file as described above, the training was proceeded. To start the training process the following command was run. python ../sphinxtrain/scripts/sphinxtrain run Scripts launched jobs on the machine, and it took few minutes to run. Acoustic Model After the training process, the acoustic model was located in the following path in the directory. Only this folder is needed for the speech recognition tasks. model_parameters/svd.cd_semi_200 We need only that folder for the speech recognition tasks we have to perform. 4.1.6Testing Results 150 speech samples were used as testing data. The aligning results could be obtained after the training process. It was located in the following path in the database directory. results/svd.align 4.1.7Parameters to be optimized Word error rate WER was given as a percentage value. It was calculated according to the following equation Accuracy Accuracy was also given as a percentage. That is the opposite value of the WER. It was calculated using the following equation To obtain an optimal recognition system, the WER should be minimized and the accuracy should be maximized. The parameters of the configuration file were changed time to time and obtained an optimal recognition system where the WER was the minimum with a high accuracy rate. 4.2Research phase 2: Build the voice dialing mobile application. In this section, the implementation of voice dialer for android mobile application is described. The application was developed using the programming language JAVA and it was done using the Eclipse IDE. It was tested in both the emulator and the actual device. The application is able to recognize the spoken digits by any speaker and dial the recognized number. To do this process the trained acoustic model, the pronunciation dictionary, the language model and the grammar files were needed. The speech recognition was performed by using these models in the mobile device itself by using the pocketsphinx library. It is a library written in C language to use for embedded speech recognition devices in Android platform. The step by step implementation and integration of the necessary components were discussed in detail in this section. Resource Files When inputting the resource files to the Android application, they were added in to theassets/directory of the project. Then the physical path was given to make them available for pocketsphinx. After adding them, the Assets directory contained the following resource files. Dictionary svd.dic svd.dic.md5 Grammar digits.gram digits.gram.md5 menu.gram menu.gram.md5 Language model svd.lm.DMP svd.lm.DMP.md5 Acoustic Model feat.params feat.params.md5 mdef mdef.md5 means means.md5 mixture_weights mixture_weights.md5 noisedict noisedict.md5 transition_matrices transition_matrices.md5 variances variances.md5 Assets.lst models/dict/svd.dic models/grammar/digits.gram models/grammar/menu.gram models/hmm/en-us-semi/feat.params models/hmm/en-us-semi/mdef models/hmm/en-us-semi/means models/hmm/en-us-semi/mixture_weights models/hmm/en-us-semi/noisedict models/hmm/en-us-semi/sendump models/hmm/en-us-semi/transition_matrices models/hmm/en-us-semi/variances models/lm/svd.lm.DMP Setup the Recognizer First of all the recognizer should be set up by adding the resource files. The model parameters taken after the training process were added as the HMM in the application. The recognition process was depended mainly on this resource files. Since the grammar files and the language model were added as assets, these two can be used for the recognition process of the application as well as the HMM. The utterances can be recognized from either the grammar files or language model. The whole process is coded using the Java programing language. 4.3Architecture of the developed Speech Recognition System

Processed Food Should or Should not Be Banned from School Meals? Essay

Processed food should be banned from school meals due to increasing health issues in children, increasing academic deficiency and increasing production cost to produce processed foods. There are people who would oppose to this idea due to population growth and an increasing food demand. However, this escalating demand of food is forcing the food industry and other government agencies to resolve the current hunger and lack of resources issues, by hiring processing factories and private companies to manufacture processed foods. The greater part of school age children consume processed foods on a daily basis. The purpose of this study is to examine what are processed foods? What are the associated problems? Also, to determine if processed foods affect students’ health and their academic performance. In addition, what is the position of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and food industry in the distribution of processed foods in schools? Also, to determine the outcome of this study, the behavior and health of students along with the governing agencies were analyzed to establish, if processed foods should be banned from schools or just monitored carefully. Discussion of key terms What are processed foods? It is food â€Å"composed of synthetic chemical additives, such as colorings, preservatives, sugar substitutes and trans-fats† (Fitzgerald, 2006, p.72). Fitzgerald reported that by the â€Å"1970s most meats and dairy products that were factory farmed were laced with growth hormones, antibiotics and a range of pesticides† (p.72). Furthermore, food that is frozen, packaged and canned is considered processed food. A brief explanation of the chemical additives in processed food. 1. Pre... ...with over twenty-five years' experience in the book publishing industry. He is an expert in general-interest non-fiction publishing, specializing in topics from business and personal finance to politics, current affairs, history, autobiography, self-help, and personal development. Before founding his company, Weber served as managing director of the Times Business imprint at Random House (1994-1997). This book is a life changing book. It was inspirational, informative and gave you insight about the things we do not know about the food we eat. The documentary was graphic and detailed, informing you of the process from the farm or the fields, to the manufactures, to the labeling and packaging companies. It informed me, about the school lunches, how some of the meals at school are made, to the politics behind it. This book is also a collectible.

Interracial Marriage Essay

Today interracial marriages are happening more and more despite that many disapprove as we become more diverse, both racially and ethnically. In the past, though considered to be taboo interracial marriages are a quickly growing segment of the population. Interracial marriage is a marriage of two individuals each of different races. The focus of this paper is to address interracial marriage increase, effects on children, acceptance and challenges, and my personal views. Interracial marriage is used to describe marriages that take place between people who are from different racial or ethnic groups. Interracial marriage can convey a relationship between a Black and an Asian, a White and a Korean, a Hispanic and an Asian, a White and a Hispanic, a Black and a White, and etc. However, when people talk about race relations, the focus is on Blacks and Whites. 1. Interracial marriages hits a new high 2. Interracial marriages and the effect on children 3. Acceptance of interracial marriage 4. Difficulties and challenges of interracial marriage 5. Views on interracial marriage Interracial Marriages Hits a New High For most of U. S history, in most communities, such unions were taboo. Interracial marriage approval is at a high point in the United States at 86 percent, a Gallup poll indicated. The poll of 1,319 adults found the United States is on the verge of unanimity on the topic of interracial marriage, Gallup reported. Ninety-six percent of African-Americans, who have always been more approving of marriage between blacks’ whites, approve of such unions, while 84 percent of whites approve. The gap of approval ratings between blacks and whites has narrowed considerably. The gap since 1997 has been averaging 13 percentage points. From 1968 to 1994, the average gap was 32 points. When Gallup first asked about interracial marriage in 1958, only 4 percent of those asked approved. Approval of black-white marriages is slightly lower among Southerners, Republicans, conservatives and those in lower education levels. The elderly are the least approving group at 66 percent (UPI. com, 2011). Interracial Marriages and the Effect on Children No matter what ethnic groups are involved, one major result of these marriages are children. Children are far more negative than a lot of adults are today regarding interracial relationships. It’s not that they approve or disapprove; it’s more like they don’t understand. If a child has never been exposed to other races or seen two different races married and living together than their first reaction might be to think its â€Å"weird†. When kids don’t understand something their first reaction is to tease the child with the interracial parents. There are more serious effects of a child being interracial †¦ labeling and racism. Encountering an identity crisis, which group does she/he belong to? Having siblings that can actually pass as white, who may result in receiving privileges that society may deny the child of more color (darker). Acceptance of Interracial Marriage The willingness of people entering into interracial relationships has grown and so does acceptance. There still some that frown upon mixed marriages with the belief that marriage is tough enough without having to deal with the burden racial differences. A report released by the Pew Research Center says that 43 percent of Americans believe that marriage between people of different races has been productive in our society while only 10 percent believe it has changed America for the worse (AFRO. com, 2012). Difficulties and Challenges of Interracial Marriage As an interracial couple you will possibly face extra challenges in your marriage from people outside your marriage. These include antagonistic and unfair treatment from others, suffering rejection from family members or disinheritance, and dealing with prejudices from friends. All of these things combined can push a couple into social segregation. If you or a couple you know is dealing with these kinds of things (even same-race couples do), think about the following: Have confidence in your choice; Deal with your feelings; Stand up for each other and your marriage; Surround yourselves with supportive people. What can cause an interracial marriage to fall apart is the inability of a couple to handle their differences and a failure to talk about stress and prejudice created by others (Marriage Matters, 2009). The problems and issues that used to occur with interracial marriages are no longer as adamant and noticeable. Views on Interracial Marriage Interracial marriages are more common today than ever before and I support it. There are cultural differences, but if anything, I believe that in interracial marriages couples can help each other to grow as a person. Love as no boundaries†¦what difference does the color of your skin make if two people are in love. You can’t help with whom you fall in love with, and people should stop seeing mixed race relationships as a political statement. If people attempt to understand the different beliefs, traditions and values of the diverse groups that make up this world, then they could work together for the good of all. Love has no color! Interracial marriage in the United States has been fully legal in all U. S. states since the 1967 Supreme Court decision that deemed anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional, with many states choosing to legalize interracial marriage at much earlier dates. The United States has many ethnic and racial groups and interracial marriage is fairly common among most of them (The Full Wiki, n. d. ). In conclusion ethnic groups bring diversity and wealth to a society by introducing their own ideas and customs. Interracial marriages introduce such variety. In a picture-perfect world, everyone should celebrate this. However, the world is not perfect. I think that the more love there is in this world, the better off we all are†¦ regardless of whom it is we love.

A Root Cause Analysis Essay

Healthcare facilities that are accredited by Joint Commission are required after a sentinel event to conduct a root cause analysis (RCA). A root cause analysis is conducted to determine the cause or factors that contributed to the sentinel event. A few things must be asked in the RCA such as who, what, where, why and how in order to identify the cause. After the cause of the sentinel event is determined and a corrective action plan has been put in place a failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) could be conducted to reduce the likelihood that it should happen again. The scenario A 67 year old male (Mr. B) was brought into the emergency room for pain to left leg and left hip. The injury occurred when the patient had a fall due to him losing his balance after tripping over his dog. The hospital is a 60 bed rural hospital located in Mr. B’s hometown. Mr. B was brought in by his son and neighbor. Upon triage Mr. B was complaining of pain 10/10 on the numerical pain scale and his vitals were found to be stable. Mr. B has a history of impaired glucose tolerance, prostate cancer, and chronic pain which he is on oxycodone. The Patient states he had no known allergies or previous falls. Upon the nursing assessment Nurse J. has noticed that the patient has limited range in motion, his left leg has swelling and appears shortened in comparison to the right. Nurse J. has informed the ED physician which he came to his bedside for evaluation. Upon evaluation the physician decided that Mr. B needed to have a reduction of his left hip, due to the dislocation and will require a conscious sedation. Mr. B requires multiple doses of medication to achieve the desired sedation affect for the reduction. Once the reduction was successful Mr. B is left with son in the room where a full set of vitals were not continuously monitored and goes into respiratory failure which lead to the death of Mr. B. Staffing on this day is the day of the event consisted of a secretary, emergency department physician (Dr. T), and two nurses (one RN and one LPN). A respiratory therapist is in house and available as needed in this six bed ED and sixty bed hospital. Events At 3:30pm- Mr. B was taken to ED for left leg and left hip pain from a fall. Pain is a 10/10 vitals include 120/80 blood pressure (BP), 88 heart rate (HR) and regular, 98.6 temperature, (T), 32 respirations (R), 175 lbs.. At 4:05pm- Mr. B was given Diazepam 5mg IVP which had no affect after 5min. At 4:10pm- Dr. T orders 2mg of hydromorphone to be given to Mr. B. At 4:15pm- Mr. B was given 2mg of hydromorphone IVP. At 4:20pm- Dr. T is not satisfied with level of sedation and orders Mr. B to be given 2mg of hydromorphone, and diazepam 5mg IVP. At 4:25pm- Mr. B appears to be sedated and reduction of his (L) hip takes place. The patient remains sedated and appears to have tolerated the procedure. The procedures concludes at 4:30pm. No distress is noted, patient is placed on monitor for blood pressure to be taken every 5 minutes along with pulse oximeter but no supplemental oxygen or ECG leads (monitors cardiac rhythm and respirations) was placed on patient at this time. At 4:30pm- Nurse J allows Mr. B’s son to remain in the room with him as he is being monitor by blood pressure machine only. Nurse J leaves the room. At 4:35pm- Mr. B vitals are BP 110/62, O2 sat is 92% still no oxygen or ECG leads are on patient at this time. EMS is transporting a patient in respiratory distress, lobby is beginning to get congested. LPN and Nurse J. in the process of discharging 2 patients and are checking in the patient that EMS has transported in. LPN enters Mr. B’s room and resets his alarming monitor that was showing a sat of 85% and restarts the B/P to recycle. LPN does not supply oxygen and does not alert Nurse J at this time. Management is not notified that patient acuity and patient load is increasing. Nurse J is now fully engaged with the emergency care of the respiratory distress patient. At 4:43pm- Mr. B’s son comes out of room and informs the nurse that the monitor is alarming with vitas of B/P 58/80 O2 of 79%. The patient has no palpable pulse and is not breathing. A STAT code is called and the son is taken to the waiting room. The code teams arrives places Mr. B on cardiac monitor where he is in ventricular fibrillation and the team begins resuscitative efforts. CPR is started and the patient is intubated. Mr. B is defibrillated and reversal  agents, vasopressors and IV were started. At 5:13pm- After 30 min of interventions the ECG returns to a normal sinus rhythm with Mr. B’s B/P being 110/70. The patient is completely dependent on the ventilator, his pupils are fixed and dilated and there is no spontaneous movements. The family as asked for the patient to be transferred out to a tertiary facility for further advanced care. Outcome Seven Days later Mr. B has died. The family had requested that life-support be removed after brain death had been determined by EEG’s. This is a sentinel event. Investigation of sentinel event should begin with a Team and method of investigation. Interdisciplinary team included in the RCA should include the Director of Nurses, Nursing Supervisor, Risk management, Nursing Coordinator, and Manager of the department. Once the team is put together the RCA should be started. The team should set up interviews with all staff that was involved and present in the department the day the sentinel event happened. A complete chart review should be conducted by team. The policies on conscious sedation, staffing of department, and standardized work should be reviewed. When the cause is identified a corrective action plan should be conducted. The corrective action plan will allow a series of projects can be put in place to help create or change polices if needed. The new or changed polices should be put into education models to teach to current and new staff as needed. The Root Cause Analysis Causative factors- (why it happened) determined cause Individual’s cause factors Nurse J did not follow procedure for conscious sedation. The patient was not placed on continuous B/P, ECG, and pulse oximeter throughout the procedure. Respiratory Therapist was not informed of the conscious sedation. LPN did not address low o2 saturation of 85% between the 4:35pm-4:43pm. Dr. T did not take in account of the patient’s weight and chronic pain medication use. Nurse J did not question the medication that Dr. T ordered. Team’s cause factors Management was not called and informed of staffing needs and acuity of patients. Back up staff was not called in to help when acuity and patient load had increased. Commination between Nurses and Dr. T were not present when the patient began to decompensate. Management /Organizational cause factors Unsafe Staffing at ED. There was not enough staff present to safely manage emergencies in the ED. RCA Findings: Errors and/or Hazards 1. Per protocol the patient was not hooked up to the proper monitoring equipment at the bedside. The facility procedure police called for continuous B/P ECG, and pulse oximetry during and after procedure until patient meet the discharge criteria. The nurse should have remained with patient during the recovery period. Crash cart with defibrillator was not present during the procedure nor was the proper reversal agents that could reverse the medication given for sedation. 2. Nursing staff communication was very poor. LPN did not notify Nurse J or ED physician when the patient’s o2 saturation dropped down to 85%. Oxygen was not placed on patient when O2 saturation dropped which led to respiratory failure causing the patient to code and eventually led to Mr. B’s death. 3. Communication between ED staff and management lacked when staffing needs increased. Patient safety was put at risk when the patient load and acuity increased in the ED and the staffing did not increase. Staffing shortage caused the nurse and nursing support staff to attend to other patients and leave Mr. B unmonitored which led to respiratory distress due to the patient being over medicated for sedation which led to respiratory failure and eventually led to Mr. B’s death. 4. The ED physician did not request the patient be transferred to the nearest trauma center due to lack of recourse’s in the emergency department. Recommended Corrective Action Plan/Change Theory/Improvement Plan 1. Improved patient safety during conscious sedation: Effective immediately all conscious sedation procedures will be conducted per protocol. Within 10 days the conscious sedation procedure should be evaluated by a committee to ensure the best practices are being used. Within 30 days of this RCA all  staff should be educated on conscious sedation protocol. All nursing staff should use review protocols for conscious sedation before a conscious sedation procedure is to take place. 2. Communication within the department should be evaluated immediately by a group of staff members to find out where the miscommunication failure lies. This could be that the nursing support staff is unaware of the parameters that should be reported to nurse or physician. With 10 days of this RCA a policy on documentation of communication should be put in place to ensure that all nursing staff are documenting the communication of a patients change in status has be reported to physician. Effective immediately all nursing support staff should be educated on parameters that should be reported to nursing staff and physicians. This should be put into a policy along with documentation of communication. 3. Improved patient to nurse ratios: Management should put in place a safe nurse to patient ratio for the emergency room. Communication policy between department and management should be put in place effective immediately to ensure that no other patient should be placed in harm’s way due to staffing shortage. The emergency department should be put on diversion if the patient load and acuity places patients at risk for harm in any manner. A copy of the RCA should be given to management and leadership. Management should share the finding with all emergency department staff. Feedback should be done 30 days after corrective action plan or change theory have been put in place to ensure that everything that has been put in place is effective for the department to improve patient safety. Constant reevaluation of patient safety should be conducted and feedback given to improve patient safety by all providers involved. Management will continue to ensure that all staff follow all protocols to ensure that patient care and safety are not compromised. At a 90 days bench mark after the corrective action plan has been put in place management should revisit the any changes made to protocols and polices to ensure compliance and effectiveness is still in place and reevaluate the process to ensure patient safety. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) A Failure Mode and Effects Analysis is proactive versus the RCA which is reactive. A FMEA assesses a process for risks of failures or adverse effects of a process and prevents them by correcting what is wrong proactively  (Institute for Heathcare Improvement, 2004). A Healthcare facility may use FMEA tools on the Institute for Healthcare Improvement website to evaluate a process in the facility. This tool will calculate a risk priority number (RNP) of a process, evaluate the impact of the process and the changes that are being considered, and tract the improvement over time (Institute for Heathcare Improvement, 2004). PRE-FMEA 1. Step one: Select a process to be evaluated with FMEA. The FMEA for this paper will focus on the conscious sedation protocol. 2. Step Two: Recruit a multidisciplinary team and include a member from every department that may be involved or affected. This team for the conscious sedation protocol should will include. Registered Nurse Physician Management Pharmacist Respiratory therapist A member from Legal Laboratory Tech Emergency Department Tech 3. Step Three: Information needs to be gathered by the team. A list of steps in the process being evaluated should be put together or even an outline of steps would be helpful to the team. All internal and external data, clinical practice guidelines, current policies and procedures, current literature and any other information that may pertain to the process that is being evaluated. For the purpose of this paper we would use data on outcomes of conscious sedation protocols, RCA’s on bad outcomes, clinical practice guidelines and any research documentation that would aid in best practices for conscious sedation. Team meetings should be structured with an agenda. A leader or primary person with extensive knowledge of the FMEA knowledge (Department of Defense Patient Safety Center, 2004) 4. Step Four: The Team should list the failure modes and causes. In each process all failure modes should be listed, and then for each failure mode a list of possible causes should be listed as well. In this scenario we will use this as an example Preparing medication Wrong medication prepared Wrong dose prepared 5. Step Five: A Risk Priority Number (RPN) will be assigned to each failure mode for the likelihood of occurrence, for the likelihood of detection, and for the severity. This step is also known as the three steps FMEA. The RPN is a numerical rating. For this scenario here is an example Likelihood of Occurrence: This will measure the likelihood a failure mode is to occur. The score range will be 1-10 with 1 meaning it is very unlikely to occur and 10 meaning very likely to occur. Example- Wrong medication prepared = 5 Likelihood of Detection: This will measure the likelihood a failure mode is to be detected if it should occur. The score range will be 1-10 with 1 meaning it is very likely to be detected and 10 meaning very unlikely to be detected. Example- Wrong medication prepared = 6 Severity of occurrence: This will measure the severity of the failure mode should it occur. The score range will be 1-10 with 1 meaning no effect and 10 will be death should a failure mode occur. Example- Wrong medication prepared= 9 6. Step Six: The team will evaluate the results. For each failure mode the three scores are multiplied with each other. The failure mode with the highest RPN will be the one that will be evaluated by the team to ensure patient safety. The higher the RPN a failure mode has the higher the potential for harm it may cause. The RPN score can be as high as 1,000 and as low at 3. Example- Wrong Medication Prepared Occurrence- 5 Detection- 6 Severity- 9 5x6x9= overall score =270 7. Step Seven: An improvement plan will be made based on the RPN. Likely to Occur. Have a triple check put in place. Have team attempt to eliminate all possible causes. Example-Have medication scanned when pulled from Pyxis to check providers order. Have patient scanned before medication may be prepared to check providers order. Have patient and medication scanned to ensure correct patient with the correct medication and proper providers order. Unlikely to be detected. Look for warning signs that the error may not be detected. Use data from any previous or prior errors. Severity. Use any data available to determine severity of error. Make available any and all resources to prevent further errors and severity of errors. Final Step- The final step in the FMEA is to plan an observation or test. A plan should be clear of its objections and should have some sort of predictions or outcomes. During the test all data should be documented. In this data collection phase all observations including problems or unexpected issues should be documented and later evaluated. After the test is complete and all data collected the team should meet for analysis of the data. A summary of the analysis should be documented. All changes or modifications to the process will be based on the test and analysis of data conducted. Any and all changes should be communicated to all staff members. These changes may or may not show improvement to the process, this is why constant reevaluation of all process should be conducted and any feedback should be given to leadership for the reevaluation of the process. Nurses play a vital role in health care. Nurses have the most contact with a patient. Nurses carry out any orders and or processes. A nurse is the patient advocate, they are the ones who will advocate for patient safety. Nurses are the advocates who will be looking for evidence base practices to improve patient care and patient safety. Improving quality of care for each patient will improve the outcomes for each patient. References Department of Defense Patient Safety Center. (2004, 12 26). Failure Mode and Effects Analysis. Retrieved from FMEA Info Centre: http://www.fmeainfocentre.com/handbooks/FMEA_Guide_V1.pdf Institute for Heathcare Improvement. (2004). Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA). Retrieved from Institute for Heathcare Improvement: http://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/Tools/FailureModesandEffectsAnalysisTool.aspx

Ceo Duality Essays - Corporate Governance, Management, Corporate Law

Ceo Duality Essays - Corporate Governance, Management, Corporate Law Ceo Duality October 22,1999 Term Paper Separating the Board Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer: Pro and Con & Rebecca Hundley I Introduction Numerous reports on corporate governance have emphasised the desirability of increasing the number of outside directors on boards. An equally important and related issue is a growing insistence that the role of chairman and chief executive should be separate, though on this issue there is less unanimity in the U.S. than in other countries. Choosing the right Chief Executive officer is the key task for the board of directors. Pressure on chief executives to perform in ever decreasing time frames makes it essential that the CEO and the Board work closely together. An effective chief Executive will drive company strategy, lead the top team and fulfill shareholder ambitions . A good CEO will transform Board dynamics by keeping an open line of communication, placing a high value on Board input, and promoting the belief that management and the Board is working toward common goals. The average Board size is between eight and nine members. It used to be that Boards were constructed of executives with one or two non-executives; but trends are swiftly driving executives out of the boardroom as even the CEOs familiar role as chairman has been called into question. There has been a notable shift from executive director to non-executive director in the boardroom. The supposed advantages to these changes are to provide greater board independence from management, greater objectivity, and a representation of multiple perspectives. Bosch believes that the fundamental principle underlying this composition is accountability; if you have strong independent directors, a separation of the Chair/ Chief executive role will safeguard accountability . An opinion widely held is that separating the role of chairman from chief executive- would secure a board sufficient power to challenge CEO dominance. Although in many cases that rationale holds true, there are considerable benefits to CEO duality. Researchers have suggested that chairman/chief executive duality is a double-edged sword . While some stockholders are put off by the absence of board control and checks and balances, others are reassured by the presence of unity of command and the absence of potentially acrimonious conflict between strong-minded individuals. Finkelsein and DAveni found that a major factor in divining the success of this duality was the level of CEO informal power. Either perceptual or objective data can be used to measure informal CEO power. Although some researchers have used perceptual measures of power, power is a sensitive subject for many managers. In using perceptual measures, a researcher assumes that social actors are knowledgeable about power within their organizations; informants are willing to divulge what they know about power distributions; and such a questioning process II Advantages of CEO Duality When it comes to insiders versus outsiders on the board, a predominant role for insiders finds support more often, probably because insiders are more familiar with the issues, the technology, and the practice of the firm . Only they who are deeply involved and can make it work add value. It is simply not viable for twice removed outsiders, no matter how expert, to provide anything other than a cursory perspective and maybe act as an eventual deterrent to abuses of executive power. According to organizational theory, this CEO duality can establish strong, unambiguous leadership . By consolidating two of the most prestigious offices in a company stakeholders are often reassured, because it clarifies decision-making authority . An additional problem with nonduality is that it weakens and disrupts CEOs ability to manage the task environments their organization faces. For example, several laboratory studies suggested that the participation of constituencies who review negotiator action lead to less effective and more difficult negotiation processes. As a result, The reasons the positions of chairman and CEO are usually combined is that this provides a single focal point for company leadership(Anderson/Anthony) A powerful and effective CEO creates an image of stability and instills a sense of well being to its employees as well as its shareholders, projecting a clear sense of direction. III Negative aspects of CEO Duality When a companys chief executive officer is also the chairperson of its board, directors often have contrary objectives . Boards of directors are charged with ensuring that Chief Executive Officers

Free Essays on Suicide In Shakespeare

give me a immense feeling of sorrow and pity for Hamlet because it must take a lot of pain and suffering for someone to wish to take his own life. That is not something I fell is right, but I can understand the reason why Hamlet wants to die. Hamlet also expresses that there is nothing left in this world for him to live for. This feelings are not only expressed by Shakespeare through Hamlet, but it I have seen it the world today. For example, in the movie What Dreams May Come the death of a woman’s husband drives her to suicide because of the pain she feels, and she believes that there is nothing left for her to live for. She feels hollow and empty inside and decides the only way to end her pain and the feeling of emptiness is to take her own l... Free Essays on Suicide In Shakespeare Free Essays on Suicide In Shakespeare â€Å"O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! O God! God! How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world!† -Hamlet -Act I, Scene 2, page 16 The topic of suicide is a controversial subject that many people choose to avoid, but Shakespeare approached the subject in his play Hamlet. I enjoyed reading how Shakespeare incorporated this subject into his play. He explores it mainly through the character of Hamlet. In the first four lines in the above passage, Hamlet wants to melt away, to disappear, or to exist no longer. He asks why God made suicide a sin because he does not want to cope with the grief of his father dying and his mother remarrying his uncle. The way Shakespeare conveys these feelings into the words of Hamlet are beautiful. He just does not say that I want to die, but uses eloquent words to allow the reader to visualize Hamlet’s thoughts in saying how he wants his flesh to melt, thaw and change to dew. I feel Hamlet’s strong feelings of pain when he asks why God had to make suicide a sin. Shakespeare’s words give me a immense feeling of sorrow and pity for Hamlet because it must ta ke a lot of pain and suffering for someone to wish to take his own life. That is not something I fell is right, but I can understand the reason why Hamlet wants to die. Hamlet also expresses that there is nothing left in this world for him to live for. This feelings are not only expressed by Shakespeare through Hamlet, but it I have seen it the world today. For example, in the movie What Dreams May Come the death of a woman’s husband drives her to suicide because of the pain she feels, and she believes that there is nothing left for her to live for. She feels hollow and empty inside and decides the only way to end her pain and the feeling of emptiness is to take her own l...

How to write a business plan, FM World - Emphasis

How to write a business plan, FM World How to write a business plan, FM World Whether youre setting up a new business venture or want the go-ahead for a project, theres one essential document you need. Robert Ashton gives a step-by-step guide to writing a good business plan. Theres a memorable conversation in the famous Lewis Carroll novel Alice in Wonderland, where Alice asks the Cheshire cat for directions. Unfortunately, Alice doesnt know where she wants to go, stating that it doesnt matter where she gets to, as long as she gets somewhere. This leads the cat to respond that it doesnt matter which way she turns. If you dont have a crystal clear vision of where you want your business to go, youll be as confused as Alice when you hit a crossroads. Your business plan is your road-map. But in order to write it, you have to decide what you really want to achieve. This means youll have to spend time immersed in the strengths and weaknesses of your business, a process which, in itself, has numerous pay-offs. Studying and researching your company helps you to take a critical look at what you have to offer and who your competitors are. This enables you to better navigate the industry minefields and gives you a benchmark against which to measure success. Many people think of business plans as a necessary evil, written only to gain external funding. Instead, look at them as an essential planning tool, whatever your financial situation. Remember, if you dont plan where to go, youre inadvertently planning on going nowhere. Crafting your business plan Heres a seven step guide to writing a winning business plan. Work through each section and youll have an ordered, content-rich document that gets you to where you want to go. Step one Description of the business After the executive summary (see step seven), the first thing youll need is to describe your business. Get started by asking the following questions: What do I sell or offer? And why? Whom do I sell to? What is the history of the business? What is my vision for the future? What is different about the services I offer? What is the legal structure of the company? Think about your audience carefully before you write the description. Ask yourself what words and phrases they will understand and be careful not to include too much jargon. Step two Market research Think about your industry and what you think the future trends will be. Then analyse your competition. Determine what size of the market they hold and then clearly define where you fit into the mix. Step three Marketing and sales strategy Ask yourself why companies buy what you offer and how you plan to sell it. Think about how you are going to reach the organisations that need facilities management support and what pricing plans youll offer. Whether youre an in-house department, specialist contractor or a large multi-service company, therell be a variety of ways to reach prospects. Step four Management and personnel team Many facilities management companies claim that people are their best asset. Think carefully about your management team and outline the background, experience and qualifications of each individual. The people on your team will often make or break your success. Fully evaluate their credentials and look out for any weak skill sets that could be improved with training. Step five Operations Analyse the location of your business, in terms of advantages and disadvantages. Your own premises, production facilities and IT systems must be excellent. Make sure you address any weaknesses in your plan with recommendations for improvement. Step six Financial forecast This section requires you to translate the contents of your plan into numbers. Include cash flow statements, profit and loss forecasts and a sales forecast. Dont forget that if youre looking for funding: you need to spell out how much you need and how youll repay the loan. Step seven The executive summary Leave this until last, even though it goes right at the beginning. Once youve followed all the other steps youre in a position to write this stand alone document, which outlines the key points in your entire plan. Keep it to a maximum of two pages. And remember, some people will only read this section so make it shine. Tip: rather than trying to distil the full document down, follow your original document plan (see Style tips box). Just write less in each section this time (a couple of sentences or a paragraph, rather than several pages). Finally, the ink may be dry but your business and the facilities management industry is constantly changing. Your business plan is a dynamic document, so you need to update it regularly.

The music business has changed radically. Can an employee whos been an Essay

The music business has changed radically. Can an employee whos been an Industry Legend Keep Up - Essay Example Helping business managers make rational decisions when faced with an ethical dilemma calls for determination and sophistication (McCullough and Faught, 2005). In the case study of Powerful Entertainment, the major ethical dilemma facing Noel Klein, the company’s CEO is on whether to lay Bob off or keep him. Noel argues that Bob has been in the company for so long as the sales managers although at present he is not selling anything. Despite the great changes in the industry within which Bob operates over the past 20 years, Bob has not changed at all (Guterman, 2010). He does not know anything about digital marketing although technology is moving towards this. Moreover he does not add to the sales of the company although he is the highest paid employee in the company. The CEO argues that Bob is taking up a vacancy for another sales person who would be able to achieve the targets. On the other hand, Bob has so much to offer to the company. Noel concedes that he has valuable inter personal skills. Bob is an icon in the company linking it to the past. Furthermore, he is the one responsible of keeping Mark Sender in the company. Mark Sender is an important figure in the company since he helps make almost 30 percent more revenues than other performers (Guterman, 2010). The other reason that makes it had for the CEO to decide on the way to handle Bob is given the fact that he is loved by most employees and therefore his exit may lead to loss of other critical employees or affect their effectiveness. He motivates other employees to work although this cannot be quantified. He is imaginative and adored by other workers and young employees have a lot to learn from him. Rita who has called upon by the CEO is expected to give her decision on the case of Bob Antice.... This research is the best example of comparison of the utilitarian, libertarian, deontological and virtue ethics perspective on the ethical dilemma facing Powerful Company. From an evaluation of the different ethical perspectives, the researcher proposes that Noel should adopt a combination of utilitarian and libertarian perspective to demystify the ethical dilemma facing the company. By employing the utilitarian perspective, the CEO would take time to evaluate the impacts of his actions. Utilitarian perspective like a social cost benefit analysis carries out any evaluation of the impacts of an action before it is implemented to help avoid costly mistakes in the process of making decisions. As such the CEO would be able to quantify the impacts of sacking Bob for not achieving the sales targets in relation to his benefits to the company. Since the perspective views the good of an individual as independent from their rights, it would be easy to conclude on whether to replace Bob or ret ain him in the organization. If his value in the organization does not match the pay, he should be replaced. From a libertarian perspective, Noel’s decision should be geared towards ensuring that maximum benefits to the shareholders of the company. In light of this statement, the decision adopted must ensure there will be maximum returns to the shareholders. From this perspective, it would be critical to evaluate the value of Bob to the company, does he actually motivate staff? Or does he help young guys to the company learn and how the two add value to company.

Confidentiality of Health Information Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Confidentiality of Health Information - Essay Example When should the computerized medical database be online to the computer terminal The medical database should be online to computers when authorized computer programs for the data are used. Anyone outside the facility should not have online access to database of medical records. When the computer service bureau destroys or erases records, should the erasure be verified by the bureau to the physician There should be no mixing of a physician's computerized patient records with those of other computer service bureau clients. In addition, procedures should be developed to protect against inadvertent mixing of individual reports or segments thereof. Should individuals and organizations with access to the databases be identified to the patient Dissemination of confidential data is limited to only individuals or organizations with a real use for the data. Only necessary data should be released. Patient identity should be removed where appropriate. The release of confidential information from the database should be only for the specific purpose for which it is to be used and limited to a specified time frame.

The causes that lead to the crisis and discuss how it has affected the Essay

The causes that lead to the crisis and discuss how it has affected the New Zealand financial system and economy - Essay Example However, even wealthiest governments were forced to declare diverse rescue packages in order to bail out and thereby ensure the safety of their financial systems. The decade witnessed a series of collapses in the American banking sector, which were directly attributed to the crisis. The most challenging issue associated with the global crisis was that the institutions responsible for the financial difficulties were the ones being largely bailed out. This paper intends to explore the major causes that led to the crisis and how it affected New Zealand’s financial system and economy. Facts of the financial crisis Davies (2009) says that the financial crisis widely struck the global financial markets and its first impacts were seen in the United States’ sub-prime mortgage market. As a result of this crisis, the prices of bonds and other financial assets were considerably declined by which the generated losses largely hit the financial system. In the view of Davies (2009), i n this period, number of financial institution underwent bankruptcy mainly due to the collapse in credit; this situation adversely affected the economic confidence of business houses/entrepreneurs and thereby the overall economic growth of nations. A gigantic expansion in credit and asset prices just prior to the collapse increased its severity. This adverse credit as well as asset price expansion was more visible in the housing markets of US. Davies (2009) points that the situation of immense global imbalances between corporate giants created huge reserve accumulations. The aftereffects of these accumulations led to the fall of real and nominal interest rates. Naturally, this economic condition produced an environment that offered excess liquidity and very easy credit; hence, borrowers began to take advantages of this favorable situation. Subsequently, companies also increased their leverage with intent to exploit the situation. In the view of Davies (2009), households got the oppo rtunity to borrow more and more under this economic situation; and consequently, the ‘household debt rose to unprecedented levels in relation to GDP’. The banks and other financial institution were willing to approve this increased demand for credit and allowed credit even to vulnerable and very risky borrowers. Obviously, this massive and thoughtless credit creation hurt the financial stability of the credit sector. Causes of the global financial crisis Prior to the emergence of global financial crisis, it seemed that America had struggled with productivity and competitiveness in the Asian markets. The speculative economy has also notably contributed to this financial turbulence since the relationship of the international money supply did not commensurate with the actual production of goods. We know that energy consumption significantly increased by the beginning of 21st century. Since the existed reserve levels could not meet the increasing energy requirements, it cau sed energy crisis. Scholars opine that this energy crisis has also played a vital role intensifying the crisis. Davies (2009) argues that the irresponsible and passive trade room practices have also contributed to the crisis. Many of the economists are of the opinion that severe feeding problems or food crisis are also factors that fueled the global financial crisis. However, the major cause of the 2007 global economic crisis can be directly

Expert advice on being a successful student Essay

Expert advice on being a successful student - Essay Example However, the university experience is not all about study and academics, it is also about finding a proper social fit with unique peers from many different cultures and social backgrounds. Being a successful student is about being able to successfully blend social, recreational, and study in a way that is rewarding, careful, and mature. To see the best ways to gain this necessary balance, I decided it would be wise to interview two experts that are quite familiar with the academic demands required at the University of Indianapolis and its many social systems. To find out this expert advice, I conducted interviews with Jessica Bramstedt, a senior biology student at the university and biology Professor Mary Gobbett. The results of the interview will discuss study habits, recreation, and how to balance free time at the university. The expert opinion about the university experience and social rewards at the University of Indianapolis will be compared and contrasted to determine the best advice available to be a successful student. Avoiding being overwhelmed is highly important for the student in a new environment. It is important to find out what qualities a student should have in the university. In relation to study, both Jessica Bramstedt and Professor Gobbett provided valuable information about the qualities a student should carry in the classroom. ... Both Jessica Bramstedt and Professor Gobbett found one of the most critical imperatives to be the creation of a time control system that allows for much time devoted to academics. This might include making personal schedules that show daily and weekly activities that allows the student to stick to homework completion timelines with ample time for study care. It was discovered that removing distractions was highly important. Both of the interview respondents identified that the student needed to maintain a great deal of study. These are periods where the student removes distractions from their environment and focuses on the course content in journals, textbooks and lecture materials. Jessica suggested that I would gain more success by reading the textbook chapters and making sure all assignments have been completed. Professor Gobbett, the expert in actual teaching, suggested that such study should involve a large focus on problem-solving in study habits. Clearly, the University of Ind ianapolis will require devotion and concentration toward study if the student wishes to become a success. To gain even more knowledge about study, I asked about success factors to help in study. In contrasting view, the interviewees had differing views about one key role of the learning portion of the university experience. Professor Gobbett suggested that a great deal of success would come from being interactive with the lecturer by asking many questions and to â€Å"pay attention to the hints provided by the professor† related to the quality and depth of what is being discussed to improve learning. Jessica Bramstedt seemed to see the learning process as being more self-managed, suggesting that there

For this assignment you are required to write a feature piece about Essay

For this assignment you are required to write a feature piece about one of the statements provided below - Essay Example Although the Games, once brought forward from their dusty past in antiquity, were initially held in mostly Western European nations, the Olympic Museum (2007) reports that they â€Å"have now been held on every continent except Africa.† However, Africa, as a continent, could use the attention, and the money, more than any other continent today. The Western World tends to think of Africa in terms of the images we see on TV. These images are full of small children with distended tummies as they sit on the dirt floors of their tiny huts trying to ignore the flies that gather around their starving and barely-clad bodies. As was pointed out by Enwezor (2005), a scholar on the subject of photojournalism, â€Å"The global media almost never depict contemporary Africans in ordinary situations; images of crisis frequently eclipse other representations.† Contrary to this impression, though, there are numerous Africans who live lives very similar to the experiences to be found in the West, complete with brick houses, running water and full-time electricity. However, the limited space available for international news combined with the desperate conditions of Africa’s poor have convinced many in the mainstream media that this poverty is where the attention should be focused. In the past, African countries have been rejected in their Olympic bids citing lack of appropriate facilities for hosting. However, some feel this is more rhetoric than reality. There are a number of more developed African cities preparing to make a bid for future Olympic Games. These include cities in Egypt and Kenya as well as the South African cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. South Africa also has some precedent set regarding their ability to host larger events. Since 1994 (and the fall of Apartheid), the nation has hosted the Rugby World Cup, the African Cup of

The neglect of the elderly Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

The neglect of the elderly - Essay Example This physical trauma can be a huge element as much research also suggests that older people who have been abused tend to die earlier, which is a huge concern. For the elderly, it highly imperative that they don’t experience this short of emotional trauma in their later years. A huge element to understand regarding elderly abuse is the fact that it can occur anywhere. There is much misconception that suggests that elderly neglect only occurs in senior homes which is not true at all. As a matter of fact, elderly abuse tends to take place where the senior lives: most often in the home where abusers are often adult children, other family members such as grandchildren, or spouses/partners of elders. Elder abuse can also occur in institutional settings, especially long-term care facilities. One of the most pivotal factors of elderly neglect is the fact that there is no single pattern of elder abuse.  Conducive research proves that sometimes elder neglect is a continuation of long-standing patterns of abuse emotionally, physical, and mentally occurs within the confinements of the home. Cooper (2008) Often time, the elderly become the victims of this trap because they are fragile and cannot speak up. With the domestic structure of the modern family continuing to grow, elderly in the family have become a more inferior group and are more likely to be abuse. Since the elderly are dependent on the family for financial and emotional support, they also easily become the target for additional mental abuse. Cooper (2008) An important aspect regarding elderly abuse that it is just not confined to just older adults who have poor physical health or cognitive inhibitions that are likely to experience this abuse.  Older individuals who are alone and depressed along with those who may have a physical disability or mental illness are vulnerable to abuse. It is evident that mental deterioration due to elderly neglect can

For this assignment you are required to write a feature piece about Essay

For this assignment you are required to write a feature piece about one of the statements provided below - Essay Example Although the Games, once brought forward from their dusty past in antiquity, were initially held in mostly Western European nations, the Olympic Museum (2007) reports that they â€Å"have now been held on every continent except Africa.† However, Africa, as a continent, could use the attention, and the money, more than any other continent today. The Western World tends to think of Africa in terms of the images we see on TV. These images are full of small children with distended tummies as they sit on the dirt floors of their tiny huts trying to ignore the flies that gather around their starving and barely-clad bodies. As was pointed out by Enwezor (2005), a scholar on the subject of photojournalism, â€Å"The global media almost never depict contemporary Africans in ordinary situations; images of crisis frequently eclipse other representations.† Contrary to this impression, though, there are numerous Africans who live lives very similar to the experiences to be found in the West, complete with brick houses, running water and full-time electricity. However, the limited space available for international news combined with the desperate conditions of Africa’s poor have convinced many in the mainstream media that this poverty is where the attention should be focused. In the past, African countries have been rejected in their Olympic bids citing lack of appropriate facilities for hosting. However, some feel this is more rhetoric than reality. There are a number of more developed African cities preparing to make a bid for future Olympic Games. These include cities in Egypt and Kenya as well as the South African cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. South Africa also has some precedent set regarding their ability to host larger events. Since 1994 (and the fall of Apartheid), the nation has hosted the Rugby World Cup, the African Cup of

IEEE Technical paper based on 1597.1 standard in Electromagnetic Lab Report

IEEE Technical paper based on 1597.1 standard in Electromagnetic compatibility - Lab Report Example To achieve this, we performed a series of shielding effectiveness (SE) tests for a board level shielding product with different apertures by means of a reverberation chamber. An analytical shielding effectiveness formulation has been developed in comparison with the shielding effectiveness (SE) measurement results. When performing tasks related to electromagnetic shielding, Board Level Shielding (BLS) is widely used for isolating electromagnetic interferences. A typically perfect Board Level Shielding (BLS) is deemed to have no apertures and it is fixed to the ground plate of the circuit board all round in order to reach maximum shielding effectiveness (SE). By introducing several apertures, we can be able to make the Board Level Shielding (BLS) lighter weight and increase its convenience. To evaluate the effect of the aperture size and the total number of apertures on the shielding effectiveness, several tests were performed in the lab and a number of apertures of different sizes and the results obtained were compared. The results are processed and used to plot the corresponding shielding effectiveness (SE) data using calculation tools based on the shielding theory. The IEEE standard 1597.1 demands that we use feature selective (FSV) to compare the level of agreement between the reference and the numerical results. In this method, the data sets are compared by decomposing them into two parts: This approach involves taking the overlapping portion of the two datasets and interpolating them so that they share a coincident x axis location. A Fourier transformation is then used to transform this data. The two data sets are low (DC), band (L0) and high pass (Hi) filtered. The six elements are then inversely transformed. Comparing the trend data gives the Amplitude Difference Measure (ADM). Shielding effectiveness of an aperture

The facilities management

The facilities management The late 1980s saw a growing awareness and increased recognition for facilities management both in the public and private sectors. Corporate strategies for competitiveness have caused businesses to relook at all their processes and restructure them in a way that decreases costs and improves efficiency. (Alexander, 1994) Definitions of Facilities Management There are many varying definitions of facilities management. The British Institute of Facilities Management perceives it as the integration of processes within an organisation to maintain and develop the agreed services which support and improve the effectiveness of its primary activities (BIFM, 2010) Price describes facilities management as an integrated approach to operating, maintaining, improving and adapting the buildings and infrastructure of an organisation in order to create an environment that strongly supports the primary objectives of that organisation (Price, 2000; Baldry, 2008) The facilities management movement can be summarized as a belief in potential to improve processes by which workplaces can be managed to inspire people to give of their best, to support their effectiveness and ultimately to make a positive contribution to economic growth and organizational success. (Alexander, 1994) The Role of Facilities Management The role of facilities management is gaining recognition within the economy. Government policies in a market economy, such as competitive policies, deregulation and privatisation, have each had an influence on the growth of facilities management over the years. In the Japanese economy, facilities management is already considered as a key element for economic success. They place a greater importance on office productivity and therefore facilities management is seen as a way of improving the efficiency of office workers in Japan. (Alexander, 1994) Alexander, (1994) says that the role of facilities management should be defined by the relationship of facilities to the core business of an organisation in which success is measured by the degree and quality of support they provide to achieving key business objectives or goals. The role and responsibility of facilities management will vary in different organisations. Selecting the correct role of facilities management is critical to the success and effectiveness of an organisation. Creating a facilities management profile based on a case specific basis should potentially lead to successful facilities management practice. The growing pressures of the competitive business world have made organisations realise that they must gain some form of competitive advantage from every section of their organisation. This must also include the costs of running the working environment. In these organisations, facilities are no longer allocated insignificant time but the strategic role of facilities management is widely recognised as well as the benefits of effective management (Baldry, 2008). In the past businesses were operating within a fairly stable economic environment. However the evolution of technology, cost of space, global competition and the greater impact of making mistakes has forced organisations to manage their resources effectively. This issue has given rise and placed more importance on the concept of facilities management. The biggest challenge facilities managers come across is the management of resources in a rapid and constantly changing environment. (Barrett, 1998) As Alexander (1996), emphasizes, the role that facilities management plays in its contribution to the success of the organisation has gained increasing importance since the start of the facilities management concept. Initially facilities management was managed as an isolated activity and considered as an expense like any other cost within a business. Now facilities management is managed as an integrated activity, with the commercial, manufacturing and marketing function of the organisation. Facilities management has bought to the surface many opportunities to gain a competitive advantage over your competitors. Therefore, it seeks organisational effectiveness to help organisations to allocate their resources in a way that allows them to flourish in the very competitive markets. This has therefore encouraged management and business owners to realise that for organisations to benefit from their huge investment in facilities, they have to manage them actively and creatively, with commitm ent and a broader vision (Amaratunga, 2001) The Centre for Facilities Management (CFM) describes facilities management as the process by which an organisation delivers and sustains a quality working environment and delivers quality support services to meet the organisations objectives at best cost It is accepted that facilities management covers a wide range of services and the success or partial failure of an organisations business is dependent on the management of those services (Chotipanich, 2004). Such services can include property management, financial management, change management, human resources management, health and safety management, in addition to services such as building maintenance, domestic services (cleaning and security) and utilities supplies. The essence of facilities management lies in the ways in which facilities are adjusted to business needs and in the effectiveness of the systems that ensure non-core activities deliver value for money (CFM, 1992). At a national level, the strategic objective of facility management is to provide better infrastructure and logistic support to businesses of all kinds and across all sectors. At a local level, its objective is the effective management of facility resources and services in providing of support to the operations of organisations, their working groups, project teams and individuals (Nutt, 2000). Therefore, according to Nutt (2000), the primary function of facilities management is resource management, at strategic and operational levels of support. McNaughton 2007 says Facilities management provides an opportunity for businesses and large conglomerates to focus on their core business leaving the secondary services of security, mailing and cleaning in the hands of the facilities management experts. If implemented correctly, facilities management can benefit your company in the following ways: Reduced risk and increased productivity Reduced operating costs by focusing on core business structures Encourages and sustains a healthy and safe corporate culture Delivers sustainable resource utilisation Optimise asset utilisation Operational and Strategic Facilities Management Facilities management can be divided into two sections, namely operational facilities management and strategic facilities management. Operational facilities management is the interaction within the facilities department itself (i.e the facilities manager and the various functional units such as maintenance, interior planning, architecture etc). The various functional units can be in house or outsourced. Each functional unit should be aware of current techniques and regulations within their specific area of work. The facilities manger is expected to communicate with the core business regularly to identify current facilities requirements. The facilities manager will then benchmark facilities service currently in practice within the organisation against other facilities management organisations and see where an improvement can be made (Barrett, 1998). It can be said that the primary function of facilities management is the operational side as it is the most visible. The function support s the regular needs of the core business. (Chotipanich, 2004) Strategic facilities management looks at the future. The facilities manager will interact with the core business to establish future changes that might occur to the business due to external factors such as competitors etc. The facilities manager will also identify possible developments within the facilities management arena. Interaction between strategic and operational facilities management must occur and the aim is to synergistically balance current operations with the needs of the future. (Barrett, 1998) The figure above (Barrett, 1995) is a generic facilities management model developed by Barrett. It clearly shows the different relationships and communication lines as well as the difference between operational and strategic facilities management. The separation of the core business and facilities management is clear in the above diagram and this emphasises the fact that facilities management is only beneficial if it supports the primary business objectives. It also distinguishes between the current and future environment and makes it easier to understand how facilities management is conducted. Linkages 1, 2 and 3 are at an operational level and 4, 5 and 6 are at a strategic level. The structure of facilities management is related to the needs, environment and circumstances of the organisation at the time. Its practice and composition are particularly important to the characteristics and contexts of the organisation. (Chotipanich, 2004) Barrett (1998) suggests that facility managers should not just select service items from the standard list at random, but provide only those services that are needed by their particular organisation. Facilities management practice is seen as adapting to its situation. Barrett (1998) also stands by the fact that facilities management practice needs to be personalised to a specific organisation. The facilities managers are involved in strategic planning i.e plans for the future as well as daily operations, particularly in relation to buildings and premises. Responsibilities and duties may vary depending on the type of corporation but the most likely responsibilities include: contract management procurement management maintenance of the grounds and buildings general cleaning of the facility and refuse disposal catering and vending health and safety security utilities and communications infrastructure Facilities management is a very important concept in this competitive business world. If this concept is not managed correctly or neglected, it will be to the detriment of your organisation. In the past businesses were operating in a stable economic environment and as a result the setting of goals were done and not redone for a considerable amount of time. In this current economic state, the goals of organisations often change as the economic environment presents new challenges. The increase in competition, employee expectations and the changes in technology forces businesses to manage their resources effectively to stay profitable. References Baldry, D. (2008), Knowledge management practices in facilities organisations: a case study, Journal of Facilities Management British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM). (2010), http://www.bifm.org.uk/bifm/about/facilities Accessed 22 March 2010 Alexander, K. (1994), Facilities Management Theory and Practice Alexander, K. (1996), Facilities Management Theory and Practice Amaratunga, R.D.G. (2001), Theory building in facilities management performance measurement: application of some core performance measurement and management principles Centre for Facilities Management (CFM), (1992). An Overview of the FM Industry Part 1 Chotipanich, S. (2004), Positioning facility management, Journal of Facilities. Nuttt, B. (2000), Four competing futures for facility management Journal of Facilities McNaughton (2007), http://www.eprop.co.za/news/article.aspx?idArticle=9211 Accessed 25 April 2010 Barrett, P. (1998), Facilities management. Towards Best Practice. Barrett, P. (1995), Facilities management. Towards Best Practice. Price, I. (2000), FM and Research, Journal of Facilities.

Sustainable Development Essay -- Sociology Conservation Agriculture Es

Sustainable Development The term sustainable development was introduced in the 1987 report "Our Common Future". The World Commission on Environment and Development defined sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Different communities are organizing themselves to promote this ideology. They are combating the pressure of corporations’ economic practices, which damage the environment and living conditions. Corporations are taking over community farms. This is degrading the land due to the harsh agricultural processes used for mass production. The use of chemicals, found in pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides causes strain on the land. The meat industry is one of those corporations responsible for soil erosion and land destruction. McDonalds and Burger King use lethal poisons to destroy vast areas of Central American rainforest, to create grazing pastures for cattle, to be sent back to the states as burgers and pet food, and to provide fast food packaging materials. It takes 800 square miles of forest just to keep them supplied with paper for one year. In an interview in the meat production plant in Costa Rica, it was found that Montecillos Cooperative produces 20 to 24 tons of meat for hamburgers per month to export to fast-food restaurants in United States. ( S.D. "Sergio Quintana: Meat plant manager") Among other environmental and social problems is land use management. In Mozambique, for a family to own a small piece of land is a great privilege. Over 80 percent of Mozambique’s 17 million people are peasants whose survival depends on the food they grow. In the 1990’s a peace treaty was sign... ...tional ways to work with the land and to re-establish our lost connection with nature as in the Andean region example. These changes and visions for a sustainable future are happening in every part of the world. The goal of sustainable development is to create a sense of responsibility towards other humans and nature and to promote the awareness that we only have a limited amount of resources, which need to be properly distributed. The most important aspect of sustainability is taking action in reflecting these ideas. Bibliography Conca Ken, Geoffrey D. Dabelko, Green Planet Blues, Westview Press 1998. Sustainable Development "Les Cheneaux Economic Forum" Witness Statement "Sergio Quintana: Meat Plant Manager" OXFAM America "U.S. and African Farmers Creating Co-Opportunities" OXFAM America "The Founding of Chuyma Aru: Reviving Andean Culture"

Mr Collins: Character Review :: Free Essay Writer

Mr Collins: Character Review We first hear of Mr Collins, one of Mr Bennet’s distant cousins, in a letter addressed to the family living in the house which after Mr Bennet’s death will become his own. In this letter he sounds very pompous, irrelevantly reiterating and repeating the name of his patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Mr Collins is honest that he has an ulterior motive for wanting to stay at Longbourn: he wishes to take the hand of one of the Bennet sisters in a marriage which would ensure that at least one daughter of Mr Bennet would remain comfortable, living at Longbourn as ‘Mrs Collins’. He does not ask to stay at Longbourn, he expects his stay to be welcomed, and even desired, by the Bennet family. â€Å"I remain, dear sir, with respectful compliments to your lady and daughter†: this quote shows how ingratiating Mr Collins is: a side of his character which the reader sees more readily during the rest of the novel. Having previously thought Mr Collins was an â€Å"odious man†, Mrs Bennet is quick to change her mind after Mr Collins made compliments towards her daughter (and herself) in the letter. Upon arrival at Longbourn Mr Collins assures that â€Å"the young ladies I come prepared to admire†. The word ‘prepared’ in this quote gives the implication that Mr Collins does nothing in a rash manner and has everything planned in what appears to be quite a sly way. Once inside the house Mr Collins begins to commend each and every item of furniture within it. Mrs Bennet would on any other occasion have been delighted at this, but she knows that when Mr Collins entails the estate all that he admires will be his own. Mr Collins believes that by ingratiating Mrs Bennet about her house he will please her, but this begins to vex her a fair deal. â€Å"The girls were not the only objects of Mr Collins desire†, here we can see that Mr Collins views the girls as nothing more than materialistic, as objects. By the evening, Mr Collins is getting somewhat tiresome as he â€Å"eloquently praises† his patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, with great vivacity and unstoppable determination. â€Å"Lady Catherine was reckoned proud by many people†; Mr Collins cannot see that Lady Catherine is proud because he is proud himself and rates Lady Catherine very highly: perhaps high enough to warrant a little, or is Lady Catherine’s case a lot, of pride.

Teens Pressure On Body Images

In order to solve this mess et en's have to step up to the plate and be comfortable in their own skin. Girls are one of the main targets when it comes to media. Each time a girl lo KS at a magazine its like the magazine is telling her, â€Å"Are you considering the way you u look yet? † Thus, these are everyday problems that young girls have to face. Girls feel that tin order to be accepted by others they have to go the extra mile to look their best.As a kid it always bothered me seeing these celebrities halfway naked with their â€Å"perfect† bodied ; furthermore, as I started to reach my adolescence began to marvel at how models had the IR stomachs so perfectly flat. Sooner or later I gained knowledge that in order for models to g et so skinny they either turn anorexic or turn bulimic. After that wondered why models made such dire sacrifices, and then it hit me it's all because of the pressure that the media PU TTS on body images. â€Å"Recent studies show that adole scent girls are more fearful of gaining weight than getting cancer, nuclear war, or losing their parent. ( HTTPS://www. Essayists. Rug/topics/selfimagemediainfluences/ ) Another study indicates, â€Å"40%of all 9 and 1 Earldom girls have already been on a diet. † ( ) Most girls that diet are either underweight or their weight is just normal. † Provided that 70% of arrear old girls want to be thinner. † ( ) As you can see the media puts pressure on many age groups, and this is why girls need to re Alice that sometimes it doesn't matter what's on the outside, but what's on the inside. Not only are girls affected by the media, but now boys are being affected by it too.A ewe study of a national sample of adolescent boys published in the January is sue of â€Å"JAM Pediatrics†, reveals that, â€Å"Nearly 18% of boys are highly concerned about their weight and physique. † http://www. Atlantic. Com/health/archive/2014/03/ bodyimagepressureincreasinglyaffect s boys/283897/ ) Most boys are focused on having a bigger and muscular appearance, rather than, focusing on being thin. One way that boys attain muscle is by using steer odds and protein powders just to look like Johnny Bravo; subsequently, â€Å"The long term effects o f steroids is associated with depression, rage attacks, suicidal tendencies, and cardiogram atheist. ( bodyimagepressureincreasinglyaffects boys/283897/ )

Psy 535

Multicultural research methodologies are one of the newest research fields to be implemented in recent decades. Traditional research methodology has been established for centuries, and has a very orthodox view of things like norms, measurement instruments, sampling, and observation. Multicultural researchers quickly found out that applying these same factors to their own research was inappropriate; the field of multicultural research demanded a different perspective if any sort of useful and accurate findings were ever going to be issued. Two areas where there is great difference between multicultural research and traditional research are measurement instruments and norms. In these two areas it is easy to demonstrate how traditional research has a much easier time being performed with the standard and well established concepts involving measurement instruments and norms. However, when a multicultural researcher attempts to answer a question or reinforce a hypothesis he or she will quickly find out that they must perform their research in a way that is very different from those in the traditional field. Measurement instruments are an excellent place to begin looking at the way multicultural and traditional research methodologies contrast. As the world becomes increasingly globalized and corporations begin to operate in many different countries encompassing different and diverse cultures, there is a clear need for accurate multicultural research on a myriad of topics. Even simple surveys like product satisfaction are more difficult for a multicultural researcher. Various countries and populaces simply have different viewpoints and this can cause entire research designs to have to be suited to specific nations, or even specific populations within those nations. For example, traditional researchers have found that it can be extremely difficult to get individuals in Latin America to participate in one of traditional researchers move time honored measurement devices; the focus group. (Morrow, 231) In contrast, many American citizens are quite receptive to the idea of participating in a focus group, a well-established fact known to most multicultural as well as traditional researchers. Those who are educated in multicultural research methods understand that Latin Americans have a very different point of view when it comes to how they value their time. For the average Latin American the idea of participating in a focus group is a waste of time that could be better spent doing almost anything else. The list of research measurement instruments that must be altered depending on the culture being sampled is almost endless. Mail surveys, another common tactic employed by traditional researchers to gauge opinion on a host of different topics have been found to be very inefficient with Americans and many Westerners in general. (Morrow, 256) Multicultural researchers have found that, through careful studies, other cultures are much more receptive to mail surveys. The Japanese, for instance, are much more likely to complete and return a survey mailed to them in comparison to the average American household who would likely discard the survey as â€Å"junk mail†. Morrow, 257) This is not to suggest that either culture is wrong for their treatment of this particular research instrument; rather, it simply highlights that people thousands of miles apart have vastly different cultural experiences that will shape their views on the importance of everything, including whether or not a mail survey is worth their time. An informed multicultural researcher would be wise to employ the mail survey when he or she is doing their work in Japan, just like a researcher working in the United States would achieve much better results by utilizing focus groups. Traditional researchers might very well plod ahead and send out thousands of mail surveys to Americans, knowing that they will receive a small percentage back. However, if these researchers were to pay closer attention to the cultural aspect of the research, they would be able to conduct their inquiries in a more efficient way, both in terms of money spent and answers received. A second area that holds great potential as a way to compare and contrast multicultural and traditional research methodologies is norms. Traditional researchers usually work with a well-established set of norms that rarely fluctuates. Gottfried, 117) Multicultural researchers operate in a much different environment. For those looking to perform a study or experiment that focuses on the impact of culture, they must pay very close attention to the individuals who they are surveying and how the norms for those people can be very different from the norms of others sampled. An example of this would be a multicultur al researcher attempting to study the public’s view of single-payer healthcare, as many liberals have suggested is a good idea for implementation in the United States. A researcher could ask a series of targeted questions to a group of Americans, but without considering their cultural leanings, the research would be inherently flawed. A fourth generation American of European descent will have rather â€Å"mainstream† views of the topic, which will contrast greatly with a first generation Canadian immigrant. (Gottfried, 112) The cultural norms for each of these groups will be very different, which will end up in them answering the question differently or, even if they answer the same, for different reasons. A traditional researcher would not pay very much attention to this issue, and would likely state that an American is an American, and that with a large enough sample size they would arrive at the correct diagnosis of the public’s point of view regarding the topic. Those who are involved with multicultural research know that by passing over the deep cultural divides that exist between most American citizens, the research would be virtually worthless. In conclusion, multicultural research and traditional research have much in common, but differ on some very important points. Two of these points are the relevance of norms and measurement instruments. Multicultural researchers will work much harder to get a better understanding of their respondent’s culture before asking questions and conducting other research. This ensures that the reasons behind their answers are known, which equal a more comprehensive research design. Measurement tools and their impact differ between the two research methods as well. Multicultural researchers pay close attention to the culture they are sampling, and employ research instruments that are the most likely to garner results. Traditional researchers are much more likely to use a blunt research tool, and use it over and over again until they achieve the necessary amount of responses. Both research methodologies have their place, and both will continue to benefit from the others perspective. Works Cited Morrow, Susan L. (2001) â€Å"Qualitative research methods for multicultural counseling: Handbook of multicultural counseling† Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications Gottfried, Paul Edward. (2002) â€Å"Multiculturalism and the Politics of Guilt: Toward a Secular Theocracy,† University of Missouri