Questionnaire for Bachelor Thesis with topic JSR170 and the Content Essay

Questionnaire for Bachelor Thesis with topic JSR170 and the Content Management Industry - Essay Example 17. Specifications are not available for the kind of applications that we use in our company. 4. Technology: Can Conventional Database Abstraction Layers (DBAL) and Web Services be used for solving the same issues 18. DBAL and web services are capable of solving all of the issues listed in section 2. 19. DBAL and Web services solves the relevant issues for us. 20. DBAL is tunable and can be used to realize additional controls that may be needed. 21. Our people are comfortable with DBAL / Web services 22. DBAL and web services are easier to adopt and use than the new standard processes 23. Many of the disadvantages of DBAL / web services are taken care of JSRs and JSRs are growing. Statements Very Un Important (1) Un Important (2) Neutral (3) Important (4) Very Important (5) 5. Technology: Is Data Access more comfortable with JDBC or other Data mining / warehousing software 24. Additional features on JDBC for connecting dissimilar databases. 25. Generic warehousing tools are good enough for our requirements. 6. General: Closing Remarks 26. JSR 170 is the future standard for all kinds of applications from Java stable. 27. JSR 170 is easy to adopt and use. 28. JSR 170 is compatible with most of the Enterprise Content Management Vendor products. 29. JSR 170 has advantages that are better than the other equivalent standards and products. 30. Adopting JSR 170 would improve our performance in the company. Signature of the person filling the form Thanks for your cooperation Question Selection and grouping. Categorization is done on the basis of the following: 1. Size of the company 2. Turnover of the company 3. Nature of business 4. Database employed on the website The...This would help in analyzing the advantages with respect to the size of the company, nature of business, database employed and also on the turnover. This would help in understanding whether the companies of similar traits think alike or differently; if so why Answers to be evaluated in line with the standard evaluation practices of assigning 1 for very unimportant and 5 for very important. Based on these numeric assignments of the choice, the other factors are also evaluated in line with the grouping and the related questions. Answers for specific groups could be averaged and viewed as a relevancy factor for the heading / group from the specific company type / size.

Racial Discrimination Essay Example for Free

Racial Discrimination Essay Racial discrimination involves treating someone unfavorably because he/she is of a certain race or because of personal characteristics associated with race such as skin color. Race here can mean that people belong to different countries, castes or different geographical regions within a country. It is unlawful to harass a person because of that person’s race or color. Harassment can include offensive or derogatory remarks about a persons race or color, or unfair treatment due to differences in race. Racial discrimination has existed for eons now and while we’d like to believe that it has reduced or is non-existent in the society we live in today, the fact of the matter is that it still exists and can be felt in different facets of the society even today. Mahatma Gandhi was a victim of racial discrimination years ago in Africa because he was an Indian despite the fact that he was a very well educated professional lawyer. He was thrown out of a train at midnight merely because he was an Indian. We, Indians, faced cruel and intense racial discrimination in our very own country at the hands of the Britishers only because we were Indians ! Racial discrimination prevailed at every step and every part while the British ruled us. Indians were not allowed to share the same space with Britishers. â€Å"Dogs and Indians† not allowed†¦well that is the kind of injustice Indians faced at the hands of the Britishers. There were schools where Indians were not allowed, In offices, Indians could never get to the top ranks and even at social gatherings, Britishers would not allow Indians entry. What’s ironic is that we still suffer the aftermath of this racial discrimination even 60 years after independence†¦we still believe that it’s a priviledge to be fair skinned†¦.companies in India make millions selling fairness creams not just for women, but even men ! This is not all. We have created and still live by the caste system which leads to discrimination on various accounts. Discrimination also exists due to people belonging to different states or geographies within our country. Racial discrimination has been the worst against the Dark skinned or Blacks as we know them in the Western world. The likes of Nelson Mandela have fought hard against it but it still exists today. God made us all the same. The blood that runs in our bodies is the same. Our brains think alike and our hearts feel the same too then why have we created a demon like racial discrimination, which even after years of education and civilization, we can’t get rid of ? Let Us, the future of this country pledge that we would free our minds and souls and never be a part of racial discrimination in any way. Thank You !

Othello: Emilia the Grander one Essay -- English literature, Shakespear

â€Å"Othello,† the tragic play written by William Shakespeare in 1601 has given a new outlook to women’s right during the time period when they had no voice to call their own. A tragic play about a jealous and manipulative man named Iago who does everything in his power to pursue and destroy the life of the protagonist, Othello. In the belief that Othello had wrongfully promoted someone else to the position that he claims to be rightfully his. In this play, unsure if this was the intention of Shakespeare, but Shakespeare’s two main female characters each embodies a completely different bias about women and feminism during the Elizabethan time period. Shakespeare encircles â€Å"Othello’s† plot and themes around its male characters all the while concurrently but indirectly shed light to the hidden anti-parallel dynamic among the livelihood of women. Desdemona, Othello’s wife, the more traditional female character, believes in putting her hus band first and that love is all that matters. On the other hand, Emilia, Iago’s wife and one of Desdemona’s dearest friends, is portrayed as the stronger feminist in the play and believes in women’s right and that women are physically no different to men. To place this assumption into retrospect, in Shakespeare time, from the 1558 to the 1600s, England society was ruled by Queen Elizabeth. Although a women took ownership of the country, in Elizabethan’s society married women and minor girls were entirely in the power of their husband and guardianship of their father. None the less, even after Elizabeth I took the throne, she was expected to wed and â€Å"have her rights to rule limited or completely take up by her husband† (Wagner, 21). Women living in a society built upon Renaissance beliefs were only m... ... when his lies and deceits destroys innocent lives. In correlation to Shakespeare’s time and with his character Emilia, women should see that in order for a man to successfully thrive, it takes a strong-will and outspoken woman to back him up. On the other hand, afraid of societal and dynamical change, men can only silence change with death like Iago did to Emilia. Works Cited 1. Shakespear, William. â€Å"Othello, the Moor of Venice.† Literature: Craft and Voice. Eds. Nicholas Del Banco and Alan Cheue. 2en ed. New York: Mc Graw Hill, 2012. 1202-1271. Print. 2. â€Å"Feminist Criticism (1960s- present).† Purdue OWL: Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism. Web.25 Apr 2014. 3. Chojnacki, Stanley. Women and Men in Renaissance Venice: Twelve Essays on Patrician Society. Baltimore:John Hopkins UP,2000. 115-169. Ebook.

The Process of Writing: Composing through Critical Thinking, by Roberta

Sally caught the ball. The long-haired, athletic Sally gathered up all her strength and stretched, like Stretch Arm Strong, to grab that ball right out of the sky above. Which one sounds better? Which one would you rather have in your paragraph? With some simple things to keep in mind, you too can write better. The book entitled, The Process of Writing: Composing through Critical Thinking, by Roberta Allen and Marcia Mascolini, taught you everything from thinking before you write to putting things together, all the way to how to prepare specific forms of essays. It's definitely something you should read before even thinking about another paper. First of all, before you can write and actual paper, you must first go through certain steps in order to prepare the essay, and then when the time comes you can write your essay with ease and add detail. When you have a clear head you can write so much easier, although it is hard to obtain that mind set. Getting your thought down on paper without worrying about the perfection and detail helps the whole writing process and analysis. The first thing to do before even starting to brainstorm is to figure out whom your audience is, who are you aiming the paper to? You need to make your message meaningful to your audience, and make sure you think about what the audience needs, expectations, knowledge, and attitudes towards your subject are. Anticipate their questions and how they will respond to your answers. Some key ideas to think about when assessing your audience are to think of the primary and secondary readers are. Then what do they already know about your subject, and what c haracteristics about your audience will affect how the paper will look? Then think about what i... ... memos, shows you how to write proposals and progress reports, and how to document secondary sources. In conclusion, this book was amazingly informative and very helpful. It is definitely something that every student should read before writing another paper. It lays out the dos and don'ts of the writing process; it is great way to improve your technique. This book went all the way from showing you exactly how to write certain types of papers, such as long messages and memos all the way to compare and contrast papers, to showing you how to write in detail with all papers. This book is definitely something that I would recommend to future students. Especially in business classes, or any writing classes for that matter. Writing is a huge part of communication, and this book helped with the fundamentals that many people lack but are essential in the long run.

Horniman Horticulture Essay

Horniman Horticulture is a whole-sale nursery business that has been owned by Maggie and Bob for three years. They have seen an increase in business and number of plants grown at the nursery and are expecting demand to continue to grow. In 2005, the business’s profit margin was expected to grow to 5. 8% up from 3. 1% in 2003. This projected growth seems accurate considering Maggie’s conservative approach with the companies cash balance. Handling the finances, Maggie dislikes debt financing because of her fear of holding too much inventory and thus not being able to make interest payments. Since the business relies on good weather conditions with some mature plants taking years to grow, severe weather can destroy this inventory. The family has high hopes for the future, since changing their business strategy; they now are acquiring more mature plants in response to the demand for â€Å"instant landscape† customers and are seeing positive signs of economic strength. Because of Maggie’s accounting policies, the business has started to see a decrease in cash balance which falls below their target of comfort. Projection for 2006 Looking at Exhibit A, we have given the projection for 2006. Due to the local economy growing, demand is also going to continue to grow in their business. Most of their inventory will be ready for customers, since it has been maturing over the last 2 to 5 years resulting in their revenue growth to be estimated 30% higher in 2006 to $1,360,000. In order to have opportunities for growth, Maggie and Bob want to buy the neighboring 12 acres of farmland. Because of this plan to buy the parcel of land, their capital expenditures are estimated to be $75,000 which they do not plan to finance. Case Issue Revenue growth over the past 3 years has surpassed the industries benchmark and could indicate that Horniman can take an aggressive competitive advantage early on. Some financial ratios prove the company is performing above industry norms solely due to the fact of their decision to not pay interest on debt, causing few additional expenses. An issue that this company may see due to their determination in paying suppliers under 10 days which can be seen in the Payable Days ratio (Exhibit C). They do benefit rom a small discount of making payments early, but comparing this to the benchmark; Horniman takes an average of 50 days to collect from outside customers and vendors. This indicates that they are making payments five times faster than they are receiving them, which poses the question of whether the small discount is truly beneficial to their company. This exhibit also points out the fact that inventory are not being turned over as often and has actually continued to increase since the start of the business. In addition in 2005, they didn’t reach their target balance of 8% cash balance of total revenue; they fell to a low of . %. In summary, they are very good at driving revenue up and exceeding profits higher than the industries average, but are experiencing a cash flow problem because of the way they are running their business. If it is not dealt with now, there is potential for bankruptcy in the future, especially with their future acquisition of land for $75,000 which they do not plan to finance. Financial Statement Analysis When analyzing the financial statements, in Exhibit A we can see that Horniman has done a decent job by increasing their revenues. They increased their revenues by 33% in 2002 being at $788,500 to 2005 at $1,048,800. They have stabilized their depreciation as it only rose 20% from 2002 to 2005 ($34,200 to $40,900). Also, their tax expense did not increase dramatically by staying around 34 to 39%. After looking at the free cash flows in Exhibit D you can see that increases in net working capital is a problem with the business. In the first year their net working capital was $44,800 which is 1. 4x the net income of $32,600. In 2004, there was an improvement in net working capital but on the other hand there was a big capital expenditure of $88,100 which reduced their cash. Past 2004, net working capital in 2005 was $97,200 which is 1. 6x the net income of $60,800. If they continue to increase their net working capital like they have in the past, the projected net working capital for 2006 would be -$235,900 which would cause them a negative cash balance of -193,000. When you look at the balance sheet in Exhibit B we can see that the current assets have increased 19% and total assets increased 14. 4%. This is due primarily to the increase in inventory and accounts receivable. In the four years from 2002 to 2005 inventory has increased 8. % and accounts receivable has increased 16. 4%. Due to this, the cash balance has decreased from $120,100 all the way down to $9,400. In addition in 2005, the cash balance went below their comfort level of $10,000 down to $9,400. This is not meeting their expectation of their 8% minimum of total revenue target. Financial Ratio Analysis Even though their business was growing significantly, and they were experiencing a steady increase in revenues, they were seeing a huge decrease in their cash. The reason for this is because of their recent change to an increase in business from small nurseries. By looking at the financial ratios, even though they are increasing in sales, you can tell that they are relaxed on their accounts receivable and credit terms. Each year it takes them longer to collect their money. This is due to the fact that the carrying cost of inventory is harder for the smaller customers to endure. To add to this, Bob has to put a bigger investment in his inventory because of the more mature plants that take 2 to 5 years to grow, because of the increased demand for instant landscape. Finally, they are paying out cash significantly faster at 9 days than the benchmark of 27 days in order to receive their 2% discount. To summarize it, they are holding their inventory longer, collecting on payments slower, and paying out cash faster which in essence is destroying their cash balance. By looking at the ratios in Exhibit C, you can see the evidence of this in Receivable Days increasing from 41. 2 to 50. 9, and the Inventory Days ratio increasing from 424. 2 to 476. 3. Due to the way their business is being run, the consequences are shown in the liquidity ratios in Exhibit E for 2002 to 2005 and the projected ratios for 2006, all of their liquidity is diminishing. You can see that every ratio is steadily declining throughout the years. Analyzing them all, their cash has significantly decreased the most, diminishing an astonishing 70% from years 2002 to 2005. Compensating for Growth With larger growth coming in 2006, Maggie and Bob need to look at their cash balance and figure out what they will need for financing to avoid a negative cash balance which could put them into bankruptcy. With Revenues increasing every year, and dramatically increasing from 2005 to 2006 by 30%, they need a compensating cash balance. Since they do not pay out any cash dividends, their rate of growth is the ROC ratio. In Exhibit A, the return of capital has been an average of 4. 0% in the four years. The un-proportional increase in revenue from 15% to 30% will most likely not be supported for much longer. The need for financing, to counterbalance this significant growth is needed to avoid bankruptcy. Accounts Payable Analysis In 2002, Horniman’s cash balance was a respectable $120,100, a number which represented 11. 64% of total assets for that year. As shown in Exhibit F, a common-size cash balance of 11. 64% hardly poses any threats of short-term liquidity risk. However, the following years tell a different story where Horniman’s cash balance steadily decreases. In 2005, just 0. 80% of Horniman’s total assets were held in cash—a drop of $110,700 in just three years! Keep in mind, Horniman has displayed positive revenue growth through each of these periods negating the idea that these declining cash balances are represented by lack of growth (Exhibit C). In the case write up it was mentioned that Maggie (who controlled the financials) avoided borrowing at all costs, and would take any trade discount her suppliers would offer. To an ordinary individual this would sound like a financially responsible plan, but taking a trade discount isn’t always the best decision to make. When taking a discount, certain factors should be looked at to determine whether or not it is worth it. In Horniman’s case, Maggie accepts the discount from her supplier every time it is offered. The footnotes state that most of Horniman’s suppliers provide 30-day payment terms, with a 2% discount for payments made within ten days (2/10 net 30). This is a fairly common discount offered by suppliers to entice the buyer to make timely payments. Horniman has always had the cash on hand to make these payments within the terms of the discount, but in the long run it is hurting them. The most important factor to look at when making this decision is the current interest rate. Interest rates will help to determine whether it is practical to take the discount or to delay payment till the final day it’s due. The rule is simple: if the borrowing rate offered by a bank is greater than the annualized rate earned by taking a discount, then pass on the discount and delay your payment until it’s due in full. The rule remains true if the scenario is reversed. Maggie’s overall issue is she isn’t timing her cash inflows with outflows. Her outflows are made within 10 days of receiving the invoice, but she isn’t collecting from customers every ten days which is creating a short-term liquidity issue. Our Recommendations As you can see the business as a whole is running pretty strongly and their main problem is just the diminishing cash flow. There are quite a few ways that Bob and Maggie could attempt to raise the amount of cash that they have on hand and even stop this problem all together. In the case it says that Maggie doesn’t want to use much if any debt financing for their business because if they were to have a dramatic loss (i. e. drought, frost, etc†¦ ) they could find themselves struggling to keep up with the interest payments on the debt loans that they would have taken out, but using just equity financing can put an unnecessary strain on your business. By simply using equity financing Bob and Maggie are reducing the amount of cash that they could possibly have on hand dramatically. If Maggie were to try and find a happy medium between equity and debt financing, an amount of loans that couldn’t bankrupt them if they had a catastrophic loss of inventory but an amount that would help them with their cash inflow problem then they could see a reduction of the large negative free cash flow that they are seeing now. In reference to their huge capital expenditure they are planning on acquiring the next year, they should think about taking out a mortgage loan on it for the 6. 5%. If they took out a 30 year mortgage loan to finance the $75,000 acquisition, the payment would be $474 monthly, which would save them a huge amount of savings in 2006 instead of paying it with cash that they don’t have. Another option is for them to not always pay their suppliers in the 10 days to obtain the 2% savings. As stated earlier in the paper the 2% savings looks and sounds good to the normal person but when a business is having cash problems like Horniman Horticulture is at this time it isn’t always the smartest thing to do. Their biggest problem is that their cash outflows are being paid 5 times faster than their cash inflows are coming into their company. If they were to figure out a system to find a way to occasionally get the 2% discount offered to them by their suppliers to save some money but also hold on to their money some of the time and pay at the 30 day due date they could see a massive change in their short term liquidity problems that they are seeing and that could really help reduce their cash on hand problem. They could also adopt some form of payment reward plan like their suppliers have for customers that buy rather large quantities of inventory and take a percentage off of the amount owed for payments that are before a certain date. Another option would be to have a preferred customer policy for customers that either have large orders consistently throughout the year or for customers that always pay early on the amount that they owe. For instance they could either chop off a percentage of the price for early payments as stated before or they could offer some of their more unique plants to the preferred customers before they let anyone else have the opportunity to buy them. The final option that we discussed that could help them with their cash problem is to stray away from their new business strategy, and simply calm down on their mature plant inventory since they take so long to be able to sell and actually bring in any profit on them. From the case it sounds like this could be a profitable business but with the way that they are getting payments in and the possibility of a complete loss if the worst happened to their inventory it seems like it is somewhat of a risky move for them. This could be a much better idea once they figured out their cash problems and fixed their accounts receivable turnover so that they are closer to the 8% that Maggie feels comfortable with having as an emergency fund.

7 Graphic Design Secrets Every Non-Designer Should Know

7 Graphic Design Secrets Every Non-Designer Should Know Whether youre designing a website, a flyer, or an invitation to a birthday party, there will likely come a time when youll need to know some of the basics of graphic designing to make your design visually appealing. Regardless of the software you use, odds are that youll be faced with a seemingly infinite number of fonts, clip art, colors and design elements that could potentially be used on your canvas. Its enough to make even the most creative non-designer overwhelmed!Some people are naturally gifted in knowing what placement and elements look best on a design project. For the rest of us, however, having an eye for design can take years of practice to develop. Thats why weve put together a list of tips from graphic design experts on the basics of design and ways to ensure that your project comes together exactly the way you envisioned it in your mind before you began- or maybe even better.1. Keep it in the (font) familyA common mistake non-designers make when designing an invitatio n, sign, advertisement, web page, etc., is to include several different fonts. In addition to making your text harder to read, using too many fonts makes your design look unprofessional, cluttered and generally unappealing to the eye.As with any field, youll find varying advice, but graphic design experts tend to agree that you should limit your typeface to one font- two at most, and that could be pushing it. When you are selecting the typeface for your project, if you must use two different fonts, be sure to keep the fonts within the same font family so that they are similar in appearance. This goes for titles, headings, subheadings and paragraphs. Instead of using a different font for emphasis, increase the size of the lettering to make a certain word or phrase stand out from the rest. This simple change in scale is all the emphasis (or de-emphasis) youll need.2. Understand that your fonts speak volumesWhile we are discussing fonts, lets talk about which fonts to use. Its importan t to understand that the fonts you choose affect the overall message of the design. For example, rounded fonts evoke a friendly, happy feeling while fonts with multiple sharp edges have a stronger, more aggressive feel. In graphic design for marketing, if the service or product being sold is luxurious, the designer might consider using cursive fonts. Basically, choosing the right font involves choosing a font that reflects the message and feel of your overall design.The design experts at Canva, a web-based design program, provide the following analogy to demonstrate the importance of font choice:Designers (including Erik Spiekermann, Dan Mayer, and Jessica Hische) have been known to compare choosing fonts for design projects to choosing an outfit to wear. And its an apt analogy. Think about what your clothes might say about you: based on what you wear, people might rightly or wrongly make assumptions about your style, your personality, your socio-economic background, your age (or th e age you wish you were), or the kind of impression you want to make. And different occasions and situations call for different apparel. You wouldnt wear a bathing suit to a job interview; then again, you wouldnt want to wear a suit and tie during your vacation on the beach either. Theres an element of appropriateness to consider.Canva3. Use scale and color for impactRemember when we discussed fonts and how to increase or decrease the scale of them for emphasis? The same holds true for any of the elements within your design. The best way to create impact in your message is to pay special attention to the scale and color of your text and its surrounding icons or photos. Poppie Pack, senior graphic designer for Canva, explains it like this:The size you apply to your type will also create typographic hierarchy, determining the order that your text is read. The colors you use for your text will also create hierarchy. Make sure you apply the strongest colors to the content you want read first. Try reducing the less significant text and increasing its letter spacing. This will fill space as well as creating flush lines.Poppie Pack4. Give each element its spaceOvercrowding images and text is another common mistake many non-designers make. And with all of the choices given in design programs, its an easy thing to do if youre not paying attention. Giving each element a little space to breathe (so to speak) will do wonders in making your design look more professional and easier to read.This is especially true with text. Dont crowd text too closely to make it fit. If youre limited on space and there is no way you can cut words in the text, make the font smaller instead of large and spaced too closely. The human eye cant read crowded text easily and needs to see space around elements (text or images) in order to distinguish the separation of the elements.You can look at a magazine or newspaper to see this in practice- the negative space in the margins and the spacing of t he text are fundamental in ensuring that the page is easy to read and pleasing to the eye. Well discuss more about whitespace (otherwise known as negative space) in tip #7.5. Simplicity is bestLeonardo Da Vinci, the famed painter, sculptor and inventor, once wrote that Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Ask any professional graphic designer and they are likely to tell you that the simple designs are usually the hardest to create. In fact, at the heart of great graphic design is simplicity.This goes for your images as well as the text youve placed within the design. If there is an element or word that doesnt have to be there, take it out. If your message is short and simple, it is more likely to be read and draw attention.6. Use contrasting colorsContrasting colors stand out and capture attention, so light text against a dark background, or alternately dark text against a light background is a good rule to follow. This can be difficult if you are using a photo as your backgro und and the photo has different colors or shades on it, but you can still find contrast by limiting the text to one area on the photograph. Another way to handle this is to create a translucent overlay to achieve contrast. Most photo editing software like PhotoShop can create this effect easily.7. White space is your friendAgain, consider Apples branding and their use of empty space to draw the eyes attention to their famous logo. Keep in mind that the negative space doesnt need to be literally white but empty space on your canvas is a good thing, so dont feel the need to fill it all with icons or text. The more stuff you put on your design, the less powerful it will be. Sometimes, this requires moving different elements around on your canvas to find the best way to create the space. However, as you do this, youll notice how different elements will draw your attention more based on where the empty space is.Also, reducing font or icon size to allow more space between lines of text al lows for that text to stand out more and catch the eye. This same idea holds true if you have a lot of text and need to put it in columns. The more whitespace you can put between the columns, the better. This is often just a process of narrowing the columns.Anna Guerrero explains it this way:As easy as it can be to over-design, it is important to avoid needless clutter. White space funnels your eye towards the content and allows your message to stand out. Clarity doesnt mean boring design; rather a strong design will speak for itself rather grabbing for the audiences attention. Consider Apples branding and advertising. It utilizes large areas of white space to communicate a sense of simplicity and to reflect the user-friendliness of its products. Books and magazines are a great example of the importance of white space. The margin- the blank area between the text and the edge of the page- makes reading dense copy much easier.Anna GuerreroReady to design?Obviously, you dont have to be a professional graphic designer to make your design project look great. If you pay attention to these seven concepts, its likely that no one will even know a non-designer created it!

Free sample - Dealing with issues of Death and Grief. translation missing

Dealing with issues of Death and Grief. Dealing with issues of Death and GriefAbstract Diagnosis of a terminal illness in one of the family members can prove to be a very traumatic experience and eventually call for care to be given to the patient. This can be done either by the family members or caregivers at home, or by nurses in the hospital wards and hospices. It can be concluded that nurses and caregivers play significant role in the dispensation of palliative care to terminally ill patients as this is their primary role as compared with family members and relatives who may have to juggle between more than one activity and responsibility. Grief usually clouds a family member when they are given the news that one of their members has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and thus they have a given time to live. Grief is defined as the emotional or affective process of reacting to the loss of a loved one through death. The focus is on the internal psychology of the individual. Common grief reactions include components such as numbness and disbelief, anxiety sympto ms of depression that accompany mourning and recovery at the end of everything. Reactions can be seen as abnormal, resulting from trauma, pathologic and complicated. A sudden and unexpected death of a loved one results to a more difficult grief as opposed to a death that was expected for instance a person who has been sick for a very long time (Kayiwa and Mathews, 2005). Matters are worsened to know that the patient will undergo pain and suffering during their last times on earth and there is nothing that can be done about it but to try and reduce the pain by giving palliative care. Palliative care can be given by family members at home or the patient can be admitted into a hospice and taken care of by nurses and professional caregivers. Services of professional counselors are also employed to counsel and give assurance to the patients and family members alike. This is important as it helps the affected parties to accept the situation that cannot be changed, but rather managed in a certain way. However, some families may choose to administer Euthanasia, that is mercy killing to the patient to help reduce the suffering, pain and misery that the patient is undergoing and also to eliminate the pain in the family members each time they look at the patient and there is nothing they can do but sympathize. However, with this option, there are legal repercussions and roadblocks that stand in the way and before the family get to administer it, a lot of court room visits will have been made. The manner in which a person handles their losses whether or not they seem signif icant has a great psychological effect, which in turn affects how they lead their lives there after. In the event that one is stuck into the loss or they ignore the feelings then they may pay the price in the long run. Shouldering the weight are the nurses and other medical caregivers who have to inform patients and their families of the impending death or even the death of their loved ones. There are need for skills and capability to perform this critical duty with significant success. Introduction The issue of grief and general reaction of people to an impending death of close member of their families has not been the target of much research in the clinical disciplines. Much of the focus has been on the tangible and measurable aspects of the field. This neglect has been in the backdrop of families as well as patients who are uninformed of ways of coping with the unfamiliar situation. A case in point is the patients who are suffering from terminal illnesses like cancer. The bulk of the nurses and other medical practitioners working with patient who have a limited and specific time to live in hospices and other similar settings have their attention on their patients only and rarely on their significant others who are going through difficulty coping and adjusting to the soon to be loss of their family member and friend. Whereas, it is true that the terminally ill patients suffer the most, the family’s feelings and concerns are not to be ignored. Even when any practitioner, for example a nurse, takes some minutes to explain the situation or just talk to the family and friends of the patient they are hardly patient enough to acknowledge their fears and concerns. Most of them engage in what Callas, R. (2005) calls ‘masking of feeling.’ This he explains as the act of concluding and prescribing solutions to a troubled person, client or patient before getting to know how they really feel and what it is they need. This for example where a nurse or even a counselor tries to normalize and say things that will make a patient feel better without getting to know why they were feeling bad in the first place. Hughes, P.M (2001) states that a nurse should restrain from offering false comfort for example, saying that everyone has to die or equating the death to a blessing. Problem statement Loss and grief presents the affected people with overwhelming anxiety and sadness. It is even worse when the death of the person is predicted as is the case in hospices and ward with terminally ill patients. The family and friends go through desperation and helplessness as they watch the patient probably experiencing pain while there is nothing that can be done to help him or make the situation better. According to Wrenn, P. (2007) the anticipation of the death not just by the patient but also his or her family and friends is very distressing and can even lead to depression and other psychopathologies like anxiety and adjustment disorders. When going through grief, people can experience a series of physical problems including shortness of breath or even difficulty breathing, headaches, dizziness and nausea. Grief can also escalate causing medical conditions like heart diseases and diabetes. As a way of coping, most people may try to medicate the negative feelings by engaging in sedat ive alcohol substance abuse which may be detrimental to their health. Melnyk, B.M. (2005), states that encountering grief while working in the field of medicine is almost unavoidable. It is an issue that most nurses and even doctors ignore only to be caught unawares when they have to explain to their patient or their families that they have limited time to live. It is even worse when they have to report to the family that the patient is dead. This issue becomes a problem where the medical practitioners are not well equipped or knowledgeable enough to take their terminally ill patients or the family through the process of grieving. According to Callas, R. (2005), most nurses and even psychologists fail when they try to get quick fixes for the concerns of the grieving persons or try to avoid the subject altogether. This could be due to the fact the persons have not dealt with their own personal grief and thus the issue evokes unpleasant memories. Not dealing with one’s own grie f and loss according to Wrenn, P. (2007) reduces their ability to help others deal with the same and often lead to burnouts and feelings of incompetency. Purpose statement In the light of the mentioned problems and concerns, it is of importance that medical practitioners, especially the help givers like the nurses, are equipped with skills that will enable them to take their clients through the process of grief successfully. Nurses should be recommended to go for regular trainings and refresher courses to ensure that they are thoroughly informed on matters pertaining to grief. It is also necessary that nurses develop an open mind and culture sensitivity because the patients come from different backgrounds with different ways of reacting to the death of their beloved ones. It is meant to help the families to get over their losses and to successfully go through the process of grief and thereafter lead healthy and meaningful lives. The target population in this project is the family and friends of the patients as well as the patients who know that they have a limited or even specified time to live and are therefore going through mourning and grief. The pr oject aims at ascertaining the competence of the caregivers, like nurses, with an attempt to explore how the said competency can be improved. The project will also explore the options and alternatives available to the patients and their relatives that they can utilize to cope with the distress of the mourning process. The main aim is to reduce anxiety, physical and other psychosocial illnesses resulting from grief and loss and eventually reduce the burden and cost of treating the otherwise avoidable illnesses. Question The question to be answered is whether the families of patients with terminal illnesses and those that are bereaved are taken with success through the process of mourning and grief and therefore report less anxiety, physical and other psychosocial illnesses. Among the family members and friends of patients who are diagnosed with terminal illnesses do the skills of the nurses, counselors and other caregivers help in coping with the distress arising from the loss and thus reduce the resultant physical, social and psychological problems? PICO Format: P- Family members and friends of the terminally ill patients; I- Skills and competency of the nurses and other caregivers; C- Options available to the families like joining support groups; O- Reduce the physical, social and psychological problems and the burden of treating them. Literature Review Nurses, counselors and caregivers play a vital role in supporting family members who take care of the terminally ill, infirm or disabled members of their family. The major examples of terminal illnesses that bring stress to the family include cancers, HIV/ AIDS, diabetes, accidents that lead to permanent disability among others. It is a given fact that the families of those with terminal illnesses like mental disorders are greatly affected by the condition of their loved ones. Families exist not only to provide practical help and personal care but also to give emotional support to their relative with a terminal illness. In this case, the affected patient is entirely dependent on the family members, and their well-being is directly related to the nature and quality of the care provided by the caregiver. It is at this point that the caregivers, nurses and also counselors chip in to give some form of support to the family members in this very heavy task. These responsibilities can bring significant levels of stress to the family members to an extent that their normal life is interrupted and replaced with taking care of the terminally ill members of the family. This requires a lot of their time, and of course their life will not just come to an end because they are caring for one of their loved ones. This exercise usually takes a toll on them till they resort to employing the services of nurses and or caregivers, depending on where the patient is being cared for. In the case that the patient is admitted in a hospital ward for the terminally ill or in a hospice, then the responsibility will be rested to the nurses to look after the patient and assist them to live a painless and comfortable life in their last days. As for those terminally ill patients who are based at home and being given home care, this responsibility lies with the family members and in some cases caregivers are employed to perform this. In some cases where the patient is entirely over dependent on the nurses and caregivers, and the workload is just too much, for instance when the patient requires constant attention and vigilance, it can end up affecting their overall quality of life including work, socializing and relationships. Spanning the last few decades, research carried out on the impact of care-giving has led to an improved understanding of this subject including the interventions that make the difference. It has now been shown that developing constructive working relationships with the nurses and caregivers, and considering their needs be they personal, physical, emotional among other basic needs is an essential part of service provision for people with terminal illnesses who require and receive care from their family members. The term ‘Family burden’ has been adopted to bring out the objective and subjective difficulties experienced by family members of people with long-term terminal illnesses. Objective burden are associated with the practical problems experienced by family members such as the disruption of family relationships and responsibilities, constraints in social associations, leisure and work activities, financial difficulties, and also a negative impact on their physical health, including experiencing of burnouts. On the other hand, subjective burdens describes the psychological reactions which family members go through, for instance a feeling of loss, sadness, anxiety and embarrassment in social situations, the stress of coping with disturbing behaviors, and the frustration caused by the changing relationship status. Grief may also be involved. This may be grief for the loss of the patient’s original personality, achievements and contributions, as well as the loss of family lifestyle. Unconscious hostility and anger may also develop in the process without the family members’ knowledge. Professional counselors are trained to work with a person’s normal developmental conflicts, while other mental health professionals generally are trained to diagnose and treat pathology and work with dysfunctional behavior or chronic mental illness according to Nugent (1994). Furthermore, counselors help people with personal, family, social, educational, and career decisions. Duties are dependent upon the individuals being served and the settings in which they work such as school, career, employment, rehabilitation, and mental health. In the case of patients with terminal illnesses, these professional counselors mainly come in to help the patient cope with the newly diagnosed condition and assist them to adapt to their new health condition. However, according to research works carried out by Altekruse and Sexton (1995), and West, et al. (1988/1989), counselors and administrators reported that the main duty of the counselor of the terminally ill was to diagnose and treat. They advice the patients on the do’s and don’ts of their condition and also explain to them the beneficial lifestyles that they should embrace in order to have a good life, or what is left of it. Though in this case, the treatment will not result in patient recovery. They may also need counseling in order to come to terms with the new developments as their lives too will be changed completely. Counselors provide a leeway for the family members to embrace and accept the facts of the situation, and by doing so, they will contribute positively towards the care of the terminally ill family member. Theory Taking care of the terminally ill patients can be quite an uphill task, one that consumes both time and resources of the family. According to Wrenn, P. (2007) the anticipation of the death of a loved family member not just by the patient, but also his or her family and friends is very distressing and can even lead to depression and other psychopathologies like anxiety and adjustment disorders. On the other hand, work can be made much easier by the use of nurses and caregivers to look after the terminally ill. Some of the advantages of this approach to that of family members giving the care is that nurses and care givers are professionally trained for that task. They perform it to their level best and leave no room for relaxation. And since they have no blood relations to the patient, they do not develop a weak heart that sometimes family members do and consequently give up and lose hope at the situation. Nurses keep their calm at all times and are present on call round the clock. Sin ce this is their duty, and that they are paid to give palliative care to the terminally ill, they put in all effort since this is no ordinary occupation. Their highly trained skills and experience can enable them to take care if any arising situation and emergency. Their skills and training help them to diagnose, treat and advise accordingly, both the terminally ill patient and the rest of the family members too. However, these nurses and care givers experience challenges when executing their duties. They may get some form of stress while at work. Therefore, these issues should be addressed in order for them to be highly effective while carrying out their duties. Another aspect of the nurses and caregivers is that they should be adequately trained so that they are well prepared for the task ahead. If not, then they risk doing more damage to the terminally ill patient and their family members than help them during the difficult grieving period. Development of strong ties both with the patient and the rest of the family members is an important task done by the nurses and care givers since they interact most frequently with both parties. In this case, they act as channels for conveying messages and requirements mostly by the terminally ill patient. When things get too much for a family to handle, they resort to application of euthanasia (mercy-killing) or physician –aided suicide. Usually this is done after much deliberations and discussions by the family and the patient, and only used as a last resort in extreme cases. The issue of mercy-killing has implicated several categories of its practices, some may be deemed legal and others illegal, while still others are a subtle combination of any of those categories. In the case of the ambiguous practices of the â€Å"right to die,† legal consequences become indeterminate since the right of an individual to privacy puts little access for state intervention. The issue on â€Å"right to die† has been the subject of strong exchanges of responses between lobby groups from both sides of the ideological benchmark. The pro-life group fiercely raises its battle against any legal means of terminating a life, however hopeless it seems. On the other hand, those that suppor t the â€Å"right to die,† of which conception is â€Å"dying with dignity,† upholds a patient's right to a humane and controlled end their life (Moreno, 1995). Mercy-killing is commonly associated with practices of physician-assisted suicide. But this perception is just part of a larger picture. The difference between the two is the means with which both are carried out (Neeley, 1995). In most countries, practices of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide have been deemed illegal. However, in some countries like Netherlands, Belgium, and some countries in East Asia, these practices are acceptable (Moreno, 1995). Proposed Solution Social support is a very complex aspect when it comes to handling grief. It consists of a variety of components in itself. Social networks, supportive environment are some of the components. Lack of social support can lead to negative mourning outcomes. It is both a health risk factor and a bereavement risk factor (Kayiwa and Mathews, 2005). According to Kayiwa and Mathews (2005), normal grief needs intervention. It gives rise to emotional reactions that include shock, disbelief and denial that occurs after death. A spectrum of interventions that cover prevention and treatment to long term maintenance care should be provided. Preventive measures should target all persons associated with the death, persons with known risk factors and people who experience symptoms for distress (Kayiwa and Mathews, 2005). Formal treatment should be provided for those people experiencing pathological grief complications. The time limited approach may also be used as a solution. It lasts for nine to eighteen months and covers four to ninety minutes per session. It identifies families that face risk of poor outcomes. It focuses on improving communication, and conflict resolution. It puts effort to strengthen family solidarity (Santrock, 2007). Maintenance care as a form of support is recommended for people experiencing chronic grief reactions. Psychosocial treatment may be offered for complicated grief through diagnostic criterion. This involves exposure that is followed by cognitive restructure then exposure therapy and lastly supportive counseling (Santrock, 2007). There is an extensive literature that defines and measures dependent and independent variable. The implementation should take effect when the death of a loved one is reported. Implementation Plan The implementation process starts from observing whether the members of the bereaved family have been affected by grief. People are different and their response to bad news or disaster differs. Some people respond quickly and often at the very time they learn of the death of a loved one. Others respond slowly to the effect of the news. The grief may affect the latter group after the burial and even several days after that. The impact of the grief is another factor that requires keen observation. Some people are greatly impacted by the news that they develop grief at that moment in time. These kinds of people can pass out for some time. Other people take the impacts and go through them with ease. This is especially for people who may have lost a couple of other people before including some of their loved ones in their lives. They may seem not to be disturbed by the loss of a loved one but actually it has affected them (Santrock, 2007). Observation helps to identify the members of the family that may have been adversely affected by the death. It also helps identify the way the death has impacted them. This may help in identifying how much grief one is facing and to what extent (Chesser, 2010). After observation, one should identify the appropriate support intervention measures. Different support intervention measures are given depending on the impact of the death of a loved one. There are members of the family who will suffer mild grief and there are those who will suffer complex and complicated pathological grief. Those who suffer mild grief are supposed to be given support measures that are not intense as those with complex and pathological grief. Identification will entail choosing the right support intervention and the resources that will come handy with the support (Chesser, 2010). According to Chesser, after identification, implementation is done. Implementation involves the actual offering of the support. When implementing the support measures each individual must be taken as an entity. There are those who may require company, encouragement and assurance that life will go on even after the losing a loved one. These are the people who may have common grief. People who require intensive support measures are those that have complicated pathological and complex grief (Chesser, 2010). The news of the death of a loved one may have interfered with the normal functioning of their brain thus interfering with their emotions and socialization with other people. They may need serious counseling, therapy and medication. These people may need to be taken to hospital for a certain period of time or just remain at home and be treated from there. The resources that will be needed when implementing the help strategy are several. Money may be needed to buy materials to be used in the entire process and to cater for transportation purposes if ne ed for traveling to the hospital arises. The counselor, therapist, social worker and medics may be required to offer their help especially for people who have suffered complex and pathological grief. When the implementation process is done evaluation has to take place. Evaluation is very important in the process of offering support to people who are suffering with grief. Evaluation is important as it shows the relevance and progress of the support intervention. There are two forms of intervention namely, formative and summative. Formative evaluation is done at the beginning, in and during the support intervention process. The importance of formative evaluation is that it identifies the weakness of the patient at the beginning of the support process. It also tells whether the support intervention measures are creating a change or not. In the event that the support does not bring about any change, formative evaluation helps in modifying or changing the intervention for better results (Chesser, 2010). Summative evaluation is done at the end of the entire process to ascertain whether the support process has yielded any results. It helps to indicate whether the support has helped the individual or has done nothing. There are several resources that can b e used in the evaluation process. Questionnaires are used to interview the members the affected person’s family about the changes that have occurred. Mental screening tools can be used to screen the mind of an individual who may have gone mad when he was grieved. This may be done to see if the person is responding to the support intervention (Chesser, 2010). The legal concepts underlying the issue on mercy-killing include an intricate variety of concepts, some are distinct and some ambiguous. Some instances include the hastening patient’s death by withdrawal of medical intervention (passive euthanasia), providing them with the means to commit suicide (assisted suicide), intentional killing of a patient (active euthanasia), or accelerating the process of death by providing the patient with comfort care (palliative care). An ambiguous category of â€Å"right to die† is the physician-assisted suicide, which could be construed to be an overlap of assisted suicide and active euthanasia in which the participation of a licensed physician is active (Neeley, 1995). In any case, legal consequences following the exercise of mercy-killing may vary drastically. Some states have no established rules with regards to it; some may violate statutes; some may lead to confinement; some are legal; and some are constitutional. But the issue on t he legality or morality of these practices involves also the level of medical situation of a patient, whether a terminal illness is the basis of the decision or another level of pain, deteriorating quality of living, or a mental suffering. Some proponents find little distinction amongst these exercises of the â€Å"right to die† (Moreno, 1995). But it often results in abuses of discretion and goes beyond societal and moral concerns, hence a need to establish a distinction amongst them in every situation where relevant decisions are crucial. Dissemination Plan Either a Subjective Intent Test or Objective test was applied. Under the subjective intent test, a patient's desire is discerned through any of the following; written documents which may include, but not limited to, Living Will, advance medical directives, or power of attorney; an oral statement; records of the patient's past behavioral patterns; and discernment of the patient's choice had he/she been aware of his/her prognosis. Many courts had ruled to give way to the wish of a patient to stop having the indefinite use of life-sustaining medical technology (Wennberg, 1989). In the Objective Test Objective test the patient's condition may justify the withdrawal of medical care. However, the possibility that an abuse and oppression may transcribe should compel the courts to give meticulous them. Some lower courts, therefore, have resorted to discerning what medical treatment a patient may choose had they been aware of their prognosis based upon the details of the present condition. Un der objective test are two standards to be used when a patient had not left a clear indication as to his/her preferences. One is the â€Å"limited objective test,† under which the life-sustaining equipment may be withdrawn when trustworthy evidence shows that the patient would really have opted to refuse medical treatment (Moreno, 1995). The other one is the â€Å"purely objective test,† in which the medical treatment causes the recurrence of severe pain to the extent that continued administering of the life-sustaining treatment could be inhumane. Since objective test is invoked only when there is no indication of any subjective intent, it is does not overly cause burden upon the right of the patient to refuse treatment. It remains in question whether objective intent test answers attentively to the desires of the patient or instead bypasses the need for an expressed desire of the patient, which applies to the desires of the guardians, physician, or the court. Some implications in the recent cases having to do with â€Å"right to die† suggest that the state may provide strict ruling that only â€Å"competent† expressions of the desire to refuse medical treatment may given the credit. This provision prohibits a minor or a mentally incompetent patient to exercise his/her right to refuse medical treatment. But in some states, variations in the objective test could give permission to such individuals to exercise their right to refuse medical treatment. In cases where incompetent patients explicitly express their desire to withhold a treatment, denial of the right may be deemed a violation against the Equal Protection (Wennberg, 1989). Conclusion/ Summary The diagnosis of a family member with a terminal illness such as diabetes, Cancer and HIV/ AIDS can bring grief to the other family members including the patient. Worse still is when the other family members have to cope with the news that one of their loved one has departed. In such cases, the family members have to find ways of dealing eith the grief that has arisen from these occurrences. In the case of diagnosis with terminal illnesses, the patient and family members have to find ways of making the patient comfortable and a less painful remaining life on earth. And for this, they need all the support they can get. Support given to the grieving should be handled with great care and attention. People receive information differently and the information affects them in different ways. Therefore support services must be chosen carefully and ensured that they are relevant to the person who needs them. The implementation procedure must be carried out gradually letting the person regain their normalcy smoothly. Discussions over euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide have always raised disputes between those that oppose and support these two examples of how to exercise the â€Å"right to die.† A life full of unendurable pain may compel those whose loved ones suffer it to think thoroughly whether the patient should have the â€Å"right to die,† yet that question may remain unanswered. The doubt on the exercise of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide lies primarily on the fear that there might be some discrepancies in the decision-making of when and how it should be carried out. Some may ask as to the appropriate condition of the patient to give consent to â€Å"right to die.† Some may question the magnitude of pain an unresponsive patient feels to make it a basis to end his/her life through physician suicide. Perhaps, the best consideration is the accurate, if not approximate, determination of how much pain a patient feels. Despite all these, a suitable way has to be found of caring for the patient, a way that is within the reach of the family and that will be very helpful to both the patient and the family members alike. The family may therefore opt to choose from the above discussed options namely home care, hospice care, euthanasia or even physician-assisted suicide, whichever they may deem fit for their condition. References Altekruse, M. K. Sexton, T. L. (Eds.). (1995). Mental health counseling in the 90's: A research report for training and practice (1st ed.). Tampa: The National Commission for Mental Health Counseling. Callas, R. (2005) Dying and Grieving, Life Span and Perspectives. New York: Harper and Row Publishers. Chesser, B. (2010). Seven Steps for Handling Grief: New York, Sunstone press. D., Hosie, T. W., Mackey, J. A. (1988). The counselor's role in mental health: An evaluation. Counselor Education and Supervision, 27(3), 233-239. Hughes, P.M. (2001). Transcultural Concepts in Nursing Care. New York: Ronald press. West, J. Kayiwa, K. Mathews, Z. (2005). Face to Face with Grief: New York, Lulu Publisher. Melnyk, B.M. (2005). Evidence-based practice in nursing healthcare: A guide to best practice. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams Wilkins. Moreno, J. (1995) Arguing Euthanasia: The Controversy Over Mercy Killing, Assisted Suicide, And The "Right To Die". Touchstone. Neeley, G S (1995) The Right to Self Directed Death: Reconsidering an Ancient Proscription Catholic Law 35, 111. Santrock, J. (2007). A Tropical Approach to Life Span Development: New York, McGraw Hill Publisher. Strauss, S. E. (2005). Evidence-based medicine: How to practice and teach. New York: Churchill Livingstone Wennberg, R. (1989) Terminal Choices: Euthanasia, Suicide, and the Right to Die. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, 210. Wrenn, P. (2007). Coping with Loss and Grief. London: Routledge.    AppendixDefinition of Terms Euthanasia - involves the intentional killing of a patient suffering from a severe malady for the purpose of ending such. Also referred to as Mercy-Killing. Physician-assisted suicide - involves supplying the patient with any means to hasten their death without actually killing them. Research survey A survey will be carried out in respect of this research. The total sample will involve 300 participants with terminal illness. The data for the survey will be measured, recorded and analyzed in a representative sample, which will be selected out of total population of . One patient with terminal illness and one with curable disease will be administered a specific program and the same will be implemented to the rest of the sample population. Following the completion of this project, the groups from different scale of illness will be compared with other classes of another scale. When a patient is comatose or in any way incapable of making one's own decision with regards to medical care, the role of others on behalf of the physically and legally incompetent individual, may the second party be a family member or otherwise, adds complications to the exercise of the â€Å"right to die.† The courts have adopted different standards to address the problems of comprehending the desire of an unresponsive patient for a medical treatment.

Economic Analysis of Germany

Economic Analysis of Germany Major macro-economic indicators 2010 2011 2012 2013(f) GDP Growth (%) 3.6% 2.7% 3.1% 0.9% Inflation (Yearly average) (%) 1.1% 2.2% 1.99% 1.3% Budget balance (% of GDP) 4.2% 0.8% 0.2% 0.4% Current account balance (% of GDP) 6.11% 5.63% 5.65% 5.69% Public debt (% of GDP) 83.4% 81.5% 83% 81% Strengths Germany is characterized by a thriving export industry, strict discipline on fiscal matters and industrial relations and welfare policies which are driven by consensus among all parties. The country is specifically associated with goods of high quality and goods that are high-tech. It also practices a social market economy which is characterized by a combination of free enterprise and competition that concentrates on high level of social services.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Economic Analysis of Germany specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Germany’s economy is ranked third largest in the world in t erms of market exchange rates and fifth largest one in terms of purchasing power parity. There is social understanding and cohesion among employers and employees, and the workers union representatives negotiate with executives of corporate companies in boardrooms. This system is referred to as co-determination. Germany is also credited with having the largest coal deposits among the European Union countries, estimated at 7.4 billion short tons. This state has also put in place a highly developed transport and communications network which helps in transportation of goods and services (Merikas Merika, 446). Weaknesses Germany as a country does not have a lot of natural resources and therefore relies on importing them from other countries to fuel its manufacturing industry. A large percentage of the country’s population is ageing and this has put a lot of pressure on the country’s high welfare and spending on universal health provision. Unfavorable geological conditions make the mining of hard coal economically unviable. The country’s economy is over regulated in an attempt to protect the locals from international competition and the government has been accused of strong resistance to change (Merikas MErika, 447). Risk assessment The country is categorized as a CRT-1 country which has very low risk levels in all the three risk categories i.e. political risks, economic risks and financial system risks. In 2009, the country’s economy went under recession and recorded a sharp decrease of 5% in real GDP. After the recession, the country was able to recover but has been on a downward trend and growth has slowed down to 0.6% in the year 2012. This is caused by weak global demand for exports and the risks and uncertainties brought about by the Euro zone debt crisis (Ewing, par 10). Efforts to stem high unemployment and low average economic growth During the period beginning1998 to 2005, the government of Germany, under the leadership of Cha ncellor Gerhard Schroeder, came up with various reforms to try and control the increasing unemployment in the country and to put some energy into economic growth recovery. These reforms led to strong growth in the economy which was recorded in the years 2006 and 2007 and the falling unemployment rate during the same years.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In 2008 and 2009, the government of Germany under the leadership of the then Chancellor, Angela Merkel came up with a stimulation programs and stabilization strategies to further rescue the failing economy. These efforts resulted in an increase of budget deficit in 2010 to a level of 3.3%. To control the budget deficit, the government introduced high tax revenues and reduced the overall expenditure. This lowered the deficit to 1.7% in 2011. This rate was below the 3% limit established by the European Community . In an attempt to limit the budget deficit, the government passed an amendment to the constitution in 2009 which was aimed at ensuring that the deficit would not go beyond 0.35% of GDP by the year 2016 (Ewing, par 7). Ewing, Jack. â€Å"In Germany, a Limp Domestic Economy Stifled by Regulation.† The New York Times. 22 Feb. 2012. Web. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/23/business/global/in-germany-a-limp-domestic-economy-stifled-by-regulation.html Merikas, Andreas and Anna Merika. â€Å"Stock Prices Response to Real Economic Variables: The case of Germany. Managerial Finance, 32.5 (2006): 446-450. Print.

Australia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Australia - Essay Example Despite these, Australia comes out a host of other diversified cultural practices. When meeting a person for the first time, the person is greeted with the right hand and people who are known to each other do not kiss and even hug when meeting; but talk generally about personal matters. Australian day, Anzac Day, Melbourne Cup Day, are some of the days that have national meaning in Australia. There are various ways in which the Australians behave in their day-to-day life as a society. Australia being a multicultural country encourages everyone to maintain and practice his/her cultural beliefs as it respects the rights of other individuals to do the same. Words such as â€Å"thank you† and â€Å"please† are used to show polite behavior; slang is also common among the Australians. There are no laws to govern the way an individual should dress although one has to wear specific clothes during the time of work. Invitations are usually spoken or written and when one is invited to an event, the individual responds via phone call or a

Outline and differentiate the covenants that God made with Noah, Research Paper

Outline and differentiate the covenants that God made with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David - Research Paper Example He was also to trust in God for the providence of a sacrifice, of which He provided the ram. Abraham was also to believe in the promises God had made to him concerning becoming a father of great nations. When asked to sacrifice his son, he was to believe that God would provide the sacrificial lamb on the day of the covenant. Noah on the other hand, had to believe and trust that God would keep His word, when he said that he would protect him and his family from the flood. He believed in God and sealed a covenant with him in that God would not punish humankind anymore with rain and floods. In this case, Noah, his family and the animals were the chosen community for the covenant. David’s promises were in two parts, whereby, Part 1 was fulfilled before David’s death, while part two had a later fulfillment. Section one of the first promises to be fulfilled before David died was; "I have been with you where ever you have been and I have cut off all your enemies from before yo u. Now I will make your name great like the names of the greatest men of the earth." (Verse: 9). Looking at 2nd. Samuel 8; 13, we can see that King David did have a great name among the nations. Therefore, this promise of God came true. Noah was promised that he and his seed was to be blessed. They were to be provided for, and under no circumstances was God to punish them anymore with rain or floods. These promises are known as the Davidic Covenant. Reeves 1comments that, ‘It is described in 2nd. Samuel chapter 7. In the overall purpose of God, it is equal in its significance to the Abrahamic Covenant. The Tabernacle was still at Gabion. David has made a tent for the Ark to stay in. 2nd. Chronicles 1;4 it says, â€Å"Now David had brought up the Ark of God from Kiriath Jearim to the place he had prepared for it, because he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem." David wants to build a house for God and God says on 2nd. Samuel chapter 7 verse 4. In verse 8, God reminded David of his humble beginning. He reminds him of his previous life when he was following the sheep. It does not take a great deal of imagination to understand what the job of following the sheep involves. God promises to make David’s name great like the names of the greatest men of the earth. It was easy for David to believe Him based on His past faithfulness in fulfilling the promise. God made a great promise, establishing the Davidic Covenant, which had present and eschatological implications. Looking at 2nd. Samuel 8; 13, we can see that King David did have a great name among the nations. 2 Part 2 begins with verse 10; "I will appoint a place for my people Israel." He would add more land to the nation. Again, chapter 8 points to the fulfillment by describing David’s conquests over surrounding nations. Section three is also in verse 11 where God had "caused you to rest from all your enemies" again we read of this in 1 Chronicles’ 23;25, "The Lord, the God of Israel , has granted rest to his people and has come to dwell in Jerusalem forever." It is important to know that the Lord did fulfillment those promises to David because they validated those sections of part two of the covenant, which would take place after his death. The Lord says to David "When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your off spring (Note it is singular) to succeed you, who will come from

Principles of Time and Stress Management Assignment

Principles of Time and Stress Management - Assignment Example Based on the facts presented in the case, there is no evidence linking organization in which Chet works, Norris Company to his level of stress. Norris Company has a perfect structure with effective reporting chain hence providing every employee with room for growth and development. Every employee knows clearly his/her supervisor in addition to roles and responsibilities. Therefore, Chet’s level of stress is unrelated to the organizational (structural) problems of Norris Company. Instead, such stress level is his making. Some of the personal characteristics that are likely to interfere with Chet’s productivity and contribute to his level of stress include emotional intelligence, cognitive style, personal values, orientation towards change, and core self-evaluation. Chet does not seem to be in a perfect mood and sense in managing himself as well as a relationship with others. The lack or insufficiency of emotional intelligence is seen on how he casually relates to people within the firm. He is of very little concern. No wonder, when he was asked to go through the project he has done very little on the same. In addition, his personal values and cognitive style may cause the decrease in productivity whilst increasing the level of stress. Actually, Chet does not seem to be having the zeal of gathering and processing information, especially on assigned tasks. In any case, Chet’s orientation towards change is not very clear within the case. Therefore, these are personal characteristics with a possibility of affecting productivity and level of stress that Chet is currently experiencing.

The Relationship between Internet Activities and Depressive Symptoms Essay

The Relationship between Internet Activities and Depressive Symptoms in a Sample of College Freshmen - Essay Example Firstly, a review of the literature indicting a link between high Internet usage and depression shall be presented. Secondly, research that has found a connection between Internet usage and social phobia and anxiety will be provided, as well as studies that argue for Internet use as a psychological support. Next, sub-groups that appear to be most affected by high Internet use shall be identified. Finally, a conclusion shall synthesize the main points of this paper and make recommendations for future research. Many research papers investigating the effects of the Internet on individual psychology have pointed to its 'over-use' or addictive characteristics as a factor that maintains experiences of depression or other psychopathologies (Campbell, 2003). Recent figures estimate 20 million North Americans annually experience episodes of depression (Morgan & Cotton, 2003). For many North Americans, access to the Internet is easily available, many people owning a PC and having Internet access, or are able to access the Internet through schools, universities, Internet cafes, public libraries, their place of work, or even their mobile phones (Campbell, 2003; Sanders, Field, Diego & Kaplan, 2000). It has been argued that high use of the Internet is replacing time spent socializing, and subsequently access to social support mechanisms essential to psychological health, such as time with family and friends (Campbell, 2003).In a recent study of North American Internet users, 'high' Internet use was d efined as a users who spent three hours or more a day engaging with the world wide web. In contrast, 'low' Internet users were defined as people who spent less than one and a half hours a day on the web (Kraut et al., 1998 as cited in Sanders et al., 2000). A two-year longitudinal study investigated the use of Internet amongst families that had not previously owned a PC or were accessing the Internet on a regular basis (Kraut et al., 1998 as cited in Sanders et al., 2000). Results showed that higher levels of Internet use were positively related to a decrease in family interactions, as well as a reduction in social networks. A survey study utilized the Beck Depression Inventory Scale (BDI) as on online instrument to investigate the relationship between depression and high Internet use (Young & Rogers, 1998 as cited in Sanders et al., 2000). It was found that the average BDI scores of respondents who had been identified as high users, was between the mild to moderately depressed rang e of scores. Although another survey study undertaken by Sanders and colleagues (2000) found that adolescents who were high Internet users did not significantly experience more episodes of depression. However, interpretation of the results was tentative as the depression scale used, the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), may not have been sensitive enough to detect depression symptoms in teenagers. It was also found that low Internet users experienced much more interactive and rewarding relationships with their friends and family.Alternatively, literature has also identified a relationship between high Internet use and other negative psychological experiences, such as social phobia and anxiety (Campbell, 2003). A study by Campbell (2003) investigated the relationship between social phobia and anxiety, as well as depression, and high levels of Interne

Metaphysical implications of forgiveness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Metaphysical implications of forgiveness - Essay Example Zaibert argues against Kolnai’s explanation.2 Although the author does not argue against Derrida’s explanation, Zaibert does agree with what Derrida supposedly had in mind. Thus, he goes beyond and argues that â€Å"to forgive is to deliberately refuse to punish† (Zaibert 368). We merely choose or decide whether or nor to forgive on the basis of deliberating on a guilty person’s punishment. If we choose to forgive the person, we thus avoid punishment. It is in this regard that Zaibert contends that forgiveness is a purely mental phenomenon.3 Given this mode of analysis, he contends that the paradox of forgiveness is not so much of a paradox after all. Or is it? In this essay, I shall provide a critique of Zaibert’s solution to the paradox in the light of the philosophy of action. In doing so, I shall focus on his definition of forgiveness as a pure mental act, in relation to his defense that to forgive a person is to intentionally refuse to punish that person. I will argue that his solution to the paradox begs the question and thus, fails to provide a sufficient analysis of the nature of forgiveness from a metaphysical point of view. In what follows, I will provide a summary of Zaibert’s views as discussed in his article. Zaibert presents two competing views that attempt to solve the paradoxical nature of forgiveness, i.e. Kolnai and Derrida’s solution. His motivation for contrasting these two views is to emphasize that â€Å"the opposition between these two views of forgiveness shall prove important for my purposes† (Zaibert 367). Indeed, his purpose was to develop his own position, which he thought was what Derrida had in mind when he associated forgiveness to the unforgivable. What was Zaibert’s position then? Zaibert’s position defends the view that to forgive a person is to intentionally refuse to punish that person. â€Å"There is, then, a purely analytic connection between punishment and forgiveness

The Relationship between Internet Activities and Depressive Symptoms Essay

The Relationship between Internet Activities and Depressive Symptoms in a Sample of College Freshmen - Essay Example Firstly, a review of the literature indicting a link between high Internet usage and depression shall be presented. Secondly, research that has found a connection between Internet usage and social phobia and anxiety will be provided, as well as studies that argue for Internet use as a psychological support. Next, sub-groups that appear to be most affected by high Internet use shall be identified. Finally, a conclusion shall synthesize the main points of this paper and make recommendations for future research. Many research papers investigating the effects of the Internet on individual psychology have pointed to its 'over-use' or addictive characteristics as a factor that maintains experiences of depression or other psychopathologies (Campbell, 2003). Recent figures estimate 20 million North Americans annually experience episodes of depression (Morgan & Cotton, 2003). For many North Americans, access to the Internet is easily available, many people owning a PC and having Internet access, or are able to access the Internet through schools, universities, Internet cafes, public libraries, their place of work, or even their mobile phones (Campbell, 2003; Sanders, Field, Diego & Kaplan, 2000). It has been argued that high use of the Internet is replacing time spent socializing, and subsequently access to social support mechanisms essential to psychological health, such as time with family and friends (Campbell, 2003).In a recent study of North American Internet users, 'high' Internet use was d efined as a users who spent three hours or more a day engaging with the world wide web. In contrast, 'low' Internet users were defined as people who spent less than one and a half hours a day on the web (Kraut et al., 1998 as cited in Sanders et al., 2000). A two-year longitudinal study investigated the use of Internet amongst families that had not previously owned a PC or were accessing the Internet on a regular basis (Kraut et al., 1998 as cited in Sanders et al., 2000). Results showed that higher levels of Internet use were positively related to a decrease in family interactions, as well as a reduction in social networks. A survey study utilized the Beck Depression Inventory Scale (BDI) as on online instrument to investigate the relationship between depression and high Internet use (Young & Rogers, 1998 as cited in Sanders et al., 2000). It was found that the average BDI scores of respondents who had been identified as high users, was between the mild to moderately depressed rang e of scores. Although another survey study undertaken by Sanders and colleagues (2000) found that adolescents who were high Internet users did not significantly experience more episodes of depression. However, interpretation of the results was tentative as the depression scale used, the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), may not have been sensitive enough to detect depression symptoms in teenagers. It was also found that low Internet users experienced much more interactive and rewarding relationships with their friends and family.Alternatively, literature has also identified a relationship between high Internet use and other negative psychological experiences, such as social phobia and anxiety (Campbell, 2003). A study by Campbell (2003) investigated the relationship between social phobia and anxiety, as well as depression, and high levels of Interne

Artifact Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Artifact - Essay Example It starts out with the caucus in the house of Oedipus as the kingdom of Thebes is under a plague which has led the people to drought, hunger and suffering. The people are calling to the gods in fervent prayer that the kingdom does not suffer its downfall. Oedipus meets them to query on what they are doing and calms them as an answer to their prayers is soon to come. Hence he assures them and gives his promise that he will do everything to put an end to it. Creon utters what will be the solution from the gathered information and that is to punish the killer of Laius, the previous King whom Oedipus succeeded. This is where the plot thickens and the entanglements of their relationships unfold. Forewarned by a prophecy that a son born to Laius and Jocasta would slay his own father and marry his mother to father his very siblings, Laius ordered the death of his son upon its birth. Bound by the feet, thus Oedipus’ name, and abandoned in Mt. Cithaeron, the king had presumed that what had been foretold had been prevented. But the baby survived and was saved by the shepherd who found him in the mountain. Upon his delivery to Polybus of Corinth there had been an incident of another slurring in a banquet wherein he was jested as not being a true son of his recognized parents. Then he sought the truth from Apollo and was informed of the same prophecy already known to Laius and Jocasta â€Å"Woes, lamentations, mourning, portents dire; To wit I should defile my mother’s bed. And raise up seed too loathsome to behold. And slay the father from whose loins I sprang† (Sophocles trans. Storr, 1999/1912). Oediopus left Corinth in search of his destiny. On his journey he met a man who humiliated him. Contrary to the belief that Laius was killed by robbers, it was in Oedipus’ own hands that his life came to an end. Thereafter, he came to Thebes and was hailed for solving the riddle of the Sphinx and gained the love of the people who suffered therefrom. H e was made the king by the people and assumed himself in the position that was formerly belonging to Laius. This included everything from his riches down to his queen widowed by the former’s death. Under his rule, the kingdom of Thebes was in a prosperous state and flourished until the advent of the succeeding plague which haunted the king in search of its end. Oedipus was firm in ensuring the people that they are not to worry and that he will be able to put an end to the plague in the same way that he had previously done with the Sphinx. Driven by this promise, he sets out to find the culprit and initially blaming Creon as the mastermind in a plot to oust him from his throne. But what unfolded was something that was beyond his contemplation. His own history and the prophecy came together to reveal the biggest irony of his quest. Teiresias, the kingdom’s greatest oracle reveals the link between Laius and Oedipus. The king had been reluctant to accept the reality of the prophecy and to what it means in his identity. The blind prophet had been accused many things in his denial but was later vindicated by the inevitable truth that has been stabbing at Oedipus all along. Like many of the unwanted realities that men exert all effort to evade, the Greek hero was the same. But ultimately the truth shall prevail and that fate is inescapable though we may try hard to do so. There are voices of reason that should have

Theory Of Constaints Assignment Essay Example for Free

Theory Of Constaints Assignment Essay Question 1:  Ã‚  Ã‚   Highlight the production management philosophy and principles of TOC Any manufacturing company’s success is dependent on how well its resources perform, in other words the level of performance of its factory. The factory’s performance is in turn constrained by the manufacturing infrastructure and is hence designed so as to suit the company’s strategy related to the products and their quantities. Production management essentially takes the company’s strategic requirements in terms of its key competitive objectives, for instance shorter lead time, low cost etc. , and translates them into schedule for the factory environment in terms of inventory, job sequencing and time table etc., so that these objectives are met (Childe, 1997, p.28). In an industrial environment, there are always constraints that affect the throughput of a system in terms of quantity or quality of product delivered or the delivery time (Lange Ziegenbien, 2005, p.1).Some of these constraints are bottlenecks i.e. resources whose availability is less than the demand placed on them, while others are potential bottlenecks or Capacity Constrained Resources CCRs i.e. resources who utilization is close to capacity and in case of non-optimal utilization may become bottleneck (Telsang, 2002, p. 518). Theory of Constraints was developed to address such practical problems in manufacturing. This theory given by Goldman and Cox in their famous book Goal is basically a productions and operations management strategy dealing with the CCRs i.e. potential bottlenecks in an industry environment (Quassin, 2000, p.3). According to Goldman and Cox, the goal of all the manufacturing companies is to make money (quoted, Childe, 1997, p.29). Hence according to them the success for any manufacturing company would come if they can properly identify the aims to their business and then deal with the constraints which would prove to be present or potential bottlenecks in achieving the goal (Childe, 1997, p.115) The Theory of Constraints was developed in over a decade’s period, by the Israeli Physicist Dr. Eliyahu M Goldratt based on his observations of certain common characteristics that effect system operations (Dettmer, 1998, p.11). This combined with his thoughts comprises the Theory of Constraints TOC, which is a collection of principles, a set of generic tools and the specific applications of these tools. The principles explain the management actions and the various interactions between processes. The tools are methods that can be used to apply these principles in specific instances, while the applications are the instances where these tools have been successfully applied in these situations many times so that they can be considered as generic solutions to the problems. Hence, the TOC is still evolving to this day (Dettmer Schragenheim, 2000, p.13). Among the principles of TOC, the most basic are three key assumptions about constraint management, five focusing steps to guide the system and three measures to assess whether the actions being taken at the local level are producing the desired results at the global level. Assumptions – TOC is based on three interrelated premises:   Every system has a goal and asset of necessary conditions that must be satisfied if the goal has to be achieved, The overall system’s performance is more than just the sum of its component performances, and Very few factors or constraints, often only one, limit a system’s performance at any given time (Ronen, 2005, p.21) Five Focusing Steps – Goldratt created five steps as a way to make sure that the management focuses on the process for continuous improvement Identify the system’s constraint, Decide how to exploit the system’s constraint, Subordinate everything else to the decision taken in the step above Evaluate alternative ways to elevate the constraint Return to the 1st step in case the system constraints have been changed (Srinivasan, Jones Miller, n.d., p.136) Evaluation – The evaluation of the operating decisions can be done by the three financial yardsticks which are provided by the constraint theory – Throughput (T), Inventory or Investment (I), and Operation Expense (OE) (Dettmer Schragenheim, 2000, p.40). These form the yardsticks because as mentioned earlier, according to Goldman and Cox, the goal of all the manufacturing companies is to make money (quoted, Childe, 1997, p.29) Question 2:  Ã‚  Ã‚   Describe how TOC can help to prioritize the most profitable high impact initiatives within a production environment The use of Theory of Constraints in the production management was initially done to solve the problems of bottlenecks, scheduling and inventory reduction (Wang, 2002, p. 149). Industry’s aim to achieve the goal of making money has been traditionally achieved by reducing the operating costs. The logic is that every dollar that is saved adds up to the profit. A compelling reason for adopting such a measure is that the costs can be controlled. The next step is to reduce the inventory while increasing the throughput is the last priority with the production managers. Japanese saw the value that can be achieved by reducing the inventory and hence put this as their first priority. They developed what is known as the Just-in-Time philosophy. For doing this the pipeline needs to be kept flowing i.e. a pull phenomenon, which correspondingly increases the importance of increasing the throughput to being the second highest priority (Dettmer Schragenheim, 2000, p.44). However, according to Goldratt’s Constraint theory, the highest priority should be given to increasing the throughput, while reducing the inventory or investment should have the second priority and reducing the operating expense should be the last priority (Bushong Talbott, 1999, p. 2). The reason for this is in the traditional methods, the production managers were assuming that an infinite amount of hours were available in each factory’s work and machines, which is not practically possible. Hence, Goldratt began by assuming that the manufacturing company is essentially a system with machines and people available for finite periods of time per day or week or month. He further assumed that at any instant in time only one factory or resource could prove to be a bottleneck in achieving the goal of making money. Hence, it followed that if this bottleneck was running to its full capacity, increasing the speed of the other centers would not do any good, as the speed of this particular centre would not increase (McMullen, 1998, p.105). This can also be explained as follows. Theoretically the any of the constraints could vary from zero to infinity, but practically the operating expense and inventory cannot be reduced under zero, neither can the throughput be increased till infinity. However, the practical limits for reducing the operating expense and the inventory are actually much higher than zero. This is because the manufacturers have to spend money on them in order to make money from the end products using these investments as inputs. While the practical limits for increasing the throughput is still much less than infinity, but its potential for adding up to the profits is much higher than the potential to do the same using cost-cutting. Cost-cutting is also risky in nature, because there is always the danger of spending less than what is required which would directly impact on the quality, and hence the inventory too in the long run (Dettmer Schragenheim, 2000, p.44). The management philosophy of Theory of Constraints can hence be viewed into three separate areas which are interrelated: logistics, performance management and logical thinking. Logistics includes the drum-buffer-rope scheduling, buffer management and VAT analysis. Using these tools, the tasks are scheduled in a production environment and prioritized. The next area is the Performance measurement which includes the Throughput, Inventory, the operating expense and the five focusing steps which have been discussed earlier. The thinking process tools help in identifying the root-problem (current reality tree), identifying and expanding win-win solutions (evaporating clouds and the future reality tree), and developing the implementation plans (prerequisite tree and transition tree) (Stein, 1997, p. 199). .DBR Scheduling – The basis for the DBR or drum-buffer-rope scheduling is the factory’s primary constraint which could be a present or potential bottleneck. This primary constraint acts as the drum for the DB scheduling. This scheduling process produces the schedule of what jobs to be produced and in what order on the drum. A time element known as the buffer is then used to establish the realistic commitment dates for the operation and its deadline. Another time element called the rope determines the schedule for introducing additional tasks and materials into the work process flow of the operation. Each task or batch in the drum schedule has a buffer and a rope time element. There are other time elements in the buffer also which when taken as a group form the time buffers (McMullen, 1998, p.106). This DBR scheduling process synchronizes the entire work throughout the factory, and creates a synchronized manufacturing state by basing all the schedules on the drum schedule or the bottleneck. In addition to this, it also provides feedback and control process which is known as buffer management. The function of the buffer management system is to ensure that all the other factory resources which are non-constrained are working on the right jobs, at the right times in the sequence, and in the right production batch quantities such that the schedules are supported from the drum task and customer deliveries are met. Finally all the non-constrained by definition have some spare capacity. While this is not excess capacity and can be used in the productive or protective sense, the scheduling of these is also important so as not to have excess inventory or investment condition. This is taken care by introducing the time buffers, discussed earlier, in the DBR schedule such that no production is lost at the drum. The extension of this process into the dynamic buffering can be used for fine-tuning the extra capacity (McMullen, 1998, p.107). Hence, this scheduling process reliable delivery schedules for the customers, because the schedules are based on finite capacity assumption instead of the erroneous infinite capacity assumption (Bushong Talbott, 1999, p. 3). Question 3:  Ã‚  Ã‚   Discuss how you will implement the proposed philosophy in order to rescue a sick hypothetical organization The prior section dealt with the drum-buffer-rope i.e. DBR scheduling, which is the TOC production planning methodology. As the aim of the TOC is to see to it that the constraint does not effect the production schedule, the DBR takes care of the weakest link i.e. the drum, schedule i.e. the buffer, and deadline i.e. the rope (Greeff Ghoshal, 2003, p. 70). In addition to the DBR scheduling, a buffer management scheme was also described above, which is needed to monitor the entire process. In the tradition approach, the DBR scheduling was used as the planning process and the buffer management was used to monitor the plan’s progress. In the present scenario, the DBR and buffer management process are dynamic and offer continuous feed backs to the production manager so that he can improve upon the system. As was mentioned in the first section, throughput is the primary are of focus of the TOC arrangement. The throughput is the money generated by the system after taking out the external costs, and this should be maximized for the profits to increase according to the theory of constraints. However, the implementation of TOC is not very easy in a practical situation, and in many cases it necessitates a change in the entire way a company operates. This difficulty can be explained by a simple example as follows. A company has identified that for increasing the its throughput, there is a need for producing the product and selling it with the lower sale price per product unit. As of now the company compensated its sales forces on a commission basis, based on the percent of sales and the people in this department try to sell their products with the highest sales price. This means that the company would need to develop an entirely new way of compensating its sales force. There might be further problems if the arrangement is not satisfactory enough to the sales people, which might lead to a drop in the sales – quite opposite to the goal of the company. Care should also be taken to remember that TOC is a dynamic management process. This means that the task does not end after finding out the constraint. On the contrary, the management should continuously analyze to see if this factor can be increased or some other factor might become a constraint. Such analysis should be made regularly and the options should be revised. In addition to this, continuous analysis should be made to check the operating expenses and inventory and investments should also be minimized (Bushong Talbott, 1999, p. 4). Example The above theories will be explained by taking an example below. First the basic system application is given using the TOC to explain the various constraints of the system. After this the complete system is shifted to a plant, which is a sick unit and steps are given to convert this plant into a optimal unit. Basic System and Constraints The example has a manufacturing unit which is essentially a machine that cuts silicon wafers into individual chips (Anderson, 2003, p. 30). The number of wafer cut by this machine in a unit time without getting overloaded is the constraint of the machine and the primary constraint of the entire manufacturing system. For instance, the machine can cut on 100 wafers per hours. In this case, it would be immaterial to get more raw materials since the constraint would still not be affected in this case. Now that the constraint of the system has been identified, a decision must be made on how to minimize its constraining ability on the system. The utilizing capacity of the constraint must be maximized i.e. the Capacity Constrained Resource, in this case the machine, must be fully utilized and must never be idle. Every unit of production that is lost on this system is a unit lost to the complete system (Anderson, 2003, p. 29). This constraint can be protected from being idle by providing a buffer or queue of raw materials for it to cut. For this example, let us assume that each wafer can be cut into 25 chips. That is to say 4 wafers would be needed by the machine per hours. This follows the generalization that the constraints are protected by buffers. The queue of silicon wafers in this case would be physical buffer of inventory.   In addition to this protecting a constraint is a necessary part of exploiting a constraint to the full (Anderson, 2003, p. 29). In case of the manufacturing system, the manufacturing unit can be protected from starvation or idle moments, by providing a buffer of silicon wafers. The unit also needs to be protected from power interruptions and surges, by providing a uninterruptible power supplies, and further giving a backup generator. The manpower related constraint can be sorted out by working the machine in three shifts by people of eight hours each, so that the machine is utilized for 24 hours per day. Finally the quality related issues can be sorted out by performing a quality check on the wafers prior to being set on the queue, to ensure that only good quality wafers are passed on to the manufacturing unit. In case of TOC care should be taken to ensure that subordination of all the activities are obtained to take care of the constraint (Anderson, 2003, p. 31). As can be seen in the example a decision is taken to see that the manufacturing unit is the constraint of the system, a and hence steps have been taken to take care of this constraint and utilize he machine for obtaining the maximum productivity. Ti subordinate all other activities to this decision, the flow of inventory should be regulated from the factory gate to the wafer cutting machine. The rate of sending the wafer to the machine should be same as the rate of the machine to entirely cut the wafer. Here, the rate of the cutter is the drum. The inventory of the factory gate to the cutter is the rope and a buffer in front of the cutter to prevent it from getting idle is the buffer. Plant as a Sick Unit Suppose that there are 10 such systems in a plant which is a sick unit. There are problems with excess inventory, the quality of wafers produced, the throughout is varied and is not stable and there are problems with delays between the operations with long periods where the machines are idle and others where there is extra load on the machines. The primary problem here is to streamline the operations. The basic constraint is already mentioned in the prior section i.e. the number of wafers that can be cut by a unit. This cannot be changed and must be utilized to the maximum. All the remaining actions must be subordinate to this activity such that the constraint or the drum is taken care. First of all the machines as a total can process 1000*10 =1000 wafers in a hour, which means 4*10 = 40 wafers must be passed to the machines per hour (as each wafer can be cut into 25 chips). Now that this has been decided, the queuing systems should ensure that the wafers are taken from the resource gate and passed to the machines. The easiest way of doing this would be to pass 4 sets of wafers per hour, after every 45 minutes 4 more wafers would be passed to the machines. This means that there would be enough time for checking the quality of the wafers and passing them to the machines, without worrying about the exact synchronization of each wafer to rate at which a machine cuts them. This would also take care of the idle periods of the machines, as in this case the machines would always have one wafer to cuts, by which time the other 4 wafers would be sent to it. The inventory would be controlled too. In addition, the throughput would be at a constant rate. Finally, the technique would also ensure that the burden on the quality checkers and machine operators is minimal. In the former case, the quality checkers could have a quality check wafers ready for a couple of hours advance, which would be passed to the machines every three quarters of an hours, which means these people do not need to be on job 24 hours a day. Also, the machine operators would have more time to check the power supply and other maintenance issues, while checking if the new wafer lot has been passed or not. The above example gives the implementation of Theory of Constraints method to a sick unit, to make it operate in an optimized way. The example taken is a very simplistic application which can be solved easily using the single DB technique. References Books Anderson DJ, 2003, Agile Management for Software Engineering: Applying the Thoery of Constraints for Business Results, New Jersey: Prentice Hall PTR Childe SJ, 1997, An Introduction to Computer Aided Production Management, 1st Edition, London: Chapman Hall Dettmer HW, 1998, Breaking the Constraints to World-Class Performance, Milwaukee: ASQ Quality Press Dettmer HW, Schragenheim E, 2000, Manufacturing at Warp’s Speed: Optimizing Supply Chain Financial Performance, Florida: CRC Press Greeff G, Ghoshal R, 2004, Practical E-Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management, Oxford: Elsevier McMullen TB, 1998, Introduction to the Theory of Constraints (Toc) Management System, Florida:  CRC Press Ronen B, 2005, The Theory of Constraints: Practice and Research, Amsterdam: IOC Press Stein RE, 1999, The Theory of Constraints Applications in Quality and Manufacturing, New York: CRC Press Telsang M, 2002, Industrial Engineering and Production Management, New Delhi: S Chand Company Ltd. Wang JX, 2002, What Every Engineer Should know about Decision Making Under Uncertainty, New York: CRC Press Online Articles Bushong JG, Talbott JC, 1999, The CPA in Industry: An Application of the Theory of Constraints, The CPA Journal, April 1999 Issue, http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/1999/0499/Departments/D530499.HTM, Article Accessed on 18th September 2007. Lange I, Ziegenbien A, 2005, The Constraints Game – Learning the Theory of Constraints with a Dice Game, 9th International Workshop on Experimental Interactive Learning in Industrial management New Approaches on Learning, Studying and Teaching, http://www.simlab.tkk.fi/events/lange.pdf, Article Accessed on 18th September 2007. Quassin RY, 2000, The Theory of Constraints in Manufacturing, Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences, J. Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci.  vol.22  no.4  Rio de Janeiro, 2000, http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0100-73862000000400001script=sci_arttext, Article Accessed on 18th September 2007. 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