Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Should Workers be Allowed to Go on Strike Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Should Workers be Allowed to Go on Strike - Essay Example Workers strive to achieve their basic rights in the service industry and can use different techniques to persuade the authorities to provide them with these rights. Striking is one form of the persuasion techniques used by the workers to get their rights. In the garment industry, the workers should be allowed to go on strike for the reasons. Workers tend to go on strikes to persuade the authorities into their demands. Some argue that these workers tend to use these strikes in an unfavorable manner, and the strikes should be stopped. However, a worker thinks of this instance â€Å"What if my daily wage was low enough that I could not even feed my family?† In simple words, if the workers are not paid enough to meet their needs then they should at least have a right to appeal against injustice. Strikes allow the workers to appeal to the authorities regarding any of the issues that they face in the workplace. This further shows that workers have a weaker side if the authorities fo rced to implement a decision which is unjust. The strikes can only provide a way to the workers so that they can force the authorities to reconsider their decisions.

Monday, October 28, 2019

Knossos Palace And Mycenaean Citadel Essay Example for Free

Knossos Palace And Mycenaean Citadel Essay Knossos palace has a complex but interesting layout. Its confusing mazelike structure was built intended to elaborate both its religious and magical significance during the ancient Roman period. There were more than 1000 compartments scattered in the whole palace and each of which were designated for certain functional purposes. All those rooms of varying sizes are directly connected to the main hallways. In the palace, there were one big theatre; several store rooms containing containers of grains, beans, dried fish and other basic necessities. Also the water system inside the palace is well-planned to adequately supply water in the whole five-story palace as well as its drainage. During the time, Knossos Palace was a one of a kind architectural design, which drew much attention from the dwellers. Mycenaean Citadel on the other hand is the evidence of a stronghold civilization because of its high walled structure made from huge stones. These massive walls were designed for defensive purposes against any foreign invasion. The road leading to the gate of Mycenae meets the two sculpted lion figures above the entrance of the wall. It is called the Lion Gate. This was thought to be the symbol of the ruling family of Mycenae. There were several stages in the construction of the wall, initially front the palace area, extending to the gate then to the burial area or the grave circle. Within the walls there were busy roads, residential houses and other buildings, however there water stairways from the spring were well-preserved over time to provide enough water supply for the Mycenaean people. There were also other houses outside the walls. In addition, there were beehive-shaped coffins scattered in the area. Works Cited MacKendrick, Paul, et. al. The Greek Stones Speak. New York: W. W. Norton Company, Incorporated. 1983.a

Saturday, October 26, 2019

How do the authors create atmosphere and tension in The Monkeys Paw Ess

How do the authors create atmosphere and tension in The Monkeys Paw and The Red Room? A ghost story is a story with intent to scare; it usually builds up tension and suspense by using a lot of intense, exaggerated words. Usually in a ghost story there is a typical dark and gloomy setting and an inhuman object almost always there is a non human force or a supernatural being in the story to give it a scare factor. Supernatural means a power above the forces of nature which implies that it is not human. In the time that the two stories were written, the belief in the supernatural was a lot different to those of today. They believed in such things as ghosts and witchcraft where as nowadays there are only some believers. This could be because they had less technology than today’s world so we have more evidence to whether they are or aren’t real The Monkey’s Paw is a story about a distant friend who has possession of a cursed shrivelled monkey’s paw that grants three wishes to each man that obtains it. Every wish comes true but little do they know that the wish that they asked for would backfire horrifically killing there only child. The Red Room is another story that was written in the 19th century. However different to The Monkey’s paw this story does not have a supernatural or inhuman power. The story is about a man that’s name is not told and his quest to stay in a supposedly haunted room but unluckily for him, the room possessed a far greater force than spirits or monsters but the very thing that eats away at a mans emotions-FEAR! The authors that wrote these stories use a lot of special techniques to make the audience scared and fearful; afterall the intent of the story is to scare people. Some o... ... they both play with your feelings and emotions. Both stories are written with the intent to scare and they do that. Also, they make you feel sad, disgusted and interested. I think that they do this by there powerful descriptions. And in which they use long and short sentences to build up the tension and atmosphere before the ending. Whilst studying the two books I have realise that to write a successful horror story you have to use all of the techniques and in my opinion the most important technique is descriptive language. When describing, you have to use powerful and meaningful words to give a clear visual picture and so the reader is reacting to the descriptions. I feel that if you have good descriptions then everything else will follow and if you draw the reader’s emotions in to the book then they will be more scared after the ending scare factor.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Making and receiving telephone calls Essay

The Learner will: 1.Understand how to make telephone calls. 1.2 Give reasons for identifying the purpose of a call before making it. To not waste time, so you are aware what information you need and are therefore able to ask the right questions. It is also important as you will sound professional and organised, which will reflect well upon the company you work for. It may be a good idea to have a checklist written down of all you need to know, this way you won’t forget anything and you can avoid having to call back later for forgotten information. This will prove to be a much more efficient way of working and save time. For example: If I was at work and I needed to phone a GP surgery to do with a fax that they’d sent through. I would firstly make sure I had the fax in front of me with the relevant patient information on. This way when I speak to the surgery I will have all the information to hand they may initially ask for before they are then able to assist me with my query. It is important to think through a conversation before making the call to ensure you are prepared and have the knowledge they may need. Again if I was phoning another department within the hospital trying to locate a set of patient notes I would make sure I could tell them, the patient name and medical record number, where the notes are traced to on the computer and on what day, time and by who, if they have any appointments booked soon and where and if there was any useful information on the most recent pin note, all of this would help narrow down the search to locate the patient’s notes. 1.3 Describe different ways of obtaining the names and numbers of people that need to be contacted. If you know the name of the company you need to contact then you could look up their contact details on their website on the Internet. You could also use an online phone book like the yellow pages website for most contact details. You could simply ask someone within your office/department if they have the contact details to hand as it may have been someone they have dealt with before. At Musgrove we  have the intranet, our internal website, on this you can find lots of information about the hospital, including an internal directory, where you can find out anyone’s extension number who works within the hospital by adding in their name or department. I also have a list of contacts on my pin board for numbers within our department and for the rest of the hospital. If I need to make calls to GP surgeries or surrounding hospitals I usually go on google and find them easily that way . 1.4 Describe how to use a telephone system to make contact with people inside and outside an organisation. In Musgrove we have a system that I imagine is the same with most businesses. To make an outside call you simply press 9 to gain an outside line and then type in the number you require, including the area code if needed. With internal calls you simply need to enter the 4 digit extension number for the appropriate person in the appropriate department. If you are unsure of the extension number for the call you need to make internally you can simply go on Musgrove’s intranet and use their internal directory. Here you can enter their name and/or department and it will bring up their contact information i.e email address and extension number. 1.6 Explain the purpose of summarising the outcomes of a telephone conversation before ending the call. It is important to make sure and clarify that all the information is correct and accurate so you are both aware of agreed times and goals etc, avoiding any confusion. It will avoid wires getting crossed as it is not recorded like in an email to look over after, this is also why it’s always advisable to make a note of the telephone conversation. 1.7 Describe how to identify problems and who to refer them to. If someone phones the department with a problem and it is not something I can deal with I would firstly take their name and contact details. I would ask for their phone number in case for any reason they get disconnected at any point during the call, we are then still able to call them back. Next I would find out what the problem was and what department they spoke to and then transfer them on to one of the secretaries with the obtained information. 1.8 Describe organisation structures and communication channels within an organisation At Musgrove there are certain channels we would go down depending on what the call was regarding. I often receive calls that I am unable to deal with so need to redirect to other lines in our department. Patients often contact my line querying their appointments and as I am unable to help them with this I transfer them to the Appointments office next door. To do this I would, firstly inform the caller that I was going to transfer them to the Appointments office where their query could be answered. I would then press the Recall button on the telephone and dial the four digit extension number for one of the girls in charge of arranging appointments. When they answered I would briefly explain the callers query and then hang up, thus connecting the caller to the transferred line. It is important to keep the explanation brief so you don’t keep the patient waiting any longer than is absolutely necessary. If for any reason no one was available to take the call in appointments I would then need to transfer the call back to the caller by pressing the recall button followed by *1. I would then need to explain that they were busy at present so offer them the number to call them directly. If I receive any complaints over the telephone the first action I would take would be to transfer the call through to one of the secretaries as they are better equipped to deal with such situations. Depending on the outcome of their conversation they may need to be transferred on to PALS where they can deal with the complaint more appropriately. 1.9 Describe how to follow organisational procedures when making a telephone call It’s always important to introduce yourself and state where you are calling from for example if I was making a call to a GP surgery I would start the call by saying – â€Å"Hello my name’s Nic and I’m calling from the cardiology department at Musgrove Park Hospital† I would make sure prior to making the call that I had any questions needed to ask, to hand or know what information I required from the telephone conversation. This way you ensure that the phone call is carried out efficiently, it is always good to recap the conversation where appropriate to confirm you have all the correct and accurate information needed. It is important to always remain polite and  speak clearly whilst on the telephone. You need to remember that you are representing your company so need to stay professional. Working at a Hospital you must always be aware and careful about who you are speaking to, ensuring that you only give out patient details to appropriate people such as GP surgeries, other local Hospitals or of course the patient themselves. 1.10 and 2.9 Explain how to report telephone system faults To be able to be as precise and informative as possible, concerning a telephone system fault, will usually help to resolve the issue as fast and simply as possible. If there was a fault with my telephone system at work I would firstly make sure it was not a simple error my end – for example if the telephone line had accidently been pulled out of the wall, or if the receiver was not put back on the stand correctly, meaning you were not getting any calls connected. After checking these simple things, if there was still a problem I would inform my mentor or one of the secretaries in case it was an error they were familiar with. Failing that I would contact the switchboard regarding the error or possibly the IT department. 2. Understand how to receive and transfer telephone calls 2.1 Describe how to identify callers and their needs Within the hospital many calls are made internally between offices and departments. I especially deal with calls like these when other departments are requesting patient notes that are located to the Cardiology department. The caller would state their name and department when I answered the phone as this is trust procedure. I may then ask â€Å"how can I help you† although this would not normally be necessary for this type of call as the caller would have already said â€Å"I need a set of notes that are currently traced to you†. I would next ask them for the patient’s full name and medical record number. I would also reconfirm the department they were calling from, where the notes were needed and the date the notes needed to be with them. I would also ask the caller for their extension number so I could ring them back if needed, for example if I couldn’t locate the notes or if they needed the notes as soon as possible so were coming to collect them when they were ready. All of this information would be written down in a note pad so I  always had it to hand if I needed to refer back to it at any point. 2.2 Explain the purpose of giving accurate and up to date information to callers Giving a customer accurate information over the telephone is crucial to the success and reputation of a business and could determine their future. If a caller is phoning a company regarding a price on a product they are selling and are told the wrong information, the customer will have instantly lost their trust in the company and as a result are almost certain to take their business elsewhere. It will not only make the company look inadequate but unprofessional also. At Musgrove it is very important to relay accurate and up-to-date information, whether it is directly to a patient or to a GP surgery regarding a patient. It is especially important within a hospital environment as inaccurate information could result in possible life threatening situations for patients and a lot of unnecessary worry and upset. When a patient is making a telephone call to the hospital they are often likely to be anxious and worried and will need to be put at ease and reassured. To be able to do this it’s important to answer their queries promptly and professionally with accurate information delivered in a clear and concise way as this will also help to build trust with the patient. 2.3 Explain the purpose of confidentiality and security when dealing with callers When talking to somebody over the phone there is no easy way to validate the identity of the caller, nothing to easily confirm to you that they are who they say they are. This is why often customers have to identify themselves with a password when speaking with a company over the phone regarding sensitive and personal information. Confidentiality and security procedures must be strictly followed and adhered to within the hospital under the Data Protection Act 1989. If a patient calls the office at work enquiring about an investigation or treatment they are due to have or indeed have had and are waiting for the results, the secretary taking the call must always ask for some personal details about themselves before disclosing any information. Even then there is only limited information they are permitted to tell the patient over the phone. They often have to wait until a letter arrives in the post as this is a much more secure way of conveying the  information. 2.4 Describe the types of information that could affect confidentiality and security and how to handle these The Data Protection Act was put in to place in 1998 to prevent confidential or security information from being shared or being released to the public. Peoples personal details such as their National insurance number, Pin numbers for their bank accounts or passwords for access to information are all things that must be kept confidential at all times. Everyone at Musgrove is responsible for keeping confidential information confidential and disclosing any private details would actually be breaking the law. At work we see a lot of patient’s medical records, these are also strictly confidential and we must not share this information with anyone who is not authorised to see them. At work if we come in to contact with medical records that belong to somebody we know they must immediately be passed on to another member of staff to deal with, as seeing them would compromise the confidentiality and privacy of the individual. There was recently a massive confidentiality breach within the hospital when a celebrity visited the hospital and a member of staff put a message about it on twitter. With so many social media outlets these days it makes it even more vital to keep information private, I believe the employee was dismissed from the trust and rightly so. 2.5 Describe ways of identifying the appropriate person to whom a call is transferred Often the caller won’t have a name of the person they want to speak to so it is always good to reconfirm that they have called the right department. If they are a little unsure it is important to ask briefly what the call is reference to, this would then hopefully give you enough information to know the appropriate person to deal with it. At work there’s usually only a few different locations I may need to transfer calls to. I sometimes take calls from patients that need to reschedule a future appointment or that just want some information about it. In this case I would tell the patient that I needed to transfer them through to the appointments office, where somebody could help them with their query. I also have calls form patients and GP surgeries that I sometimes are unable to deal with myself. In these circumstances I would transfer them through to  one of the secretaries, whoever was taking the phones that day. If I was still unsure on a call I would explain to the caller that I just need to put them on hold for a minute while I try to determine the most appropriate person to help them by speaking to the secretaries for advice. 2.6 Describe the information to be given when transferring calls or leaving messages After you have established who the caller is and why they are calling you then need to refer them to the correct or most appropriate person. I would explain to them that I was transferring them on so to please bear with me for a minute while I do so. Next I would push the recall button and the appropriate extension number. I would tell the member of staff I was forwarding them on to, who the caller was, where they were calling from and any information I had about what their call was regarding. When taking a message for someone at work I have actually prepared a message slip that I use to ensure I obtain all the appropriate information. On this slip I record the caller’s name, where they are calling from, what the caller’s contact number is, who the message is for, the actual message, I also record the date and time of the call so when I pass the message on they are aware of timescales. 2.7 Describe how to identify problems and who to refer them to A problem we have previously experienced at work is calls being lost when being transferred between phones. In this instance I would contact the member of staff who was transferring the call to me to see if they had the caller’s phone number or any information about them so I could call them back. Calling them back will show that you care and that you are efficient in your work. If this is a problem that continues to happen it must mean that there is a connection fault of some sort so it should be reported to the switchboard to the IT department so they can log it and hopefully sort it. 2.8 Describe how to follow organisational procedures when receiving a telephone call When receiving calls within the department we always answer with our name and the department we are in, this way the caller will instantly know if they have phoned the right location which will also save wasting anyone’s time. Another of the trust’s procedures is answering the  telephone within three rings, this is important to do as nobody likes being left waiting for someone to answer a call, especially when it could be anxious patients or patient’s relatives.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Who’s Responsible for Obesity?

Obesity is everybody’s responsibility – the parents and the school authorities, the fast food companies, and the government. Since the issue is now a societal problem after reaching epidemic proportions, it deserves no less than the attention of everybody to deal with obesity. (Raley & Burnor, n.d.)Hence, it is only proper to point out the individual accountabilities of these sectors of society and compel them to do their share in combating the problem.While the responsibility of providing a healthy diet to children primarily belongs to the parents, school authorities are also duty-bound to inculcate into the minds of schoolchildren the correct values of nutrition.Such are the duties assigned them by society: the former being the persons who have the obligation, under the laws of God and country, of nourishing their offsprings, the latter being the individuals who are in the best position to influence the young minds of children. If only the parents and the teachers hav e been doing their duties faithfully, fast food outlets would not have succeeded in causing obesity.Even as fast foods companies have the right to advertise their products, such right does not free them of their moral obligation to warn the public about the adverse effects of their foods. The U.S. constitution itself would only allow the exercise of one’s rights as long as doing so does not deprive others of their own rights. In this context, fast foods companies are within their right to engage in gainful enterprise but they should not do so at the expense of the public’s health.Even if the court exempted them from any legal liability after observing that everybody knows that fast foods contain â€Å"high levels of cholesterol, fat, salt and sugar, and that such attributes are bad for one,† the court’s legal opinion is not a moral judgment. The harmful effects of cigarettes are also well-known, but the law compels cigarette manufacturers to continuously warn the public. Why not oblige fast foods companies to do the same? (Raley & Burnor, n.d.)ReferenceRaley, Y. & Burnor, R. (n.d.). Case 1: Who’s Responsible for Obesity? (Article provided with  

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Life Is Beautiful (1997) - Movie Review

Life Is Beautiful (1997) - Movie Review When I first heard about the Italian movie Life Is Beautiful (La Vita e Bella), I was shocked to discover that it was a comedy about the Holocaust. The articles that appeared in the papers bespoke of many that found even the concept of the Holocaust portrayed as a comedy to be offensive. Others believed that it belittled the experiences of the Holocaust by inferring that the horrors could be ignored by a simple game. I, too, thought, how could a comedy about the Holocaust possibly be done well? What a fine line the director (Roberto Benigni) was walking when portraying such a horrendous subject as a comedy. Yet I also remembered my feelings to the two volumes of Maus by Art Spiegelman - a story of the Holocaust portrayed in comic-strip format. It was months before I dared read it, and only then because it was assigned reading in one of my college classes. Once I started reading, I couldnt put them down. I thought they were wonderful. I felt the format, surprisingly, added to the books power, rather than distracting from it. So, remembering this experience, I went to see Life Is Beautiful. Act 1: Love Although I had been wary of its format before the movie began, and I even fidgeted in my seat, wondering if I was too far from the screen to read the sub-titles, it took only minutes from the films beginning for me to be smiling as we met Guido (played by Roberto Benigni - also the writer and director). With a brilliant mixture of comedy and romance, Guido used flirtatious random encounters (with a few not so random ones) to meet and woo the school teacher Dora (played by Nicoletta Braschi - Benignis real-life wife), whom he calls Princess (Principessa in Italian). My favorite part of the movie is a masterful, yet hilarious, sequence of events involving a key, time, and a hat - youll understand what I mean when you see the film (I dont want to give too much away before you see it). Guido successfully charms Dora, even though she had been engaged to a fascist official, and gallantly retrieves her while riding on a green painted horse (the green paint on his uncles horse was the first act of anti-Semitism that is shown in the film and really the first time you learn that Guido is Jewish). During Act I, the movie-goer almost forgets he came to see a movie about the Holocaust. All that changes in Act 2. Act 2: The Holocaust The first act successfully creates the characters of Guido and Dora; the second act delves us into the problems of the times. Now Guido and Dora have a young son, Joshua (played by Giorgio Cantarini) who is bright, loved, and doesnt like to take baths. Even when Joshua points out a sign in a window that says Jews are not allowed, Guido makes up a story to protect his son from such discrimination. Soon the life of this warm and funny family is interrupted by deportation. While Dora is away, Guido and Joshua are taken and placed in cattle cars - even here, Guido tries to hide the truth from Joshua. But the truth is plain to the audience - you cry because you know what is really happening and yet smile through your tears at the obvious effort Guido is making to hide his own fears and calm his young son. Dora, who had not been picked up for deportation, chooses to board the train anyway in order to be with her family. When the train unloads at a camp, Guido and Joshua are separated from Dora. It is at this camp that Guido convinces Joshua they are to play a game. The game consists of 1,000 points and the winner gets a real military tank. The rules are made up as time goes on. The only one that is fooled is Joshua, not the audience, nor Guido. The effort and love that emanated from Guido are the messages relayed by the movie - not that the game would save your life. The conditions were real, and though the brutality was not shown as directly as in Schindlers List, it was still very much there. My Opinion In conclusion, I must say that I think Roberto Benigni (the writer, director, and actor) created a masterpiece that touches your heart - not only do your cheeks hurt from smiling/laughing, but your eyes burn from the tears. As Benigni himself stated, ...I am a comedian and my way is not to show directly. Just to evoke. This to me was wonderful, the balance to comedy with the tragedy.* Academy Awards On March 21, 1999, Life Is Beautiful won Academy Awards for . . . Best Actor (Roberto Benigni)Best Foreign Language FilmOriginal Dramatic Score (Nicola Piovani) * Roberto Benigni as quoted in Michael Okwu, Life Is Beautiful Through Roberto Benignis Eyes, CNN 23 Oct. 1998 (http://cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/9810/23/life.is.beautiful/index.html).

Monday, October 21, 2019

buy custom Health as Expanding Consciousness essay

buy custom Health as Expanding Consciousness essay Introduction of back ground This research is centered on HEC model in the long term care acute setting. Long-term care acute is a hospital setting that cares for patients that are discharged from the acute hospital setting for extended medical and rehabilitative care those with various acute or chronic health problems. Acute care is a stem of secondary health care, where a patient obtains dynamic, yet temporary healing for a cruel damage or incident of sickness, an insistent medical state, or throughout recuperation from operation. In therapeutic terms, care for acute health situations, is the contrary of persistent care, or long-standing care. Acute care examinations are normally executed by teams of health care experts from a selection of therapeutic and surgical spheres. Acute care might urges the patient for a stay in a hospital emergency division, ambulatory operation center, urgent care section or other temporary stay center, together with the aid of analytical services, operation, or record outpatient care within the society.Hospitals dealing with acute care naturally have the target of releasing patients, the moment they are considered to be well and secure. Acute care locales comprise but are not restricted to: emergency sector, intensive care division, coronary-heart care, cardiology unit, and numerous wide-ranging aspects where the patient might turn out to be intensely in poor health and need soothing and relocation to a different senior reliance division for advance treatment. Most number of patients are elderly with preexisting health conditions. Examples of diagnosis of the patients are HIV, diabetes, arthritis, Anarsaca, C-diff, MRSA, respiratory failure, pneumonia, cancer, wound infection, CHF and COPD just to mention a few. Based on this setting the primary focus has been on the patients physical needs although it is acknowledged that the patient has emotional and spiritual components. The approach is of the treatment of disease, fixing a patients problem and focusing on the outcomes instead of looking at the patient as a whole. The health care system is currently struggling out of the medical paradigm. The medical paradigm has dominated in the health care system thereby crippling nursing to consider and focus its responsibilities from the medical stand point of view. It has been regarded as the only lens through which to view the care of patients (Zust, 2006).The paradigm of health is viewed as the absence of disease that has resulted to view those without health as inferior (Newman, 1999). The futility of always trying to make people well or prevent of their getting sick was transcended by this concept of health (Picard Jones, 2005, p.xiv) Health as expanding consciousness can be applied to the long term care acute and different settings in the health care for those whose health without of disease is not possible. Health of all people is included regardless of the presence or absence of the disease (Newman, 2011). The nurse has a more holistic view of the clients health experience (Newman, 1999). This research paper will discuss about the purpose of the HEC, the overview of the theory, the review of literature, the synthesis of the theory, the application of the model and conclusion. Purpose of study The purpose of this study is to provide an in-depth understanding of the HEC model and its application in the long term acute setting. The model is focused on the nurse and client relationship in examining and identifying client behavioral patterns. (The process of identifying the clients unfolding pattern). Nurses who embrace this theory are contributing to the significance of nursing theory and we will be discussed the significant rewards that can be attained using this model and will discuss how this relates to the patient through pattern recognition and could be used in the long term care setting . In addition, benefits realized by employing this model are discussed in relation to patients through pattern recognition in a LTC setting. The wholistic acceptance of the HEC model by nurses may lead to meaningful and transformative relationship between nurses and clients while ignoring the clients different views on health. Both the participating clients and nurses lives have been transformed due to the adoption of the HEC model. The center of Newmans theory of health as expanding consciousness sheds light on q surfacing channel for all health-oriented regulations. Through the pursuit for accepting the trend of health, this exceptional perception of health, defies nurses to create a distinction and an impression in nursing observation, via the submission of this premise. Significance of purpose Nurses may hold on to this unitary standpoint, and go through important transformative association with their customers, apart from each clients opinion on health. The significance of nursing care and that knowledge of nursing are distinct from knowledge of medicine. The nurses who embrace health as expanding consciousness are contributing to nursing care. HEC has made a difference in the lives of the participating clients and also the lives of the nurses who are themselves transformed. The impact of these HEC based care models have promoted patient comfort, enriched practice, increased nurse satisfaction, and promoted theory guided patient care. A human being in every circumstance, regardless of how chaotic and desperate, is a key entity of the collective method of expanding consciousness. The expanding consciousness depicts a practice, in which a person regains his actual self, as he acquires superior significance in his life and those around him. In an individuals quest for him/her genuine self, the persons consciousness expands to involve the concerns and benefits of those people surrounding him and everything else. Self-wakefulness might ultimately bring about recognition of one's self and one's conditions and restraints. With self-consciousness and self-approval, a thoroughly perception of one's status might overlay the route for an individual to employ into activities resulting in constructive development excellence. Overview of the theory Health as a Whole Person as unitary being resulted in the new view of health that eliminates the view of health and disease as dichotomies. Health and disease are not separate entities (George, 2011). Health and illness should be viewed equally as expressions of the life process with the understanding of life process in its totality (Newman, 1999). Reconsideration of the synthesized view that incorporates disease as meaningful aspect of health means that health includes disease and disease includes health revealing a new concept of health as a pattern of the whole (Newman, 1999). Health as a pattern of a whole is consistent with the theory of implicate and explicate models. Implicate includes the unseen or basis of all things and explicate includes the tangible of our world, the things we can see, touch, hear, feel which are so much real than the unseen that we think the explicate order is the primary but the opposite is true the implicate is the primary. The explicate arises periodically from the imp licate like waves appearing and disappearing on the surface of the ocean. The explicate, whatever form it may take is temporary manifestation of a total undivided pattern. In the context of the theory of implicate order the manifest health, encompassing disease and non-disease can be regarded as the explication of the underlying pattern of person-environment (Newman, 1999). Observable phenomenon like body temperatures, blood pressure, heart rate, immune reactions, diet, exercise, family relations are explicate manifestations of the pattern of the whole. Viewing these manifestations as reflections of the underlying, dynamic pattern makes it possible for us to see the pattern of the whole and thereby begin to understand it, seeing health and illness as a unitary process, a fluctuating pattern of rhythmic phenomenon (Newman, 1999). Sickness can provide a kind of shock that reorganizes the relationship of the persons pattern in a more harmonious way. For example, consider the function o f a high fever or an emotional crisis, or the accident that occurs at a particular crucial time. These and other critical incidents may provide the shock that facilitates a jump from one pattern to another presumably at a higher level of organization. If disease is viewed as something negative to be avoided or eliminated, we may be ruling out the factor that can bring about the unfolding of the life process that the person is naturally seeking. Illness may accomplish for people what they secretly want but are not able to acknowledge even to themselves (Newman, 1999). The paradigm shift pattern is from treatment of symptoms to a search for patterns; from viewing pain and disease as negative to view that pain and disease are information; from seeing the body as a machine in good or bad refers to seeing the body as dynamic field of energy continuous with larger field, from seeing disease as an entity to seeing it as a process (Newman, 1999). Viewing disease as a manifestation of patter n can help people become aware of their pattern of person-environment interaction. The insight that is gained can be transforming, both for the person and for the family (George, 2011). A New Paradigm of Health Disease is viewed as the manifestation of health. To view disease as health dichotomous of polarized view of health and disease. Referring to the diagram it illustrated a new synthesized view. Disease fuses with its opposite, absence of disease, and non-disease and brings forth a new concept of health. This would mean that health includes disease and disease includes health (Newman, 2011). Concepts of HEC Newmans hypothesis reproduces a paradigm shift. Vital is the notion that sickness is not a different task; however is an element of a developing model of patient-setting interface. The four major concepts in nursings metaparadigm in health as an expanding consciousness are health, person, nursing and environment. Health as expanding consciousness is the pattern of the whole. Health includes disease and disease includes health resulting in a synthesis of disease and no disease. Disease is a meaningful aspect of health (Newman, 1999). Heath and disease are not separate entities but are each reflections of the larger whole (Newman, 199, p. 9). This wholeness cannot be gained or lost but the patterns of wholeness can take on different forms (Brown, 2011) Human or person are unitary with the environment with no boundaries and identified by their patterns. Human beings are open systems constantly interacting and evolving with each other and the environment. Human are continuously active in evolving their own pattern of the whole which is health (Newman, 2011). Humans are intuitive, affective and cognitive being more than the sum of their parts (George, 2011). Caring is a moral imperative for nursing and it reflects the whole of the person and requires one to be open. Wihout caring nursing does not occur (George, 2011). Environment is the universe of open systems interacting with person in an evolving pattern which is viewed as a process of expanding consciousness. It is also the pattern of consciousness (Newman, 1999). Assumptions of HEC Consciousness is the information of the pattern of the whole and further defined as informational capacity of a person to interact with the environment which can be seen in the quality and diversity of interactions between persons and their environment. Consciousness is not just something individual possess but individuals are consciousness but individual are consciousness as all matter is (Brown, 2011). Expanding consciousness is viewed as a process whereby a person becomes more of one self, finds greater meaning in life and reaches new connectedness with other people and the world in which they live (Brown, 2011). Pattern is a central aspect of nursing practice and research. Each person has a unique pattern of interaction between self and environment. Insight into patterns provides information of life meaning and understanding of the whole. Movement, space, time, and consciousness are a synthesis of pattern. The interaction between nurse-client processes for recognizing pattern tha t focuses on relationship, events, interaction and the meaning of these in peoples lives (Brown, 2011). Identifying and recognizing patterns opens new possibilities for action and expansion of consciousness. Pattern recognition is by the observer, the nurse relates and resonates with the client through periods of disequilibrium and chaos until a new rhythm emerges from the client center of consciousness leading into the identification of the old patterns leads to possibilities of new patterns or interaction and relationships that are indicative of expanding consciousness and therefore increasing health (Brown, 2011). Disorganization relates to change in pattern. Pattern becomes more highly organized as information increases though sometimes information such as illness does not fit into the existing pattern and pattern becomes less orderly, disorganized. Disorganization provides an indication that change is necessary. Disorganization and choice may lead to transformation which is cha nge that occurs all at once rather than in a gradual and linear fashion (Newman, 1999). Disease is a process of life toward higher level of consciousness. Sometimes this process is smooth, pleasant or harmonious; other times it is difficult as in disease. Disease may be a way in which one gets in touch with his or her own pattern, it may provide an important disequilibrium in the growth process and therefore may be regarded as a facilitator of that process (Newman, 1999). Movement, time and space are merging patterns of consciousness that represent the person as a center of consciousness. Movement is a means whereby the space and time become a reality and therefore is a means of becoming aware of self. Time is a function of movement that relates the rhythm of living phenomenon. Time is the unbounded three-dimensional expanse in which all matter exists (Newman, 1999). Literature Review The theory of health as expanding consciousness branches from Rogers hypothesis of elementary individuals.Rogers suppositions as regards to the modeling of human beings in communication with the surroundings are essential to the perception that consciousness is a demonstration of a growing approach of contact between the person and his environment. Consciousness is identified as the informational aptitude of the organism (in this case, the person); namely, the capacity of the structure to interrelate with his surroundings (Bentov, 1978). Consciousness involves not merely the cognitive and emotional wakefulness usually linked to consciousness, however, as well the integration of the whole existing human life, which comprises physiochemical preservation and development progressions in addition to immunity. This model of information, which is the consciousness of the individual, is a segment of a bigger, entire sample of a growing world. Rogers perseverance that health and sickness are just expressions of the metrical vacillations of the life course is the groundwork for perceiving health and illness as an elementary process, progressing through differences in regular-irregular. From this point of view, one can no longer consider health and sickness in the dichotomous pattern described by medical science; i.e., health as nonexistence of illness or health as a range from wellbeing to illness. Health is the same as the developing model of consciousness. An individual is defined by his/ her pattern, which reveals the model of the human being within the bigger model of the environment. The pattern is growing throughout diverse transformations of order/regular and disorder/irregular, counting what in daily talking is termed wellbeing and sickness. Pattern recognition surfaces from a course of detecting significance and meaning in a humans existence. Meaning is intrinsic in pattern, and the other way round holds true. David Bohms theory of actuality as unbroken entirety, maintains the perception of health and sickness being a whole process (Bohm, 1980). Bohm speculates an unobserved, core model, termed the associate order, as the chief order of realism. All the concrete objects of the universe are clarifications of the associate or implicate order. Illness, and all further evident expressions of individual operation, can be viewed as the explanation of the implicate or associate order. From this viewpoint, sickness is deemed a manifestation of the unity of the fundamental model, not a disconnected body. The observation of health as the growing pattern of the whole needs a non-disconnected universal recognition. Disease and healthiness are merely distinct perspectives of a bigger truth. They cannot be detached from the whole, but under a disconnected pattern of seeing them. The state of affairs that takes a human being to the notice of a nurse, reflects a time in peoples life whenever the traditional regulations dont any longer function, an occasion when a person should possess a preference. The mission is to hear how things operate, to determine the new set of laws, and to progress into a further stage of being, and consideration. Both Gregory Bateson (1979) and Arthur Young (1976) accentuated this charge, as the reason of existence. It represents the root of conditions, in which nursing can aid people in their quest for realization of the developing and rising pattern within and of their lives. A human circulates into phases of awareness, including the deprivation from freedom in the expansion of self-character, in anticipation of a defining moment (Young, 1976). At the moment, the aspects that held true and executed in the past, do not any longer function. What was measured as progress is not anymore deemed as evolution. It is at this juncture, that the purpose is to acquire the new regulations. There is an understanding of self-restraint that leads the makeover that makes it likely to surpass oneself in evolving consciousness. The affinity of the nurse-patient affiliation, smoothes the progress of this insight and change. The conversion that takes place at the defining moment might be identified from the position of Ilya Prigogines theory of change (Prigogine, Allen Herman, 1977). Prigogine declares that the customary variations of deterministic methods interrelate with likelihood occasions to produce a type of massive vacillation that thrusts the structure to a further, superior level of association and performance. Disarray and confusion exert a pressure on the living system, and is opposed by the structure. If the power of the variation is adequate, the system is urged to alter and penetrate a provisionally disordered state, into an upper order. Transformation happens when the human being deviates from balance. The action at the decisive end of the fluctuation has the prospective to go off in various directions, and it is not viable to recognize which path it will take. Sometime, one course triumphs over, and a new order is modeled. Movement during the stage of disturbance, ineffectiveness and indecision, is aided by the company of a caring and thoughtful other. Present research certifies the significance of a nurses compassionate affiliation with the customer or patient in permitting the progression of expanding consciousness to disclose. The physical condition of a human being is awhole aspect, a surfacing model of human-surroundings (Rogers, 1970). Existence is a course of expanding consciousness. Consciousness is the informational capacity of the human being, and can be perceived in the value of communication amongst the system and his environment (Bentov, 1978). The explicate order reflects a demonstration of the implicate order (Bohm, 1980). Newman refers to Bentov (1978) as identifying consciousness as the informational capacity of the system, and affirmed, this system has the capacity to interact with the environment (Newman, 1999). The structure does not comprise of only reflection and expressive consciousness, but also embraces all the relational elements that subsist between an individual, involving the complete continuum of biochemical operations, and the bigger, expanding model of the world (Newman, 1999). Newman quotes Rogers perception that health and disease are enclosed within what is named a unitary or whole route, purely signifying that human beings are correlated to the larger universe (Newman, 1999). Health and disease are not anymore viewed or deemed as a facet of a range, and no longer disconnected. Synthesis of the theory and the approach chosen The Essentials of Masters Education for Advanced Practice Nursing (American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN, 1996) authorizes that APNs (advanced practice nurse), counting NPs, employ conjectures from nursing and additional occupations in medical activity, and that concern stresses on the whole of a persons health and illness experiences (AACN, 1996). By permitting the nursing clinician to develop a comprehensive and holistic approach to healthcare (AACN, 1996), APNs are guided to implement nursing theories in healthcare communities. Margaret Newmans nursing conjecture, Health as Expanding Consciousness (HEC), is suggested to direct primary care approach within this scheme. For those who are not acquainted with Newmans theory, HEC needs a wider, more embracing perception, and less disconnected worldview to structure care. Opposite to the course of the biomedical pattern, Newmans theory is not directed and focused on interference. Newman deems her theory as an addition of Martha Rogers Science of Unitary Beings, which regards the modeling of individuals in contact with the surroundings as necessary to the notion that consciousness is a demonstration of a developing model of person-environment interaction (Newman). Fawcett (2001), LoBiondo-Wood Haber (2002), McEwen Wills (2002), and Robinson Kish (2002) categorize Newmans conjecture as an impressive theory. Impressive theories are wide in compass, and all-inclusive to cover all the perceptions that concern nursespersons, environment, and health (LoBiondo-Wood Haber, 2002). Newman categorized her theory as a whole-transformative imposing theory. The theory presumes that individuals are: 1) Whole beings that cannot be identified by the total of their components; 2) Autonomous and self-developing; 3) Incorporated in and intermingling with the bigger power structure accepted as the universe; 4) Identified for their patterns of being, models of energy, and sharpness from others (Newman, 1992). The thought that strength is a higher condition of consciousness, and disease is a lower condition of illness is inappropriate. One of the unique aspects of Newmans theory is the expanded dimension of the ways that nurses, and in the case of this paper FNPs, can become aware of what it is that they really know, and how it is that they know. Newman (1995) wrote that beyond the knowing the clients overall pattern is the process of sensing into ones own field. The FNP is required to be aware of the internal experience and trust that the information being received in the moment is valid. When the clinician does this, what develops is an increased capacity to be part of the healing energy that is created within the intentional relationship. It is necessary to reflect on the meaning and choice within the particular relationship with openness and curiosity. Inside HEC, the nurse-patient association is not divided or hierarchical; it is a corporation that urges the discovery of models that subsist for the humans experiences, amongst them are the state of wellbeing and expanding consciousness. Newman was inclined towards Teilhard de Chardins (1965) belief that a persons consciousness continues to develop beyond the physical life and becomes a part of the universal consciousness (Newman, 1999). Thus, sickness does not weaken a human being. If consciousness prolongs after bereavement, it appears that consciousness does not stop to increase with ill health. Since the NP is a nurse, the NPs task involves aiding the customer to comprehend the largely growing patterns. Symptoms are elements of the general pattern, and also, HEC is not founded on the requirements or interference. Meaning, the NP assists the client to view him or herself further than merely his or her condition. The pattern of health is a fraction of a wider portrait of existence and awareness. A strong unique feature of the premise is that NPs and patients feel the fact of being altered or transformed through this method. The nurse employs the member (patient) in a conversation regarding occurrences that are indispensable to them, and the nurse produces an opportunity for manifestation, consciousness, and probable insight (Picard Jones, 2005). Newman (1999) highlights that the traditional approach of nurse-patient affiliation was circulated around the thought that individuals are constituted of disconnected components of the biomedical structure. Mind, body, and soul are strongly associated and must not be deemed discretely from each other. (Hamric, Spross, Hanson, 2000). Holism acknowledges that the person is more than the sum of its parts (Smuts, 1926), operates as a single unit inside of the larger world, and cannot be fragmented into fixed units (Hamric, et al., 2000; Smuts, 1926). Every human being is a unique, intricate system within the broader st ructures of family, society, and world. In the biomedical scheme, the clinicians liability is to realize what is incorrectand to tackle the dilemma. When HEC directs activity, the aim is to comprehend what approach actually takes part, and involve the pattern as both clinician and patient expand consciousness. The standpoint realizes patient proficiency, and the significance of the sickness or health experience (Newman, 1999). Movement, deliberation, and pattern recognition are fundamental to attaining awareness. Application of the model on my setting The following is a case study by Margaret Newman. This case study accentuates and demonstrates what I have mentioned before in this section, as HEC model being vital for the long-term care setting. Even if a patient has got better and needed no more hospital, the nurses role is critical for his long-term assessment and welfare. Case Study John Castro, a 56-year-old white male, residing in Makati City, with his beloved wife Chelsie. They have three adult children who live next to them. Mr. Castro is a heavy smoker and has suffered angina for the last several years. He is now off for the weekend after an exhausting trip that he has had lately. His wife asks him to go to the store and get the necessary groceries in order for his wife to do him the food he prefers. John had to shovel the driveway before he kicks off to the store. While he was doing the shoveling, he started to feel a tightness in his chest, then the pain spread to his arm and jaw. Out of a sudden, his wife saw him collapsed and directly called 8888910. John had striked a Choice Point, and in order to hold up John while he is assessing his life, the nurse would supply appropriate information concerning nutrition and smoking cessation and work with him to expand suitable changes. The MI and near death experience had a great impact on John.He re-assessed his life and decided he had some major changes to to execute. John began exercising, consuming healthier food, and he decided to refrain from smoking. John diminished the long runs he took so that he could get better sleep more frequently. Nurses who form relationships with their clients can help them identify problematic patterns, move to a choicepoint, then to a higher level of consciousness, resultingin a reduction in problematic patterns of behavior. Assessment John : 57-year-old, white male, Hx of angina, Smoker, Truck Driver, Inactive lifestyle, Pooreating lifestyle, Poor sleeping lifestyle, wedded, with 3 grown-up children, resides in Makati (countryside area), Latest MI almost led to a probable death circumstance. Plan While valuing the patients choices, the nurse helps the patient in discovering resources fortransformation. Argue with patient possible alterations to identify health lifestyles that are no longer operating and discuss new ways to correlate them. Work with patient, not make your mind up on behalf of the client. Implement Client will reveal enhanced nutrition habits by implementing Food guide to Healthy Eating. Client will display improved physical activity while exercising 25 minutes every single day. Client will show better sleeping habits by resting at least 8hours/night. Client will express suitable employment of Nitro-glycerin, by keeping hold of a usable bottle continually. Client will initiate a smoking cessation plan. Evaluation The nurse checks up the patients changed connection, and how communication surmounted relationship and how the communication surmounted the health test. Client has shown enhanced nutrition lifestyle. Client has boosted physical activity. Client has proven ameliorated sleeping habits. Client has furthermore shown proper exploitation of Nitro-glycerin. Client has initiated a smoking termination. A novel acceptance has evolved on how his surroundings associate with his health. HEC practice is not focused on simply treating disease, but rather on attending to how the current situation fits into the patients evolving pattern of interaction with that which is meaningful to her or him, and how the patient chooses to move forward. It attends to the whole of a persons experience and being. It centers on recognizing life patterns. HEC practice gives insight not only to individual life patterns, but also to the pattern of the community interacting with the individual. Caring in the HEC perspective is nonjudgmental, noninterventionist, and involves being with rather than just doing for. It is caring in its deepest, most respectful sense The theory of health as expanding consciousness was stimulated by concern for those for whom health as the absence of disease or disability is not possible. Nurses often relate to such people: people facing the uncertainty, debilitation, loss and eventual death associated with chronic illness. The theory has progressed to include the health of all persons regardless of the presence or absence of disease. The theory asserts that every person in every situation, no matter how disordered and hopeless it may seem, is part of the universal process of expanding consciousness a process of becoming more of oneself, of finding greater meaning in life, and of reaching new dimensions of connectedness with other people and the world. Nurses practicing within this perspective experience the joy of participating in the expanding process of others and find that their own lives are enhanced and transformed. Pattern recognition is central to both research and practice, which reflects a hermeneutic, dialectic praxis approach (George, 1995). Summary and conclusion Clarity Semantic precision is apparent in the descriptions, explanations, and dimensions of the theory notions. Simplicity The more profound connotation of the theory of health as expanding consciousness is composite. The entire theory must be comprehended, not just the remote notions. If a person desired to exploit a positivist practice, Newmans original suggestions would provide massive insights, as guides for theory progress. Nevertheless, investigators who tested that approach have decided that it is insufficient to scrutinize the theory. As Newman has supported in the 1994 publication of her book, Health as Expanding Consciousness, the holistic method of the hermeneutic dialectic approach is reliable with the theory and necessitates a significant level of consideration of the theory in observation (Tomey, 2006). Generality The notions in Newmans theory are wide in range, since they all involve health. The theory has been implemented in quite a few diverse civilizations, and is appropriate across the continuum of nursing care conditions. This makes her hypothesis comprehensive. Empirical Precision In the early phases of expansion, facets of the theory were employed and tested in an old scientific method. Nevertheless, quantitative methods are insufficient in confining the active, changing environment of this conjecture. Derivable Consequences The center of Newmans theory of health as expanding consciousness generates an evolving direction for all health-oriented controls. In the pursuit for comprehension of the trend of health, this exclusive perception of health, challenges nurses to deploy some distinction in nursing activity via the implementation of this theory. The nurse's task is to realize the peoples exceptional pattern of life, and to operate within that model with the individual to attain the person's objectives (Weingourt, 1998). Buy custom Health as Expanding Consciousness essay

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Saying Even in Spanish

Saying Even in Spanish Even has dozens of possible translations to Spanish. Heres a guide to even that will work most of the time. As is the case with other words that have a wide range of meanings, many of them apparently unrelated to each other, when translating even you need to understand first what it means and how it is used. Most of the time it is an adjective suggesting uniformity or an adverb used to add emphasis, although it can be a transitive verb as well. One way to translate even, at least when it isnt being used for emphasis, is to come up with an English synonym and then translate the synonym. This can be especially useful when a dictionary isnt helpful. ‘Even'’ Meaning ‘Uniform’ or ‘Consistent’ Uniforme can be used most of the time when even is referring to something being consistent: Las temperaturas no son uniformes durante el aà ±o. (The temperatures arent even through the year.)Es importante que la aplicacià ³n de tinte para el cabello sea uniforme. (It is importante that the application of dye for your hair be even.)Si la superficie no es uniforme, se puede usar la masilla para arreglar las fisuras. (If the surface isnt even, the putty can be used to fix the cracks.) ‘Even’ as the Opposite of ‘Odd' An even number is a nà ºmero par. Un nà ºmero par es un nà ºmero entero que puede ser dividido exactamente por dos. (An even number is a whole number that can be divided exactly by two.) ‘Even’ in Competitions In competitive contests, empatado can refer to an even or tied score: Los candidatos presidenciales estn empatados con un 48 por ciento de apoyo popular. (The presidential candidates are even at 48 percent of popular support.)Estaban empatados en la parte alta del inning 10. (They were even in the top half of the 10th inning.) ‘Even’ as Lack of Debt Two persons or entities can be said to be even if neither owes something to the other. This can be explained directly: Se me pagas 10 pesos, no me debers nada. (If you pay me 10 pesos well be even. Literally, if you pay me 10 pesos, you wont owe me anything.) Getting Even At least two reflexive verbs, vengarse and desquitarse, can be used colloquially to mean to get even as an act of vengeance: Voy a vengarme de una manera que te haga sentir miserable durante mucho tiempo. (Im going to get even with you in a way that makes you feel miserable for a long time.)No es justo desquitarse con el que trata de ayudarle. (It isnt right to get even with the one who is trying to help you.) Translating ‘Even’ for Emphasis Even often suggests the idea of up to and including a stated condition. In these cases, aun, hasta, or incluso can be used, often interchangeably. Hasta el presidente lo piensa asà ­. (Even the president thinks so.)Aun asà ­, no podemos ganar el premio. (Even so, we cant win the prize.)Aun hoy, la mejor forma de prevenir la gripe es la vacuna. (Even today, the best way of preventing the flu is vaccine.)Parece que incluso mi hijo querà ­a  ver la pelà ­cula. (It seems that even my son wanted to see the movie.)En la casa de Dios, hasta los pobres son reyes. (In Gods house, even the poor are kings.)Ser jazzista es difà ­cil, incluso en Nueva York. (Being a jazz musician is tough, even in New York.) ‘Even’ in the Negative Ni siquiera is frequently used in translating the phrase not even: Ella ni siquiera puede hablarme. (She cant even speak to me.)Un accidente destrozà ³ su coche y ni siquiera fue al hospital. (An accident destroyed his car and he didnt even go to the hospital.)Ni siquiera yo quiero estar conmigo la mayorà ­a de las veces. (Not even I want to be with myself most of the time.)El paà ­s ni siquiera va a crecer lo suficiente para pagar los intereses de su deuda. (The country wont even grow enough to pay the interest on its debt.) ‘Even’ as a Verb Verbs that mean to even, that is, to make smooth or level, include nivelar and allanar: Allanaron el terreno antes de construir la casa. (They evened the terrain before building the house.)Van a nivelar los salarios de los maestros. (Theyre going to even out the teachers salaries.) Key Takeaways Even has a multitude of meanings and can be translated to Spanish in numerous ways that depend on the context.When even is used as a way of adding emphasis, good translations include aun, hasta, and incluso.Ni siquiera is usually the equivalent of not even.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Historical cost accounting and fair value acounting Essay - 1

Historical cost accounting and fair value acounting - Essay Example One of the most distinguished differences between these two lies in their definitions. While historic cost is the amount at which the asset or liability was originally obtained, fairvalue is the amount at which the asset could be exchanged or a liability settled between knowledgeable, willing parties in an arms length transaction. Another difference between them is that under historic cost accounting entries are made only when an actual transaction arises while under fairvalue accounting measurements are updated periodically even in the absence of explicit transactions. In historic cost accounting reported amounts can be calculated based on internally available information about prices in past transactions, without reference to outside data whereas fairvalue method requires current market prices to determine reported amounts, which may require estimation and can lead to reliability problems. In accordance with risk management, the fairvalue method easily reflects the most risk managed strategies while the historic cost method requires complex rules to attempt to reflect the most effect of most risk managed strategies. There has been a shift in the economic situation around the world and henceforth, we see a shift taking place in the accounting principles too. While historical cost method might have numerous advantages, the fairvalue has much more importance in today’s volatile markets. Fairvalue allows users of financial statements to obtain a more truer and fairer view of the company’s real financial situation as only fairvalue reflects the prevailing economic conditions and the changes in them. By contrast, historical cost based accounting shows the conditions that existed when

The intellectual history of Islamic Spain-time frame 711 to 1248 Research Paper

The intellectual history of Islamic Spain-time frame 711 to 1248 - Research Paper Example Skilled artisans commanded respect and had ample creative opportunities. When one evaluates the merits of the city during that period, with a population of half a million, no more elaboration is needed about the administration. The city included many suburbs, a good number of mosques, public utilities, suqs (markets), many palaces and apparel manufacturing units. In the early 11th century, with mounting economic and military pressures, the disintegration of the caliphate commenced. Bishko writes, â€Å"On the political side, indeed, we are given a pious but unrealistic hypothesis that the breakdown of the Caliphate and the failure of its successor states can be ascribed to the fact that a great imperial power violates per se the spiritual premises of Islam. We are further told that schism between the power-hungry, materialistic upper class and the profundity of religious masses made political unity and defeat of the Christian advance impossible.†(Bishko, 1966, p.142) Many smal l kingdoms are known as taifas sprouted. But from the angle of lifestyles, they followed the original pattern of Cordoba. With the end of the caliphate and petty kingdoms(taifas) coming into prominence in the 11th century, the importance switched over to Granada(Gharnatah) A tribe known as Zirids shifted from Cordoba and established an independent kingdom in Granada. â€Å"At the beginning of the eleventh century (fifth century, Anno Hegirae), the old Muslim power of caliph and Amir in Central and Southern Spain seemed to stand unassailable.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Taxation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Taxation - Assignment Example These two systems worked independently in the past and the tax authorities maintained separate tax systems for income tax and national insurance contributions. Income tax was taxed annually in a progressive manner on individuals and corporate bodies whereby low income earners were taxed lower than high income earners (UK Government, 2012). The tax rates increased with increase in incomes of individuals. On the other hand, benefits are payments to individuals by the state. They are paid to individuals through the bank, credit union account or building societies. If one does not have any of these accounts, he/she may be paid through Post Office card account. There are various types of benefits in UK. Attendance allowance is a tax-free benefit paid to individuals of over 65 years who are mentally or physically handicapped. Two rates of up to ?71.40 are payable per week. Carer’s allowance is payable weekly in advance or every 4 or 13 weeks. Child benefit is a universal claim by pa rents for their children (BBC News, 2012). They are paid after every four weeks in normal situations and weekly for single parents. Tax credit is also paid weekly or after every four weeks, to families with children, whether the parents work or not. Disability living allowance is is a tax-free benefit payable after every 4 weeks to disabled people who have walking difficulties and who need someone to help them walk. Other types of benefits include crisis loans, council tax benefits, community grant care, child trust fund, etc. 2. Description of the proposed recommendation The proposed recommendation requires the integration of income tax with benefit systems. To achieve this, the UK tax system first needs to merge income tax and National insurance. These are two different ways in which income tax are paid in UK. Maintaining the two types of tax systems may be costly, less transparent and burdensome. Integrating the two systems will therefore bring forth an easier method of paying in come tax in UK. The integration of income tax with National insurance contribution makes it more transparent for the tax system. The progressive taxation in UK includes 20% basic rate, 40% higher rate and 50% additional rate of income tax (Mirrlees et al, 2012). If this income tax is integrated with National Insurance Contribution, the new rates may be 31%, 41% and 51% respectively. This is a more transparent mechanism which enables individuals to pay for their taxes more easily at once rather than maintaining two separate tax accounts. The second step in the integration of benefit and tax systems is the integration of the benefit system. In this case, the benefit and tax credit systems are merged together. This is a messy and complicated mix of overlapping programmes. The programmes which need to be include programmes needed to provide support for low-income families and benefits provided to give non-means-tested support for various contingencies. The former class of programmes inc ludes job-seekers allowance, income support, housing benefit, pension credit, child tax credit and council tax benefit. On the other hand, benefits for non-means-tested support for contingencies include state pension, disability allowance, carer’s allowance, winter fuel payment etc (Mirrlees et al, 2012). Because several families claim these benefits simultaneously, it is necessary to integrate the two systems into one manageable system. The recommended system

Complex Care Assignment Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Complex Care Assignment - Case Study Example The impulse produced is then represented by a pattern that shows the dysfunction ie whether it is total obstruction (Mi) or partial (angina).for many angina patients, the ECG is usually normal.ECG is only carried out on patients with stable angina. Echocardiogram is where sound waves are utilized to check for the condition of the heart. The waves produce images that are then used to visualize whether there are blockages or damages to the heart arterials. This depends on the x ray imaging. It is part of cardiac catheterization used in checking for blood vessels in the heart. This has also been used in evaluation of the lungs where there is accumulation of fluids in chest cavity. Measures flow of blood to myocardium at rest and during stress. This resembles regular stress test but in nuclear, a radioactive component is injected to the bloodstream (Mommersteeg et al., 2013). A scanner is used for detecting and creating images of the heart muscle. Deficient flow is indicated by light spots on the images. Beta blockers block the effects of hormone epinephrine such as adrenaline while prasugrel and ticagrel prevent blood from clotting, On the other hand, statins cholesterol levels in blood. Calcium channel blockers which relax and widens blood vessels (Mommersteeg et al., 2013). How Myocardial Infarction might progress to Acute Pulmonary Oedema. Acute pulmonary oedema is caused by high hydrostatic pressure in the capillaries as a result of increased pulmonary pressure in the veins. Myocardial infarction causes accumulation of fluids in the alveoli of the lungs. These fluids have low concentrations of proteins and can also be found in the interstitium. There is always frequent complaint of cough as well as pink, frothy sputum. Moreover, there may be hoarseness caused by recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy from mitral stenosis and perhaps chest pain that alerts physicians to the likeliness of acute myocardial infarction. In addition, there may be other

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Interpretations of skill and skill that only few people have, but all Essay

Interpretations of skill and skill that only few people have, but all people can master - Essay Example These skills are so common that they always go unnoticed most of our life. On the other hand there is the functionality of voluntary skills. Voluntary skills are those skills that can be judged as specialized skill and had to be acquired by an individual with the dint of time management- noted or unnoted. It is this voluntary skill that gave birth to the concept of division of labor and ignited a spark to get the ball of civilization rolling. Picture this: the setting is somewhere in Southern France and the time is around the end of the last Ice Age. You will find a group of hunter-gatherers busy with their daily life. The men folks are coming back from the hard days hunt to their temporary settlement and the women of the tribe are separating the findings of the days work. And out in a corner there is an aged man busy with his Paleolithic tools- working hard to shape and sharp their jagged edges. Now, all the hunters are skillful huntsman and all the women are worthy gathers and this is almost inbuilt quality of the tribe simply because without these skills the tribe would seize to exist. It is but obvious that the sense of hunting and the eye for finding the needful elements scattered all around you requires a specific amount of skill and it should be learned to master them. Some of the women are better gatherer and some of the men are more skillful hunter than the other or average tribal. This could be termed that they have got a talent for hunting or gathering but the focal point of the skill is that this is not any specialized skill to mention as because the other members of tribe are attributed with the same skill, but the other maybe more or less skillful to their task. Thus, these skills could be termed as involuntary skills. On the other hand, the elderly person busy with his 'modernized' primitive tools is an example of the voluntary skill. It is not that he is not able to hunt but he has specialized himself into an occupation that no other in the tribe can share. It is not that this elderly Cro-Magnon is an Einstein of his tribe but it is this specialization that keeps him apart. Thus, this could be safely stated that "there are, however, certain skills that only a limited number of people have, which allow them to be more effective in areas that the average person is not. Even though only a small percentage of the population has mastered these skills, their benefits are too great to be kept to themselves. Conquering them requires time, dedication and patience. Devotion is challenging for the average person due to our busy lives." (Lamb, 87-88) In today's context, the job of a software programming professional is completely 'Greek' to a general person and the skill of a rocket engineer is completely unknown to a software programming professional. This is because these are completely specialized occupations and thereby absolutely voluntary in nature. But for both the software programming professional and rocket engineer driving is a common skill and they both are skillful in it in respective ability. Therefore we can summarize that driving is a involuntary skill that these two specialized persons share commonly. It is such a

Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Economics - Essay Example A monopolist does not have to worry about any such retaliation due to imperfect competition. There are too many barriers of entry into a monopolistic market for new firms. The biggest barrier is that of economy. A monopolist is able to produce his product at a very low cost and it is not possible for the other producers to produce at such a low cost. The competitors are not able to invest in capital like the monopolist invests. The technology that is available to the monopolist is also not available to the competitors. Therefore, the monopolist lowers the price of his product at such a level at which other producers cannot survive. This way, the competitors are driven out of the competition. When this happens, the monopolist raises the price of his product at his desired level again. Another aspect of monopoly is the network effect. The product of the monopolist has no close substitutes. The new consumers also tend to use the monopolist’s product because it becomes a social no rm and a fashion. This is why the demand for his product is always likely to increase. This aspect also serves as a barrier of entry for new firms and as another incentive for monopolist to raise price. Patents and copyrights provide legal protection to a monopolist from competitors. Generally, a monopolist earns supernormal profit which means that the marginal revenue is lower than the price. The demand curve for the monopolist’s product is relatively inelastic. This means that any change in price does not affect the demand for the product. Monopoly is one of the rare scenarios in which the demand for the product is relatively inelastic. Normally, the price goes up in this case because it is very easy for the monopolist. In a competitive market, it is very hard to raise the price of the product because the competitors do not follow the new price. The demand for the product in perfect competition is perfectly elastic and there is no demand if a single firm raises its price. T here is no such case in monopoly. A monopolist has a great influence on the consumers. There are times when a monopolist has to face some retaliation from the consumers when he raises the price unreasonably. In order to deal with this situation, he uses his control on supply. He cuts the level of supply at his own will and it becomes hard for the consumers to get their hands on the monopolist’s product. When they do find the product, they are willing to pay the price asked by the monopolist. This way, the monopolist curbs the reaction of the public and earns real economic profit during the process. However, he does lose some of his customers in the process because the demand for his product is not perfectly elastic and some of the customers are no longer able to afford the product. His ability to control supply and affect the consumers is another barrier for his competitors. Another tactic for a monopolist to make high profit is price discrimination. He segregates the market into two parts. The consumers who need his product more or have an ability to pay more are charged high prices. The rest of the consumers are charged lower prices. Price discrimination works successfully and is profitable when the elasticity of demand of one market is different from that of the separated market. This way, the monopolist earns more profit from the market whose elasticity of de

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Interpretations of skill and skill that only few people have, but all Essay

Interpretations of skill and skill that only few people have, but all people can master - Essay Example These skills are so common that they always go unnoticed most of our life. On the other hand there is the functionality of voluntary skills. Voluntary skills are those skills that can be judged as specialized skill and had to be acquired by an individual with the dint of time management- noted or unnoted. It is this voluntary skill that gave birth to the concept of division of labor and ignited a spark to get the ball of civilization rolling. Picture this: the setting is somewhere in Southern France and the time is around the end of the last Ice Age. You will find a group of hunter-gatherers busy with their daily life. The men folks are coming back from the hard days hunt to their temporary settlement and the women of the tribe are separating the findings of the days work. And out in a corner there is an aged man busy with his Paleolithic tools- working hard to shape and sharp their jagged edges. Now, all the hunters are skillful huntsman and all the women are worthy gathers and this is almost inbuilt quality of the tribe simply because without these skills the tribe would seize to exist. It is but obvious that the sense of hunting and the eye for finding the needful elements scattered all around you requires a specific amount of skill and it should be learned to master them. Some of the women are better gatherer and some of the men are more skillful hunter than the other or average tribal. This could be termed that they have got a talent for hunting or gathering but the focal point of the skill is that this is not any specialized skill to mention as because the other members of tribe are attributed with the same skill, but the other maybe more or less skillful to their task. Thus, these skills could be termed as involuntary skills. On the other hand, the elderly person busy with his 'modernized' primitive tools is an example of the voluntary skill. It is not that he is not able to hunt but he has specialized himself into an occupation that no other in the tribe can share. It is not that this elderly Cro-Magnon is an Einstein of his tribe but it is this specialization that keeps him apart. Thus, this could be safely stated that "there are, however, certain skills that only a limited number of people have, which allow them to be more effective in areas that the average person is not. Even though only a small percentage of the population has mastered these skills, their benefits are too great to be kept to themselves. Conquering them requires time, dedication and patience. Devotion is challenging for the average person due to our busy lives." (Lamb, 87-88) In today's context, the job of a software programming professional is completely 'Greek' to a general person and the skill of a rocket engineer is completely unknown to a software programming professional. This is because these are completely specialized occupations and thereby absolutely voluntary in nature. But for both the software programming professional and rocket engineer driving is a common skill and they both are skillful in it in respective ability. Therefore we can summarize that driving is a involuntary skill that these two specialized persons share commonly. It is such a

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

No need for topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

No need for topic - Essay Example The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, FCPA was enacted to reduce corruption in foreign markets. Therefore, the act was enacted to correct market failures. Corruption involves using money or other resources to influence the decisions of an individual in preferring one entity to the detriment of others. Companies that did not participate in corruption in foreign markets lost to those that did in awarding of government contracts and in venturing into new markets. This was a major problem that characterized market failure. Moreover market failure occurs in cases where there are weak laws to discipline and monitor institutions. Institutions will fail to protect their investors due to managerial misconducts. Consequently, both investors and customers lose huge amounts of investments.3 Examples of these include Enron, Global Crossing and WorldCom corporations that failed due to bad managerial decisions. Government failure on the other hand arises in cases where a government has created major inefficiencies by failing to intervene at the initiate stages of a problem when it could have been more appropriate to solve it more efficiently.4 Such intervention is of many benefits to the investors and consumers. Pareto optimization may be used to measure the extent of government failure in the same way it is used to measure the extent of market failure. Public choice theory explains government failure in a market. The theory stipulates that an individual will be more inclined to be motivated by self-interest, though some may base their actions on the concern for others.5 Government’s failure to prevent such selfish behavior among individuals at the expense of others is the main factor leading to government failure. Therefore, a government is responsible for putting in place checks and balances to ensure organization discipline in insuring investors against losses.6 i. Considering the two cases, market failure explains the policy behind Foreign Corrupt Practices Ac t of 1977, FCPA. Market failure involves unfair balance of resources that may lead to monopoly, lack of information, lower public good, among others. Most foreign corruption acts involved a company bribing foreign officials in foreign markets to have unrestrained access to resources, to block competitors from accessing resources or from enjoying government contracts, and blocking some companies from accessing the market. This resulted in creation of monopolies, and use of resources that did not accord to the public’s good. Therefore, the policy was as result of market failure. b. A negative externality that may result from market failure is damage to environment quality. When companies are allowed to harness resources in a country, most companies do not have regard to environmental degradation, and the effects it will have to the public. Companies will be more concerned on tapping resources for their production and not taking care of the environmental concern from people invo lved. When such companies have a monopoly over such resources, the general public may not benefit; the companies over exploit resources for profitability. An example is in the mining sector. Some companies are awarded rights to harvest certain minerals mostly in developing countries to contribute to the overall GDP of a country in exports. However, such companies leave large gaping holes of dilapidated land. Some do not take

Monday, October 14, 2019

Building Blocks of Life Essay Example for Free

Building Blocks of Life Essay Part 1: Mitosis and Meiosis Short-Answer Response Use Ch. 5 of BioInquiry and the â€Å"Comparing Mitosis and Meiosis† video as resources for Part 1 of this assignment. Write 75- to 100-word answers to the following questions. Why are the process of mitosis and meiosis both important to a living organism? Both mitosis and meiosis processes are extremely important because they are the division of chromosomes and without this division reproduction would not occur. Cell division plays an important role in the life cycle of a cell allowing the cell to grow, develop and then reproduce. If these processes did not occur then the cells would eventually die out and without the ability to be replaced by new cells then the host would die as well. When would an organism need to undergo the process of mitosis? Meiosis? An organism would need to undergo the process of mitosis in order to repair damaged cells or to start a new cell life cycle through cellular division. All cells need to be replaced on the regular basic within a living organism the cells divide and create new cells. An organism would need to undergo the process of meiosis when it needs to produce cells that are designated for sexual reproduction, such as egg or sperm cells within humans What would happen if meiosis did not occur? If meiosis did not occur then haploid cells would not be made resulting in the cell being unable to reproduce. Meiosis I reduces the number of chromosomes by half so that when fertilization occurs the number of  chromosomes would be reestablished. During meiosis II the daughter cell is a unique variation of its parent cell while still only having one pair of chromosomes. Part 2: Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration Matrix Complete the matrix. Use the following questions to aid in completion: What is the purpose of this pathway? Reactants: What does this reaction need to proceed? Products: What is produced because of the reaction? The role of ATP: Does it supply energy or store energy? Cellular respiration Photosynthesis Pathway Glycolysis Krebs cycle Electron transport Light-dependent reaction Light-independent reaction Purpose Energy Harvesting or Sugar-Splitting breakdown of glucose to single carbon molecules Converts oxygen to water Provide energy for the light-independent reaction Produces food for cellular respiration Where it takes place Cell cytoplasm Mitochondria Mitochondria Chloroplasts Chloroplasts Reactants ATP, NADH, Pyruvates,CO2,Coenzyme A,PGAL Acetyl Co-A, oxaloacetate, Citrate, Alpha ketoglutarate NADH, FADH2 Sunlight, chlorophyll, and water ATP, carbon dioxide, and NADPH Products H20, NADH, ATP Carbon dioxide and ATP 36 ATP Oxygen and ATP Carbohydrates (sugar and starch) The role of ATP Energy used to breakdown Pyruvic acid into Acetyl Co-enzyme A for the Krebs Cycle Energy to drive the electron transport High production of ATP produces energy for overall cell growth and repair Transports solar energy in the form of ATP to power other chemical reactions Fuels the formation of carbohydrates

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Invisible Man Essay: Self-Identity in Invisible Man -- Invisible Man E

Self-Identity in Invisible Man      Ã‚  Ã‚   In the novel, Invisible Man, the main character carries around a briefcase throughout the entire story. All of the possessions that he carries in that briefcase are mementos from learning experiences. Throughout the novel, the Invisible Man is searching for his identity and later discovers that his identity is in those items. As the narrator is leaving Mary's house for the Brotherhood, he sees a Negro-doll bank in his room. He is angry that the doll is holding a sign that read, "Feed me." "For a second I stopped, feeling hate charging up within me, then dashed over and grabbed it, suddenly as enraged by the tolerance of lack of discrimination, or whatever, that allowed Mary to keep such a self-mocking image around" (Ellison 319). The shattering of the bank by the narrator symbolizes that he is rejecting the views of the "old Negro" and taking his own views on the subject. Part of his views is the conviction that colored people do not need to rely on whites for their survival. Often times one does not know his own viewpoint on a subject until he can reject one view. Another item that is stored in his briefcase is the broken chain link that Brother Tarp gave to him. "I neither wanted it nor knew what to do with it; although there was no question of keeping it if no other reason than that I felt that Brother Tarp's gesture in offering it was of some deeply felt significance which I was compelled to respect" (Ellison 389). Although the narrator does not want to keep the link, he feels compelled to do so because the chain gang is part of his heritage. One often feels that he can not ignore to his past, as does the Invisible Man. Even at the end of the novel when he is b... ... part of his true identity. Works Cited   Bone, Robert.   "Ralph Ellison and the Uses of Imagination."   Modern Black Novelists: A Collection of Critical Essays.   Ed. M. G. Cooke.   Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1971.   45-63. Brennan, Timothy.   "Ellison and Ellison: The Solipsism of Invisible Man."   CLA Journal XXV (Dec 1981): 162-81. Ellison, Ralph.   Invisible Man.   New York: The Modern Library, 1994. Holland, Laurence B.   "Ellison in Black and White: Confession, Violence and Klein, Marcus.   "Ralph Ellison."   After Alienation: American Novels in Mid-Century.   Cleveland: World Pub., 1964.   71-146. Langman, F.H.   "Reconsidering Invisible Man."   The Critical Review.   18 (1976) 114-27. Lieber, Todd M.   "Ralph Ellison and the Metaphor of Invisibility in Black Literary Tradition."   American Quarterly.   Mar. 1972: 86-100.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Iraq War Is Both Necessary and Justified Essay -- Political Politics

Iraq War Is Both Necessary and Justified This essay is in defense of the Iraqi War. President Bush’s vocal critics state that American troops’ have been sacrificed in the Iraq War. First of all, the word â€Å"sacrifice† means that a person voluntarily does or gives up something at his or her own free will (like a bunt to advance a runner in baseball or Catholics sacrificing and giving up chocolate for Lent). I don’t believe that any of those soldiers that have been killed in the war deliberately intended to die or were â€Å"sacrificed† as Michael Moore has erroneously stated. And I’m sure that if President Bush knew the names of those soldiers that were going to be killed, I’m certain he would have ordered those individuals to stay on U.S. military bases and not engage in combat in Iraq. Secondly, in World War II over 405,000 American military personnel had been killed, and that happens to constitute over 400 times the sacrifice that our nation has made in the combined Afghan/Iraq Wars. And besides that horrendous astronomical figure over 671,000 American soldiers were wounded during WWII. I agree with the anti-war pundits that each American life should be valued, but when you analyze â€Å"sacrifice† in its true context, look to the past to equate the true cost of freedom. The World Trade Center twin-towers catastrophe was very comparable to Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and in fact more people died on September 11th on U.S. soil than were bombed and killed at Pearl Harbor. Now here’s where the liberal mindset suddenly turns philosophical. â€Å"The Iraq War should not be fought and it cannot be validly compared to WWII,† they will argue. President Bush does not like or want war, but sometimes war is the only viable measure to take. I stro... ... Palestinian suicide/homicide bomber’s family $30,000 of â€Å"oil for food money† just to ensure that terrorism in the Middle East would thrive and continue. The same attitude that prevailed among the demented German Fascists exists among the radical Islamic Fascists: â€Å"Blame it all on the Jews!† The United States of America protects all of the free world including anti-war protestors in Canada, Europe and even here in America. The USA is the greatest force for good the world has ever known, but our nation can only continue being great through strength, economic prosperity, free enterprise and courage to act, to demonstrate leadership and to defend what is right, what is just and what is necessary. And there’s one final thing to say to all anti-war liberals. How much money is Al Qaeda donating to the hurricance victims? Get on the right side of the fence and stay there.

Friday, October 11, 2019

J.C. Penney: Creating America’s Favorite Store Essay

INTRODUCTION: In 2013, this department store has been celebrating being in business for 110 years. It also once lured its customers in with its famous discount pricing strategy and coupons. The retailer is J.C. Penney, a fixture at shopping malls across the country. In 2012, J.C. Penney rebranded itself by making the announcement that it wanted to become America’s favorite store by creating a specialty department store experience (JCP, 2013). Founder James Cash Penney began the company with a Golden Rule: treat others the way you want to be treated Fair and Square (JCP, n.d.). The well-known retailer has grown to nearly 1,100 stores and boasts a workforce of more than 116,000 full and part-time employees (Strand, 1998). JCP operates in the continental United States, Alaska, and Puerto Rico. Loyal consumers flocked to the giant big box store where it sold women, men, and children’s clothing along with jewelry and household items such as appliances and home furniture. Over the years, the giant retailer has polished its marketing finesse. JCP’s current catchy advertising line: â€Å"Creating America’s Favorite Store† (JCP, n.d.). In corporate America, there are four different market structures: pure competition, pure monopolistic, l responsibility, Decision making, oligopoly, and monopoly. J.C. Penney falls under the pure competition market structure which is defined as many sellers supplying identical products (Douglas, 2012, Ch. 7). J.C. Penney humble beginnings started as a dry foods store and branched out over the years as a successful chain department store competing against other stores such as Sears, Macy’s, and Dillard. J.C. Penney’s corporate culture includes social responsibility to its consumers, its employees, its suppliers, and to the environment. However, over the two several years, J.C. Penney has endured an economic downturn which began after the hiring of former Apple executive Ron Johnson in late 2011 and his subsequence firing in early 2013 (â€Å"J.C. Penney’s Chief Executive Ron Johnson Ousted,† 2013). Executives, such as Johnson, have the power to influence the purchasing power of consumers through several different variables such as product pricing, product design and packaging, product availability, and product promotion (Douglas, 2012, Ch. 3). This paper shall explore the company’s managerial economics decision which includes taking a look at its corporate social responsibility, consumer demand, the change in its pricing strategy over the past two years, attitudes toward risk, and the price elasticity of demand. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY COMPANY: J.C. Penney sets high corporate social responsibility for itself. On the company’s official website, it lists the company’s social responsibility which includes establishing strong environmental responsibility. Under the company’s corporate governance, JCP touts itself as a stewardship to the environment and approved its core principles in 1991( JCP, 2013). Among some of JCP’s core principles include: continuing to review its operations practice in assessing its potential impact on the environment or related human health or safety issues; working with suppliers and merchandisers to develop packages and products that are environmental responsible and safe; and taking steps to reduce the use of non-renewable energy. Among some of the company’s recent progress include: making a conscious effort to reduce packaging and paper usage, setting up an elaborate waste management recycling program, and promoting energy conservation (JCP, 2013). JCP’s corporate social responsibility shows that the company follows the Triple Bottom Line concept shortened to TBL. This concept follows the three pillars: people, profit, and planet (Faragher, 2008). Author Jo Faragher (2008) explained in her article â€Å"Sustain To Gain†, that the triple bottom line means a â€Å"business is run not just on economic performance, but also on how it affects the community and the environment† (p. 20-22). Companies such as JCP find that they cannot operate while ignoring its responsibility to the environment. By being environmentally responsible, JCP’s actions may entice certain consumers who may only spend their money on companies that care about their community and the environment. Despite a long-standing and strong corporate governance, JCP profits spiraled in 2012 following a series of poor economic managerial decisions. 2012 SEC ANNUAL REPORT: The latest figures for J.C. Penney’s sales and profits are from 2008 to 2012. According to the company’s latest United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings for 2012, the report states that the company’s market price common stock has fluctuated substantially and may continue to fluctuate significantly (JCP, 2013). Below is a graph with values indicating the company’s struggle for profits in 2012 following the hiring of Ron Johnson. The former Apple executive launched a new pricing strategy following his appointment as CEO of J.C. Penney in late 2011. In its first quarter in 2012, the company’s profits lost $163 million dollars, sales skidded to 20%, and traffic to its stores decreased by 10% (Zmuda, 2012). By the end of 2012, the company net sales decreased by more than five million dollars compared to 2011 prior to Johnson’s appointment. Unfortunately for Johnson, his confusing pricing strategy did not catch on with loyal JCP shoppers. In addition, Johnson was stubborn and did not believe in conducting research with his new marketing strategy at a few select stores before he rolled it out to all the stores (Kumar, 2013). Johnson’s biggest cheerleader at the time of his appointment was William Ackman, Founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, LP. Ackman serves on the Board of Directors of JCP and owns 18% of the company as well as other derivatives that further would boost his exposure (Glazer, Lublin, & Mattioli, 2013). Below is a graph with figures showing JCP’s total net sales in 2012 which decreased by more than five million dollars versus in 2011 (JCP 2012 SEC, 2013). In this case, poor management decisions impacted the company’s profits. | | |2012 |2011 |2010 |2009 |2008 | |Total Net Sales: | |$12,985 |$17,260 |$17,759 |$17,556 |$18,486 | |Sales Percentage: | |-24.80% |-3% |1.20% |-5.00% |-6.90% | |Operating Income: | |-1,310 |-2 |832 |663 |1,135 | |Income loss | | | | | | | |Continuing operations | |-985 |-152 |378 |249 |567 | | | | | | | | | |($ in millions) | | | | | | | CONSUMER DEMAND AND PRICING STRATEGY: Former Apple executive Ron Johnson took the helm at J.C. Penney in late 2011. At the time, Johnson’s predecessor was Mike Ullman whom was fired after more than seven years at the top strategist for JCP (â€Å"J.C. Penney’s Chief Ron Johnson Ousted,† 2013). Johnson’s experience on paper looked great. He worked for Apple and Target and his appointment was considered a coup for JCP (Kumar, 2013). Ackman touted him as the man who would turn J.C. Penney’s stores into sellers of name-brand clothes with few discounts (Glazer, Lublin, & Mattioli, 2013). In the article â€Å"The Man Who Went Too Far At J.C. Penney†, author Nikhil Kumar (2013) stated that â€Å"for decades it has served the great American middle class, luring them in with discounts and coupons† (p. n/a). Johnson’s first action in changing JCP included eliminating the company’s old pricing strategy which he considered as fake prices because the company was constantly marking down prices (Kumar, 2013). Johnson eliminated the fake prices and called his new pricing strategy as fair and square. Here is an example of Johnson’s new pricing strategy. Instead of marking up a t-shirt at the price of $14 dollars and then slashing the price to $6 dollars with its markdowns and coupons, Johnson suggested to just marked the t-shirt at $7. Johnson explained that his new pricing policy not only simple, but fair and square (Kumar, 2013). Unfortunately, the new strategy did not meet with enthusiasm from loyal consumers. In managerial economics, the pricing strategy is important for consumers especially for loyal shoppers. A change in pricing also means a movement in the consumer demand curve (Douglas, 2012, Ch. 4.1). Pricing is considered a decision variable and plays a part in consumer demand (Douglas, 2012, Ch. 3). In managerial economics, decisions makers can follow a model called the utility-maximizing model of consumer demand. In the textbook â€Å"Managerial Economics†, author Evan J. Douglas (2012) explained this model as a way â€Å"individual consumers make decisions to buy products based on the expectation that the purchase will allow them to gain the most psychic satisfaction, or utility, from their limited incomes† (Ch. 3.1). Limited income is also another way of describing discretionary income, money that is available to consumers after paying the necessary expenditures such as mortgage, utility, and other bills. In the case of JCP, the company experienced a diminishing marginal utility. The marginal utility of a product means that as one product goes up, another product that is a substitute goes down (Douglas, 2012, Ch. 3.1). With the confusing pricing strategy, loyal shoppers and prospective shoppers turned elsewhere to shop such as Sears, Target, and Macy’s to achieve their satisfaction in spending their money. In managerial economics, consumer’s satisfaction is explained as the total utility. In describing this relationship between Product A which is JCP versus Product B, Sears, the graph will show the indifference curves to be convex which means as Product A goes down while Product B go up (Douglas, 2012, Ch. 3.1). Thus, the consumers’ total utility continued to achieve while JCP’s marginal utility diminished. Perhaps another mishaps of Johnson’s new pricing policy included using the concept of penetration pricing which is the practice of setting relatively low price to achieve more consumers’ sales, therefore in return, the end result is gaining more market shares (Douglas, 2012, Ch. 9.1). Before Johnson came on board, he believed that JCP’s old pricing policy devalued the company’s brand, but it also caused confusion because the company was constantly sending out flyers and coupons that added little to the shoppers’ experience (Kumar, 2013). In the end, Johnson’s risky move did not pay off and the company saw a decline in profits in 2012. ATTITUDES TOWARD RISK: Johnson’s mistake was not road-testing his pricing ideas plan before implementing it. Risk analysis is part of managerial economics. Johnson did not take into account adjusting for risk using the certainty equivalent factor looking at the decision and the amount of money that a decision-maker feels is equivalent to the expected value of a decision (Douglas, 2012, Ch. 2.1). There are several different attitudes toward risk running from the gamut of being risk neutral to an individual who is a risk seeker. Johnson’s attitude toward risk appeared to be more of a risk seeker defined as an individual who seeks a risky action because in return that risky action means a high rate of return (Douglas, 2012, Ch. 2). Another more transparent decision rule that should have been followed for Johnson was using the Maximin Decision Rule (MDR) which is the practice of choosing choose the alternative that has the highest maximum value and the lowest minimum outcome (Douglas, 2012, Ch. 2.2). Although it appeared that Johnson did not seek out an alternative to his plan, perhaps, his best practice should have involved following the MDR concept. PRICE ELASTICITY OF DEMAND: Along with the decision variables of product, pricing, placement, and promotion, in managerial economics, decision makers also need to consider the price elasticity of demand or PED. The sensitivity of quantity demand is known as the elasticity of demand. The price elasticity of demand is affected by prices where high prices suggest consumers would buy less of the product and lower prices mean consumers would buy more of the product (Douglas, 2012, Ch. 4). PED is influenced by a multitude of factors such as availability of substitutes, household income, consumer preferences, expected duration of price change, and the product’s share of a household’s income (Andreyeva, Long, & Brownell, 2010). According to the website www.About.com Economics: The higher the price elasticity, the more sensitive consumers are to price changes. A very high price elasticity suggests that when the price of a good goes up, consumers will buy a great deal less of it and when the price of that good goes down, consumers will buy a great deal more. A very low price elasticity implies just the opposite, that changes in price have little influence on demand (About.com Economics, 2013). In the case of JCP, the company witnessed the opposite with the price elasticity of demand. Even though Johnson’s new pricing ideas were meant to streamline the shopping experience for the consumers, the end result did not take place. Consumers did not understand nor did they liked the ideas. In the end, the faithful consumers abandoned the company and looked elsewhere to spend their money. Shoppers felt the new pricing ideas were confusing adn did not feel that they adhere to JCP’s The end result: profits suffered in 2012 with a 25% sales slumped compared to 2008 when the company brought in nearly $19 million dollars in total net sales (JCP, 2013). RECOMMENDATIONS: Steps have been taken to rectify the managerial decision makings that took place in late 2011. In less than two years, Johnson is out, along with his team of executives. The Board of Directors for JCP replaced Johnson earlier this year with his predecessor Mike Ulman (Kumar, 2013). Although Ulman received criticisms under his leadership, JCP and the Board of Directors returned to the old strategy In addition, the company returned to its popular pricing strategy that it abandoned in 2011 following the appointment of Johnson. That pricing strategy involved increasing prices of private label lines followed by slashing prices as a means of bringing up sales and margins (â€Å"Department Store JCPenney Revives Abandoned Pricing Strategy†, 2013). Companies tend to go back to the same marketing strategies that worked in the past. Prior to Johnson’s departure, he admitted that his bold, but risky pricing ideas were a mistake and acknowledged that ending the retailer’s markdown and couponing were a mistake that cost him company’s profits and his job. Before JCP commit to changing its marketing strategy, it needs to consider and perhaps ask consumers what they want. At times, decision makers forget to consider and ask consumers what they want versus just believing or thinking consumers want change. Johnson’s rejected retail industry procedures which included testing changes in limited stores before rolling them out to all the stores (Glazer, Lublin, & Mattioli, 2013). This was not the case for loyal shoppers. They wanted to feel that they were getting a bargain versus just paying for one simple price. These are necessary changes the company has implemented following the firing of Johnson in early 2013. JCP is now looking to regain its standing in the department stores war. At the helm is Ulman who lead the company for the past seven years prior to being replaced two years ago. During his time as CEO, JCP saw profits gain (JCP 2012 SEC, 2013). CONCLUSION: J.C. Penney is reinventing itself and wants consumers to remember that it is â€Å"Creating America’s Favorite Store†. It has a new CEO who was reinstated and returned to its old pricing plan. It is a company that has a strong corporate governance, but due to poor managerial economic decisions, J.C. Penney went through a spiral for nearly 18 months before the bleeding stop. The poor economic decisions led to profits loss along with low morale within the company (Kumar, 2013). In managerial economics, decisions such as pricing, product, placement, and promotion affect the consumers demand curve. JCP experienced it firsthand. References About.com Economics (2013). Price elasticity of demand. Retrieved on June 2, 2013 from http://economics.about.com/cs/micfrohelp/a/priceelasticity.htm Andreyeva, T., Long, M. W., M.P.H., & Brownell, K. D., PhD. (2010). The impact of food prices on consumption: A systematic review of research on the price elasticity of demand for food. American Journal of Public Health, 100(2), 216-22. Retrieved from ProQuest Central. doi: 903343408. Department store JC penney revives abandoned pricing strategy. (2013). Retail Week, Retrieved ProQuest Central. doi: 1324133045. Douglas, E. (2012). Managerial Economics (1st ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education. Faragher, J. (2008). Sustain to gain. Personnel Today, pp.20-22. Retrieved from ProQuest Central. doi: 229932707. Glazer, E., Lublin, J.S., & Mattioli, D. (2013, April 9). Penney backfires on ackman. Retrieved on June 2, 2013 from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324504704578412440293890624.ht