15 and 17 inch Multimedia LCD TVs: A Comparison

In the case of comparing a 15 inch multimedia LCD TV system with that of a 17 inch one for the purposes of deciding product continuity, one of the most important factors to be considered is its appeal to the buying public. In this case, the scenario is such that the 15 inch model is quickly losing favor with many customers, while its counterpart is enjoying a rise in sales, buoyed by excellent reviews of the product. Given the options available, I would have to say that two plans of action are equally desirable in dealing with the situation. The first would be to modify the product’s (15 inch LCD) features, styling or performance. It is entirely possible that the reason lesser customers are buying the product is merely because of a physical attribute. Perhaps customers no longer find it modern or state of the art in terms of the overall â€Å"look and feel.† Maybe its technical capabilities are easily dwarfed by the competition. Either way, modifying or â€Å"tweaking† the product’s attributes could bring about renewed interest among potential buyers. However, another option would be to simply discontinue the 15 inch model and focus solely on the 17 inch one. After all, why stick with a losing product? Eventually, profits coming from other areas would only be overshadowed by production and operational costs of this product. By discontinuing it entirely, even more people may become amenable to purchasing the 17 inch model, thus reducing company expenditures while maximizing profit. Nevertheless, in the world of business, only one option must be chosen and this choice almost always involves considerable risk. For this situation, I would have to go with choosing option one first, before doing the second. I would first see if a revitalization of the 15 inch product would change the way customers see it and subsequently cause renewed interest. If it still fails, then a discontinuation would be in order. This way, I can say with certainty that all viable avenues of decision were considered and exhausted before giving up on the product entirely. References Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2005). Principles of Marketing. Prentice Hall: 11th ed. Hill, C. & Jones, G. (2006). Strategic Management Theory: An Integrated Approach. Houghton Mifflin Company: 7th ed. Miller, W. (2001). Proactive Sales Management: How to Lead, Motivate and Stay Ahead of the Game. Broadway, New York: American Management Association

Constitutional Amendments

The Eighteenth Amendment prohibited liquor with the exception of the use of liquor for religious purposes. As a result, it became difficult to consume let alone obtain alcohol at the time. Organized crime in the country became prevalent as people began to obtain alcohol illegally and as people began to organize themselves for alcohol trade and sales despite the increasing pressure brought forth by the government. Corruption in several government agencies became prevalent as people were tempted to bribe government officials in order to obtain alcohol with their approval.The Amendment’s impact on contemporary society is that it gave the government a learning lesson with regard to unpopular legislations in the face of the demands of the public. Today, the effects of the Eighteenth Amendment can no longer be observed as the American public is now allowed to purchase and consume liquor and other alcoholic drinks. Nevertheless, there are existing government restrictions on the legal age of obtaining and consuming alcohol. There are also current restrictions on drinking when together with other activities such as driving.Less than two decades after the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment, the Twenty-first Amendment was ratified. The latter Amendment repealed the provisions of the Eighteenth Amendment concerning the nationwide prohibition on the use of liquor. However, the second section of the Twenty-first Amendment prohibits the importation or transport of alcoholic beverages to States where doing so would violate the laws thereof. One of the effects of the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment is that numerous states retained their laws prohibiting alcohol consumption long after the Amendment was enforced.Countless public bars remained under State prohibition from selling intoxicating liquor to the public which effectively gave States control over liquor. Today, numerous States have passed the authority to control public alcohol distribution or sale s to their different counties and municipalities. In any case, the industry of alcoholic beverages in the United States is now thriving to the point that the manufacturers of these beverages continue to export their products abroad on a regular basis.While some of the prohibition on local bars on a municipal or county-level led to lawsuits citing First Amendment rights, alcoholic beverages continue to be distributed, sold and consumed for the most part of the country although their distribution, selling and consumption are required to be within the legal limits. The Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution proscribes both the federal government and the different states from denying Americans from their right to vote on the basis of a person’s sex.The apparent result of the ratification of the amendment is that women became part of the population eligible to vote for candidates running for government positions. The amendment effectively abolished the limitation of the right to suffrage which was previously accorder only to men. Women became entitled with the right to vote without having to worry about legal restrictions imposed by the government and opposition from other individuals. The effect of the Amendment continues to this day as women continue to partake in the American electoral process.In essence, the consequences of the Amendment are very visible in public especially during elections. The Twentieth Amendment puts in detail the start and end of the terms of elected federal government officials such as the President and the Vice-President. The Amendment further specifies the role of Congress in appointing a President when the Presidency is vacant. It specifies the order of succession to the Presidency in times when President dies. It also specifies the day in which Congress shall convene unless otherwise legally appointed on a different day.The effect of the Amendment after ratification is that it gave elected federal government officials the urg ency of time to immediately occupy their positions in order to deal with important matters the soonest time possible. It also prevented Congress from convening for a futile session right after the elections as the start of the Congressional session was moved to every third day of January, less than two weeks before the start of the term of the newly elected President and Vice-President. The case of President Barack Obama serves as a contemporary example.His case illustrates the urgency for the President to start working the soonest time possible in order to address important national concerns, one of which is the current economic crisis that has hit the country and other parts of the world. Finally, the Twenty-second Amendment to the U. S. Constitution sets the limit for the Presidential term. Specifically, the elected President is given up to two four-year terms in office. However, an acting President who has served the remaining two years of office is also entitled to a full two f our-year terms in office—the maximum term that a person can hold the position of President is ten years.As for acting Presidents who have held the position for more than two years, they can only hold office for no more than one term after completing their term as acting President. At the time after the ratification of the Amendment, Dwight Eisenhower was the President. He argued that a second-term President would simply be reduced to a â€Å"lame duck† because his political influence and vested powers would be diminished considering that such a President faces an apparent and irreversible deadline on his term.The President who is about to leave office becomes ineffective to a certain degree because politicians in the government will become more interested in the search for and support of their presidential candidates than in the affairs of the executive branch. These things have been one of the main concerns of the incumbent president—Dwight Eisenhower—at the time of the ratification of the amendment. In more recent times, Americans who oppose the Bush policies on war saw the two-term limit as their saving grace. After the inauguration of George W.Bush for his second term in office, he was quick to issue several foreign and local policies because he understood that he faces the risk of being a â€Å"lame duck† president by the time his second term in office is about to expire. As for current U. S. President Barack Obama, he is entitled to the same two four-year terms that former president George W. Bush had since the time of Eisenhower. Reference Constitution of the United States: Amendments 11-27. Retrieved March 1, 2009, from http://www. archives. gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_amendments_11-27. html

Electronic Commerce in Private Purchasing Essay

I guess you can say that ecommerce started back in the 70’s with EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer), in the 80’s with EDI (Electronic Data Interchange). The 90’s around 1995 is when the internet move from the federal sector to commercial sector when NSF (National Science Foundation) decommissioned NSFNET and move assets to vBNS (Very-High-Speed Backbone Network Services) which serves as a testing ground for the next generation of internet technologies, which allow ISP (Internet Service Providers) to develop. After the internet was develop we had an explosive growth mostly in â€Å"Dot Coms† ventures many professional left the major firm and job security to join start ups for the promise of millions of dollar. In the mid 2000 when the NASDAQ collapsed in March hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs, stock values plummeted and thousand of company filed bankruptcy, downsized or were taken over by competitors. The subsequent stock market crash caused the loss of $5 trillion in the market value of companies from March 2000 to October 2002. By the early 2003 companies that were well-conceived internet based companies were proving their values, consumers became confidence in buying over the internet and business began to realize the internet can create true operation efficiencies and increase profit. The explosion in the use of the Internet has paved the way for several path-breaking innovations. One of the most interesting and exciting aspects of this evolution is the emergence of electronic business (e-business) as a mainstream and viable alternative to more traditional methods of businesses being conducted today. E-business is defined as the process of using electronic technology to do business. It is the day and age of electronic business. Also the structure of the Web is rapidly evolving from a loose collection of Web sites into organized market places. The phenomena of aggregation, portals, large enterprise sites, and business-to-business applications are resulting in centralized, virtual places, through which millions of visitors pass daily. Ecommerce redefines the very foundations of competitiveness in terms of information content and information delivery mechanisms. Flows of information over international networks have created an electronic market-space of firms that are learning to exploit business opportunities. E-business has become standard operating procedure for the vast majority of companies. Ecommerce is the subset of e-business that focuses specifically on commerce. Commerce is the exchange of goods and services for other goods and services or for cash payment. There are several different types of ecommerce Business-to-Business (B2B), Business-to-Consumer (B2C), Business-to-Government (B2G), Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) and Mobile commerce (m-commerce). A B2B system exchanges server programs and encoded files while communicating with other businesses. There are two types of B2B websites: vertical and horizontal. A vertical B2B ecommerce website is designed to meet the needs of a specific industry, and helps build connections between business communities in order to generate new business. A horizontal ecommerce website can be used by any company that is involved in buying and selling products or services. B2B ecommerce strategy can reduce operational costs, increase sales, and strengthen relationships between trading partners. These websites can help expand your presence in the marketplace and lower your procurement costs while handling an unlimited number of products. While B2B ecommerce reduces human intervention, overhead expenses, and errors, it also increases efficiency and advertising exposure and company’s sales team and account managers can concentrate on generating new business. Business to Consumer (B2C) Business to consumer is the second largest and the earliest form of e-commerce. The more common B2C business models are the online retailing companies such as Amazon. com, Barnes and Noble and ToysRus. Other B2C examples involving information goods are E-Trade and Travelocity. The more common applications of this type of e-commerce are in the areas of purchasing products and information, and personal finance management. The market researchers from eMarketers estimate the number of online buyers to be around 900 million worldwide. This brought in the online traders worldwide a turnover of over one billion US$ for the first time. EMarketers estimate the British to be the biggest spenders per head where on average every online buyer spent 3,885 US$ in 2012. US ecommerce and Online Retail sales projected to reach $226 billion, an increase of 12 percent over 2011. 2012: US ecommerce and Online Retail holiday sales reach $33. 8 billion, up 13 percent over 2011. B2C e-commerce reduces transactions costs (particularly search costs) by increasing consumer access to information and allowing consumers to find the most competitive price for a product or service, it also reduces market entry barriers since the cost of putting up and maintaining a Web site is much cheaper than building a structure for a firm. And with information goods, B2C e-commerce is even more attractive because it saves firms from factoring in the additional cost of a physical distribution network and for countries with a growing and robust Internet population, delivering information goods becomes increasingly feasible. Electronic commerce and the Internet are redefining how consumers learn, select, purchase, and use products and services. Hence, B2C or Business-to-consumer retail holds significant business opportunities. A manufacturer with a dedicated ecommerce website can use it to increase margins, monetize existing brand loyalty and leverage competitive advantage. At the same time, he can increase awareness for the brand, provide important product information to customers, and gather valuable customer data to improve business prospects. There are a number of benefits which make owning a B2C ecommerce website inevitable for manufacturers. The ecommerce brings the shopping experience to the consumer’s home. By launching a B2C ecommerce website, the manufacturers’ bring the convenience and comfort of shopping to the consumers thereby increasing their prospective customers. When the manufacturer owns the retailing operations also, it can create brand awareness more prominently. By reaching out to new markets the manufacturers can increase their business’s brand name and about their product line. The e-shopping is accessible from anywhere anytime, thus it proves to be a quick and easy mode of providing information. Manufacturers can provide extensive updated information of their product range through their customized ecommerce website design. Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) is the business of conducting goods and services over the Internet to consumers from consumers. Another way to describe C2C is that it conducts e-commerce with consumers and themselves or to a third-party. Before any consumer-to-consumer business can be formed over the Internet, there needs to established of a space where individuals can come together. These â€Å"gathering spaces† are called online or virtual community in which a collection of people come to one site to communicate, connect, and get to know one another. From there, people can establish a multitude of community themes to bring similar minded people. Some examples of communities: * Communities of interest – people who come together over the Internet to share a common interest like professions, sports, hobbies, philosophy, trading, and others. Communities of relations – people who come together over the Internet to share stories of relations such as friends, families, and/or relationships. Some examples of these communities would be like Myspace or Facebook. * Communities of fantasy – people who come together over the Internet to share fantasies over the internet like fantasy football or baseb all. Another example would be a site that allows people to write their own stories of fiction. Another type of online community that establishes a consumer-to-consumer electronic commerce is called an online or electronic auction site. An e-auction is like a regular auction; however,  the  sales of bidding are done online. It is a place where sellers and buyers bid for items listed on the auction sites such as Ebay or Amazon. Two types of auctions that can occur:   * Forward Auction – an auction that sellers use to have buyers bid on their merchandise till the highest bidder wins. * Reverse Auction – like the forward auction, this auction is used by consumers that want to buy goods or services. However, the buyer selects the seller that has the lowest bid. An example of this would be seen in Amazon. com where instead of purchasing a product from them, a person can buy from other sellers. When going into the listing of other vendors, the website usually posts the lowest asking price first. Then, the next lowest price is listed all the way up to the last seller that has the highest price of all the listings. There are many benefits that a consumer-to-consumer e-commerce has. One of the main factors is a reduction in costs. Sellers can post their goods over the internet cheaply compared to the high rent space in a store. The lower expenses lead to smaller, yet profitable customer base. Being in a community of similar interest where buyers and sellers come together leading to more chances of goods and services being sold. Another benefit is that many small businesses can obtain a higher profitability over a C2C compared to a physical store because of the reduction of overhead costs when conducting an e-business. Probably the most positive benefit of the consumer-to-consumer sites is the effectiveness in selling personal items. There are also disadvantages that a C2C e-commerce has. One of the main factors is it is not always the safest and most reliable place to conduct business. Sometimes buyers and sellers are not accommodating to each other when transactional information is needed. In these cases, a proof of purchase can solve liability issues and prevent costly lawsuits for a consumer and small businesses. Another disadvantage is that these types of sites are known for scams, swindles, and people with ill-business intentions. When things go wrong on C2C e-commerce communities, people can easily spread their stories across the internet which effectively is Word-of-Mouth advertising. Consumer-to-consumer marketing is on the rise, and 2013 will be the year when it explodes into the mainstream, becoming a must-have retail marketing tactic rather than just the mark of the out-there-brand-innovator. Communication is no longer about just businesses talking to anyone; it’s about people talking to people. Forget who’s on the end of the conversation. This is about where it all starts. The future of communications is C2C, or consumer2consumer or people2people. Individuals, whether buying for business or for themselves, are talking to and listening to other consumers. They are setting the agenda, leading the conversation, sharing their views, recommending the best products and deciding whether brands are successful or not. No longer are consumers just taking in information corporations and brands are spewing at them. Now they question and make brands earn their loyalty. Because of social media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, consumers are now quick to ask brands: What can you do for me? So, today challenge is getting people talking about brands in a positive way, not getting brands to talk to people. With so many touch points, brands must move away from the traditional 1960s formula of one-sided information and start having conversations with consumers. Consumers want brands to be authentic and have a real human voice they can speak with when something goes wrong or right. Business-to-Government (B2G) Business-to-government (B2G) is a variation of the term business-to-business the concept that businesses and government agencies can use central Web sites to exchange information and do business with each other more efficiently than they usually can off the Web. A Web site offering B2G services could provide businesses with a single place to locate applications and tax forms for one or more levels of government (city, state or province, country, and so forth); provide the ability to send in filled-out forms and payments; update corporate information; request answers to specific questions. B2G may also include e-procurement services, in which businesses learn about the purchasing needs of agencies and agencies request proposal responses. B2G may also support the idea of a virtual workplace in which a business and an agency could coordinate the work on a contracted project by sharing a common site to coordinate online meetings, review plans, and manage progress. B2G may also include the rental of online applications and databases designed especially for use by government agencies. This kind of e-commerce has two features: first, the public sector assumes a pilot/leading role in establishing e-commerce; and second, it is assumed that the public sector has the greatest need for making its procurement system more effective. Web-based purchasing policies increase the transparency of the procurement process and reduce the risk of irregularities. To date, however, the size of the B2G e-commerce market as a component of total e-commerce is insignificant, as government e-procurement systems remain undeveloped. Mobile commerce (m-commerce) More and more users are buying tablets and using them for e-commerce due to the convenience it provides. The latest report from eMarketer predicts a surge in tablet commerce, turning the m-commerce into a $50 billion industry next year. The overall mobile commerce spending, including both tablets and Smartphone’s, in 2012 was $24. 66 billion, and this figure represented an 81% increase from the 2011 figures. EMarketer also report predicts total ecommerce spending from tablet devices alone to touch $24 billion by the end of 2013 and then almost double itself in a year to reach $50 billion by the end of 2014. The total mobile m-commerce sales would stand at about $39 billion in 2013. In 2013, 15% of all sales is expected to come from mobile devices, with tablets alone accounting for a dominant 9%. By 2016, tablets alone will account for a significant 17% of all sales. A big reason for the surge is the increasing rate of tablet adoption, as more and more people buy this new device. Traditionally, the ratio of new devices has been four Smartphone’s for every tablet. But Christmas Day 2012 sprang another surprise, when 49% of the 17. 4 million new devices activated were actually tablets. As content delivery over wireless devices becomes faster, more secure, and scalable, some believe that m-commerce will surpass wire line e-commerce as the method of choice for digital commerce transactions. This may well be true for the Asia-Pacific where there are more mobile phone users than there are Internet users. Industries affected by m-commerce include: Financial services, including mobile banking, as well as brokerage services; Telecommunications, in which service changes, bill payment and account reviews can all be conducted from the same handheld device; Service/retail, as consumers are given the ability to place and pay for orders on-the-fly; Information services, which include the delivery of entertainment, financial news, sports figures and traffic updates to a single mobile device.

Literary Analysis of Virginia Wolfe’s, Professions for Women

Fueled by the frustration of the masculine control that dominated her era, Virginia Woolf displayed her deepest feelings of oppression in her essay â€Å"Professions for Women†. Written in 1931, â€Å"Professions for Women† shows the internal conflict many women battled fiercely with when living their everyday lives. Woolf tells a story of a figurative â€Å"Angel in the House†, which is a stereotypical woman of the Victorian era and her efforts to break free from this stereotypical template. Woolf felt that for women to show men their true potential, they must wander beyond what society expects them to be and become an individual. Virginia Woolf’s skillful utilization of metaphorical diction and repetitious phrases help present her ideals to the reader while remaining rhetorically efficient. The â€Å"Angel in the House† example was referred to in numerous occasions in â€Å"Professions for Women†. The Angel was â€Å"charming†, â€Å"sympathetic† and â€Å"sympathetic† all qualities of a stereotypical woman in the Victorian era. Woolf’s diction implied dislike towards the Angel, stating â€Å"it was she who bothered me and wasted my time and so tormented me that at last I killed her†. Yet through extensive criticism, Woolf still referred to the Angel as â€Å"pure† and spoke of her good characteristics. The Angel in the House was a good thing and a bad thing. Good because all of her qualities were quite positive and seemed like a nice person, but bad because inadvertently, all these caring characteristics were holding women back from becoming their own individual. Instead of being an independent thinker, the Angel depended on men to support her and did not hesitate to serve them. The Angel would torment Woolf, telling her â€Å"Never let anybody guess you have a mind of your own† and because of the Angel’s messages; Woolf was forced to metaphorically â€Å"kill† the Angel to be able to think for herself. The Angel encompassed everything Woolf wanted to avoid; a naive, oblivious woman who was undermined by her masculine counterparts. Virginia Woolf wanted to create a profound effect on the readers of her work and her words reflect that goal. To solidify and strengthen some of her argument, Woolf took advantage of repeating phrases. When describing the Angel Woolf states, â€Å"She was immensely charming. She was utterly unselfish. She excelled in the difficult arts of family life. She sacrificed herself daily†. Woolf chose to use repetitious phrases and anaphors to reinforce the qualities of the Angel. If Woolf had simply listed the characteristics of he Angel, the description would have been weakened and less meaningful. Woolf uses a polymerization of two strategies to emphasize her purpose in the conclusion of her work â€Å"†¦how are you going to decorate it? With whom are you going to share it, and upon what terms†? Repeating rhetorical questions supplements her argument and provokes thought within the reader, which was Woolf’s goal from the beginning. Even though it was written in a n entirely different era, â€Å"Professions for Women† has many components that can be compared to live in the 21st century. Woolf was tied between two internal personas; the stereotypical, feeble minded woman (The Angel) and an independent, intellectually skilled writer and â€Å"Professions for Women† explores her internal battle with these distinct personalities. Purposefully, Wolf wanted to show that women could be independent and relinquish themselves from the mold society created. In today’s age we must ponder within ourselves; why as a society do we feel we must create models for people to follow? Can they make groups feel inferior to others?

My Autobography

My name is Jacqueline L. Montgomery. I was born December 31, 1973 at 11:59 am with 1 second remaining until the New Year. I am the third oldest of five children> my mom had adopted my brother, older sister, became a part of the family when no one wanted to be bothered with her. I am a mother of five beautiful children. One day my mom’s friend stops by the house to check in on my mom. At this time Mrs. Rigsby was the director of Lutheran family Mission. My mom was very ill at the time.While I was playing with one of my cousins in the yard my mom friend was watching in the back bedroom window and saw how I was taking care of the children. I was not interested in working in a classroom. I wanted to go to school to be a social worker. I felt that the social worker can help each family to get the resources that the families needed to make into in their everyday life. I was especially interested in children who had IEPs. I could fight from day one to get the children the services that they need. I look at it this way: these are the children that will take care of me and my family one day.After talking with my mother she told me â€Å"Baby that is almost the same job as social worker because the teacher does the same distance as the social worker does. You need the teaching experience to work with the children the way that the state requires for the social workers to have. Just try it out and you will see how everything is run. † I have been working in the field of early childhood education for thirteen years. I have worked other jobs, but there is something that keeps bringing me back to working with children.I think the best thing about my job is that I can make a difference in the lives of the children. I am able to learn from them and they are able to learn from me. I am proud when a child is happy to succeed in the goals that they want to reach for themselves. I went to be fingerprinted and the first day of work was a challenge because there is s o much work you have to remember to do when you have the children at the center. At home when you have the children you do not have to worry about using gloves writing down the last diaper change, when they slept or if you are doing different things with each child.The parents were very understanding; they would ask how the day was and genuinely felt concerned about what was going on with their children daily actions even though they were in preschool. I see myself in the next couple of years getting my A. A. S. in Pre-school Education and returning to Kendall to obtain my Bachelors Degree in early childhood education. In the next ten years I would like to open and run my own center. My center will help the children as well as their families.

Workplace Stress Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Workplace Stress Management - Essay Example The work is bound to eventually start suffering since employees become overworked. The agencies can become highly productive by setting up guidelines that underpin reasonable hours of work. It is imperative to allow employees to take requisite breaks and some time off. As such, they are bound to develop a tendency to deliver a higher work output (Girdano, Dusek & Everly 2005). Â  It is important to listen to employee feedback. In most law enforcement agencies, the employees are given a descriptive course of action to pursue by the high command, and as such act in strict confidence of their instruction without necessarily imparting their opinion. Most employees have the feeling that their supervisors have little value for their opinion. Taking the time to listen to employees and outrightly implementing changes that are bound to benefit them is an approach that will see a tremendous decrease in employees’ workplace stress levels since employees ascribe a sense of value attached to them. The employees can contribute to the prodigious success of the agencies which benefit in the long term by gaining a long-lasting workforce that is not bound to easily resign and result in high turnover.

Management 2 (protective security) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Management 2 (protective security) - Essay Example Efficiency has been defined as measure of productivity or operational excellence concerned with operational margins improvement and cost minimization. Effectiveness on the other hand is associated with the business’s ability to identify and embrace opportunities of business via exchange relationships. As a result effectiveness is concerned with a company’s plan to develop a growth that is sustainable within its market (Stefanos, 2007). My organization has invested heavily and made tremendous efforts in balancing these two critical aspects of operations management all in an effort to increase the market share and maintain competitive advantage. The objectives of my organization are essentially to increase the market share and decrease the overall costs of running the organization. The target is to increase our market share from the current 15% to 20% within a period of two years. Another target is to introduce certain changes within the organization such that the overall costs would reduce by 5% within a period of one year. These changes include reducing field managers by 50% and employ more Close protection officers with advanced qualification. The organization had an objective of increasing its market share. The company embarked on a market wide research effort to identify client needs that were not being met. The organization realized that many business entities with huge capital bases required specialized protection service from the protective security firms. This service required CPO’s with a special kind of skill set which many security companies lacked. This created a need for the company to hire more CPO’s with the necessary skill set resulting in increased operational cost. After a thorough cost and benefits analysis, the company decided it would be more profitable to hire five specialized CPO’s to meet this need while at

Role of ethics responsibility in developing strategic plan while Essay

Role of ethics responsibility in developing strategic plan while considering stakeholder needs and agendas - Essay Example The need to make strategies in accordance with business ethics and taking care of stakeholders’ financial investment in a responsible manner is a must for any corporation (Kotler and Lee, 2004). The company’s top management ensures social responsibility by contributing toward social causes and charity and spends a portion of revenues on helping the society work effectively. Also the management takes charge of those who could not find work or are permanently unemployed by offering job opportunities and providing a secure work package in their firm (Werther and Chandler, 2010). Therefore, a corporation goes a long way in acting in a responsible manner for the betterment of a society by ending unemployment and general poverty level. It is also the duty of the company’s top management to allocate the funds appropriately to be used for the social betterment. Furthermore, the ethical issues also include taking care of environment by refraining from spreading pollution through industrial waste. The ethics also lies in providing such goods and services to stakeholders that is beneficial for them and not harmful in any way (Werther and Chandler, 2010). One of the most important agenda to be taken care of for the social responsibility ensuring is the accuracy of financial statements of the firm. The case of Enron represents a worst example of crossing of ethical boundaries by its ever-famous accounting scandal. Enron was found guilty of fraud by producing fake financial reports for external users. It resulted in a big loss on the part of owners, stakeholders and employees of the firm when it got bankrupt. It happened because of the top management of the firm who was responsible for creating falsified accounting records of the company’ business transactions. They presented a bright picture of the firm through creating reports in which they showed the firm in profits when actually it was in big losses. It lost trust of stakeholders badly and mad e a history where unethical business activities are associated with Enron (Baron, 2009). In order to prevent such unethical happenings in the world of business again, it is important to first take care of the financial reports that reaches potential customers or stakeholders. It is because these reports are a way to demonstrate the company’s financial position and investors use these reports as a guide to make decision about their preferences of companies in the market. It can be made possible by communicating the financial condition of a company is an accurate manner without leaving room for errors. Not only in preparing accounting records the management also needs to take care of other matters that make a company sensitive to ethical issues. The main thing is the way to communicate the social effectiveness of the firm to stakeholders as different people have different opinions about various products and services a company offers (Baron, 2009). In case of British American To bacco, some people would not consider the goal of firm as of being socially responsible because of the product it is offering, that is, cigarette, however, the company has other policies such as protecting environment to show that it is ethical and socially responsible firm (Hollender, et. al., 2010). Therefore, taking care of the needs and preference o stakeholders is very important and other thing is to communicate the

Women in Ancient Society Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Women in Ancient Society - Research Paper Example It is true that the Byzantine era was characterized by today’s stereotypical understanding of women’s depressed position in ancient societies at least among the lower classes.   The church played a powerful role in subjugating women, often introducing legal stipulations which limited the actions of women as a means of preventing defilement and impurity, but couldn’t refuse the generosity and donations of the wealthy (Viscuso, 2005: 317).   Thus, women belonging to the aristocracy did not necessarily fall under this distinction or suffer this fate.   According to Grubbs, â€Å"The law determined, according to status, the sexual relationships and roles open to a woman, and the amount of protection from violence or exploitation she could expect† (2001: 221).   Through marriage, aristocratic women were able to gain status by acquiring a legal share in the power wielded by their husbands.   In some cases, these women were even able to wield power dire ctly having been given her husband’s authority.   By using marriage as a tool and with the protection of the law as it applied to women of a particular social status, women of this period were able to siphon off a large amount of the power normally enjoyed by men.   Evidence can also be found by tracing the patronage of various pieces of religious artwork and in the artwork of the state. The Virgin Mary is, of course, one of the major symbols of the Christian faith, but there is an underlying message behind her figure that has often spoken to women and provided them with an example.  

Main causes of UK childhood obesity and what can be done to prevent Essay

Main causes of UK childhood obesity and what can be done to prevent childhood obesity - Essay Example This essay "Main causes of UK childhood obesity and what can be done to prevent childhood obesity" outlines the reasons for obesity and its impact on the health of the person. In 2011, it was noted that 31% of boys and 28% of girls aged between 2 and 15 were either overweight or obese, with increase in waist circumference outstripping BMI measurement increases (Ahima 320). Statistics from the Health and Social Care Information Centre indicate moderate decrease in the proportion of overweight and obese children, the proportion having declined from 22.6% in 2011/12 Reception Year to 22.2% in 2012/13. Despite these improvements, the current 1 in every 5 Reception Year children (aged 4 to 5) and a third of Academic Year 6 children (aged 10 to 11) being obese has been noted to be among the worst cases in Europe (National Obesity Forum 8). Obesity is thus a critical public health issue in the UK that calls for understanding of the underlying problems in order to develop effective preventiv e strategies. Generally, childhood obesity results from eating too much and being involved less in physical activities. More specifically, the NHS observes that it results from a consumption of diets rich in energy, particularly from sugars and fats, with no burning of the energy through physical activity or exercise. As a result, surplus energy would be stored in the body as fat. To gain deeper understanding of these causes of obesity, the social model of health provided by Dahlgren and Whitehead would be useful (91).

Reflection paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reflection paper - Essay Example In addition, such a culture will attract investors that keep the share price high thus protecting the business from takeover (The Times 100, 2002). The biggest challenge that financial planners are primarily faced with is selecting the mode of compensation, this is where financial planners are categorized into two, which are commission-based planners and fee-based planners. The main difference between the two is that commission-based planners are subject to a constant commission for every transaction, whereas fee -based planners are entitled to a commission based on the assets for which they have been made responsible. The ethical dilemma for commission-based planners arises from the temptation to generate additional transactions regardless of there being no actual sales done. This is because their income is independent of any gains made on the overall portfolio of a business. As for fees-based planners, their ethical dilemma stems from the fact that their income comes from their abi lity to grow an investment. This implies that they would be motivated to make use of aggressive investment strategies that may be unethical (Cussen, 2012). Therefore, it is evident that financial planners require a tool to guide their actions and develop a relationship of trust with clients. This is because they have to make their own benefits a secondary concern to that of clients. On the other hand, they are faced with responsibility of ensuring their clients make financially sound decisions regarding their investments rather than basing their decisions on emotions. In this case, the ethical dilemma arises where the financial planner has to insist on a particular investment choice, all for the benefit of the client, but in so far as, it does not come out as fear-induced. The financial planner has to illustrate to the client the benefits of an investment decision as realistically as possible without striking fear in them. Many investment companies have resulted in making their fina ncial planners sign a disclaimer in order to protect them from clients who may come up and say that they were not given sufficient advice regarding a particular investment choice (Cussen, 2012). Nevertheless, financial planners are bound to act according to the seven ethical principles established by Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards and the Financial Planning Association. They are Integrity, Objectivity, Competence, Fairness, Confidentiality, Professionalism and Diligence; therefore, upholding these principles will create a relationship of trust between financial planners and their clients. This is because the client will be assured that their best interests will be paramount to any procedures employed or proposals made. The client does have the burden of looking into a financial planner’s prior relationships with other clients in order to evaluate their performance properly and behavior (Gambone, n.d). There are ten must-do’s for developing a financial p lanning practice that include: Selecting a practice structure- this refers to a mode of operation which may either be a sole proprietorship, corporation or partnership; depending on the financial pla

Dell Business Problem Solution Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Dell Business Problem Solution - Case Study Example The hypothesis will be tested by running the regression in equation 1 and then testing for the significance of the value of . This value will be tested by stating a significance level of .05. In other words we want to be 95% confident that rejecting the null hypothesis will not result into a type 1 error. Dell has had Top Market Share Between the fourth quarter of 2003 and the 3rd quarter of 2006. (Dell Inc., 2007). In the fourth quarter of 2006, Dell witnessed a negative year on year growth as its worldwide market share in terms of units shipped dropped from by 8.7% from the fourth quarter of 2005, from 16.4% to 13.9%. (Bangeman, 2007). Hewlett Packard, one of Dell's main rivals in the PC industry witnessed a worldwide growth in market share during the fourth quarter of 2006 moving nearly 11.7million PCs - over 2.2million more than it did during the fourth quarter of 2005. HP also outperformed Dell in the US market moving closer to knocking off its market share perch in the US. (Bangeman, 2007). Dell is currently involved in a financial scandal and there are plans to restate its 2003 2004, 2005 and 2006 financial statements given that these statements do not reflect a true and fair view of the financial position of the company. This can seriously hamper its profits reported earlier. Dell is currently performing poorly as far as its customer services are concerned. In the U.S for example, a survey conducted last quarter confirms this. It currently parallels other PC vendors and it is currently behind Apple Computer Inc. According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI), which is compiled by the University of Michigan by calling U.S residents to find out about their buying habit on many product categories Dell earned a score of 75 in 2004 down from a score of 79 in 2003. Apple earned score of 81 as opposed to an industry average of 74. (Krazit , 2005). Survey respondents complained mostly about the quality of Dell's customer service, not its products Although the ACSI doesn't ask specific questions about the type of problems customers are having with a company, but customers were clearly more frustrated with Dell than they were in 2004. (Krazit , 2005). A few recurring complaints were the length of time on hold with Dell customer service representative s, as well as the quality of the help customers eventually received. Overall customer satisfaction with the PC industry remains well below the scores

Business Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business Law - Essay Example This is a system that categorises the different laws enacted into several distinct sections. However, other laws have legal jurisdiction in the United States, but they are not categorized under the United States Code. Some of these laws include the Universal Commercial Code (UCC) and the law of contracts. Scenario Overview The scenario presented by the events leading to the case of Chetum versus Barkley raises a lot of legal issues that need to be investigated. Ian Chetum is a shrewd businessman who awarded a contract to a family firm belonging to Knarles and Barkely. However, the terms of the contract were unclear and thus it created conflict between the interested parties. Ian Chetum has sued Barkely and his company for breach of contract, and this situation needs legal interpretation. There are several laws enacted in the United States of America and this laws deal with civil wrongs, torts or contracts. The sale of goods or service is guided the law of contracts, but in this scena rio, we witness several mistakes committed by the stakeholders in the case. For instance, Ian Chetum who owns the building in North Virginia ignored expert advice advanced to him by a plumber who works for Barkely. It is important to note that the firm run by Knarles and Barkely has jurisdiction in three districts of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. As a result, they have the legal right to operate in these regions while the company can conduct business with any business partner or consumer. Laws in the United States There are several laws in the United States of America and most of these laws are enacted the House of Senate. Most of US laws are sourced from the senate while other international laws are recognised in the United States. For instance, the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) is an international law that has jurisdiction in the US. Other sources of law that is usually relied upon in the courts of law in the United States include law based on precedence. This is whereby court decisions on previous legal matters are used in solving current court cases. Most agreements or contracts are based on the agreements made between two or more parties. A contract has provisions that guide on initiation, performance and termination of the agreement/contract. A contract should be entered through an agreement where an offer is made by one party, and acceptance is done by the other party. For a contract to be legally binding there must be free and genuine consent between the parties. A contract should include provisions that can easily be performed while the provisions should bear meaning. In the United States, the laws of contract and sales are different since these laws are used in different circumstances. For instance, contracts are used in drawing agreements that last long periods of time unlike sales laws that govern on sale of goods. Legal Issues The scenario presented in this case raises several legal issues which surround the job conducted on Ian Chetum’s building. Employees or professional who work on certain jobs have to be certified to conduct these jobs. Knarles’ company employees a plumber who is certified by the District of Columbia and thus, he has jurisdiction to work in Columbia. This raises the legal issue of jurisdiction in that is the same plumber licensed to work in other Districts such as Virginia and Maryland. Another important legal issue that needs to be looked into is if the unintended non-renewal of the plumber’

Scholarly Argument Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Scholarly Argument - Essay Example Those who are against this form of union by marriage are of the opinion that it is religiously incorrect for individuals from same sex to get married, this form of marriage will lead to weakening of the institution of marriage, legal status of this form of marriage will be manipulated by those who are not even involved in this form of marriage, these marriages cannot be recognized a marriage because these marriages do not lead to formation of traditional family system, acceptance of this form of marriage will lead to a slippery slope and other issues will be raised and parents of the same marriage will fail to provide knowledge regarding the difference between male and female to their children. Thesis Same sex marriage should be awarded with legal status because it will lead to the wellbeing of the society as it has more benefits to offer to the society than costs on the basis of cost benefit analysis. Same Sex Marriage Should be legalized Introduction Legally, marriage has been defi ned as the union between two individuals representing different gender and is the eventual method through which partners express their affection for each other. The constitution of the US has not yet accepted same sex marriage as a legal marriage even though the society has accepted such unions. A change in the structure of families within the US societies has been experienced and a huge number of stakeholders are raising their voice in the support of such marriages. Similar gender marriages should be awarded with the legal status by the constitution of US because it is a discriminatory act to treat same sex couples and different sex couples differently by law, they even believe that this form of marriage is ethical as it has more benefits to offer than costs, these marriages have gained social acceptance, a few of the states have even legalized this marriage, legalization of same sex marriage will allow same sex couples to enjoy the same rights as different sex couples. Body Marria ge is a Worldly Act Groups that are religious in nature are of the idea that same sex marriage is against religion and is even equal to a sin as such marriages are against the will of God, the reality is that religion even supports love and affection and due to this such marriages should not be considered as a sin. The constitution of US has stated that under the 1st Amendment all individuals residing in US will be protected by law for their own religious views (Davis 158). Marriages are seen as a worldly act and if legality of marriage is based on religious grounds, policy makers are working against their own policies (Stevens 261). Illegal Status Deprives Couples from Legal Benefits There are several benefits enjoyed by couples when they get married, they benefit from different rules regarding taxation, insurance, ownership of assets rule of agency. Gay marriages even positively impact various judgments. Health care law states that only couples who are married are allowed to make decisions for each other and are allowed to meet each other if one of the couple is hospitalized (Luppino 79). Since gay marriages are not yet realized as legal, the couples

How my life would be if I was white men Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

How my life would be if I was white men - Essay Example I can also turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented. And when I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is. Another privilege is I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race. I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race. Â  I can also travel alone or with my spouse without expecting embarrassment or hostility in those who deal with us. And there’s so much more to be enumerated. Some people say that racism in USA doesn’t exist anymore and that they obtained a color blind society. But as I experience, the so called white privileges is still very visible. I will never be a white man indeed, but still I’m hoping that someday, the so called white privileges will also be enjoyed by black man like me.

Knowledge of the Main Changes that Go With the Divorce Research Paper

Knowledge of the Main Changes that Go With the Divorce - Research Paper Example Ross (1972) argued that parental discernments are a product of both the child's behaviour and the parent's acceptance level. It appears credible that depression influences individual differences between parents in their acceptance for a variety of child behaviours. Clinical symptoms that co-vary with depression, such as distractibility and restlessness, may increase the possibility that single mothers will selectively attend to moderately low-frequency inapt behaviour, forming impressions of her children's alteration that are not acceptable by objective counts of behaviour. Alternately, parental depression and distress may raise attention to moderately high-frequency rebellious behaviours that were not interpreted as worrisome prior to the inception of personal distress. On a behavioural level, changes in perceptions might result in the inconsistent use of ineffective child-management strategies and dictatorial control (e.g., beta commands) at a time when parents seek to bound intera ctions with their children. The net consequence of such dynamics might be the expansion of what Patterson (1982) has termed coercive styles of family interactions. One of the issues linking to the emotional pattern of this kind of family breakdown is that of the divorce process, which shows the way to families living in single-parent households and eventually to the remarriage of one, if not both, parents and the formation of stepfamilies. This process, now believed likely to occur to one marriage in every three, also consequences in one in five children experiencing the divorce of their parents and the succeeding remarriage of at least one of them (conceivably more than once) during childhood.

Safety and Health Issues Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Safety and Health Issues - Assignment Example The other article was a study conducted by Oliviera and Sousa as quoted in Nunn (2011), where the research showed that motorcycles are really prone to accidents. Data gathered from forensic investigation of death records and accidents of motorcycle crashes support the findings that of all motor vehicles, it is the motorcycle that is more prone to accidents. Studied showed that even if there is enough illumination of 87.4% of the time, motorcycle still has accidents in urban areas of the time 99.4%. This figure means that motorcycles are not advisable to cities even if it is well lit because they are prone to accidents. With this figure, motorcycles also are bound to crash against cars or pick-ups 55% of the time. It meant that more than half of road accidents that involve vehicles, more than half of it has something to do with motorcycle. Even with the absence of bad weather or slippery road, motorcycles are still bound to have accident in cities 806%. Traffic signs also do not help because motorcycles still suffers from accident 706% of the time (405). Further, it is very bothering that among all vehicles, it is with motorcycles that has death fatalities. Quoting the study of Oliviera and Sousa, â€Å"The percentage of fatalities was higher than survivors in collisions with heavy vehicles, fixed objects and between motorcycle†.To quote him â€Å"Motorcycles are a dangerous mode of transportation. Relative to four-wheeled vehicles, motorcycles pose a greater threat of death or serious injury to operators and riders.

Married to Man. The Omnivore's Dilemma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Married to Man. The Omnivore's Dilemma - Essay Example Both the new and Native Americans totally depend on corn. In other words, it may be said that corn is married to a man. This explains its existence up to this time in life. Were it not for the continued planting of the same corn season after season by man, it would have experienced extinction. This article looks at how corn and man enable one another to survive and reproduce. Corn is found in husks and requires processing to separate the grains from the husk. This means that the grains are set free and can thus be grown and processed more easily on their own. This is where the human aspect comes in place. Man has come up with machines such as combined harvesters that separate the corn from the cob. Another method of separating the corn from the cob is by the use of the opposable thumb that is a characteristic in man. This therefore, brings out the dependence of the corn on man with opposable thumb. Corn, while still in the cob cannot grow into maturity. It may germinate but due to ov ercrowding, the young plants thin out and eventually die. Thus, for proper reproduction of the corn, there is husk removal, seed separation and planting. If the whole corncob were planted, it would germinate and move out of the husk, they would crowd up and may be die before having their second and third set of leaves. Corn hence, require assistance to grow more than any other domesticated plant. Therefore, corn depends on the humans more than the humans depend on it. For instance, man can decide not to consume any corn by avoiding planting it. At the same time, corn cannot decide on whom to have it planted. The marriage between man and corn can be viewed from the perspective of man having first domesticated the wild plant. This was later followed by selection and breeding of the best variety, were it not for man, it would be wild up to now (Pollan, 2007). Among the highly valued cereals by man is corn that in some countries is called maize. Corn has many uses more than any other ce real. One of the uses is making grits. In Africa and some parts of Asia, the grits from maize are ingested by humans. For instance in central and eastern Africa, the grits are used to make a staple food called ugali. This food is easily made and readily consumed with wide range vegetables. Grits can also be used to make porridge that is highly consumed by young children especially in Africa and some parts of Asia. This food product is believed to provide energy to the children who have higher energy requirements in general. Corn can also be used to make bi fuel. This is presently being done in the US of and is hastily replacing the fuels that are pollutants of the atmosphere. Corn is preferred to refined oil because of its availability and environmentally sound aspects. It is also used to make the brewers grits that are used in the beer industry. This is because it contains starches and sugars that undergo fermentation when provided with the required conditions. The medicine industr y also makes utilize corn in their processed form. Liquids sugar is made from corn. Its use is to make syrups and serves the purpose of sweetening them. The confectionary industry makes use of the corn sugar in sweetening their products. Without such sugar, their products may not be accepted. This may lead to losses especially on the part of the manufacturer. Having looked at the two sides of the issue of marriage to man, I take a stand that, it is the corn that is dependent on

Automobile Air Pollution Essay Example for Free

Automobile Air Pollution Essay Efforts to improve the standard of living for humans, through the control of nature and the development of new products have also resulted in the pollution of the environment. Much of the worlds air, water, and land is now partially poisoned by pollution. Some places have become uninhabitable. This pollution exposes people all around the globe to new risks from disease. Many species of plants and animals have become endangered or are now extinct. The air pollution comes from lots of sources but the paper will be about air pollution cause by automobiles. As a result of tremendous amount of air pollution, primarily for automobile governments have passed laws to limit or reverse the threat of environmental pollution. There are lots of sources other than the automobile for air pollution. Nature itself is one of the causes. Sometime nature causes the air pollution by activities like a forest fire, volcanic, hurricane. These are temporary dislocations that nature balances and accommodates to modern economic development, however, sometimes disrupts natures delicate balance. The other source is from factories. Factories are release smokes and chemical in the air. In many places smoke from factories and cars combines with naturally occurring fog to form smog and create a midday sky. It had happened in London, London, England, has been subjected to the danger of smog, long recognized as a potential cause of death, especially for elderly persons and those with severe respiratory ailments (pollution). Transportation by car though, is the major source of air pollution. Early in the century human invented, internal combustion engine, engine that use fuel as gasoline or diesel. Those engines were used to manufacture an automobile for fast travel from one place to another. Because they were not much in use, those few cars were not enough to threat the environment. Those engines were not fast enough so mastermind humans invented bigger and faster engines and those take more fuel. When these engines burn fuels they introduce smoke and other, less visible, by products. Once they are released into the air, the products of incomplete combustion, particulate matter (soot, ash, and other solids), unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, various nitrogen oxides, ozone, and lead, undergo a series of chemical reactions in the presence of sunlight. The result is the dense haze characteristic of smog. Smog may appear brownish in color when it contains high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, or it may look blue-gray when it contains large amounts of ozone (Danger). The cumulative effect of air pollution poses a grave threat to humans and the environment. Smog causes number of children and elderly to die because children lungs are still developing, also they breath more rapidly than adults, and they play outdoor. Most elderly people loose the red cells that cause diseases to go out of control. That lead them to the development of chronic lung diseases. The costs of air pollution are enormous. The American Lung Association sites sulfur-dioxide exposure as the third leading cause of lung disease after active and passive smoking (Justification) Air pollution does not only cause health hazard but also cause acid rain to fall. Acid rain causes damage to structure or life. Plants and animal marine animal are most effected by acid rain. Acid rain or snow pollute the water and soil the major source for plants and marine species to survive. Acid rain or snow falls when sulfur dioxide emissions from exhaust of an internal combustion engine combine with particles of water in the atmosphere. In Canada, Scandinavia, and the northeastern United States, acid rain is blamed for the deaths of thousands of lakes and streams (Acid rain). Another new and troubling form of air pollution comes from a variety of chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons, also known as CFCs. For many years it was used by automobile industries. These chemicals were used in the air conditioning systems of the car. CFCs takes decade to get in the upper atmosphere but when it gets there it combines with other molecules. Then, by attaching themselves to molecules of ozone, CFCs transform and destroy the protective ozone layer. The result has been a sharp decline in the amount of ozone in the stratosphere. At ground level, ozone is a threat to our lungs, but in the upper atmosphere ozone works as a shield to protect against ultraviolet radiation from the sun (Ozone). If the ozone shield gets too thin or disappears, exposure to ultraviolet radiation can cause crop failures and the spread of epidemic diseases, skin cancer, and other disasters. The automobile has a big impact on over our environment. Today we have trillions of automobiles on the road. Each car produce smoke and chemicals that hazardous to our world. Sometimes people take that threat seriously and they try to find solution. It is necessary to burn fuel completely because unburn fuel release more chemicals than burned fuel. Most new cars have two oxygen sensors that monitor and control the burning of fuel (Toyota Eng. ). I think problem is that as oxygen sensors age, their warm-up response slows considerably. Even government says, The major cause of air pollution is the internal-combustion engine of automobiles. Gasoline is never completely burned in the engine of a car, just as coal is never completely burned in the furnace of a steel mill (EPA). Other than two oxygen sensors some engineers came up with electric. These cars are good for our environment because they do not use gasoline as fuel. Even they dont produce any smoke. It has some problem with it too like electric cars need to recharge more often and the are not fast enough. The other problem is that after while the batteries needs to replace. You imagine if trillion cars need to replace batteries than it will fill our safe chemical deposal sites in few years than we have more chemical waste in our environment. The solar cars are not that bad in the futuristic problems but cars arent fast enough. Air pollution has been the target of some of the most complicated and far-reaching legislation ever enacted. In 1970, the United States Congress passed legislation aimed at curbing sources of air pollution and setting standards for air quality. A few years later, Congress passed laws designed to phase out the use of lead as an additive in gasoline (EPA). That helped us because the level of lead in the average Americans bloodstream has declined. We still didnt do much about cause of acid rain and it is continually debated in North America and throughout Europe. In late 1987, more than 20 nations signed an agreement to limit the production of CFCs and to work toward their eventual elimination (EPA).

United Arab Emirates and Asian Studies Map Essay Example for Free

United Arab Emirates and Asian Studies Map Essay 1. Which country in Asia lies farthest to the west? The country in Asia that lies farthest to the west Turkey. 2. Which country’s capital city is Baghdad? Iraq is the country’s capital city of Baghdad. 3. Which country is bordered on the north and west by Iraq, on the east by the Persian Gulf, and on the south by Saudi Arabia? The country that is bordered on the north and west by Iraq, on the east by the Persian Gulf, and on the south by Saudi Arabia is Kuwait. 4. Which country in Southeast Asia’s Indochinese peninsula is landlocked? Laos is the country in Southeast Asia’s Indochinese peninsula that is landlocked. 5. Which country is situated in the Indian Ocean and consists of more than 1200 islands and is a famous spot for scuba diving. Maldives is the country situated in the Indian Ocean and consists of more than 1200 islands and is a famous spot for scuba diving. 6. Which country in Asia produces the most: a. Barley Russia produces the most barley. b. Pig meat China produces the most pig meat. c. Bananas India produces the most bananas. 7. List the different land uses of the following countries: d. Thailand Thailand has land uses such as woods and forests. e. Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia land uses are pretty minimal because it is very non-productive. f. Russia Russia has land uses such as woods and forests. 8. Which country is prone to flooding? It has borders with India, Afghanistan and Iran. Pakistan is a country that is prone to flooding that borders India, Afghanistan, and Iran. 9. What is the capital city of Brunei? The capital of Brunei is Bandar Seri Begawan. 10. Which country in Asia is both part of a peninsula and part of an island? Malaysia is a country in Asia that is part of both a peninsula and part of an island. 11. Which country in Asia has a large area that is sub-arctic, rainy climate with severe cold winters and less than 4 months over 10Â °C. Russia is a country in Asia has a large area that is sub-arctic, rainy climate with severe cold winters and less than 4 months over 10Â °C. 12. Where is the wettest place (annual mean)? Meghalaya, India is the wettest place in the world (annual mean) 13. What altitude is Beijing? Beijing is at the same altitude as the sea (sea level), more precisely 52 meters. 14. What is the average rainfall in Singapore during the month of March? Singapore’s average rainfall in the month of March is about 190 meteres. 15. What is the average temperature in Ulan Bator during the month of February? Ulan Bator average temperature in the month of February is about 00C 16. Name a country in Asia that has 3 climatic regions within its borders. China is a country in Asia that has 3 climatic regions within its borders. 17. Name a country in Asia that is largely categorized as tropical rainforest. 18. Malaysia is a country in Asia that is largely categorized as tropical forest. 19. Which region of Asia produces the most dates? Southwest Asia of Asia produces the most dates. 20. Name a country in Asia that has 100 – 999 million metric tons of coal. 21. Name a country in Asia that experiences frequent land tremors. Japan experiences the most frequent land tremors.

Strategies to Improve Health in Glasgow

Strategies to Improve Health in Glasgow Improving the health of the citizens of Glasgow. Health The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines: â€Å"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.† This definition is unchanged since 1948.[1] Demography of Glasgow According to the 2002 census, Glasgow has a population of nearly 580,000. This is more than 10% of the total population of Scotland that is just over 5 million. The metropolitan area of Glasgow houses about 1.7 million people. It is the largest city in Scotland and 4th largest in the UK. Slightly fewer than 24% of the population of Glasgow are below the age of 20 and slightly more than 15% are aged over 65 with about 7% over 75. This is similar to the rest of Scotland.[2] The ethnic mix is: 96.5% white, 2.5% Asian, 1% Black, Chinese and other ethnic groups.[3] Indices of deprivation were updated in 2007[4] for England but slightly different indices are used for the four home nations of the UK. The Scottish index was produced in 2006.[5] Although there are slight differences in the criteria, eastern Glasgow has the most deprived areas in the whole of the UK. However, Glasgow is a mixed conurbation with many affluent areas too. Health Inequalities The NHS was supposed to remove health inequalities but has failed to do so. The Black Report, commissioned in 1977 and published in 1980 found that little had changed in terms of health inequalities.[6] Sir Donald Acheson’s Report of November 1998 found little evidence of improvement.[7] A seminal paper by Dr Julian Tudor Hart in 1971 coined the inverse care law.[8] â€Å"In areas with most sickness and death, general practitioners have more work, larger lists, less hospital support and inherit more clinically ineffective traditions of consultation than in the healthiest areas; and hospital doctors shoulder heavier case-loads with less staff and equipment, more obsolete buildings and suffer recurrent crises in the availability of beds and replacement staff. These trends can be summed up as the inverse care law: that the availability of good medical care tends to vary inversely with the need of the population served.† Tackling health inequalities is a major component of the Government’s health policy. There are plenty of publications[9] but little evidence of change. Health and life expectancy have improved through all strata of society but the gradient down the social classes remains or has expanded. Some argue that this is a disgrace whilst others say that provided that there is improvement in all sections that this is an achievement. The WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health[10] was chaired by Sir Michael Marmot and looked at health inequalities not only in poor nations but also in the rich. It found that children born in the Calton area of Glasgow will live, on average, 28 years less than a person living eight miles awayinLenzie, East Dumbartonshire. There the life expectancy is 82 years compared with 79 for the whole of the UK. A Calton resident has a life expectancy of 54 years. The report said adult death rates were generally 2 ½ times higher in the most deprived parts of the UK than in the most affluent. Throughout the country and through all social classes, women live, on average, five years longer than men.[11] Mortality rates are high in Scotland, higher in Clydeside and even higher in Glasgow. They are especially high in areas of deprivation. Decreases in deaths from coronary heart disease (CHD) have been offset by increases in deaths from liver disease and suicide.[12] The challenge Glasgow is probably the most challenging city in the UK to improve health, if not the most challenging in the European Union (EU). The incidence of CHD and stroke is the highest in Western Europe and most of this is attributable to modifiable risk factors.[13] Rates of cancer are also high. The incidence of lung cancer is 77 per 100,000 in Western Scotland compared with 49 per 100,000 in the rest of the UK and most of this is accounted for by smoking habits.[14] Glasgow has been called â€Å"the UK’s fattest city†[15] Obesity is well known as a risk factor for CHD and diabetes but it also contributes to the risk of many cancers. The WHO says that obesity is second only to smoking as a cause of cancer.[16] If improvement in the health of Glasgow was aimed purely at reducing smoking and obesity it could have a major impact on health. Other areas where there may be significant benefit are a reduction in drug and alcohol abuse and safe sexual practices. Substance abuse and sex are related. Most prostitutes work to fund a drug habit and much injudicious sex occurs when intoxicated by drugs or alcohol. Intravenous drug use and promiscuity spread hepatitis B and HIV. Hepatitis C is very common with intravenous drug use but is less commonly sexually transmitted. Accidents and much violence result from intoxication, especially with alcohol. Between 1960 and 2002, the death rate from cirrhosis in men rose by 69% in England and Wales and 106% in Scotland. Amongst women it rose by nearly half.[17] Improving mental health is also extremely important.[18] It is often linked to substance abuse but it is difficult to decide if mental illness is caused by drug or alcohol abuse or a result of it. People often have more than one risk factor. This is why doctors use tables that examine several parameters to assess an individual’s risk.[19] Those in lower social classes are more likely to have multiple risk factors. For males, 30% in social class V have at least two or three high risk behaviours compared to fewer than 10% in social class I. For females, the figures are 20% and fewer than 5% respectively.[20] Some benefit may be obtained from improved medical services. Governments may help with alleviating poverty and economic regeneration but most intervention will be aimed at getting the individual to take responsibility for his own health. He has to understand the problem. He must want to change. He must be empowered for his own good. There is a vast amount of health promotion material that is readily available.[21] A single agency is limited in what can be achieved. It is important that many agencies and all levels of society should feel part of this great challenge to change the ways and the attitudes of the people of Glasgow. Government action Improving medical services to cope with those who suffer from the important diseases should improve outcome but disease prevention offers hope of a much greater improvement. Most of the risk factors for illness and premature death are modifiable and amenable to change by the individual. Legislation may come from the EU, UK or Scottish Government. It may change behaviour as in banning smoking in public places or it may address poverty and bad housing. Poverty is bad for health but poverty applies only to the lowest in the social scale whilst there is a gradient of health and life expectancy right across the social classes.[22] The benefit of giving money to poor families is unclear.[23] Laws may aim to curb tobacco or alcohol use. Raising taxation reduces tobacco consumption[24] and there are a number of ways of other ways of reducing alcohol consumption too.[25] Subsidy as well as taxation may make healthy food more attractive and unhealthy food less so.[26] Governments must assure funding for health promotion campaigns and may help with coordination across various departments. The NHS is an obvious department to be involved in both health promotion and provision of medical services. Education may be important in trying to change both knowledge and attitudes amongst young people. It can help to develop an interest and knowledge in healthy eating and cooking. It can aim to change attitudes to tobacco, alcohol and drugs and encourage an ethos of exercise. The Department of Trade and Industry may be involved in economic regeneration. Both the police and courts may be able to direct people with problems related to drug or alcohol abuse towards care rather than just a punitive system. The process of change Health promotion aims to get individuals to change to a healthier lifestyle. This is not easy to achieve. Change is rarely easy. It involves the individual going through several steps on the way to achieve a lasting change in habit and attitude. Health promotion initiatives The mechanism for health promotion is usually mass media campaigns. They seem to work for smoking cessation[27] and even in changing sexual behaviour in young people.[28] However, there is very little evidence about long term effects. Campaigns may be aimed at one facet or multiple risks. For example, diet, weight and exercise are intimately entwined. This may spill over into smoking, alcohol and drug abuse. Health promotion may be at a national, community or individual level. The individual level is usually when a patient is seen in a medical setting, especially general practice. Simply exhorting people to change is not enough. It must be facilitated. Most general practices have antismoking clinics where support, advice and even prescriptions to help withdrawal may be had. The subject has been extensively reviewed by both CKS[29] and NICE.[30] People must be helped to appreciate what is healthy food and that it is not more expensive than their traditional diet. Fun runs are of limited value as they are an isolated event. Changes in diet and exercise must be for life. The individual must find a form of exercise that he can manage and he likes or he will not persevere. Counselling and support for substance abusers must be available. Methadone can give stability to the life of a heroin user[31] and acamprosate can reduce the craving for alcohol[32] but counselling must not be ignored. Long term change In Europe it is usually suggested that inequalities in health are the result of inequalities in income. In the USA they focus on health literacy[33] and suggest that it is inequality in education that is responsible. As income and education tend to be related it is possible that one is a surrogate for the other. Health is worse in those of lower intelligence but this does not account for all the discrepancy.[34]. People from poorer backgrounds are more likely to smoke.[35] Smoking is the main cause of differences in death rates in middle age across socio-economic groups. In men between 35 and 69 years, it accounts for 59% of social class differences in death rates.[36] They are more likely to be obese[37] and this may be linked to the higher incidence of diabetes.[38] Abuse of alcohol is more prevalent as is drug abuse. They are more likely to experience teenage pregnancy[39] and to be involved in accidents.[40] Accidents are a major cause of death and disability in those under 45.[41] They are more common in lower social classes and in males more than females. This is not just due to high risk jobs as both poverty[42] and lower social class[43] are risk factors for children too. There is also a relationship between poverty and poor mental health.[44] However, as poor mental health causes social decline the question of cause and effect arises. Perhaps the most important aspect of long term health improvement is improvement in general education. Health literacy is closely related to general literacy.[45] People of poor health literacy have poor lifestyles, they present late with disease and are poor in compliance with management. Those with poor educational achievement have a dead end job or no job. They have low self esteem and are more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol, to smoke and have a poor diet. Teenage pregnancy is more common in low achievers. Improved education, improved job prospects and improved standard of living are the key to improving health. Bibliography: Social Determinants of Health by Michael Marmot and Richard Wilkinson. Oxford 2005. Promoting Health: A Practical Guide by Linda Ewles and Ina Simnett. Balliere Tindall 2003. Challenging Health Inequalities: From Acheson to Choosing Health (Health Society). Elizabeth Dowler and Nick J. Spencer. University of Bristol 2007. Footnotes: [1] World Health Organisation. WHO definition of Health. http://www.who.int/about/definition/en/print.html [2] Upmy street.com. http://www.upmystreet.com/local/my-neighbours/population/l/Glasgow.html [3] DirectGlasgow.co.uk http://www.directglasgow.co.uk/glasgow-information/glasgow-information.asp [4] Indices of Deprivation 2007. http://www.communities.gov.uk/communities/neighbourhoodrenewal/deprivation/deprivation07/ [5] Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/SIMD/ [6] The Black Report. http://www.sochealth.co.uk/history/black.htm [7] The Acheson Report. . http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/doh/ih/contents.htm [8] Tudor Hart J The inverse care law. Lancet 27 Feb 1971. 1(7696):405-12. [9] Department of Health. Search on â€Å"health inequalities†. http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/AdvanceSearchResult/index.htm?searchTerms=health+inequalities [10] WHO. Commission on Social Determinants of Health Final Report. 2008. http://www.who.int/social_determinants/final_report/en/ [11] Office of National Statistics. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=881 [12] Leyland AH, Dundas R, McLoone P, Boddy FA. Inequalities in Health Inequalities in mortality. MRC http://www.inequalitiesinhealth.com/public/index.php?cmd=smartyid=1_len [13] Scottish Government Health Directorates. Coronary heart disease/ stroke task force report. September 2001 http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/publications/cdtf/cdtf-05.htm [14] National Cancer Intelligence Network. News release. 7th October 2008. http://www.ncin.org.uk/press/UKIM1008press.pdf [15] The Scotsman. 10th March 2003. http://news.scotsman.com/obesity/Glasgow-digests-UKs-fattest-city.2409145.jp [16] World Health Organisation. 2008. Cancer: diet and physical activity’s impact. http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/facts/cancer/en/ [17] Leon DA, McCambridge J; Liver cirrhosis mortality rates in Britain from 1950 to 2002: an analysis of routine data. Lancet. 2006 Jan 7;367(9504):52-6. [abstract] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez/16399153 [18] Scottish Public Health Observatory. Mental Health: Policy Context. http://www.scotpho.org.uk/home/Healthwell-beinganddisease/MentalHealth/mental_keypolicy.asp [19] British Hypertension Society. Proposed Joint British Societies Cardiovascular Disease. http://www.bhsoc.org/resources/prediction_chart.htm [20] Department of Health. Health Survey for England 2003. Published December 2004. http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsStatistics/DH_4098712 [21] Health Promotion. PatientUK. http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/16/ [22] Office of National Statistics. Variations persist in life expectancy by social class. October 2007. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/le1007.pdf [23] Lucas P, McIntosh K, Petticrew M, Roberts HM, Shiell A. Financial benefits for child health and well-being in low income or socially disadvantaged families in developed world countries. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD006358. http://www.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab006358.html [24] Leverett M, Ashe M, Gerard S, Jenson J, Woollery T. Tobacco use: the impact of prices. J Law Med Ethics. 2002 Fall;30(3 Suppl):88-95. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12508509 [25] Scottish Government. Effective and Cost Effective Measures to Reduce Alcohol Misuse in Scotland: An Update to the Literature Review. 2005. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/01/20542/50232 [26] Caraher M, Cowburn G. Taxing food: implications for public health nutrition. Public Health Nutr. 2005 Dec;8(8):1242-9. Review. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez/16372919 [27] Bala M, Strzeszynski L, Cahill K. Mass media interventions for smoking cessation in adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD004704. http://www.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab004704.html [28] Delgado HM, Austin SB. Can media promote responsible sexual behaviors among adolescents and young adults? Curr Opin Pediatr. 2007 Aug;19(4):405-10. Review. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez/17630603 [29] CKS Library. Smoking cessation. 2007. http://www.cks.library.nhs.uk/smoking_cessation [30] NICE. Smoking cessation. March 2006 http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/index.jsp?action=byIDo=11375 [31] Department of Health. Drug misuse and dependence. UK Guidelines on clinical management. http://www.nta.nhs.uk/areas/Clinical_guidance/clinical_guidelines/docs/clinical_guidelines_2007.pdf [32] Kranzler HR, Gage A. Acamprosate efficacy in alcohol-dependent patients: summary of results from three pivotal trials. Am J Addict. 2008 Jan-Feb;17(1):70-6. Review. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez /18214726 [33] Committee on Health Literacy, Institute of Medicine, Nielsen-Bohlman LN, Panzer AM, Kindig DA, eds. Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion. Washington DC: The National Academies Press; 2004. [34] Batty GD, Der G, Macintyre S, et al; Does IQ explain socioeconomic inequalities in health? Evidence from a population based cohort study in the west of Scotland.; BMJ. 2006 Mar 11;332(7541):580-4. Epub 2006 Feb 1. [full text] http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/332/7541/580 [35] Jefferis BJ, Power C, Graham H, Manor O. Changing social gradients in cigarette smoking and cessation over two decades of adult follow-up in a British birth cohort. J Public Health (Oxf). 2004 Mar;26(1):13-8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15044567 [36] Jha P, Peto R, Zatonski W, Boreham J, Jarvis MJ, Lopez AD. Social inequalities in male mortality, and in male mortality from smoking: indirect estimation from national death rates in England and Wales, Poland, and North America. Lancet. 2006 Jul 29;368(9533):367-70. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11226355 [37] James WPT, Nelson M, Ralph A et al. Socioeconomic determinants of health: the contribution of nutrition to inequalities in health. BMJ 1997;314(7093):1545–1549. http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/314/7093/1545 [38] Office of National Statistics. Prevalence of diagnosed diabetes mellitus in general practice in England and Wales,1994 to 1998. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/article.asp?ID=1519Pos=1ColRank=1Rank=224 [39] McCulloch A. Teenage childbearing in Great Britain and the spatial concentration of poverty households. J Epidemiol Community Health.2001 Jan;55(1):16-23. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=retrievedb=PubMeddopt=Abstractlist_uids=11112946 [40] Khambalia A, Joshi P, Brussoni M, Raina P, Morrongiello B, Macarthur C. Risk factors for unintentional injuries due to falls in children aged 0-6 years: a systematic review. Inj Prev. 2006 Dec;12(6):378-81. Review. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17170185 [41] Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. General Accident. January 2007. http://www.rospa.org.uk/factsheets/general_accidents.pdf [42] Khambalia A, Joshi P, Brussoni M, Raina P, Morrongiello B, Macarthur C. Risk factors for unintentional injuries due to falls in children aged 0-6 years: a systematic review. Inj Prev. 2006 Dec;12(6):378-81. Review. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17170185 [43] Kemp A, Sibert J. Childhood accidents: epidemiology, trends, and prevention. J Accid Emerg Med. 1997 Sep;14(5):316-20. Review. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9315935 [44] Payne S. Poverty and Mental Health in the Breadline Britain Survey. 1999. http://www.bris.ac.uk/poverty/pse/99-Pilot/99-Pilot_4.pdf [45] Kutner M, Greenberg E, Jin Y, Paulsen C. The Health Literacy of Americas Adults: Results From the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NCES 2006-483). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, US Department of Education; 2006.

The Construction Design And Management Regulations Construction Essay

The Construction Design And Management Regulations Construction Essay The construction industry is one of the largest industries in the United kingdom employing 2.2 million of the united kingdoms population which is 1 in 14 of the united kingdoms workforce (source www.connexionsbedfordshire.org.uk). According to corporatewatch.org the United Kingdoms construction industry is worth around  £65 billion per annum generating an output of  £81.9billion in 2002. These statistic confirms that the construction industry is the largest within the United kingdom which is soon thing for the industry to be proud of as a gloss earner for the United Kingdom. But being the largest employer the United Kingdom as come with a price that important overweighs the amount of money it generates annually. It is also one of the most dangerous (www.hse.gov.uk). In the year of 2008 to 2009 there were 254.1 Major injury rate per 100 000 employees(www.hse.gov.uk). During the period between 2008 to 2009 1.2 million people that worked last year suffered illness caused by their current or past work. there where also 180 workers killed at a rate of 0.6 per 100 000 workers and 131895 other injuires to workers reported under RIDDER at a rate of 502.2per 100 000employees.The labour force survey concluded that their were 246 000 reportable injuries between 2008 and 2009 at a rate of 870 per 100 000 workers. This high rate of injury and illness had caused 29.3 million worki ng days to be lost which is a rate of 1.24 days per worker. It was found that 24.6 million of these lost days where caused due to work related illnesses and 47.7 million due to work related injuries (www.hse.gov.uk). These statistics are of major interest to the government, construction firms, and construction industry clients. This is due to the lives, time and revenue that have been wasted because of the weakness in the construction industries health and safety legislation. To the client and project managers are usually working to a tight budget so going beyond and above what is required from legislation is not of major concern within the construction site culture.makeing the most amount of profit possable within the shortest time possable is sadly the main concern of a client and project manager. No matter how big or small your property development is, health and safety should be seen as something that helps a development run smoothly and successfully, not as a cost that can be c ut (Grant Prior www.contractjournal.com). This way of thinking has coused the client lacks in his jutie to provide a safe place of work and the principle contractor not checking and creating adequate safe systems of work for each activity onsite specific to the site. The construction industry safety legislation is continuously developing reacting to new and old safety issue. But its true legislations are only as affective as the people implementing then. The cultural behaviour of the construction industry site environment can bring limitations to the efficiently of legislation but can the legislation room for broad interpretation could be the cause for this culture. A stricter legislation would influence construction industry workers to be more observant in their approach to construction projects and thereby changing the construction industries culture has a result help to reduce the rate of injuries and fatalities in the industry. It my view that the revised regulations Construction Design and Management 2007 still needs improvement before it implementation can actually achieve the objectives set out for it to to improve health, safety and welfare in the industry. By amending the current construction design management regulation 2007 to create better guidelines for the control and co-operation for passing on information to support the Health and safety plan system of work. (www.hse.gov.uk) Aims and Objectives In this dissertation using research I will demonstrate that construction deign management regulation (CDM) 2007, affect construction projects throughout their duration and require serious reviewing to reduce the amount of accidents on construction sites per annum . The aim of the study is to trace the development of CDM 2007 Regulations, and demonstrate that the new regulations have significant merits, but been ineffective in completely achieving their objectives. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the areas where CDM 2007 Regulations have been limited in scope and make suggestions for. The following objectives shall be explored: To demonstrate CDM 2007 Regulations and previous regulations affect project management outcomes. To explore the efficacy of CDM 2007 implementation plans and guidance. To explore options for improvement of CDM 2007 congruent with the construction industrys requirements. The purpose is to explore options available for project team members to reduce the rate of incidents, fatalities and injuries in a construction project. Scope of Dissertation In my research I will explain the historical development of construction Design Management Regulations progression over the 18 years. The research will show that the amendments and attempted improvement of construction design management has not achieved it maximum potential. I will evaluate the roles and responsibilities of site team members on a Construction design management regulations project. I will explain how the job roles responsible under could change to improve their capacities to over come problems that conflict them in general activities. This dissertation aims to purpose is to add ideas for the improvement of the construction industries construction design management regulation without taking away any thing positive which is in implementation at present. Methodologies The methodology for this dissertation is going to be based on observations and experiences and research which I will attempt to interpret. I the factual evidence found though research and used what I have found to support or dispute the point and arguments made. In this dissertation Im doing to be looking at the components of Construction Design Management regulation 2007 Regulations and the project members that are contributors to the regulations and those who are affected by it. The idea is to investigate the regulations and attempt to interpret it from the implementers prospective rather than from the regulators implementation objective. To achieve this I will use primary and secondary resources in my analysis of the construction and design management regulations 2007. All my primary research will come from legislation and government literature. The secondary research will come from internet websites, blogs, magazines, reports and press articles using these research method I will the following approaches: (www.marketresearchworld.net/ www.howto.co.uk) Purpose and History of CDM The construction design management regulation is a government legislation created to raise the standards of health and safety in the building and construction industry. this is to be achieved by improving co-ordination between are various parties involved at the preparation stage of a construction project and also while work is being carried out. The construction design management regulation 2007 originate from the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974 which was implemented as a regulation for contractors to implement at construction sites for the safety and health of its workers. Before 1974 there were no laws legislating health and safety. The welfare of workers was governed by the common law of the Factories Act 1961. The Construction Regulations 1961 was by way of law introduced to control the construction industry, while the 1974 Act was useful in risk assessments and statement of methods for everyday activities at factories, but not specifically construction activities. The Construction Design Management 1994 took effect in 31 March. the Construction Design Management regulations 1994s applied to All demolition work where safety is enforced by the HSE All building and maintenance work which is notifiable to the local HSE (i.e. lasts more than 30 days) or which involves 5 or more workers But not work on domestic premises or minor work in occupied offices, shops or similar premises. (www.lhc.org.uk) The roles that had responsibilities under CDM 1994 were the client, Planning Supervisor designer the principle contractor for all building and maintenance work notifiable to the local HSE which are stated above. (Source: www.lhc.org.uk) Since the original CDM Regulations were introduced in1994 concerns were raised that their complexity and the bureaucratic approach of many duty holders frustrated the Regulations underlying health and safety objectives. These views were supported by an industry-wide consultation in 2002 which resulted in the decision to revise the Regulations. (source: www.hse.gov.uk) The revision of the Construction Design Management was pending which gave birth to Construction Design Management regulation 2007. CDM 2007 has been evolutionary, according to HSE, rather than revolutionary. It stems from the demand for the identification, reduction, management and communication of project-specific health and safety hazards. (www.constructingexcellence.org.uk) The Construction Design Management regulations 2007 is a combination of the Construction Design Management 1994, Approved Code of Practice and the Construction Health Safety and Welfare regulations of 1996. The objectives of CDM 2007 are to: Simplify the regulations and improve clarity Maximise their flexibility Focus on planning and management, not The Plan and other paperwork Strengthen requirements on co-operation and co-ordination- encourage better integration Simplify competence assessment, reduce bureaucracy and raise standards Value of CDM Construction Design Management regulations 2007 are in place to insist on duty holders to positively contribute to reduction of accidents and fatalities the fact remains the principle contractor is still held responsible for all aspects of accidents. Since CDM 2007 Regulations are based on the Workplace Safety and Health Act. The intention of the regulation is the principle contractor should eliminate hazardous work and reduce risks or otherwise face legal and financial consequences. The problem with such regulations is that these cannot eliminate accidents or risks entirely through application. To change the old culture of blaming the principle contractors management team Construction Design Management 2007 Regulations would have to be more stringent in their approach for health and safety practices.(www.ies.org.sg) The Construction Design Management Regulations 2007 was revised to improve on the limitations of Construction Design Management regulation 1994. The areas that have been changed include simplification of regulations, flexibility, focus on planning and management; strengthen requirements for cooperation for integration into the construction supply chain, and raising the standards for achievement. But the effectiveness of their implementation is compromised because: The client who is one of the most influential entities in the construction project is not competent to make decisions referring to routine construction procedures such as composition of the project team, skill pool, health and safety issues and the roles of designers, contractors and coordinators. The CDM Coordinator is often engaged at a later stage. The coordinator then receives relevant information on the construction project later than scheduled making the planning process longer than required. Designers are still unaware of their responsibilities under CDM 2007 Regulations pertaining to health and safety issues. They have little training or education on work practices. Also they do not consider health and safety issues like maintenance, repair, clean up, refurbishment or demolition concern them. This lack of concern also stems from the culture of pre-design for approval at the planning stage. Since the designs are prepared with detailed costs before the planning stage, the CDM coordinator has less control over the changes. The duty of appointment of workers, tender for materials, and appointment of subcontractors rests on the principal contractor who is engaged at the planning stage. Delay results in increased project costs and, at times, forces the team to launch the project with lesser consideration for risks of lives. The principal contractor often operates separately from the clients team. They tend to be hostile and protect their team regardless of the risks of health and safety planned by the client or advised by the principal. Alos the Construction Design Management Regulations 2007 efficacy is compromised by the construction lifecycle and value to the client. Projects are dependent on planning permissions clients commitment to investment and finding buyers for the developed structure. The requirement for focusing on the planning stage like the appointment of a CDM coordinator, design. The clients competence is less important. The things takes dominant concern is the tenders, appointment of principal contractors, budgeting and getting the project to take flight. Issues like maintenance, cost of health and safety arrangements, and post-maintenance features are neglected. These elements not only impact the outcome of the project but also impact the work in progress. (www.ciob.org.uk//PRLCCDMpresentaiontoCIOBoffice972.pdf?ref). Analyses The Construction Design Management Regulations 2007 has been implemented for more than two years. The question that arises is whether it has been effective in achieving the set out for it objectives: Simplify the regulations and improve clarity Maximise their flexibility Focus on planning and management, not The Plan and other paperwork Strengthen requirements on co-operation and co-ordination- encourage better integration Simplify competence assessment, reduce bureaucracy and raise standards Before I answer this question I will needs to analyse Construction Design Management Regulations 2007. At the beginning of the study I established the following objectives for CDM 2007 Regulations. These are discussed below based on the findings from the literature review: The Construction Design Management and previous regulations affect project management outcomes The construction industry is one of the major industries of the UK economy with contribution of up to 8 percent of GDP and  £17 billion in financial terms. Yet, it is perhaps one of the most hazardous too, with, according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Disproportionate level of fatals, major injuries and incidents of ill-health. It is for this reason that regulations for health and safety have been implemented to regulate it. The latest regulations, CDM 2007 are improvements over the old ones with the view to eliminate the previous limitations and ensure more focused implementation. However major industry leaders, players and practitioners are of the view that the CDM 2007 Regulations have both negative and positive impacts on construction as a whole. The value of the impact is great and can be estimated as costs incurred to the society from accidents, human lives and legal litigations. According to www.opsi.gov.uk (2007, for the 10-year period appraised, the number of reported injuries in the construction industry is  £7.9 billion, while minor injuries accounted for  £216 million, and ill-health equalled to  £10.2 billion. However, with the improvement over CDM 1994 Regulations the industry and government have hopes to gain from the change, as shown in Appendix 4. Earlier in 2006, the UK had one of the lowest incidence rates among EU countries.(Appendix3) www.hse.gov.uk/construction/cdm/session1.PPT/ http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/phase1.pdf) After the implementation of CDM 2007, the 2008 provisional estimates of fatality rate have fallen sharply, signifying the effectiveness of the regulations. However, it must also be noted that the change has not met the desired estimated target (See Appendix 2, 5, 6) (www.hse.gov.uk). Instead Construction design management affected professional have new roles and responsibilities assigned which earlier had been vague. On paper these changes can be said to have a positive impact on the industrys culture but the reality is that it has created negative perceptions of CDM 2007 Regulations more than positive ones. According to a survey of construction practitioners, 47 percent are of the view that the duty holders of the Regulations are not competent of their assigned duties. In fact, they are of the view that practitioners may vouch for the positive effect of CDM 2007 on the industry but how effective is it for implementing on project is another case. The culture of paperwork for drafting policies and procedures may continue but practical it has a long way to go (www.cdm2007.org). As a result, Construction Design Management Regulations 2007 has a superficial effect on projects in developing a culture of responsibilities on paper for the current time. In fact Construction Design Management 2007 requirements have lengthened the process of pre-construction planning and designing. The role of the client, for example, is central in construction project but it can be observed that the client is distant or unaware of construction activities. Even though the role of CDM-Coordinator has been emphasised for advice and guidance, the client often engages them at a later stage when advice is too late for proper implementation. In this situation, it can be said that the Construction Design Management Regulations 2007 have slowed down rather than helped project management in the construction industry. To explore the efficacy of CDM 2007 implementation plans and guidance. As much as 59 percent of the CDM 2007 Survey indicates that executives at organisations recognise the importance of CDM 2007 as a policy for implementation, but to which depth they follow this policy is yet to be seen. Elements like leadership and communication for creating awareness, training and educating practitioners are usually absent from construction projects, but present at construction organisations. This means that construction organisations, especially contractors, designers and building managers, are aware of the positive impact of CDM 2007; but such awareness is not present at the clients end. The survey also indicates that as much as 62 percent have support and resources to adopt CDM 2007 duties (www.cdm2007.org). I understands that the CDM 2007 Regulations are improvements over the CDM 1994 with change of roles to improve health and safety incidents through the effective implementation of roles and by eliminating paper trail. According to www.hse.gov.uk study (See Appendix 4, 5 6 and 7) incidents of fatalities and injuries have decreased significantly in the years that CDM 2007 Regulations have been implemented. But more importantly it has not impacted the productivity of construction. The overall production level has increased, while the incidents rate has decreased. In this context, it can be said that CDM 2007 Regulations have been effective in their objectives. Despite these facts, according to discussion the section regarding affect project management outcomes people affected by the construction design management regulations 2007 in the construction industry are still feeling their way around new regulation. They recognise the importance of Construction Design Management 2007 for the improved health and safety environment in construction, but not sure construction professional affected are equipped to effectively implement the regulations. Tje reason for this this inefficiency is because of the lack of guidance and means for adopting CDM 2007 Regulations. For example standards for health and safety measures are outlined but construction workers under the construction design regulation 2007 are not guided through the process. Clients, who are not well-versed in construction activities, may assume health and safety measures. Designers who do not have concerns with health and safety issues are not trained to plan or participate in their imple mentation. Also the role of the Planning Supervisor, who has been replaced by the CDM Coordinator has minimal impact on the process of implementing health and safety regulations because the coordinator often find out about the project after the planning process due to the clients unwillness to appoint them at the inception stage in most cases to save money . This leaves the designers and principal contractors to relegate health and safety communication to members on the project. In such a scenario, it is expected that CDM 2007 implementation is likely to fail. Options for improvement of CDM 2007 The implementation authority for Construction Design Managment 2007 Regulations is the HSE. In Construction Design Management Regulation 1994 the monitoring and controlling authority had been well-defined, but required much paperwork. In the latest Regulations, however, the monitoring authority has a punitive role while the internally-appointed duty holder, the principle contractors and the CDM-coordinator have secondary roles because they are dependent on the client for pay and approval. This leaves less room for authoritative monitoring and executive decisions for designing or planning a safe work environment. The framework for implementing Construction Design Management Regulation 2007 Regulations (See Appendix 8) can be improved, but requires more attention to project management practice. According to HSE prediction, health and safety directly impact the productivity of the industry. To improve productivity, improvement in the work environment is essential. Elements like program for increasing employee satisfaction, safe work environment, training, and investment in skilled human resources with high qualifications and background can add value to the project. But more importantly construction companies and projects which adopt these practices can improve in performance as well. Some of the options for integrating improvement in the construction work environment are outlined in the Construction Design Management Regulation 2007, but have to be guided and outlined for dutie holders to adopt: Development of campaigns for CDM 2007 implementation to ensure that the right guidance and options for adoption are communicated to the duty holders. Educating the client should become a priority for the contracting organisation and the authority to make sure that the client is clear of their duties. If required, training can also help the client to understand the process of construction and project management. This way they would be able to effectively manage the team responsible for project outcome. Key duty holders should be made aware of their roles and responsibilities, but more importantly, they need to adopt their duties at the inception stage. This should be made mandatory so that they know their responsibilities right from the beginning. Duty holders like the CDM coordinator and designer should have some executive decisions to carry out their roles more responsibly and effectively. The inspection system is essential for implementing CDM 2007. This is because they would have an unbiased role to play in the construction project. This should be carried out by a third party or from the HSE organisation, and appointed on the project for regular review of health and safety procedures. These are but some options available to construction expert in project management. 5 Conclusions The above research study has been carried out with the view to evaluate how Construction (Design and Management) Regulations affect a construction project. It is clear that CDM Regulations have a long history with improvements over old laws to achieve the objectives of managing risks and reducing accidents at construction sites. The current Construction Design Management Regulation 2007 is far from perfect although they are much better than the previous ones. They have achieved their objectives of stress on planning and managing risks, reduction of risks, bureaucratic system of reporting authority and paper trail. Even statistics indicate that the rates of fatalities, injuries, and ill-health have improved significantly over the past few years (Appendix 1). This should satisfy the industry experts and duty holders of CDM 2007 client, contractor, designer, coordinator, and building manager. My view the main objective of a safe and healthy work environment as compared to other industries in the UK has not materialised as planned. There is still room for improvement. From the above analysis it is clear that accidents continue to happen at construction sites. Duty holders are still clueless of their roles and responsibilities. As a result Construction Design Management Regulations 2007s application still requires improvements. Some of the options have been outlined in the analysis section but one must bear in mind that the list is not exhaustive. As practitioners go along implementing Construction Design Management Regulations 2007 they will find that client dissatisfaction employees caution of health and safety issues, and the continual rate of accidents will motivate them to devise ways to improve the work environment. But in the meanwhile the UK government, along with the construction industrys leaders should develop guidelines with examples for implementation of the Co nstruction Design Management Regulations to speed up and improve implementation processes in the next amendment of the Construction Design Management Regulations. 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