Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh

Nicole Brittingham March 11, 2013 ART 101-04 Analysis assignment * Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh * This painting was made in 1889 during the postimpressionism era. * Starry Night is about 29†x36† and is made from using oil as a medium on a canvas. * This painting can be categorized as modern art. * Formal analysis * Within the composition of this painting, there is a peaceful village in the foreground and a dramatic night sky in our main viewpoint. There is a church steeple that dominates the village symbolizing unity in the town, and gives the impression of size and isolation.The left foreground has a curvy cypress tree which is usually associated with mourning. * There are many lines throughout this work of art. All of the swirling lines in the sky direct the viewer’s eyes around the painting. The fluid lines throughout the painting enhance the flow of Starry Night well. The curving lines create a sensation of depth in the painting. * The spacing between the s tars and the curving shapes create a dot-to-dot effect, ensuring fluidity. The contoured forms, shapes, and spirals in Starry Night were means of expression and used to convey emotion. The artist applied color in thick, broad, curved strokes to create texture. The texture of the bold brushstrokes, swirling circles, and swoops make the image seem to vibrate on the canvas. * The use of white and yellow colors creates a spiral effect and draws attention to the night sky. The dark blues and greens were complemented with touches of light pastel green showing the reflection of the moon. * The texture within this painting is visually meant to provide the viewer a sense of motion and vibrant light by exaggerating the twinkling of the stars out of realistic proportion.The curvy contoured forms in the sky give the illusion of the wind blowing as well as the curved vertical lines in the tree. * The colors within Starry Night are well balanced because they all flow together. The dominance of th e blue is balanced by the orange and yellow of the night sky elements. * When looking at this painting, the viewer would feel as if they were on top of a hill looking down on a village, making the night sky their direct view. This point of perspective is called linear perspective. * Van Gogh used a great deal of emphasis in the sky.By using bright and vivid colors and swirls around the stars, he exaggerated them making them stand out. * Starry Night has more unity than variety, because everything just flows in this painting and gives you a sense of balance and harmony. * Content Analysis * Starry Night is a painting of a dramatic night sky over a peaceful town. * During the later years of the 19th century, a group of postimpressionists came together to rebel against impressionism because they wanted art to have more focus on the traditional elements.Van Gogh’s painting was created in 1889, and fixated mostly on line and color with symbolism and emotion. * Starry Night was cre ated to be art. Van Gogh expressed himself through his paintings. He once explained in a letter to his brother Theo saying, â€Å"I paint as a means to make life bearable†¦ really we can only speak through our paintings†¦Ã¢â‚¬  * There are many interpretations of Starry Night, and one is that the canvas depicts hope. Van Gogh may have been showing that even with a dark night, it is still possible to see the light in the windows of the houses.Another insight may have been; with shining stars filling the sky, there is always light to guide you. The painting could have also shown the vast power of nature and mankind pointing to the heavens. * During this time period, many artists painted to express their emotions and symbolize what they thought or how they saw things. Postimpressionists thought that impressionist art was too vague, so they felt they need to focus their art on using more elements of art and color.

Toms Shoes Epedemic

Simona Brotnei Professor Angelone English Writing 102 7 March 2012 â€Å"How Toms Shoes tipped ? † Intro Section In the book, The Tipping Point, How little things can Make a Big Difference, written by Malcolm Gladwell. What is an Epidemic? Well there are different kinds of epidemics. Epidemics can be Products, diseases, Trend’s, and or Crimes. In order for an epidemic to tip, there are three rules that apply for an epidemic to tip. Epidemics are the phenomena word of mouth, or any number of mysterious changes that mark everyday life is for us to think of them as just that.Epidemics are a contagious behavior; the rules in an epidemic are the Law of the Few, The Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context. The Stickiness Factor The stickiness factor is some kind of information that makes it memorable and sticky, basically something that makes a person remember easily or a message that makes an impact. One of the three Laws that applies too, Toms Shoes is the stickiness of the shoes. The Epidemic that crossed my mind was TOM’s shoes. The co-founder of TOM shoes was Blake Mckoskie, his name was not Tom, Blake’s chose toms because it stands for Tomorrows Future.Back In 2006, Blake went to Argentina, and discovered that the kids there had no shoes, So he came up with the Idea that for every pair of shoes purchased, he would give another pair to a child in need. Tom’s shoes missions is the One for One deal, which I stated above. The reason why Toms tipped was because of the One for One. This is what made TOMS so sticky, just the other day I wore a pair of Toms and this lady stopped me and somehow noticed my shoes and said to me, â€Å"Are those the shoes? † where they give a pair for free? and she wanted to look at them, So I showed them to her. he then went on and said â€Å"that they are expensive ,† but I also stated that they were for a good cause. In the past year of September, TOMS sold over one million pair of sh oes. His company is becoming more successful, and are growing bigger and bigger each day. Blake based the shoe style on the alpargata, a traditional Argentine shoe that farmers have worn for more than 100 years. The shoe is very lightweight and canvas slip-on with just a sliver of a rubber composite sole. It comes in multiple colors and prints for women, men and children. Toms comes out with a new style almost every six months.The shoe prices average from about $40-$100 dollars, They can be pricy but we also have to remember that its helping many kids without shoes, have shoes. The reason as to why Toms is so successful is, because they feel as if there making a difference in the world by helping the kids. They are satisfied and happy about themselves by helping the kids with no shoes. Toms has donated over 600 thousands paris of shoes to kids in 2010. The Power of Context Gladwell states, That the power of context, is no less more important than the two laws mentioned in the beginn ing of the book.Epidemics are sensitive in the time and places in which they occur. The Power of context is one that has to do with the environment we live in. We are the ones that get the word out. Like for instance the word of mouth epidemic is by a person telling them about it, then them telling someone else; or even when they see something that they like, People will ask you where you got the product, then tell his or her friends. Back In May of 2010, I was at a Romanian convention and I noticed a guy wearing them and wanted to find out what kind of shoes they were, because they looked very cool and comfy.I then went on found out where he got them, and bought two pairs, Now Most of the majority of the romanian community owns at least a pair of toms, if not even more. That explains why so many trends like skinny jeans, and or Jeans tucked in boots start. The environment has a lot to do with how epidemics occur, And that is how many trends come about. Just like in the book, The Ti pping Point there were two kids that were wearing hush puppies in East village, and some high fashioned stylists seen them. Later on they skyrocketed and sold over 600 thousands pairs.There is no other explanation more better than how the environment has many effects on how we look and or how we dress, the environment plays a big part on how products tip and how trends become more popular. Conclusion The reason why products tip are because the message itself had an impact, and or the environment where they were seen was noticed by big entrepreneurs. Why is it that many people like myself? are buying all into this, One thing is that it is contagious and the little things that make a change make a difference in the world.Trends and or diseases are also just as contagious. The co-founder of Toms travels to many different colleges to reach out to peers because he wants the new generations to be concerned and aware with different things. and helping others is one that everyone can do if they cant help by buying a pair they can help by not wearing shoes for 24 hours and that event that is called One Day Without Shoes, is targeted mostly to students because they are the ones with time and its a free advertising by getting his shoes known. and what more not doing it at colleges.Blake wants to raise up a better generations for our kids, and by helping and joining events just like this one is a great opportunity for many students to be aware and help make difference in the world. That is why they have an event every year, In Fact It is coming up shortly Sometime in April. The event mostly focuses on the awareness for people to realize that in many different parts of the country children are without shoes. Also to get others student to join and help if not by buying the shoes but by simply getting the word out.The One Day Without Shoes event allows student-led college chapters of TOMS to hold awareness events on campus (and do some free advertising for TOMS). The movemen t reaches out to students who want to help and be a part of a larger philanthropic movement, but can’t afford to give large amounts of money or commit an extended amount of time. People who are already passionate about helping children in need are the prime candidates to join the TOMS movement, so the student chapters and the organization reach out to these individuals through their  advertisements  and promotions. Im gonna finish a quote by Ghandi, which was Blake’s favorite quote. Be the change you want to see in the world Works Cited Gladwell, Malcolm. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. Boston: Little, Brown, 2000. Print. â€Å"Shoes Offer a Better Tomorrow. † NewsOK: Oklahoma News, Sports, Weather, Business, Entertainment & Oklahoma City Photos & Video OKC. Linda Miller, 5 Apr. 2009. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. . â€Å"Millennials and Philanthropy: 5 Tips I Learned from TOMSA  Shoes. † Rebekah Bowen. 26 Aug. 2011. Web. 11 Mar . 2012. . â€Å"TOMS SHOES LOGO. † Bio Of Blake Mycoskie, The Founder & Chief Shoe Giver Of TOMS Shoes. 2 Feb. 2010. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. .

Airborne Express case study Essay

Airborne Express, an air express transportation company has succeeded to compete with a few big competitors such as Federal Express and United Parcel Service (UPS) even it does not have funding as much as its competitors. In 1996, it held third position in the industry with 9 percent of the market. Even Airborne is smaller size company compared to its main competitors, it still can survive with the competitive advantage through its resources and capabilities. With some unique resources and core competences, a company may have competitive advantage over its competitors, and this is the way small capital company able to compete with its competitors. Airborne Express is the first and only air express transportation company that owns an airport. Because of the limited control, Airborne has purchased an airline at Wilmington in 1980. Since then, the airport became the hub of the company, and all the operations of the company were conducted here. It is also the biggest privately owned airport in United States. With the ownership of the airport, Airborne is able to control the operations more easily. Besides that, Airborne does not need to pay for any landing or service fees to the airlines company like its competitors. Comparably, Federal Express and UPS own the planes but still need to lease the airport from other party. It helps Airborne to save a lot of costs. Apart from that, Wilmington airport is one of the strategic airports in United States. It means that the place is having a well weather record. For express air transportation industry, weather is a big factor that can affect the daily business operation. If the weather is bad, the shipments will not be sent to the final destination at the promised time. Time is the promise to the customers and it does affect the confidence of a company’s customers. Besides airlines, Airborne also has a complete system of ground transportation. With the establishment of trucking hubs in some places, Airborne able to deliver the shipment that near to the hub using the ground transport. Almost 25 percent of the company’s domestic volume is dealt with ground transport. However, the cost of service by ground transport is not transparent to the customers who assume that the packages are flown. Thus, the charge is same with the air-transported goods. Compare to air transport, ground transportation costs five times lower. From here, the profit margin  has been increased. In the other way, the company also can offer lower price for ground transportation packages. Instead of making more profit, the company can utilize the low cost benefit to compete with its competitors. In 1996, Airborne Express owned a fleet of 105 aircraft. To keep the capital expenditure down, Airborne has purchased only used planes. The planes will be modified to suit its specification for air express transportation. The cost of purchase and modification is $30million lower than purchasing a new plane. Compare to other companies, a big amount of money is being saved by Airborne. Further more, Airborne’s DC-9 and YS-11 aircraft require only two person cockpit crew compared to normal three person crews required in Federal Express and UPS. Labour cost has been saved again. Airborne also have its own maintenance facility in Wilmington. It is the only all-cargo carrier to do so. It can handle most if the maintenance works except major engine repairs. It was estimate that the labour costs of $16 per hour is $49 lesser than the subcontracted labour cost. It was a major source of annual cost savings. Instead of serving all kinds of customers, Airborne decided to focus on serving the needs of high volume corporate accounts. It is because the severe competition and the cost of serving small customers. The company is able to establish scheduled pickup routes and use it as ground capacity more efficiently. Due to this factor, the unit cost structure has been reduced. According to the Airborne executives, their unit cost is $3 lower than its main competitor, Federal Express. Besides that, because of the different consumer behaviors between different groups, the focusing of the service is one of the ways to win a part of market in severe competition. By matching the needs of the groups, the company will have a better chance to win the customers than its competitors. Another aspects that Airborne get competitive advantage is the creation of the only privately certified Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) in United States at its Wilmington hub. In a FTZ, merchandise is tax-free and no customs duty is paid until it leaves. It is a big attraction to the foreign companies. The companies can keep their inventories in Wilmington hub, and the inventories  will be delivered to the destination by Airborne when needed. The local companies that implement Just-In-Time policy will prefer the service very much. It is because the inventories cost will bear by the suppliers that keep inventories in Airborne hub. For foreign companies, not only can satisfy the needs of local customers, but also can save the cost of tax and duty paid. The FTZ is a good factor that will help Airborne to set foot into the international market. However, because of the capital constraint, Airborne still unable to compete with Federal Express and UPS in the international market. Normally, large sizes A-containers are used in the air cargo business. Around $1million per plane is required to install cargo doors to take A-containers. To solve the problem, Airborne has developed C-containers that are six times smaller, and can fit through the passenger doors of the aircraft. The equipment to load the C-containers also about 80 percent less expensive than the equipment needed for A-containers. The shape of C-containers also designed to allow maximum utilisation of the plane space. To prevent other competitors copy the design, Airborne has taken out the patent on the C-containers. Therefore, C-containers seem to be the speciality of Airborne Express. It helps the company to save a lot of costs. It is a long term cost savings because it involves in daily operation. Therefore, it also a long term competitive advantage over the other competitors. Apart from that, through its subsidiary company, Advanced Logistics Services Corp., Airborne is promoting a range of third-party logistics service. It provides customers with the ability to maintain inventories in a 1 million square foot â€Å"stock exchange† facility located in Wilmington hub. The customers can choose to manage the inventories themselves or subcontract to Airborne. In â€Å"stock exchange† service, third party will involve in the instruction for movement of the inventories. It easier the process of the movement of inventories, and also help the customers to minimise inventory holding costs. Airborne is the first and only air express transportation company that provide this unique service. It actually involves a complex system. Therefore, knowledge or human resource is very important in order to develop the system. Since it is the only company, customers who interested  with the â€Å"stock exchange† service will come to Airborne. The unique competence gives Airborne a competitive advantage. Science and technology is developing rapidly in the world. Information system becomes more and more important in the business world. The more developed system a company has, the more competitive advantage it gets. Airborne uses three information systems to help in its daily operation. LIBRA II system is a metering device and computer software that easier the transaction between Airborne and customers. It also lowers Airborne’s operating costs. FOCUS is the main system provided by Airborne and it benefits customers the most. It is a worldwide tracking system that help the customers to track the location their package through Internet link. It increases the company’s reliability and service quality. With the trust on the company, customers will be more confident to give the job. The third system is the Customer Linkage electronic data interchange program. It eliminates repetitive data entry and paperwork by the customers. It also a system that created purposely to benefit its customers. The company also benefits from lowering the costs by eliminating manual data entry. From all the resources and capabilities mentioned above, we could realise that most of the competitive advantages Airborne has over its competitors is through costs reduction. According to Porter’s Generic Strategies Model, Airborne is actually implemented a cost-focus strategy to get the competitive advantage. Because of the lesser capital, Airborne is unable to compete with the giant of the industry, such as Federal Express and UPS. If Airborne can be the cost leader in the industry, it can give a severe competition to the competitors. Besides that, the unique resources such as C-containers and Foreign Trade Zone are also giving core competences to the company. In conclusion, facing the competition from competitors that have powerful funding, Airborne not only can survive, but also get a strong position in the air express transportation industry. A correct and suitable strategy adopted by a company can change the company position. A company, which can fully and smartly utilise its resources and capabilities, it can have  competitive advantage over the other competitors and it really benefits the company a lot.

Health Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health Law - Essay Example The trained professional becomes the administrator of the hospital who is responsible to run administrative matters of the hospital. The administrator not only supervises administrative matters but also takes steps to improve the medical staff’s performance. One of the major responsibilities of an administrator is to ensure the delivery of high quality care and treatment to the patients. â€Å"Additionally, they control the day-to-day operations of the hospital, making sure patient care is being met in compliance with state standards and hospital policies† (MacKenzie, n.d.). It is also true that the administrator of a hospital is legally accountable for the quality of care being delivered to the patients. The reason is that the administrator is the main decision-making authority within a healthcare facility. All employees of a hospital, which include doctors, nurses, and paramedical staff, are required to follow the directions of the administrator. Therefore, an adminis trator is responsible for improving patient care, as well as the performance of the medical staff. Answer No: 3 I accept this statement because provision of privileges and fringe benefits to the licensed or board certified physicians depends on approval of administrators of the hospitals. All licensed or board certified physicians have the right to obtain the privileges, however, the final decision regarding provision of these rights depend on the policy set either by the administrator or by the medical chief officer of the hospital. Administrators make the policies to run different matters of the hospital. They are the bodies who decide whether they should give the right of obtaining the privileges to physicians or not. Provision of privileges to physicians is dependent on the policies and philosophy of the board of directors (Joson, 2003). They grant the privileges after analyzing the financial conditions of their organizations. Sometimes, they give this right to physicians and so metimes, they limit the provision of medical staff privileges to some specific privileges. When the administrator or chief medical officer limits the provision of privileges, physicians can choose to contact the courts, which are often employed to uphold and ensure the provision of all those privileges to the physicians that a government hospital provides to their physicians. For example, if the administration of a hospital does not provide a suitable service structure to the physicians, the physicians can contact the court to get the desired service structure. Similarly, physicians can go to court to obtain the allowances and other benefits. Summing it up, I would say that obtaining the privileges is the right of all physicians working in private hospitals and they can contact the court to obtain those privileges. Answer No: 4 In the context of medical liability, the term ‘standard of care’ refers to the level of care that the medical professionals need to provide to t heir patients. â€Å"A standard of care is a formal diagnostic and treatment process a doctor will follow for a patient with a certain set of symptoms or a specific illness† (Torrey, 2008). Medical professionals need to provide a set level of care to the patients in order to meet the standard of care. The standard of care in a hospital is same for every medical professional working in the hospital. All healthcare professionals need

Community and Domestic Violence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Community and Domestic Violence - Essay Example Also, they should concentrate on building a family time which allows the entire family to sit together and talk. This bonding with the family will prevent the young child from needing comfort or guidance outside the house as it will be readily available at home. Also, gang violence is presented as a romanticized idea in the youth culture today: songs, movies or books. Children are easily motivated to participate in an idea that is shown as being courageous. But, telling the child to stop listening to music or go to the movies will prove to be an unfruitful idea. Social scientists and criminologists have come to the conclusion that gang violence cannot be curbed through suppression.(Goldstein & Huff 1993) Instead, talk to the child of the cons of gang violence and emphasize the need to stay away from it. Thus, prevention and intervention will prove to be a far more successful communicator than force (Conley 1993). A lot of gangs are created as a need for the individual to be recognized. The young child might see the gang as his way to achieve three minutes of fame. Parents must ensure that their child has his priorities set straight. He must be taught the difference between famous and infamous.

Literature Review about Social Media - Facebook, Twitter, Instragram

About Social Media - Facebook, Twitter, Instragram. SEO and PPC and Tools to do with Social Media - Literature review Example In general, the websites of the organisations are made up of either with the integration of Pay-Per-Click (PPC) or Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) (Distilled, 2012). Keeping with the changing trend in the current social media campaigns, the paper intends to critically discuss about the tools that can be used by WordPress website with social media campaign involving Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. According to the various studies and analytical research surveys, it has been critically recognised that there are fundamentally two types of tools used to develop an effective social media campaign of an organisation. According to Odden (2012), SEO and PPC are the major tools of an effective social media campaign. The tools have been widely accepted and implemented to streamline the promotional strategies of the organisations’ websites along with different products and/services offered by any particular organisations (Odden, 2012). According to Chaney (2009) the concept of SEO is simply defined as a bit of moving target, which involves number of influences on the websites of a particular organisation. The best practice of a SEO significantly incorporates a mix of attention towards the content, keywords, social signals and links associated with the organisational websites to be promoted by the use of social media networks (Chaney, 2009). Moreover, the study of Eid & Ward (200 9) also suggest that an effective practice of SEO also involves certain other crucial factors such as speed of the web page along with semantic mark-up and authority of the author. This process enables greater benefit to the organisations to maintain efficiency of the websites and also provides adequate support to promote range of organisational products/services to a wide number of global clients (Eid & Ward, 2009). In relation to the concept of PPC, the study of Distilled, (2012); Ellam (2004) have critically

Company Promoter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Company Promoter - Essay Example 1) On 15th August, Bill signed a letter that stated, "For and on behalf of Cornhill Ltd, as agent only, Bill". He agreed to purchase computer equipment costing 30,000 pounds together with a servicing agreement for five years costing 120 pounds per month. Logitech was charging an exorbitant rate for the servicing agreement; hence they wished to terminate the contract. Owing to Salomon3 principle, a company is a separate legal entity different from its members and it can therefore sue and be sued in its own name. According to Salomon principle, Cornhill Ltd can claim can claim for wrong done against it. But here the company was not registered. A company does not come into existence until the promoter has completed the registration Requirements and the Registrar of the Companies issues a certificate of incorporation Prior to this time a company cannot bind by contracts entered into in its name or on its behalf. In practice, however, promoters will need to contract with the third parties for such things as a lease of premises, business equipments and connection to utilities so that once the certificate of incorporation is issued the company can begin trading4. The problem that arises in the relation to incorporation contracts is whether Bills can avoid being personally l... 9(2) of the European Communities Act 1972, now found in s.36C of the CA 1985. If somebody does not exist they cannot contract [Rover International Ltd v Cannon Film Sales Ltd (No 3)]5. So if this principle applied Cornhill Ltd can deny to follow the contract with Logitech because impose high price. Further, since at the time of a pre incorporation contracts the company does not exist, upon its subsequent creation it is necessarily a stranger to it and the doctrine of privity will operate to prevent rights and the liabilities being conferred to imposed on the company. The Contracts (Rights of third Parties) Act 1999, which allows enforcement of contracts by third parties if the contract expressly so provides or a term of the contract confers a benefit on the third party, does not apply to pre incorporation contracts. The Act is based on the recommendations of the Law Commission on its report, Privity of Contract: Contracts for the benefit of the Third Parties (Law Commission report No. 242, Cm 3329 (London, HMSO (1996)). Addressing the issue of pre incorporatio n contracts, the Law Commission drew the distinction between a contract on behalf of the third party and a contract for the benefit of a third party. The Law Commission stated that the former category involves the third party company becoming a party to the contract, and subject to all its rights and obligations, after its incorporation. In Kelner v Baxter6 promoters of a hotel company entered into a contract on its behalf for the purchase of wine the company, when incorporated, ratified. The wine was consumed but before payment was made the company went to liquidation.7 The promoters, as agents, were sued on the

Differentiating Between Market Structures Coursework

Differentiating Between Market Structures - Coursework Example In such context, fast food outlets will be the best place to grab a precooked burger and a hot beverage for the morning meal. With increasing consumption of fast food, America is experiencing substantial growth in the industry. Market statistics indicate that this industry is likely to experience a boost; hence its future prospects seem promising. Organizations in the Fast Food Industry In practical context, examples of established organizations within the fast food industry include McDonalds, Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken, among other companies. Within the essay, we will focus on Kentucky Fried Chicken, which features as one of the most successful business franchise in the world. Kentucky entered the industry, upon which it established itself as an icon in preparation and sale of chicken products and other fast food items. It is known for its finger licking chicken and attracts a wide range of consumers into its outlets worldwide. Currently, the organization has franchises located in different geographical regions including China and Indian markets. With current increase in fast food consumption, Kentucky Fried Chicken is repositioning itself in the global market in order to reap maximum benefits. Within the American market and beyond, Kentucky is tied with other established fast food giants like McDonalds, Wendy’s and Burger King. ... r of buyers and sellers, level of competition, prospects of market entry and range of products and services offered to consumers within a given market segment. Based on these attributes, the four basic market structures include perfect competition, oligopoly, monopolistic competition and monopoly. Kentucky Fried chicken operates its business within a perfect competition environment. Characteristics of Perfect Competition From a theoretical perspective, perfect competition is sometimes referred to as pure competition. In ideal situation, pure competition is characterized by presence of numerous sellers all offering identical products and services to potential consumers. Because all products and services offered are identical, then each seller enjoys a proportionate share of the market. According to Colander (2010), prices within such a market are not determined by a single seller. Rather, price elasticity of demand is attributed to consumer preference based on merit of product and ser vice offered by a given seller. Consequently, price of goods tend to be stable since no single seller had the economic influence to induce price dynamics. In this regard, consumers are protected from illegal pricing techniques since all sellers shall have to adhere to prevailing market regulations created by competition. In actual sense, perfect competition may not exist as ideally portrayed in theoretical constructs. However, typical characteristics of firms in practical business settings will place each organization under one of the market structures mentioned above. Marketing Structure of Kentucky Fried Chicken Kentucky Fried Chicken operates within an environment with infinite number of product sellers. Currently, there are thousands of fast food outlets across the world. Some of these

Critical opinion about article Literature review

Critical opinion about article - Literature review Example Introduction While the function of drug coatings in medications are rarely considered by the consumer, they are vital to the function and efficacy of most modern medicines. By incorporating a drug into a polymer film, gel, or other encapsulating material, the hydrophobic molecules can be made to degrade much more slowly [1]. The use of an encapsulating membrane allows the chemical to circulate within the body, while also creating a hydrophilic shell that can pass through the cell membrane of the bacterial target [1, 2]. The coatings also may have the additional property of bioadhesion, keeping the drug at the target site for a longer period of time [3]. Niosomal membranes, non-ionic surfactant vesicles, are one common type of encapsulating material, especially for transdermal and ophthalmic topical use [4, 5]. Niosomes can also be made into a substance called proniosomes, a dehydrated powder formulation of niosomes, which can be transported further and stored longer, increasing their usefulness [6]. Niosomal Encapsulation and Hydrogen Bonding In their 2011 study, Hao and Li examined the efficacy of niosomal entrapment in solution, specifically on the rate of encapsulation when the niosomes were included in a solution that also contained the desired chemical for entrapment [7]. Niosomal encapsulation is achieved by coating a water-soluble pharmaceutical chemical with a lipid membrane, and this lipid coating will slow the release of the encased pharmaceutical chemical into the surrounding environment. This is usually made use of in such situations as a time-released or delayed-release medication [5]. Additionally, the use of a niosomal membrane around the pharmaceutical chemical is currently the only known method for achieving safe and efficient transdermal drug delivery. The ability of the niosomal membrane to help the pharmaceutical chemical cross the dermal and subdermal layers is dependent on the structural organization of niosomes, not simply on the properti es of the niosomal membrane. Other non-ionic surfactants do not produce the same successful results for transdermal permeation [4]. One of the chemical models in the Hao and Li study, p-hydroxyl benzoic acid, was found to form hydrogen bonds with the niosomal membrane being studied [7]. These hydrogen bonds caused an increase in the entrapment efficiency of the formulation. This can be seen in the fact that the second model used in their study, salicylic acid, showed lower rates of entrapment efficiency. Salicylic acid also did not form the same type of hydrogen bonds with the niosomal membrane, showing that the increased encapsulation efficiency seen in the p-hydroxyl benzoic acid solution was therefore related to the hydrogen bonding of the solute to the niosomal membrane. Figure 1 shows the changes in the UV absorption spectra of the solutions being studied which indicate the presence of hydrogen bonding between the niosomal coating and the p-hydroxyl benzoic acid. Conversely, th ese spectra also show the lack of such hydrogen bonding in the salicylic acid solution and the blank niosome solution. This study is the first to note the importance of those hydrogen bonds in the functioning of the niosomal membrane and the relation of those bonds to encapsulation efficiency [7]. Niosomes are able to form those hydrogen bonds by providing â€Å"a stable system that allows the self-assembly of hydrogen-bonded receptors to occur in contact with aqueous environments†

Changes in Children- Birth Essay Example for Free

Changes in Children- Birth Essay Before six months the main reason why a child’s emotion and emotional expression is different is due to the brain not being fully mylinated. As the child ages past the first month, their frontal cortex begins to advance as increasing neurological development is starting and beginning to modify and transform the operations of the in-built emotional expressions (Wilson, 2003, p. 55). Suffering, pain, joy, fear and interest are among the first emotions that an infant express. These primary emotions are important as this is a child’s first way of showing and communicating with adults their needs. It is for the reason of communication we must look at our primary emotions as a human survival mechanism, as these are involuntary and in- built features all children are born with (Wilson, 2003, p. 55). All primary emotions are all expressed in the same manner, which raises the question as to whether emotions are all universal; that emotions are genetic, or that all cultures share mutual background features. There are 2 main theories on emotional development; discrete emotions theory and a structural approach (Wilson, 2003, p. 48). Izard, Tomkins, Ekman are the leaders of discrete emotions theory. These theorists proclaimed that emotion had 3 components; physiological, behavioural and subjective. These emotions where present from birth and could be seen by studying facial expressions of infants. The results and information these theorists where gaining agreed with Darwin that these expressions where the same in all culture and must be an in-built neural feature. As humans age our primary emotions network with cognition and form ‘cognitive affected structures’, this is how secondary emotions are developed discrete emotions theory (Wilson, 2003, p. 49). This theory can be applied to my own family, as recently there was a sudden death of my aunt, as a result we had family members calling from different parts of Australia and the world calling to offer their condolences and support to our family. This reaction to a death of a family member is universal. The structural development approach see’s development as holistic. This approach states that all systems interact with each other and the environment with emphasis on the social environment. The environment play a large factor in the development of children, but theorists cannot deny genetic is also a large contributor. Sroufe a theorist states that all emotions have antecedent. In Sroufe’s theory in the first 6 months of an infant’s life emotional ancestor can also be physiological states and not recognised as emotions, and that secondary emotions build from there (Wilson, 2003, p. 50). By the age of two, a toddler’s brain contains more neurons than an adult and has twice the amount of connections between these cells. It has been linked that that as a toddler’s brain contains more neurons that they need more rest then adults for their brain’s to function fully. During this time more neurons die and more connections are pruned throughout brain in the first three years of life than other stage of life. The leading element of the development of expressions of emotion in the child’s environment is the carer and the care the child receives. Emotional deprivation occurs when children who are not had consistent warm emotional relationships as a young child, this leads to their secondary emotions being weak. Children who have suffered from emotional deprivation are targets for exploitation and paedophiles as they have ‘affection hunger’ (Wilson, 2012 slide, 8) A child in the toddlerhood has additionally reached a point where they have developed a sense of self. The maturation of the frontal lobes and the limbic circuit in the brain is the cause for the development of a toddler achieving a sense of self. As a result of the toddlers sense of self they are able to show empathy and can affectively communicate and label their emotions to their peers and adults. This allows a child to say ‘I am mad or sad’ instead of crying and having a tantrum, although toddlers still react in this manner they can communicate there emotions more effectively (â€Å"Emotional development†, 2006,. ara 7). From two to six years of age is early childhood. It is at this stage in a child’s life they have developed motor skills that enable them to become more self-sufficient and self-controlled. Children are creating friendships and being more engrossed in playtime such as; painting pictures which creates symbolic expression. There is an incr easing need for the carer to engage with the toddler by conversing and meeting the child’s social, cognitive and emotional needs, their perspectives, and interests. The child’s ability to tell stories is a way of understanding their perspectives (â€Å"Hearing young children’s voices,† nd, p. 19). Through a greater understanding of the world around them a child develop and understanding that the world didn’t revolve around them and that nothing was as simple as they one thought it was. During the age of 2-6 most children attend preschool, which gives young children a great understand about display rules. By attending preschool it gives young children an understanding about how to express their emotions in an appropriate way in all contexts of life ranging from family, school and society. Toddlers may learn how to appropriately express their emotions but influences from their family still have a great impact on their expression. The preschool is a system, with rules, boundaries, and expectations. It is important for children to know where they stand and by placing them in a system such as preschool whilst they are developing their emotional expression allows them to shine. For children in good environments the control of emotional expression accelerates from 3 to 5 years (Wilson, 2003, p132). From the age of six to eight children become aware of the difference between expressing emotion and feeling it. This affectively allows the child to manage their emotional expression by reflecting on their emotions; this is an emotional coping skill children learn in order to avoid negative attention or experiences such as bullying. Although, school age children are becoming more exposed to the wider world new challenges are arising such as, fears of failing or poor academic result in school as many children are put under presser from parents to achieve high grades (Berk, 2009, p. 410). When the child reaches ten years of age their expression of emotions is likely to have significantly enhanced. At this age most children have developed a set of techniques for controlling their expressions of emotion. General strategies are problem centred coping, they are able to identify the challenge, asses and solve issues that may arise. If problem solving is not successful the child may adopt emotion-centred coping that is private and internal (Berk, 2009, p. 410). An external influence has also been heightened during this period such communicating with their peers on how to deal with the situation. Children at this age are able to justify circumstances and actions or â€Å"reconstruct scenarios to make them seem less upsetting emotionally† (â€Å"Emotional development†, 2006,. para. 11). By age eleven, the child has began to integrate inner standards of excellence and good behaviour with self-conscious emotions; their internal strategies are starting to be utilised for self-regulating, and a shift from problem centred and emotion centred coping has taken place and there social etiquette of expressing emotions has improved (Berk, 2009, p. 416). In adolescents emotions are still forming. Most children reach adolescence rom eleven to twenty years. During this time an adolescent is trying to create distance from their family and form their independence. Peer pressure may appear to be irresistible regardless of the adolescence’s inner feelings, as it full fills their need for acceptance and desire to ‘fit it’. Emotional expression and even the adole scence’s inner feelings may alter on the way they react to certain stimuli or events, when in the context of groups, this can be seen in how a adolescent reacts on a school excursion to how they react out with their peers on the weekend at a movie theatre. Wilson, 2003, p. 176-77). Young adolescences’ endure peer group contexts where their expression of emotion is displayed in the environment of peer norms. Each child is an individual as they have been brought up in different backgrounds. In turn their fundamental feelings have been restricted although they have acquired the display associated with emotion. In example some adolescences may display in anger in what they have seen of anger, with the increase in aggression used television shows and in movies adds to the range of anger an adolescent cane use (Wilson, 2003, pp176-77). In certain circumstances some adolescences exhibition emotions that they may not feel or more emotions than felt, this is present in children of younger age groups but, is more dominant in adolescences. Adolescence is known as a period of storm and stress. Social, cognitive and environmental factors are a large contribution of how the adolescences expression of emotion will inevitably mature. During adolescence the social problems become more complex and they chose to talk to their peers to offer help to overcome this situation (â€Å"Emotional development†, 2006,. para. 12). Children who have been deprived have complex expressions of emotions, and on top of the struggle with complicated emotions that arise during adolescents put’s these children at greater strain. Adolescents according to Piaget are self- focusing. Piaget believed that during adolescence a new form of egocentrism formed as adolescents could not separate the difference between their thoughts and others thoughts. There were 2 main ways this could be explained, through self-audience and personal fable. Self -audience is when an adolescent believes they are the emphasis of everyone’s attention. It is through self-audience that adolescents may feel extremely self-conscious and aware of themselves. Self fable is when an adolescent feels that people are always giving them attention and watching them, this is similar to what a toddler may think but by this stage an adolescent should know that they can not always be the centre of attention. When an adolescent is not receiving they believe is due it leads to them being upset and moody. (Berk, 2009, p. 252) As human beings everyone develops their emotion expression at various time of their life. As we age and mature so do our emotions and expressions, how an infant reacts to a range of emotions compared to a 20 year old will be absolutely different, this may be due to the culture they have been brought up in or they have learned display rules. As seen throughout this essay emotional development does not occur in isolation but in some rare circumstances it does, there are many cognitive, neurological and behavioural influences interact with emotional, social and cultural influences. References Berk, L. (2009). Child development (8th ed. Person International Edition Colman,A. (2009), Oxford Dictionary of Psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press Emotional development . (2006). Retrieved from http://www. education. com/reference/article/emotional-development/ Hearing young children’s voices, (n. d). Retrieved from http://www. children. act. gov. au/documents/PDF/under5report. pdf Wilson, L. (2003), The Emotional Life of Children. National Library of Australia: Charles Sturt University. Wilson, L. (2012). Lecture3: dependence needs of children [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from in class on the 17/07/2012

Different Networking Systems Advantages and Disadvantages

Different Networking Systems Advantages and Disadvantages Local Area Network: Local Area network is isolated network. Generally, It is build in a physical location. such as office, home etc. Computers are connected to each other by a small server and also connected to the wide area network (Internet). This types of networks are very usefull for sharing data likes files, small or big document, play network games etc. Metro Politian Area Network(MAN) : Metropolitan area network is a large computer network where computers are connected with each other from different geographical location. Its structure and built process are quite similar with LAN the only difference its spans an entire city or a selected are like college or university campus or a commercial area. We can get a shared network connection form MAN. Wide Area Network (WANs): Wide area network is similar to a Local area network but here all other device connected to each other by fiber-optic cables, telephone line or a satellite links. Networking Topologies: Bus: Every node or device are individually linked up to successive other device or other node . Its a very simple network but its has sum troubleshooting network issues . such as if a node is not working then how can anyone find the error node. Other way it has data redundancy issues. Ring: It quite similar to bus network topologies. It has no termination like bus topologies. The main reason is that this topologes has no end it related to each other like a circle. this network has some fault such as difficulty of adding a new node to a token ring network. Star: In this netwrok each and every node maintains an itotally individual connection to a switch, where all other nodes are connected. It has a direct connection with swithch to node. the weakness are need more wire to setup a network. Mesh: In this topology every node conected with each other node. It generally used in warreless network. It need a large amount of overhead which very difficult to manage+ Hybrid: This is simply a topology referring to the case where more than one topology is utilized. ti is the combination of star and ring topology. 1.2 Evaluate the impact of current network technology, communication and standards. Answer: OSPF: It is a routing protocol generally used for larger network either a single network or a group network. It is designed by Internet Engineering Task Force. It can also used as a Gateway Protocol. FTP: File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is mainly a standard protocol of Network which is used to transfer data from client to host or one server to another server . If user or admin want to upload a file on a website he or she needs a username, password and host address. SMTP: Simple mail transfer protocol is like a media which transfers e-mail. SMTP always work with POP3 service. TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol is a set of a protocol stack. Basically it is tow different protocol. TCP/IP is closely related with FTP, SMTP, HTTP. 1.3 Discuss how protocols enable the effective utilisation of different networking systems. Network Protocols are ensure proper utilisation of different network system. OSI model Layer 2 protocol is data link protocol which handles the physical and logical connections to the packets destination using a network interface card (NIC). Layer 3 Protocol called Internetwork Protocol (IP) it is also called network layer protocol it work for routing, directing datagrams from one netwrok to another. IP protocol always analysis larger datragrams and identify each and every host with a 32-bit IP address. Layer 4 protocol are TCP, UDP. Transmission Control Prtocol (Tcp0 establishes connections between two hosts on the network through sockets which are determined by the IP address and port number. one the other side provides a low overhead transmission service, but with less error checking. 2.1 Discuss the role of software and hardware components. Answer: Software: All Network software consists of the programs and protocols which required to connect computers together. Their primary purpose are data inter connect each other, data sharing. Application sharing: For application sharing all computer use same platform to connect and manage computer. If a network share application software platform to connect then it can reduce network cost. Hardware or Peripheral sharing: Network software also share hardware such as phone, fax, printer etc. A printer connected with ser with server and all other computer can share that computer. Management and Security: Network software provide some mechanism to maintain proper security of data and its can make backup copy of valuable date. It can monitor and make a digital report on resource utiliaation and efficiency. Operating System: Windows or Linux system. Hardware: Network Interface card (NIC) Hub Switches Bridges Routers Gateway Modems 2.2 Discuss server types and selection requirement. Answer: For the given scenario I would prefer a window server and here I want to clear my intension by full filing server selection requirement. So If any admin want to select a server types then admin must follow, server, proxy servers, web server, mail server, FTP server, SMTP server. Here I try to mention server and its work Server: A Server designed to get request or to process requests from other device or node(client) and deliver or process data to other node or client over a local network, or the wide area network. Now a days we find plenty of servers around us. So, I try to figure out some common server types: Proxy Servers: A proxy server like a middle man between a client and a real server. Here client means a web browser such as Internet explorer or chrome. When a client make a inquiry then web browser its try to solve it, otherwise web browser forward the query to the real server. In this way a proxy server reduce search time. A proxy server also used to filter request. A network admin used it to control unauthorized web access. Such as: many company block facebook, online game site etc Mail Servers: A mail server used for delivers e-mail over a network or over the internet. This types of servers receive e-mails from other nodes or users and send the mail to correct node or client. Web Servers: Web server generally a server which commonly used to host websites. Its deliver web page with content to client site and all the content are plain HTML documents or a image. Application Servers: Application server generally called appserver. It is a software which controlled all application between users and an server. Real-Time Communication Servers FTP Servers: File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is mainly a standard protocol of Network which is used to transfer data from client to host or one server to another server . If user or admin want to upload a file on a website he or she needs a username, password and host address. Server types selection is an important step for a new network. To select a server for office or a home is not easy its seems quite complicated. So an administer should make his own criteria to select server type. So, I try to set some criteria. Software requirements: Comment Operating systems (OS) Windows CPU type and speed Lattes Expansion/Upgrade Criteria Must Drive types, space, and speeds Lattes Physical characteristics Yes Brand Intel(Processor), HP (Network Printer) 2.3 Discuss the inter-dependence of workstation hardware with network components. 3.1 Design a networked system to meet a given specification. Answer: Design of a computer network systems first think about a central device which could be a switch or a router, A central server, a pc for every users, hard ware components . Office PrinterLife Insurance company Router Agent 6 Agent 4 Server Agent 2 Agent 5 Life Insurance Company Network Structure Agent 3 Hardware requirement: Name Quantity Comment Server 1 Main Server Printer 1 Network Printer Router 7 Main Router, Office and Agents Switch 1 Central switch PC 9 Main office and agents Software requirement: 1. Windows 7 2. Internet connection 3.2 Evaluate the design and analyse user feedback. Answer: 4.1 Implement a networked system based on a prepared design 4.2 Test the network system to meet user requirements. 4.3 Document and analyse test results against expected results 4.4 Recommend potential enhancements for the networked systems. 4.5 Design a maintenance schedule to support the networked system.

Personal Narrative- Christmas Cookies Essay -- Personal Narrative

Personal Narrative- Christmas Cookies Although I have grown up to be entirely inept at the art of cooking, as to make even the most wretched chef ridicule my sad baking attempts, my childhood would have indicated otherwise; I was always on the countertop next to my mother’s cooking bowl, adding and mixing ingredients that would doubtlessly create a delicious food. When I was younger, cooking came intrinsically with the holiday season, which made that time of year the prime occasion for me to unite with ounces and ounces of satin dark chocolate, various other messy and gooey ingredients, numerous cooking utensils, and the assistance of my mother to cook what would soon be an edible masterpiece. The most memorable of the holiday works of art were our Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, which my mother and I first made when I was about six and are now made annually. I remember the deceitful character of the recipe the most from the first time I made Chocolate Crinkles. Being young, I didn’t understand the nature of unsweetened chocolate; it looked and smelled just like any other chocolate...

Materialism in The Dharma Bums and Goodbye, Columbus :: Dharma Bums Essays

Materialism in The Dharma Bums and Goodbye, Columbus    Several works we have read thus far have criticized the prosperity of American suburbia. Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, Philip Roth's Goodbye, Columbus, and an excerpt from Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poem "A Coney Island of the Mind" all pass judgement on the denizens of the middle-class and the materialism in which they surround themselves. However, each work does not make the same analysis, as the stories are told from different viewpoints. The Dharma Bums and "A Coney Island of the Mind" are critiques of materialism by people who have rejected the middle-class ideals. In Goodbye, Columbus, however, Roth makes his point via Neil, a dweller of the lower class who wants to join the prosperous rank of the Patimkin family. The difference is that Kerouac and Ferlinghetti mock the suburbanites, yet pay them little attention while several characters in Goodbye, Columbus are disdainful of the materialism exuded by the Patimkins while feeling excluded from their social class. In The Dharma Bums, Kerouac strengthens his argument for the Zen ideal of poverty and freedom by this criticism of the conformity practiced by the middle-class: ...you'll see if you take a walk some night on a suburban street and pass house after house on both sides of the street each with the lamplight of the living room, shining golden, and inside the little blue square of the television, each living family riveting its attention probably on one show; nobody talking; silence in the yards; dogs barking at you because you pass on human feet instead of wheels. You'll see what I mean, when it begins to appear like everybody in the world is soon going to be thinking the same way and the Zen Lunatics have long joined dust, laughter on their dust lips. (104) Kerouac's point is that freedom doesn't exist in a place where everyone is watching the same thing and thinking the same thing at the same time. Kerouac also reflects on the futile trap of materialism. Japhy discusses "all that crap they didn't really want anyway such as refrigerators, TV sets, cars, at least fancy new cars, certain hair oils and deodorants and general junk you finally always see a week later in the garbage anyway, all of them imprisoned in a system of work, produce, consume, work, produce, consume.

Constant, Changeless Change (An Argumentative Text About Yeats’s Repres

William Butler Yeats was a poet during the transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. He was a brilliant poet. He had a way of making complex images, representing his philosophies regarding change and changeless, with words. He had a lot of unique ideas on philosophical topics such as these. â€Å"Yeats developed a philosophy that united his interest in history, art, personality, and society.† (1144). In the five poems written by Yeats, and compiled in our textbook, the opposition between radical change and changeless is illustrated very clearly. In the poem, When You are Old, Yeats tells the intended reader, a woman, that his love for her won’t change, but hopefully, her feelings for him will change when she reads the poem. This poem is a love poem. It is slightly bitter, but a love poem, nonetheless. Yeats says that he loves the ambition and the thirst for adventure in her. â€Å"But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you.† (7). On this, I couldn’t agree more with Yeats. Yeats says that he loves her, but she doesn’t love him yet. He hopes that when something chang...

Country Report – Italy

Marks and Spencer Group (M&S) is a leading retailer of clothing, foods and home-ware. The company operates in about 34 countries worldwide with UK as its primary market. It is headquartered in London, UK and employs about 52,700 people (approx). The company recorded revenues of i8,588. 1 million during the fiscal year ended March 2007, an increase of 10. 1% over 2006. The operating profit of the company was i1,045. 9 million during fiscal year 2007, an increase of 23% over 2006. The net profit was i659. 9 million in fiscal year 2007, an increase of 26. 2% over 2006. Italy has a growing economy with huge business opportunities, being the 8th largest economy of the world and fourth largest of Europe. It is also one of the main members of the European Union and being an open economy it has no investment restrictions especially for an EU member country. It has also adopted the euro as a currency which might come into play. Fashion being one of the main industries in Italy and this can be seen by the fact, that the trend setter fashion companies for the world like Giorgio Armani, Diesel and Benetton feels home in Italy. The clothing and fashion market is very competitive, foreign companies have not had a great success, moreover it is the only country with only one foreign fashion retailer in the top 10 and that is Zanier (on position 9th in Italy). This shows it has a mature home industry but still the market is not fully competitive and it has its own niches which might need some more exploitation. Marks and Spencer can be a suitable retailer to invest in Italy, With 760 stores in more than 30 countries around the world which shows that the company has a vast experience of doing business in foreign soil. It is one of the most iconic and widely recognized chain stores in the United Kingdom, and is the largest clothing retailer in UK and also an established food retailer. Marks and Spencer has more chances of becoming a lucrative food retailer because of the changing eating habits of Italians, as a result of globalization. The food industry in Italy is very scattered and mostly based on medium sized companies and no firm has absolute market share, this could be an advantage for a firm like Marks and Spencer which could establish its roots in welcoming Italian food market before other giants join the game. The Italian food retail market grew by 0. 6% in 2004 to reach a value of $91. 9 billion. In 2009 the market is forecast to have a value of $107. 5 billion, representing an increase of 17. 0% since 2004. Supermarkets form the most lucrative market sector, generating 64. % of the market's overall revenues. Italy accounts for 9% of the overall European food retail market. The leading revenue source for the Italian food retail market in 2004 was the supermarket sector, which accounted for 64. 4% of the market's value, generating total revenues of $59. 11 billion in 2004. The company should also do a detail market research before investing and it might need to present itself in a different way by giving it a local touch in order to achieve consumer acceptability but still the business would be competitive. The major competitors would be Coop & Conad and Interdis the company also poses threat form the German giant LIDL which already has 320 stores around Italy. The company can also experiment with its household and furniture at the same time company has a considerable success in this department in the recent past, besides that the concept of home wares is still taking its grip and it could become a cash cow for M&S. In the near future the furniture could also give a positive response if managed properly. Getting back to the clothing which is the main product of Marks and Spencer, though the market is highly competitive and market penetration is a monster of a task there are still some market niches which could be exploited to get the maximum advantage for example, the formal clothing has always been of the highest quality and has a world wide recognition. Since the product is of such high quality it is most likely to be appreciated which could result in high volume of revenue moreover, the company also has a vast experience of penetrating in foreign competitive markets which could be used in this situation. Wine is another product which could be used to attract customers, currently it is a serious competitor in UK. M&S has produced many award winning wines, this is one of the areas which could be very important as Italians are wine lovers and they will always try something new, if the standards are met. It could be a regular revenue generator. Marketing will also hold the key in this situation and retailers who market themselves well are more likely to be successful then the ones who didn't divert much of its resources in this area. Since elections are approaching in Italy so the management should also wait and see how the newly formed government changes its policies especially corporate and tax policies and the company has to see that it is suitable to invest in the country and should analyze the financial pros and cons of expansion. The firm should consider the locations of its outlets; the obvious one would be Milan, Rome and Naples. The company can also open stores in the less developed area like south of Italy, it will attract tax soaps for investing it in less developed areas and providing employment opportunities but consumers in south unlike in the north will be having lower purchasing power and this could be the decisive factor. Investment and expansion decisions are always a bit of a gamble but with the right strategy it can give rewards. One important factor is the goodwill which can come into play as Marks and Spencer's is one of the leading retailers in the world and it is a trusted brand. It is more likely to receive a welcoming response rather that loosing out. The company can use its vast experience of expansion to the maximum and can come up with a positive result. The retail market structure in Italy is also developing and if M&S adopts the right policy it can grow with and could become one of the leading retailers providing quality clothing, food, home ware and wine under one roof. Thus investing a large amount of money in a developed area or a developing area would help an individual/organization/economy to get a strong financial background and right amount of publicity which would enhance the image of the brand and the country. At the same time recognition of the brands reflects the fame of the country.

Madeliene Leininger

Nursing Theorist M. Leininger: Culture Care Theory Nursing Theorist Madeliene Leininger: Culture Care Theory Madeliene Leininger was born in Sutton, Nebraska in 1925. In her early life she lived with her brothers and sisters on her father’s farm. She received her high school education from Scholastica College. She furthered her education at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D. C. and then went to the University of Washington, Seattle. Upon completion of her education she became the first professional nurse to complete a PhD on anthropology. Due to the broader approach in her education, she became the first to bring knowledge of anthropology and nursing together to develop the concept of transcultural nursing as an area of study necessary in the nursing field. She developed the Culture Care Diversity and Universality Theory with special focus at culture care. To date, due to the uniqueness of her perspective this theory is used across the world. She developed the theory in 1978 when she established the first caring research conference in which she established the ethnonursing method of research. Leininger conducted the first transcultural study in the field of research in the 1960s while she lived in the Gadsup villages of the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea. After publishing her first book in the field of transcultural nursing, she established the first graduate program. In the study, Leininger focused at enhancing emic, generic and etic professional care through establishing their similarities and differences to prevent possible gaps and conflicting areas which are non therapeutic to clients. While her prowess in the field of nursing developed, she established the Transcultural Nursing Society as the organization that officially governed the new discipline. This was established in 1974. Afterwards, she established the first journal of transcultural nursing and became the editor. Due to her progressive performance in the discipline of transcultural nursing she has received many honors and outstanding awards. Her significant worldwide breakthrough in encouraging advancement of health discipline has lead to her nomination for a Nobel Prize. Based on the theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality, Leininger tries to describe and predict similarities in nursing and inherent differences which are focused at human care and cultures. The theory pays no attention to medical symptom, diseases and treatment but focuses on the methods of approach to care that gives significance to the person to whom the care is given. The theory was developed in the 1950s and 1960s to give care to people with cultural differences in lifestyles and values. Training nurses in this field enables them to offer care suitable to the people being administered. Due to focus on client nurse interaction the approach places the client at a better position of receiving better care and attention than when the medical approach to care is adopted. The focus is wide enough to serve not only different needs of individual but also communities, groups, families and institutions (Andrews & Boyle, 2007). Her first model in Culture Care Theory is called the Sunrise Enabler which offers the conceptual framework and guides a systematic study to the varied dimensions of the theory. This model is distinct in that it identifies three activities which include identification of the goals of nursing by addressing client oriented practices; assessing cultural factors affecting the care to the client and making appropriate judgment about the situation; making decision about the measures to be taken and taking action as influenced by the cultural context. The model uses information attained through research that identifies areas of congruence between cultures and nursing care especially in cultural values, lifestyles and beliefs of the client. In Culture Care Theory, Leininger identifies client caring as the heart of nursing which is unique to the field. While priming this focus, she criticizes the other four nursing concepts of person, environment, nursing and health arguing that nursing is both a profession and discipline and therefore the term ‘nursing’ cannot adequately explain the phenomenon of nursing. She views the concept of nursing as made of compassion, interest and concern for people. In this, concept care becomes central activity, the dominant and distinct unifying factor. Secondly, she views culturally founded care as useful for good health progress even when a client faces challenges such as handicaps or even when sick to the level of death. Thirdly, the healing of a client is based on care that is culturally driven and that there is no cure without this nature of care. Fourthly, care that is based on culture is characterized by comprehensiveness of service delivery, which is holistic and offers explanation to the areas of commonness between the nursing care practices and the culture of the client (Huber, 2006). Leininger views client care as an activity that occurs within a cultural context. She argues that culture is universal and diverse. Due to this, care must adapt to specific patterns of behavior distinguishing each society from another. According to transcultural scholars culture is distinguished by behavioral issues that are explicitly different from another. Leininger defines culture as ‘the lifeways of an individual or a group with reference to values, beliefs, norms, patterns, and practices’ (Leininger 1997, 38). She says that culture is an entity of a group of people which is transmitted across generations or across groups of members of the community. Leininger also holds the view that in order for nursing care to be effective, there is need to consider the ethnohistorical factors of the client, which hold a great value when examined from the ethnocultural perspectives. The ethnohistorical factors help in understanding the environmental context which involves the sociopolitical, ecological and cultural setting. In order to effectively make use of the ethnohistory of a community she calls for proper understanding of past occurrences of an individual and community which in one way or another influences a people’s lifeways. All the environmental factors give sense to the overall meaning of nursing care. The components which influence the theory are represented in the diagram below; Educational factors Technological factors Religious & philosophical factors Kinship & Social factors Environmental Context, Language & ethnohistory Cultural values, beliefs and lifeways Political & Legal factors Economic factors Care expressions patterns & practices Holistic Health/illness and death In the center of care, expressions, patterns and practices is the holistic health or illness or death approach with special focus to individuals, families, groups, communities or institutions founded on generic care, nursing care practices and professional care practices. These three practices of care are closely influenced by different factors; 1. Technological factors: Technology has been an essential element in offering nursing care. Development of technology has enhanced efficiency in operations of nurses across the world. Similarly, the quality of services offered, as well as, the diversity has immensely improved. Application of modern technology enhances operations of nurses especially when the technology is developed in a manner that creates congruence with the cultural values of a particular society. However, if technology does not support the cultural values of clients’ society the nursing care offered may fail to succeed as required. Even when there is an attempt to form a congruence of the technology and cultural factors, there may exist differences within groups, individuals and families. 2. Religious or philosophical concepts: Understanding cultural values entrenched in the people’s religious practices is necessary to enhancing ethnocultural nursing care. Across the world people view religion as an integral part of their life and seek to form congruence between the religious values and care activities, provided there is room for effectiveness in enhancing a healthy society. In addition, philosophical concepts that exist within a society determine how the client responds to care. In some instances, the philosophical doctrine may help develop congruence between the culture and care but in other instances the aspects may act as a deterrent if active measures are not taken into consideration in identifying the inherent gaps and the people’s ideological foundation. Therefore, there is a need to study the philosophical elements of a culture in which the nursing care need is to be offered. 3. Environmental factors: These include social factors and kinship; cultural values, beliefs, and lifeways and political and legal factors. The social factors include the issues surrounding the families or members of the community in their day to day activities. These include activities such as rituals and nutritional values. These may act as either a boost to nursing care or a deterrent. For instance, some cultural social practices and beliefs may deter a certain group of a larger society from eating some nutritional components, such as animal proteins. In such situations understanding other essential nutritional components that would offer similar nutritional value and which is allowable within the society can be encouraged. This helps in avoiding conflict of nursing care practices and cultural values. While the cultural and social factors may be conducive in enhancing care, the political factors may act as a deterrent to effective nursing care. This challenge may be based on the policy development, which may encourage the society to practice certain aspects of care while preventing others. Policy development may be either based on the cultural values of a society or influenced by the ruling class. Understanding the disparity between the expected target situation in nursing care and the available opportunities in achieving such a target may be a breakthrough in overcoming political hurdles in the nursing care profession and discipline. 4. Economic factors: Delivery of proper nursing care is dependent on the economic potential of a family, community or group of people within a community or a nation. The activities conducted towards effective nursing care have financial implications, some of which might be beyond the capability of many clients. In this case, the target population may fail to access the nursing care services (Center for the Study of Multiculturalism and Health Care, 1994). In other cases, holistic care may be challenged by the degree of financial sacrifice that individuals may be able to make. The nursing care offered may only be relative to the people’s economic prowess and as a result meeting the care target may be challenging. The community or a nation may also be discouraged in offering the comprehensive nursing care, opting to channel the funds to other development activities. For instance, the ongoing United States comprehensive care debate is a response to a situation whereby only a few people are able to access comprehensive care, either culture care or otherwise, while the large group of the society remains unable to access the care (Leininger, 1991). The need for such comprehensive care has also raised queries on the increase of national spending. 5. Educational factors: The level of information available either to the clients or to the culture care specialists may influence the level of delivery of client care. Leininger argues that comprehensive research is necessary in providing information that would necessitate filling the gaps between the cultural values or other influencing factor and professional approach to nursing care. In a community where sufficient research is conducted to identify common areas of interest or similarities, the services offered would be in less conflict with the community’s cultural values and thus increase the possibility of holistic approach to client health. Similarly, the level of education of clients would influence the level of adherence to the nursing care practices, which would directly impact on the health of the individuals or community (Leininger, 1991). Increased levels of literacy in culture care among clients and nurses offer a common platform for nursing care service delivery. The culture care theory has to date stood out as the most widely used and established theory used by nurses world wide. According to research on the influence of the theory in development of the nursing profession, many nurses believe that the theory has made the highest level of break-through in enhancing health practices through the 20th century and even getting much more attention in the 21st century (Bolsher & Pharris, 2008). Leininger gives an example of the role that the approach played after the terrible terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 in United States. In the contemporary, there has been increased need to understand factors surrounding the motive behind increased hatred which has led to transcultural hatred and subsequent killing of innocent people. Due to this transcultural knowledge for use worldwide has been essential in the care and nursing profession. The theory has been applied in broader and holistic manner in efforts to discover and offers substantial care to clients of different cultures (Leininger, 1991). In advancing the field of research, the theory has provided a basis of research in the fast developing discipline of transcultural nursing. This research has been useful in enriching the discipline with content for which it is gradually transforming the field and profession of nursing. There is progressive change in the nursing practices and thus contributing to a healthier population across cultural divide. Notably so far, the information gained through transcultural research exceed the full use as nurses trained in this field continue to look for more ways of putting the concepts into practices. Interestingly, the theory is further being applied by other nursing theorist to advance a holistic approach to client health (Leininger, 1991). In conclusion, all the components influencing the quality of nursing care are based on the society’s cultural and social structural dimensions. This approach to nursing care puts Leininger at a very central position especially so through the theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality. References Andrews, M. & Boyle, J. (2007). Transcultural concepts in nursing care. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Bolsher, S. & Pharris, M. (2008). Transforming Nursing Education: The Culturally Inclusive Environment. Springer Publishing Company. Center for the Study of Multiculturalism and Health Care. (1994). The journal of multicultural nursing & health: official journal of the Center for the Study of Multiculturalism and Health Care, Inc, Volumes 1-3. Riley Publications. Huber, D. (2006). Leadership and nursing care management. Elsevier Health Sciences. Leininger, M. (1991). Culture care diversity and universality: A theory ofnursing. New York: National League for Nursing Press. Leininger, M. (1997). Overview and reflection of the theory of culture care and the ethnonursing research method. Journal of Transcultural Nursing,8(2), 32-51.

Increasing human population Essay

It can transfer genes across species boundaries; more importantly, across huge taxonomic divides. It can also enable the incorporation of laboratory synthesised nucleic acids for designer purposes. GM foods can be divided into those that contain tissues and nucleic acids from the GM source organism (e. g. tomato puree) and those that contain purified derivatives that may be chemically indistinguishable from the same ingredients isolated from non-GMO`s (e. g. the phospholipid, lecithin and other specified oils and proteins from Soya). Provided these purified ingredients are chemically identical to those from non-GMO sources, they should not alter existing health risks. Unfortunately, complete purity is unachievable. Foods that contain original GMO tissue may contain unexpected components and alien nucleotide sequences. The Questions arise: can alien nucleotide sequences be transferred to the gut micro-organisms or be absorbed by human tissues, perhaps through phagocytosis or the agency of viral transduction?. If they can, what are the risks to human health generated as a consequence?. The Biochemist P32 October 1999 ? 1999 The Biochemical Society The technology will allow us to create in major crop plants materials we formerly had to obtain from other sources – such as industrial feed stocks or medicines. Pepper. G. Crop Sciences Dept University of Illinois Crops that resist drought and disease promise to transform the lives of poor farmers -if only they could afford them Five million Brazilians faced starvation this year. This time it was a drought related to El Nii o that halved grain crops in the northeast of the country, but next year it will be something else. Famine is perennial in Brazil. In September Monsanto, the world’s largest supplier of genetically modified seeds, announced it would invest $550 million in Brazil to build a factory producing its herbicide Roundup. Shortly afterwards the Brazilian government made Monsanto’s Roundup-resistant Soya beans the country’s first legally approved, genetically engineered crop. The Soya beans will boost profits for the big landowners who grow them to feed beef cattle for export. But most rural Brazilians are subsistence farmers who do not grow Soya. No help will trickle down from Monsanto’s beans to the starving millions. The story exemplifies the limited contribution genetically modified crops have made so far to eradicating world hunger. It is not that biotech companies are uninterested in the developing world. Far from it: Brazil and other newly industrialising countries are in fact prime targets, with their growing demand for agricultural products, little opposition to biotechnology, and farmers who have risen above hard graft subsistence, but have not yet become customers of the world’s seed and agrochemicals conglomerates. Crops that thrive despite drought and salty soils could also let farmers expand production into marginal lands. And the nutritional content of staples could be improved. If maize, for example, can be made to produce more of the amino acids it naturally lacks, the 80 million people who live almost exclusively on maize would get more protein. Ganesh Kishore, head of nutrition at Monsanto, says: â€Å"We can make it into a complete balanced meal. † Arber. W. (Article: The Bio industry Association 1999 http://www. bioindustry. org/) Genetically modified crops are no more dangerous to the environment than traditional crops and could boost corn, rice and other food yields by as much as 25 percent in developing countries http://www.freep. com/news/health/qdiet141. htm Foods can also be genetically modified to ensure that they last longer by removing or adding certain genes. This process gives them a greater shelf life and means they are less prone to bruising when in transit. They are also less likely to lose their colour and more importantly, retain more of their nutrients. This ultimately gives consumers a better product and reduces the amount of waste for the producers and retailers. Proteins vital to our diets can be added to foods which don’t ordinarily contain them, which is important for people lacking them. In time, this will also be true of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. http://www. futuradesign. co. uk/gm/ With respect to the information I have studied herein I conclude that genetic modification of foods is not without some induced risk as totally alien genes are being inserted into organisms from unrelated species. This has been shown to possibly alter the new organism’s `properties` as a food substrate either beneficially or adversely. I believe that GM foods have great potential in providing food for an ever increasing population where more traditional agricultural techniques may struggle to cope or fail. However, efficient regulation of the market is necessary and the proactive techniques which have developed to meet this demand may have played a significant part in public rejectance of GM techniques in some countries. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Variation and Inheritance section.

Beer Game

The Beer Game Copyright by Professor John Sterman, MIT October 1984 Sources:http://www. sol-ne. org/pra/tool/beer. html The Fifth Discipline: Pg 27-54 Why play the ‘Beer Game’? Instructions for running the game Steps of the Game Outline for post-game discussion and tasks Supplies Checklist & Mock-up of the Game Board Bibliography CHARTS AND TABLES TO PRINT OUT: [only issue Table 1 and 2 at the onset of the game. Chart 1-3 to be distributed at the end of the game and before post-game discussion. ] Table 1:Record Sheet: Cost of Inventory and Backlog Table 2:Computation of cumulative inventory backlogGraph 1:Inventory and Backlog Graph 2:Orders Graph 3:Perceived order by Customers Slide 1:Facilitator Slides Slide 2:Facilitator Slides Slide 3:Facilitator Slides Slide 4:Facilitator Slides Slide 5:Facilitator Slides Slide 6:Facilitator Slides Slide 7:Facilitator Slides Slide 8:Facilitator Slides Contact Point for loan of Beer Game Set: If you or your unit is interested in play ing this game and need assistance, please contact any of the 1Y LO participants, including the webmaster: Ms Sheila Damodaran at [email  protected] gov. sg. The game sets are kept at TRACOM's Resource Centre (SIRC, TRACOM).Contact: 3594241. Why play the Beer Game? The Fifth Discipline, pg 27 [Prisoners of the System, or Prisoners of our Thinking] This game was developed by Professor John Sterman of MIT to introduce people to fundamental concepts of systems dynamics. Participants experience the pressure of playing a role in a complex system, and come to understand first hand a key principle of systems thinking that structure produces behavior. The Beer Game is a simulation exercise – like a laboratory experiment, where one is able to see: ? The consequences of your decisions play out more clearly in real organisations; In effect it presents a microcosm of how a real organization functions. ? Shift in prevailing assumption of what is required of us for creating fundamentally different organisations; from a perspective of â€Å"the system we are trying to change is out there and we (as change agents) are trying to fix it† to â€Å"we and the system are inextricably linked together†. It was first developed in the 1960s at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management. Because it is a â€Å"laboratory replica† of a real setting (rather than reality itself), we can: Isolate the disabilities, and; ? Their causes more sharply than is possible in real organisations. Often this reveals that the problems originate in basic ways of thinking and interacting, more than in peculiarities of organisations and policy. Instructions for Running The Beer Distribution Game John Sterman October 1984 This document outlines the protocol for the beer distribution game developed to introduce people to concepts of system dynamics. The game can be played by as few as four and as many as 60 people (assistance is required for lar ger groups).The only prerequisite, besides basic math skills, is that none of the participants have played the game before, or else agree not to reveal the â€Å"trick† of the game. 1. State purpose of Game: a) Introduce people to the key principle â€Å"structure produces behavior† b) Experience the pressures of playing a role in a complex system 2. Provide overview of production-distribution system: a) The game is played on a board, which portrays the production and distribution of beer (show board game). [pic] b) Orders for and cases of beer are represented by chips, which are manipulated by the players.The players at each position are completely free to make any decision that seems prudent. Their only goal is to manage their positions as best as they can to maximise profits. c) Each brewery consists of four sectors: retailer, wholesaler, distributor and factory. One person manages each sector. d) A deck of cards represents customer demand. Each week, customers dema nd beer from the retailer, who ships the beer requested out of inventory. The retailer in turn orders beer from the wholesaler, who ships the beer requested out of the wholesaler's inventory.Likewise, the wholesaler orders and receives beer from the distributor, who in turn orders and receives beer from the factory. The factory produces the beer. At each stage there are shipping delays and order receiving delays. These represent the time required to receive, process, ship and deliver orders, and as well be seen play a crucial role in the dynamics. e) If your participants are not familiar with the concept of manufacturing, shipping, and distribution, consider presenting these concepts initially before proceeding. Call the participants together at one board and demonstrate each step of the way carefully.Often it is the lack of this information that causes the initial confusion of the game. You could say something like: â€Å"The Beer Game immerses us in a type of organization that is widely prevalent in all industrial countries: a system for producing and distributing a single brand of beer. There are four main characters in the story – a retailer, a wholesaler, a distributor and the Marketing Director of a brewery †¦ f) The players at each position are completely free to make any decision that seems prudent. All they have to do is meet customer demand and order enough from your own supplier while avoiding costly backlogs.They should manage their positions as best as they can to maximise profits. 3. State Basic rules: a) Have each team pick a name for their brewery (e. g. the name of a real beer). Have them label their record sheets with the name of their brewery and their position, e. g. retailer, wholesaler, etc. b) Have each person ante up $1. 00, or an appropriate amount, which will go to the winning team, winner take all (optional). c) The object of the game is to minimize total costs for your team. The team with the lowest total costs wins. Co sts are computed in the following way: ? The carrying costs of inventory are $. 0 per case per week ? Out-of-stock costs, or backlog costs, are $1. 00 per case per week ? The costs of each stage (retailer, wholesaler, distributor, factory) for each week, added up for the total length of the game, determine the total cost. d) No communication between sectors. Retailers should not talk to anyone else, same for wholesalers, distributors, and factories. The reason for this is that in real life there may be five factories, several dozen distributors, thousands of wholesalers, and tens of thousands of retailers, and each one cannot find out what the total activity of all the others is.The only communication between sectors should be through the passing of orders and the receiving of beer. e) Retailers are the only ones who know what the customers actually order. They should not reveal this information to anyone else. f) All incoming orders must be filled. If your inventory is insufficient to fill incoming orders plus backlog, fill as many orders as you can and add the remaining orders to your backlog. 4. Steps of the Game. a) Issue only Table 1 and Table 2 to all the participants. b) The game Facilitator should call out the steps as the game progresses. ) The first few times when the system is still in equilibrium the facilitator should go through the steps very slowly to make sure people have the mechanics down. d) Notice that of the six steps of the game, only the fifth, placing orders, involves a decision. e) The remaining five steps only involve moving inventory of beer or order slips or recording your position, and are purely mechanical. For the first few weeks the facilitator should tell everyone to order four units to keep the system in equilibrium. 5. Initialization of the boards: ) There should be twelve pennies or chips representing twelve cases of beer in each inventory. Each chip or penny represents one case. There should be four pennies in each shipping box and production delay. b) There should be order slips with â€Å"4† written on them, face down in each incoming and outgoing order box (orders and production requests). A supply of blank order slips should be available at each sector, as well as a supply of pennies or chips. c) The deck of cards with the customer demand should not be revealed in advance.The pattern of customer demand that is most effective for first-time players is a pattern of (†¦. To be revealed after the game/debrief by the Game Leader). d) Each order deck should have fifty weeks' worth of cards, and the players should be told that the game will be fifty weeks long. Typically it's only necessary to run the game thirty-five weeks or so in order to see the pattern of fluctuation, but telling the players it will be fifty weeks prevents horizon effects, where they run their inventories down because they feel the end of the game is coming. 6. Tips for Facilitators: ) It's very helpful if the game facil itator makes sure that each team stays in step so that you can quickly glance around the room and see that everyone is at the right place. Remind the participants to follow the steps in order to keep pace of the game. b) The game facilitator should write the current week on the blackboard as the steps for that week are called out. c) In about the eighth or ninth week the retailer will run out of inventory and have a backlog for the first time. People do not understand the meaning of backlogs, or the cumulative nature of the backlog.It is necessary to stop the game at this point, ask everyone to pay attention, and explain how backlog accounting works. Explain that: The backlog represents orders you've received, but have not yet filled, and which you must fill in the future, and d) The backlog is cumulative. â€Å"Next week you have to fulfill the incoming orders that you receive, plus whatever is in your backlog, if possible. If it not possible to fulfill the incoming orders, then t he amount left over is added to the existing backlog and must be filled in later weeks. † (see Table 2). ) Emphasize at this point that backlog costs twice as much as inventory. You may need to do this one or two more times, and should be careful to check and be sure that they do in fact fill their backlog. It is helpful to write the following equation on the blackboard to help with backlog accounting (see below). Orders to fill = New orders + Backlog this week + last week + †¦ f) The game can be played in as little as one and a half hours if the facilitator maintains a very brisk pace. The debriefing usually requires at least 40 minutes and can be expanded substantially. g) Consider having 2 persons to play each role.One person is responsible for taking the decision and advancing the chips and order slips and the other person to maintain the figures and filling up Tables 1 and 2. The pair may switch their roles mid-way during the game. 7. End of game a) Halt the game aft er about 36 weeks (but play the game, up to that point as if it is going on to 50 weeks, to avoid unusual end-of-game moves). b) Ask each position on each team to calculate their total cost: c) Cost = Total inventory x $0. 50 + Total Backlog x $1 and to mark the total cost on the Record Sheet for the position d) Pass out Orders graph sheets – one to each position.Ask each position to graph their own orders, week by week. Clarify to Factory that they will graph their Production Requests. e) Pass out Effective Inventory graph sheets – one to each position. Ask each position to graph the inventory week by week, showing any backlog as negative inventory. f) Team name and position must be indicated on all sheets. Once the graph is complete, have the players connect the dots with a bold magic marker (colour coded – Retailer = black, Wholesaler = blue, Distributor = green and Factory = red – to the board) for ease of viewing by the group. ) Pass out the Customer Order graph sheets to everyone except Retailers. Ask each person to sketch what he or she thinks the customer order rate looked like over time. Ask each to indicate a simple scale or maximum value. ? Ask retailers not to discuss anything about customer orders until after the debrief of the game. h) Collect all the sheets, and send players off for a break. i) During break: ? Calculate team costs to determine the winner and compute the average team cost. ? Tape sheets together (as shown below) and hang up team graphs.Effective Inventory Team 1Team 2Team 3 |Retailer | |Retailer | |Retailer | | |Wholesaler | |Wholesaler | |Wholesaler | | |Distributor | |Distributor | |Distributor | | |Factory | |Factory | |Factory | |Orders/Production Requests Team 1Team 2Team 3 |Retailer | |Retailer | |Retailer | | |Wholesaler | |Wholesaler | |Wholesaler | | |Distributor | |Distributor | |Distributor | | |Factory | |Factory | |Factory | |STEPS OF THE GAME (Adapted) |Step # |General instructions |Speci fic Instruction to players playing the roles| | | |of Factory/ Retailer | | |Receive inventory (move chips from shipping delay 2 into current |Factory advance from production delay 1 to | | |inventory) and advance the shipping (from shipping delay 1 to |production delay 2. | |shipping delay 2). | | | |Use both hands to slide the chips over from respective boxes. | | | |Caution players not to move all chips into one box]. | | | |Look at incoming orders (check the order slip placed in your |Retailer draws consumer card. Follow | | |inbox) |instructions as in adjacent set. ] | | |Fulfill orders from your stock (your current inventory only). | | | |Move chips out into shipping delay 1 of the player downstream. | | | |All incoming orders must be filled. Facilitator to re-mention | | | |this step when the team has entered week 6/8) If your inventory | | | |is insufficient to fill incoming orders plus backlog, fill as | | | |many orders as you can and add the remaining orders to your | | | |backlog (use Table 2 to work out your cumulative backlog). | | |Record your balance inventory and/or cumulative backlog (in the | | | |latter case your balance inventory would have been reduced to | | | |zero) on Table 1. | | | |Advance the rder slips that you placed in the previous week from|Factory introduces production requests from | | |your outbox into the inbox of the player upstream. |previous week into production delay 1. | | |Take decision on the orders you wish to place for the upcoming | | | |week. Place your order slips in your outbox. | | | |Record your orders on Table 1. | FOLLOW-UP TASKS AND OUTLINE FOR POST-GAME DISCUSSION (Adapted) |Step # |Tasks and outline |Group Task | | |Remind participants of the objective |Emphasize that although they played the game to minimize cost, that's | | |of the game. |not the real purpose of the game. | | | | | | |The game is designed to: | | | |give players an experience of playing a role in a system | | | |show them how â€Å"st ructure produces behavior† | | |Request players tabulate total current|None. | |inventory, cumulative inventory on | | | |Table 1. | | | |Accounting: |None. | | |Record penalty of $0. 50 per item in | | | |inventory (at each stage). | | | |Record penalty of $1. 0 per item | | | |ordered but not filled. | | | |Plot inventory versus time (Chart 1) |Place charts at front of classroom for everyone to see (see typical | | |and unfilled orders (on Chart 1 also) |chart below). | | |versus time for your stage and for | | | |your company overall. | | | | | | |Plot order versus time (Chart 2) for |Place charts at front of classroom for everyone to see (see typical | | |your stage and for your company |chart below). | | |overall. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Ask participants: |Each of the players had the best possible intentions: to serve his | | |What’s going through the minds of the |customers well, to keep the product moving smoothly through the system, | | |p layers? |and to avoid penalties. Each participant made well-motivated, clearly | | |What problems arose during the game |defensible judgments based on reasonable guesses about what might | | |playing? |happen.Still there was a crisis- built into the structure of the | | | |system. | | | | | | | |Most people try to explain reality by showing how one set of events | | | |cause another or, if they've studied a problem in more depth, by showing| | | |how a particular set of events are part of a longer term historical | | | |process. | | | | | | |Have the participants illustrate this for themselves by looking at their| | | |own â€Å"explanations† for events during the game. | | | | | | | |Take a particular incident in the game, for example a large surge in | | | |production requests at the factory, and ask the person responsible why | | | |they did that. | | | | | | |Their answer will invariably relate their decision to some prior | | | |decision of the person they supply or who supplies them. Then turn to | | | |that person and ask them why they did that. Continue this until people | | | |see that one can continue to relate one event to earlier events | | | |indefinitely. | | | | | | |Wholesaler/Distributor may say: â€Å"I am ordering four/fives times my usual| | | |order. Maybe the retailer is ordering so much because they can’t get | | | |any of the beer from me. Either way I have to keep up. I am dismayed | | | |the brewery had just stepped up production. How could they be slow? | | | |What if I can’t get any of the beer and they go to one my competitors? | | |The backlog costs due. I am afraid to tell the accountant what to | | | |expect. † | | | | | | | |Retailer may say: â€Å"I ordered more just to be safe and to keep up with | | | |the sales. I don’t want to get a reputation for being out of stock of | | | |popular beers.By the time I call my backlogged customers, I am sold | | | |out before I can sell a single new cas e. What is that wholesaler doing | | | |to me? Doesn’t he know what a ravenous market we have down here? I | | | |think of all the lost potato chip sales† | | | | | | | |Brewery may say: â€Å"Even after Week 14 I had not caught up with the | | | |backlogs.At Week 16 I have finally caught up but the distributors had | | | |not asked for any more beer at all? Why did the order mushroom and then| | | |die? † | | | | | | | |â€Å"The orders have finally arrived but what’s wrong with the retailers? | | | |Why have they stopped ordering? † | | | | | |Briefly describe what strategy you |After a few minutes (about 10) of discussion, look at the graphs of the | | |developed during the game for making |results. Ask them, â€Å"What commonalities do you see in the graphs for the| | |ordering decisions. |different teams? † | | | | | | | |Participants should see common pattern of overshoot and oscillation. | | | |This should be most evident in the effect ive inventory graph. | | | | | | |Get them to really see for themselves that different people in the same | | | |structure produce qualitatively similar results. Even though they acted | | | |very differently as individuals in ordering inventory result (there was | | | |free will), still the overall patterns (qualitative pattern) of behavior| | | |are similar. | | | | | | |This is a very important point–take as long as necessary to have them | | | |see it for themselves. | | | | | | | |Obviously at the factory, the Marketing Director will be blamed for any | | | |layoffs or plant closings that come out of this crisis – just as the | | | |wholesaler blamed the retailer and the retailer blamed the wholesaler | | | |and oth wanted to blame the factory. | | | | | | | |You might reflect at this point on what happens in the real world when | | | |such performance target oscillations are generated. The typical | | | |organizational response is to find the â€Å"person respon sible† (the guy | | | |placing the orders or the inventory manager) and blame him. | | | | | | |The game clearly demonstrates how inappropriate this response | | | |is–different people following different decision rules for ordering a | | | |generated oscillation. | | |Plot what you think was the customer |After having had them all see the extent to which different people | | |order over time (Chart 3) during the |produce similar results in a common structure, you then need to move on | | |game. |to what is usually the most powerful point made by the game: that | | | |internal structure not external events cause system behavior. | | | | | | |The way to make this point is to ask the following question: | | | | | | | |†All of you who were not retailers, or who otherwise have not found out | | | |what the pattern of customer orders was, what do you think the customers| | | |were doing? † | | | | | | | |Most people usually believe that customer demand was fluctu ating because| | | |they believe that the system fluctuations must have been externally | | | |driven. Most draw a curve which rises and falls, just as their orders | | | |rose and fell. | | | | | | |Get each of them (other than retailers) to see that they assumed | | | |fluctuating customer orders. | | |Retailer in your team to plot actual |Draw in each order rate graph the actual customer ordering pattern. The| | |customer order on the same chart. |small step from 4 to 8 orders should make a strong visual impression in | | | |contrast to the order rate fluctuations which often have amplitude of | | | |20- to 40-orders per week.Moreover, the sustained oscillations | | | |generated by the system contrast sharply to the absolutely flat customer| | | |order rate after the step at week 5. | | | | | | | |The Retailer may respond with: â€Å"The demand never mushroomed. And it | | | |never died out. We still sell eight cases of beer – week after week. | | | |But you didn’t send us the beer we wanted. So we had to keep ordering, | | | |just to make sure we had enough to keep up with our customers†. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |This simple exercise of getting them to see how, contrary to their | | | |expectations, the internal system structure is completely capable of | | | |generating fluctuating behavior is the most profound lesson they can | | |Are the oscillations due to external |learn from the game. | | |or internal reasons? | | | |It is important that they see this for themselves, as a demonstration or| | | |an experimental result, which they did, not as an idea of which you're | | | |trying to convince them. In fact, the game is an experiment in very true| | | |sense. The result of oscillating behavior was not predetermined. | | | | | | | |The assumption that the system's problems are caused by the customer | | | |stems from our deeply felt need to find someone or something to blame | | | |where there are problems. | | | | | | |Initially after the game is over, many believe that the culprits are the| | | |players in the other positions. This belief is shattered by seeing that| | | |the same problems arise in all plays of the game, regardless of who is | | | |manning the different positio ns. Many then direct their search for a | | | |scapegoat toward the consumer. | | | | | | |But when their guesses are compared with the flat customer orders, this | | | |theory is shot down too. This has a devastating effect on some players. | | |In the last 20 years, the beer game |If literally thousands of players all generate the same qualitative | | |has been played thousands of times in |behaviour pattern the causes of the behaviour must lie beyond the | | |classes and management training |individuals. The causes of the behaviour must lie in the structure of | | |seminars. It has been played on five |the game itself. | |continents, among people of all ages, | | | |nationalities, cultural origins and |When placed in the same sy stem, people however different, tend to | | |vastly varied business backgrounds. |produce similar results. | | |Some had never heard of a production/ | | | |distribution system before; others had|In system dynamics we take an alternative viewpoint—that the internal | | |spent a good portion of their lives |structure of a system is more important than external events in | | |working in such businesses. |generating qualitative patterns of behavior. | | | |A system causes its own behaviour. In the game.The structure that | | |Yet every time the game is played the |caused wild swings involved the multi-stage supply chain and the delays | | |same crises ensue. First there is |intervening between different stages (refer Tools on ST), the limited | | |growing demand that can’t be met. |information available (refer Tools on TL) at each stage in the system, | | |Orders build throughout the system. |and the goals, costs, perceptions and fears (refer Tools on MM) that | | |Invent ories are depleted. Backlogs |influenced individuals’ orders for beer. | | |grow. Then the beers arrive enmasse | | | |while incoming orders decline. |These an be illustrated by this diagram: | | | | | | |By the end of the experiment, almost | | | |all players are sitting with large |Events | | |inventories they cannot unload –e. g. |(e. g. inventory backlogs and surges) | | |it is not unusual to find brewery and | | | |distribution inventory levels in the | | | |hundreds over hanging orders from | | | |wholesalers for 8-12 cases per week. Patterns | | | |(Panic behaviours / oscillations) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Structure | | | |(only form of communication is through order slips, the use performance | | | |measures by inventory and order sizes and the effect of delays – from | | | |upstream) | | | | | | | |But also remember the nature of structure in a human system is subtle | | | |because we are a part of it and this means we often have the power to | | | |alter structures, which we are operating. | | | | | | | |How can such controlling structures be recognised? | | | | | | | |Characteristic pattern of order buildup and decline at each position, | | | |amplified in intensity as you move upstream from retailers to breweries. | | | | | | |Each position goes through an inventory-backlog cycle: first there is | | | |insufficient inventory and then there is too much. | | | | | | | |Assumptions of an external cause (e. g. the other players or the | | |Think of examples in your |customer) are characteristics of non-systemic thinking. | |organisations where you can apply | | | |these principles. When we feel: |How would such knowledge help us to be more successful in a complex | | |Too much work? |system – redefining your scope of influence? | | |Not enough information? | | | |Too many changes? |Each player adopts the simplest ordering policy possible – simply place | | |Not able to manage changes? |new orders equal to ord ers he received. When this strategy is followed | | |Someone is unfair to you? unswervingly by all the players, all positions settle into stability by | | |Customers are demanding? |Week 11. The strategy may generate persistent backlogs (may not be | | | |practical in real life as it invites competitors to enter the market) | | | |but it eliminates the buildup and collapse in ordering and the | | | |associated wild-swings in inventories. In 75% of teams that play the | | | |game, the â€Å"no strategy† position have a lower total cost. | | |Most players see their job as â€Å"managing their position† in isolation | | | |from the rest of the system. What is required is to see how their | | | |position interacts with the larger system – your influence is broader | | | |than simply of your own position. | | | |You pay close attention to own inventory, costs, backlog, orders, etc. | | | |(events).You respond to new orders by shipping out beer. What this | | | |view misses, is the ways that your order influences your supplier’s | | | |behaviour. Which in turn might influence yet another supplier’s | | | |behaviour. For example, if they place a large number of orders, they | | | |can wipe out their supplier’s inventory, thereby causing their | | | |supplier’s delivery delay to increase.If they then respond by placing | | | |still more orders, they create a â€Å"vicious cycle† that increases problems| | | |throughout the system (see below). Players that share the systems | | | |viewpoint tends to win – in order for you to succeed others must succeed| | | |as well. | | | | | | | |Causal Diagram of effect of systemic structure downstream & delays | | | |upstream | | | | | | | | | | |(see overleaf) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |What do you believe to be the causes |This is a good point to introduce learning disabilities and our ways of | | |of these problems? thinking in an organization: | | | | | | | |Fixation on events – Each player focuses on events giving very little | | | |power to alter the course of events at a structural or strategic levels. | | | |I am my position – because they â€Å"became their positions†, people do not | | | |see how their own actions affect the other positions. | | |The enemy is out there – The game reveals the problems originate in | | | |basic ways of our thinking and interacting, more than in peculiarities | | | |of organisations and policy. Often when problems arise, people quickly | | | |blame each other – â€Å"the enemy† becomes the players at the other | | | |positions, or even the organization structure and polices and/or | | | |customers. | | |The illusion of taking charge – when they get â€Å"proactive† and place more| | | |orders, they make matters worse. | | | |The pa rable of the boiled frog – because their overordering builds up | | | |gradually, they don’t realise the direness of their situation until its | | | |too late. | | | |Delusion of learning from experience – by and large they don’t learn | | | |from their experiences because the most important consequences of their | | |actions occur elsewhere in the system, eventually coming back to create | | | |the very problems they blame on others. | | | |The Myth of the Management Team – the teams running the different | | | |positions become consumed with blaming the other players for their | | | |problems, precluding any opportunity to learn from each others’ | | | |experience. | | |What could we do to potentially change|Analysis using Levels of Perspective tool: | | |the behaviour observed in the game? Espoused Vision: Everybody working as a team | | | |Vision-in-Use: I am my position | | |Check-up the Vision-Deployment Matrix. |Systemic Structure-in -use: No communications, minimising losses for | | | |one’s position and overanticipating the orders | | | |Patterns-in-use: Are not able to meet orders in time and having to deal | | | |with delayed productions and over-doers in the long-run. | | | |Events: Is constantly reacting leading to frustrations and burnouts in | | | |the long-run. | | |Desired Systemic Structure: First, wait patiently for the beer that you | | | |have ordered but because of the delay, it has not yet arrived. Second, | | | |don’t panic. It takes discipline to contain the overwhelming urge to | | | |order more when backlogs are building and your customers are screaming. | | | |Without the discipline, you and everyone will suffer. Third, assume a | | | |†No strategy† approach can actually work. | | |Shift in prevailing assumption of what is required of us for creating | | | |fundamentally different organisations; from: | | | |Firstly, a perspective of â€Å"the system we are trying to change is out | | | |there and we (as change agents) are trying to fix it† to â€Å"we and the | | | |system are inextricably linked together†. | | | |Secondly, a perspective of serving the team rather than the â€Å"individual†| | | |is who counts here; watch out for Number One! | SUPPLIES CHECKLIST PER TEAM: |3 TEAMS |4 TEAMS |5 TEAMS |6 TEAMS | |Game Board |3 |4 |5 |6 | |Single Chips |600 |840 |960 |1200 | |Ten Chips |90 |120 |150 |150 | |Customer Deck (1) |3 |4 |5 |6 | |Order Slips (200) |600 |800 |1000 |1200 | |Graphs (4) |12 |16 |20 |25 | |Record Sheets (4) |12 |16 |20 |25 | |Pencils (4) |12 |16 |20 |25 | |Calculators (4) |12 |16 |20 |24 | |PER SESSION: |Masking Tape | |Four-color markers per team | |Magic Markers | |Debriefing Book | |Flip Charts | |Either white board to hold charts for each organization or space on a blank wall | |Previous game graphs | |Table set ups | [B]- Items are not available with the game set. Please provide required sets. [I] - Items are not available with the game set. Please make required number of copies. MOCK GAME BOARD [pic] Table 1: Cost of Inventory and Backlog Team Name: _______________________ Circle your position:WholesalerRetailerDistributorFactory Wk | | |INV 1 = | |This week's order from customer: _____ |This week's order from customer: _____ | |last week's backlog: + _____ |last week's backlog: + _____ | |total orders to ship: = _____ |total orders to ship: = _____ |this week's shipments: – _____ |this week's shipments: – _____ | |this week's backlog: = _____ |this week's backlog: = _____ | |This week's order from customer: _____ |This week's order from customer: _____ | |last week's backlog: + _____ |last week's backlog: + _____ | |total orders to ship: = _____ |total orders to ship: = _____ | |this week's shipments: – _____ |this week's shipments: – _____ | |this week's backlog: = _____ |this week's backlog: = _____ | |This week's order from customer: _____ |This week's order from customer: _____ | |last week's backlog: + _____ |last week's backlog: + _____ | |total orders to ship: = _____ |total orders to ship: = _____ | |this week's shipments: – _____ |this week's shipments: – _____ | |this week's backlog: = _____ |this week's backlog: = _____ | |This week's order from customer: _____ |This week's order from customer: _____ | |last week's backlog: + _____ |last week's backlog: + _____ | |total orders to ship: = _____ |total orders to ship: = _____ | |this week's shipments: – _____ |this week's shipments: – _____ | |this week's backlog: = _____ |this week's backlog: = _____ | Graph 1: My Inventory (including Backlog) Team Name: _______________________ [pic] Graph 2: My Orders Team Name: _______________________ [pic] Graph 3: My perception of orders by customer Team Name: _______________________ [pic] The Beer Distribution Game An Annotated Bibliography Covering its History and Use in Education and Research Prepared by John D. Sterman Sloan School of Management Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 02139 (617) 253-1951 (voice); (617) 253-6466 (fax); [email  protected] edu (email) April 1992; revised July 1992 The Beer Distribution Game dates to the earliest days of system dynamics.The game has been used for three decades as an introduction to systems thinking, dynamics, cumputer simulation, and management. It has been played by thousands of people, all over the world, from high-school students to CEOs of major corporations. The references below provide useful information for those who want to follow up the experience of the game. These works describe the history of the game, the equations for simulating the game on a computer, the success of organizational change efforts based on the original model embodied in the game, the psychological processes people use when playing, and even how these processes can produce chaos. * ? Forrester, J. W. (1958) Industria l Dynamics: A Major Breakthrough for Decision Makers.Harvard Business Review, 36(4), July/August, 37-66. The first asrticle in the field of system dynamics. Presents the production-distribution system as an example of dymanic analysis of a business problem. Reprinted in Roberts (1978). ? Forrester, J. W. (1961) Industrial Dynamics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Contains a description of an early version of the Beer Distribution Game ? MacNeil-Lehrer Report, (1989) Risky Business – Business Cycles, Video, Public Broadcasting System, aired 23 October 1989. Videotape showing students in John Sterman's Systems Dymanics course at MIT playing and discussing the Beer Game. Relates the game to boom and bust cycles in the real world.Excellent in debriefing the game, and helpful to those seeking to learn how to run the game. Copies available from System Dynamics Group, E60-383, MIT, Cambridge MA 02139. ? Mosekilde, E. , E. R. Larsen & J. D. Sterman (1991). Coping with complexity: Determini stic Choas in human decision making bahavior. In J. L. Casti & A. Karlqvist (Eds. ), Beyond Belief: Randomness, Prediction, and Explanation in Science, 199-229. Boston:CRC Press Shows how simple and reasonable decision rules for playing the Beer Game may produce strange nonlinear phenomena, including deterministic chaos. ? Radzicki, M. (1991). Computer-based beer game boards. Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Dept. f Soc Sci and Policy Studies, Worcester, Ma 01609-2280 Beer game boards in PICT format for Macintosh computers available on disk for $5. 00; all proceeds go to the System Dynamics Society. ? Thomsen, J. S. , E. Mosekilde, & J. D. Sterman (1992). Hyperchaotic Phenomena in Dynamic Decision Making. Systems Analysis and Modelling Simulation, forthcoming. Extends earlier papers by Moskilde, Sterman, et al. to examine hyperchaotic modes in which the behavior of the beer distribution system may switch chaotically among several different chaotic attractors (for afficionados, †Å"hyperchaos† exists when a dynamical system contains multiple positive Lyapunov exponents). ? Roberts, E. B. , ed. (1978) Managerial Applications of System Dynamics.Cambridge, MA: Productivity Press. Excellent anthology of early-applied system dynamics work in organizations, including analysis of efforts to implement the results of the model which led to the Beer Game. ? Senge, P. (1990) The Fifth Discipline. New York: Doubleday. Excellent non-technical discussion of the Beer Game, and systems thinking principles generally. ? Sterman, J. D. (1984). Instructions for Running the Beer Distribution Game. D-3679, System Dynamics Group, MIT, E60-383, Cambridge, MA 02139. Explains how to run and debrief the Beer Game, including layout of boards, set up, play, and discussion. Incorporates debriefing notes by Peter Senge.Some people have found this document, in conjunction with the MacNeil/Lehrer video and plenty of practice, is sufficient to enable them to lead the game successfully. ? Sterman, J. D. (1988). Modeling Managerial Behavior: Misperceptions of Feedback in a Dynamic Decision Making Experiemnt. Management Science, 35(3), 321-339. Detailed analysis of Beer Game results. Examines why people do so poorly in the Beer Game. Proposes and tests a model of the decision making processes people use when playing the game and shows why they do so badly. Additional information on systems dynamics, including publications, simulation games, management flight simulators, journals, etc. is available from John Sterman at the address above. *If you know of additional publications which discuss aspects of the game not ncluded in this bibliography please send a copy to John Sterman at the address above so they can be incorporated in future releases of this bibliography. ———————– [1] Order fulfilled Cost Storage] Total Inventory Balance(w=t) = Inventory Balance(w=t-1) + New Inventory Received(w=t) [2] Balance Inventor y After fulfilling Order(w=t) = Total Inventory Balance (w=t) – Order Fulfilled (w=t) [3] Cumm Backlog (w=t) = New Backlog (w=t) + Unfulfilled Cumm Backlog(w=t-1) ———————– Reta