Saturday, August 31, 2019

Big Stick Abroad John Milton Cooper

Big Stick Abroad John Milton Cooper To get involved or not to get involved in global politics? That was not a question that Theodre Roosevelt ever had. Global politics were at the forefront of his mission as President. Within a year of Roosevelt becoming President he had interceded with Latin American affairs. I believe this was because Roosevelt felt that the problem threatened his visions for the United States. Roosevelt put the United States in the middle of Germany and Venezuela to help collect a debt that Venezuela owed Germany.He did the same thing to Heidi for Europe. By 1904 Roosevelt had made America the financial protector over the Dominican Republic. Roosevelt was impartial to English speaking Countries. In 1902 Roosevelt yet again conspired to gain Alaska land from Canada, but in 1903 he agreed to have an international tribunal settle the dispute. Canada was permitted three judges and so was America. Roosevelt conspired with Senator Lodge and Justice Holmes to side with A merica’s claim. Which in turn won America the rights to the land.One might think of Roosevelt as a bully when it came to foreign affairs because he did not always play fair and would always seem to get his way. As President sometimes you have to do what you think is best for your Country and look further down the line to decide if what you are doing will help or harm your Country. I believe the Roosevelt did what he had to do to make America a bigger and fiercer Country to mess with. I believe that his proudest moment was when he was able to strike a deal for America to have territory that would run through the of the new country.This would not only cut down on the time our men were out to sea but it would also protect them from the disease if they chose to take the path through the mountains. With Roosevelts help we were able to take Panama from Colombia and this was not the biggest victory. The biggest victory would come after Roosevelt had left office and the waterway that we called the Canal Zone was open. This ended up showing the world the maturity of America’s engineering and was thought to be the biggest triumph of technology. I believe that this could have only been done with the help of Europe.When Roosevelt left office he had remorse and guilt for the way that we took the Panama canal. While in office Roosevelt wrote several letters and had a section in his autobiography book on the way that we took Panama and what he did was morally right. Roosevelt was the bully to all of the weaker countries and would be cautious in his approach with countries of equal or greater power than he United States. I believe that the writer of the article Mr. Copper was trying to explain to us that Roosevelt did what he thought was best for America and that he pushed the envelope when it came to foreign affairs.Roosevelt prided himself on his accomplishments with how far he was able to take America with foreign affairs. Mr. Copper writing never seemed to b e one sided and told the story based on facts. I believe that this article was well written and places the facts out there for the reader to take it in and doesn’t distract the readers' views on Roosevelt. This is done by not having a one sided article this helps with not clouding the reader's judgement. After reading the article I have a different perspective on Roosevelt. I feel that he was a bully when he needed to be, but in all honesty isn’t that what America is and always will be?Roosevelt had a goal and a vision and he was able to accomplish them, and for that I applaud him for doing so. The way that he went about gain land and bullying the smaller countries that did not have as much power as we do, to me is not setting a good impression on us as a country. That if you do not give us what we feel is ours or that we want we will take it by force. I also do not agree with interfering in other countries business. Roosevelt felt the need to be the mediator in the Ge rmany and Venezuela situation and the Heidi and Europe transactions.I feel if other countries owe other countries that is for them to deal with not for anyone else to get involved. America has too many other things that should be a higher priority to deal with them to play in other countries affairs. With that being said I do feel that overall that Roosevelt was an amazing president. I am not sure if Roosevelts actions were always justified or made much sense to the citizens at the time. Without Roosevelt we would not have the Panama Canal and that was a major milestone for everyone.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Decision making Essay

The first skill set is learning how to use the four primary ethical perspectives that are used in decision making. These perspectives are called the Four Ethical Lenses. The second skill is learning to use a practical and repeatable decision-making method called the Baird Decision Model. As we become adults, one of our primary responsibilities is to decide what values and ethical priorities are the most important to us. The ethical game simulation assist with that. Mysterious Blogger and Unveiled I. D. The ethical issues that were addressed in these simulations were religion and violation of company policies. In the mysterious blogger simulation an employee hacked another employee’s personal PC only to find that the other employee was blogging about the company. Which was in violation of the company’s policy. In the unveiled I. D simulation an employee, which is a woman has issues taking a photo for an ID because it is against her religion to show her face unless amongst other women only. The decisions making steps I took to resolve these dilemmas was the being reasonable lens trying to consider what is good, fair, true, and virtuous. I also used the responsible lens trying to make an ethical choice based on my analysis. The ethical perspectives that influenced my decision making was Being Attentive: Collect the facts and notice what’s being said. Being Intelligent: Find the underlying issue and determine who’s really involved. Being Reasonable: Use the lenses to consider what is good, what is true, what is fair, and what is virtuous. Being Responsible: Make an ethical choice based on your analysis. Being Reflective: Defend your choice with careful thought and observe the aftermath closely. The way these ethical perspectives influenced my decisions was through personal and community values. Trying to understand and asses the situations, while also being fair and unbiased, so that all can feel addressed and handled in the correct manner. The way concepts from the simulation relate to the workplace is very simple and straight forward. The concepts helps one to understand the situation by analyzing and placing it in a particular lens. By doing this one has a better grasp on how to handle and resolve the issues that may take place. When in the workplace there are different races, genders and religions and these simulations touch base on in-depth issues that has definitely arose in the business environment. Having a clear process in place for evaluating exceptions ensures that all are treated equally, including the least advantaged. Conclusion With time and practice, the conflicts inherent in moral dilemmas can become opportunities for developing your ethical self. When you come across difference, remember that we all have our chosen lens. â€Å"Arguments over the â€Å"right thing to do† often stem from differing definitions of what actions are ethical† (ethicsgame. 2013). Knowing your ethical lens and how it effects ones decision making only enhances an individual’s work ethic, morals and decision making in one’s personal life.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

How Does Fatigue Affect Labour Productivity

1) How does fatigue affect Labour Productivity? Fatigue affects labour productivity by impairing the ability of a worker to carry out his/her required duties as expected and in a safe manner. With increase in fatigue comes a reduction in muscular strength, attention to details and loss of concentration. A worker or employee who is gradually losing strength, losing concentration and not giving attention to details is usually more prone to mistakes and would not be able to work at his/her optimum level.Fatigue has also been known to affect employee health. A common example is Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), which is a debilitating chronic illness affecting various people worldwide (Lin et. Al. , 2011). Those affected endure chronic, incapacitating physical and mental fatigue that is not relieved by rest. This illness is exacerbated by physical or mental exertion and is accompanied by impaired memory and concentration, unrefreshing sleep, muscle and joint pain, and other defining sympto ms (www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov).It doesn’t require rocket science to assert that an employee/worker whose health is adversely affected would never perform any given task to satisfaction. 2) Major factors that contribute to increase in fatigue in workers. * Working conditions * Noise: Wokocha and Sopruchi (2010) in their study explained that noise effects are both health and behavioural in nature. He further said that unwanted sound can damage Physiological and psychological health. And any worker whose health is affected cannot perform any given task properly.Noise pollution can cause annoyance and aggression, hypertension, high stress levels, tinnitus, hearing loss, sleep disturbances, fatigue, make conversation difficult as well as leads to productivity losses due to poor concentration. * Heat stress: heat stress occurs when the body takes in and/or produces more heat than it gives off, thus raising the core body temperature beyond normal. It could happen due to the combinati on of high air temperature, high humidity, high radiation heat input, high energy expenditure (due to physical workload) and high metabolism (Groover, 2007).Heat usually hampers the ability of an employee to work efficiently. * Cold * Humidity * General state of health of employees * Nature of work * Posture during work * Muscular exertion * Tediousness * Stress * Repetitiveness with a short cycle. * Jobs that require high concentrations * Eye strain ( Kanawaty, 1992) 3) How the use of machines negatively affect workers The use of machines especially in manufacturing industries is usually accompanied with noise, vibration, monotony, and high concentration on the part of the workers who use them.The accumulated effects of vibrations usually affect the hands and the arms; monotony creates boredom and a job that requires a high level of concentration usually requires a lot of energy. All these contribute to a gradual reduction in muscular strength and an increase in fatigue; as fatigue increases, attention and concentration decreases, making the worker more prone to injuries and a subsequent loss in productivity. 4) The reasons for giving workers more relaxation allowances for using some machines while others require less.More relaxation allowance| Less relaxation allowance| 1) Partial or complete absence of noise reduction components on machines| Presence of noise reduction components on machines. | 2) A high level of machine vibration| A considerable level of machine vibration| 3) Attention not given to reduction of vibration and noise. | Ergonomically built machines with attention given to noise and vibration reductions. | | | References. Jin-Mann S Lin, Stephen C Resch, Dana J Brimmer, Andrew Johnson, Stephen Kennedy, Nancy Burstein and Carol J Simon(2011).The economic impact of chronic fatigue syndrome in Georgia: direct and indirect costs. Journal of Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation. Volume 9. Retrieved from http://www. resource-allocation. com/co ntent/9/1/1 on 15/11/2012 Wokocha G. A. and Sopruchi Ihenko (2010). Industrial Noise Level and its Impact on Oil Company Workers in Rivers State, Nigeria. Middle Eastern Finance and Economics ISSN: 1450-2889 Issue 8. Retrieved from http://www. eurojournals. com/MEFE. htm on 15/11/2012. Groover, M. P. (2007). Work Systems and The Methods; Measurement and Management of Work. pp 661

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Harvard Business School Case Analysis Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Harvard Business School Analysis - Case Study Example James commitment is seen as he travelled to various countries from Sun’s headquarters in California unexpectedly with a few hours’ notice to meet the 45 global team members dealing with customer implementation in France, United Arab Emirates (UAE), United States (US), and India. The fact that he followed up the core of the problem shows that he is responsible, flexible, and dependable hence portraying the character of an intelligent manager of a global team. You displayed an image of responsibility as a manager when you travelled to the countries where Sun operates to find out for the second time why they were not responding promptly to the customer system outage, as they were required by the agreements in their service contracts. James managed his global team well by ensuring constant communication between the other managers in other countries for instance; he had strings of emails that had been forwarded by service managers such Ashok Rahul from Mumbai team. This effort confirms that James is knowledgeable of all the events that take place in the firm in various countries hence ensuring success in the business. James is an organized leader as he ensured recruitment of individuals from at least all the countries where they had operations in Europe and Asia to serve the customers of Sun’s enterprise. The experience of James in the technical field enables him to manage the global teams and enables him to get a sixth sense and to trust himself when in challenging situations (Garton and Wegryn, 45-46). In my opinion, the individual who should be blamed for the HS Holding crisis is Praveen Devilal who is the Support Engineer for team in Mumbai. Praveen should be blamed because due to his irrational behavior he used the weekday contact protocols instead of using the weekend protocol forgetting that in California it was still a weekend. Nick Elliott the Application

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Examine the new policies proposed to solve the financial and sovereign Essay

Examine the new policies proposed to solve the financial and sovereign debt crisis in Europe. Your report should include a brief - Essay Example Understanding complex economic relationship in layman’s view point will be the crux of this essay. In the third part, the study will analyze proposed solution for resolving sovereign debt crisis in terms of advantages and disadvantages for countries with high credit ratings. In the last section, the essay will summarize the personal view of the researcher on sovereign debt crisis. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Sovereign Debt Crisis 4 Banking System and Sovereign Debt Crisis 5 Analysis of Proposed Solution for Solving Sovereign Debt Crisis 9 Reference 11 Appendices 13 Introduction The essay will try to shed some light on new policies which are being proposed to solve the financial and sovereign debt crisis in Europe. The essay will try to analyze these policies in terms of their capability of resolving sovereign debt crisis. Aim of this report to analyze real underlying problems related to sovereign debt crisis. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2011) has reported that European banking sector failure and sovereign debt crisis is correlated; hence the study has the scope to analyze issues related to sovereign debt crisis on the ground of banking sector failure in Europe. Sovereign Debt Crisis Research scholars such as Barr (2010) have stated that sovereign debt crisis started during 2009 in Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain or PIIGS economies. Boyes (2009) and Gross (2009) have stated that fiscal deficit of PIIGS economies was increased during 2009 as a result of sovereign debt crisis. Papadimas and Graham (2010) have stated that sovereign debt crisis was triggered due to high borrowing costs for Euro zone countries. Lynn (2010) has defined sovereign debt crisis as financial crisis which created problems for some European countries to re-finance or repay government debt without taking support from third party. Generally, economic performance of European countries is determined by their ability to settle their external debt obligation, level of fiscal deficit of a country is determined by country’s sovereign debt default risk (Pescartori and Sy, 2004). In such situation, if a country fails to repay external borrowings from international market with the help of issuance of bonds then economic growth of that country is bound to get hampered. Banking System and Sovereign Debt Crisis Regulation Economists have stated that European banks underpriced the risks which have contributed significantly to sovereign debt crisis. Risk-weighted asset optimisation of banks nullified the significance of Tier 1 ratio which is amended by Basel rules. Prior to sovereign debt crisis, banks were allowed to use internal derivatives to decrease risk associated with assets but unfortunately majority of European banks failed control leverage risks which was associated with rise of funding problems. In Europe, many of the banks tried to form capital market banking system in order to decrease risk asso ciated with high leverage ratio (Mody (2009); Gerlach et al (2010); Goldman Sachs Global Economics, 2010; and CGFS-BIS,2011). For example, investors went for short and long credit in capital market which increased risk for banks. Lack of efficient regulatory framework not only increased risks for banks but leveraged risk for investors also. Multilayer Relation Mouchakkaa (2012), who is Executive Director of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, has pointed out that â€Å"

BCCI and White Collar Crime Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

BCCI and White Collar Crime - Essay Example But, success was not the only step for BCCI's fate. Price Waterhouse was asked to carry inquiry in March, 1991. It was 24th June, 1991 when they submitted the Sandstorm Report to Bank of England stating that BCCI had engaged in fraud case. Main capital base to BCCI were virtual oil-rich Arab leaders who acted to be the investor but, in reality they were working as nominees. Bank since its beginning attracted people to deposit their funds by pretending that they have more capital which in reality was not true. It used to use the deposits in order to meet the expenses. Even it forced its own shareholders to participate in this drama. Major actions that resulted into frauds by BCCI were enlisted by New York District Attorney. According to them the important points are: Middle East personalities included their names and funds to BCCI as an investor which in effect turned to be flaw because their funding was based on guaranteed no-risk return instead of actual sponsor at risk. After getting the request from Bank of England, Price Waterhouse presented its report on BCCI known as Sandstorm Report. As per the report, BCCI committed several mistakes and did many unofficial activities that are out of one company's ethics. Price Waterhouse persons collected records from banks of various countries, reviewed them and interviewed in some cases, finally formed one draft keeping all key points there. During their scrutiny they found that BCCI did not record $600 million of BCCI's deposit. It first knocked the Price Waterhouse audit persons. Among the other types of frauds described by audit include: manipulation of their account at the time of non-performing loan, fabricated profit, hidden losses, setting up of untrue loans for repurchasing shares, cheating of deposits, unreal transactions and charges, showing nominees as capitalists, illegal repurchasing platform for shareholders, bad investment, missing of standardized procedure of records, artificial customer loa ns and most important fallacious audit confirmation (Price Waterhouse, 1987). After losing money for the reason of poor lending operations, instead of accepting provisions for losses they just simply cheated them. Apart from that BCCI used to manipulate their accounts. Actual reason for this manipulation was make the bank appear to be a good profitable and reputed institution than it was which helped it to get security for its deposits. With these approaches when condition of BCCI was worse, made it worst after the loss of $500 million in 1985. That loss was only due to commodity trading undertaken through Capcom. Along with the numbered accounts in order to manipulate accounts through back-to-back transactions they used to use "managers ledgers." It was such a bad activity that the person keeping the records even forgets which person made which transaction. In most of the cases, none of the authority was able to identify either the name of borrower or credit officer responsible for controlling the accounts (Price Waterhouse report to BCCI, 1986). Price

Monday, August 26, 2019

Environmental Ruin in Nigeria by Foreign Oil Corparations Essay

Environmental Ruin in Nigeria by Foreign Oil Corparations - Essay Example It causes disruption of human, animal and plant populations. Pollution caused by dumping of oil waste is a major threat to biodiversity. The effect of oil spillage on the marine life cannot be ignored. Both the physical properties and chemical properties of the oil have caused the death of many marine flora and fauna (Agyeman, 424). Introduction Nigeria, being a major oil producer, has not escaped these predicaments. The case is abundantly evident in the Niger delta region of Nigeria where oil mining is mostly practiced. Farmers have watched their source of livelihood taken away by oil pollution. Many of the tribes around are traditionally anglers, but the oil spillage has caused considerable reduction in number of fish in the river Niger. Nigeria is the land that has been endowed with both fertile agricultural lands and a rich oil resource. Major oil companies, including Shell, established mines in this country in 1950s. Since then, the oil mining activities have slowly damaged the natural habitats of the country through pollution of water, land and air. The effects have been this extensive that the livelihood of the Ogoni people who have lived in the Niger Delta for over 500 years is threatened. This paper focuses on how failure of the government to enact policies guarding the degradation of the environment has contributed to the state of environment in the Niger delta. ... Ground water has become contaminated and the people cannot dig up wells to get drinking water. Rainwater is also not safe to drink, as it falls in the form of acidic rain. This acidic rain greatly reduces the fertility of the soil, making it inviable for agricultural production. It is unfortunate that there is no piped water for people living in the region. Human right activists say that the foreign oil company has taken the people’s right to access to safe water. The government has instituted legislations that require mud drilled from mines to be confined in wells or landfills, avoiding seepage in developed countries. The Nigerian government lacks such legislation, and the foreign corporation dumps its drilling wastes directly into the rivers. Air pollution Oil mining has largely contributed to the air pollution in the area around the Niger delta. Flaring of natural gas methane is conducted near people’s homes, producing carbon dioxide fumes and soot. The release of th is gas causes a lot of pollution associated with diseases, such as asthma and lung cancer. This flaring has also caused stunted growth of crops in nearby farms. This is because the soot settles on the leaves of plant inhibiting photosynthesis and transpiration, and this has caused reduced crop yields from nearby farms. Oil spills and wastelands The most evident type of pollution is land pollution that is caused by oil spills. Oil spills causes degradation of the top soil by leaching of nutrients and adding toxic chemicals in the soil, making them unsuitable for plant growth. This oil spills cause destruction of vegetation and pollutes water, if released in the water bodies. There are several

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Emily's story Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Emily's story - Essay Example We broke up when I was five months pregnant and that time I had not even told my dad about my pregnancy. I was bought up by my dad who was quite strict in these matters. My mom left him before my birth and when I was born she dropped me when I was some months old. People say she was looking for someone else and my responsibility was a hurdle in her activities. My dad, he gave me love and affection of both the parents and raised me up in the best possible way. But in some matters he was damn strict and having boyfriends and sleeping with them was the top most issue. Now the problem left for me was telling him that his dear daughter is pregnant with a boy who is not mothering in seeking pleasure with her any more. First I tried to contact Jim again as his support would have made things less severe. Despite trying every possibility to contact him, texts, calls, facebook, whatsapp, all my attempts went in vein and I did not hear from him after wards. I made the mind to tell truth to my d ad because sooner or later he has to find that out and it could put me in a more difficult situation. I was not sure where to start and how to defend it. I knew he would be very much frustrated and annoyed at me. I decided to write a letter to him telling all the circumstances. I wrote everything on a piece of paper and put the paper under his pillow. The next morning I woke up by a hard roar. Before I could even realize what that actually was, there was a bang on my door. My father was knocking hard as if he would break it. I took no time in getting up but I resisted in opening door. If I would open door at this time, it would have resulted in anything. It could end up in a physical assault. So I pleaded him behind the door that I was sorry and i would be nice girl from now on. But he kept on shouting to leave his house just now. I opened the door after some time. He was standing next to it with red eyes. He ordered me

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Avis Budget Group Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Avis Budget Group - Assignment Example It is also meant to offer high quality services both internal and external to its clients from all over the world. This means that the company’s rate of car hire and leasing is lower as compared to other companies in the industry (King, pg3). Its mission also comprises providing reliable and fulltime service to its client who do not own a car, or who want to enjoy the services of a car. The core values that Avis budget group operates on are purely based on the need of every citizen to have an efficient and easy movement process. It is not possible for all people to have cars, or to go with own car everywhere they travel. As a result the company has joined hands with stakeholders from all over the world, which includes the largest car hire companies in the world, to offer services under Avis budget group. The company also has stakeholders from the Asian and African region, where the need of hiring a car is rising. As a matter of fact the financial capability of Avis budget grou p is stable as of now, with less than four cases of debt from other organization since its inception. The operational principle that is used in this company is far different from other car hire companies, since its goes by the objective and reason of existence of this company. Industrial perspective In the last financial year, the company made a profit amounting to twenty percent of the previous year’s performance. It made a profit of seven billion dollars as compared to previous year where it made four point six billion dollars in profit. The company has been recognized by the government as one of the most reliable company in the car hire industry. This has resulted the company to enjoy the benefit of offering services to most governments in the African region (Benton, pg1). The company has increased in financial performance for the last five years. This has been as a result of extensive and keen contribution to the factors that bothers the economic growth and the natural as pect. With the recent global financial crisis, the company has partnered with other organizations that adapt to economical way of producing fuel to be used in automotives. It has teamed up with American companies to provide efficient and environmental friendly fuels that are beneficial to the economy and environment. It has partnered with a group of companies that produce fuel from a plant grown in the garden (King, pg5). The provision of services by Avis budget group has played a critical role in the advancement of the economy, by applying methods that ensure industrialization and economic growth of different countries. The company has also ensured that the services are available to all people, not considering the background of individuals. Their cars run on environment friendly fuels, thus contributes to industrialization. Environmental perspective This company has ensured that all the aspects are taken care of, where the most critical factor being considered to be environmental. Environment is a crucial part in the continuity of Avis budget group’s business activity. This has not been left behind, and the company has ensured that environment is maintained to the level best to enable the continuity of its business. This has resulted to the company establishing programs that are eco friendly. The recent program incorporated by the company is known as green fuel. This has been a critical boost to the sales oil produced from plants. It has also seen the

Friday, August 23, 2019

Final assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Final - Assignment Example In doing so, analyses of the elements of leadership approach, leadership type I applied to manage the situation is also conducted and how I led the team towards successfully achieving the goal is laid down. Brief Overview of the Situation or the project at hand For most of my life I served in the Air Force and come from Fort Worth Texas. However I also designed houses for 15 years and during one of those assignments I came across a project that was challenging, tested my capabilities and arouse my creativity. The house was for an elderly couple who had certain specific needs to be catered, was budget conscious and with a tight schedule yet I was fascinated in designing that particular house because it was the first time I was designing a house that would be physically suitable for elderly couple. The house was to be built on a rocky land measuring 3000 Sq ft. in Fort Worth and I started designing the house in 2011 to be delivered by the end of 2012. I was the chief designer for the p roject responsible for making the house plan, getting approval from local agencies and heading a team consisting of building contractor who would be building the house and a team of supervisors and subcontractors for various works such as plumbing, electricians etc., I was in charge of designing the house plan according to the clients requirements and getting his approval and delivering to the building contractor for actually building the house according to the plan and monitoring whether the house is coming according to the plan and tackling any challenges or problems arising. It was my responsibility ultimately to see to it that the house is made perfectly according to the plans, under the budget and delivered on time. Leadership approach applied to the situation I applied the Fiedler’s contingency leadership approach for accomplishing this project. It is a leader-match theory that matches leaders with situations appropriate to them (Fielder, 1967; Fielder & Chemers, 1974). Contingency here suggests that effectiveness of a leader is dependent on the fitting of leadership style to the given situation. The three situational or contingency dimensions identified by Fielder are â€Å"Leader-member relationships, Task Structure and position power† (Robbins, 2012, p. 368). When the leader has more control the situation is deemed to be favourable and when he has little control then it is an unfavorable situation and leadership style needs to be applied accordingly. Control on the team is more when leader- member relations are better, jobs are highly structured, and position power is strong (Robbins, 2012). Contingency theory framework is mainly concerned with matching leadership styles with situations and two types of leadership styles emerge within the framework that are task oriented style and relationship motivated style (Northouse, 2013). In this project being the chief designer I faced both favorable and unfavorable situations. As leader member re lations with some team members were good and with others it was poor. Some tasks were highly structured as there was only one way of doing things, others were unstructured as many alternatives available for doing the task, as we were developing innovative design, team members were not familiar with it and there was no single best way of doing it. I enjoyed strong position power being the Chief designer of the

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Current Economic Issues Essay Example for Free

Current Economic Issues Essay The current state of the world economy is attributed to economic shake ups dated from 1990s. Such happening shave extended their roots, now firmly clinching on the economy, and thus posing a threatening challenging to the whole world. Such events include the global and United States recession in 1991, Japanese economic stagnations four times since 1990s, currency crisis in European monetary system, mediocre economic performance of Europe and the large swings in the values of G3 currencies. The economy of the world had still not recovered from the 1998s global financial crisis that was caused by economic crisis in Russia. In 2001, IT bubble was experienced in US, leading to sharp fall of investment. The economic troubles challenging us today heavily rest upon the oil shock since 2000 that contributed to global slow down. To add on the pain, china appreciated its currency in 2005 by 2. 1% (Radetzki, 2003, p. 18). The above scenarios have been driving us to the destination we are today although they happened some years ago. This is because when a major economic player experiences a shock; such shock is expended to the rest of world market players, diversifying the impacts. Unemployment is getting on rise in many economies of the world, including even the giant ones. Inflation is increasing at fast rates, with United States experiencing the worst ever after the great depression. The exchange value of several currencies is getting weaker and weaker, with many stock markets closing up their ventures due to economic and financial difficulties. The industrialized economies are stake, with oil crisis holding their economies at the neck (Mullenbach, 2003, p. 20). Global economic growth 0 macroeconomic variables The above graph illustrates the trends which can be assumed by any economy, including the global economy. The long run path shows where the economy can operate at times of equilibrium, without deficits or surplus. Because of the economic forces, the trend has never been attained in history. Point A is a point of depression, C shows recovery, D is a point of economic boom and B is a recessionary trend. The world economy is subjected t all above points by the changing economic conditions of the world market and natural disasters. Today, the economy is possibly at point B, where it is at recession, but the fate is not yet known. Such a scenario is being contributed to by the nature of the economy itself, energy sector, rate of exchange, equity market and emerging markets as discussed below (Howe, 2001, p. 25). Discussion In the world economy, consumer confidence to the production sector has drastically reduced by a margin of 2. 7% since 2007, meaning that the situation is likely to get worse and worse. The recessionary experience in the United States is leading a sharp slowdown of growth in developing as well as developed nations. According to reports released by the IMF and World Bank, current and fiscal accounts of the amalgamated global economy have registered deficits since the year 2005. According to their argument, many nations like US are using weak recovery strategies that only ensure growth of output without creation of job opportunities. In 2003 and 2004, the world made a significant move against downturn, only to be fast back driven by the realization that the strategy was a jobless strategy. Through their economic monitory program, the Breton wood institutions discovered the economy was slowly healing in 2006 with low inflation and good growth, only to be stroke down by spike in oil prices. In struggling against this, the Katrina hurricane ignited its flames. The procedure of events in the world economy has led it to a hard landing especially in the years 2007 and 2008. as we talk of macro effects of the bust in the hosing sector of the united states, the world can not decouple from the effects, because US serves as a world economic hub as well as destination. Within the economic frontiers, unemployment, inflation exchange rates and growth cut rates are challenges surrounding our economic environment (Hansen, 2004, p. 12). As a matter of great concern the global energy sector has since 2004 exposed the global economy to stagflation, because of the spike in oil price. Stagflation is a scenario characterized by both inflation and recession periods. Within the range of 2004 to 2008, the oil price has been hovering around $70 per barrel. The oil crisis has been attributed to the 2000 oil price shock which affected oil importing countries negatively and led to the 2002 recession. Because of the expectation of a war in Iraq, supply shocks in Nigeria and Venezuela, oil prices went further in 2002 and 2003. After the war, the prices spiked further in 2004 and 2005 because the product remained in high demand from US and China. As a result global spare production and refining capacity has reduced as the world believed terrorism concerns in Saudi Arabia and Iraq could lead to shortages in supply. Oil is recognized as a prime mover of production sector. Production activities are essential elements making up the economy. A decline in production either quantity wise or quality wise serves as an obvious economic pitfall. Again, oil is very expensive commodity that leads to high inflation levels, a situation being experienced by the world by now. Every economy is moving fast to slow down the rates of inflation, with a big challenge coming from the instability of the oil market. Energy inflated inflation is a current which is disturbing economic strategists all over the world (Portney, 2006, p. 14). Most of the available information and data about the recent or current economic trends is availed by non governmental institutions, economically integrated institutions and Breton wood institutions. After investigating the moves of the exchange rate in the world market, the above participants have signaled a danger, due to a reflection of the reality on grounds. Exchange of an American dollar against Yen and Euro has declined, leading to large current account deficits as private savings are sinking towards zero. According to their projections, the current account deficit in global accounts may be unsustainable, lead to currency values crash or a spike in interest rates, a very hard landing for the world economy. Devastating trends in exchange rates was sensed in 2002 – 2004, when the American dollar peaked suddenly and later on sharply declined. Interest rates and real growth rates differentials favored the dollar in 2005, but it resumed its fall in 2006 as Fed pause and US slowdown was signaled. As the situation stands as per now, the dollar is expected to continue falling. This is because any global current account imbalances will be disorderly, a witnessed circumstance since 2005. The state of affairs is hardly predictable because despite the dollars instability, Yen is also weakening with china still threatening to revalue its currency. The future of the exchange pattern is still not feasible because Asian economies are declining their willingness to intervene aggressively in foreign market in the search for stable exchange value of the various currencies. As the market turmoil seemed to intimate in 2006, currency crisis in the emerging markets may be experienced. Te situation of exchange rate is not only a current issue, but issues deemed to persist and thus corner the global economy. It therefore requires a sustainability approaches to address both present and future challenges which it may poss (Radetzki, 2003, p. 18). Today’s economy is feeling the impact of the emerging markets, whose economic abilities is determining the health of the world economy. Dismissal of emerging markets took place in 2001, with economic slowdown of G7 and US. Financial crises and outright currency hardly hit Turkey, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. In 2006, commodity prices were high, global growth was high and global interest rates were low. The mess to the total progress has come after the encounter of global economy slow down, falling commodity prices, hiking oil prices, G7 short rates going up and thus making financial and economic conditions for emerging market tougher. Their turmoil in 2006 means the economies are vulnerable to financial stress up to early 2010. Both existing and emerging markets are encircled in the same economy, experiencing almost similar challenges but using different survival strategies. It must however be realized that any economic slowdown experienced by any of these entities applies to the rest of the economy. For the sake of sustainability therefore, if the stability of the whole economy has to be tamed, stability of the emerging economies must be put to focus, and thus preserve the global economy at a larger scale (Bonnie, 2003, p. 34). In consideration the present economic characteristics, it would be ignorant act to overlook the state of the equity or earnings market. Following the economic state of the United States and the world economy in general, earnings have sharply slowed down with equity markets underperforming. Based on overoptimistic and excessive expectations of growth, stock market dropped by 9/11 in 2002 when equity markets underperformed. The war that has been going on in Iraq is believed to have led to renewed risk aversion and has frequently slumped the stock market since 2003. When this war reduced shortly in 2003, markets picked up sustained economic recovery strategies accompanied with sharp pick up in earnings and profits. In 2004, 2005 and 2006, stock indexes remained flat regardless of the sharp improvement indicated in corporate balance sheet. It is too difficulty to sustain the growth of earnings, ensure profitability growth that is compatible with the share of GDP and streamline the overall trend of equity markets performance. It is a big dream to the world on how the equity market is expected to perform, its overvaluation based on historically cyclically adjusted P/E ratios. The poor performance of the US economy darkens the future of the equities markets (Howe, 2001, p. 25). In the economic dynamicity, electronic and investment cycle is worth affecting the performance of the world economy. The economy has experienced bust or boom cycle in electronic goods, semi conductors and information technology. The NASDAQ crash in 2004 led to a sharp decline in prices and demand, severely hurting IT firms. When the overinvestment boom which composed of 50% in IT rather than traditional equipment ended, it severely hurt IT exporters such as Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore and Philippines. The extend and depth of the tentative recovery that was started by IT sector in 2004 was too shaky because it could not maintain the demand for IT goods. In 2006, the sector was somehow relieved as the investment turned into a mini investment boom, partially healing Asians economies. This took place because tech goods underwent a pent up demand. Even if the overall poor economic performance may not solely be attached to shopped out consumers, IT strength and impact on global economy is still questionable. World Bank statistics indicate that investments in softwares and equipment have reduced since 2005. This has been the case because corporations do not find profitable real investment opportunities and therefore turning back to their old investment sites. The shake of this sector is also shaking the world economy, meaning that its stability should be sought (Portney, 2006, p. 14). Reference: Bonnie John, 2003. Contemporary economic issues in developing countries. Mahwah, NJ: Praeger, pp. 34. Hansen Alvin, 2004. Economic issues of 2000s. California: American Enterprise Institute; pp. 12. Howe Charles, 2001. Interbasin transfers of water: Economic issues and impacts. California: Resources for the future press; pp. 25. Mullenbach Philip, 2003. Civilian nuclear power: Economic issues and policy formation. London: Twentieth Century Fund; pp. 20.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Importance of Internet Banking Essay Example for Free

Importance of Internet Banking Essay From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article is about asymptotic stability of nonlinear systems. For stability of linear systems, see exponential stability. Various types of stability may be discussed for the solutions of differential equations describing dynamical systems. The most important type is that concerning the stability of solutions near to a point of equilibrium. This may be discussed by the theory of Lyapunov. In simple terms, if all solutions of the dynamical system that start out near an equilibrium point stay near forever, then is Lyapunov stable. More strongly, if is Lyapunov stable and all solutions that start out near converge to , then is asymptotically stable. The notion of exponential stability guarantees a minimal rate of decay, i. e. , an estimate of how quickly the solutions converge. The idea of Lyapunov stability can be extended to infinite-dimensional manifolds, where it is known as structural stability, which concerns the behavior of different but nearby solutions to differential equations. Input-to-state stability (ISS) applies Lyapunov notions to systems with inputs. Contents [hide] †¢1 History †¢2 Definition for continuous-time systems o2. 1 Lyapunovs second method for stability †¢3 Definition for discrete-time systems †¢4 Stability for linear state space models †¢5 Stability for systems with inputs †¢6 Example †¢7 Barbalats lemma and stability of time-varying systems †¢8 References †¢9 Further reading †¢10 External links [edit] History Lyapunov stability is named after Aleksandr Lyapunov, a Russian mathematician who published his book The General Problem of Stability of Motion in 1892. 1] Lyapunov was the first to consider the modifications necessary in nonlinear systems to the linear theory of stability based on linearizing near a point of equilibrium. His work, initially published in Russian and then translated to French, received little attention for many years. Interest in it started suddenly during the Cold War (1953-1962) period when the so-called Second Method of Lyapunov was found to be applicable to the stability of aerospace guidance systems which typically contain strong nonlinearities not treatable by other methods. A large number of publications appeared then and since in the control and systems literature.More recently the concept of the Lyapunov exponent (related to Lyapunovs First Method of discussing stability) has received wide interest in connection with chaos theory. Lyapunov stability methods have also been applied to finding equilibrium solutions in traffic assignment problems. [7] [edit] Definition for continuous-time systems Consider an autonomous nonlinear dynamical system , where denotes the system state vector, an open set containing the origin, and continuous on . Suppose has an equilibrium . 1. The equilibrium of the above system is said to be Lyapunov stable, if, for every , there exists a such that, if , then , for every . 2. The equilibrium of the above system is said to be asymptotically stable if it is Lyapunov stable and if there exists such that if , then . 3. The equilibrium of the above system is said to be exponentially stable if it is asymptotically stable and if there exist such that if , then , for . Conceptually, the meanings of the above terms are the following: 1. Lyapunov stability of an equilibrium means that solutions starting close enough to the equilibrium (within a distance from it) remain close enough forever (within a distance from it). Note that this must be true for any that one may want to choose. 2. Asymptotic stability means that solutions that start close enough not only remain close enough but also eventually converge to the equilibrium. 3. Exponential stability means that solutions not only converge, but in fact converge faster than or at least as fast as a particular known rate .

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Liver Function Tests And Bilirubin Biology Essay

Liver Function Tests And Bilirubin Biology Essay The human body is made up of various organs and one of the most important homeostatic organs is the liver. However, despite its very active role, is mostly underemphasised and although most of its functions are not as regulatory as the brain, the liver is involved in important processes. These include biochemical, excretory and synthetic functions, therefore, to detect deviations in its function, several tests must be carried out. These test are referred to as Liver function tests. They provide clues on the liver function and help to evaluate the level or amount of liver damage. Hence, they are used in the diagnosis of liver disease. And since early diagnosis and therapeutic intervention plays a large role in the treatment of liver diseases, liver function tests are important. Liver function tests The liver is the largest visceral organ in the body. It weighs about 1.3kg (3lb) in an adult (patho book ref). It has about 500 individual functions. To ensure that the liver continues to carry out these functions, there are several tests which are carried out on the liver when investigating a patient with liver disease. These tests are carried out on the bllod, each of them checking the amounts or levels of various constituents in the blood. Liver function tests include tests depict cholestasis (alkaline phosphatase, gamma glutamyl transpeptidase), tests reflecting the synthetic function of the liver tests (albumin and prothrombin time),tests portraying excretion (bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase and gamma glutamyl transpeptidase) and tests monitoring the amount of cell damage or liver injury (Aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase). Bilirubin This is a yellow compound or pigment formed by the breakdown of haemoglobin. This originates from the breakdown of worn out, old or damaged red blood cells. The senescent blood cells are taken up and destroyed macrophages (Kupffer cells) of the phagocytic system (which are located primarily in the spleen and in the liver. During the breakdown of haemoglobin into heme and globin, the globin is further degraded to form new proteins and the heme part forms bilverdin. In the Kupffer cells, the bilverdin is converted to bilirubin by the use of enzymes. The bilirubin is then released into the plasma where it binds to albumin and becomes an unconjugated bilirubin. The unconjugated or free bilirubin enters the hepatocytes and after mixing with glucuronic acid, it becomes a conjugated bilirubin. This conjugated bilirubin is water soluble and hence, soluble in bile, therefore if the outflow of bile is interrupted, conjugated bilirubin will affect the colour of the urine, it becomes darker. Conjugated bilirubin enters into the small intestines through the bile ducts and there, it is deconjugated into urobilinogen by bacteria. The urobilinogin formed could either be reabsorbed into circulation by the hepatic portal vein into the liver to be re-excreted into the bile or excreted in faeces. This process is known as the enterohepatic circulation. The urobilinogen excreted in faeces or urine is oxidized to urobilin which is responsible for the colour of faeces. There are two tests which are carried out for bilirubin. They are direct-reacting (which is carried out for conjugated bilirubin) and indirect-reacting (which is carried out for unconjugated bilirubin). Various conditions can lead to an elevation in the amount of bilirubin in the blood, such as blockage of the bile ducts, excess production of bilirubin, reduced conjugation, reduced secretion and reduced uptake by the liver. Increased levels of indirect bilirubin are usually caused by liver cell disorder. An example is in hepatitis where the damaged biliary excretion leads to the presence of excess faecal urobilinogen in the urine. This gives the urine a darker colour and can be used as an indication of early cell injury. And an increase of direct bilirubin characteristically results from an obstruction which could either be located within or outside the liver (e.g.  a blockage in the bile ducts or gallstones). When the bile duct is obstructed, the concentration of urinary urobilino gen reduces because the stoppage in the excretion of bile into the gut does not lead to synthesis of the faecal urobilinogen. Albumin. Albumin is a major protein which is synthesised by the liver cells and secreted into the blood. The capacity of the synthetic function of the liver can be measured with the use of albumin. The serum albumin test, therefore, is carried out in order to measure the amount of protein in the serum. Albumin has a comparatively long half life of twenty one days, therefore, liver damage must persist (be long term) before reduced levels of serum can be noticed. Inability to maintain the serum levels between the reference value of 35- 50 g/L leads to a low reading of albumin, referred to as hypoalbuminaemia, which signifies impending liver failure. Apart from liver failure, there are other conditions which can result in low serum albumin. Examples include urinary loss, hypercatabolism and also severe malnutrition. Alkaline Phosphatase: Alkaline phosphatase is an isoenzyme which is present in the liver canalicular plasma membrane of hepatocytes, in the placenta, intestine and in the bone for bone building. The normal amount of alkaline phosphates is less 100 IU/L. Increase in alkaline phosphatase is mostly due to increase in enzyme production in areas close to an obstruction and also due to the molecular weight of the biliary isoenzyme. This can be detected with the used of serum electrophoresis. Increase in alkaline phosphatase can be caused by disorders such as cholestasis within the liver (intrahepatic) or outside the live (extrahepatic), space occupying lesions (such as abscesses, cysts and tumours) and hepatitis. During pregnancy, the isoenzyme located in the placenta is released and the isoenzyme in the bone is also released in children and adolescents during growth. These are known as physiological increases in serum alkaline phosphatase. In disorders such as rickets, the serum alkaline phosphatase level is i ncreased. This type of increase is called a pathological increase. And although bilirubin levels increase alongside alkaline phosphatase levels, sometimes the bilirubin value can remain normal regardless of an increased alkaline phosphatase level. Gamma Glutamyl transpeptidase Gamma-glutamyltraferse, gGT, is a glycoprotein which is found in many tissues such as the prostate, liver, intestine, pancreas, and kidneys. It has a normal range which is 20 times (1000U/L), it is considered severe and the raised ALT level can lead to severe viral hepatitis , circulatory shock and drug or toxin induced necrosis. The levels of AST and ALT are reasonably increased (2 30 times) in hepatitis (e.g. alcoholic hepatitis). An increased level of AST normally indicates acute abnormality of liver, heart and/or skeletal muscles.

Essay --

The â€Å"Clashing† Life of Jorge Yao Many of us have heard of the online mobile game called â€Å"Clash of Clans†. The game concept is pretty simple – you manage a village and steal others’ resources in order to upgrade your base. Surely, we have seen dozens of these games roaming on the mobile app store. But the shocking fact is that the developer, Supercell, is making $2.5 million a day off Clash of Clans, from tens of millions of active players who are given the option to spend their own money in order to speed up their army troops and upgrades. Here’s a short history and game concept of this popular game. This game was risen from the ground to the app store in early August. This online-only, multiplayer game allows players to build their village, train army troops and attack other players to steal resources from them in order to upgrade their bases and defences, which protect from other attackers. Players can lower their trophy counts to â€Å"farm† for resources (eg. gold), or win battles to increase trophies to show off but at the same time meaning attacking and defending against harder bases. Players can join groups called â€Å"clans† which players can give advices and strategies on the private clan chat. And here’s where a user who called himself Jorge Yao comes in – a well-known hero amongst experienced and amateur player. He was the first player to break the 4,000 trophy mark and held the number one spot for a whole six months. These all came to an end when Jorge announced his retirement in May, after hundreds of dollars spend into this game each week. The Beginning George Yao – his real name – immigrated to Philadelphia from China. His dad taught at the University of Pennsylvania and his mother worked at a pathology lab. George himself w... ...n that there are many stories where couples get divorced or bankrupt because of Clash of Clans, or other online multiplayer game. This all finally came to an end when six months later, in June 2013, he put down his three iPads down and quit. However as it seemed, all of his addiction, efforts, patience and fortune didn’t go to waste. In his farewell speech he posted on his social media site, he accepted his side career as a gaming design consultant for Samurai Siege, similar to Clash of Clans, and relocated to London. He thanked his clanmates, friends and fans and said he was â€Å"going out on top like Mike†, referring to Michael Jordan. â€Å"Looking back, I think I must have been insane,† he said. â€Å"I was so immersed in it at the time. I knew it was abnormal, but never to the extent that I see it now.† â€Å"Nowadays I can’t even stand opening the app, the sight of it.† He said.

Monday, August 19, 2019

The Social and Ethical Implications of Assisted Reproductive Technologi

The Social and Ethical Implications of Assisted Reproductive Technologies Test tube babies have long been stigmatized by society as the unnatural results of scientific dabbling. The words `test tube baby' have been used by school children as an insult, and many adults have seen an artificial means of giving birth as something perhaps only necessary for a lesbian woman, or a luxury item only available to the elite few. The reality is that assisted reproductive technologies (ART) have been helping infertile couples have children since 1978.1 The methods of in vitro fertilization, it's variants, and the other ART procedures are ways for persons that would otherwise have no hope of conception to conceive and, in a rapidly growing percentage of cases, give birth to healthy babies. As the technology has developed, the quality and range of assistance has developed as well. At present, the means of assisted reproduction and the capabilities of these procedures has grown at a somewhat dizzying pace. However, thought to the repercussions of the applications of ART a re being disregarded to some extent while the public's knowledge and the understanding of embryologists and geneticists surges forward. It is possible given consideration to things such as the morality of these techniques, the unexplored alternative uses of these procedures, and the potential impact they posses that further development is unnecessary and possibly dangerous. As of 1995, 20,000 babies had been born as a result of ART treatments.2 Since then, many women and couples have sought the services of IVF clinics all over the world with hopes of the miracle of conception. These people are usually ones who suffer from some sort of condition that renders them inferti... ... available today, his goal would have been easily attainable through the technology that is presently seen as giving hope to millions of couples who seek simply to exercise their right to raise a child. Is the development if such technology ethical? Is the possibility that it could do greater harm than good enough to terminate the development of such technology? These questions are most likely too much to answer, given what is known and understood about genetic engineering, assisted reproduction, and DNA cloning. But perhaps the best answer is to say that before things are taken any further, we stop to look at what we have, attempt to understand and evaluate those things, and determine whether it is truly necessary to make advances in the technology. Perhaps we are at a point where the most important thing is slow down the pace of change before it gets away form us.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Perceptions of Dimmesdale and Chillingworth in the Scarlet Letter Essay

Chillingworth and Dimmesdale: Reflections of True Puritan Society 18th century’s perception of the Puritan Society was that Puritans were a zealous community of people that lived with strict moral standards which allowed them to live in perfect harmony. However, the truth is Puritans were overly zealous whose values created paranoia and intolerance for other views. Through the characters Dimmesdale and Chillingworth who are also falsely perceived, Hawthorne suggest they are representative of the dour living of Puritan society that is hidden by the puritan’s tranquil and utopian outlook. John Winthrop aimed to created Christian utopian society when he founded the puritan community, he failed in this goal. Even with his failure, people still thought of the society as pure and just. What he engendered instead was a community whose theology denied human being’s free will, filled with paranoia, racism, sexism and hatred of sexuality and youth. These themes are clearly represented in the Scarlet Letter. The hatred of youth is shown early on in the novel, when Hester Prynne first enters from the prison, â€Å"This woman [Hester Prynne] has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it? Truly, there is, both in the Scripture and the statue-book.†(199). The aged ugly woman who makes this statement is used by Hawthorne to serve as representative for the puritans, while Hester represents youth and sexuality. The undeserving punishment of death for the crime of adultery only further demonstrates the extremities of this so-called per fect society. While perhaps seen as God’s will that a person who commits adultery must die, it is instead the government’s way of controlling the people by fear and terror so that t... ...ore it would be released free, which he then delivered the greatest sermon yet. The puritans economic status increased as less and less free will was granted, basically proving along with Dimmesdale, as corruption increases in religious figures or people they gradually better themselves, Dimmesdale in his sermons, while the Puritans in their economic status. Through the characters Dimmesdale and Chillingworth, Hawthorne reveals the true nature of Puritan society through parallels among the three. All three’s hidden evil is masked by each of their perfect appearances. Chillingworth exhibited the Puritan’s benefit of the doubt they received because of their relation to religion, while Dimmesdale presented the fact that corruption fuels the association with religion and as corruption within someone or something increases, so does a person or people’s betterment.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

History and Physical Examination Essay

Admitting Diagnosis: Stomatitis possibly methotrexate related. Chief Complaint: Swelling of lips causing difficulty swallowing. HISTORY OF PRESENT ILLNESS: This patient is a 57-year-old Cuban woman with a long history of rheumatoid arthritis. She has received methotrexate on a weekly basis as an outpatient for many years. Approximately two weeks ago she developed a respiratory infection for which she received antibiotics and completed that course of antibiotics. She developed some ulcerations of her mouth and was instructed to discontinue the methotrexate approximately 10 days ago. She showed some initial improvement but over the last 3 to 5 days has had malaise, a low grade fever and severe oral ulcerations with difficulty in swallowing. Although she can drink liquids with less difficulty. Patient denies any other problems at this point except for a flare of arthritis since discontinuing the methotrexate. She has rather diffuse pain involving both small and large joints. This has caused her some anxiety. MEDICATIONS: 1. Prednisone 7.5 mg p.o. daily. 2. Estradiol 0.5 mg p.o. q.a.m. 3. Mobic 7.5 mg p.o. daily, recently discontinued because of questionable allergic reaction. 4. HCTZ 35 mg p.o. every other day and oral calcium supplements. 5. In the past she has been on penicillamine, azathioprine, and hydroxychloroquine but she has not had Azulfidine, cyclophosphamide or chlorambucil. ALLERGIES: None by history. FAMILY/SOCIAL HISTORY: None contributory. PHYSICAL EXAMINATION: This is a chronically ill appearing female alert oriented and cooperative. She moved with great difficulty because of fatigue and malaise. VITAL SIGNS: Blood pressure 107/80. Heart rate 100 and regular. Respirations 22. HEENT: Normocephalic, no scalp lesions, dry eyes with conjunctival injection, mild exophthalmos, dry nasal mucosa, marked  cracking and bleeding of her lips with erosions of the mucosa. She has a large ulceration of the mucosa at the bite margin on the left. She has some scattered ulcerations on her hard and soft palate. She has difficulty opening her mouth because of pain. Tonsils not enlarged. No visible exudate. SKIN: She has some mild ecchymosis on her skin and some erythema. She has patches but no obvious skin breakdown. She has some fissuring in thebuttocks crease. PULMONARY: Clear to percussion and auscultation bilaterally. CARDIOVASCULAR: No murmurs or gallops noted. ABDOMIN: Soft, non-tender, protuberant, no organomegaly and positive bowel sounds. NEUROLOGIC: Cranial nerves 2 through 12 are grossly intact. Diffuse hyporeflexia. MUSCULOSKELETAL: Corrosive destructive changes in the elbows, wrists and hands consistent with rheumatoid arthritis. Has bilateral total knee replacements with stove pipe legs and perimalleolar pitting edema 1+. I feel no pulses distally in either leg. PHYCIATRIC: Patient is a little anxious about these new symptoms and theyre significance. We discussed her situation and I offered her psychological services. She refused for now. PROBLEMS: 1. Swelling of lips and dysphasia with questionable early Stevens-Johnson syndrome. 2. Rheumatoid arthritis class 3, stage 4. 3. Flare of arthritis after discontinuing methotrexate. 4. Osteoporosis with compression fracture. 5. Mild dehydration. 6. Nephrolithiasis 7. Anxiety PLAN: 1. Admit patient for IV hydration and treatment of oral ulcerations. 2. Obtain a dermatology consult.  3. IV leucovorin will be started and the patient will be put on high dose corticosteroids. 4. Considering patients anxiety perhaps obtain services of Stella Rose Dickinson PHD phycology at a later date.

Friday, August 16, 2019

Crane and Human Ideals Essay

Stephen Crane’s short story, â€Å"The Open Boat† (1894) shows a microcosm of social interdependency, which is set against the back-drop of the natural world. The story, at its most basic root, could be considered a â€Å"man vs. nature† story, or an adventure story with the sea as a symbol for nature’s essential neutrality and indifference to human life and human aspiration. Given this central tension in the story, it is important to recognize that Crane, rather than pitting an heroic protagonist against the trial against an indifferent nature, chose to express the heroic capacity of a group of individuals acting in concert for their mutual survival. In this way, the story becomes less about the indifference of nature and more about the ability of human society to function as a â€Å"buffer† against nature and a construct which gives not only a degree of safety, but meaning, to human existence. In order to establish the conflict between humanity and nature, as well as to introduce the persistent idea of communal support, Crane begins the story with the words â€Å"†None of them knew the color of the sky† (Crane, 728); while the opening words convey a sense of mystery and danger, they also convey at the same time, a firm understanding on the reader’s behalf that nature has become alien to the characters in the story and that it is â€Å"them† rather than nay particular individual with whom the story will be concerned. The following description of the men who are banded together in a dinghey after a shipwreck informs the reader that Crane, is in fact, determined to offer a social microcosm in order to represent, as fully as possible within the limited confines of the short-story form, the urgency and importance that the communal identity described in the story extends to all walks of life and all levels of society. By the time the entire story has been studied, the alert reader realizes that not only the makeshift crew of the boat itself, which is comprised of the wounded captain of the sunken ship, an oiler, a cook, and a correspondent, but the cast of the story altogether — represents a typical Western society at all levels: men and women, workers and executives, thinkers and â€Å"doers† as well as the lucky and†¦ unlucky. Both life and death figure prominently in the struggle which is described in the story — with the ability to distinguish between the two an immediate threat which faces the crew of the dinghey. In order to establish the utter despair of being cut-off from the protection of human society (symbolized by the sunken ship) and left to the devices of uncontrolled and unchecked nature (symbolized by the sea and its wildlife), Crane describes the motion of the dinghey, which can be thought of as a makeshift society, in words which can only be interpreted as showing a descent from social order to the chaos and indifference of nature: † A seat in this boat was not unlike a seat upon a bucking broncho[†¦ ]the craft pranced and reared, and plunged like an animal† (Crane, 728). Additionally, Crane offers a description of the men’s view of the sea from atop one of the great waves, just before the corresponding plunge: â€Å"The crest of each of these waves was a hill, from the top of which the men surveyed, for a moment, a broad tumultuous expanse; shining and wind-riven. It was probably splendid. It was probably glorious, this play of the free sea, wild with lights of emerald and white and amber† (Crane, 729). The word â€Å"probably† in this description is the key to injecting the sinister and simultaneously indifferent pose of nature to the men trapped in the dinghey. In order to drive his point regarding the indifference of nature even more fully home, Crane creates an image which is at once ironic and dramatic; an image which fills the reader with dread and a sense of the absurd all at once. By describing the gulls who flew nearby the drifting craft and showing their ease in the very element which threatened to destroy the men aboard the dinghey, Crane creates a genuinely masterful symbol to demonstrate nature’s indifference to humanity when he describes that a gull â€Å"came, and evidently decided to alight on the top of the captain’s head† (Crane, 729). This image is ironic and compelling and is Crane’s most obvious articulation of his theme that is given in the story. Against the backdrop of indifferent nature, none of the men aboard the dinghey as individuals is able to perform a rescue plan or find some heroic solution to their problem. Rather, by increments and by working together, the men eventually begin to regain a sense of determination, which ultimately rises to the level of hope and then — action. The mutual support of the men is the heroic aspect of the story: â€Å"They were a captain, an oiler, a cook, and a correspondent, and they were friends, friends in a more curiously iron-bound degree than may be common† (Crane, 729). This quite optimistic notion is meant to establish human society as a whole (as expressed through the microcosm of the â€Å"open boat†) as both a necessity and a natural outgrowth of human capacity. In other words, the men are out of their element (unlike the gulls) when pitted against the open sea, but in their element — which is human society — they can meet the test which confronts them. Humanity is meant to build mutually sustaining communities and societies just as gulls are meant to float on open ocean waves. In the long run, the tension between nature and man which is created at the beginning of the story finds fulfilling closure in the story’s post-climax where Crane writes â€Å"the white waves paced to and fro in the moonlight, and the wind brought the sound of the great sea’s voice to the men on shore, and they felt that they could then be interpreters† (Crane, 740). The closure of the story suggests — not a tension or conflict between man and nature — but a resolution through nature — human nature — to the discord offered in the story’s rising action. In other words, man by following his nature to be a social animal, and only by following this impulse, can be as harmoniously at home in the world, despite the indifference of nature, as a seagull which also accepts its rightful place in the natural order. Works Cited Crane, Stephen. â€Å"The Open Boat,† Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library (1999); accessed 2-1-09; http://www2. lib. virginia. edu/etext/index. html

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Organic food †Agriculture Essay

Ever wondered why organic foods are more expensive? Why organic foods are kept separately from the other food in a grocery store? Why some produce has special labels? The food all looks the same on the outside. An apple marked organic looks the same as any other apple in the produce section of the store. The difference is not the outward appearance but how the apple was grown and processed. The word organic gives the impression that the food will be safer and more nutritious to eat than food without the organic label. Many scientific studies have been done to find if there is a significant difference in safety and nutrition. The studies all conclude the same information. Organically grown foods are not any more nutritious or safer for consumption than conventionally grown, non-organic foods. Many people are not clear regarding how organic and non-organic also known as conventionally grown food is grown in the United States. Organically grown food is grown and processed using no synthetic chemicals, such as fertilizers or pesticides (Environmental Protection Agency, 2009). Pesticides derived from natural sources, such as biological pesticides, can be used in growing and producing organically grown food (Environmental Protection Agency, 2009). Biological pesticides are bacteria or fungi that are applied to the plant to control bugs (Environmental Protection Agency, 2009). If raising livestock, the animals eat organic animal food (American Progress, 2008). Organic farming does not have adverse effects on animals and people. Using biological pesticides and fertilizers does not leave toxins or harmful residues in the environment (American Progress, 2008). These types of pesticides and fertilizers are considered to be environmentally friendly, unlike non-organic farming. Non-organic or conventionally grown food is food grown with chemical fertilizers to promote plant growth. Insecticides are used to reduce pests and disease. Chemical herbicides are applied to soil to prevent and kill weeds. The animals are given antibiotics when sick. Growth hormones and medications are given to livestock to prevent disease and spur growth (Mayo Clinic, 2009). The two methods of farming are very different regarding farming techniques. Farming techniques are the main factor that contributes to a food classification as organic or non-organic. Organic farming techniques are one reason the cost is higher than conventionally grown food. Organic farming uses crop rotation (American Progress, 2008). This is growing one type of food, then harvesting that food and planting a different crop in the same place. Crop rotation helps keep the soil fertile. Organic farmers rely on the spreading of mulch or manure to keep weeds down (Mayo Clinic, 2009). Organic farmers may use methods such a hand weeding as opposed to using herbicides sprayed on the entire crop. Organic farmers may use beneficial insects and birds to keep pests from destroying crops (American Progress, 2008). Organic farming is much like farming before all the technological advancements in farming that is used today in conventional farming. Organic farming is designed to reduce pollution and conserve soil and water (American Progress, 2008). Either way a farmer chooses to grow food, the food still has to pass all standards set up by the United States government. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has set standards all food producers must adhere to and pass whether organically or conventionally grown. Food must be safe before it is sold to consumers. The National Organic Program (NOP) develops, implements, and administers national production, handling, and labeling standards for organic agricultural products. The NOP also accredits the certifying agents, both foreign and domestic, who inspect organic production and handling operations to certify that they meet USDA standards (United States Department of Agriculture, 2010). The Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) and the NOP assure consumers that the organic agricultural products they purchase are produced, processed, and certified to consistent national organic standards. The labeling requirements of the NOP apply to raw, fresh products and processed products that contain organic agricultural ingredients. Agricultural products that are sold, labeled, or represented as organic must be produced and processed in accordance with the NOP standards (Agriculture Marketing Service, 2010). If the food passes all the criteria, the food can legally carry an organic label. Labels are an important part of correctly marketing organic food. All food has to be classified and labeled before it can be sold for consumption whether organic or non-organic. Before a product can carry the organic label, it must pass all the USDA guidelines. Products that are completely organic or made of all organic ingredients are considered 100% organic. Examples of completely organic products are single-ingredient foods, such as fruits, vegetables, eggs. These type foods are labeled 100% organic. These foods can carry a USDA organic seal (Mayo Clinic, 2009). Food that contains organic ingredients but also have other ingredients that may not be organic are considered 95% organic (Agricultural Marketing Service, 2008). An example of this type of food is cereal. Manufacturers and farmers may use the word organic on the product label if the food contains more than 70% organic ingredients (Agricultural Marketing Service, 2008). The label is not the USDA label but the manufacturer’s label. An example of this type of food is a soup that has a manufacturer label boasting it has organic ingredients. Foods containing less than 70% organic ingredients cannot use the word organic on their product label (Agricultural Marketing Service, 2008). The USDA issues heavy penalties for misrepresenting a product as organic. Natural food is not organic even though the two are usually within the same section in a market. Natural food is a term that may confuse people. Natural food does not have strict labeling standards set up by the USDA. Thus, many products can carry a natural food label. It would be easy to misconstrue natural food as organic. By definition, natural food is food that has undergone no or minimal processing and contains no additives such as preservatives or artificial coloring (Encarta, 2009). Natural food is the way the food is processed after it has been grown. Organic and non-organic food is defined according to how it was grown and then processed. The quality of food is still the issue for natural, organic, and non-organic when deciding what to buy. The quality of the food is one of the main issues between organic and conventionally grown food. The concern about conventionally grown food is if the food contains chemicals or chemical residue. Many studies have been done on organic and conventional food. Conventionally grown food does contain trace amounts of residue from the chemicals used in producing the food. Thoroughly washing produce with water and scrubbing before consuming reduces the residue on the fruit or vegetable (Mayo Clinic, 2009). According to the studies, there is no difference as far as taste. Taste is subjective to the growing conditions, season, and if a food is at its freshest point (Mayo Clinic, 2009). Taste is, of course, a matter of opinion. Something that studies can measure is the nutritional value of food. Many studies have been done comparing the nutritional value of organic and conventionally grown food. The studies have shown that there is no conclusive evidence to prove that organic food is more nutritious than is conventionally grown food (Mayo Clinic, 2009). The USDA, even though it certifies the food, does not claim organic foods are safer or more nutritious than conventional food (Mayo Clinic, 2009). An organic facts site states the following about organic and conventionally grown foods, â€Å"There is no evidence to prove that organic food is healthier than non organic food. People prefer organic food because they feel it is safer than conventional food as chemicals are not used in its production (Organic Facts, 2010). † Study after study does not prove organic food safer or more nutritious than conventionally grown food. Nutrition is not the only issue at hand. The controversy lies in the growing methods between organic and conventional farming. The issue should deal more with depleting the soil of its minerals and the chemicals washing off into the water supplies. The labels are added to organic food so that consumers have a choice. A consumer can easily identify organic products by the labels. When at the supermarket, look over the organic section. Do not worry that one fruit or vegetable tastes better than the other. Do not ask if one is more nutritious than the other. What should be asked, do I want to help conserve the environment? References Agricultural Marketing Service. (2010). Agricultural Marketing Service – National Organic Program. Retrieved January 14, 2010, from http://www. ams. usda. gov/AMSv1. 0/NOP American Progress. (2008). Organic vs. Conventional Foods-The Gloves Come Off. Retrieved January 13, 2010, from http://www. americanprogress. org/issues/2008/09/organic_green. html Encarta. (2009). natural food definition – Dictionary – MSN Encarta. Retrieved January 14, 2010, from http://www. encarta. msn. com/dictionary_1861696699/natural_food.html Environmental Protection Agency. (2009). Organic Farming/Agriculture/US EPA. Retrieved January 14, 2010, from http://www. epa. gov/oecaagct/torg. html Mayo Clinic. (2009). Organic Foods: Are they safer? More Nutritious? Retrieved January 13, 2010, from http://www. mayoclinic. com/health/organic-food/NU00255 Organic Facts. (2010). Difference Between Organic and Natural Food | Organic Food Basics | Organic Food. Retrieved January 14, 2010, from http://www. organicfacts. net/organic-food/organic-food-basics/difference-between-organic-and-natural-food. html.

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Film Analysis of The Lady Eve Essay

The Lady Eve is a film, which tells the love tale of unlikely couple who meet each other in one of their trip on a Luxury Liner. The movie was released way back 1941 in the United States, directed by a multi-talented Director â€Å"Preston Sturges† and was written by a great dramatist â€Å"Monckton Hoffe†. In general, the lady eve is a romantic comedy film, filled with different twists and turns, on which gives a picture of an extra ordinary love story of two individuals living in a totally different world. With the depicted differences in the storyline, the plot of the movie is definitely interesting and exciting. (Star Pulse) Although, the movie Lady Eve, by Preston Sturges, did not achieve major success to garner movie awards and honorable recognition in film festival, apart from the nomination for Academy Awards – Best Writing and Original Story. The film still receives a bunch of positive feedback from credible movie critic in different generation, on which the director, artists and the rest of the people responsible for the movie had received positive recognition from the viewers of almost every generation for the film â€Å"The Lady Eve†. (Star Pulse) In the year 1994, the movie Lady Eve was acknowledged as socially, aesthetically and historically significant by the â€Å"United States National Film Registry†, on which the movie was selected for preservation by the â€Å"Library of Congress† for its social and moral importance. Nevertheless, the Lady Eve film was a wonderful work of art, that gives a fair picture of romance and comedy love tale, which mirrors a true to life situation of love and journey. (Star Pulse) Talented actors and actresses, on the other hand, had been pivotal on the outcome of the movie. The cast of the movie is set with bunch of – talented, effective, actors and actresses. Reputable actress, â€Å"Barbara Stanwyck† had played the lead role as Jean Harrington and a multi-talented film and stage actor â€Å"Henry Fonda† portrayed the leading man role as Charles Pike. In the movie, Barbara Stanwyck and and Charles Pike had played great music, on which they complement each other with their role and make the movie more appealing and exciting to watch. Nonetheless, the movie Lady Eve is one of the most humorous film way back the World War II era, on which a survivor of ever changing taste of the movie critics and audiences. (Star Pulse) Moreover, the Lady Eve is a thematic romance and comedy film. It tells the tale of two strangers with different outlook in life, bind together of their fate when they meet at a Luxury Shipping Line in one of their travels. Jean Harrington is a con artist who lives with her father â€Å"Colonel Harrington†, on which she falls in love with a guy she met on her travel. Charles Pike, on the other hand, is a rich and decent man – a philologist, who stayed in Amazon for a long period of time for his study on snakes. The movie takes place in a ship, when Jean Harrington is on a travel with her father heading back to New York, sharing the same luxury ship with the unsophisticated guy Charles Pike, who is on his travel back to the United States after his long stay in Amazon for his studies. In the ship’s dinning, Jean Harrington had saw Charles who is at that time reading a book, entitled â€Å"Are Snakes Necessary†. This scene is really funny, as Jean showed up her attraction to Charles Pike, when she trips Charles on purpose to drive his attention. This scene had been the start of the romance and comedy, on which Jean and Charles had fall to each other. In the story, snakes had been the sexual symbol that is the start of romance scenes between the two lead characters. Truthfully in love as they are, Jean and Charles, had several misunderstanding and broke up with each other. The movie is filled with romance and comedy scenes where it depicts the journey of Jean and Charles as a lover that later on succeeds in pursuit of their love. Nonetheless, this movie is totally a thematic romance and comedy film that tells the difficulties and happiness of an extra ordinary love story. In the end, Jean Harrington and Charles Pike had survived the challenges of love, despite the many differences that threatens their relationship, they managed to surpass and live with each other in-love. After all, the movie has a great opening and ended as one of the superb romantic comedy love tale, the movie industry had. It can be argued that comedy is the true theme of the movie Lady Eve. The movie is amazingly funny, on which almost every scenes is a depiction of comedy acts that is definitely satisfying – it brings me to laughter. No doubt, the Lady Eve is a product of humorous mind that depicts funniest twists and turns in its story. Definitely, most of the scenes in the movie contribute to address properly the theme of the movie. One of those scenes is the opening scenario, on which Jean trips Charles on purpose when she broke her heel to attract the attention of Charles. It possibly funny, due to the fact that Barbara Stanwyck, had turned to be an effective comedy actress in her role in the movie. Another one is the scenes where snake serve as the sexual metaphor. It is many to mention specifically what scene, however, parts in the movie definitely contributes to address the true theme of the movie. The elements of the movie, on the other hand; which are divided into five, are effectively connected with each other to complete the theme. The narrative of the movie is chronological, on which the setting and plot of the film is according to the present time when it was produced. The movie depicts, the same era of the forties and is produced according on the order of time, during the 1940’s in the United States. Artist’s performance on the other hand showcases a superb portrayal of a role that is realistic and effectively funny. Major actors and actresses, mostly Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda had been real with their portrayal of their role, on which they have been effective to be funny mostly in critical scenes in the movie. Nonetheless, the casts of the movie acts accordingly with the progress of the movie. Also, cinematography plays a pivotal role in the whole essence of the movie. It is the defining factor of certain scene, on which proper lighting and appropriate camera angle adds more emotion on the scene. In the movie Lady Eve, the cinematography is amazingly brilliant that supported the emotional aura of every scene in the film. One of my personal choices of cinematography in the movie is the scenes which involves Charles and his snakes. The camera angles are perfect – I admire the detailed angle of the snakes, and the lighting definitely sets the mood of that specific scene. With the aspect of editing, the editors had their job well done, as they apply appropriate transition of every scene that depicts on the movie. Each scene is well expressive, with the help of correct transition of every camera shots, from one angle to another. Nevertheless, the editing of the movie was wonderful, I admire the way the editors used â€Å"fade in, fade out† technique for the appropriate transition of each scene, which particularly interesting of the whole editing of the movie. In the art direction and design are perfect, as the directors and the rest of the crew had used proper – locations, effects, props, costumes and make up in the movie. The locations of every scene are perfect, which make every scenario organized with the actual time. Effects, props and costumes, on the other hand, are effective to make the scenes realistic and effective to imply proper emotions. All the funny and comedy scenes in the movie, however, are the definition of the style and strategy of the director, on which these scenes are definitely filled with humorous mind of director Preston Sturges. I personally like this movie, because of two main reasons. First is â€Å"humor†, I personally like the film on its humorous scripts which every funny scene are depictions of superb humor that brings me to laughter. Secondly, I personally like the movie because of its profound portrayal of comedy, on which every scene is a depiction of humor that at any moment funny thoughts will pop out in the script. After all, the movie Lady Eve is film filled with clear scripts and funniest scenes, which is definitely one of the finest movie in forties. Works Cited Star Pulse (2008),The Lady Eve Review: Retrieved May 8, 2008 from http://www. starpulse. com/movie/The_Lady_Eve/V28051/0/5/

The changing nature of competition within the global pharmaceutical Assignment

The changing nature of competition within the global pharmaceutical - Assignment Example The nature of the competition in this field has also been in a constant state of revolution along with its changing entities. While, in the 1960’s regulatory controls were held on a lighter end, due to rapid expansion of the industry along with the medical practitioners insensitive to the price entity; on the other hand, the industry demographics shifted in the 1970’s following a series of events, to constitute an environment that was ruled by strong regulatory bodies and increased patent protection. This is just the example of how industry shifted over a period of two decades alone. Over this period the competition started to get a boost through introduction of generic medicines competing on price. This entity of generics had a major impact on the level of competition in the pharmaceutical industry in terms of providing incentives and a race to market. In other words switching to generics is one of the most common and convenient ways to save cost. They are even being u sed as fist line treatment options with patent drugs used only once they fail. This also presents with it increased rivalry and competitiveness within the industry. Such challenges have been attempted by the organizations to counter using various strategic responses such as disease management initiatives or demonstrating added value offerings of the drugs in terms of various related entities. Porter’s Five Forces Analysis: Threat of Substitutes: When it comes to the pharmaceutical industry, the primary threat that the companies is faced with is of Generic Brand Medication. However, they may be countered through the factor of patents. Other than that, companies in the pharmaceutical industry can also be faced with threats from Complementary Alternative Medicine and alternative medicine which could serve as substitutes; with alternative medicine would serve as a substitute even more so based on the fact that it is not influenced by the pharmaceutical industry (What is CAM?). Th reat of New Entrants: The pharmaceutical industry is an industry that has exponentially high barriers to entry making the threat of new entrants as being relatively low. A few of such barriers are the great costs required to enter the industry, extremely high Research and Development investments, costly and time consuming production process, which combined with strict government regulations and patents makes it really hard for anyone to initiate an entity in this field be it even the big bees. Also, the established firms in this industry are strong enough and well differentiated along with having a loyal customer base making it extremely hard for anyone to develop a brand name and get it recognized (Pharma: Through Porter's Eyes, 2004). Bargaining Power of Suppliers: In terms of the supplier side of the pharmaceutical industry, we see that it constitutes of various entities such as raw material producer and suppliers, local- co-marketing partners, internal labour and even the patien ts for clinical trials etc. When it comes to the threat presented by the supplier side in terms of their bargaining power we see that though all the suppliers present with themselves varying degrees of threat, but it is no more bigger than the threat presented by any such suppliers in other industries either. So, we can say that though there is some extent of threat present, but it is not that exponentially high. Bargaining Power of Buyers: The biggest buyer of the pharmaceutical industry is the government sector and it is one that can impose pressures on the pharmaceutical companies to achieve their own purpose. In addition to that, big hospitals and drug stores can pressurize the company to lower its prices provided

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Critics of the World Bank Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Critics of the World Bank - Case Study Example Still there remain a lot of issues that point out at the loopholes. Though the World Bank in known for its achievements over the past few decades, it has been subject to various criticisms over the years for its policies, functions and activities. The World Bank is attack from all sides by critics on grounds that it is not efficient, not accountable or responsible, not democratic or legitimate, and most importantly that the World Bank is not relevant in a global economy which is presently subjugated by private capital, production and ideas. This paper focuses on the critics faced by the World Bank. Ever since its establishment, it has been subject to various criticisms. At this stage it will be useful to give a brief overview of how the world bank functions and what are the divisions of World Bank. The World Bank is the largest public development institution in the world. The World Bank lends about US$ 25 billion each year to developing countries or various developmental activities with the main purpose of reducing poverty. The main goals of the World Bank, as outlined in Article One of its Articles of Agreement, are: "to assist in the reconstruction and development of territories of members by facilitating the investment of capital for productive purposes" and "to promote the long-range balanced growth of international trade and the maintenance of equilibrium in balances of payments by encouraging international investment ... thereby assisting in raising the productivity, the standard of living and conditions of labour in their territories" (Bretton Woods Project, 2005a). The World Bank is a group of five closely associated international organizations responsible for providing finance and advice to countries for the purposes of economic development and eliminating poverty. Its five agencies are: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD); International Finance Corporation (IFC); International Development Association (IDA); Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The World Bank's activities are particularly focused on economically backward developing countries. Each of these organizations has their own aims and objectives. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) aims to reduce poverty in middle-income and creditworthy poorer countries by promoting sustainable development through loans, guarantees, risk management products, and analytical and advisory services. The IBRD and IDA provide loans at preferential rates to member countrie s, as well as grants to the poorest countries for developmental activities. The main activities of the IFC and MIGA include investment in the private sector and capitalizing insurance respectively (Wikipedia, 2007). In the recent years criticism of the World Bank and the IMF on various issues has been a cause of concern to the Bank. These criticism in general centre on the fear about the approaches adopted by the World Bank and the IMF in defining their policies. Especially the socioeconomic impact these policies have on the population of countries who benefit themselves of financial assistance from these two institutions. To be more specific it can be said