Folic Acid

Folic Acid is a B vitamin, specifically B9. It is an essential nutrient required by the body to create healthy new cells. While we hear about it mostly in regards to pregnancy, it is important to understand that the need for folic acid goes even beyond this. Folic acid is essential for the body to create red blood cells which in turn prevents anemia. It is also plays an important role in the metabolism of homocysteine, an amino acid. The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for all men and women 14 and older is 400 mcg.Men often don’t realize this as the benefits to pregnant women are more publicized, but any human being is in need of proper amounts of folic acid to insure the body is able to create new red blood cells to nourish the body with oxygen. The recommendation is to either get this amount by using a dietary supplement or eating foods fortified with folic acid. Folic acid is the synthetic version of folate and appears to be absorbed by the body (also known as bioavaila ble) much better than the folate occurring naturally in food.One mcg of food folate (also called 1 DFE – Dietary Folate Equivalent) is equal to 0. 6 mcg of synthetic folic acid. This means that to meet the RDA from food alone, a woman or man would have to eat food naturally containing about 667 mcg per day (400/0. 6 ) which might prove difficult. Folic Acid is especially important to pregnant women. Women that have sufficient Folic Acid in their diet before and after they conceive, have a 50-70% less chance of having a baby with a brain or spine defect such as spina bifida or anencephaly . 1) Because of this the recommended dietary allowance for pregnant women is higher than for a woman that is not pregnant. The RDA for pregnant women is 600 mcg as opposed to 400 mcg. Any woman of childbearing age should be taking between 400 mcg – 600 mcg per day as about half of all pregnancies are unplanned. If a woman does not start supplementation until she is pregnant she has alr eady lost some of the benefits, though starting it as soon as possible is still better than continuing with no supplementation. After her child is born she should continue supplementing as the RDA is 500 mcg during lactation.By consuming adequate folic acid while breastfeeding, a woman is providing her child with folic acid through her breast milk while still having enough to nourish her own body. There is continued study into other possible benefits of folic acid. One area of study is whether folic acid aids in prevention of heart disease. The studies have specifically looked at the amino acid homocysteine. Folic acid is known to break down homocysteine in the body. High levels of homocysteine in the blood are related to a higher risk of heart disease, but this hasn’t conclusively been shown to be a cause of heart disease.Because of the lack of evidence the American Heart Association (AHA) is not at this time considering hyperhomocysteinemia (too much homocystein) a major ri sk factor for cardiovascular disease. AHA’s recommendation is to try and get the recommended allowance from fruits, vegetables and fat free or low fat dairy products. They say that supplements should only be used when the diet does not supply enough. Evidence is clear for folic acid supplementation reducing homocystein levels but is still lacking on whether homocystein will lower risk for cardiovascular disease. 2) Another area of study is folic acid’s role in reducing risk of certain forms of cancer. Low levels of folic acid in the blood have been linked to colon cancer, but it is too early to say if folic acid supplements can reduce risk of colon cancer. Other cancers that have been studied in relation to folic acid are breast, ovarian, pancreatic, esophageal, and stomach. Some have shown benefits to supplementation, but the results were not reproduced in subsequent studies, so at this time there is no recommendation for supplementation of folic acid to reduce risk o f cancer.The American Cancer Society similar to the AHA recommendation is to eat a healthful diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables that contain folic acid along with other vitamins. Folic acid plays many important roles in the body. There is no doubting that it is essential. The reason that we need a constant stream of it is because it is not stored in large quantities in the body. It is water soluble. Fat soluble vitamins are stored for longer in our system. When ingested, the body uses what it can and the rest comes out in urine, in very little time the body will need more.We discussed how pregnant women get a proven benefit, and studies continue on its role in reducing risks of other diseases, but regardless of what additional benefits are found, it is clear that without folic acid in our bodies, we would not be alive. Folic acid aids in the production of red blood cells and the synthesis of DNA and RNA. Folate even has a role in the digestive system! It works with vitamins B 12 and C to help the body digest and synthesize proteins. Lastly, folic acid helps tissues grow and cells function, it is an integral part of the body working as it should.You might wonder what would happen if you stopped consuming folic acid in the form of supplements or foods. One consequence that is quite likely under these conditions is folate-deficiency anemia. This type of anemia occurs when red cell production slows and the body no longer has a sufficient amount. Without enough red blood cells, oxygen cannot travel around the body quick enough. In a severe form, where the body is not making enough red blood cells over a period of time, the heart can start to malfunction. To compensate for the lack of oxygen getting to the body, the heart will start to beat faster in an attempt to correct the situation.Over a period of time this can cause congestive heart failure and even death. Shorter term symptoms would be fatigue, headaches, and pallor. Recovering completely from anemia ca n take several months. (3) The good news however is that folic acid is readily available. Beef Liver is a good meat source of folic acid with about 185 micrograms in 3 ounces. While liver is a great source, there are luckily many others for those of us that are not liver fans. Other natural sources are black eyed peas and spinach. Both have about 100 mcg of folate per 1/2 cup.Other vegetable sources are great northern beans (90 mcg), asparagus (85 mcg in 4 spears), vegetarian baked beans (60 mcg in 1 cup), broccoli (50 mcg in 1/2 cup), romaine lettuce (40 mcg in 1/2 cup), and avocado (45 mcg in 1/2 cup). If you prefer fruits, some examples of fruit sources are oranges, cantaloupe, papayas and bananas. A serving of each of these provides between 25-30 mcg of folic acid. Besides folate occurring naturally in foods, some foods are fortified as a result of the folic acid fortification regulations published by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) Foods that are folic acid fortified incl ude cereal, pasta, and bread.Some cereals have 100% recommended daily value of 400 micrograms in 3/4 cup. One bowl of some cereals could provide your daily requirement of folic acid! Other cereals are fortified but to a lesser degree having about 100 mcg per 3/4 cup. Rice and breads are often fortified as well. One half cup of rice has 65 mcg of folic acid, while one slice of bread has 25 mcg. One of the latest news stories highlighted that folic acid was recently studied in its relation to academic success. Swedish researchers found that teens with higher levels of folic acid circulating did better academically than those with lower folic acid levels.The study noted that while there is no scientific evidence that taking folate supplements will be beneficial for teens, the results of this study show that there is a relationship. (4) Fruits and vegetables are certainly important in a diet, but in addition to healthful food, there seems to be clear evidence that a daily supplement or deliberate consumption of folic acid fortified foods will ensure you are reaching the RDA and allowing your body to function to its highest capacity. The Upper Limit recommendation is 1000 mcg, so there should be low concern if you, for example, have a day with high folate foods plus a supplement.Toxicity related to folic acid is very rare. While I always understood that folic acid was important to take as a supplement for pregnant women, I now understand much more deeply the importance it has for everyone. Before born, a baby is using folic acid to assist in development of the brain and spine. As a teen, there might be an academic benefit to having higher folate levels. Research has also pointed towards the elderly being less likely to have dementia and Alzheimer’s with proper folate intake.Throughout life, folate contributes to development and functioning of the brain and day in and day out folate helps your body function. ——————â⠂¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€œ 1. http://www. cdc. gov/ncbddd/folicacid/about. html 2 http://www. heart. org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/NutritionCenter/Homocysteine-Folic-Acid-and-Cardiovascular-Disease_UCM_305997_Article. jsp 3. http://www. mayoclinic. com/health/anemia/DS00321/DSECTION=complications 4. http://www. nlm. nih. gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_114147. html Sample MenuWhile I am now convinced that a folic acid supplement is the best way to ensure adequate consumption of folic acid, the below menu is assuming I am not regularly taking a folic acid supplement. the menu doesn’t include all food I would eat, just those that have folic acid. Breakfast: 1 cup Cherrios – 50% RDA = 200 mcg Lunch: 1/2 cup Success White Rice (fortified) – 20% RDA = 80 mcg 4 Asparagus spears – 22% RDA = 85 mcg Snack: 1 banana – 8% RDA = 30 mcg Dinner: 2oz Barilla medium shells – 30% RDA = 120 mcg Total: 515 mcg Another si mple choice is to have 1/3 cup of All Bran Buds for breakfast. This has 400 mcg! 100% of daily recommended value.

Characterization in and Then There Were None

Katherine Quimbayo Set 6 September 16, 2010 Characterization in And Than There Were None Agatha Christie uses characterization to show the evil side of human nature, in her mystery novel And Then There Were None, through three important characters, which include Vera Claythorne, Philip Lombard, and Justice Wargrave. Christie shows characterization through Vera by making her a Dynamic character. Vera changes through the course of the work by influence of the life threatening situation that is going on around her.Furthermore, Vera changes from a proper and polite woman, to a woman who will do anything to survive. â€Å"Vera Claythorne, tired by some recent strenuous term at school, thought to herself-‘Being a games mistress in a third-class school isn’t much of a catch†¦ If only I could get a job at some decent school. ’† This quote shows Vera’s hardworking and stringent personality, its shows that Vera is a proper and educated woman (4). â€Å"à ¢â‚¬ ¦ That is was Vera Claythorne. That she shot Lombard, took the revolver back to the house, toppled the marble block onto Blore and then-hanged herself. The following quotation explains Vera’s endurance toward the end of the novel (258). Both of theses quotes symbolize Vera’s dynamic nature changing from a polite woman to someone determined to survive. In Christie’s novel she also shows the evil side of human nature in Philip Lombard.Christie shows characterization in Lombard by making him a round character. In the novel Lombard is depicted as a chivalrous and aplomb character, although toward the end of the book his chivalrousness turns out to be one of his weaknesses and causes him a fatal end. Philip Lombard, that upon a date in February, 1932, you were guilty of the death of twenty-one men, members of an East African tribe. † This quote explains how Lombard is brought to Indian Island therefore showing more insight about his character than any of t he other guests. This quote also symbolizes that although Lombard is a courteous person he is also complex and contradictory in the fact that he is charming but is also capable of murder (43). â€Å"Automatically Vera pressed the trigger†¦.. Lombards leaping body stayed poised in mid-spring, then crashed heavily to the ground. This passage enlightens the fact that Lombards old-fashioned attitude and courtesy toward women, and not believing that women are capable of murder enables Vera to steal Lombards gun and kill him (240).Not only does Christie intertwine characterization in her novel to show the evil side of human nature in Vera and Lombard, but also in Justice Wargrave. Wargraves character in this novel is portrayed as a flat personality. In this novel Christie does not speak much about Wargrave, she only reveals one or two personality traits. In the corner of a first-class smoking carriage, Mr. Justice Wargrave, lately retired from the bench, puffed at a cigar and ran an interested eye through the political news in the Times. † This passage shows only a few characteristics about the identity of Wargrave, it shows that he is a wealthy man being able to ride in a first-class carriage, and it also shows that he is an ex officio (1). â€Å"Only Mr. Justice Wargrave and Miss Brent seemed comparatively unmoved. † This passage also enlightens the fact that Christie made Wargrave is a flat character.In this novel it does not show Wargrave to participate in many group discussion nor does it show his fear in this situation. In applying this characterization to Wargrave it allows the other characters to take no account of Wargrave to be responsible for the murders of the other guests (44). In conclusion, to show the evil side of human nature Christie uses different characterization for each of the characters, some of which include, Vera Claythorne, Philip Lombard, and Justice Wargrave.During the course of the novel all three characters start to s lightly show the evil side of human nature, whether it be for survival, or for revenge. In the case of Vera Claythorne, she shows a dynamic character in changing from a proper, well educated woman to someone who thrives for survival. Philip Lombard is portrayed as a round character, in the fact that Christie makes the reader aware of a variety of Lombards traits, one of which includes Lombards courtesy towards women, which in the end turns out to be a weakness and the cause of death.The last character that shows evil in human nature is Justice Wargrave, who is portrayed as a flat character. Christie only portrays the character to be a wealthy man, which allows this character to be quintessential to the plot and the story line in being the murderer. In epitome, these three characters show that even though people may seem pleasant and courteous, they will do anything to survive.

Biopsychosocial Model of Addiction Essay

The Biopsychosocial Model of Addiction is easily the model that appeals to me most. This model states that addiction is the result of multiple, interacting variables, the strength of which vary between individuals. When I was observing each of the models, I found myself agreeing with two or three of the different standpoints from which they were presented. Then I stumbled upon this model, clearly stating that there is not merely one certain model that explains addiction properly, but yet several different ones. As the Biopsychosocial model simply incorporates the other models into a single model, I am quite easily able to explain my point of view. See, I agree with each the Moral, Sociocultural and Biopsychosocial models of addiction. I do believe that addiction is the consequence of personal choice, but that external conditions such as culture, ethnicity, religion and environment also play a big role. Simply put, I believe that everyone is capable of making his or her own choices. From a personal experience of mine, I have been around drugs since the sixth grade. I’ve always been the person that kind of stuck with those who needed help, so that’s the crowd that I just happened to be a part of. And even though my own life at the time was very much in the pits, I never found a reason to join the crowd. It was always a matter of telling myself that it was not something that I wanted to be a part of. Even as I tried to share my knowledge with that group of people who were only doing it because, â€Å"they had a lot going on and just didn’t know how to handle it†, they were still making the conscious choice to choose wrongly. It doesn’t matter what background a person has or what addictions run in their family; if a person wants to avoid addiction then it’s up to them to never put themselves in the situation to get addicted, it’s simple. On the other hand, it’s easy to get caught up in what society finds a trend, especially in this generation; and unfortunately the bigger issue is that people use their own downfalls in life as an excuse to pick something up. Too often people let what their culture says or what the  world says decide who they are. Personally, I could care less what the world says. If I don’t want to bandwagon what’s â€Å"cool† or â€Å"socially acceptable† then I’m not going to do it, regardless of whatever backlash I’ll get. What bothers me most about people today is that everyone has an excuse for their wrongdoing. It’s, â€Å"well my dad was an alcoholic so that ‘s why I am† or well I grew up in Detroit where drugs were bad, so it’s just what I’m used to doing†. No, that’s crap. If a person doesn’t want to give in to addiction then don’t do it! So yes, it’s obvious to say that I definitely lean more towards the Moral Model of Addiction, but I am also partial to understanding the Sociocultural side of it as well. You may not be able to choose where you come from, but you can decide where you go from here. Addiction all starts as a choice, and the level of addiction may be influenced by a number of factors, but the pressing issue is what people allow to define them. It’s unfortunate today that more times then not, people are allowing any bump in the road be their reason to give in to such addictions.

Topic Analysis - European Financial Crises Essay

Topic Analysis - European Financial Crises - Essay Example The origin of the global financial turmoil was the collapse of the real estate bubble in the United States, mainly the sub-primes1 mortgage market, which provided access to housing finance to almost everyone even those without the necessary guarantees. The problem was further aggravated by the securitization2 of sub-primes leading a contagion in the financial system, which resulted from massive defaults on the original loans that had been securitized (Ferguson, 2012, p. 19). There was high mistrust among commercial banks in the financial systems, which led to freezing of the interbank market, severely affecting liquidity distribution and forcing institutions to bankruptcy, both because of reduced activity in the interbank market and as financial institutions continued to sell even the good quality assets in fear of the unknown, or as a consequence of increased uncertainty. In the period 2006-2007, there was increasing panic as news of bankruptcy of firms such as Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley in the USA and Dexia in Europe, continued to stream. Some of these firms were however bailed out by the governments of the USA and Europe. In 2008-2009, the financial crisis began to hit the global economy3, introducing the first recession since the times of World War II. In EU alone, GDP went down by about 4.1% while rate of unemployment4 increased by 3.9% between 2008 and 2010 (Manfred, Griesbach, and Jung, 2011, p. 292). These were firm indicators to justify that there was indeed a heating problem that needed quicker action to resolve to avoid dire consequences. This paper will attempt to explain the Euro zone financial crisis and particularly explore the hypothesis that the â€Å"European situation has the potential to become a financial â€Å"time bomb†, which could destroy the euro as a currency, send global financial markets into a tailspin and global recession†. In doing this, the paper will address the

Comparing texas Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Comparing texas - Research Paper Example Over the years the numbers have changed considerably in some categories whereas in others Texas seems to be doing considerably well. Take the category for ‘State Taxes’ for example. In 2009 Texas ranked as the 49th country whereas now it is occupies the 46th spot. Moving towards the education sector and state rankings we see Texas’s ‘high school graduate rate’ stands on the 41st spot among all states whereas in 2010 there is a decrease in this rate as Texas drops 2 ranks down and now occupies the 43rd number; showing that the high school graduate rate is dropped in the state or grown sufficiently in the other states. This fact surprised me considerably mostly because when you look at the category ‘Percent of Elementary/Secondary School Funding from State Revenue’, we see in 2009 Texas was on the 47th spot showing the low amount of funding being allocated to the education sector whereas there is a drastic improvement in this aspect as in 2 010 Texas now stands on the 37th spot; which would obviously relay the fact that more funds are being injected into the education sector and yet it is surprising that the high school graduate rate seems to have dropped. ... Obesity in children is an alarmingly increasing problem which is a growing challenge for all states Texas has done reasonably well in this category and I cannot help but feel a sense of pride and accomplishment at this feat. That being said ‘the percent of children living in poverty’ has gone up as Texas now ranks 4th which is 3 spots more than it did in 2009. Another area of concern is that of health care. Texas has consistently been ranked on top of the list of states with ‘percent of population uninsured.’ With very minor or no difference in their rank as far as health professionals per capita( Nurses, Physicians and registered nurses) are concerned. As far as the overall environment is concerned Texas seems to be doing considerably bad with no effective implementation of measures to improve the environment. This can be seen in they way Texas has ranked 1 in 2009 and 2011 as having the most amounts of ‘Air Pollution Emissions’, ‘Amount of Volatile Organic Compounds Released into Air’ and ‘Amount of Toxic Chemicals Released into Water’ The three major problems that can be identified by looking at the rankings for Texas over the years are those of: Healthcare, Environment and Education. In the healthcare sector, the category of ‘percent of population uninsured’ is a cause of great concern. In the education sector, the category of ‘high school graduate rate’ with Texas dropping from the 41st rank in 2009 to 43rd in 2010. As far as the environment is concerned, the numerous categories such as ‘air pollution emissions’, ‘amount of volatile organic compounds released into air’ and ‘amount of toxic chemicals released into water’ all seem to have Texas on the number

Tesla Motors (TSLA) case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Tesla Motors (TSLA) - Case Study Example However, it had an upper hand over the other machines owing to the fact that the car did not emit gaseous waste products to the atmosphere, as it relied solely on electricity for power up and performance (Gregersen, 2014). One major reason for the invention of the electric cars is that oil is a commodity, whose availability may be limited by the year 2020. Oil is slowly but drastically becoming a depleting source of renewable energy (El Deeb et al, 2014). As at today, Tesla Motors has grown to produce two models of these electric vehicles namely, The Tesla Roadster and Models S. There are plans however, that are underway to produce a third model, Model X by around 2015 (Ggrabianowski). In addition to these electric cars, Tesla has gone an extra mile of creating charging points at strategic locations especially in North America, Europe and Asia. In those areas, owners of such vehicles could charge these Tesla vehicles for free. Despite the fact that the company enjoys a great name for their innovations, economic analysts have on the contrary predicted that the company will contradictorily witness a decrease by 297.06% in total earnings this year. â€Å"Tesla motors design and sells high- performance; highly efficient electric sports cars which do not compromise the customers in any way. Tesla motor cars combine style, acceleration and handling with advanced technologies, which make them among the quickest and the most energy- efficient cars on the road† (El Deeb et al, 2014, pg 3). The management has close to twenty senior employees that run the whole company with Elon Musk as the CEO. He is an experienced CEO with strong managerial background, and he is believed to be recruiting only the best employees around into the firm. The sports cars manufacture takes place in California, where less than  ¼ of the company factory is used to produce just but a single model. Hence, the managing team boasts of enough space to allow for newer models of Tesla motors.

Word of God (The attributes and the perfections of God) Essay

Word of God (The attributes and the perfections of God) - Essay Example However certain Scriptures do make reference to physical features, this is called anthropomorphisms, and should not be taken literally (Swindoll p.180). In addition to God being spirit, he is described as "living and true God" (1 Thessalonians 1:19). God is life itself. Therefore, knowing God is life. He is also eternal. Isaiah referred to God as the "everlasting God" (Isaiah 40:28). God is not bound by space or time, He is endless; God has always existed and always will.Knowing God is eternal, it brings us peace to know the power of God, God manifests His power through one of His perfections known as omniscience, and this means 'God knows all'. God sees everything in present tense without effort. He knows the past and future as present (Swindoll p181). God is all powerful or omnipotent as has been rightly stated, "The voice of the LORD is powerful" (Psalms 29:4). The whole universe was created upon the spoken Word of God. One of the greatest displays of omnipotence is salvation (Rom ans 1:16). "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God."Understanding God's power in creation is important, but we must recognize that 'God is active in His creation, but is not to be identified with it' (Swindoll p.183). Failing to understand this distinction could lead to Pantheism. God is omnipresent, He is everywhere at once but not diffused throughout the universe as pantheism teaches. Another attribute that gives believers security is the fact that God never changes. Believers can always stand on the promises of God. God is completely self-existing, He is free and independent; there is nothing he needs that we might offer. God's attributes are impossible to list, therefore we know God is inscrutable; there will always remain aspects of God that are a mystery beyond our comprehension (Swindoll p.185). God is always faithful. This gives us peace to know. Man will disappoint us but God's faithfulness will never fail. In addition to God's faithfulness, He is truth; God can never break a promise or lie, this goes against who he is, 'truth'. God is a Holy God, because Holiness is who He is. Therefore, he is completely separate from all that is unholy. God has shown love for man by sending His son as the ultimate perfect sacrifice so we may be seen righteous before a Holy God. John declared, "Jesus Christ, the Righteous one" (1 John 2:1) without the blood of the Righteous one, man would be hopeless. God's faithfulness means that He is completely dependable and will never let us down. There is a promise in the Word of God that speaks of God's faithfulness (1 Corinthians 10:13). "And God is faithful; He will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." Many times when God wants to build our faith he has to break us down. This breaking down of oneself is how we continually understand that we must depend on Christ for all things. Mercy is another wonderful moral attribute of God. God's mercy is not achieved by human efforts,

Internet fame Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Internet fame - Essay Example Although I personally never experienced a breach of privacy or leakage of important information, I’ve known friends who had thus suffered. A friend of mine had the most embarrassing experience, as her pajama party photographs got leaked into the public domain. She posted the pictures in her Facebook profile, setting access to only those who are her friends. But perhaps as a result of someone hacking into her profile and downloading these pictures, they got out into the public domain of the Internet. A big fan of social networking sites like Facebook, my friend is yet to overcome the embarrassment caused by the leak. She is now very hesitant to post or share any sensitive information in these sites and is regretful that she trusted them in the past. It makes sense for her to exercise caution from now on, for these leaks could prove very costly. In this instance she only has to bear through minor social embarrassment. But there are leaks that could prove more damaging, as in hav ing one’s credit card details hacked or professional accounts becoming accessible to miscreants. If this were to happen, she could face severe monetary loss or a dent to her professional reputation. Hence, she has to take all precautions in the future to avoid these

Project Management - Scheduling, Resources, and Budgeting (U3DB) Essay

Project Management - Scheduling, Resources, and Budgeting (U3DB) - Essay Example For example, when individual activities are assigned relevant human, material or other resources, they are treated independently and concurrency of resource usage is not assumed. It is only when resources are placed alongside activities inside the schedule that their over or under utilization becomes evident. Scheduling alternatives present varying levels of resource usage and optimization. In this phase, over or under-allocated resources can be identified and their usage smoothed out using techniques such as resource levelling (Heldman, 2005, p. 271). Resource scheduling is also important in that it can determine whether the project can be completed within the specified end date in the schedule. The project manager may not have enough resources to finish tasks on the critical path in time despite optimization in allocation. Tradeoffs between costs and time of completing the project have to be taken using techniques such as crashing. Important budgetary and business decisions can be taken including hiring of additional sources, outsourcing or negotiating a reduction in the scope of the project (Richman, 2002, p. 117) . Multi-project resource scheduling requires project management capabilities at a different and a more complex dimension. Lead project managers typically take an enterprise level view of the project rather than at each individual project within it. Project control also takes a new dimension with individual project managers taking larger responsibility for their own domains and coordinating through effective communication with the core group managing the project (Barkley, 2006, p. 62). For example, if 5 aircrafts are being manufactured for a single airline simultaneously in a manufacturing facility, each aircraft unit would be a separate project together forming one larger multi-project for that order. Outsourcing can also take place in various forms. It can be inter-departmental

Symbolism in Days Of Heaven (1978) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Symbolism in Days Of Heaven (1978) - Essay Example The characters were enticed to do wrong in many symbolic acts that carried significant meaning. They were subsequently deprived of the Lord’s blessing and suffered tragedies. This movie was a love story, full of tragedies and disasters. The protagonist, Bill, and his two friends, Blackie and Steve were dragging away a safe they had stolen when a group of policemen stopped them. Steve was shot by a policeman and died in Bill’s arms. It was a parody of a story from Genesis 4:8; ‘Now Cain said to his brother Abel, â€Å"Lets go out to the field.† And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.’ (Zondervan 8). Only in Days Of Heaven, Bill didn’t directly kill Steve but maybe their crime of theft indirectly killed him. Bill broke a commandment and became a fugitive from the law. When Abby got married to Chuck Shepard, Chuck paid Bill more wages than he deserved although he suspected that Bill wasn’t Abby†™s brother but her boyfriend. Chuck gave extra money to Bill in a gesture that was symbolic of a peace offering to compensate Bill for giving up Abby and letting him (Chuck) have her as his wife. Bill recognized this as a symbolic act of reconciliation and he refused to accept it because of his pride. When Benson voiced his suspicions to Chuck about the validity of Bill and Abby’s sibling relationship, Chuck would rather not hear although he indicated he saw through the masquerade. Chuck’s refusal to hear or investigate the truth is symbolic. He was blinded by love for Abby.

Systems that Transformed How the Organization Operates Essay Example for Free

Systems that Transformed How the Organization Operates Essay Abstract This paper details how UPS was able to stay relevant in the shipping and distribution world by updating old practices with new and proven technology. By spending some of their profits on a newer and more efficient way of doing things, UPS was able to stay ahead of their competition while receiving great reviews and profits from their customers. Specifics of who was impacted, how they were impacted, and what results occurred have been discussed in this paper. Mainly the workers, the business leaders, and the consumers have been affected by this change. When we look back at certain advancements that companies have made, what seems to be the common factor? Technology. Anytime a company rolls out new technology it is not because they want to waste their hard earned profits on something that might make their business business more competitive or increase their profit margin. They spend the money on the new technology because they know they will be more competitive and make higher profits than had they not. In any type of industry we can see examples of this being true, from the automotive, to the postal, and even the medical industry, the use of new technology has mostly lead to benefits that make companies stand out from the rest. One of the companies that has profited the most from new technology or the advancement of technology is UPS. UPS is known in the world as one of the largest parcel and freight delivery companies. Their main competition comes from companies like FedEx, DHL, and USPS (United States Postal Service. The  big wigs as UPS came together because they noticed customer ratings and efficiency rates were down and steadily decreasing year after year. After examining certain sectors of their business, they realized where the mistake was being made. Customer ratings were declining because of packages that were shipped to the wrong address, delivered at the wrong house, or lost in the may lay at UPS’s packaging warehouses and distribution centers all over the world. The way the company decided to rectify this problem was by purchasing and utilizing automated package sorters. They called it package flow technology and basically what it involves is the automatic and rapid sorting of packages to guarantee efficient and accurate shipments. The tradition of relying on human sorters to memorize hundreds of streets and back roads in particular communities leads to a small share of parcels that either are loaded on the wrong truck or misplaced among other customers packages, said Dan McMackin, a UPS spokesman in Atlanta. While the company still relies on people to load customers packages, UPS is investing heavily in technology to make the labor-intensive work more efficient. (Bennett, 2005) This change from people to machine did not sit well with employees who became laid off or switched to a different department, but after seeing the company rebound it was recognized as being the right choice and solution to their problem. The problem UPS did not recognize sooner was humans make mistakes and unfortunately too many were made and the company was placed in the public spotlight which caused this solution to come about. While it is true that often time’s companies choose new technology or manual labor, the results heavi ly favor the new technology. Nobody wants people to be laid off or lose their jobs to a machine, but in this day and age companies have to spend the big dollars in order to remain relevant and successful in today’s economy. The cost for this technology for UPS was not cheap by any means, in fact the upgrade from manual labor to automated machines cost an estimated six hundred million dollars. (Bennett, 2005) Besides the expense for rolling out this new system to all its distribution warehouses, UPS has the potential to still come out on top of this deal. When they devoted themselves to this newer way of doing things the results were less training time for employees and the ability to shift employees into areas that were lacking personnel or that demanded more personnel. The savings though in the year after this upgrade might even be greater than the initial cost and  put the company further ahead. UPS expects to gain immensely from the new system. Between now and 2007, when the system is fully installed , the delivery company expects to save $500 million to $600 million through a combination of less miles driven, less fuel consumption and less delivery miscues (Bennett, 2005) The people who were greatly affected by this change in procedure were the UPS drivers. Instead of going through their trucks looking for packages, the packages are loaded into specific areas of the truck and that information is transferred to the handheld scan tools the drivers use. The drivers seem impressed with the new technology and somewhat relieved that they can do their job no without the added stress of locating mislabeled or lost packages buried in their trucks. The future for this technology is not well known because it has seemed to rectify and solve all the problems that existed before. After all machines can do one thing that humans cannot, and that is do what it is programmed and instructed to do. The fact that a company is willing to spend this kind of money to hone their craft should speak volumes. At the beginning people were pessimistic but as the numbers started turning around and customer ratings increase, the company knew they made a wise choice. This was a turni ng point for UPS and the only thing they became concerned about was why they did not make the switch earlier. References Bennett, D. (2005). Package-flow technology delivers results for UPS. Crains Cleveland Business, 26(29), 8. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/198625167?accountid=458

Ethnics Unit 3 DB Essay Example for Free

Ethnics Unit 3 DB Essay In the business and corporate world of the contemporary society, this is a dominant principle currently being applied and observed by the group of the employers as well as the employees. This principle is regarding the current biological and physiological condition of a certain employee and connection with the personal aspect of drug use. This principle is mainly that drug use is and should be regarded as personal information thus it is rightfully private in nature and that employers should only access it on a need-to-know basis or only in exceptionally cases.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The said statement is indeed logical and that it should be dominantly applied and observed in the corporate world especially the employer’s side. However, the said statement also expressively given also rights for he employers to know on exceptional cases.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Employers indeed are notably to be on the perspective of pursuing the interest of the business and the protection of its safety and stability. On this reason, the must require full comprehension regarding the background and condition of their employees as their need-to-know basis. However, drug use information should be held rightfully private if the said information has no connection and/or present or future influence on the condition of the employee and its ability. Other cases such as personal matters pertaining to the employee’s physical and medical condition should hold the drug use information of the said personnel to be accessible for the employers. In this aspect, if indeed the safety and medical condition of the employee is greatly affected by the drug use information of the employee and that the working condition and ability of the said individual is affected by the his or her history of drug use, then the employer should have the right to know the said information as included in the exceptional cases entailed in the previous statement. In addition, if the drug use information is generally therapeutical and medical in nature, then the information should be publicly disclosed to the employers for safety purposes. Bibliography    Humber, James M. (1992). Privacy in the Corporation. Business Ethics. Prometheus Books, New York. Pages 250-60.

Implementation Of Harm Reduction Strategies Criminology Essay

Implementation Of Harm Reduction Strategies Criminology Essay The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) identifies five categories for illicit drugs: narcotics, stimulants, depressants (sedatives), hallucinogens, and cannabis. These categories include many drugs legally produced and prescribed by doctors as well as those illegally produced and sold outside of medical channels (CIA World Fact Book, 2012). In the United Kingdom, the term illicit drugs is used to describe those drugs that are controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Globally, the illicit drugs trade (also referred to as the illegal drugs trade or drug trafficking) is one of the largest businesses and some 210 million people use illicit drugs each year, and almost 200,000 deaths can be attributed as a direct result of these drugs (UNODC, 2011). Illicit drugs are a substantial threat to the public good, not only because they adversely affect public health, but also because they can generate crime, disorder, family breakdown, and community decay (Strang et al., 2012). } Proportion of 16 to 59 year olds reporting use of any drug by age group and sex in the last year, 2010/11 BCS CHAPTER 2 EPIDEMIOLOGY AND REIVEW OF THE LITERATURE 2.1 Epidemiology of illicit drug use Drug misuse is a global social problem and, along with poverty and infectious disease, is one of the most challenging issues for personal and community health in many parts of the world (Donmall, 2001).The task of drug abuse epidemiology is to better understand patterns and trends in drug use, such as the characteristics of persons abusing drugs and how this may change over time. Drug abuse epidemiology is one of the more challenging areas of epidemiology. One of the basic reasons for this is the nature of substance use and the circumstances around it- the illegal nature of most drug abuse means that it remains hidden from view to some extent, and thus difficult to quantify (Donmall, 2001, WHO, 2000). Since the 1980s there have been major changes in trends and patterns of drug use including: global increases in the production and use of drugs; new forms of old drugs (eg. smokeable crack cocaine); changes in way drugs are taken (eg. transitions from opium smoking to heroin injection); and the introduction and proliferation of new drugs (eg. MDMA ecstasy and other amphetamine-type stimulants)(WHO, 2000). Drug use behaviours range from occasional, sporadic or experimental use, through regular low risk recreational use, to high risk, daily dependence that is often associated with a variety of financial, health and social problems (Donmall, 2001). However not all drug use is equally harmful, just as not all drugs have the same negative effects. This creates another challenge for drug abuse epidemiology- not all behaviours or substances pose the same risk. However, it has been recognised that drug injection is of specific importance as it has become a major transmission route for HIV (WHO, 2000). 2.2 Illicit drugs In the United Kingdom, the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, with amendments, is the main law regulating drug control UK. It divides controlled substances into 3 Classes (A, B, C) based on harm, with Class A being the most harmful. An overview of the main drugs are found in table 1, along with their classification. Table 1: Drug classification Source: Home Office 2011 The detailed information on the different drugs found below is derived from the following sources: World Health Organisations Guide to Drug Abuse Epidemiology (2000), DrugScope (2012) and the Talk to Frank Home Office initiative (2012) to provide accurate and reliable information on drugs for young people (WHO, 2000, DrugScope, 2012, FRANK, 2012). Cocaine Cocaine and its derivative crack cocaine provide an example of both the globalization of substance use and the cyclical nature of drug epidemics. Traditionally coca leaves have been chewed by people in the Andean countries of South America for thousands of years. The main alkaloid of the coca leave, cocaine, was isolated relatively recently in about 1860. Cocaine was then used in patent medicines, beverages and tonics in developed countries in Europe, North America and in Australia until the early 1900s. Laws restricting the availability of cocaine saw a decrease in consumption in these countries until the 1960s. From that time cocaine use became popular among certain groups of young people in some developed countries and in the producer countries of South America. Cocaine became widely available in North America in the 1970s and Europe in the 1980s (WHO, 2000). Ecstasy Ecstasy is an illegally manufactured drug that usually comes in tablet or capsule form. The chemical name of pure ecstasy is 3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) (DrugScope, 2012). Ecstasy is a stimulant drug which also has mild hallucinogenic effects. It has been described as being like a mix of amphetamine and a weak form of LSD. The effects of taking a moderate dose start after 20-60 minutes (longer if on a full stomach) and can last for up to several hours. Ecstasy was first made by two German chemists in 1912 and patented in 1914, in case it turned out to be a useful drug. It didnt. During the 1950s, the American military experimented with a whole range of drugs, including ecstasy, for use in chemical warfare, to extract information from prisoners and to immobilise armies. In the 1960s, the drug was rediscovered by an American research chemist Alexander Shulgin who experimented with it on himself (DrugScope, 2012). LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is an hallucinogenic drug that is derived originally from ergot, a fungus found growing wild on rye and other grasses. It is a white powder, but as a street drug, it is a liquid either on its own or absorbed into paper sheets. The sheets are cut into tiny squares like postage stamps or transfers and often have pictures or designs on. LSD is also sometimes dropped on to sugar cubes or formed into tablets or small capsules (DrugScope, 2012). Magic Mushrooms Psilocin-based magic mushrooms (PBMMs) in prepared forms (e.g. dried or extracted) have been illegal in the UK since the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act. But fresh or unprepared PBMMs were legal to possess and traffic until the 2005 Drugs Act, UK (Riley, 2010). Meth Methamphetamine (crystal meth) is a central nervous system stimulant with a high potential for misuse and dependence. A synthetic drug, it is closely related chemically to amphetamine (speed) but produces greater effects on the central nervous system. Cannabis Cannabis is a Class B drug derived from the cannabis plant, a bushy plant found wild in most parts of the world and easily cultivated in Britain. There are three varieties of the plant, Cannabis sativa, indica and ruderalis. In Western countries it is generally used as a relaxant and mild intoxicant. In the UK, cannabis is generally smoked with tobacco in a joint or spliff, but can also be smoked in a pipe, brewed into a drink or cooked into food (DrugScope, 2012). Poppers Poppers are usually found in the form of a liquid chemical (a nitrite) sold in a small bottle. Commonly, the chemical is alkyl nitrite. Other nitrites like amyl nitrite (and butyl nitrite and isobutyl nitrite) have also used been used. Nitrites dilate the blood vessels and allow more blood to get to the heart ((FRANK, 2012). Heroin Heroin use has become increasingly common in North-America and Europe since the 1960s. Increases in heroin use are often cyclical in these countries. In the United Kingdom, for example, there was a well reported heroin epidemic in the mid-1980s, following a period in the 1970s when the heroin using population was generally stable and ageing (Power, 1994). The UK epidemic in the 1980s was in part the result of the availability of cheap, high purity heroin from South-west Asia notably Pakistan. This form of heroin could be smoked and became attractive to young non-injecting users (Pearson, 1987).(WHO, 2000) Since heroin is commonly used by injecting, the health risks including that of HIV and hepatitis transmission are substantial. A number of drugs used commonly for their therapeutic efficacy in health care are also being abused all over the world. These include barbiturates, benzodiazepines, other sedatives and some stimulant drugs .The epidemiology of this use is difficult to study, because of difficulties in distinguishing medical and non-medical use (WHO, 2000). 2.3 Data on Drug users United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, primary sources of information about prevalence of illegal drugs among the adult population are derived from representative household surveys. In England and Wales, the British Crime Survey (BCS) has been a continuous survey since 2002 (EMCDDA, 2012). The BCS collects a rich set of information on the personal, household, area characteristics and lifestyle factors of respondents that can be used to explore differences in drug use. This information, together with other information from representative surveys feeds into the latest report on the statistics of drug misuse in England and Wales (NHS Information Centre, 2011). The following data is extracted from the 2011 report Statistics on Drug Misuse: England published by the NHS Information Centre and the 2011 Home Office report on Drug misuse in England and Wales (Home Office, 2011, NHS Information Centre, 2011). According to this report, the prevalence of ever having taken illicit drugs in England and Wales has increased from 30.5% in 1996 to 36.3% in 2010/11. As can be seen in figure 1 in 2010/2011, 12 per cent of men, versus 5.7 per cent of women reported using any type of drug in the last year. There is a clear downward trend in any drug use in the past year as age increases for all adults. Specifically for Class A drugs, there is a slight increase in use for the 20-24 age group, after which use decreases with age as well. Figure 1: Proportion of adults reporting use of the most prevalent drugs in the last year, by age, 2010/11 BCSBCR home office drugs.PNG Source: Home Office 2011 A total of 8.8 per cent of adults had used one or more illicit drug within the last year (figure 1), compared with 8.6 per cent in 2009/10, which indicates a slight increase in any drug use for adults in the past year. However, as can be seen in figure 2, there has been a general downward trend in the use of any drug in the past decade, whereas there has been little change in the percentage of any Class A drugs used by adults in this same time period. Figure 2: Proportion of 16 to 59 year olds reporting use of any illicit drug or any Class A drug in the last year, 1996 to 2010/11 BCS Source: Home Office 2011 drugs 2.PNG The prevalence of young adults (16-24 years) ever having taken drugs has decreased from 48.6 per cent in 1996 to 40.1 per cent in 2010/11. Findings from the 2009/10 BCS suggest that falls in illicit drug use have occurred in the youngest age groups (16-29 year olds), where use is highest. For example, around one in three (31.6%) of 16-19 year olds used an illicit drug in the last year in 1996 compared with around one in five (22.3%) in 2009/10. Figure 3: Proportion of adults reporting use of the most prevalent drugs in the last year, by age, 2010/11 BCS As can be seen in figure 3, in 2010/11 cannabis is the type of drug most likely to be used by adults (6.8%) followed by powder cocaine (2.1%), which is consistent with findings from previous years. Similarly, for young adults (16-24 years) cannabis is the most prevalent drug followed by powder cocaine and ecstasy. The 2010/11 BCS reported that single adults had higher levels of any (18.1%) or Class A (6.5%) drug use in comparison with all other marital groups (for example, 2.7% and 0.6% were the equivalent figures for married adults). In addition, adults from a White ethnic group had higher levels of any (9.4%) or Class A (3.2%) drug use than those from a non-White background (that is, ethnic groups other than White; 5.1%, any drug use; 1.0% Class A). Adults living in a household in the lowest income group ( £10,000 or less) had the highest levels of any drug use (12.9%) compared with all other income groups (e.g. 7.7% of adults living in a household with an income of  £50,000). In addition, a clear urban-rural disparity exists, with 9.3 per cent of adults in urban areas had taken any illicit drug in the last year compared with 7.0 per cent of those in rural areas. This was the case for both Class A drug use as well as any other drug use among adults (Home Office, 2011). Similar to the data collected by the British Crime Survey , the NHS also collects data on smoking, drinking and drug use among secondary school pupils aged 11 to 15(NHS, 2011). Overall, this report shows that drug use has declined since 2001. In 2010, 18 per cent of pupils said they had ever dused drugs, 12 per cent had taken any drugs in the last year and 7 per cent had taken drugs in the last month (compared to 29 %, 20 % and 12% respectively in 2001). This decreasing trend can be seen in figure 4. Girls were less likely than boys to have taken drugs in the last year (odds ratio= 0.74), the odds of having taken drugs in the last year also increased with age (odds ratio=1.13 for each additional year) (NHS, 2011). In terms of ethnicity, pupils of Asian ethnicity were more likely to have taken drugs in the last year than white pupils (odds ratio= 1.13). As is not unexpected, both smoking and drinking alcohol were associated with drug use in the last year. When looking at the type of drugs used, cannabis is the most prevalent- 8.2 per cent of pupils reported taking it in the last year. This compares with 8.9 per cent in 2009 and continues the decline seen since 2001. As can be seen in figure 5, 3.8 per cent of pupils reported sniffing collative substances such as glue, gas, aerosols etc, which shows a decrease from 5.5 per cent in 2009. Sniffing poppers has fallen from a high in 2007 to 1.5 per cent in 2010 (NHS, 2011). Figure 4 Source: NHS 2011 Figure 5 Source: NHS 2011 A team of researchers recently found higher than expected rates of HIV and hepatitis C infection in a study in London. They suggested that this was due to high risk injecting practices, associated with newer injectors and the injection of crack (Judd et al. 2005).4 They found higher rates of hepatitis C in their sample than in many other cities internationally (Hope et al. 2001). 2.4 Country comparison Compared to Scotland, data from 2010/11 show that illicit drug use ever among 16-59 year olds was lower in Scotland (33.5%) than in England and Wales (36.4%). Whereas the percentage taking any illicit drug in Scotland in the last year (9.8%) or last month (5.8%) was higher than across England and Wales (8.6% in the last year and 5.0% in the last month.) Another barrier to the accuracy of survey estimates is that household and school surveys are likely to miss those people who are amongst the heaviest users of illicit drugs: the homeless, prisoners and school truants. Dependent users of cocaine and heroin may also be of unstable residence, and less likely to be found in their residence at a given time (reuter). 2.3 What is harm reduction Three separate facets of physical harm can be identifi ed. First, acute physical harm-ie, the immediate eff ects (eg, respiratory depression with opioids, acute cardiac crises with cocaine, and fatal poisonings). Second, chronic physical harm-ie, the health consequences of repeated use (eg, psychosis with stimulants, possible lung disease with cannabis). Finally, there are specifi c problems associated with intravenous drug use.(Nutt et al., 2007) Harm reduction refers to policies and programmes that aim to reduce the harms associated with the use of drugs (Power, 1994). One widely-cited conception of harm reduction distinguishes harm at different levels individual, community and societal and of different types health, social and economic (Donmall, 2001). These distinctions give a good indication of the breadth of focus and concern within harm reduction. As such, harm reduction should not be considered as a service type, or something delivered within a single tier, but should be subject to a whole system approach to reduce or eliminate the harms associated with drug use (NHS, 2009/10). Health related harm resulting from the use and abuse of drugs vary. This is dependent on the type of substance being used, its frequency, its dosage and circumstances of use (Department of Health and National Treatment Agency, 2011b, Department of Health and National Treatment Agency, 2011a). There is a wide-ranging group of health related harms associated with high levels of illicit drug use and misuse. These include, but are not limited to drug dependence (psychological and physical); withdrawal syndromes; tolerance; substance related deaths which can result from poisoning/overdose, violent attacks, and suicides; as well as the development of other medical illnesses such as HIV/AIDS or hepatitis (AGENCY, 2007, Equal Partners: Health and Human Rights, 2007). At the community level, drug use can cause nuisance as a result of people discarding drug related litter such as used needles and syringes (Power, 1994). High levels of drug use and drug dealing can contribute more generally to problems in neighbourhoods and communities with little cultural capital and high levels of poverty, and considerable affects crime levels (Power, 1994).The economic burden of health harms related to drug use and misuse is alarming with the National Health Service (NHS) spending close to  £500 million annually on drug misuse associated harms and drug related crime costing the country an estimated  £13.32 billion (Department of Health and National Treatment Agency, 2007). Recent trends among drug users, particularly injecting drug users (IDU), suggest that drug-related harms have increased in recent years. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) report, Shooting Up: Infections among injecting drug users in the United Kingdom 2006, an update: October 2007 (Pearson, 1987) describes the high levels (48%) of sharing injecting equipment amongst current injecting drug users, with mixing containers such as spoons being the most commonly shared items (NHS, 2011). 2.4 What is health related harm Some of the main concerns about health related harm and drug use related to blood borne viruses, such as hepatitis and HIV. Hepatitis C is the most significant infection affecting injecting drug users (IDUs) with 41% of IDUs having been infected. There is marked regional variation with a prevalence of 22% in the North East to a prevalence of 57% and 60% in London and the North West regions respectively. Alcohol use and misuse is the single biggest contributory factor to those with hepatitis C infection developing fatal liver disease (NHS, 2011, Pearson, 1987). In the UK, hepatitis B is usually acquired in adulthood, with sexual activity or injecting drug use being the most commonly reported routes of infection. Infection with the hepatitis B virus typically causes an acute infection, with a small number of those infected going on to develop chronic disease. Infection with hepatitis B is preventable using a safe and effective vaccine, but continues to cause serious ill health in IDUs and their communities. In 2005, the percentage of IDUs with evidence of past or current hepatitis B infection was 19% (613 of 3,175), which is similar to rates since 1995. There is substantial variation between regions, with North West having the highest rates of 31% (221 of 777), and the lowest in the Yorkshire and the Humber region at 5.5% (14 of 253) (NHS, 2011, Pearson, 1987). HIV infection among drug users remains relatively uncommon in the United Kingdom but there is some evidence of both increasing prevalence and transmission. The prevalence of HIV infection in current IDUs in England and Wales in 2005 was 2.1%, the highest prevalence ever seen. In London the prevalence in current IDUs was 4.3%, which is similar to recent years, but elsewhere in England and Wales the prevalence in current injectors was 1.6% which is more than double the prevalence in 2004 (Pearson, 1987, NHS, 2011). In addition to the infectious diseases mentioned above, site infections are also considered health related harm. There are continuing problems with infections associated with injecting including tetanus and wound botulism. These can result from poor skin hygiene, environmental conditions, and/or poor injecting practice (NHS, 2011, Pearson, 1987). 2.5 Role of community pharmacy and needle exchange Open access drug services, such as needle exchange, can provide a crucial interface with drug users who are not currently engaged in structured drug treatment and who are often, by definition, at greater risk of drug-related harm (NHS, 2009/10). For this reason, this aspect of drug-related harm reduction is highlighted here. In recent years, there has been an increased awareness of the rising levels of hepatitis (B and C), thus increasing the recognition of the need for better distribution of clean injecting equipment (Matheson et al., 2007). The model of delivery for needle exchange (specialist centre based, detached, outreach or pharmacy-based) will vary according to locally defined need (NHS, 2009/10). Community pharmacists play an important role in the UK in the provision of harm reduction services and in the treatment of drug misusers. They distribute clean needles through exchange or sale and dispense substitute drugs (primarily methadone) for maintenance and detoxification, often supervising the self-administration in the pharmacy to ensure it is taken by the intended person (Matheson et al., 2007). Participation in needle exchange at pharmacy level in Scotland has increased overall but more so in some NHS areas than others. It is still relatively low having only increased from 9.7 to 12.5% compared with England where 19% of pharmacies provide this service (Matheson et al., 2007, Sheridan J, 1996) As discussed above, needle exchange and open access services offer an opportunity not only to provide access to safer injecting materials but also to engage with service users who are not in contact with more structured services. They provide health promotion advice, information and materials, brief interventions, healthcare checks, and referral on to other specialist services (NHS, 2009/10). Increasing the number of pharmacy schemes is likely to offer the best opportunity for the rapid expansion of distribution sites, especially for out of hours cover, supported by robust local co-ordination and monitoring of needle and syringe exchange programmes (NHS, 2009/10). Closely connected to such needle exchange programmes are community-based outreach programmes, with which they are sometimes linked. Without necessarily distributing needles and syringes, these aim to obtain face-to-face contact with IDUs, provide literature about HIV risk reduction, distribute condoms and bleach for disinfection of needles and syringes (especially where needle exchange programmes are not operating), promote teaching and modelling of HIV risk reduction by network leaders, referral to services, improve access to risk assessment and HIV testing, provide counselling and support community organising (Hunt, 2010). It has been shown that such community-based responses can be an effective component of the overall drug response (Hunt, 2010). 2.6 Methadone and other replacement therapies Methadone maintenance treatment is the most researched treatment currently available for people who are dependent on opioids. Its use is supported by an evidence-base developed over almost 40 years and from across many different countries. It retains patients in treatment for longer than any alternative, non-replacement therapy, and has a superior effect on the reduction of heroin use and crime associated with opioid dependence (Power, 1994). 2.7 Historical perspective and the policy development The first controls of drug possession were introduced in the First World War, and in the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1920 (Stimson, 2010). At this time, prescribing heroin and morphine was considered legitimate medical treatment for people who would otherwise be unable to withdraw- a very similar concept to the harm reduction strategy known today- and thus helping the patient lead a useful and fairly normal life. The harm reduction approach to drug use first developed among Dutch heroin users in the 1970s. The original Junkiebond (users union) of Rotterdam spread fast into a national federation which successfully negotiated substantial decriminalization, the prescription of methadone, and the provision of clean needles and syringes. The new approach rapidly spread through Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the UK, France, and other northern European countries (Des Jarlais, 1993, Van Solinge, 1999, Gowan et al., 2012). CHAPTER 4 POLICY ANALYSIS 4.1 Drug Policy Despite the long-standing political prominence of the problem, relatively coherent strategies and substantial investments, the United Kingdom has the highest level of dependent drug use and among the highest levels of recreational drug use in Europe (Reuter, 2007). There are vast arrays of different policies and programmes working towards solving problems related to drug use and drug related harm at all levels, and they vary considerably in their effectiveness. In this chapter, policies in the United Kingdom in general and England in particular will be considered. The United Kingdom consists of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, within which England accounts for 85% of the UK population (Office for National Statistics, 2012). A number of powers have been devolved from the UK Parliament to Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, but each has different levels of devolved responsibilities. The United Kingdom Government is responsible for setting the overall strategy and for its delivery in the devolved administrations only in matters where it has reserved power (Department of Health, 2011). In the United Kingdom, illicit drug policy and attitude towards harm reduction strategies has shifted with government changes. Between 1987 and 1997, there was a public health approach. The aim was to help problem drug users to lead healthier lives, and to limit the damage they might cause to themselves or others (Stimson, 2000). Harm reduction developed in a context of a healthy policy although there were hitches in getting it accepted, for the most part it was well integrated into an amenable existing framework (Stimson, 2000). In 2002 the Liberal Democrats launched new drug policy in which it was proposed that imprisonment should no longer be a punishment option and cannabis should be legalised. The Lib Dem policies were evidence-based, rejecting artificial distinctions between the harm caused by legal and illegal drugs, and rejecting enforcement and prison as primary policy tools based on evidence of ineffectiveness. Unsuccessful in promoting their policies in 2002, in 2011, experts backed calls to be made at the Liberal Democrats conference for the decriminalisation of all drugs, saying it would not lead to a surge in drug use (Travis, 2011). This call came not long after the launch of a new drug strategy, launched in December 2010, replacing that of the previous Government. The 2010 strategy sets out a fundamentally different approach to preventing drug use in communities, and in supporting recovery from drug and alcohol dependence. Some of the main aspects include the responsibility it puts on the indi vidual to seek help and overcome dependency as well as providing a more holistic approach, by addressing other issues in addition to treatment to support people dependent on drugs or alcohol, such as offending, employment and housing. The 2010 strategy aims to reduce demand and takes an uncompromising approach to crack down on those involved in the drug supply both at home and abroad. With the devolution of power, it puts accountability in the hands of local communities to tackle drugs and the harms they cause. The coverage of the new strategy is as follows: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ health, education, housing and social care confined to England à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ policing and the criminal justice system England and Wales à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ the work of the Department for Work and Pensions England, Wales and Scotland (Home Office, 2012) The Scottish Government and Welsh Governments national drug strategies were published in 2008 and all three strategies aim to make further progress on reducing harm and each focuses on recovery (Department of Health, 2011). The changes in the Governments drug policies have not gone without remark. In response to the change in Government strategy, the recently published document Charting New Waters from the UK Drug Policy Commission examined potential threats to drug services. The radical shift from centralised oversight toward local control of commissioning services, raised concerns and questions about whether the changes will deliver the outcomes that people need or help control public expenditure. The report concludes that the new policy is a major social experiment, the outcomes of which are uncertain (OHara, 2012). Research by the UK Drug Policy commission has shown that in addition to the reforms to police, justice, health and local council services in England, these systemic changes together with the budget cuts risk reducing the ability of local areas to respond effectively to problems caused by illicit drug use (Beck 2012). 4.2 UK policy approach As is the case in most European countries, drug-related deaths, infectious diseases, co-morbidity and other health consequences are key policy issues within the United Kingdoms drug strategies (EMCDDA, 2012). Interventions include information campaigns on the risks associated with drug use for different target groups, as well as information on safer injecting and safer sex practices, needle exchange schemes, infection counselling, support and testing, and vaccinations against hepatitis B. In most parts of the United Kingdom, particularly in England, there is a four-tier system of treatment for drug abuse. Tier 1 refers to generic interventions such as information and advice, screening and referral to more specialist services. Tier 2 refers to open-access interventions, such as drop-in services providing advice, information and some harm reduction services such as syringe exchange. Tier 3 services are specialist community services and include prescribing services, structured day programmes and structured psychosocial interventions, such as counselling and therapy and community-based detoxification. Tier 4 services are inpatient services, including detoxification and residential rehabilitation. The majority of structured treatment is delivered at Tier 3, predominantly through community-based specialist drug treatment services (EMCDDA, 2012). 4.3 Drugs and the law The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, with amendments, is the main law regulating drug control in the UK. Drug use per se is not an offence under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971: it is the possession of the drug which constitutes an offence (EMCDDA, 2012). The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 divides controlled substances into 3 Classes (A, B, C) based on harm, with Class A being the most harmful. The classification of a drug has several consequences, specifically in determining the legal penalties for importation, supply, and possession, as well as the degree of police effort targeted at restricting its use (Nutt et al., 2007). The actual classifi

Womanhood in The Eve of St. Agnes and La Belle Dame Sans Merci and Mari

Womanhood in The Eve of St. Agnes and La Belle Dame Sans Merci and Mariana by Keats In the two poems "Mariana'' and "La Belle Dame Sans Merci'' and the extract from ''The Eve of Saint Agnes'' the poets portray three diverse perceptions of women. The reader distinguishes a woman as a temptress, a woman whom is vulnerable and is dependent on man, and a woman who is nubile and is innocently seductive. "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" is a ballad, written in 1819. In this ballad, the femme fatale deceives the Wretched Wright she meets. He falls in love with the Belle Dame instantly and is convinced that she too is in love with him; "She look'd at me as she did love". The Tempter is "beautiful, a faery's child"; the Belle Dame looks magnificent on the outer surface however beauty is only skin deep as there is an inner wickedness about her. Her "eyes were wild" and she enchants the Wretched Wright with "faery's song's". 'Faery's' were thought to be from 'another place'. Her love was weird but wonderful to the Wretched Wright, "And sure in language true she said, I love thee true." The Belle Dame is conveyed, as a temptress who knowingly destroys men's hearts, even from reading the title the reader knows this. The title is translated to mean 'A Beautiful Lady Without Merci'; this shows us that she is dangerous to men. "I saw pale kings, and princes too", the Belle Dame had intentionally starved more men before the Wretched Wright form love. This contrasts with "The Eve of St. Agnes" where the reader observes another type of temptress, Madeline, in the poem 'Mariana'. Madeline is unknowingly seductive to the weak Porphyro. Porphyro even sings to her, "La belle dame sans merci: Close to her ear" as ... ...ness by Keats, "Alone and palely loitering", we too connect this image with gloomy, suffering love. As if he is colourless like the "Pale warriors, death-pale were they all." Love had taken away all their cheerful colours along with leaving them weak and defenceless. In conclusion through these poems the reader explores the limitations of society and the influence of these restrictions on women. The reader also observes the power and beauty of love as well as the result it has on people. In all three poems the last line of the poems and the extract demonstrates this; "Oh God, that I were dead!" "For if thy diest, my Love, I know not where to go", "And no birds sing." I think that in all three endings Keats's and Tennyson some up the distress caused by love and the penalty of its addiction very admirably when looking into the poems not at first glance.

Autonomy and Responsibility in the Nazi Regime: Germany 1933-1939 Essay

Autonomy and Responsibility in the Nazi Regime: Germany 1933-1939 Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles reads: "The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies."(1) These words fueled the Nazi Party's rise to power and ignition of a Second World War. After World War I, the Allies dissected, punished, and disarmed Germany to prevent the outbreak of another brutal war. Consequently, German lands, acquired by Nazi force, were given back to their original countries, and Germany's army was reduced to 100,000 men. In addition, Germany was responsible for paying immense retribution to all of the Allied Forces, causing German money to lose its value. The result of the Treaty of Versailles was a weakened Germany, both martially and economically. The Weimar Republic, a liberal government set up after Germany's defeat, was inefficient in handling Germany's massive problems. Germany's ill state was the curtain call for a change in the Weimar administration, and Adolf Hitler led the push for a transformation. Once in power, Hitler designed laws that redefined the responsibilities of the citizen. The citizens' duties would allow the Germany to regain her autonomy in the eyes of the world. Although the citizens worked to increase Germany's overrall welfare, the State did not attempt to improve individual well-being. The State held one responsibility. It must protect the lives of its people, so that the people can, in turn, carry out their duties for the S... ...ver, I carefully viewed its contents and found that it provided valuable information on Nazi propaganda, writings and speeches. The images I used in this report were taken from this site. In addition, many references are provided for further reading. http://nsdapmuseum.com This site is an unbiased historical perspective of the Nazi era. It provides valuable information about Nazi leaders, Nazi institutions, and Nazi propaganda. Also, links to other sites and biographies of the authors are listed. http://historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/index.htm This site, dedicated to students and teachers, is updated daily. The organization of the site is haphazard, but the information provided is excellent. Detailed explanations of the Hitler's life and rule are included. Furthermore, links to other historical sites are listed at the History Place's site.

Columbine Essay -- essays papers

Columbine The tragedy at Columbine High School is something that will be remembered and talked about for many years to come. People from across the nation have all heard about this event. But there are still a couple questions that people have. For instance who’s to blame? The kids alone, the parents for how they brought the children up, or even actually the students at Columbine? Most say that the parents are to blame, but who actually knows? In my opinion the only two people that can actually answer this question truthfully are both dead. Everyone wants answers. Did the kids have help? Who was it? Who sold them the weapons and why? Why did they do this? How could they do this? I had a class about the last question. Who could actually go into a room and commit a crime of massacre in a school of people that you know and have grown up with? Most of our class thought that they couldn’t ever get enough anger to do anything even remotely as bad, but when you actually think about it, if you had no friends and where made fun of all the time. It looked like your parents, teachers, and even all your own piers where against you. I think anyone could snap and maybe even do something as drastic as this (Why at Columbine High). Did the boys, Dylan Klebold, 17, and Eric Harris, 18, have any help doing this crime. As of yet no one has true evidence that proves they did except they did find who sold them the weapons. Police found around thirty small bombs and one twenty-pound propane bomb in the school, enough explosives to blow the school into almost nothing. For this reason people believe that the boys either had to have help or they had visited the school many times to plan this assault. No one talking though and no proof has been found. Their not only looking for information from someone that could point to someone that had helped they’re also looking for someone that had known that this was going to happen, so that they may find the answers to so many questions (The Colorado Shooting: Who Helped). Besides many bombs the police had also found a horrible suicide note. â€Å"Your children who have ridiculed me, who have chosen not to accept me, who have treated me like I am not worth their time are dead. THEY ARE (expletive) DEAD. I may have taken their lives and my own - but it was your doing. Teachers, parents, LET THIS MASSACRE BE ON YOUR SHOULDERS UNTIL ... ...no one except investigators and policemen in the school the police finally let them in. Everyone had something to get or look at, since the kids all had to leave their book bags in the school. A lot of the kids despised having to go back to school where many of their friends were killed or even injured (A Sad Homecoming at Columbine High). As of now in the little town of Littleton, the people are decided rather or not to destroy the old library and build a new one, for over three million dollars. They see the library as a horrible memory since ten of the students were killed and that’s where the boys committed suicide (Library Approval Delayed). This entire event got worse and worse as I read into it. Before now I never knew what was written in the suicide notes that they had written, but now that I do it’s really unbelievable that a human could think up such a thing and actually do it. It’s one thing to think about doing it, but strictly another going throug h with something so gruesome. I believe all of us feel left out sometimes, or maybe just seeing everything go wrong from them and that everyone’s against them, but I don’t see it in anyone to take that hated to these extremes.

Implications of a performance pay system

IntroductionHuman resource and industrial relations is viewed by many scholars as themes that see the sights of thoughts that relates to employment relationships in many organizations including teaching institutions in Australia. The issue of performance in these institutions is of interest to nearly every one in the country and much has been centred on improving the results of the students that are in these institutions. Over the past few years, teachers have been under pressure to produce best results in Australia and this development has led to introducing performance/merit pay system. (Williams and Adam, 2006)There is an argument that some or all a worker’s pay is ‘contingent’ that is it only gets paid if the worker meets certain benchmarks. This means that teachers in learning institutions are required to beat specific targets in order to be compensated. The teachers will be compensated for the extra work that they have done and more specifically if their stu dents have performed best in their studies. Research indicates that the Australian teachers with superior degrees and additional years of experience are remunerated extra than those employed recently or those with low educational levels and terms of service are just a manifestation of age and persistence. This system is founded on the supposition that compensating teachers for outstanding performance would offer encouragements for enhanced student accomplishment gains in their studies. (Williams and Adam, 2006)These performance pay strategies are founded on individual instructor performance which may result to rivalry in the middle of the teachers in the learning institutions. This practice has led to every teacher the bright students when they are teaching them in order to achieve the best results and hence get bonuses associated with such outstanding performance. This means that the teacher’s cooperation which is essential in each and ever institution is threatened and actu ally in some cases shattered.This practice of performance pay in Australia has led to unions of teachers being argumentative that the assessment is prejudiced and it is not based on intended statistics. These performance pay systems often provides for additional payments to that of the teachers salaries and has led to economic complexities because more funds are required to be used for the payments.   This system of merit/performance pay has another bad implication to the teachers in that there are under enhanced strain and force to produce good results from their students in the learning institutions within Australia. This pressure in turn leads to low motivation of teachers which may affect the student’s performance in long-term when the teachers involved will feel that they have achieved enough in terms of gaining financial resources associated with student’s performance. (Hagglund and Provis 1996)The Industrial Relation perspectiveThe performance/merit pay system s in Australia has led to teachers expressing their dissatisfaction brought about by the increased pressure of trying to meet the set targets of students performance in order to be compensated. The teachers unions have had the responsibility to champion the rights of the teachers who are the members. (Blyton and Turnbull, 2004)Unitarism/pluralismFor effective collective bargaining teachers through their trade unions are expected to be united and speak in one voice. This implies that with such practice they will have a bigger advantage because their grievances can be solved with ease and with fewer complications. Channelling grievances through trade unions will give them an added advantage and they may be rewarded with payments that they will be comfortable with unlike when they just express their individual opinions to the relevant paying systems.Collectivism v individualismIndividualism is all about achieving individual goals while Collectivism can be defined as a system that asser ts the primacy of collective goals rather than individual goals. Through collectivism individuals’ requirements are viewed to be of less significance than that of the entire society. Individual privileges may be constrained if they are seen to go up against the objectives of the society. Today collectivism is practiced in Australia as socialism whereby socialism can be traced back to scholar known as Karl Marx (1818-1883).In his argument, Marx takes the view that the government or the state ought to own the way of production to guarantee a just reimbursement of workforce and to steer clear of mistreatment of the masses by a few individuals who take advantage of others for their own benefits. Socialism are of two forms; the first one being that of communism whereby its supporters supposes that socialism can only be attained through cruel revolutions and dictatorship. The second form is that of social democrats whereby its supporters seek to achieve socialism or collectivism th rough democratic means. (Hyman, 1975)Merit/performance pay system in Australia have been viewed by the teachers unions to be individual means of compensating performance and thus these unions have been seeking collectivism where all teachers are remunerated equally and depending on there competences. Collectivism in teachers performance may be achieved through the concept of collective bargaining by both the teachers unions and the employer in this case the Australian government. (Hunt and Provis, 1995)Fairness v competitivenessIn order to achieve goals in any learning institutions fairness should be practiced and unfair competition should be avoided because it may results to conflicts between the teachers in teaching fraternities in Australia. If merit pay system is encouraged in the teaching profession teachers will compete for brighter students. This implies that teachers will feel secure and be sure of more bonuses if their students are bright and can perform well in their studi es. With such system also teachers in Australia may result in competition whereby they try to outdo each other in terms of their remuneration that they get from there bonuses. This means that teachers can manipulate the results of their students in order to receive high bonuses than that of their fellow teachers.The HRM perspectiveHuman Resource Management strategy may be defined as a calculated means by which the enterprise deploy its human resources to accomplish its purpose and basic objectives under the most advantageous circumstances. This implies that the HRM strategy defines the direction in which the learning institutions in Australia intends to move and establish the framework of action through which it intends to get there due to the efficiency of the teachers. This is because the institution management and especially the Human Resource Departments believe that people are the most important assets in the institution as compared to other assets that aid in running learning institutions. (Maund, 2001)How can performance be assessed?The human resource perspectives take the view that performance can be assessed through the overall performance of the human resource and in this case the teachers in the various learning institutions. Performance can only be assessed through organizational effectiveness in learning institutions in Australia. Organization effectiveness can defined as achieving results in an organization through a well organized and coordinated series of managerial activities that comprises of planning, leading, organizing, directing, and controlling of all the resources in the organization including teachers in order to achieve desirable results.Organizational effectiveness involves number of activities including; recruiting competent, motivated and qualified teachers in order to achieve good results, good communication system in the learning institutions, unambiguous policies, decisions and regulations, a conducive environment for teaching, good management, ability to adapt to   any changes, and building a viable and strong culture and mission among others. (Sparrow and Hilltop, 1994)Therefore organization effectiveness can only be achieved through management functions; planning, which encompasses defining learning institution’s goals establishing an overall strategy for achieving those goals and developing a comprehensive hierarchy of plans to integrate and coordinate activities, organizing, which is the determination of what tasks have to be done, who does them how the tasks are to be grouped? Who reports to whom and where decisions are to be made.Controlling, this involves monitoring the teacher’s performance, leading, which involves head teachers motivating teachers, directing the activities to be done, selecting the most appropriate channels of communication and resolving any conflicts among the teachers. There are numerous ways in measuring the effectiveness of learning institutions and include; p roductivity, profits, stability, turnover, growth among others.How can differences in performance be rewarded?Rewarding differences in performance is a difficult task in learning institutions and especially in regards to teachers in Australia. It will be wise if the employees in this case the teachers are paid according to the work that they are doing. A good remuneration system that will involve paying better wages to these teachers as required in their profession plus other benefits when they have achieved the set goals. It is prudent for job evaluation to be carried out in order to reward performance.Job evaluation is all about the relative ranking of an individual job in relation to other jobs that exist within the group. This also refers to technique used in ranking of jobs in an organization. This is normally carried out on the basis of various responsibilities and duties that are assigned to the specific job or task. (Sheridan and Provis, 1998)The results of the job evaluatio n process include the job being assigned a specific range of payment.   The range normally includes a maximum pay rate that the specific job can attract and also the minimum rate of payment that can be given to a person holding such a position. Job evaluation as a management tool has been used by employers and managers for approximately more than seventy five years.This management tool has been used both in the private and in the public sector including in learning institutions. Basing on some generic factors, the value of each teaching job is well defined in the job evaluation process. When the teachers responsibilities are evaluated in terms of their results achieved then they can be rewarded with exactness and without prejudice. (Turner, 1962):Will it actually improve performance?Rewarding difference in performance through job evaluation is very important to employers and managers especially in learning institutions in Australia and actually may improve performance. The reason as to why rewarding difference in performance as a management tool never goes out of fashion is because it plays a big role in reducing teacher’s turnover rate.One of the steps involved in job evaluation is bench marking the jobs. This is done in relation to the jobs that have been evaluated before.   In this case the bench mark jobs are those that are commonly included in salary surveys found in most learning institutions. In this process the bench mark jobs of internal pay structures are related to the external structure’s existing in the labour market that is in other institutions.This greatly helps in reducing employee turnover in the various learning institutions because teachers will be satisfied with their pay. This is because job evaluation carried out will enable the learning institution’s pay grades to be at per with competitor institutions. In this case teachers will not see the need of looking for greener pastures since their pay grades will be sim ilar to what their colleagues in the same positions are paid in other learning institutions. This is really important to employers and managers because they will not be worried about losing teachers to better paying learning institutions and will also motivate the teachers to produce results. This generally plays a big role to stability in the organization. (Anderson, Provis, and Chappel, 2002)Possible disadvantages of actuality performance?There are some disadvantages associated with actuality performance and one can be that of teachers being under pressure to produce the best results in their teaching practice. Because of such pressure sometimes they feel over strained and hence they are low motivated at some level. It may also result to unfair competition between the teachers and this may lead to producing bad performance through sub standard teaching practices thus students may not gain the required knowledge and may be termed as half-baked in the job markets. (Provis, 2004)Conc lusionPerformance/merit pay can be both effective and ineffective in learning institutions in Australia. For example with such system teachers can produce the best results because they will be motivated to get bonuses from their work. On the other hand if not utilized well teachers may create an environment full of unfair competition in an effort to produce good results from their students and they may engage themselves in bad activities like leaking exams to students before the exam dates so that they can perform better. This implies that students will not have an opportunity to gain a wider knowledge but instead they will be narrowed to subjects and topics that will be included in their exams. (Provis, 1986)References:Anderson, B. Provis, C. and Chappel, S. (2002): The Recognition and Management of Emotional Labour in the Tourism Industry. Report to CRC on Sustainable Tourism, Pp 124-134Blyton, P. and Turnbull, P. (2004): The Dynamics of Employee Relations, 3rd Edition Macmillan, London Pp 32-56Hagglund, G. and C. Provis (1996): Enterprise Bargaining and Productivity Issues in South Australia, Contemporary Issues in Business and Government 2 (4), Pp 49-54Harris, R.., Provis, C., Park, R., Mason, D., Delbridge, R. and Gough, R. (2002): High Performance Manufacturing and the Learning Factory, Report to Industry Pp 78-89Hunt, I, and Provis, C (1995): The New Industrial Relations in Australia. Federation Press, Sydney Pp 67-78Hyman, R. (1975): Industrial Relations- A Marxist Introduction, Macmillan, London. Pp 67-89Maund, L. (2001): An Introduction to Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice: Palgrave, Macmillan. Pp 67-79Provis, C. (2004): Ethics and Organisational Politics, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham and Northampton. Pp 100-123Provis, C. (1997): Mediation and Conciliation in Industrial Relations- Reflections from Australia,' Labour Studies Journal 21 (4), Pp 83-99Provis, C. (1986): Comparative Wage Justice.   Journal of Industrial Relations 28 (1) Pp 26-34Salamon, M. (2000): Industrial Relations. Theory and Practice, 4th Edition, Prentice Hall, London. Pp 45-67Sheridan, K. and C. Provis (1998): Enterprise Agreements in South Australia. Progress or pretence?   International Journal of Employment Studies 6 (1), Pp 129-1140.Sparrow, P. and Hilltop, J. (1994): European Human Resource Management in Transition: New York Prentice Hall, Pp 43-78Turner, H. (1962): Trade Union Democracy in Trade Union growth, structure and policy. Allen and Unwin, London. Pp 292-294Williams, S. and Adam S (2006): Contemporary Employment Relations- A Critical Introduction, Oxford Pp 54-67

ACL in practice

One way to ensure the integrity of the data is to check for duplicate records. To find the total amount of a field, use the Total command. The Quick Sort feature lets you view the data in sequential order. A filter is a logical expression that you can type in the view's Filter text box. CAL displays only those records that match the filter. An expression is a set of operators and values that you use to perform calculations, specify conditions for a test, or create values that do not exist directly in the data. An CAL expression can be a combination of data fields or computed fields, operators,constants, functions, and variables.Commands: Statistics, Profile, Duplicate, Total, Quick Sort— See the detailed explanations below. In this chapter you accomplished the following tasks: ; Opening a project Viewing the project contents ; Using Statistics and Profile commands to analyze data ; Using Quick Sort to sort the data in a specified order Creating and applying filters Examine the employee list Tasks: View the employee data project. Get statistical picture. Check for duplicate employee records. Open and view the employee data project Open the employee data projectProject: Open an existing and save project as Surname_Metaphor_Employee_Data, then K, and close project. Open an existing project—Surname_Metaphor_Employee_Data and start. Tables: Agents_Metaphor – lists all of Metaphor's independent sales agents around the world. Rename this file as Surname_Agents_Metaphor. Employee_List – lists all of the Metaphor employees at the head office. Rename this file as Surname_Employee_list. View the contents of the employee data project (Insert your answer here) Get a statistical picture Generate statistics on the employee list Use Profile to get information about a tableLook for duplicate records Look for duplicate employee numbers Examine employee salaries and Bonuses Find total bonuses paid in 2002 Use the Total command to find total bonuses pai d in 2002 View salaries in descending and ascending order View employee salaries in descending and ascending order View employees hired in 2002 Create a filter to show employees that were hired in 2002 Determine bonus as a percentage of salary Your Log Your Folder Explanations: STATISTICS Syntax numeric-field-list specifies the numeric fields or expressions for which statistics will be provided. Et-field-list specifies the date fields or expressions for which statistics will be provided. SST calculates the standard deviation of the fields specified, in addition to the other statistics. Obtaining statistics on numeric and date fields Use Statistics on date and numeric fields to obtain an overview of the data. For specified fields, the Statistics command provides: Record counts, field totals, and average field values for positive, nil, and negative field values Absolute value Ranges Highest and lowest field values The Statistics command also populates a number of system variables. To use theStatistics command Select Analyze Ð’Â » Statistical Ð’Â » Statistics to display the Statistics dialog box. PROFILE PROFILE numeric fields numeric_fields specifies the numeric fields to be profiled. Producing summary statistics on numeric fields Use the Profile command to provide summary statistics on one or more numeric fields in a table. Profile provides the following information for numeric fields: Total value Absolute value Minimum value Maximum value Profile is used primarily to determine minimum, maximum, absolute, and total field values (as appropriate) before issuing the Stratify, Histogram, or Sample commands.If you want an overview of a table before detailed processing, the Statistics command provides more complete information. After a field has been profiled, CAL knows its minimum and maximum values. These values are then used as defaults for the Minimum and Maximum parameters in the Stratify and Histogram commands. Similarly, CAL knows the absolute value of the field and uses this value as the default for the Population parameter in the Sample command. If the Automatic Profile interface option is turned on, CAL automatically produces a profile of all the numeric fields in a table each time a new table is opened.The profiles can be viewed in the command results. To turn this option on, select Tools from the menu bar and choose Options. Click the Table tab and select Automatically Profile on Open. To use the Profile command Select Analyze Ð’Â »Statistical Ð’Â »Profile to display the Profile dialog box. DUPLICATES DUPLICATES key_field . ON key-field specifies the fields or expressions to check for duplicates. UNFORMATTED suppresses page headings and page breaks when the output is directed to a file. OTHER field-list specifies a list of fields or expressions to include in the output for a duplicates test.The fields are reported in columnar format with duplicate items displayed in grouped rows. A blank line separates each set of du plicates. The duplicated key field values are reported in the first column, followed by the specified fields. PRESORT sorts the primary table on the primary key before testing for duplicates. You cannot use the PRESORT keyword in a group. Testing for duplicates The Duplicates command detects whether key fields in the active table contain duplicates. To test for duplicate records Select Analyze from the menu bar and choose Look for Duplicates to display theDuplicates dialog box. If your table contains a great many records, it is faster and more useful to save the command results to a file than to display the results on the screen. TOTAL TOTAL numeric fields Totaling numeric fields or expressions Use the Total command to total numeric fields or expressions in the active table. Total is typically used to prove the completeness and accuracy of the data and to produce control totals. Total finds the arithmetic sum of the fields or expressions specified. As well as displaying the totals r equested, this command saves the result n a special variable, Totals. Is normally â€Å"1†, but adopts the sequential command number when Total is issued in a group, for example, TOTAL 17. To use the Total command Select Analyze from the menu bar and choose Total Fields to display the Total dialog box. Sorting a view with Quick Sort You can use Quick Sort to sort records on any field. Applicable only to the view, Quick Sort is a temporary means to view your records in ascending or descending order. When you are finished with Quick Sort, you can turn it off to return the view to the order in which the records exist in the table.To use Quick Sort, right-click the column header and select one of the sort options: Quick Sort Ascending – sorts the records from lowest to highest. Quick Sort Descending – sorts the records from highest to lowest. Quick Sort Off – restores the records to the previous sort order. Quick Sort applies to the view only and not to comma nds, which use the sort order that is present in the table. To sort the records in the table, use the Sort command. To index the table by one or more fields, use the Index command. Quick Sort is not available for dynamic server-based CAL tables.