Bradtech Limited Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Bradtech Limited Company - Essay Example Apart from this the balanced scorecard focuses on integrating the output or performance different departments and units of the organisation in order to generate more effective consolidated end result (Lawrie & Cobbold, 2004). In this case analysis, the initial process of balanced scorecard has been utilised i.e. the generation of the important performance measures and indicators for the company. If the organisation will review and monitor these performance indicators on regular basis then there will be better control over the overall output and profits of the organisation. Overview of the Company: Bradtech is a subsidiary of another manufacturing company. It is currently facing a very stiff environment. The company under capital constraint from the parent company needs to expand its current capacity. But to this decision are affecting further conditions also: one of the major products of the company is losing its utility and thereby is facing a shrinking market; the other product alt hough new has its own set of constraints. One major constraint is its ability to be customised which requires prior ordering before manufacturing; this entails a vibrant supply chain which unfortunately the company does not have. All these restraints are not allowing the company to operate or compete effectively. Key Factors which should be Considered by Bradtech: Bradtech should prepare counter measures for the shrinking market share of its flagship product (product A). Whereas for its other product (product B), which needs to be customised as per the buyers demand, the company should adopt a pull based strategy to avoid inventory holding cost (Northcott and Smith, 2011). For this it needs to restructure its supply chain and make it vibrant, sensitive and efficient. Other key factor which should be considered is: relationship build with customers; who demand on time delivery, honest technical advice, good quality and product reliability. The company should come up with some form of competitive advantage at the service level to gain customers and prevent getting engaged in price competition. The company should keep track of its processes and try to minimise cost to raise its profit margins. For product A, it can be assumed that no new competitor will enter the market, looking at the current market crisis, so Bradtech should offer some sort of price benefits to capture more market share. Bradtech also has to utilise its capacity optimally because it is highly unlikely that it would receive additional funds to expand its current capacity. In this endeavour the company needs to undergo stringent capacity and space planning. The company also need to keep its parent company interested in its operations because if the parent company starts to believe that the Strategic Business Unit (SBU) is creating more trouble than it could handle, than the parent company may start thinking about divesture. Other key factor to consider would be the rising buyers’ power and the buyers’ tactics to play one supplier against other. Since the product has no additional offering the company will keep facing this

Task Archetype Essay Example for Free

Task Archetype Essay Every man is born with a task which he must fulfill and if he is successful, the world recognizes him for it. Fate is unarguably the main factor that pushes a man towards his task; he is nothing but fates puppet. Task can be as simple as finishing homework which will get you good marks, to complex things such as deciding your familys fate through your actions. The situational archetype of The Task is precisely analyzed and adapted in Mario Puzos novel The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppolas The Godfather Part 1 and 2 movie and The Real Godfather documentary. The archetype â€Å"The task† is well explained and adapted in the novel, The Godfather. Michael Corleone is one of the main protagonists who demonstrates his task perfectly. Michael, a war-hero, never wishes to get involved in his family business and yet is forced to get involved as life plays its tricks on him. Vito Corleone, Michael’s father and the Mafia boss of the Corleone family, is almost assassinated by hitmens (Puzo, 78-79) and is admitted in a hospital. Shortly after Michael visits his father in the hospital, Cpt. McCluskey arrives and punches Michael in the face, breaking his jaw for showing disrespect to him (Puzo, 129-130). This is the triggering point of Michael’s fate of him getting involved in the family’s business because the hit was not to his body but to his father’s life and his pride. Michael accepts and performs his task of enormous proportion by volunteering to take out the enemies of the family (Puzo, 135-136). This superhuman deed of Michael fulfilling his task identifies him and allows him to assure his rightful position in the family as the future Don Corleone. The task is also portrayed in the movies: Godfather part 1 and 2. In part 1, Michael Corleone visually displays his task being fulfilled. When Michael Corleone is set to get revenge for his father as discussed in the previous paragraph, Michael’s older brother Sonny Corleone says, â€Å"You’re taking this very personal [†¦] this man is taking it very, very personal† (Godfather I) and Michael coldly replies, â€Å"It’s not personal Sonny, it’s strictly business† (God father I). Michael’s resolve is so strong to achieve his task only due to the fateful circumstances that lead him towards it. Don Vito Corleone often tells Michael that, â€Å"Every man has but one destiny† (Godfather I) meaning that a member of a Mafia family cannot defy his fate. This is proven as unfortunate circumstances in Michael’s life get him involved in the family which has always been his fateful task. In Godfather II, Michael is shown fulfilling his task but at  the same time facing many hardships such as assassination attempts and losing his family. This shows how Michael fulfills his fateful task while facing the harshest problems any man in the world can face. Finally, the task archetype influences the thinking of everyday people in the world and this is shown through the documentary: The Real Godfather. This documentary basically shows how world of mobsters was influenced by the Godfather series and vice-versa. In the late 1970s, Mario Puzo’s novel The Godfather was an instant success globally and Paramount pictures wanted to turn this epic classic novel into an epic classic movie which was their task. Little did they know the gravity of problems they were going to face later on. Since Godfather was based on Italian-Americans, a civil-rights league of Italian-Americans decided to be not in favor of the movie as it exposed their people too much. The league had connections with the mobs of New York City, who threatened the directors and producers of Paramount.

Data storage in Big Data Context: A Survey

Data storage in Big Data Context: A Survey Data storage in Big Data Context: A Survey A.ELomari, A.MAIZATE*, L.Hassouni# RITM-ESTC / CED-ENSEM, University Hassan II Abstract- As data volumes to be processed in all domains; scientific, professional, social à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦etc., are increasing at a high speed, their management and storage raises more and more challenges. The emergence of highly scalable infrastructures has contributed to the evolution of storage management technologies. However, numerous problems have emerged such as consistency and availability of data, scalability of environments or yet the competitive access to data. The objective of this paper is to review, discuss and compare the main characteristics of some major technological orientations existing on the market, such as Google File System (GFS) and IBM General Parallel File System (GPFS) or yet on the open source systems such as Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS), Blobseer and Andrew File System (AFS), in order to understand the needs and constraints that led to these orientations. For each case, we will discuss a set of major problems of big data storage management, and how they were addressed in order to provide the best storage services. Introduction Todays, the amount of data generated during a single day may exceed the amount of information contained in all printed materials all over the world. This quantity far exceeds what scientists have imagined there are just a few decades. Internet Data Center (IDC) estimated that between 2005 and 2020, the digital universe will be multiplied by a factor of 300, so it will pass from 130 Exabyte to 40,000 Exabyte, the equivalent of   more than 5,200 gigabytes for each person in 2020   [[i]]. The traditional systems such as centralized network-based storage systems (client-server) or the traditional distributed systems such as NFS, are no longer able to respond to new requirements in terms of volume of data, high performance, and evolution capacities. And besides their cost, a variety of technical constraints are raised, such as data replication, continuity of services etc.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   In this paper, we try to discuss a set of technologies used in the market and that we think the most relevant and representative of the state of the art in the field of distributed storage systems. What is Distributed File systems (DFS) A distributed file system (DFS) is a system that allows multiple users to access, through the network, a file structure residing on one or more remote machines (File Servers) using a similar semantics to that used to access the local file system. This is a client / server architecture where data is distributed across multiple storage spaces usually called nodes. These nodes consist of a single or a small number of physical storage disks residing usually in basic equipment, configured to only provide storage services. As such, the material can be relatively low cost. As the material used is generally inexpensive and by large quantities, failures become unavoidable. Nevertheless, these systems are designed to be tolerant to failure by having recourse to data replication which makes the loss of one node an event of minimal emergency because data is always recoverable, often automatically, without any performance degradation. A. Andrew File System(AFS) architecture AFS (or OpenAFS currently) is a standard distributed file system originally developed by Carnegie Mellon University. It is supported and developed as a product by Transarc Corporation (now IBM Pittsburgh Labs). It offers a client-server architecture for federated file sharing and distribution of replicated read-only content [[ii]]. AFS offers many improvements over traditional systems. In particular, it provides the independence of the storage from location, guarantees system scalability and transparent migration capabilities.As shown in Figure 1, the distribution of processes in AFS can be summarized as follows: A process called Vice is the backbone of information sharing in the system; it consists of a set of dedicated file servers and a complex LAN. A process called Venus runs on each client workstation; it mediates access to shared files [[iii]]. Figure 1 : AFS Design . AFS logic assumes the following hypothesis [[iv]]: Shared files are rarely updated and local user files will remain valid for long periods. An allocation of a large enough local disk cache, for example 100 MB, can keep all users files. Using the client cache may actually be a good compromise to system performance, but it will only be effective if the assumptions adopted by AFS designers are respected, otherwise this can make a huge issue for data integrity. B. Google File System (GFS) architecture Another interesting approach is that proposed by GFS, which is not using special cache at all. GFS is a distributed file system developed by Google for its own applications. Google GFS system (GFS cluster) consists of a single master and multiple Chunkservers (nodes) and is accessed by multiple clients, as shown in Figure 2 [[v]].Each of these nodes is typically a Linux machine running a server process at a user level. Figure 2 : GFS Design The files to be stored are divided into pieces of fixed size called chunks. The Chunkservers store chunks on local disks as Linux files. The master maintains all metadata of the file system. The GFS client code uses an application programming interface (API) to interact with the master regarding transactions related to metadata, but all communications relating to the data themselves goes directly to Chunkservers. Unlike AFS, neither the client nor the Chunkserver use a dedicated cache. Customers caches, according to Google, offer little benefit because most applications use large which are too big to be cached. On the other hand, using a single master can drive to a bottleneck situation. Google has tried to reduce the impact of this weak point by replicating the master on multiple copies called shadows which can be accessed in read-only even if the master is down. C. Blobseer architecture Blobseer is a project of KerData team, INRIA Rennes, Brittany, France[[vi]]. The Blobseer system consists of distributed processes (Figure 3), which communicate through remote procedure calls (RPC). A physical node can run one or more processes and can play several roles at the same time. Figure 3 : Blobseer Design Unlike Google GFS, Blobseer do not centralize access to metadata on a single machine, so that the risk of bottleneck situation of this type of node is eliminated. Also, this feature allows load balancing the workload across multiple nodes in parallel. D. Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) The Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) is a component of Apach Hadoop project [[vii]]. HDFS is highly fault-tolerant and is designed to be deployed on low-cost hardware. As shown in figure 4, HDFS stores file system metadata and application data separately. As in other distributed file systems, HDFS stores metadata on a dedicated server, called the NameNode. Application data are stored on other servers called DataNodes [[viii]]. Figure 4: HDFS Design There is one NameNode per cluster and it makes all decisions regarding replication of blocks [[ix]]. Data Storage as blob The architecture of a distributed storage system must take into consideration how files are stored on disks. One smart way to make this possible is to organize these data as objects of considerable size. Such objects, called Binary Large Objects (BLOBs), consist of long sequences of bytes representing unstructured data and can provide the basis for a transparent data sharing of large-scale. A BLOB can usually reach sizes of 1 Tera Byte (TB). Using BLOBs offers two main advantages: The Scalability: Maintaining a small set of huge BLOBs including billions of small items is much easier than directly managing billions of small ones. The simple mapping between the application data and file names can be a big problem compared to the case where the data are stored in the same BLOB and that only their offsets must be maintained. The Transparency: A data management system based on shared BLOBs, uniquely identifiable through ids, relieves application developers of the burden of explicit management and transfer of their locations on the codes. The system thus offers an intermediate layer that masks the complexity of access to data wherever it is stored physically [[x]]. Data striping Data striping is a well-known technique for increasing the data access performances. Each BLOB or file is divided into small pieces that are distributed across multiple machines on the storage system. Thus, requests for access to data may be distributed over multiple machines in parallel way, allowing achieving high performances.Two factors must be considered in order to maximize the benefits of this technique: Configurable strategy of distribution of chunks: Distribution strategy specifies where to store the chunks to achieve a predefined goal. For example, load balancing is one of the goals that such strategy can allow. Dynamic configuration of the size of the chunks: If the chunks size is too small, applications would have to retrieve the data to be processed from several chunks. On the other hand, the use of too large chunks will complicate simultaneous access to data because of the increasing probability that two applications require access to two different data but both stored on the same chunk. A lot of systems that use this type of architecture, such as GFS and Blobseer use a 64 MB sized chunks, which seems to be the most optimized size for those two criteria. concurrency Processing concurrency is very dependent on the nature of the desired data processing and of the nature of data changes. For example, Haystack system that manages Facebook pictures which never changes [[xi]], will be different from Google GFS or IBM General Parallel File System (GPFS) which are managing a more dynamic data. The lock method is used by many DFS to manage concurrency and IBM GPFS has developed a more effective mechanism that allows locking a byte range instead of whole files/blocks (Byte Range Locking) [[xii]]. GFS meanwhile, offers a relaxed consistency model that supports Google highly distributed applications, but still relatively simple to implement. Blobseer developed a more sophisticated technique, which theoretically gives better results. The snapshot approach using versioning that Blobseer brings is an effective way to meet the main objectives of maximizing competitive access [[xiii]]. The disadvantage of such a mechanism based on snapshots, is that it can easily explode the required physical storage space. However, although each write or append generates a new version of the blob snapshot, only the differential updates from previous versions are physically stored. DFS Benchmark As we have detailed in this article, generally there is no better or worse methods for technical or technological choices to be adopted to make the best of a DFS, but rather compromises that have to be managed to meet very specific objectives. In Table 2, we compare five distributed file systems: GFS, GPFS, HDFS, AFS and Blobseer. Choosing to compare only those specific systems despite the fact that the market includes dozens of technologies is led particularly by two points: 1. It is technically difficult to study all systems in the market in order to know their technical specifications, especially as several of them are proprietary and closed systems. Even more, the techniques are similar in several cases and are comparable to those of the five we compared. 2. Those five systems allow making a clear idea about the DFS state of the art thanks to the following particularities: GFS is a system used internally by Google, which manage huge quantities of data because of its activities. GPFS is a system developed and commercialized by IBM, a global leader in the field of Big Data HDFS is a subproject of HADOOP, a very popular Big Data system Blobseer is an open source initiative, particularly driven by research as it is maintained by INRIA Rennes. AFS is a system that can be considered as a bridge between conventional systems such as NFS and advanced distributed storage systems. In Table 2, we compare the implementation of some key technologies in those five systems. Analysis of the results of Table 2 leads to the following conclusions: The five systems are expandable in data storage. Thus, they cover one of the principal issues that lead to the emergence of Distribute File System. Only Blobseer and GPFS offer the extensibility of metadata management to overcome the bottleneck problem of the master machine, which manage the access to metadata. Except AFS, all studied systems are natively tolerant to crash, relying essentially on multiple replications of data. To minimize the lag caused by locking the whole file, GPFS manage locks on specific areas of the file (Byte range locks). But the most innovative method is the use of versioning and snapshots by Blobseer to allow simultaneous changes without exclusivity. Except AFS, all systems are using the striping of data. As discussed earlier; this technique provides a higher input / output performance by striping blocks of data from individual files over multiple machines. Blobseer seems to be the only one among the systems studied that implements the storage on blobs technique, despite the apparent advantages of such technique. To allow a better scalability, a DFS system must support as much operating systems as possible. But while AFS, HDFS and GPFS à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹ supports multiple platforms, GFS and Blobseer run exclusively on Linux, this can be explained partly by the commercial background of AFS, HDFS and GPFS. Using a dedicated cache is also a point of disagreement between systems. GFS and Blobseer consider that the cache has no real benefits, but rather causes many consistency issues. AFS and GPFS uses dedicated cache à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹on both client computers and servers. HDFS seems to use dedicated cache only at client level. Conclusion In this paper, we reviewed some specifications of distributed file storage systems. It is clear from this analysis that the major common concern of such systems is scalability. A DFS should be extendable with the minimum cost and effort. In addition, data availability and fault tolerance remains among the major concerns of DFS. Many systems tend to use non expensive hardware for storage. Such condition will expose those systems to frequent or usual breakdowns. To these mechanisms, data striping and lock mechanisms are added to manage and optimize concurrent access to the data. Also, Working on multiples operating systems can bring big advantages to any of those DFS. None of these systems can be considered as the best DFS in the market, but rather each of them is excellent in the scope that it was designed for. Table 2 Comparative table of most important characteristics of distributed file storage GFS by Google GPFS IBM HDFS Blobseer AFS (OPEN FS) Data Scalability YES YES YES YES YES Meta Data Scalability NO YES NO YES NO Fault tolerance Fast Recovery.Chunk Replication.Master Replication. Clustering features.   Synchronous and asynchronous data replication. Block Replication.Secondary NameNode. Chunk ReplicationMeta data replication NO Data access Concurrency Optimized for concurrent   appends Distributed byte range locking Files have strictly one writer at any time YES Byte-range file locking Meta Data access Concurrency Master shadows on read only Centralizedmanagement NO YES NO Snapshots YES YES YES YES NO Versioning YES unknown NO YES NO Data Striping 64 MB Chunks YES YES (Data blocks of 64 MB) 64 MB Chunks NO Storage as Blobs NO NO NO YES NO Supported OS LINUX AIX, Red Hat, SUSE , Debian Linux distributions, Windows Server 2008 Linux and Windows supported , BSD, Mac OS/X, Open Solaris known to work LINUX AIX, Mac OS X, Darwin, HP-UX, Irix, Solaris, Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, NetBSD OpenBSD Dedicated cache NO YES by AFM technology YES (Client) NO YES []  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   John Gantz and David Reinsel. THE DIGITAL UNIVERSE IN 2020: Big Data, Bigger Digital Shadows, and Biggest Growth in the Far East. Tech. rep. Internet Data Center(IDC), 2012. [2]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   OpenAfs : www.openafs.org/ [3]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Monali Mavani : Comparative Analysis of Andrew Files System and Hadoop Distributed File System, 2013. [4]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Stefan Leue : Distributed Systems Fall, 2001 [5]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Sanjay Ghemawat, Howard Gobioff, and Shun-Tak Leung Google* : The Google File System. [6]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Blobseer: blobseer.gforge.inria.fr/ [7]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Hadoop: hadoop.apache.org/ [8]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Konstantin Shvachko, Hairong Kuang, Sanjay Radia, Robert Chansler Yahoo!: The Hadoop Distributed File System, 2010. [9]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Dhruba Borthakur : HDFS Architecture Guide, 2008. [0]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Bogdan Nicolae, Gabriel Antoniu, Luc Boug_e, Diana Moise, Alexandra, Carpen-Amarie : BlobSeer: Next Generation Data Management for Large Scale Infrastructures, 2010. [1]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Doug Beaver, Sanjeev Kumar, Harry C. Li, Jason Sobel, Peter Vajgel, Facebook Inc: Finding a needle in Haystack: Facebooks photo storage, [2]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Scott Fadden,   An Introduction to GPFS Version 3.5, Technologies that enable the management of big data, 2012. [3]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Bogdan Nicolae,Diana Moise, Gabriel Antoniu,Luc Boug ´e, Matthieu Dorier : BlobSeer: Bringing High Throughput under Heavy Concurrency to Hadoop Map-Reduce Applications, 2010.

Politics and Poverty Essay -- Essays on Politics

Politics and Poverty Today there is a split in American politics on how to combat poverty. Throughout history, how America combats poverty has changed depending on what party is running the government. There has been a number of different parties however, Republican, Democrat, The Bull Moose Party, and other various ones. However, these views can be put into two main categories: The Liberal ideology and the Conservative ideology. There are three areas, which have broad and differing views on how to combat poverty. Those three being, Welfare, Social Security, and Taxes. The following arguments present how those different perspectives affect the poverty issue in America today. Conservative Ideology Conservatives generally go with the perspective that less is more. Most would side with the argument that less government action is a better approach for society as a whole. Rather than promoting the idea of social equality, like the Liberal perspective, they promote social inequality. Most would like little government regulation and intervention of economy. Conservatives have the "big business" and "trickle down" theory, that even though the rich stay rich, their wealth will eventually reach the poor and poverty-stricken. Liberal Ideology Liberals usually have the perspective that the government should help the people much more than they do presently, with more programs such as welfare (etc.). Liberals generally agree that the government should intervene, regulate, and promote the economy and ensure fairness in society always. Government policies are indeed needed and necessary for citizens to fulfill their daily needs. Most also do agree with a "free-market" society, however, they stress the need for government policies. Welf... ...Radio Address on the Economy." Democratic National Committee. Raul Grijalva. 26 Oct. 2002. http://www.democrats.org/news/200210300002.html "Senate Republicans Back President's Welfare Reform Plan." United States Senate Republican Policy Committee. 18 June 2002. 8 Dec. 2002 <http://www.senate.gov/~rpc/releases/1999/wf061802.htm> "Highlights of the Libertarian Party's 'Ending the Welfare State' Proposal." Libertarian Party: The Party of Principle. 1994-2001. 8 Dec. 2002. <http://www.lp.org/issues/welfare.html> "Who Gets Welfare?" Feminist Majority Foundation. 1996. 8 Dec. 2002. <http://www.feminist.org/other/budget/welfare/welfare.htm> Rector, Robert. Implementing Welfare Reform and Restoring Marriage. "Liberal Views on the Issues." Liberal Politics: U.S. What you need to know about. 8 Dec. 2002. < http://usliberals.about.com/library/blisswelfare.htm>

Broken Family Essay

Family is the basic unit of society. This is the most essential component of a country. Governance will only be effective if the citizens are properly oriented with good values and virtues, which is commonly taught by the family. A home is where a family lives. It may be alternated to the word ‘house’ but a house is more appropriately referring to the material structure, whereas ‘home’ refers to the intangible things that bind together the family members. It is the immeasurable love and care that keeps together the mother, father and their children. However, no matter how ideal a family in the terms of their relationship, there are still hardships and misunderstandings that will come along the way. It is just part of any relationship anyway. But, the sad part is when one of the family members gave up and the others have no choice but to accept and let go. Thus, the family starts to be broken. Broken Family is a family with children involved where parents are legally or illegally separated†¦whose parents have decided to go and live their lives separately for several reasons/problems. Too many arguments that might lead to divorce and the parents divide their children. But I believe its mostly cause by drugs or money. Too much money leads to arguments and greediness which causes to forget about love and divorce. Too poor leads to depression and arguments and feels like they have to split up and start over. Drugs messes with someones head and they mostly die or the family leaves that person behind for the cause of the children’s growing. But its not all parents, some teenagers runs away from home, of course, with their own reasoning. Some parent’s children die and it causes them to split. For the cause of the child’s growing, they divorce and find some place else . Or sometimes, its work. Not working too much or a workaholic may lead up for a broken family. Or if someone dies, then of course they’re broken inside the most. Though your answer is very good, I think you miss one detail. Another cause for a broken family, is abuse. Maybe the parents or parent hits the kids, and wife. Or maybe the son hits the parents. I think that is a very big reason in why many family’s are broken. Yes, still there’s one detail also that you may include, when the relatives of each party join to the problem or favors a parties (and sometimes it’s the parents of each party will suggest to them to separate). Or because the husband or wife having an affair. That’s why many FAMILIES break up. maybe one of the reasons of family breake up is the wife is very secretive to his husband for all times, and lack of trust in each parties. And there’s one more if the wife didn’t respect there husband due to high salary compare to a head of the family there will be conflict. And guys lastly Jealousy is one of the big reason why there’s so many BROKEN FAMILY, but its OK if the wife understands the husband feelings and avoid the person that he’ jealous of. But if not we are guys only knows what is the next part of our lives.

Lord Woolf’s Reforms

Essay Title: â€Å"Although settlement, rather than litigation, poses a number of problems for a civil justice system these matters have been largely resolved by Lord Woolf’s reforms. † What is civil justice system? There are several definitions for the civil justice system. Every civilized system of government requires that the state should make available to all its citizens a means for the just and peaceful settlement of disputes between them as to their respective legal rights. The means provided are courts of justice to which every citizen has a constitutional right of access.Lord Diplock in Bremer Vulkan Schiffb au and Maschinenfabrik v South India Shipping Corp. [1981] AC 909, HL, p. 976. The justification of a legal system and procedures must be one of lesser evils, that legal resolution of disputes is preferable to blood feuds, rampant crime and violence. M. Bayles, ‘Principles for legal procedure’, Law and Philosophy, 5:1 (1986), 33–57, 57. The first impulse of a rudimentary soul is to do justice by his own hand. Only at the cost of mighty historical efforts has it been possible to supplant in the human soul the idea of self-obtained justice by the idea of justice entrusted to authorities.Eduardo J. Couture, ‘The nature of the judicial process’, Tulane Law Review, 25 (1950), 1–28, 7. There have been over 60 official reports on the subject of civil processing the past. Latest published reports were Evershed Report in 1953, the report of the Winn Committee in 1968, the Cantley Working Party in 1979, the Civil Justice Review in the late 1980s and the Woolf. All those reports are focused on the same objects like how to reduce complexity, delay and the cost of civil litigation. What are the problems before reforms?This is a mere compare of the pre-Woolf and post-Woolf civil landscape without baseline statistics. As research for the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) on the pre-Woolf litigation landscap e (pre-1999) demonstrates that: * 50% – 83% of defended cases in the county courts were personal injury (PI) claims * overall at least 75% of cases were within the small claims or fast track financial limit; in most courts this figure was 85% or more * the higher the value of the claim, the more likely both sides were to have legal representation * PI cases had high settlement rates and a small number of trials.Non-PI cases had a higher proportion of trials, and a much higher proportion of cases withdrawn. Debt cases were most likely to end in trial (38%) and in all of those the claimant succeeded. In 96% of all cases going to trial the claimant was successful * In all types of cases 50% of awards or settlements were for ? 1,000 – ? 5,000, and a further 25% – 33% were for ? 5,000 – ? 10,000. Costs in non-PI cases were relatively modest, and in PI cases around 50% had costs of ? 2,000 or less, 24% had over ? 4,000. Wolf ReformsLord Woolf’s approach to reform was to encourage the early settlement of disputes through a combination of pre-action protocols, active case management by the courts, and cost penalties for parties who unreasonably refused to attempt negotiation or consider ADR. Such evidence as there is indicates that the Woolf reforms are working, to the extent that pre-action protocols are promoting settlement before application is made to the court; most cases are settling earlier, and fewer cases are settling at the door of the court.In fact, most cases are now settled without a hearing. Lord Woolf, Access to Justice (Final Report, July 1996), identified a number of principles which the civil justice system should meet in order to ensure access to justice. The system should: (a) Be just in the results it delivers; (b) Be fair in the way it treats litigants; (c) Offer appropriate procedures at a reasonable cost; (d) Deal with cases with reasonable speed; (e) Be understandable to those who use it; (f) Be responsive to the needs of those who use it; g) Provide as much certainty as the nature of the particular case allows; and (h) Be effective: adequately resourced and organized. The defects Lord Woolf identified in our present system were that it is: (a) Too expensive in that the costs often exceed the value of the claim; (b) Too slow in bringing cases to a conclusion; (c) Too unequal: there is a lack of equality between the powerful, wealthy litigant and the under resourced litigant; (d) Too uncertain: the difficulty of forecasting what litigation will cost and how long it will last induces the fear of the unknown; (e) Incomprehensible to many litigants; f) Too fragmented in the way it is organized since there is no one with clear overall responsibility for the administration of civil justice; and (g) Too adversarial as cases are run by the parties, not by the courts and the rules of court, all too often, are ignored by the parties and not enforced by the court. The Basic Reforms of Woolf A syst em is needed where the courts are responsible for the management of cases. The courts should decide what procedures are suitable for each case; set realistic timetables; and ensure that the procedures and timetables are complied with.Defended cases should be allocated to one of three tracks: (a) An expanded small claims jurisdiction with a financial limit of ? 3,000; (b) A new fast track for straightforward cases up to ? 10,000, with strictly limited procedures, fixed timetables (20-30 weeks to trial) and fixed costs; and (c) A new multi-track for cases above ? 10,000, providing individual hands on management by judicial teams for the heaviest cases, and standard or tailor made directions where these are appropriate.Lord Woolf's Inquiry was also asked to produce a single, simpler procedural code to apply to civil litigation in the High Court and county courts. The Final Report was accompanied by a draft of the general rules which would form the core of the new code. Pros and Cons of wolf reforms * However, costs have increased, or have at least been front-loaded. In particular, in cases where mediation has been attempted and agreement has not been reached, costs are clearly higher for the parties. * Litigation will be avoided wherever possible.People will be encouraged to start court proceedings to resolve disputes only as a last resort, and after using other more appropriate means when available. * Litigation will be less adversarial and more co-operative. There will be an expectation of openness and co-operation between parties from the outset, supported by pre-litigation protocols on disclosure and experts. * Litigation will be less complex. There will be a single set of rules applying to the High Court and the county courts. The rules will be simpler. * The timescale of litigation will be shorter and more certain.All cases will progress to trial in accordance with a timetable set and monitored by the court. * The cost of litigation will be more affordable, more predictable, and more proportionate to the value and complexity of individual cases. There will be fixed costs for cases on the fast track. Estimates of costs for multi-track cases will be published or approved by the court. * Parties of limited financial means will be able to conduct litigation on a more equal footing. Litigants who are not legally represented will be able to get more help from advice services and from the courts. There will be clear lines of judicial and administrative responsibility for the civil justice system. The Head of Civil Justice will have overall responsibility for the civil justice system. * The structure of the courts and the deployment of judges will be designed to meet the needs of litigants. Heavier and more complex civil cases will be concentrated at trial centers which have the resources needed, including specialist judges, to ensure that the work is dealt with effectively. * Judges will be deployed effectively so that they can manage litiga tion in accordance with the new rules and protocols.Judges will be given the training they need to manage cases. * The civil justice system will be responsive to the needs of litigants. Courts will provide advice and assistance to litigants through court based or duty advice ; assistance schemes, especially in courts with substantial levels of debt and housing work. Final conclusion It can be concluded, overall the Reforms were supported by both branches of the legal profession, judiciary and both the lay and the legal press welcomed them. Promoting settlement and avoiding litigation can be the iggest boon to litigants who otherwise when get entangled in the costly and everlasting court procedures suffer a lot. The reforms intended to focus on reduction in cost and delay, however they did not escape criticism and reduction in cost is still considered to be a debatable area. But the reforms were a step in the right direction and were deemed triumphant as they have resulted in justice being accessible to wider proportion of society especially when problem is of small nature and can be quickly and cheaply dealt with in lower courts.Wholistically, the advantages of the Reforms outshine the disadvantages. The reforms were a positive way for the future; still a lot of work needs to be done in a few areas for making timely, inexpensive justice available to the lay man. Reduction in cost of litigation as a consequence of reforms was not fully realized but nonetheless it cannot be said that reforms had a detrimental impact on civil justice overall as timely exchange of information between the parties does promote culture of co-operation and settlement if not always and as a result of the reforms problem of delay in litigation were well catered.There was a move away from the adversarial culture and increase in out of court settlements was seen. It can be concluded that the foundation stone for a better and prosperous litigation culture has been laid, what needs to be do ne now is to rectify the shortcomings of the Woolf reforms and build on the so called revolutionary much needed positive reforms aiming to avoid litigation and promoting timely settlement of disputes, so that parties no longer are faced with the never ending litigation process.Bibliography * http://www. lawteacher. net/english-legal-system/lecture-notes/civil-justice-review. php * Cambridge University Press: 978-0-521-11894-1 – Judging Civil Justice: Hazel Genn: Excerpt * D. Gladwell, ‘Modern Litigation Culture: the first six months of the Civil Justice reforms in England and Wales' 19 Civil Justice Quarterly, 2000 pp. 9-18 * Gary Slapper and David Kelly, The English Legal System 9th edition, Routledge. Cavendish, Chapter 9(The Civil Process), pg 369. * P.

Tectonic Plates and The Plate Tectonics Theory essays

Tectonic Plates and The Plate Tectonics Theory essays For millions of years, tectonic plates have been determinate of changes in the physical face of the earth, and they continue to do so today. These massive plates move underneath the surfaces of the oceans and the continents, producing earthquakes, volcanoes and uplifts. This paper will discuss the composition, movement and history of tectonic plates, the theory of plate tectonics and its history, and tectonic plates affect the surface of the earth today and will continue to do so in the future. The earth is divided into three main layers: the core, the mantle and the crust. The core is further divided into the solid inner core and the liquid outer core. This layer is mostly iron and nickel and is extremely hot. The mantle is divided into the lower and upper mantle and is composed mostly of iron, magnesium, silicon, and oxygen. The outermost layer, which contains all life on earth, is the crust. This layer is rich in oxygen and silicon as well as aluminum, iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, and sodium. It is in between the crust and the mantle that we find tectonic plates. The outermost layers of the earth are divided into two categories based on their physical properties. The asthenosphere is the lower of these categories, composed of clastic or flowing mantle. The upper layer is known as the lithosphere and contains both the top, rigid layer of the mantle and the crust. The lithosphere is what makes up the tectonic plates. The composition of these plates is b ased on their location. Plates under the surface of the ocean are made of mostly of basalt, while continental plates are comprised of rocks such as andesite and granite. It is generally believed that there are 12 plates that make up the earths surface. The majority of these plates are a combination of oceanic and continental lithosphere, while the Nazca, Pacific and Juan de Fuca Plates are made up of mostly oceanic lithosphere. Most of the continents ha...

Confidence Intervals and Confidence Levels in Sociology

Confidence Intervals and Confidence Levels in Sociology A confidence interval is a measure of estimation that is typically used in quantitative sociological research. It is an estimated range of values that is likely to include the population parameter being calculated. For instance, instead of estimating the mean age of a certain population to be a single value like 25.5 years, we could say that the mean age is somewhere between 23 and 28. This confidence interval contains the single value we are estimating, yet it gives us a wider net to be right. When we use confidence intervals to estimate a number ​or population parameter, we can also estimate just how accurate our estimate is. The likelihood that our confidence interval will contain the population parameter is called the confidence level. For example, how confident are we that our confidence interval of 23 – 28 years of age contains the mean age of our population? If this range of ages was calculated with a 95 percent confidence level, we could say that we are 95 percent confident that the mean age of our population is between 23 and 28 years. Or, the chances are 95 out of 100 that the mean age of the population falls between 23 and 28 years. Confidence levels can be constructed for any level of confidence, however, the most commonly used are 90 percent, 95 percent, and 99 percent. The larger the confidence level is, the narrower the confidence interval. For instance, when we used a 95 percent confidence level, our confidence interval was 23 – 28 years of age. If we use a 90 percent confidence level to calculate the confidence level for the mean age of our population, our confidence interval might be 25 – 26 years of age. Conversely, if we use a 99 percent confidence level, our confidence interval might be 21 – 30 years of age. Calculating The Confidence Interval There are four steps to calculating the confidence level for means. Calculate the standard error of the mean.Decide on the level of confidence (i.e. 90 percent, 95 percent, 99 percent, etc.). Then, find the corresponding Z value. This can usually be done with a table in an appendix of a statistics text book. For reference, the Z value for a 95 percent confidence level is 1.96, while the Z value for a 90 percent confidence level is 1.65, and the Z value for a 99 percent confidence level is 2.58.Calculate the confidence interval.*Interpret the results. *The formula for calculating the confidence interval is: CI sample mean /- Z score (standard error of the mean). If we estimate the mean age for our population to be 25.5, we calculate the standard error of the mean to be 1.2, and we choose a 95 percent confidence level (remember, the Z score for this is 1.96), our calculation would look like this: CI 25.5 – 1.96(1.2) 23.1 andCI 25.5 1.96(1.2) 27.9. Thus, our confidence interval is 23.1 to 27.9 years of age. This means that we can be 95 percent confident that the actual mean age of the population is not less than 23.1 year, and is not greater than 27.9. In other words, if we collect a large amount of samples (say, 500) from the population of interest, 95 times out of 100, the true population mean would be included within our computed interval. With a 95 percent confidence level, there is a 5 percent chance that we are wrong. Five times out of 100, the true population mean will not be included in our specified interval. Updated  by Nicki Lisa Cole, Ph.D.

An Outline of Global Climate Change on Earth

An Outline of Global Climate Change on Earth There is no doubt that the accumulating evidence is suggesting that the Earth’s climate is continually changing in direct result because of human activity. The most important of which causes the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere from fossil fuels. A report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated the Earth’s average land and sea surface temperature has increased by 0.6  ± 0.2 degrees Celsius since the middle of the 19th century (â€Å"Climate Change 2014†). The largest parts of change have occurred after 1976. The temperature is not the only thing to change on Earth. The models of precipitation have also changed. The drier regions of Earth are becoming drier, meanwhile other areas are becoming wetter. In the regions where precipitation has surged there has been an unequal boost in the prevalence of the heaviest precipitation occurrences. Furthermore, the IPCC has concluded that if no specif ic actions are taken to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, the Earth’s temperatures will likely rise between 1.4 and 5.8 à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¾ C from 1990 to 2100 (â€Å"Findings of the IPCC†). These forecasts wind speed and precipitation are not as consistent, but they also suggest significant changes. In general, humans are very accustomed to changing climatic conditions that vary on a daily, seasonal, or annual timescale. Increasing evidence suggests that in addition to this natural climate change, average climatic conditions measured over a period of thirty years or longer are also changing a lot more than the natural variations documented in the time periods of decades or centuries. As time is going on the understanding of these causes are becoming more and more understood. Climatologists have compared climate model simulations of the effects of greenhouse gas emissions to that of the observed climate changes of the past. They have also evaluated the possible natural infl uences to include solar and volcanic activity. Climatologists have concluded that there is new and strong evidence that the majority of the global warming observed over the last fifty years is most likely to be attributable to human activities. Global warming has been documented and observed in all continents with the largest temperature changes happening at the middle and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The miniscule amount of climatic change that has already occurred so far has had unmistakable effects on a large variety of natural ecosystems. Over the period 1948 to 2013, the average annual temperature in Canada has warmed by 1.6  °C (relative to the 1961-1990 average), a higher rate of warming than in most other regions of the world (â€Å"Impacts of Climate Change†). There are climate model simulations that have been used to estimate the effects of the Earth’s past, present, and future greenhouse gas emissions on climate changes. These models are based on the data of the heat confining properties of gases released into the atmosphere from man-made and natural sources. Also the measured climatic effects of other natural phenomena is used. The models used by the IPCC have been certified by testing their ability to explain climate changes that already happened in the Earth’s past. Generally, the models can give decent estimates of past patterns only when man-made emissions of non-greenhouse gas air pollutants are included to go with the natural phenomena. This underscores that the models show a good estimate of the climate system, natural fluctuations are important contributors to climatic changes even if they cannot sufficiently explain past trends on their own, and man-made greenhouse gas emissions are a vital contributor to climate patterns and are certainly likely to remain so going forward.

Curriculum Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Curriculum Development - Essay Example The authors focus on the standard of curriculum design for higher education as well as secondary education (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). The objective of Oliva’s model is to analyze the needs of society in which schools are established. The model further aims to enhance the requirements of students and exigencies regarding the subject that will be taught in school. The purpose is to implement and organize the curriculum to establish and formulate the structure by which the course design will be prepared (Oliva, 1992). Wiggins and McTighe states that the profession of teaching is very close to engineering and design. Like the later, teachers too need to be client-centered. The authors believe that the effectiveness of teacher through instruction, assessment, and curriculum, determines the desired learning (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). Oliva’s model shows that teachers choose instructional strategies to use in the classroom with students. Furthermore, the instructors need to use preliminary selection technique for evaluation. At this point, the teachers think ahead and commence to consider ways that will assess the achievements of students (Oliva, 1992). Wiggins and McTighe use the clichà © ‘form follows function’ that describe the idea how the course should be developed around its planned purpose. They state that content focused design is too ambiguous as it does not elucidate the reason of how discussion and reading help students. The authors formulated templates of questions for instructors to develop a lesson (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). In Oliva’s model, very diminutive attention has been given to cognitive construct and development of understanding. The author has consistently focused on identifying and specifying needs of students. However, Wiggins and McTighe explores the concept of understanding and its importance if course designs. Understanding is highly crucial for cognitive construct

Benefits of Assessment Centers for Organizations Research Paper

Benefits of Assessment Centers for Organizations - Research Paper Example This research will begin with the statement that the commonest application of assessment is in measuring management employees’ performance, especially for interpersonal competencies. The assessment centers help determine the specific competencies in an individual employee through a series of techniques and methods that include both individual and group activities. The assessors determine an individual’s performance against other employees. Many analysts affirm that assessment centers are very effective in measurement interpersonal skills. An assessment center puts employees through work-like conditions involving individual and team activities and tests that offer the best simulation of real work situations for monitoring and measurement of key competencies. Assessment centers are critical in determining the competency of employees. Competency is a broad term referring to a set of skills, knowledge, individual behaviors and how they auger with the job specification of th e employee under consideration. The interplay of factors in every employee is critical for the overall success of the organization. In addition, assessment centers help organizations to determine the most important skillsets for the organization with regard to the management. For instance, an employee’s willingness to delegate, works in a team, take risks, and take personal initiative. Assessment centers are also great in selecting employees who can provide the best performance for particular jobs. The organization can therefore choose employees for jobs that are most fitting and improve the organizational performance. An assessment center also aids in developing and identifying fresh potential for the organization’s top supervisory jobs (Boehm, 1982), particularly in cases where other methods fail, given its superior ability to reveal an employee’s interpersonal skills. Finally, an assessment center helps identify competencies needing further development and co nsequently help in appraising of employees, which can help in career development. This report analyzes assessment center as an assessment tool and examines its implementation considerations for an organization. A description of the Assessment Center Approach A number of factors, which articulate its goal, underlie the assessment center approach to measuring organizational performance. For an organization to implement an effective assessment center, it needs to identify the competencies necessary for its future employees (Rupp & Reynolds, 2009). In addition, the management has to come up with means to determine the competencies that the current employees possess. Finally, one of the most vital phases in the overall design of the assessment center is the identification of competencies gap, and the eventual process of developing means of bridging this gap. By identifying gaps in an individual’s set of competencies, the organization can help nurture these skills in employees to i mprove their performance, for instance with regard to knowledge and skills. Implementing an Assessment Center for the Organization A number of factors come into play before an organization can effectively implement an assessment center. First, the organization has to find appropriate and experienced raters to conduct the assessment. According to Coffee (2005), in the industrial settings, 3 to 6 assessors assess 6 to 12 candidates over a period of 3 days. Secondly, the organization has to identify an all-encompassing set of assessment techniques, which ensure that the assessment goes on successfully and comprehensively covers all areas of relevance in the study. Normally, the assessment methods are either written or oral. The written exercises include in-basket

The Effects of Mass Media on Society Research Paper

The Effects of Mass Media on Society - Research Paper Example One of these is video games which are products of man’s quest for excitement and entertainment. In this regard, this essay is written with the objective of determining the effects of video games on society. It would initially start on the origins of video games and rationale for playing video games. The discourse would also present the advantages and disadvantages of video games to find out their implications to the users and to society, as a whole. The exact date for the creation of video games could not be pinpointed due to its reference and interrelationships with people, games, companies and culture which actively influenced it. According to Herman, Horwitz, Kent & Miller (2009), video games started with Ralph Baer’s assignment of creating a television set incorporated with a game. They averred â€Å"it would take another 18 years for his idea to become a reality, and by that time there would be other people to share in the glory, like Willy Higinbotham, who designed an interactive tennis game played on an oscilloscope, and Steve Russell, who programmed a rudimentary space game on a DEC PDP-1 mainframe computer. And then there was also Nolan Bushnell, who played that space game and dreamed of a time when fairground midways would be filled with games powered by computers.† (Herman, Horwitz, Kent & Miller, 2009, par. 1) The golden age in video games was identified as spanning the years 1978 to 1981with the emergence of famous brands synonymous to video games such as Atari, Nintendo, Magnavox, Microvision and Intellivision, among others. (Herman, Horwitz, Kent & Miller, 2009, 3) The evolution continues until brands such as Sega, Game Boy Playstation and Xbox remain imprinted in the minds of millions of patronizers. But what exactly are video games? Allwords (2009) define video game as â€Å"a style of game existing as and controlled by software, usually run by a

UK Taxation System Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

UK Taxation System - Research Paper Example There are certain types of income that do not attract tax. They are benefits, income from tax-exempt accounts and special pensions. Residents of the UK are eligible for tax-free allowance called personal allowance, which is an amount of taxable income which the resident is allowed to earn each year. This allowance is free of tax. For the year 2008-2009, the tax-free amount is fixed at '5,435. If the individual is over the age of sixty-five, this amount is likely to increase. A registered blind person can claim tax-free blind person's allowance. Income tax is applicable on taxable income after the tax-free allowances. Certain deductible reliefs and allowance will reduce the tax bill of an individual. Some of the deductible allowances are married couple allowance, maintenance payment relief, and tax relief on pension, donations to charity based on gift aid or payroll giving. There are some other amounts which can be reduced from the tax bill. They are an allowance that decreases tax in retirement, tax advantages of personal pension and offers to charity (Income Tax, n.d). The revenue-raising methods of the UK government have come to debate with the abolition of 10 percent tax. The 10 percent tax was abolished to simplify the tax system. This is likely to affect the poor household which enjoyed limitations in paying tax. The reduction of the tax rate from 22 to 20 percent and the abolition of 10 percent tax are set to affect people whose annual income is less than '18,500. This initiative has raised argument because five million people who fall under the low earning group is targeted to raise more tax revenues. Simplification of tax is appreciable but the abolition of 10 percent requires identification of people who fall under the category and necessary benefits should be provided to help them. While families without children would be the worst effect, low-income families with children are expected to be in a better position. The tax reform will affect the already high cost of living of poor people (Abolition of 10 p tax, 2008).

Physician Assisted Suicide Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Physician Assisted Suicide - Research Paper Example In this paper, we shall look at this debate from the point of view of those who are for physician-assisted suicide. It is our opinion that physician assisted suicide is the right of the person who requests it so long as this person has a very valid reason why his life should be ended. Physician assisted suicide is not a new occurrence and it has in fact existed for as long as suffering has been a part of human reality. Since time immemorial, physicians have been receiving requests from their patients who are suffering to end it all by helping them to die. It is a fact today that some fifty seven percent of physicians have received a request from their patient to assist them to die in one way or the other. In most of these cases, physicians have declined the requests of their patients and have instead suggested alternatives to this course of action. One of these alternatives is the availability of modern medicine, which can relieve their pain because in the past, before the coming of this medicine, unrelieved physical pain may have been better and the physicians in those times do not seem to have had much choice in the matter. Another alternative would be for a patient to be given access to the best care possible by the government and this would most likely eliminate their desire to have a hastening of their deaths until such a time when their lives end naturally. The debate about the legalization of physician-assisted suicide as a means of ending a patients’ suffering remains controversial to this day and the history of this debate suggests that it is periodically given intense attention especially when the cases have the attention of the media. Because there is always the fear that a physician might misunderstand their patient’s wishes, there is currently very little support for physician-assisted suicide. However, physicians need to know how to respond to a request from their patients because whether they like it or not, the requests will keep o n coming and some cases may be so bad that they will have no other choice other than assisting them to die. As the debate on physician assisted suicide continues, there are two principles, which are agreed upon within the medical circles. The first is that the physician is obliged not only to relieve the pain and suffering of their dying patients, but also to ensure their dignity. The second principle is the fact that a physician must do all in his power to ensure that the competent decision made by their patients to forego treatment that sustains their lives is respected. One of the most important events that took place in this debate happened in 1997 when the United States Supreme Court made a decision concerning it. Firstly, it recognized that there was no right in the federal constitution to physician-assisted suicide, and secondly, it made the affirmation that the legislature at the state level may choose to legalize it. There are several arguments why some people are in favor of physician-assisted suicide among those patients whose suffering cannot be relieved by modern medicine. One of these arguments is that it helps to protect patients who know that they are dying but do not want to suffer deaths that are lingering and painful. Furthermore, it has been argued that physician assisted suicide is in line with respecting the independence of a patient in making decisions concerning

The Effects of Mass Media on Society Research Paper

The Effects of Mass Media on Society - Research Paper Example One of these is video games which are products of man’s quest for excitement and entertainment. In this regard, this essay is written with the objective of determining the effects of video games on society. It would initially start on the origins of video games and rationale for playing video games. The discourse would also present the advantages and disadvantages of video games to find out their implications to the users and to society, as a whole. The exact date for the creation of video games could not be pinpointed due to its reference and interrelationships with people, games, companies and culture which actively influenced it. According to Herman, Horwitz, Kent & Miller (2009), video games started with Ralph Baer’s assignment of creating a television set incorporated with a game. They averred â€Å"it would take another 18 years for his idea to become a reality, and by that time there would be other people to share in the glory, like Willy Higinbotham, who designed an interactive tennis game played on an oscilloscope, and Steve Russell, who programmed a rudimentary space game on a DEC PDP-1 mainframe computer. And then there was also Nolan Bushnell, who played that space game and dreamed of a time when fairground midways would be filled with games powered by computers.† (Herman, Horwitz, Kent & Miller, 2009, par. 1) The golden age in video games was identified as spanning the years 1978 to 1981with the emergence of famous brands synonymous to video games such as Atari, Nintendo, Magnavox, Microvision and Intellivision, among others. (Herman, Horwitz, Kent & Miller, 2009, 3) The evolution continues until brands such as Sega, Game Boy Playstation and Xbox remain imprinted in the minds of millions of patronizers. But what exactly are video games? Allwords (2009) define video game as â€Å"a style of game existing as and controlled by software, usually run by a

Physician Assisted Suicide Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Physician Assisted Suicide - Research Paper Example In this paper, we shall look at this debate from the point of view of those who are for physician-assisted suicide. It is our opinion that physician assisted suicide is the right of the person who requests it so long as this person has a very valid reason why his life should be ended. Physician assisted suicide is not a new occurrence and it has in fact existed for as long as suffering has been a part of human reality. Since time immemorial, physicians have been receiving requests from their patients who are suffering to end it all by helping them to die. It is a fact today that some fifty seven percent of physicians have received a request from their patient to assist them to die in one way or the other. In most of these cases, physicians have declined the requests of their patients and have instead suggested alternatives to this course of action. One of these alternatives is the availability of modern medicine, which can relieve their pain because in the past, before the coming of this medicine, unrelieved physical pain may have been better and the physicians in those times do not seem to have had much choice in the matter. Another alternative would be for a patient to be given access to the best care possible by the government and this would most likely eliminate their desire to have a hastening of their deaths until such a time when their lives end naturally. The debate about the legalization of physician-assisted suicide as a means of ending a patients’ suffering remains controversial to this day and the history of this debate suggests that it is periodically given intense attention especially when the cases have the attention of the media. Because there is always the fear that a physician might misunderstand their patient’s wishes, there is currently very little support for physician-assisted suicide. However, physicians need to know how to respond to a request from their patients because whether they like it or not, the requests will keep o n coming and some cases may be so bad that they will have no other choice other than assisting them to die. As the debate on physician assisted suicide continues, there are two principles, which are agreed upon within the medical circles. The first is that the physician is obliged not only to relieve the pain and suffering of their dying patients, but also to ensure their dignity. The second principle is the fact that a physician must do all in his power to ensure that the competent decision made by their patients to forego treatment that sustains their lives is respected. One of the most important events that took place in this debate happened in 1997 when the United States Supreme Court made a decision concerning it. Firstly, it recognized that there was no right in the federal constitution to physician-assisted suicide, and secondly, it made the affirmation that the legislature at the state level may choose to legalize it. There are several arguments why some people are in favor of physician-assisted suicide among those patients whose suffering cannot be relieved by modern medicine. One of these arguments is that it helps to protect patients who know that they are dying but do not want to suffer deaths that are lingering and painful. Furthermore, it has been argued that physician assisted suicide is in line with respecting the independence of a patient in making decisions concerning

Assets, liabilities, equity Essay Example for Free

Assets, liabilities, equity Essay Accounting, per se, is based on five types of accounts namely: assets, liabilities, equity, income and expense. These account types belong either of the Balance sheet accounts or Income and Expense accounts. Assets, liabiliites, and equity fall under the balance sheet account and the rest goes to the income and expense accoutnts. Definining each, asset is composed of a group of things that an individual or an entity owns. These includes tangible items like car, cash or often stocks (intangible) and others that possess convertible values. On the other hand, liabilities are group of things on which an individual or an entity is indebted to. Loans and mortgages are the common examples of liabilities. Equity, is what we also call net worth an amount that is represented to be the remainder after deducting the liabilities of an individual’s or an entity’s from its group of assets. Meanwhile, income is the same as profit – something that you earn as payment from the time, services, or goods that you offered in exchange of money. Expenses include all those monetaries that were used to acquire the goods or services of someone else. Amongst various accounts in an entity, the stocks swap and replacement costs are the fundamental accounts that change when an entity assimilates to a corporate merger. Stock swap is frequently used in the accounts of a corporate merger since it does not prohibit the shareholders of merging companies to distribute among them the risk that is involved in the merging transaction. Replacement cost, on the other hand is comes in when entities will employ cost in replacing that target company. However, replacment cost can only be true in most cases where an industry does not give services. References Investopedia ULC (2008) Mergers and Acquisitions: Introduction. Retrieved November 17, 2008, from http://www. investopedia. com/university/mergers/default. asp Money Instructor (2005) Basic Accounting Terminology 101. Retrieved November 17, 2008, from http://www. moneyinstructor. com/art/basicaccounting. asp

Basic Principles Of Industrial Automation Engineering Essay

Basic Principles Of Industrial Automation Engineering Essay Industrial automation nowadays is very important especially due to globalization and competition that industries need to deal with. The main aim when applying this system is to increase the production rate without increasing the expenses. For example a certain task that usually needs 3 workers to be done, by introducing automation the same task can now be done by a single robot and maybe one worker just for supervision. Apart from that the quality of product and also the production rate (products per hour) can be improved. The three types of industrial automation are programmable, flexible and fixed automation. Figure 1: Variety vs. Quantity for the 3 types of automation  [1]   Figure 1 shows the difference between the three types of automation. Immediately one can notice that programmable automation allows variation while sacrificing quantity and fixed automation allows large quantities to be produced sacrificing variation. Fixed automation stands in the middle of both. 1.1) Programmable Automation Programmable automation allows reprogramming of the machines to satisfy different sequence of operations. Different products require different process to be done for the manufacturing processes. When a company deals with customised products like for example HVAC units the machines need to be programmed to fit the customers needs. If the customer requires that the HVAC unit needs to be installed in a certain part of the building then the HVACs dimensions need to be customised therefore the machines have to be reprogrammed to satisfy the customers needs. Apart from that, if the HVAC unit is going to be installed in a very cold climate region than the heat exchanger needs to be different than the ones installed in Malta. A company using programmable automation needs to spend a high amount of money to buy the equipment and also needs personnel to program these machines. The personnel need to be trained and also be skilled enough to program the machines in the least time possible. The production rates are lower than the other two types of industrial automation and production is done in batches. As discussed above programmable automation can deal with customised products which means changes in the products are possible.  [2]   1.2) Flexible Automation In flexible automation which is normally used in the automotive industry allows little variation when compared to programmable automation. The advantage is that the production rates are higher. In an automotive industry the same model of a specific car can vary in colour, engine, wheels, interior etc. Therefore this is why the automation needs to be flexible. The same equipment and same programs are used but requires some changeover from one job to another. Automotive companies need to invest quite a lot of money on the machinery but the amount is less than programmable automation. The production is continuous and only little time is lost during changeover. The production rates are lower than fixed automation but as discussed allow some variation unlike fixed automation.  [3]   1.3) Fixed automation A company that produces paper can be considered as fixed automation. In fixed automation the product produced is fixed and only a small tolerance for variation is allowed hence the term fixed. This type of automation usually results in high production rates and large quantities of the product produced. Therefore the money spent on machinery is small when compared to the money earned by the amount of products produced. The major disadvantage as mentioned above is the lack of variation which sometimes can limit the company in producing other products because the equipment design and programs cannot be easily changed.  [4]   2) What is the difference between precision and accuracy regarding measurement? Nowadays on the market many type of sensors exist and also one may choose from a wide variety of brands. One important factor is that the sensor being bought is precise and accurate. If a temperature sensor reads 23oC and the real true value is 25oC then there is an error of 2oC. Therefore this means that the sensor is not accurate which can be crucial on certain type of installations. On the other hand if the temperature sensor reads 23oC and when measured for another couple of times the temperature always varies, than the senor is not precise. http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQU4V1_9G8xceZHmGDAMzBuTuUj2qERMmm5vkZKNxpjlm5KwF_khd970joX Figure 2: Precision vs Accuracy  [5]   Figure 2 shows a diagram which can demonstrate what has been said above. Starting from the right the target shows an example of having a sensor which is neither accurate nor precise. The black dots represent the readings which are far away from the target (not accurate) and they are also far away from each other (not precise). The left target shows a representation of a sensor which is not accurate but precise which is why the readings are far away from the target but close to each other due to precision. The middle target represents an ideal sensor being both accurate and precise. The black dots are in the centre and also next to each other. 3) Strain Gauges a) Explain the principle of strain measurement using strain gauges. Strain gauges are used in sensors to measure force and related parameters such as torque, acceleration, pressure and vibration. A strain gauge has its own electrical resistance which is varied when the device is subjected to strain. Therefore the more strain the more electrical resistance varied which then gives the reading of the current forces on the work piece. The bonded metallic strain gauge is most commonly used. This consists of thin metallic foil fixed in a grid pattern which is bonded to a thin backing (carrier) and then attached to the work piece. When the work piece is subjected to strain then it is transferred to the strain gauge which varies its electrical resistance and can give the reading necessary. b) Give the schematic for most common measurement set-up for this type of measurement. Figure 3 shows the schematic of the most commonly used strain gauge (quarter bridge circuit). For the strain to be measured which includes very small values, an accurate measurement is needed to measure the small changes in resistance. This set up is called a Wheatstone bridge. It consists of four resistive arms with an excitation voltage Vex which is applied across the bridge. When there is a change in resistance in any of the arms shown below, an unbalance is created in the bridge and will result in a nonzero output voltage.  [6]   Figure 3: Schematic set-up of a strain gauge  [7]   c) Explain how sensitivity of such set-up can be increased, and what is a possible solution to compensate for environmental temperature variations. The sensitivity of the set up shown in figure 3 can be further enhanced by using a half bridge circuit and also a full bridge circuit. When using a half bridge circuit (figure 4 left) the sensitivity can be doubled by having two gauges which are active. In this type of set up the output voltage is linear and the output value is double from the one shown in figure 3. Figure 4: Half bridge (left) Full bridge Wheatstone circuit  [8]   By using a full bridge circuit as shown in figure 4 right hand side the sensitivity can be further enhanced by having all four arms active. Two gauges can be mounted in tension and the other two can be mounted in compression as shown in figure 5.  [9]   http://www.sensorland.com/Images/SG-009.gif Figure 5: Diagram showing a full bridge strain gauge circuit  [10]   To compensate for environmental temperature variations a possible solution is to have a configuration where two strain gauges in the bridge are used. One gauge will be the active gauge and the other will be placed transversely to the applied strain which can be called a dummy gauge as shown in figure 6. Figure 6: Using a dummy gauge to reduce temperature affects  [11]   The temperature changes will be the same on both gauges which does not affect the ratio of their resistance and also does not change the voltage output therefore the temperature affects are small.  [12]   4) What are intelligent (smart) sensors? Give general block schematics of usual elements that constitute such a device. Intelligent (smart) sensors are an extension to the traditional sensors. The difference between a normal sensor and intelligent sensor is that a normal sensor detects and sends an unprocessed signal to a system which then identifies the reading whilst an intelligent sensor includes a processor to process the signal. Figure 7: Block diagram of an intelligent sensor structure  [13]   These are systems which usually consist of a series of analogue and digital blocks. Every block has its own function. By using these sensors data can be analysed and then corrected which means no human interface is needed. For example large buildings use smart sensors to control lighting, air conditioning temperatures, doors, switches etc. Some of the functions that intelligent sensors do are self-diagnosis of faults, real-time data processing, communication interface and many more.  [14]   5) Try to list all the tasks and requirements of a hydraulic fluids used in hydraulic installations. Hydraulics is widely used around the world in simple applications like power steering of a car and also high tech applications like in aircrafts where safety measures are very important. By using a pump, other components (DCVs), actuators and a hydraulic fluid mechanical power can be achieved like lifting and pressing. The hydraulic oil which is sued needs to fit the requirement needed for the process to take place. For different applications different type of hydraulic fluids are used. In hard coal mining and forging presses low in flammability fluid must be used due to high risk for temperature therefore synthetic oils are used instead of standard oils. Although different types of fluids are used they all need to perform the same tasks. These tasks are: pressure transfer, lubricating the moving parts, cooling, damping (cushioning) of pressure fluctuations in the system, protection against corrosion, reduce abrasion and signal transmission.  [15]   For the hydraulic fluid to perform the tasks mentioned above the fluid needs to have the lowest possible density, good ageing stability, good viscosity-pressure/ temperature characteristics and many more, air release, non-frothing, resistance to cold, wear and corrosion protection and water separable.  [16]   Nowadays water hydraulics is advancing but the principle tasks mentioned above still need to be done no matter the fluid used. M3) Present and communicate appropriate findings. 6) Shaft power calculation Flow rate = 35dm3/min Pressure rise = 100 bar x 105Pa = 100MPa Overall efficiency = 87% To convert the flow rate from minutes to seconds: Q = 5.833m3/min If we find the fluid power we can then find the shaft power: Therefore now we can find the shaft power: 7) For the given schematics of dual pilot operated check valve locking circuit identify the numbered components and try to describe the circuits operation. 7.1) Components of circuit Filter and check valve (in case of filter blockage fluid passes through the check valve) 7.5kW electric motor Direction of motor and pump Flow meter Constant displacement hydraulic pump with one direction of flow (38 l/min) Pressure gauge 4/3 way directional control valve, mid position closed, spring return (both sides) and operated via solenoid with one active coil. Solenoid with one active coil Pilot line Pilot operated check valve Double acting hydraulic cylinder with double ended piston rod 7.2) Circuit operation description When the electric motor (2) is started the hydraulic pump (5) starts to rotate. Hydraulic oil passes through the filter before entering the hydraulic pump. If the filter is blocked the oil will bypass the filter and pass through the check valve (in section 1). A flow meter (4) and pressure gauge (6) are installed to check the flow and pressure of the hydraulic. With no activation of the solenoids the DCV (7) has its ports open to drain which will cause the pilot lines to rain therefore close the check valves. When both solenoids A1 and B1 are off, the DCV (7) will be in the centered position. In this position both ports are open to the tank which allows the pilot pressure to drop and the pilot operated check valves to close. Therefore the hydraulic cylinder is locked. When solenoid A1 is activated the valve will move to the right and the hydraulic cylinder (11) starts to extend. What happens is pressure is build up in the pilot line that leads to the piston end which opens the check valve (10). The other check valve opens by pump pressure like any other check valve and hydraulic starts to flow. When solenoid B1 (8) is activated the valve will move to the left and the hydraulic cylinder (11) starts to retract. What happens is pressure is build up in the pilot line (9) which opens the other check valve this time. Check valve (10) opens by pump pressure like any other check valve and hydraulic starts to flow. If the DCV (7) is in the center position, and its ports are closed then the check valves will remain open which allow cylinder creep.

The Awakening: America Was Not Ready For Edna Pontellier Essay example

The late nineteenth century was a time of great social, technological, and cultural change for America. Boundaries were rapidly evolving. New theories challenging age-old beliefs were springing up everywhere, such as Darwin's natural selection. This post-Civil War era also gave men and women opportunities to work side-by-side, and in 1848, the first woman's rights conference was held in Seneca Fall, New York. These events leading up to the twentieth century had polished the way for the new, independent woman to be introduced. Women "at all levels of society were active in attempts to better their lot, and the 'New Woman,' the late nineteenth-century equivalent of the 'liberated woman,' was much on the public mind" (Culley 117). Women were finally publicly discussing private matters and gaining on their male counterparts’ socioeconomic status, and in 1899, in the midst of the women's movement, American society seemed ready for Kate Chopin’s newest invention, Edna Pontellier. Madame Edna Pontellier, wife of wealthy and much respected Leonce Pontellier, had the perfect life. Vacationing in Grand Isle, living in a mansion, raising her two boys, Edna seemed untroubled and well cared for. But one cannot see another’s private distresses from the outside. Entrapped by the sequestering tomb of the mindsets of her time and starved for freedom and expression, Edna was willing to give up her life to break free. Because of these traits, Edna exemplified the ideal New Woman. She had freedom of choice, courage, passion, and was fearless. Edna Pontellier was the role model for women striving for the same social ideals; they wanted to be her. All this, and Chopin’s ethos with her well written plethora of short stories and her prospero... ..., 2002. p1-237. Seyersted, Per. Kate Chopin A Critical Biography. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 1994. Print. Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Dennis Poupard. Vol. 14. Detroit: Gale Research, 1984. p55-84. Buhle, Mari Jo. Women and American Socialism, 1870-1920. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1981.†¨ Culley, Margaret, ed. The Awakening: An Authoritative Text Context Criticism. New York: Norton, 1976. Koloski, Bernard, ed. Preface. Approaches to Teaching Chopin's The Awakening. By Koloski. New York: MLA, 1988. Robinson, Lillian. "Treason Our Text: Feminist Challenges to the Literary Canon." Falling into Theory: Conflicting Views on Reading Literature. ed. David H. Richter. Boston: Bedford, 1994. Seyersted, Per. A Kate Chopin Miscellany. Natchitoches: Northwestern State UP, 1979. Toth, Emily. Kate Chopin. New York: Morrow, 1990.

Miss Caroline?s First Day Essay -- essays research papers

Miss Caroline’s First Day It was the first day of school for many in Maycomb, including myself. I had just moved from a college in Winston Country. Almost 30 years have past since that day in Maycomb when I first saw the school I was to be teaching at. The classroom smelt stale after being closed up for the whole summer, as I met my students who I would teach for the next year. The one child I remember most had a trail of dirty footprints leading to his desk. The little horror looked like he was straight from the pig pen. After a hectic morning, the children were coming inside from the playground. The filthy child I noticed in the morning, walked past. He smelled of farmyard animals. I can still recall his stench now some 30 years on. I was fascinated by the filthiness of his hands which were the colour of the earth, which had so distracted me that I didn’t even notice a massive insect which ambushed me from his head of grimy hair. â€Å"It’s alive!† I exclaimed with horror. The children rushed to my attention, one child shut the door so we could swiftly execute the creature. The children fired a million questions at me about the creature’s whereabouts, but all I could do it unsteadily point at the unclean boy with grimy hair. â€Å"You mean him ma’am? Yes, he’s alive,† only something a child could say. I told him about the insect and how it crawled out of the boy’s hair. The boy seamed to find it amusing that I was scared of the creature they called a cootie. He assured me that there...

If I Were President Essay

If I were president, I would focus on the central issue that will carry this country into the future: education. Education is the reason we are living in such an advanced time. We have touch screen, motion activated, voice command, and all these amazing things and all we have to thank is education. It has been our roots and rocks for years, and should be for many more to reach our high point. Education, although a long-term investment, will benefit this nation better than bailouts, mandatory health care coverage for children, investment in new energy sources, or the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Although it appears that there are more important, situations that the United States is facing now, the fact is that with an increase in education comes a decrease in these problems in the future. Without education, society will never understand the effects of drugs, the difference between religions, the importance of financial security for emergencies, the requirement for energy independence, or the need for health insurance. Education gives Americans higher wages, job flexibility and security, and growth in American ingenuity; however, education also gives one piece for prosperity that neither a government handout or an energy efficient car can bring, hope. One learns that with education come endless opportunities in all aspects. Throughout the world, education has brought hope for people. A chance for education brought hope to the young Afghan girl who finally learned to read. Education is one of few things that people can carry with them all their lives. Often times, what we learn in school, sticks with us for a long time to come. The need for Education can never be stressed enough! I believe that the more we are able to get children interested in getting their full education earlier in life, more people would be more successful. If we could have strongly educated teachers reaching out to kids and leading them down the path to the right education, I believe more of America would be successful. Had it not been for education, where do you think we’d be today? No phone, no internet, no electricity, no anything. We would live in a completely dead place. We would still be using men to carry stone, math to line pyramids up with the stars, leaves as clothes, and stick and stones to fight wars. I would stress education as much as possible because clearly, it was our past, it’s our present, and it will be out future!

Recruitment and Selection Essay

DISCRIMINATION,SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECIES IN THE SELECTION-RECRUITMENT INTERVIEW Employers always want to have an interview when they want to select new personal in their company. Ofcourse, they want to be sure about new personal about that he or she does suit in their position in the company. Accordingly, interviews are important for their company in that finding right person. Therefore, it is possible to say recruitment and selection forms a core part of the central activities underlying human resource management: namely, the aquisition, development and reward of workers. Essential aspect of the interview, the social interaction occuring between interviewer and interviewee. The thesis of this paper discussing the influences which effect state of affairs during the interview according to Robert Merton’s ‘Self-Fulfilling Prophecy’. Merton is describing self-fulfilling prophecy as a ‘false definition of the situation evoking a new behaviour which makes the original false conception come ‘true’. This specious validity of the self-fulfilling prophecy perpetuates a reign of error.’ We can say that, interviewer’s bias or stereotypes might effect their initial impression about employee, according to Merton’s theory. Giving a spesific example will make it clearer; if interviewer has some stereotypes about black people, when they have interview with one of interviewee who is black, they will behave them according to their bias. Regarding this, firstly pre-interview information on the interviewee will effect interviewer’s pre-interview evaluation of the interviewee’s qualifications; secondly, first step will effect interviewer’s perception of the interviewee’s performance in the interview, then second step will effect interviewer’s post-interview evaluation of the interviewee’s qualifications; finally it will effect interviewer’s last decision on the interviewee. Consequently, it is possible to say having some bias or stereotypes cause of discrimination during the  interviews. Several studies have provided indirect support of the proposition, although they do not constitute direct test of the effects of pre-interview decisions. For instance, interviewers appear to decide on whether to hire or reject applicants before the end of the interview. The findings, however, are somewhat mixed as to just how early they make their decisions. (Springbett, 1958) Springbett (1958) found that 88 percent of the post-interview evaluations of the applicants could be predicted succesfully from pre-interview evaluation of the candidates based on their applications. Huguenard, Sager, and Ferguson (1970) manipulated the interviewer’s pre-interview impressions by providing bogus feedback from personality tests that the interviewee was either warm or cold. Regardless of whether the interview was 10,20, or 30 minutes in length, the interviewers describe the interviewees with words that were consistent with pre-interview set. The sum up, the self-fulfilling prophecy can be used for examine the discrimination in pre-interview step and having stereotypes effects all steps druing the interview. The laws prohibiting discrimination on grounds of sex, race, disability, sexual orientation and religion expressly outlaw discrimination in the process of recruitment and selection.(Daniels K., Macdonal L., 2005) Effective recruitment requires an objective, systematic and planned approach if unlawful discrimination is to be avoided. Also it is important to avoid discrimination during the recruitment process. This not only is a legal requirement, but also gives employers the best chance of getting the right person for the job. The review of articles say us, interviewer might behave to interviewee according to his or her ideas from pre-interview step, during the interview. With an example we can make it clearer, differences between amount of men employers and women employers might be result of discrimination on pre-interview step. If interviewer believe that women should take care of children at home, when interviewer has interview with a woman, he will behave to interviewee according to this idea. Interviewer might not recruit a woman for job because of concerns that she might want to start a family and she might want to have children. Also, according to self-fulfilling prophecy, when women experienced that situation more than once they might be convinced to stay at home and work in less-cost  jobs. REFERENCES Daniels, K., & Macdonal, L.Equality, Diversity and Discrimination, chapter 5 CIPD, 2005 Huguenard, J. M., &Sager, E. B., &Ferguson, L. W. Interview time, inerview set, and interview outcome. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1970. Merton, R., Social Theory and Social Structure. Glencoe, 3: pp. 193-210. The Free Press, 1957 Springbett, B. M. Factors affecting the final decision in the employment interview. Canadian Journal off Psychology, 1958

12 Hour Shifts in Nursing

7 October 2011 Effects on Nurses Working Long Hours Patients in a hospital and/or healthcare facilities have to be cared for all day and all night, everyday of the week by nurses. The usual way to fulfill this need is to divide up the day into three 8-hour shifts. Different shifts have been put into place to help improve nurse satisfaction, decrease the nursing shortage and save the hospital money. The 24-hour day is made up of two 12-hour shifts; 12 hours in the day and 12 hours at night. There has been quite an ongoing debate over the years regarding this issue of nurses working over 8 hours in a single day. Many people, such as hospital nursing administrators, have reason to believe that working long hour shifts causes more errors in the workplace due to fatigue and irregular sleep schedules. Along with these reasons and other beliefs, 12-hour shifts in nursing should be revoked. The risks outweigh the benefits for extended hour shifts in hospitals and/or healthcare facilities, for both the patients and nurses. Nurses who work 12 or more hours in a single shift put at risk the health of themselves along with the health of the patients who they are treating. Working extended shifts causes fatigue, stress and lack of productivity. Errors are most common in nurses who are fatigued from working long and grueling hours. It is estimated 1. 3 million health care errors occur each year and of those errors 48,000 to 98,000 result in patient deaths. Many of these errors lead to malpractice suits and thousands of dollars lost (Keller, 497). This proves that working long hours in a health care environment will make nurses more prone to making error that may lead to patient death. Patient death is what the hospital and faculty members are trying to avoid, revoking long hour shifts seems like a proper way to start. As for the health of the nurse, nurses who work long hours are affecting their health in many ways. Some health problems that may occur in nurses are sleep problems, listlessness, and unable to think clearly. According to The American Heart Association, shift workers are inclined to drink more caffeinated beverages such as, coffee and energy drinks, smoke, and exercise less often. Along with these problems, working shifts and extended hours interfere with the body’s natural circadian rhythm, especially if working night shift. Human beings are designed to work during the daylight, not at night. â€Å"Symptoms of fatigue can include muscle weakness, lethargy, inability to think clearly or concentrate, listlessness, decreased cognitive function, anxiety, and exhaustion† (Keller, 499). This would not be acceptable for the high demands of nursing. Nurses need to be able to think clearly and stay sharp to make flash decisions incase the patients health rapidly decreases. If they are tired, they may lose this capability. Nurses also have to be able to work in high-pressure situations. If anxiety were a symptom of fatigue, this would jeopardize both the nurses and the patients. The nurse may lose her job for working while fatigued, and the patient may lose their life for not having proper care. Todays nurses would most likely oppose this argument. Most of todays nurses work long 12-hour shifts and favor them than five eight-hour shifts. They prefer working three 12-hour shifts, and then having four days off in a week. Nurses who work this shift can take a couple vacation days or sick days and be off for weeks at a time. They believe that working these long hour shifts do not affect their ability to care for patients, because they can drink coffee or soda and can take a nap on their lunch breaks. This argument may seem plausible, but reality is that these are only temporary fixes and may feel even more exhausted than before. In addition, during the four days they have off, they may feel weak and dazed so they will not be able to work a second part-time job if wanted or be with their loved-ones. After working that many hours in such a short period of time, they would need those four days off to compensate for the hard work they just endured. Health care administrators argue that having only two shifts a day (day and night) will help improve patient care because there would only be two nurses who would take care of a patient during a 24-hour shift. But still, it takes more hired nurses to fill a weeks schedule to accommodate each 12 hour shift is covered because a nurse can only work so many hours in a week. Annette Richardson claims that nurses who work extended hour shifts will be less productive during the last 2 to 3 hours of their shift. Signs of nurses being unproductive are; if he/she is taking a longer time to be with a patient than necessary, not completing patient charts and not being thorough on reports (Carson, 830). Nursing administration is there to help make patients and nurses happy and healthy. Health care administration wants the most work productivity as possible, and with having the last 3 hours of a nurses shift being unproductive will diminish that goal. Studies have shown that the most productive work schedule is working an eight-hour shift because it has the least number of errors due to workers fatigue and exhaustion. Nurses who also work long hour shifts may experience work ‘burnout’. A Burnout is a form of chronic stress related to ones job. Burnout occur most frequently in nurses who work long hours in high stress areas, such as critical care, oncology, or burn units. Symptoms of burnouts include fatigue, frequent colds, headaches, and insomnia. Mental symptoms may include decreased ability to solve problems and unwillingness to face problems and change. Nurses who suffer from burnout may quit their job or change jobs outside of the nursing profession. This causes shortages, which is currently a big issue in todays world. Not enough people are interested in the nursing career because of the high burnout rate. Linda Wilson was burning out because she worked the 3pm to 11pm shift in the critical care unit. The hospital was understaffed and had a lot of overtime. She barely got five hours a sleep a night (Ellis, 599). This proves that working too many extended hours a week with not enough sleep will cause burnout that leads to lost jobs. Lost jobs makes the shortage of nurses even higher and affecting patient care by not having enough nurses necessary to provide proper care and support to their patient during their stay. Overall, long hour shifts in nursing may have its pluses such as, a four-day weekend to be home with their loved-ones, but it also has its negative effects. Extended shifts may causes nurses to make errors while working from a lack of sleep and fatigue. This may end up in patient death or malpractice, which is the opposite of what nurses, and administrators are there to do. 12-hour days will eventually cause harm to him/herself because our bodies are not meant to work long and grueling hours because fatigue disrupts their ability to think clearly and quickly and may cause stress. With all of these going against them, they might get burned out and decide to quit or change jobs. An abundance of burnouts will create a larger nursing shortage than there already is, making the whole situation worse. I believe working 8-hours a day with three total shifts to make up a 24 hour day is the best way for both the nurses and the patients sake. It will reduce the amount of errors made do to fatigue and it will increase productivity in the workplace because nurses would not be affected by exhaustion. Works Cited