IAS 18 Revenue Recognition

Introduction This assignment features the recognition and measurement of revenue depending on the source of revenue in accordance with the provisions of International Accounting Standards (IAS) 18 Revenue. I researched the topic and defined the special purposes of the assignment: first of all, it is important to know the main concepts of IAS 18, also to learn the rules by using this particular regulatory framework, and to get knowledge about writing the report at all. The Report To: Managing DirectorFrom: Student A Regarding: IAS 18 Date: 3/11/2011 Introduction to the Report The Conference on International Accounting Standard (IAS) 18 Revenue was held to introduce the concepts of the regulatory framework of financial reporting and to represent the given information in convenient use of practice. The objective of IAS 18 is to prescribe the accounting treatment for revenue arising from certain types of transaction and events (Summaries of International Financial Reporting Standards, 20 01). Key definitionAccording to International Accounting Standard Committee (IASC) the Framework Revenue is income that arises in the course of ordinary activities of an enterprise and is referred to by a variety of different names including sales, fees, interest, dividends and royalties (IASC, 2000). So revenue is one of the most important indicators of accounting. It is a key factor of the profit, its assessment helps to build many financial indicators on the profitability of the activities of the organization, as well as return on investment.A key issue when recording revenue is to define the moment of its recognition. Revenue is recognized if it is likely that the organization will receive economic benefits in the future, and these benefits can be reliably measured. IAS 18 specifies conditions where these criteria are met and therefore the revenue recognizes. This standard also provides practical advice on the application of those criteria. Measurement of Revenue In accordance w ith IAS 18 revenue is usually determined by agreement between the supplier and the customer or user of the asset.This means that it is measured at fair value consideration, which the company has received or receivable; trade discounts and volume rebates provided by the enterprise are taken into the amount. The standard defines fair value as â€Å"the amount for which an asset could be exchanged, or a liability settled, between knowledgeable, willing parties in an arm’s length transaction†. (IASC, 2000) As the fair value is often expressed in monetary terms, the revenue will be the amount that the company has received or receivable. This problem occurs when the incoming payment is deferred.In this case the present value of the payment will be less than its face value. So IAS 18 introduced the following requirement: the company must be discounting. In such circumstances all future receipts should be discounted using the imputed interest rate. The second problem in recogn izing the revenue arises in cases when the company offers its clients discounts for fast calculation. To comply with the requirements of IAS 18, discounts for fast payment should be measured at the time of the sale and deduct from the revenue.In cases when there is an exchange for goods or services similar in nature, cost of revenue does not arise. When exchanging a variety of goods, revenue is measured at fair value of the goods or services received, minus the amount transferred to cash or cash equivalents. Revenue recognition Revenue is recognized with regard to the certain points: the convincing evidence of an agreement with a customer, the delivering goods and the rendering of services. Sale of goodsThere are following criteria to recognize revenue from the sale of goods: * Significant risks and rewards associated with ownership of the goods passed from the seller to the buyer; * The company no longer participates in the management of the property, sold goods and it does not hav e control over them; * The amount of revenue can be reliably assessed; * Costs that should be suffered relating to a transaction can be measured reliably; * There will be probable economic benefits for the enterprise as a result of this operation. Rendering of servicesWhen the outcome of a transaction involving the rendering of services can be reliably estimated, revenue from the sale of services is based on the level of completion of the transaction at the balance sheet date. The outcome of a transaction can be measured reliably when: * The amount of the transaction can be reliably assessed; * There will be probability to get economic benefits for the enterprise as a result of this operation; * Level of completion of the transaction at the balance sheet date can be assessed; * Costs that should be suffered relating to a transaction can be measured reliably.Revenue from the provision of goods and all services is only recognized when the amounts to be recognized are fixed or determin able, and collectability is reasonably assured (Elliot B. , Elliot J. , 2007) Interest, royalties and dividends IAS 18 considers the accounting procedure of potential components of revenue organization primarily from transactions involving the sale of goods, rendering of services, as well as through other organizations or individuals property of the reporting organization, giving interest, dividends or royalties.If the probability of the economic benefits for the enterprise exists and the amount of revenue can be measured reliably, income in the form of interest, royalties and dividends are recorded as follows: * Interest (fees that are levied for the use of cash and cash equivalents or amounts owed) should be recognized on a temporary basis, which is proportional to the effective yield of the asset; * Dividends (profit-sharing between the owners of the share capital in proportion to their participation in the capital of a particular class) should be recognized when the shareholders have the right to receive payment; * Royalties (fees for the use of fixed assets such as patents, trademarks, copyrights and computer software payments) should be recognized on an accrual basis according to the content of the relevant treaty. Disclosure requirements IAS 18 contains certain disclosure requirements because it is important to use disclosures to get the decision-useful information about an entity’s arrangements with customers.In the income statement, as well as in the financial statements should be disclosed the following information: a. The amount of each substantive article of the revenue received from the sale of goods, services, as well as the amount of interest, royalties and dividends; b. The amount of revenue arose from exchanges of goods or services; c. The methods used to designate the quantitative measures for the level of completion of the transactions in rendering of services. The disclosure requirements provide sufficient information to users of an entity’s financial statements about the changes in circumstances affecting those performance obligations (International Accounting Standards Board, 2008). Example of Revenue On 1/04/2010 Leather Ltd. eceived total subscriptions of â‚ ¬480,000. So as the result, the company is obliged to provide 24 monthly publications of the magazine. Dr Bank 480,000 Cr Deferred Income account 480,000 On 31/03/ 2011 the company has produced and sent out only 6 of the 24 publications, and the total cost of producing the 24 publications is â‚ ¬180,000. The average cost of each publication is the same amount. That means each publication cost 7,500 (â‚ ¬180,000/24). Consequently, the cost of production 6 publications is â‚ ¬45,000 (â‚ ¬7,500*6). For one year, from 1/04/2010 to 31/3/2011, company produced 6 publications. Therefore, to produce all 24 publications, the company should complete the order in 4 years.Thus, each year Leather Ltd. will earn â‚ ¬120,000 (â‚ ¬480,000/4) selling 6 publications. The organization will receive economic benefits in the future, and these benefits can be measured reliably. So 31/3/2011 revenue of the company is â‚ ¬120,000. Dr Deferred Income account 120,000 Cr Sales account 120,000 Income Statement of Leather Ltd. for the year ended 31st March 2011 Sales 120,000 Cost of production 45,000 Gross profit 75,000 Conclusion of the Report Revenue recognition criteria provided in IAS 18 â€Å"Revenue† should normally be applied to each operation separately.However, in certain circumstances, they must be applied to individual elements of a transaction in order to correctly reflect the sources of revenue. At the same time, on the contrary, recognition criteria can be applied simultaneously to two or more operations when their commercial effect cannot be determined without considering the operations as a whole. The provided conference helps to understand that the general principles of revenue recognition and measurement for financial reporting are extremely essential in the system of accounting rules formed by IAS. Signed: ____________ Conclusion The assignment represents the report that determines the important concepts of the regulatory framework defined by IAS 18 Revenue.While researching the following topic I got useful knowledge about the structure of the report. The assignment gives clear explanations of such terms as â€Å"revenue† and â€Å"fair value†, it also outlines important points of revenue recognition and measurement of the revenue. The assignment covers all information about how to recognize revenue and there is the particular example on revenue recognition. Bibliography ELLIOT, B. , ELLIOT, J. , (2007). Financial Accounting and Reporting. Accounting and reporting on an accrual accounting basis. 11th edition. London: Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd. , p. 26. International Accounting Standards Committee (2000). International Accounting Standards Explained.Accounting fo r revenue and Expenses Revenue. London: Copyright of IASC, p. 321. International Accounting Standards Committee (2000), International Accounting Standards Explained, Accounting for Revenue and Expenses Revenue. London: Copyright of IASC, p 322. Preliminary Views on Revenue Recognition in Contracts with Customer. International Accounting Standards Board, 2008. p. 77 http://www. iasb. org/NR/rdonlyres/0E3D5E00-B961-42F0-BA64-AB1D20BB9FE9/0/DP_PreliminaryViewsRevenueRecognition1208. pdf Accessed: 24 Oct 2011 Summaries of International Financial Reporting Standards. Deloitte, 2001. http://www. iasplus. com/standard/ias18. htm. Accessed: 20 Oct 2011

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four Essay

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is a dystopian novel which presents an exagerated version of a totalitarian regime which not only controlled everything but which also could not be removed by any means. Orwell’s novel drew attention, back in 1949 when the novel was published, upon how this world would look like if a totalitarian regime would truly take over. My aim for this essay is to analyze Orwell’s novel with respect to the marxist elements present in the novel and also to illustrate their impact upon the protagonist’s feelings. Marxism and especially Stalinism are present in Orwell’s novel through certain elements: countinuous surveillance, control of the mind, the cult of personality and a supposed â€Å"equality† between the Party’s members. Isaac Asimov, in his essay Review of 1984, considers Orwell as a writer with not much of an imagination, accusing him of not developing in the novel the actual communist actions which were happening in reality. â€Å"Orwell imagines Great Britain to have gone through a revolution similar to the Russian Revolution and to have gone through all the stages that Soviet development did. He can think of almost no variations on the theme. I believe, though, that Orwell was an extraordinary visionary who pictured a society chained in nothing but governmental controll, a society which cannot be defeated. A communist concept presented in the novel is that of the powerless individual and of the high disregard the Party had for individualism. Everybody must form a group with everybody – this is the recipe for power, according to any communism regime. In 1984, history is continuously rewritten and in this way, the population’s memories are restricted only to what appears in the remaining articles after rewriting; it can be seen as another way of mind control. Winston himself discovers that most of what the Party states is lies and towards the end of the novel, when Oceania suddenly becomes enemies with Eastasia, the country with which it had been allies all along, everybody is forced to conceive that they have â€Å"always been at war with Eastasia†. Ramesh K. writes in his essay Socio-Cultural Matrix in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four that â€Å"history is constantly rewritten to suit the current goals of the Party. Only the destruction of human memory will make it possible. Hence the Ministry of Truth (Minitru) modifies history perpetually to the tune of the ideals of the Party†. As a result of the rewriting of history is the loss of memories. Nobody remembers how life looked like â€Å"before† Big Brother, and yet nobody seems to find it as disturbing as Winston does. He barely remembers his family, and he suspects that most of his memories are only a product of his imagination. He has problems recalling maternal love; he sometimes feels guilty for his parents’ disappearance and he constantly regrets his childhood behavior. When regarding history, the only existing proof or better said, evidence, of such distant civilizations, ones before Big Brother, is written in censored books, created by the Party itself, with carefully selected details which attempt to illustrate how life is much better in the year of 1984, with the Ingsoc regime, then before the totalitarian era. Truth is continuously distorted and it can be regarded as close to extinction, since nobody has a correct notion of what is or is not true, anymore. Memories are vague and the ones vivid are imposed, influenced by the Party. The loss of memories the whole society experiences may also be a result of the continuous flow of new information which constantly contradicts the old one and which, in its turn, is recreated over and over again. The process of rewriting history is described in 1984: â€Å"This process of continuous alteration was applied not only to newspapers, but to books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, sound-tracks, cartoons, photographs – to every kind of literature or documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance† (Orwell, Part 1, Chapter 4, p. 1). The cult of personality has a huge influence on Orwell’s dystopia, as on any other totalitarian society. Big Brother has been associated by the critics with Stalin, while his political enemy, another alleged founder of the Party, Emmanuel Goldstein, was seen as the correspondent of Trotsky, Stalin’s enemy in the power struggle from the 1920s. Like Trotsky, Goldstein was deported and excluded from the Party. According to Isaac Asimov, Orwell’s â€Å"enemy was Stalin, and at the time that 1984 was published, Stalin ad ruled the Soviet Union in a ribbreaking bear hug for twenty-five years, had survived a terrible war in which his nation suffered enormous losses and yet was now stronger than ever. To Orwell, it must have seemed that neither time nor fortune could budge Stalin, but that he would live on forever with ever increasing strength. – And that was how Orwell pictured Big Brother†. Big Brother is regarded as immortal, the is no evidence of his actual existence, and even O’Brien hints to the fact that Big Brother is nothing more than the embodiment of the Party. In the fictional book written by Goldstein he states that â€Å"Nobody has ever seen Big Brother. He is a face on the hoardings, a voice on the telescreen. We may be reasonably sure that he will never die, and there is already considerable uncertainty as to when he was born. Big Brother is the guise in which the Party chooses to exhibit itself to the world† (Orwell, Part 2, Chapter 9, p. 262). Big Brother was everywhere: â€Å"On coins, on stamps, on the covers of books, on banners, on posters, and on the wrappings of a cigarette packet – everywhere. Always the eyes watching you and the voice enveloping you. Asleep or awake, working or eating, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or in bed—no escape. Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimetres inside your skull† (Orwell, Part 1, Chapter 2, p. 34). In such a strict society, Winston attempts rebelling against the Party and also falling in love. Once he meets Julia, his double life takes form and he finds himself in a continuous seek for freedom. The relationship between Winston and Julia is, of course, sentenced to permanent influences on behalf of the Party. They attempt to rebell against it but their rebellion is nothing but a narrowed one, with no actual influence upon the Party. In a world where everything, with no exception, has been adapted to completely new rules, where history is continuously modified and the truth is contorsed over and over again, not even love or friendship remain the same. Winston and Julia are supposed to be in love and moreover, they are supposed to be not only friends, but allies in their fight against the system, but in 1984, in this parallel version of totalitarianism Orwell created, friendship and love would always be darkened by the other’s real identity. An example for how love is reduced can be found in the episode when Julia attempts to dress up for Winston, when renting the room above the antiquities shop, a room which does not have a telescreen. She hardly manages to become feminin by using a very bad smelling perfume – which brings about awful memories to Winston – and by wearing ugly – and yet different from the Party’s uniform – clothes. It seems like no one has the ability of being romantic any longer, and even more important, no one has the means of being so. In 1984, no possible love relationship can be imagined and the idea of making love is something strictly forbidden, because making love – and this is something the Party knows very well – makes people happy, and when people are happy, they no longer care for every bad thing that happens in their every day life in the context of a totalitarian society. Julia explained to Winston the Party’s conception: â€Å"When you make love you’re using up energy; and afterwards you feel happy and don’t give a damn for anything. They can’t bear you to feel like that. They want you to be bursting with energy all the time. All this marching up and down and cheering and waving flags is simply sex gone sour. If you’re happy inside yourself, why should you get excited about Big Brother and the Three-Year Plans and the Two Minutes Hate and all the rest of their bloody rot? † (Orwell, Part 2, Chapter 3, p. 167). In the eyes of the Party, there’s no such thing as love or friendship, and even the existing feelings can only be pointed towards Big Brother, the totalitarian leader who can only be seen on the posters all over the city, which show Big Brother’s portrait and a terrifying slogan: â€Å"Big Brother is watching you†. According to Isaac Asimov â€Å"the great Orwellian contribution to future technology is that the television set is two-way, and that the people who are forced to hear and see the television screen can themselves be heard and seen at all times and are under constant supervision even while sleeping or in the bathroom. Hence, the meaning of the phrase ‘Big Brother is watching you’. † Love, as already discussed, is distorted, reduced to physical needs (not even physical pleasure). But, as it is easy to notice, throughout the novel, love remains the Party’s greatest enemy against which they are already fighting through manipulating the children – yet only achieving the destruction of parental love. I consider that children betraying their parents are a symbol and nonetheless, an illustration of what Orwell may have imagined about future generations who will do everything for the Party’s sake – even betray their own mothers and fathers. In my opinion, children when regarded as a symbol, are supposed to â€Å"bring the change into the world†. In 1984 they are the reversed, the opposite version of this concept: children will not change anything, from their point of view, the totalitarian society must and will remain as it is, with few corrections here and there in the history books, when actions and facts begin to contradict with others. â€Å"Nearly all children nowadays were horrible [†¦ ] they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages, and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the Party. On the contrary, they adored the Party and everything connected with it. †¦ ]All their ferocity was turned outwards, against the enemies of the State, against foreigners, traitors, saboteurs, thought-criminals. It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children† (Orwell, Chapter 2, p. 31). As a conclusion, 1984 emphasizes not only on the impact of a totalitarian regime upon the society, but also on its impact upon the individual’s soul, feelings and thoughts. Winston and Julia’s rebellion may be described as an abstract one, because they do not really achieve anything. Oliver Substance, in his essay The Tendency of Man: Nineteen Eighty-Four, states that â€Å"to truly be a rebel, all of one’s actions need to be rebellious, not just the one’s involving the basic human urges. Rebels need plans, or else they end up the same way as every other would-be rebel: in Room 101. † The impact upon the reader has no limit, since the novel leaves so much space for interpretation and continuation. Finally, I would like to end my essay with the following quote from the novel: â€Å"If you can FEEL that staying human is worth while, even when it can’t have any result whatever, you’ve beaten them† (Orwell, Part 2, Chapter 7, p. 210).

Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 17

Leadership - Essay Example In our daily life, we often play the role of a leader whether or not we realize this. In this paper, I have analyzed my own style of leadership that prevails in a particular context. This paper first describes the scenario in which I have analyzed my style of leadership followed by a comprehensive discussion of the identified style of leadership. I used to play in a rock band as a lead guitarist. There were five members in my group. We used to record songs and I used to take active part in that activity. I used to tell my group members my opinions regarding the songs as well as their lyrics. Since our group also made songs, and I have good sense of poetry, I helped my group write the lyrics of the songs. Even now when my friends make a new song and record it, the first person they send its copy for a review and necessary alteration is me. This is because they believe in my abilities as a lyricist and trust me that I would give them honest advice. When I give advice, they change the songs accordingly. In the situation described above in which I help my friends in writing the lyrics of the songs or help them modify the lyrics they have written to make the songs perfect, I play the role of a servant leader. Robert Greenleaf coined the term â€Å"servant leader† in the 1970’s. Servant leader is a person that may not necessarily be formally identified as a leader. When an individual working at any level in an organization leads just by addressing the needs of the team, that person essentially plays the role of a servant leader. In my case, I used to meet the needs of my friends by giving them useful advice regarding their songs. Although by doing so, I helped them yet I was never recognized as a leader perhaps because I was their age and a friend to them. This made me their servant leader. A servant leader resembles a democratic leader in many ways since in such a leadership, the whole team plays a role in the decision-making. In my case, when I

Strategic Analysis Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10000 words

Strategic Analysis - Research Paper Example It also involves reviewing the current mission of the firm along with identifying the strength weakness opportunity and threat of the firm so that it is able to tackle with the external and internal market factors. The next part deals with the strategic plan of the firm where it broadly talks about the opportunity and resources, the mission, vision, objectives of the organization. The dissertation finally ends with a conclusion where it has been stated that the industry tends to have both positive and negative impact from the current economic situation and the organization should adopt an appropriate strategy to overcome its weakness and threats and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Contents Executive Summary 2 Industry Analysis 7 I. Industry Definition 7 II.History 9 III. Industry Forces 10 1.Technological Changes: 10 2.Resource Availability 11 3.Socio Economic Trends 11 4.Government Actions 11 5.Customer Needs 12 IV.Industry Competitive Structure 12 V.Industry Marketing Practices 13 Product 13 Place 14 Promotion 15 Price 16 VI. Industry Wide Threat and Opportunities 17 Threats 17 Opportunities 18 VII.Industry Investment Requirements 19 VIII.Strategic Changes: 20 Necessary Changes for Firms to Consider 20 Investment Needs 21 Capitalizing on Opportunities 21 Minimizing Threats 22 Changes Likely for Next 10 Years 22 Strategic Business (Internal Analysis) 23 I.Stakeholders Identification 23 II.Corporate Culture Evaluation 24 III.Organizational performance 26 IV.Current Mission and Strategic thrust 27 V.Identifying Strategic business Areas 28 VI.Internal Capability Assessment 29 Strength 30 Weakness 31 VII.Analysis of External Environment 32 Porters Five Force 32 PESTEL 34 Threats and Opportunities 35 Opportunities 35 Threats 36 VIII.Strategic Fit 37 Strategic Plan 38 I. Opportunity and Resources 38 Opportunity 38 Resources Needed 38 II. Heart of the Organization 39 Vision 39 Mission 39 Tenets 39 Critical Success Factors 39 III. Goals, Objectives and Fu nction 41 Strategic Goal 41 Strategic Objectives 41 Operating Goals 41 Operating Objectives 41 Functional goals 42 Conclusion 42 References 44 Industry Analysis I. Industry Definition The world of business today is changing at a fast pace. Various macro economic factors like the slowing down of the growth prospects of various emerging markets like India and China, the extended gloomy period of slowdown in the European markets triggered by the financial deadlock evolving out of the Eurozone as well as job cuts in the US are changing the business scenarios for small as well as large business organizations. The consumer needs and demands are also evolving every day and every week due to the pressurized situations built up by the play of multiple macro economic factors. The macro economic factors are in fact influencing and bringing in a change of consumer behavior both in the developing as well as the developed countries. In the Asian countries, especially in India, there was an old co ncept of recycling and repairing goods to save costs. Also, the consumers in the Asian countries, unlike their western counterparts are more interested in the concepts of extracting maximum value for the money invested. An emerging management concept of â€Å"Juggaad† which means taking into account the power of substitutes is slowly beginning to get inculcated in the mindsets of the Western consumers as well.

Difficulties in Basic Non-Syntactic Cognitive Processes Essay

Difficulties in Basic Non-Syntactic Cognitive Processes - Essay Example According to this theory, language acquisition must occur early in life if native-like mastery is to be achieved. After the critical period has passed, the age of acquisition is no longer supposed to have an effect, and native-like performance is no longer achievable. (Birdsong, 2005) Not all L2 data conform to a strict interpretation of Critical Period Hypothesis. The age at which L2 grammatical performance begins to differ from native speakers varies widely from early childhood to late adolescence, depending on the combinations of first and second languages. ( Bialystok and Miller, 199; Mc DONALD, 2000) Recent research has also studied the grammatical performance of native speakers under memory load. Using a grammaticality judgment task, Blackwell and Bates (1995) found native speakers were impaired in their judgment ability on sentences containing agreement violations with a low concurrent memory load and showed impairment on sentences containing omissions and word order errors at a much higher memory load. The compressed speech did not affect the interpretation of active and subject-cleft structures, which follow the normal subject-verb-object word order, but it did impact the interpretation of passives and object-clefts which have non-canonical word order. A.U. Knightly, Jun, and Oh (2002) found that early passive exposure to a language spoken in the home allowed people who then learned the language in adulthood to perform well in this language on phonological measures, but did not help with syntactic mastery. The age of acquisition at which L2 learners are significantly worse than native speakers is earlier if the L1 and L2 are dissimilar than if they have more similarity. (Johnson and Newport, 189 found this age to be 7 for Chinese/English and Korean speakers.)

Anatomy and Physiology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Anatomy and Physiology - Essay Example The sense of touch helps us detect pain and provides a reflex withdrawal that is naturally and unconsciously prepared before conscious awareness of pain is passed on to the brain (Kippers 2-3). Further, the sense of touch allows us to learn about our surroundings by touching and feeling everything around us (Kippers 2-3). The second function of the nervous system is coordination. Coordination is the body’s ability to receive a number of stimuli through the various senses, which are appropriately coordinated and processed thereby allowing us to give a proper reaction to any given circumstances. The feedback or response given by an individual may vary and depend on character, experience, culture, etc. (Kippers 2-3). Last but not the least function of the nervous system is the ability of a person to have conceptual though or intelligence. Every individual is capable of calculation, imagination, abstract reasoning and creativity that make him or her superior than any other mammal (Kippers 2-3). The peripheral nervous system (PNS is made up of all the other parts of the nervous system excluding the brain and the spinal cord which are parts and segments of the central nervous system (CNS) (Noveguide.com 1-3). The peripheral nervous system (PNS) is divided into two main categories which are: 1) the sensory somatic nervous system and 2) the autonomic nervous system (Novelguide.com 1-3). The sensory somatic nervous system serves as the sensory entrance between the environment or surroundings outside the human body and the CNS. The responses made by the body in this part of the PNS are inclined to be conscious (Noveguide.com 1-3). The sensory somatic nervous system is composed of 31 pairs of spinal nerves and 12 pairs of cranial nerves. Other pairs are only for sensory neurons which are mainly engaged in the senses for smell,

International Marketing Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International Marketing Strategies - Essay Example A major issue involves the organization structures that are conducive to global marketing strategy implementation (Appelbaum et al, 1998). While centralization vs. decentralization and product division vs. geographical division have received some discussion in the literature, other dimensions of organizational structure have not been investigated adequately. For example, how a firm’s decision to enter into international joint ventures (or any other modes of foreign market entry) affects its ability to implement a global marketing strategy, and how various knowledge management systems relate to a firm’s ability to implement a global marketing strategy are among important issues to be researched (Bellamy and Graham, 1987). Still another major issue in global marketing is the type of organization cultures that facilitates global marketing strategy implementation (Beyers and Lindahl, 1999). Perhaps the strength of the organization culture is an important variable, or the content of the organization culture is more relevant. Researchers need to develop sound classification schemes for organization cultures, and link them to a firm’s ability to implement a global marketing strategy. Empirical research in this area is particularly scarce. In addition to the aforementioned issues that relate to a firm’s internal organizational resources, research is also needed to identify various industry globalization drivers and the specific mechanisms through which a global marketing strategy can lead to competitive advantages for a firm.

Sex Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sex Education - Essay Example The argument whether sex education should be made mandatory in schools, will be supported along with a short discussion on the kind of the content that should be discussed or taught as part of sex education. Thus, I want to argue that not only should sex education be made mandatory, but it should also be effectively taught keeping in mind, the practical issues and peer pressures teenagers face and thus help students overcome modern personal crisis and ultimately, help in their psychological and social upbringing. The current scenario of sex education in US is not quite encouraging or effective. Either it is taught ineffectively, or it is taught keeping one goal in perspective - to perpetuate abstinence and post-marital sex. Therefore, the first question one has to ask is "What constitutes sex education" Sadly, when one tries to answer this, there arises the conflict between cultural values, how much is enough, and whether sexuality constitute both biological and behavioral science. Does sex education also attempt to explain the relationship between sexuality and media, religion, law, culture, arts and gender I strongly feel that it should. Sexuality constitutes our image of ourselves, determines our orientation and sexual health, and affects our social skills, relationships and sexual behavior. Hence, sex education has a huge responsibility to play, contrary to popular opinion, and this can determine the human development of a child, who is the future citizen of a country. Is the ultimate aim of sex education to stop teenage pregnancy If so, then the role of sex education becomes quite negative and conservative in nature. It then aims to eradicate a social evil and prejudices the child's mind, rather than helping them to take up a stand with the help of their own free will. Any form of force or action is always less effective than something that has been done from the inner self will. This should be the proper aim of sex education. Sometimes sex education becomes a bitter power play and a good instrument in the hands of various political organizations. It is a political tool and US has faced such political tug of war in the field of sex education since the 60's. In Talk about Sex: the Battles over sex education in the United States1, Janice M. Irvine says that, "The efforts of national evangelical organizationsall of which oppose comprehensive sex education, abortion, sexual representation in the media, and gay rights - gained momentum on legislative and policy fronts during Bush's administration" (Irvine, xv). Since the Victorian time the "myth of childhood innocence" has always been upheld and the true picture of childhood and various discourses have been developed to propagate this very form of "truth". The image of the child as sexual being therefore provokes religious, political and social controversies that are rooted in deep moral shame and fear about tarnishing this popular picture of childhood innocenc e by sex talks (Irvine 13, 14). Nevertheless, we are evolving as a society and sex education should provide valuable knowledge keeping in mind the current social crisis that children face - without which a growing child may be exposed to greater exploitations and danger. The physical, emotional and psychological outfall after sex can have

Interview with a Librarian Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Interview with a Librarian - Essay Example In this paper, we try to identify the various functions and duties of the school library media specialist and make an analysis of the various standards of the duties provided in the manuals and the actual duties performed by specialists. We may gather the various duties of a media specialist in an interview one of the school library media specialists. As a first step, let us identify some of the remarkable trends in the school library media center. Unlike the school libraries of the past which were just places to avail some material and books for the assignments and other activities, the idea has now shifted towards the exciting and more beneficial concept of the school library media center. In this system, the access to information and any useful material is much higher and wide variety of format, both printed and electronic, is available which aid the new generation students in their multi layered assignment purpose and the like. The most remarkable advantage of the modern school library media centers is that they serve the students greatly and play a major role in the development of their various aspects and education. These school library media centers act as powerful agents in the various areas connected with student learning and education such as finding, analyzing, evaluating, interpreting, and communicating information and ideas. "It is where students learn to find, analyze, evaluate, interpret and communicate informat ion and ideas--skills they will need as adults to live and work in an information-based society. In addition to serving as independent learning centers, the programs of many centers are directly integrated into the curriculum" (American Association for School Librarians, 2006). The twenty first century school library media centers have various trends that make the system more effective. Before we go on to the discussion about the major duties of school library media specialists in the interview, let us analyze some of the major trends in the system. One most important among the trends is the flexibility in student spaces which gives the students ample space to work and do group activities. Possessing a teaching lab and large instructional area helps the students in various ways in their activities and works. Thus, the trend of more flexibility in student space is an advantageous development as far as the students are concerned. Another major trend in school library media center is the development in visual literacy which has great importance in the student learning activity. The development of modern technique and the growth in the teaching instruments also have proven to affect the modern student learning. Visual aids in teaching have been more extensively used in the modern times. Thus, the awareness about the LCD projectors and other visual aids is found the remarkable characteristic of the modern school library media center. Extended access to the school library media center can be considered yet another major trend in the area. Thus, the working time of the school library media center has been extended as well as the access of the students to the center widened. The time the students spend in the library and the media center has increased extremely. Therefore the usefulness of the libraries to the students

State and Society in 20th Century China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

State and Society in 20th Century China - Essay Example The consumer-centric trading model has also helped China bring down the increasing currency exchange rates, which had caused great uproars in international financial domains, particularly during the recent economic recessions. It may be noted that the Chinese society espoused consumerism with regard to currency exchange rates, amendments in property ownership acts, and de-institutionalisation of political authority over various prefectures. It is quite logical to state that such a shift in socio-economic spheres has not been an easy ride. The erstwhile communist austerity gave way to broader perspectives in all walks of life in China. Most notably, the emerging middle-class segment of the country has been able to find jobs in private sectors, but at the cost of state-owned jobs. This downsizing in state firms has implicit connection with the drooping economic conditions around the world. Standard societal structures in China have faced major challenges in sustaining the development programs the scope of which has been increasing everyday as the country is attracting more and more foreign direct investments in the economic upfront. Urbanization too has posed problems for the otherwise bureaucratic state mechanism to effectively control massive intra-country migrations (Lieberthal). Under these circumstances, China has been the center of global affairs, for better or worse, in the last few years. This paper is going to d iscuss the difficulties faced by the current Chinese leadership in dealing with issues of national interest. The study will also take into consideration how well the Chinese government is adept at handling such issues. Given the sheer geographical vastness of the land, it is quite apparent that the reformist means undertaken by the Chinese political regime face serious societal and economic challenges. Moreover, there is

``The Rise of Silas Lapham by Dean Howells Essay Example for Free

The Rise of Silas Lapham by Dean Howells Essay Argumentative thesis : In Dean Howells The Rise of Silas Lapham, Silas was a man victimized of the Gilded age as seem through the sudden immigration of his family to Boston and his obscure and ambitious attempt of permeating the upper social strata by means of having his daughters marry an elite of the aspired social ground, and having his business on a set back. All of which points a significance in the development of the Gilded age. Introduction The Gilded Age in American history is marked by the growth of industry and wave of immigrants along the territorial arena. Coined by Mark Twain, the age refers to the period of conspicuous luxury yet corrupted beneath. There was a development in railroad industry, and steel and oil production instantly were in great demand during this period. Some men, hence, has been prominently a subject to opportunities of formidable opulence and wealth. To name, there was John D. Rockefeller famed for his oil success and Arnold Carnegie renowned for his steel undertakings. known both as robber barons (people who acquired wealth and fortune through various ruthless business deals). While several people distinctively wore diamonds, there are however still a number of people who clothed rags. And as a consequence of the well-offs immodesty towards the working class of the time, revolts ideal of and accompanied by revenge were instilled upon the urban poors psyche. Point of view of Howells The Rise of Silas Lapham by W.D. Howells portrays the societal views of discrimination during the Gilded era. Furthermore, it highlights the changing roles of women in the context of traditional society, consequently partitioning rights unto feminists. W.D. Howells The Rise of Silas Lapham is a story about the materialist rise of an American man through the establishment of his fortune upon his fathers discovery of a vast amount of mineral grade. The narrative focuses on the societal differences distinctively acknowledged by both newly-rich and old-rich milieu. In addition, the book draws attention to the clashing and shifting of moral and financial profits of the newly-rich and the substantial growth of the old-rich society. The newly-rich social order has managed to rise above the old-rich yet still far less in culture and manners. on the other hand, it was the refinement and social sophistication that the old-rich tries and ventures to maintain. Howells’ protagonists The storys protagonist, Silas, despite being a man of affluence, still happens to possess no social standard typical of the rich ones. He still further finds it difficult to adjust his and his familys lifestyle into the new realm of wealth they have in their newfound place. Seemingly, this first and foremost conflict brought about by his sudden rise in the social class, puts him into a victims shoe during the Gilded age. Consequently, the blinding actuality of luxury and wealth deprives Silas of the notion of morality. Silas Lapham tries to attain such a social standard through the venture of having his two daughters marry an elite class from the Aristocratic family of the Corey. This particular area of the novel, however tracks down Silas fatality as a businessman. Apparently the distinct division or societal strata imposed upon by the time significantly poses the realist and materialist subjugation of Silas Lapham towards the nature and effects of the Gilded age. Archetypal of the Gilded age was the height of economic prowess among the people of America and the relocations to other places by the rich. This immigration flight is paralleled to Silas Laphams immediate acquisition of wealth and his familys resettlement to Boston. Subsequently, such reposition corrupted Silas Lapham of his previous moral obligations as seen on the first chapter of the book.   We quote a passage from the book most which most illustrative,   â€Å"she [mother] was a little frail thing, not bigger than a good-sized intermediate school-girl but she did the whole work of a family of boys, and boarded the hired men besides. Silas’ mother was depicted as frail yet did all the housework alone including taking care of the hired men. And still she managed to have time for church and teach her sons to read the Bible (Howells, 1993). Silas’ mother was good but apparently, the image and picture of a mother did not in anyway affected Silas. This despite the imagery which was highlighted by Howells wherein Silas narrated or viewing her mother kneeling while in a church service and it reminded him of his mother cleaning him up for bed on her knees washing his dirty feet. An non-immutable class Evidently, Silas at a younger age seemed to have a manner of neglect on his mothers moral inculcations while running bare all day and having then the luxury of being fixed decent for bed by his mother. This same attitude exuded by Silas appears to be distinguished upon his sudden fortune. Drowned in luxury, he administered his business in paint and ignored the goodwill of being such a business-oriented individual during the time. Furthermore, Silas Laphams extravagant objective of entering the class-above through the marriage of one of his daughters to Tom Corey, a wealthy Aristocrat in the truest sense, signaled the downfall of his entrepreneurship. This fall is significant also to the constituents of the Gilded Era. Howells’ prose is full of powerful imageries hence the book is not so a discourse but a depiction of the fundamental conflict which gave the Gilded Era its characteristic trait. Thus adversity is a friend but it took away the hope of a social success.   Wealth made the new rich but it is no guarantee of social acceptance. Hence redemption is through failure, a return to the fundamental trait and character.   Manhood to Howells’ Lapham was taken away by prosperity but prosperity was the alpha and the omega of the Gilded Age. Emptiness could be the thematic running through the lines of The Rise of Silas Lapham (Howells, 1993). This part of the book correlates the failure of Silas to belong and be among the respected class in his society. Despite the fat that Silass daughter Penelope, had accepted the marriage proffered by Tom Corey, it is evident that such means of penetrating the upper classs culture still is not enough to sustain his grasp from fortune. This could be due to the fact that the Coreys and Laphams are incongruent in class. Tom Corey could not let go of his class, could not betray class loyalty as if class is something permanent. We could see this on a passage of Howells depicting the feeling of Corey on their basic difference with Lapham. Howells offered an insight to the psyche of the aristocrat. Corey deliberated snubbed Lapham by going into the larger office, a symbolic place unreachable to Lapham.   In this scene, Corey was furious at Lapham for no other reason than culture as this passage described, â€Å"he thought of him the night before in the company of those ladies and gentlemen, and he quivered in resentment of his vulgar, braggart, uncouth nature (Howells, 1993).† The question of class of being born into was delved further by Howell. He explored allegiance to the â€Å"exclusiveness to which he was born and bred, as a man perceives his duty to his country when her rights are invaded (Howells, 1993).† The seeming innocence of Lapham, the simplicity of his social breeding has made the Corey character detest not Lapham personally but what he represents. Thus this passage of Howells depicting such social conflict connected pride, social traditions, suppressed emotions and feelings in the persona of Corey, we quote thus, â€Å"the stings and flashes of his wounded pride, all the social traditions, all the habits of feeling, which he had silenced more and more by force of will during the past months, asserted their natural sway, and he rioted in his contempt of the offensive boor, who was even more offensive in his shame than in his trespass (Howell, 1993).† As a matter of speaking in fact, one can view this attitude of Tom towards Lapham as the truth behind every breed man, that you can take an individual from his class, but you cannot take the class itself from the individual. Rather interrogating the value of his class as Why are there effective markers designated to delineate each class? Tom simply stitched himself up with his classs doctrine to have a delineation or barrier among other classes. This mindset was among the Gilded Ages contribution to American vista and notion of social stratification, unmistakably portrayed in W.D. Howells The Rise of Silas Lapham. As a player in the said age of mental framework, Silas, nevertheless, have been sightless of the potential features and indication of his forthcoming downfall. Because of being at hand with invariable riches, and mentally bolstered to acquire even more, Silas had failed to point the rationalities of his actions. He made his purchased wealth as the object of his desires, thus, casting a victimized light upon the identity of Silas himself. The way it began, hope for change To further apprehend the casualty on Silas Laphams life, we point the fall of his business and his suppression to bankruptcy. Moreover, we can aim at the abrupt shift of control over his household as he turned ill. His wife, Peris has to slot in as to what had befallen the business and run the household herself. This instance indicates the strength cultivation and advancement of women in the society. In general, the Gilded Era has been portrayed by W.D. Howell in his book The Rise of Silas Lapham. The typical recurrences of events, social state of mind and the distinction of classes of the time as participated by Silas in the story envelopes well the idea of how people have geared and approached the materialism of the present time. References Herring, R. (2005-12-05 ). The Business of Marriage in The Rise of Silas Lapham (Publication. Retrieved 20 July 2007: http://locus.cwrl.utexas.edu/herring/node/9 Howells, W. D. (1983). The Rise of Silas Lapham : Penguin Books. THE RISE OF SILAS LAPHAM by William Dean Howells Library of America PB (Publication.: http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Rise-Of-Silas-Lapham-by-William-Dean-Howells-1991_W0QQitemZ160138548936QQihZ006QQcategoryZ377QQcmdZViewItem (Publication. Retrieved 20 July 2007: http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~de271296/SilasLapham.htm (Publication. Retrieved 20 July 2007: http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/gilded (Publication. Retrieved 20 July 2007: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/gilded_age/index.cfm (Publication retrieved 20 July 2007: http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/etext94/silap10.htm (Publication retieved 20 July 2007: http://locus.cwrl.utexas.edu/herring/node/9

Epidemiology of Pancreatic Cancer

Epidemiology of Pancreatic Cancer Introduction Pancreatic cancer is the most lethal and hard to diagnose type of cancer and thus often called the â€Å"silent killer†. Currently, no early detection method and no effective treatment are available for pancreatic cancer. Moreover, out of all patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, 75% will die within the first year where most within 3-6 months (Klein, 2013). While it is practically impossible to tell what person will develop this type of cancer the essential pathophysiology of cancers can help with understanding the origins and reasons for pancreatic cancer development. Like most cancers, pancreatic cancer is caused by damage to DNA leading to its mutation. These mutations can be originated from different sources which can be categorized according to the nature of the occurrence. Three main categories of mutations have been universally recognized: inherited mutation, age-related, carcinogen caused or due to human behavior (Klein, 2013). The outcome of the exposure to one or multiple DNA mutation causes may be the formation of the neoplasms in the pancreatic tissue which may progress to actual pancreatic cancer where initial growth of the tumor is silent; therefore, symptoms are usually a sign of advanced disease. The objective of the present research paper is to highlight the epidemiological facts related to pancreatic cancer (i.e frequency, distribution and determinants of health) and identify the public health authorities’ approaches towards management and control of this devastating health condition. Frequency, Distribution And Determinants of Health According to Canadian Cancer Registry age-standardized incidence rated (ASIR) of pancreatic cancer has been declined for men by 0.46% on the course from 1991 to 2007 with 11.2 case per 100,000 population in 1991 and 10.5 cases in 2007 respectively. However, during the same period of time the ASIR of pancreatic cancer for women per 100,000 population remained steady with a slight fluctuation hovering around 8.5 case. The prevalence rate in United States and Europe has been calculated to be about 99,901 cases before 2012 with an incidence of 37,685 new cases in 2012. Despite the fact that some significant progress in cancer survival rate has been attained the projected 5-year rate of survival remained persistent slightly rising to 5.4% since 1975. Such poor outcomes are mostly due to the fact of the nature of the cancer where more than 80% of the patients presenting with already advanced stage and metastatic aetiology (Klein, 2013). However, despite the poor prognosis of 5 years that has been shared by researches conducted both in US, Europe and Canada the age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) in Canadian men has declined substantially by 0.61 percent since 1992 lingering around 8.9 cases per 100,000 in 2009 (95% confidence interval). With regards to women ASMR the data from Statistics Canada claims the decrease of 0.2% for the same period of time which attests to the stability of rates in women (Zaheer Gallinger, 2013). Determinant of Health The most commonly recognized carcinogen related to pancreatic cancer is cigarettes. Smoking remains the most associated risk to cancer development having odds ratio (OR) of 1.74, 95% confidence interval (CI). Thus, the cessation is the main recommendation being disease specific (Zaheer Gallinger, 2013). Less putative risks associated with this type of cancer include: body mass index (BMI) over 35 (OR of 1.55 and 95% CI) and alcohol consumption of over 6 beverages a day is seen to be associated (OR 1.46, 95% CI) (Borgida et al., 2011). Original Epidemiological Studies Management of pancreatic adenocarcinoma in Ontario, Canada: a population-based study using novel case ascertainment This uses prospective case-control and cross-sectional survey observational study design. The study population is pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PA) patients in Canada with data sources from diagnosed patients of PA between 2003 and 2006 who were identified using electronic pathology reporting (E-path) of the Pathology Information Management System (PIMS). For more information questionnaires were mailed to patients. The main results showed a low participation rate of 26% (351 out of 1325). Nonresponders were mostly over 70 years old and more likely to have had treatment in non-academic centres. While, 54% of responders had a potentially curative operation with 77% being 70 years or younger (p=0.03). Academic centres had higher resection rates and less frequently aborted resections with curative intent. Low rates showed 43% of responders received chemotherapy and 7% participated in clinical trials (Borgida et al., 2011). Diagnosis and management of pancreatic cancer This uses case-control and prospective observational study design. The study population is Canada with data sources from Cochrane for systematic reviews, reference lists from prior studies, Medline, PubMed and Google Scholar using MeSH terms. The main results shows the diagnosis and treatment relevant to the general clinician includes screening via Triphasic abdominal contrast computed tomography is most preferred for diagnosis, smoking cessation as the sole preventative measure, curative potential remains with surgery, adjuvant chemotherapy, and survival benefit from FOLFIRINOX, gemcitabine alone and plus for advanced cases (Zaheer Gallinger, 2013). Identifying people at a high risk of developing pancreatic cancer This uses cohort, case-control and prospective observational study design. The study population is North America with data sources from familial pancreatic cancer registry and other registries (Klein, 2012). The main results was that through relatives of pancreatic cancer patients there has been demonstrated in relation to pancreatic cancer a familial aggregation of 1.5–1.3-fold increased risk, quantified risk of this cancer and other cancers, identification of susceptibility genes in these high risk families and initiation of screening trials (Klein, 2012). Public Health Approaches Electronic Pathology Reporting System Electronic Pathology Reporting System (E-path) is an approach used to identify pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PA) patients across Ontario. It is implemented to provide the fastest source of cancer information. Ontario Cancer Registry uses Pathology Information Management System (PIMS), which relies on E-path. The E-path system is a database used for collecting electronic pathology information from laboratories in Ontario that process tumour specimens. E-path provides reports in a timelier manner than paper-based reports and has shown an increase in report’s completeness. This has great advantage when studying patients that have fast and progressive disease such as PA. In this system, electronic pathology reports come from each laboratory and are queued in a database by health record technicians for on-screen review. This process occur daily in most laboratories and weekly in some low-volume laboratories. If the health record technician see the report findings useful, the report wi ll be coded and consolidated with the OCR database. Reports of particular cancers like PA are filtered and printed by study personnel for review (Borgida et al., 2011). Educational Events and Symposia Organizations such as Pancreatic Cancer Canada host some series educational events for Pancreatic Cancer (PC) patients, their families, relatives, and friends in places across Canada. These events give opportunity for patients learn more about the topics related to pancreatic cancer. Also, there are meetings or conferences held by leaders in the PC field to talk about different topics and bring mutual trust and friendship to survivors and those touched by the disease (Pancreatic Cancer Canada, 2011). Research Established partnerships with leading research hospitals to raise the profile of the disease. Funding is being provided by organization like PCC to continue the fight for cancer (Pancreatic Cancer Canada, 2011). References Borgida, A. E., Ashamalla, S., Wigdan, A-S., Rothenmund, H., Urbach, D., Moore, M., Gallinger, S. (February 2011). Management of pancreatic adenocarcinoma in Ontario, Canada: A population-based study using novel case ascertainment. U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, 54(1), 54-60. doi: 10.1503/cjs.026409 Klein, A. P. (December 6, 2012). Identifying people at a high risk of developing pancreatic cancer. U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, 13(1), 66-74. doi: 10.1038/nrc3420 Pancreatic Cancer Canada. (2011) Educational Events and Symposia. Retrieved from: http://www.pancreaticcancercanada.ca/site/PageNavigator/facingpancreaticcancer_educational_events.html Pancreatic Cancer Canada. (2011) Research. Retrieved from: http://www.pancreaticcancercanada.ca/ site/PageServer?pagename=research_main Zaheer K. S., Gallinger, S. (2013). Diagnosis and management of pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic Cancer Canada. Retrieved from: http://www.pancreaticcancercanada.ca/site/DocServer/Steven_Gallinger_report_April_23_2012.pdf?docID=1361

Natural Language Processing Technology

Natural Language Processing Technology Melchor Abejon Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science devoted to emulating the human mind (Wager, Lee and Glaser, p.305, 2013). Today, one common use of AI is integrated into the Google search engine which can suggest alternative keywords when a user types a misspelled word in a chain of keywords. Another form of AI is the Siri for the iPhone. In the field of healthcare, the rising use of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) in many health care facilities entails the use of innovative technologies that likewise incorporate AI to facilitate the transition from paper-based health records to EHRs. One type of AI technology that can be found in healthcare settings is the Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology. The purpose of this paper is to: Define the Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology. Determine the possible benefits the NLP technology will provide to medical professionals and health organizations. Determine the possible disadvantages that could occur to using the NLP technology. Determine the barriers to using the NLP technology. Definition of NLP Technology Wager, Lee and Glaser (2013) define NLP as a program that takes human language (typed as text or input as voice) and translate it into a standard computer instruction (p.306). It is a fact that majority of the clinical documentations that can be found in healthcare today are unstructured and are buried within EHRs. These unstructured information are faulty and redundant and can obstruct the healthcare industrys goal to establishing an efficient and data- driven clinical decision making. And with the emergence of the NLP technology, the extraction of valuable information can be leveraged to create a more informed clinical decision making to improve the quality of patient care and at the same time reducing the healthcare cost. Benefits of the NLP Technology NLP enables meaningful use. NLP integrated in EHRs can significantly assist health providers to easily capture specified health facts such as vital signs, allergies, smoking status and health problem lists via narrative description or voice. These health facts are difficult and time consuming to capture via the EHR system alone. The capture of specified health facts with the aid of NLP technology enables providers to qualify for incentive payments by the federal government. NLP enables predictive care. A more advanced Clinical Language Understanding (CLU) solution or technology can provide immediate feedback to health providers at the point of dictation whether they are using a mobile phone, digital recorder or PDA.ÂÂ   An example is, when CLU technology is integrated and running in the background of an EHR system, the system can notify a physician for adverse drug reaction during the documentation of prescription for a patient, and it would even recommend an alternative medication treatment for the patient. When NLP is integrated in an EHR system, it can develop opportunities for a more efficient Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI). NLP can assist CDI specialists to quickly perform a comprehensive data mining. Identification of patients for clinical trial enrollment can be accelerated. NLP can assist organizations to quickly identify patients who maybe qualified for immunotherapies and clinical trials and research. NLP technology can help organizations comply with the core measures. Immediate assessment of documentation upon admission, and close monitoring of a patient is made possible with the use of the NLP technology. It also enables quick review of program notes and problem lists. NLP technology can provide real-time patient data. NLP can be used concurrently to monitor treatment of patients during their stay in the hospital. The alerts and reminders generated by NLP can help the providers to monitor their patients to mitigate the risk of acquiring infections. NLP technology enables effective billing system. NLP can improve the documentation process thus alleviating a lot of pain from the billing process for health providers and coders. Disadvantages of the NLP Technology Generic searching can be very difficult. Problem with synonyms. The abundance of synonymy in the medical field can be a problem in the use of NLP. Problem with homographs. Homograph refers to words that are spelled the same but has different meanings. Problem with polysemy. Polysemy refers to a word or phrase with many possible meanings. Ambiguous. Difficulty in identifying all of the possible meaning of words or combination of words. Non-standardized and not very compact. User needs to think of own search terminology and or synonym. Barriers to Using NLP Technology NLP is not a new technology in the field of healthcare, but so far its programs have met with limited success. Before it can reach the expected reliability performance, computer and NLP experts are expected to perform a tremendous job to address the barriers to integrating NLP tools in the clinical care. Though NLP is already embedded in products for some EHR vendors, the unstructured narrative texts and clinical notes still pose a major challenge for computer experts. According to Townsend (2013), a clinical text which is often ungrammatical and consists of bullet point telegraphic phases with limited context and lacking complete sentences poses a major challenge to using NLP. Other barriers to using the NLP technology are the poor standardization of data elements, inadequate policies on data governance and the never ending variation in the programming and designs of EHR systems. Conclusion As computer experts continue to seek refinement of the NLP technology, NLP will continue to deliver an important role in the management of health population and data analytics by extracting valuable health information and making them into actionable data to improve healthcare outcomes. Unstructured data in healthcare will remain a major challenge, but as efforts continue to build a stronger information governance and better standardization of data elements, the future of the NLP technology in the healthcare industry looks promising. References Bonney, S. (2015). Practical applications of NLP in healthcare: Enhancing the value of electronic data. Retrieved February 12, 2017 from http://porterresearch.com/practical-applications-of-nlp-in-healthcare-enhancing-the-value-of-electronic-data/ HealthIT Analytics (n.d.). What is the role of natural language processing in healthcare? Retrieved February 12, 2017 from http://healthitanalytics.com/features/what-is-the-role-of-natural-language-processing-in-healthcare Nadkarni, P., Machado, L.O., and Chapman, W.W. (2011). Natural language processing: An introduction. Retrieved February 12, 2017 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3168328/#b29 Petro, J. ( 2011). Natural language processing in electronic health records. Retrieved February 12,2017 from http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2011/09/natural-language-processing-electronic-health-records.html Townsend, H. (2013). Natural language processing and clinical outcomes: The promise and progress of NLP for improved care. Retrieved February 12, 2017 from http://bok.ahima.org/doc?oid=106198#.WKJo100rKUm Wager, K.A., Lee, F.W., Glaser, J.P. (2013). Healthcare information systems: A practical approach for health care management (3rd ed ). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

Comparing Hurricane Hits England and Blessing :: English Literature

Comparing Hurricane Hits England and Blessing The narrator in Hurricane Hits England is Grace Nichols who was born in the Carrribean and the narrator in Blessing is perhaps a person in a country suffering drought, probably in Central Africa. I know this by the way that she describes the conditions â€Å"‘silver’ crashes to the ground† and â€Å"the sudden rush of fortune† this suggests that water is given value (silver) And she or her friends or family must know and may have experienced these conditions earlier in her life. Hurricane Hits England has seven stanzas of variously numbered lines. They are very short therefore snappy and add impact to the piece. It keeps you drawn to the poem as it does not have long lines which sometimes have less meaning than these short lines in the poem. Blessing has four stanzas of medium length lines. The poem is laid out so that it carries on flowing; like water. Lots of devices attract you to the poem including: sibilance, alteration, personification, metaphors and onomatopoeia. These can appeal to the reader’s five senses and add impact to keep the reader interested in the piece. There are lots of rhetorical questions in Hurricane Hits England, as if the narrator is asking or pleading to Huracan, Oya, Hattie and Shango (Gods of wind, thunder. Hattie: A famous Caribbean hurricane. The language in both poems is very different; Blessing uses lots of devices and techniques to add imagery to the poem. Such as onomatopoeia: â€Å"The small splash† â€Å"Imagine the drip of it† â€Å"Silver crashes to the ground.† Blessing also uses similes â€Å"The skin cracks like a pod† personification â€Å"as the blessing sings† and a few times alliteration â€Å"flow has found† â€Å"sometimes, the sudden rush† â€Å"polished to perfection.† A metaphor is used in the middle of the poem â€Å"silver crashes to the ground† this is a good line as it also includes onomatopoeia. There is also sibilance â€Å"small splash† and some ambiguous lines. There are a few cases of enjambment and lots of cases of imagery in both poems. However, Hurricane Hits England uses a different approach, using carefully crafted pairs of adjectives to create lots of imagery and appeal to the reader’s senses. â€Å"howling ship† â€Å"gathering rage† There is lots of strong adjectives â€Å"reaping, ancestral, crusted, craving† There is also a simile â€Å"falling heavy as whales† Lots of rhetorical questions are asked â€Å"Tell me why you visit an English coast?† â€Å"Even as you short circuit us into further darkness?† What is the meaning of reaping havoc in new places?† These make you wonder who the narrator is talking to. She talks to Gods in the poem

Migraines: That Ache In Your Head Essay -- Biology Essays Research Pap

Migraines: That Ache In Your Head Have you ever had a headache? That pounding pain that would not go away, it was probably a headache, however there is another type of headache that happens to one side of the head and could also cause nausea, sensitivity to light, sound or odors. Also accompanying the migraine is a aura, which could be flashes of light, or temporally lose your vision, in any case it is a visual impairment. (1) Migraines differ from headaches because a migraine is a neurological disease. (2) Many Americans are affected by migraines, it is estimated that eleven to eighteen million people are affected, which most of them are women. Migraines are very disabling as well as having life-threatening outcomes. (2) Now you might be saying to yourself, "Well we know the symptoms of a migraine but what causes migraines?" Well the causes are unknown, since triggers, external forces that cause the migraine to occur, vary from person to person. Triggers range from stress, smells, sights, noises and even things a pe rson eats. (3) However there are many theories on what occurs within the brain to cause the pain and throbbing. One of the theories on what occurs within the brain during migraines is blood vessels increase blood flow, which makes the blood vessels expand. The expansion of the blood vessels triggers nerves within the brain and this nerve activity cause a person to feel pain as well as causes the tissue around the brain to become inflamed. (2) Another theory suggests that the brain stem becomes overly activated which causes the release of chemical messengers. The chemical messengers causes inflammation and pain in the fibers surrounding blood vessels. (4) A similar theory to the one described above sugges... ...there are preventive and management measures a person can use to help their condition. References 1)What is a Migraine Headache? http://www.aan.com/public/aaninfo/migraine.htm 2)Migraines: Myth Vs. Reality http://www.migraines.org/myth/mythreal.htm 3)Migraine Headache http://www.mckinley.uiuc.edu/health-info/dis-cond/headache/migr-hea.html 4)Migraines: Myth & Reality http://www.migraines.org/myth/mythwall.htm 5)Headache- Hope Through Research http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/headache/detail_headache.htm 6)The Pain is in the Brain http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/brynmawr_main?http_rc=400&class=session&sev=temp&type=session&cause=http%3A%2F%2Fweb3.infotrac.galegroup.com%2Fitw%2Finfomark%2F290%2F130%2F47974424w3%2Fpurl%3Drc1_EAIM_0_A59535401%26dyn%3D3!xrn_12_0_A59535401%3Fsw_aep%3Dbrynmawr_main&cont=&msg=No+Session+cookies&sserv=no

The Ethics of Microsoft’s Product Pricing Structure Essay -- Microsoft

The Ethics of Microsoft’s Product Pricing Structure Introduction Microsoft, currently one of the world’s biggest and most influential software companies, was found in 1975 by William Gates and Paul Allen.[1] It quickly positioned itself as a leader in the software community and due to the strength growth of its user base for the Windows operating system and numerous other products, it became both widely popular and widely hated. Many consumers love the suite of products that Microsoft offers because they are easy to use, are widely supported, and have many applications written specifically to for them. On the other hand, there are many who dislike Microsoft, claiming that their policies lead to an uncompetitive market and that their practices are unethical. In recent years many court cases, including a major anti-trust suit have been brought against Microsoft. This paper aims to focus on the issue of Microsoft’s product pricing structure and to discuss the issues that have arisen because of it. There are two different yet similar ethical issues surrounding Microsoft’s product pricing. Within the United States there has been growing concern that because Microsoft controls such a large portion of the market that they are using this to their advantage and to drive prices up. A number of cases have been brought to court and found Microsoft guilty of price fixing, causing them to refund money to consumers in states like California and Iowa. The ethical issue clearly surrounds Microsoft’s motives. Are they driving up prices and simply trying to make more money with no thought to the impact on the community, or are they trying to run a legitimate profit-based business that strives to keep make everyone happier and ... ...p://webspeedreader.com/Articles/Microsoft.htm?Default-04-20-2001> [10] AFP, Microsoft Still in Talks with EU for Possible Compromise, 15 March 2004, [11] InfoTech, Erwin Lemuel G. Oliva, Software Makers: Pricing Standard Worldwide, 2003, 15 March 2004, 14 Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, 2003?, 10 February 2004, [12] University of Central Florida, Barbara Moore’s Slides, Antitrust and Industrial Policy, 2003?, 15 March 2004, [13] Russel Verney, Price Fixing in Plain Sight, 2001, 15 March 2004,

Beginnings

All great things In life start with an even greater beginning. When I was 12 years old I Joined my first competitive swim team; I swam for the downtown Suffolk YMCA. At first I only swam because of all of my friends that swam and I wanted to spend more time with them, but then realized how much more potential I had In swimming. After that moment I started to become more and more dedicated to swimming. I began to realize the true competitive nature of swimming and I liked it. Swimming has become a big part of my life since then and the beginning is the most important part to all good decisions.I first started swimming to be with friends and to make new friends. After we were on the same team we started to challenge each other and race one another to see who was the fastest. That's how I began to see the competitive nature of swimming. Nick Burton and Joey Kauffman are two guys I started racing me near the beginning of my swimming career and I still race them now to get better. My fami ly always supported me when I went to my meets. My brother would be swimming In the same meet, he could be In the next event, but he always took time to cheer for me; Then, I started to do the same for him.My mom Is the only reason could even do swimming, without her I would never have had a ride to any practices. Karen Keenan was my first coach on ODDS; she is the reason I am where I am at today. The first team I ever joined the YMCA cancelled the entire swimming team program. I had a choice put in front of me: stop sports all together, Join ODDS, or find another mediocre swim team. I chose to Join ODDS; ODDS stands for Old Dominion Aquatic Club. Once I joined ODDS I began to practice more and more. I spent more and more and more energy on practices and I could feel myself getting better, so it was equivalent to a new beginning in my eyes.I was more prepared to race on a higher level and I wanted to. After I got my first tastes of true competition, all I wanted was more of It. I be gan to practice harder than I ever had before In order to get to the next level. The next level for me was to get 3 state championship time standards and make It to the high performance group. Once I made t there I did not stop I still wanted to get better and try my hardest; there is always a higher goal. My next goal was to make national standards; I did not stop there, my new goal is to make the US Open and race against the top athletes in this country.In Conclusion, Swimming is one of my greatest achievements; I only made it this far because of how I began in swimming. Beginnings are one of the most important parts of beginning something new, along with Influential people, A lot of dedication, and a strive to do more than you ever have before. Those key factors are the reasons some people get so good at what they do. Just always remember, Beginnings are Important. Beginnings By loggias All great things in life start with an even greater beginning. When I was 12 years more time w ith them, but then realized how much more potential I had in swimming. Supported me when I went to my meets.My brother would be swimming in the same meet, he could be in the next event, but he always took time to cheer for me; Then, I started to do the same for him. My mom is the only reason I could even do swimming, The first team I ever Joined the YMCA cancelled the entire swimming team Aquatic Club. Once I Joined ODDS I began to practice more and more. I spent more After I got my first tastes of true competition, all I wanted was more of it. I began to practice harder than I ever had before in order to get to the next level. The next level for me was to get 3 state championship time standards and make it to the high important.

Pv Trade War Between the Us and China

Introduction International trade and competitive advantages in the costs of production in China have brought numerous opportunities for China’s exports but also generated challenges due to protectionism from its foreign competitors. Consequently, there have been numerous trade cases against China, including anti-dumping, anti-subsidy, in many economic sectors. The very current trade case involving China is the US accusing Chinese manufacturers of dumping photovoltaic (PV) panels in the US market and the Chinese government unfairly subsidizing its own solar industry.In fact, the US’s trade balances in polysilicon products between both the US and China, and the US and the world significantly deficit while China’s polysilicon cells and modules production has increased dramatically (The Kearney Alliance 2012). This essay claims that, the surge in PV exports does not necessarily mean that the Chinese government has subsidized its PV manufacturers illegally, and Chines e solar manufacturers’ low prices do not necessarily imply they are selling their PV products below the cost of production.Importantly, imposing such significant imports tariff is highly likely to undermine not only the bilateral trade between two countries but also long-term benefits of both countries. First, this essay provides an overview of the US-China PV trade case; then explains why China solar industry has been growing dramatically; and finally it analyses what the consequences might be if the US imposes a countervailing and antidumping tariff on China’s PV. BackgroundOn October 2011, seven US-based PV manufacturers headed by SolarWorld Industries America reported China on a double-anti case to US Department of Commerce (DOC) and US International Trade Organization (ITO). The seven manufacturers, which later formed Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing (CASM), accused China for dumping their PV module products to US market and giving a huge amount of expor t subsidy to this industry which in turn causing severe injuries to US PV manufacturers.Several investigations have been carried out by both DOC and ITC for this issue, as the coalition accused China government providing cash grants, heavily discounted resources, huge loans and credits, tax exemption, incentives and rebate and export grant insurance to the industry. In its final determination held on 10 October 2012, DOC proposed 18. 32 per cent to 249. 96 per cent of anti-dumping and 14. 78 per cent to 15. 97 per cent of countervailing duty.Further actions, including issuing or not issuing anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders, will be made after ITC final determination (US DOC 2012). Photovoltaic industry is a new emerging industry as a response to the threat of energy shortage and environmentally-unfriendly fossil fuel-based energy. Governments issued supportive policies, including giving significant account of subsidy considering higher production cost of this new energy i ndustry compared to that of conventional one.In case of China, the country issued a PV market policy in 2007 that included deployment, investment and research and development supports under the scheme of middle and long term program of renewable energy development set by National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) targeting the energy of 300MWp by 2010 and 1. 8 GWp by 2020 of PV cells installed (Grau et al. 2011). This policy and its comparative advantage on labors result in excessive growth of China PV industries, making China’s world market share skyrocketing from 1 per cent in 2001, 5 per cent in 2005 to 50 per cent in 2010.In 2012, four of the top five PV producers are Chinese overtaking US manufacturers which occupy 27 per cent in 2006, decreased to 5 per cent in 2010 of the total world share (The Kearney Alliance 2012). Why has China’s PV grown so big so fast? There are a number of reasons why the PV industry in China has experienced tremendous growth withi n a short span of time. For instance, China produced about 1 per cent of the world’s solar cells in 2001, and by 2010 it produced nearly almost half (The Kearney Alliance 2012).The same rate of growth was achieved by Japan and Germany during their PV industry expansion; however the key difference is it took them twice as long (The Kearney Alliance 2012). First, such fast paced growth would not be possible without assistance from the government. The Chinese government has been providing many different kinds of assistance to the manufacturers to promote the growth of the PV industry in China. The government’s policy to boost the industry came in the form of loans, tax credits and grants.Additionally, some of the resources required for manufacturing of PV cells were subsidized or discounted to encourage manufacturers to produce more. In 2011, the Chinese government initiated a ‘Five-Year Plan’ to induce further growth of the PV industry well into the year 201 5. Second, it is estimated that help from the government allowed some Chinese manufacturers of PV cells to have somewhere between 18-30 per cent cost advantage over their US counterparts (The Kearney Alliance 2012).The government alone is not responsible for the cost advantage enjoyed by the Chinese manufacturers; scale and vertical integration, and labour costs constitute significant part of the cost advantage. The scale and vertical integration of some of the top tier Chinese manufacturers means that they gain cost advantages due economy of scale; larger factories can produce at a lower cost, and additionally they tend to own or control majority of the companies in the supply chain as well as distributions outlets thus allowing them to maximize profit from supply, production and distributions.Moreover, labour costs are relative cheap compared to the US, especially for unskilled labour, where China has approximately 80 per cent labour cost advantage over the US counterparts (The Ke arney Alliance 2012). Third, besides the assistance and cost advantages, some, if not all, Chinese manufacturers tend to offer trade credit, where solar power customers can purchase the panels without having to pay upfront and are given 60 days payment window to complete the deal.This provides tremendous financial benefit to the customers, as they will have some time for installation of the panels without paying upfront for the panels thus the cost of downtime during the installation is not born by the customers. Finally, growth of China’s PV industry is also due to the extreme projected growth of domestic demand. In 2010, Chinese domestic demand for solar power was only 3 per cent of the world’s demand, and by the end 2014 this is expected to increase to 26 per cent (EPIA 2011). Is Chinese government providing illegal subsidies? Are Chinese manufacturers dumping their products on the U.S. market? The US government accuses the Chinese government of providing the export subsidies, which according to WTO rules is illegal. However, the Chinese government claims that the subsidies, grants, loans and discounts given to the manufacturers are intended to promote the solar power industry and make it cost competitive with conventional power sources. It is worth noting that it’s not just Chinese government that provides subsidies, the US also provides substantial subsidies to its solar power industry albeit to a slightly lesser extent and lower amount in dollar terms.For instance, the US government does not provide land grants or discounts, and the total stimulus loan/loan guarantee is only US$1. 3 billion compared to US$30 billion from the Chinese government (Goodrich et al. 2011). The US Department of Commerce accuses Chinese manufacturers of dumping PV cells on the US market. According to the WTO (WTO, 2012), dumping occurs when a company exports a good to foreign market at a price less than the price it normally charges in its domestic market. T he US considers Chinese economy as non-market economy, thus the Chinese domestic price of PV cells cannot be determined directly from the Chinese market.Therefore, third or surrogate country needs to be chosen in order to determine the fair value of Chinese PV cells. The U. S Department of Commerce has chosen Thailand from a list of 6 countries as the surrogate country. This is unlikely to reflect an appropriate normal price for the Chinese PV since the costs of PV production in China is normally lower than those in Thailand. Possible consequences Both sides are currently still waiting for ITC's final determination. If an affirmative determination is made in late November that imports of PV cells from China, no matter being assembled into modules or not, leads to US omestic industry being or is threatened to be materially injured, Commerce will issue the Anti-Dumping and Countervailing duties order. Back when the preliminary determinations was announced earlier this year, in which t he DOC assessed countervailing duties ranging at a lower rate, most Chinese manufacturers breached a sight of relief and continue their business in U. S. as before. However, DOC's final determination assessed significant higher countervailing duties at 14. 78 per cent -15. 24 per cent, comparing to its 2. 9 per cent-4. 3 per cent in the preliminary (US DOC 2012), undoubtedly it will have a severe impact on China's manufacturers and global solar industry. As the subject of DOC and ITC's investigation is PV cells that are manufactured in China, Chinese firms could shift manufacture or directly purchase PV cells from other countries to avoid tariffs on modules made of Chinese cells. An ideal location is Taiwan, which is already a robust solar cell manufacturing market. Although it is 8 per cent higher than using its domestic produced cells, cells made in Taiwan still have a 10-22 per cent cost advantage than the ones in the US (Wesoff 2012).Not to mention its relative closeness to Chin a. However, using PV cells from other countries other than the US and assembles into PV modules is not a proper long-term strategy. The US could also initiate another investigation into Chinese PV modules assembled, using other countries' cells. Thus, this is only a transitional strategy for Chinese manufacturers before China's domestic demand for PV products picks up to ameliorate industry's excessive supply situation. On the other hand, the imposition of high countervailing and anti-dumping duties might also affect the U.S. solar industry. In 2011, manufacturing only contributed 24000, or 24 per cent of the total employment in the solar industry (The Solar Foundation 2011). Punitive tariffs against Chinese cells will lead to a price jump on PV cells and modules in the US market, it causes the cost of solar projects in the US to increase and the implementation and demand for solar products to decline, which ultimately transits into lower employment in other sectors in the PV indust ry. The Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy commissioned a study showing that a 50 er cent tariff will indeed boost employment in the cell and module manufacturing sector. However, this tariff jump would also result in a huge decrease in employment from slowing-down discretionary spending by solar buyers and an overall demand decrease in other sectors in the whole PV industry. The net impact on total employment would be 15 per cent -40 per cent decline in the US PV industry compared to its 2010 numbers (Berkman et al. 2012). This means the resurrection of the US cells and module manufacturers is at the cost of the rest and the vast majority of the US PV industry.Another potential outcome is that Chinese manufacturers could retaliate against imposed tariffs. The US currently still has a huge positive net export of polysilicon and PV manufacturing equipment to China. In 2011, China attributed to around 30 per cent of the US total net exports of polysilicon and 60 per cent of PV capi tal equipment (GTM 2012). To protest against imposed tariffs and duties, Chinese manufactures could ramp up their own production of polysilicon or turn to other countries to fill the gap, effectively cutting out the US firms in the solar supply chain.Conclusion In sum, Governments in most industrial countries including the US and China have been promoting clean energy technology in recent years. Among the world’s solar producers, China’s booming renewable energy industry, especially solar industry has dominated world solar markets and challenges American leadership. President Obama affirmed the US’s concern about clean energy technology: ‘†¦to make sure that we win the competition. I don’t want the new breakthrough technologies and the new manufacturing taking place in China and India’ (Morris et al. 012, p1). Meanwhile the subsidy to energy, including solar industry, has been successful in China (rapidly increase its market share of wor ld polysilicon production), the US policy subsidy on clean energy has not brought any expected result, even failure (i. e. bankruptcy of Solyndra–the California solar firm) (Robert et al. 2010). Trying to protect the domestic solar industry by preventing other country’s polysilicon exports is highly unlikely to be a wise and fair policy.In particular, countervailing and anti-dumping duties would result in a significant decline in exports of polysilicon and PV manufacturing equipment to China as well as a fall in employment. Indeed, China could have several ways rather than bring the case to the WTO in responding to the trade barriers imposed by the US, but what the US needs to consider its long term benefit. The competitive price of Chinese solar as a cheap source of clean energy which potentially enhances the US economic growth, creates jobs for Americans and tackles with climate change.ReferenceBerkman, M, Cameron, L ; Chang, J 2012, ‘The employment impacts of proposed tariffs on Chinese manufactured photovoltaic cells and modules’, The Brattle Group, Washington, D. C. viewed 16 September 2012, . EPIA see European Photovoltaic Industry Association. European Photovoltaic Industry Association 2011, ‘Global market outlook for Photovoltaics until 2015’, viewed 12 Oct 2012, http://www. epia. org/index. php? eID=tx_nawsecuredl;u=0;file=fileadmin/EPIA_docs/publications/epia/EPIA-Global-Market-Outlook-for-Photovoltaics-until-2015. pdf;t=1351601058;hash=65fb67c830a17dc3384646f83c30e104Goodrich, A, James, T ; Woodhouse, M 2011, Solar PV manufacturing cost analysis: US competitiveness in a global industry, Stanford University, viewed 25 Oct 2012, ;lt; http://www. nrel. gov/docs/fy12osti/53938. pdf;gt;. Grau, T, Huo M ; Neuhoff, K 2011, ‘Survey of photovoltaic industries and policies in Germany and China’, Climate Policy Initiative, Berlin. GTM 2012, ‘U. S. Solar Energy Trade Assessment 2011: Trade Flows and Dom estic Content for Solar Energy-Related Goods and Services in the United States’, Greentech Media, Washington, D.C. Morris, AC, Nivola, PS ; Schultze, CL 2012, ‘Clean energy: revisiting the challenges of industrial policy’, The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC. Roberts, MJ, Lassiter, JB ; Nanda, R 2010, ‘US Department of Energy & Recovery Act Funding: bridging the â€Å"Valley of Death† ‘, Harvard Business School. The Solar Foundation 2011, ‘Nation Solar Jobs Census 2011’, viewed 12 October 2012, . The Kearney Alliance, 2012, ‘China solar industry and the US anti-dumping/anti-subsidy case’, China Global Trade.USDOC 2012, ‘Fact sheet: Commerce finds dumping and subsidization of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, whether or not assembled into modules from the People's Republic of China’, Department of Commerce, The United States of America, viewed 15 October 2012, . Wesoff, E 2012, ‘Breaking n ews: Commerce Dept. Chinese solar panel dumping verdict is now in’, Greentech Media, viewed 17 October 2012, . WTO see World Trade Organisation World Trade Organisation 2012, ‘Anti-dumping, subsidies, safeguards: contingencies, etc’, The World Trade Organisation, viewed 10 October 2012, http://www. wto. org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/agrm8_e. htm

Case study of yellow auto company Essay

Kelly and two other westerners working in Japan on the JET program had a dispute with their Japanese supervisor over sick leave. This report aims to analyze the decisions and issues in the case study from a personality and values perspective. The key decisions identified are in relation to recruitment, contract and training. The JET program did not require the ALT candidates to have any knowledge of Japanese. The salaries received by the JET participants were  considered unfair by their Japanese colleagues. The contract received by the JET participants were ambiguous and imprecise. In addition, the Japanese employees in the host institution expected the foreigners to work like the Japanese rather than following the terms of their contract. The program provided pre-departure training for JET participants, but did not provide the same level of training for Japanese employees on how to work with foreigners. Based on Hofstede’s Framework, it is found that the weaknesses of the decisions were mainly due to the differences in values of Japanese and western cultures. Japan is a society with high power distance, extremely high uncertainty avoidance, strong collectivism, strong masculinity and a long-term vision, whereas western societies have almost the opposite values. The seniority-based salary system, lifetime employment, the expectation to conform to social norms, dedication to work, loyalty to the employers and a male-dominated workplace are all features of the Japanese management system that the JET participants were unaware of. It is recommended that the JET program reassess its recruitment policy to include Japanese as a compulsory requirement for candidates, and adjust the salary package to reflect the seniority-based culture. It is also recommended to draft a rigorous contract to avoid any ambiguity. In addition to making the pre-departure training compulsory, Japanese employees should receive the same level of cross-cultural training. Moreover, better Personality-Job fit and Person-Organization fit may be achieved if applicant’s personalities are taken into account in the recruitment process. ​- 7 – 1. INTRODUCTION Kelly, Mark, Andrea and Suzanne, all in their 20’s, were hired by the JET program to work in Japan. During their placement, there was a bitter dispute between them and Mr. Higashi, the supervisor of the foreign JET participants, over sick leave. This report aims to explore the critical  decisions and issues in this case from a personality and values perspective. Firstly, the critical decisions regarding recruitment, contract and training will be analyzed. Secondly, there will be a discussion of the issues in national culture, values and personality. Finally, recommendations will be provided to facilitate future improvement. 2. CRITICAL DECISIONS 2.1 Key Decision 1 – Recruitment The JET program made the decision of hiring native English speakers to assist in foreign language teaching in Japan. The positions of Coordinator for International Relations (CIR) and Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) both required the candidates to have a university degree and an interest in Japan. CIRs were required to have a functional knowledge of Japanese, but ALTs were not required to do so. The above recruitment decision recognized the importance of native-speakers in foreign language teaching and the educational background of the candidates, however, the lack of Japanese language requirement for ALTs was a fundamental flaw in the recruitment decision. This language barrier caused difficulty in communication between the Japanese employees and JET participants. In addition, Mr. Higashi had to act as an interpreter because he was the only person who could speak English. Kelly, Mark, Andrea and Suzanne were young and inexperienced, yet they were paid the same salary as Japanese supervisors in the host institution. According to Adhikari (2005) and Hofstede (1993), Japan has a unique culture in which employees’ salaries are based on seniority rather than position. It is therefore unsurprising that the Japanese employees, all worked for more than 20 years in their career, felt uncomfortable about the salary of the JET participants. 2.2 Key Decision 2 – Contract All the JET participants in the office had a standard North American contract which set out the working hours, number of vacation days and sick leave they were entitled to. However after Kelly, Mark and Suzanne fell ill, they were  forced to use 2 paid vacation days rather than sick leave, which caused a serious tension between the JETs and Mr. Higashi. The strength of the contract was that it stated a set of rules for the JET participants to follow, but the weakness was that it was not rigorously written. Shaules (2008) argues that western contracts are explicit and detailed, whereas Japanese contracts can be flexible and open to interpretation. This cultural difference is reflected in the contract received by the JET participants. The definitions of â€Å"paid leave†, â€Å"paid holidays† and â€Å"special holidays† were ambiguous and they seemed to be used interchangeably within the contract. Section 1 of Article 11 says that the JET participants are entitled to 20 paid holidays, but Section 3 of Article 12 says that the special holidays (including sick leave) are paid holidays. Depending on the interpretation of â€Å"paid holidays† and â€Å"special holidays†, these two clauses either contradict with each other or repeat themselves. Apart from the wording of the contract, the ability to honour the contract was also problematic. Although the JET participants acted within the terms of their contract, their Japanese colleagues still expected them to stay past 5pm on weekdays and work on Saturdays. The contract said that a doctor’s certificate was only required if the JET participants took three or more consecutive days of sick leave, but Mr. Higashi asked Kelly to bring in the note even though she only took 2 day’s sick leave. 2.3 Key Decision 3 – Training The Conference of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR) provided the JET participants with lots of information about working and living in Japan, and offered pre-departure training sessions about life in Japan and its potential problems. The strength of the above decision was that it recognized the cultural differences of Japan and western countries and the challenges faced by those JET participants working in Japan. The weaknesses of the decision were that  it did not make the pre-departure training sessions compulsory, and it did not offer similar training sessions for Japanese employees on the cultural differences and problems of working with westerners. The consequences of the above weaknesses were that Kelly found herself in unfamiliar and difficult situations because she had no experience or knowledge of the Japanese workplace. Had she attended the training sessions, she would have been better prepared for the difficulties of working in another country. Similarly, due to poor knowledge and understanding, the Japanese colleagues disapproved the lack of commitment of the JET participants, and did not know how to deal with them in an effective and harmonious manner. If the Japanese employees had received training on working with westerners, they would have had a better working relationship with the JET participants. 3. ISSUES 3.1 National Cultures and Values The weaknesses of the key decisions discussed in Section 2 mainly rooted from the differences in national cultures and values. Hofstede’s (1980, 1983, 1991, 1993, 2001) Framework for Assessing Cultures provides a theoretical ground for cross cultural management and research. The framework identified five value dimensions of national culture: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, and long/short-term orientation. The GLOBE Framework (House, et al., 2001; House, Javidan and Dorfman, 2002; Javidan, et al., 2005; Robbins and Judge, 2007) further extended Hofstede’s Framework to include assertiveness, in-group collectivism, performance orientation and humane orientation. Because the JET participants in the case study came from Canada, Great Britain and United States, the western cultures and values discussed below will refer to these specific countries. According to Hofstede’s (2001) findings, Japan has a higher power distance than western cultures, although the difference is not significant. However, Japan ranked notably higher in  uncertainty avoidance, collectivism, masculinity and long-term orientation. 3.1.1 Power Distance Japan has a seniority-based promotion and reward management system and a highly hierarchical society in general (Adhikari, 2005; Oishi, et al. 2005; Shaules; 2008). This is mainly influenced by the Confucian values which emphasize hierarchy and harmony. Mr. Higashi acted more like a father than a manager, because in a traditional Confucian family, the father is the head and always at the top of the hierarchy. Unaware of these Japanese values, the JET participants constantly challenged the authority of their supervisors. As a result, the Japanese employees working at the senior level were annoyed that these inexperienced young foreigners were hired to tell them how to do their jobs. Moreover, paying a manager-level salary to these young foreigners were also against the Japanese norm of a seniority-based salary system. 3.1.2 Uncertainty Avoidance Adhikari (2005), Brightman (2005) and Shaules (2008) all agree that Japanese culture expects everyone to conform to social norms and discourages individualism. This confirms the high uncertainty avoidance in Japanese society as claimed by Hofstede. Uncertainty avoidance was the reason why Mr. Higashi insisted to deal with the foreign JETS in the Japanese way. Because Mr. Higashi had lived all his life in Japan, the belief of conforming to social norms was deeply rooted in him. Shaules (2008) asserts that Japanese prefer to resolve conflicts in an indirect and mediated manner, whereas westerners tend to adopt a direct rule-based approach. This explains why the JET participants clearly referred to the contract and tried to resolve the sick leave issue with Mr. Higashi in a direct manner. On the other hand, even though Mr. Higashi was extremely agitated, he still chose to resolve the matter through the accountant rather than clarifying it there and then. 3.1.3 Collectivism Various literature (Adhikari, 2005; Brightman, 2005; Javidan et al., 2005; Lucier et al., 1992; Oishi et al., 2005; Shaules, 2008; Wang et al., 2005) claims that Japan is a highly collective society, which means that the needs of a group are always viewed as more important than individual needs, and  individuals are expected to sacrifice their own needs if there is a conflict between them. On the contrary, western societies tend to encourage individualism (Hofstede, 1991; Javidan et al., 2005). Scholars believe that the strong level of collectivism in Japan is due to the influence of Confucian values, which emphasize group orientation, relationships between individuals and showing respect (Fang, 2003, Wang et al., 2005; Yan, 2004). This explains why Japanese employees are so dedicated to their work and have great loyalty to their employers, whereas the JET participants prefer to use every single day of their holiday and fulfil their personal goals. 3.1.4 Masculinity Japan ranked No.1 in masculinity in Hofstede’s (2001) findings. Women often leave their work to look after the family after getting married, therefore, very few women work at the senior management level in Japan (Adhikari, 2005; Kei et al., 2010). This was the reason why all senior Japanese employees in the JET program were men. This also explains why Mr. Higashi kept asking Kelly to sign up to flower arranging classes or tea ceremony, as these were traditionally considered women’s activities. 3.1.5 Long-term Orientation Japan has a long-term oriented culture whereas western cultures tend to be short-term oriented (Lucier et al., 1992; Fang, 2003). One of the key characteristics of Japanese-style management is lifetime employment (Adhikari, 2005; Lucier et al., 1992). This was why the Japanese employees and supervisors all complained that the JET participants were never long enough to become part of the team, as they viewed the organization as a long-term family. On the other hand, Kelly had a short-term aim to make money, see the other part of the world and improve her Japanese. With this mismatch between the goals of the Japanese and western employees, neither of them could understand each other. 3.2 Personality The Big Five Model identified five factors of personality: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience (Robbins and Judge, 2007; Roccas et al., 2002). It was clear that the JET participants and the Japanese employees had very different personalities. For example, Mark is an introvert who prefers to work alone, whereas most  Japanese employees tend to be extroverts who enjoy social gatherings after work. Mr. Higashi and other Japanese employees are highly conscientious whereas the JET participants are less so. The JET participants have lower emotional stability because they tend to get angry and distressed easily. In order to increase employee job satisfaction and reduce turnover, Holland (1996) and Gardner et al. (2012) promote the theory of Personality-Job fit and Person-Organization fit. This means to fit an individual’s personality with the characteristics of the job and the organization. The JET program should learn from the issues identified in this report and aim to increase the Personality-Job fit and Person-Organization fit in its future recruitment process. 4. CONCLUSION This report analyzed the critical decisions and issues in the case study from a personality and values perspective. The analysis was mainly based on Hofstede’s Framework, together with the Big Five Model, GLOBE Framework and Holland’s Person-Job Fit theory. It has been identified that the weaknesses of the decisions were mainly due to the lack of mutual understanding in culture and values. Different personalities also affected the harmony of the work relationship in this case. The next section will list the recommended actions in order to overcome the weaknesses identified in the analysis. 5. RECOMMENDATIONS The JET program is advised to take the following actions: 1. to introduce Japanese language requirements for all JET participants; 2. to assess the applicants’ personality in order to increase Personality-Job fit and Person-Organization fit; 3. to revise the remuneration package of JET participants so that they receive less salary than the Japanese supervisors; 4. to appoint a lawyer experienced in employment contract to draft a detailed and rigorous contract; 5. to make pre-departure training and orientation a compulsory requirement for JET participants; 6. to provide cross-cultural training to Japanese employees; 7. to consider extending the  maximum term of the JET participants’ contract or even consider offering permanent positions. ​- 7 – REFERENCES Adhikari, D. R. (2005) National Factors and Employment Relations in Japan, Japan Institute of Labour Policy and Training, Tokyo. Available from [accessed: 30/10/2013]. Brightman, J.D. 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