Hepatitis Essays - Healthcare-associated Infections, Hepatitis

Hepatitis Essays - Healthcare-associated Infections, Hepatitis Hepatitis Bibliography Fackelmann, Kathleen. The Hepatitis G Enigma. Science News Apr 13, 1996: 238-239. UMI Company. CD-ROM. Unknown Author. Hepatitis C. MAYO Summer 1993: 7-8. New York State Dept. of Health. Hepatitis A. [Online] Available gopher: hepa.txt at mole.health.state.ny.us, 11-13-96 New York State Dept. of Health. Hepatitis C. [Online] Available gopher: hepa.txt at mole.health.state.ny.us, 11-13-96 Rossi, Lisa. Hepatitis. [Online] Available usenet: upmc.edu/news/hepabg1.htm. Schlepphorst, Richard. October 6,1996. Doctor of Blessing Hospital. [Unpublished Interview]. Quincy, Il. Appendix A Schlepphorst, Richard. October 6, 1996. Doctor of Blessing Hospital. [Unpublished Interview]. Quincy, IL. Question I. What are the symptoms? Ans. The symptoms of hepatitis are very similar to the flu. Question II. How does one go by testing the virus? Ans. Blood test, urine. Question III. Is it a bacteria or virus? Ans. It is a virus, but then there is the non-viral hepatitis. Question IV. What is non-viral hepatitis. Ans. Non-viral hepatitis is caused by substance. Question V. What is hepatitis? Ans. It's a infection of the liver. Question VI. Which of the six viruses are most common in the U.S.? Ans. Hepatitis B. Question VII. How is the virus spread? Ans. It is spread through water, blood, body fluids. Question VIII. What is the treatment for hepatitis? Ans. Bed rest, medicine from doctors. Question IX. What is the most common age the virus is found in? Ans. Young children to older adults. Question X. Which of the six viruses is the most dangerous? Ans. Hepatitis D is known to be the deadliest, but is very rare in the U.S. Bibliography Fackelmann, Kathleen. The Hepatitis G Enigma. Science News Apr 13, 1996: 238-239. UMI Company. CD-ROM. Unknown Author. Hepatitis C. MAYO Summer 1993: 7-8. New York State Dept. of Health. Hepatitis A. [Online] Available gopher: hepa.txt at mole.health.state.ny.us, 11-13-96 New York State Dept. of Health. Hepatitis C. [Online] Available gopher: hepa.txt at mole.health.state.ny.us, 11-13-96 Rossi, Lisa. Hepatitis. [Online] Available usenet: upmc.edu/news/hepabg1.htm. Schlepphorst, Richard. October 6,1996. Doctor of Blessing Hospital. [Unpublished Interview]. Quincy, Il. Appendix A Schlepphorst, Richard. October 6, 1996. Doctor of Blessing Hospital. [Unpublished Interview]. Quincy, IL. Question I. What are the symptoms? Ans. The symptoms of hepatitis are very similar to the flu. Question II. How does one go by testing the virus? Ans. Blood test, urine. Question III. Is it a bacteria or virus? Ans. It is a virus, but then there is the non-viral hepatitis. Question IV. What is non-viral hepatitis. Ans. Non-viral hepatitis is caused by substance. Question V. What is hepatitis? Ans. It's a infection of the liver. Question VI. Which of the six viruses are most common in the U.S.? Ans. Hepatitis B. Question VII. How is the virus spread? Ans. It is spread through water, blood, body fluids. Question VIII. What is the treatment for hepatitis? Ans. Bed rest, medicine from doctors. Question IX. What is the most common age the virus is found in? Ans. Young children to older adults. Question X. Which of the six viruses is the most dangerous? Ans. Hepatitis D is known to be the deadliest, but is very rare in the U.S.

The Difference Between Macro and Micro Sociology

The Difference Between Macro and Micro Sociology Though they are often framed as opposing approaches, macro- and microsociology are actually complementary approaches to studying society, and necessarily so. Macrosociology refers to sociological approaches and methods that examine large-scale patterns and trends within the overall social structure, system, and population. Often macrosociology is theoretical in nature too. On the other hand, microsociology focuses on smaller groups, patterns, and trends, typically at the community level and in the context of the everyday lives and experiences of people. These are complementary approaches because at its core, sociology is about understanding the way large-scale patterns and trends shape the lives and experiences of groups and individuals, and vice versa. Between macro- and microsociology are differences like which research questions can be addressed at each level, what methods one can use to pursue these questions, what it means practically speaking to do the research, and what kinds of conclusions can be reached with either. Lets examine these differences to learn more about each and how they fit together. Research Questions Macrosociologists will ask the big questions that often result in both research conclusions and new theories, like these, for example. In what ways has race shaped the character, structure, and development of U.S. society? Sociologist Joe Feagin poses this question at the beginning of his book,  Systemic Racism.Why do most Americans feel an undeniable urge to shop, even though we have so much stuff already, and are cash-strapped despite working long hours? Sociologist Juliet Schor examines this question in her classic book of economic and consumer sociology, The Overspent American. Microsociologist s  tend to ask more localized, focused questions that examine the lives of smaller groups of people. For example: What effect does the presence of police in schools and communities have on the personal development and life paths of Black and Latino boys who grow up in inner-city neighborhoods? Sociologist Victor Rios addresses this question in his celebrated book,  Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys.How do sexuality and gender intersect in the development of identity among boys in the context of high school? This question is at the center of sociologist C.J. Pascoes widely popular book,  Dude,Youre a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School. Research Methods Macrosociologists Feagin and Schor, among many others, use a combination of historical and archival research, and analysis of statistics that span long time periods in order to construct data sets that show how the social system and the relationships within it have evolved over time to produce the society we know today. In addition, Schor employs interviews and focus groups, more commonly used in microsociological research, to make smart connections between historical trends, social theory, and the way people experience their everyday lives. Microsociologists, Rios, and Pascoe included, typically use research methods that involve direct interaction with research participants, like one-on-one interviews, ethnographic observation, focus groups, as well as smaller-scale statistical and historical analyses. To address their research questions, both Rios and Pascoe embedded in the communities they studied and became parts of the lives of their participants, spending a year or more living among them, seeing their lives and interactions with others firsthand, and speaking with them about their experiences. Research Conclusions Conclusions born of macrosociology often demonstrate correlation or causation between different elements or phenomena within society. For example, Feagins research, which also produced the theory of systemic racism, demonstrates how white people in the U.S., both knowingly and otherwise, constructed and have maintained over centuries a racist social system by keeping control of core social institutions like politics, law, education, and media, and by controlling economic resources and limiting their distribution among people of color. Feagin concludes that all of these things working together have produced the racist social system that characterizes the U.S. today. Microsociological research, due to its smaller-scale, is more likely to yield the suggestion of correlation or causation between certain things, rather than prove it outright. What it does yield, and quite effectively, is proof of how social systems affect the lives and experiences of people who live within them. Though her research is limited to one high school in one place for a fixed amount of time, Pascoes work compellingly demonstrates how certain social forces, including mass media, pornography, parents, school administrators, teachers, and peers come together to produce messages to boys that the right way to be masculine is to be strong, dominant, and compulsively heterosexual. Summation Though they take very different approaches to studying society, social problems, and people, macro- and micro sociology both yield deeply valuable research conclusions that aid our ability to understand our social world, the problems that course through it, and the potential solutions to them.

Thank you for Smoking the comedy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Thank you for Smoking the comedy - Essay Example In my opinion, the movie â€Å"Thank you for Smoking† has applied agenda setting to capture the public’s attention on the smoking behavior, which is the issue of concern in this movie. In this movie, Nick, a lobbyist for alcohol and pro-gun association is connected to the merchants of death squad and the media paints him as a public enemy and he loses his job. In another incidence, Nick visits Jeff, a marketer and questions him about the incorporation of cigarettes in films and its moral implication. By making frequent address to the moral integrity of Jeff, Reitman poses a challenge to the public to identify the ethical concerns of cigarette smoking, which I feel is an agenda well set up. Diffusion of Innovations Diffusion of innovations is a theoretical explanation for the mechanisms and the speed through which information is relayed in a society set up through the available communications channels (Rogers 49). One of the major role players in the information diffusion process in the social systems is the opinion leaders who have a high level control of flow information. This category of people is close to information sources and has many followers who are willing to obtain information from them. Therefore, opinion leaders will make a judgmental decision and pass information innovatively to their followers given that they have the power to control information flow between the people. They form the category of early adopters who receive more attention from the public as opposed to laggards who form the least innovative group. Laggards are ignored by the media since they are the conservative group that adopts the innovation very late and have little followers. In the comedy ‘Thank you f or Smoking’, I feel that Nick plays the role of an early adopter in the entire film by forming part of the social system that can access first-hand information in the society. The whole public has all its eyes set upon him as he meticulously convinces Jeff on his moral implication of advertising cigarettes. When he struggles to convince his 12 year old Joey he points out that he is not actually after convincing his son, but the public on the need for moral flexibility. By rolling out information on the media concerning the use of tobacco I find him a rather excellent first adopter. Today, the public has over a hundred alcohol commodity choices and well over thirty cigarette varieties to choose from. The media coverage of alcohol, cigarettes and guns has intensified and has paid attention to the elite in the societies to pass information to the societies, as a strategy to engage innovation diffusion to hammer critical issues in the society. Knowledge Gap Hypothesis The knowled ge gap hypothesis refers to the diversity of the economic status of the society and how it influences their ability to access information from the media. The poor in the society have little contact with media information while the rich access the most current information (Hwang and Jeong 535). Given the power that comes along with information, I believe that those who acquire information first benefit more that those who receive it when it is almost obsolete. In this view, I feel that it is a political necessity to care for the poor by bridging the information gap that exists in the social systems. Films such as ‘

Share Trading Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Share Trading - Assignment Example As the report stresses diversification of investment spreads the risk over many assets. The concept of Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) states that since the stock prices reflect all relevant information in the market, it is not possible for the investor to beat the market by purchasing selling stocks at inflated prices or purchasing undervalued stocks. Thus, in order to beat the market the investor will have to be well informed regarding the true fundamentals of the stocks and carefully follow historical trends. Technical analysis helps and investor to predict future movement of stock prices by analysing past trends whereas fundamental analysis considers a top-down approach that analyses not only the fundamental financial position of firms but also macro-economic and industry trends. From the essay it is clear that the efficient market hypothesis assumes that in financial markets, the current prices reflect all the information available in the market and thus the true value of the stocks can be reflected from their past security prices. The theory assumes that the market participants behave rationally and try to maximize their returns by processing all information available to them. From above it can be said that the securities are correctly priced provided the information available to public. The best strategy to beat the market is to construct and evaluate the portfolio performance using technical analysis and fundamental analysis. ... The theory assumes that the market participants behave rationally and try to maximize their returns by processing all information available to them (Jegadeesh, and Titman, 1993, pp.65-91). From above it can be said that the securities are correctly priced provided the information available to public. Considering the above theory it can be said that EMH states it is â€Å"not† possible to beat the market since efficiency of stock market causes stock prices to reflect all relevant information. Keeping this argument in mind, the investor will have to allocate investible sum of ?50,000 in two portfolios consisting of equity shares of companies listed in FTSE All Share. The lists of companies for two portfolios are depicted in Appendix - A (See Table B.1 – List of Companies in Portfolio I and Table B.2 – List of Companies in Portfolio II). The best strategy to beat the market is to construct and evaluate the portfolio performance using technical analysis and fundament al analysis. The list of companies mentioned in the two portfolio were selected after considering various macro-economic factors such as currency movements and strengthening of Euro with respect to dollar; general investor sentiments after US Fed chairman announced gradual taper of quantitative easing; misfire of Bank of Japan’s loan support programme; and short term view of investors on junk bonds; expectation of an onset of bull market early 2014 especially in emerging markets where markets are experiencing upward trends (Financial Times, 2013). Portfolio Evaluation Fundamental Analysis Fundamental analysis aims to analyse the various macro-economic factors that might affect the performance of

Evaluate the Current State of the Economy Essay Example for Free

Evaluate the Current State of the Economy Essay Labor market conditions are important especially for the following categories, businesses, individuals, and governments. The nation’s labor market conditions are constantly monitored by statistical analysis, unemployment rate being the primary metric. In April of 2014, the unemployment rate fell from 6.7% percent to 6.3% percent (Bureau of Labor Statistics. May 2014), which was the lowest rate since September of 2008. Since January the unemployment rate had been somewhat flat, but in April 2014 it dropped. However in April, the labor force additionally dropped by 806,000 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2014) meaning the current ratio drop from 6. 7% to 6.3% comparatively remains approximately the same as the constant trend. In other words, because of the decrease in workforce, the drop in unemployment may be partially a result of the decrease in workforce. The consistent level of unemployment makes shifts on AD and AS curve minor. When unemployment decreases, as it did in April, a correlation linking the drop in unemployment to an increased demand of goods and services can be made. This increased demand requires the productivity of companies to increase to meet the supply deficit, creating more jobs for individuals. With a greater demand for goods and services, there is a greater need for people to produce them, therefore a decrease in unemployment. Additionally, the decrease in unemployment means household income will improve, providing them with more disposable income. As noted above, because of the increase in demand (seen in the decline in the unemployment rate), a direct correlation can be made to an increase in supply, though delayed. The increase in supply increases the number of new employees as employers look to meet the demand for goods and services, shifting the AS  curve to the right as well. In most cases unemployment remains constant, but in US, the high unemployment rate (compared to the past) can have a negative effect on the economy. The steady unemployment rate can reduce the supply of labor in the economy, as unemployed people become discouraged and stop looking for jobs. This would shift the aggregate supply curve to the left. Also employers may use the threat of unemployment to cut wages, exploiting their workers. Expectations The great intangible factor directly affecting the economy currently is people’s expectations for future economic growth. These economic expectations influence the economy greatly. If businesses and households are more optimistic about the future of the economy, they are more likely to buy large items and make new investments, increasing the aggregate demand. The AD can change in a variety of ways. Peoples expectations causes them to spend less or be forced to cut spending, it causes the government to cut its spending, and it causes businesses to be more money conscious when choosing what their investment in goods will be from other companies. As a gauge, many people look at the gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic activity, which grew at a 0.1% annual pace in the first quarter of 2014 (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, April 2014). This is slow growth compared to recent annual rates of 2% to 3% (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, April 2014). Many think the slowdown was caused by the long winter felt throughout the country. These slow growth rates shift both the AD and AS curves to the left, as consumers and business feel the affect or people’s â€Å"wait and see† attitude in economy. Assuming this is all weather based, the economy should bounce as household moral improves with the warmer spring and summer weather. Consumer expectations are also reflected in their spending. Consumer spending rose 0.3 percent last month after a downwardly revised gain of 0.2 percent in January (Mutikani, Lucia, March 2014), positive for now, but on a larger scale reports show the slowdown in real GDP growth is reflected in the downturn in exports. The exports of industrial supplies and materials as well as foods, feeds, and beverages  declined after increasing in the fourth quarter of 2013. (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, April 2014). Additionally, imports have also declined by 0.4 percent in April, after increasing 1.8 percent in the first quarter of 2014 (Bureau of Labor Statistics. April 2014). The April drop was the first monthly decrease since the index fell 0.9 percent in November 2013 (Bureau of Labor Statistics. April 2014). Import prices also fell 0.3 percent over the past 12 months and have not recorded a year-over-year advance since the index increased 0.9 percent from July 2012 to July 2013 (Bureau of Labor Statistics. April 2014). There drops in the US economy are felt in the household sector through the implementation of monetary and physical policy which are used to combat economic declines which directly affect consumer’s expectation and spending habits. Consumer Income As mentioned above, consumers are still buying things. Consumer spending continues to be a bright spot, growing at a 3% annual pace. (Mutikani, Lucia, March 2014). This occurred even though prices of goods and services bought by U.S. residents rose 1.4 percent in the first quarter, after rising 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013. Both energy prices and food prices turned up. Excluding food and energy, prices increased 1.4 percent in the first quarter after rising 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, April 2014). This illustrates the shift in AD tow the right. Meaning consumers are willing to pay higher prices at current production rates. The increase in consumables indicates consumers have more disposable income to spend on goods and services, and they are not choosing to save. Personal income and personal saving statistic showing that personal income adjusted for inflation and taxes increased 1.9 percent in the first quarter, compared with 0.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 (Mutikani, Lucia, March 2014). Incomes also rose 0.3 percent last month after rising by the same margin in January. Additionally, inflation has remained low. Combining  these factors, consumer spending, price increases, low inflation, increased personal income, will inevitably be forecasted by business as indicators to increase production. Increased production also increase supply, shifting AS to the right as business attempt to meet consumer demand. Interest Rates Interest rates in the United States are the lowest they have been in years. This indicates the policy and stance taken by the government for lending money. The government is trying to entice consumers to file for loans as well as encourage banks to lend and approve loans. With interest rates this low and consumer income increasing, one would expect consumers to increase their buying of more significant items. The aggregate demand curve shows, at various price levels, the quantity of goods and services produced domestically that consumers, businesses, and governments are willing to purchase. The increase in demand for low interest loans would shift the AD curve as a shift to the right. Domestically, the Federal Reserve expected to remain in a wait-and-see mode, hoping to get a clearer picture of U.S.’s future economic strength (Kurtz, Annalyn, April 2014). Moreover, the Federal Reserve has been buying bonds to stimulate the U.S. economy on and off since 2008, but the central bank is now gradually bringing that program to an end. The withdrawal process is expected to reduce bond purchases to around $45 billion a month (Kurtz, Annalyn, April 2014), and this process potentially will shift the nations monetary policy to focus more on interest rates rather than adjustments to the monetary base. These changes to the interest rates will impact capital goods decisions made by consumers and by businesses. Lower interest rates will lower the costs of major products, such as houses, and will increase business capital project spending because of the reduction in long-term investment costs. Such changes will move the aggregate demand curve will down and to the right. But, in the event of an interest rate hike, the higher real interest rates  will make capital goods relatively more expensive and cause the aggregate demand curve to shift up and to the left. Recommendations America’s recent financial crisis and the anticipated future economic outlook can be traced back to 2007 when the U.S. housing bubble burst. The bank failures created a dominos affect, creating an economic meltdown in all sectors of the US economy. Despite government attempts to help the situation, the economy has slowed and has slipped in and out of recession. As a result, the current government policies have not been effective, creating hesitations in consumer spending. Since 2008, the actions taken by the Federal Reserve have put the U.S.’s economy in jeopardy. To stem the economic slide of the U.S. housing collapse, the Federal Reserve has printed off trillions of dollars and has increased government spending in the economy hoping the influx of cash will jump start economic activity. But is has had an inverse affect. This dilution of the monetary base has diluted the value of the U.S. dollar (USD) domestically and internationally and has caused concern of consumer spending in the loanable funds market. Consumer spending is a 69% of the US GDP (The World Bank, 2013). An increase in spending would stimulate additional demand for products. With an increase in demand, business would increase productivity resulting in an improved GDP and lower unemployment. Additionally, in 2014 one of the greatest uses of a consumer’s income is to pay health care costs. The Bureau of Economic Analysis noted that the increase in health care costs was driven primarily by the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Removing the Affordable Health Care Act will improve consumer spending, as their disposable income percentage will increase. When the financial crisis began in 2008, the U.S. national debt stood approximately at $10 trillion. Based on the US Treasuries own figures, the national debt will reach be close to $20.0 trillion by the end of this decade (US Treasury Department – Treasury Direct, 2014), greater than our nation’s GDP. Reducing government  debt takes a long time, especially with the current international influences (China, Japan, EU). A fiscal policy to increased taxes and reduced government spending would be a place to start. Additionally, a reduction in monetary base will again, strengthen the USD internationally, helping facilitate and increase import/exports. Part 2: Evaluation of Recommendations Keynesian Perspective: Based upon the thorough analysis completed above, the Keynesian model is an appropriate mechanism for stimulating an economy that is growing but at a much slower rate than what is typical during a period of economic expansion. After a couple of years of substantive growth, the numbers for the first quarter of 2014 showed a GDP increase of just 0.1%. While the unemployment numbers continue to show a decline. While stubbornly remaining at 6.7% nationally through April, the most recent numbers show significant decline to 6.3%. The mortgage interest rates fell recently to 4.29% as the housing market has slowed down recently. While the Fed is beginning to slow down buying treasury bonds, it will continue to keep interest rates low until all signs point to GDP growth returning to a normal rate of 3.28% annually. Those numbers are indicative of annual GDP growth rates from 1948 to 2009. The first quarter of 2009 saw the economy shrink by nearly 5% following the market collapse and the bank bailouts just before President Obama took office. Subsequently, the bailout of GM and Chrysler in 2009 also impacted the economy as well, but was necessary to save the industry and jobs in Detroit and elsewhere for parts manufacturers and suppliers. The risk of course was the loss of more than a million jobs, but in the end the loss was $10.5 billion in taxpayer money not repaid by GM. Classical Macroeconomic theory assumes that market conditions will sort themselves out, but the confluence of catastrophic economic issues such as: the real estate market collapse, bank insolvency, the stock market collapse and the auto industry bailouts meant looking at long-term solutions would  not provide the confidence in the markets and consumers alike. Short-term or stop gap measures needed to stem the downward spiral to depression and economic contraction were and are required to right the economic ship. Keynesian economic theory is more prone to acceptance of government stimulus as it relied on government spending during economic downturns. They Keynesians believe that the economy is made up of consumer spending, business investment and government spending and because of this, Fed monetary policy adjustments should be made to promote banks to make loans, businesses to invest in growth and expansion and consumers to have more buying power due to lower interest rates. When consumer spending is decreasing, the Keynesian theory believes that the government spending can help with economic growth. The current course of action taken by the Fed and the President should be continued for the foreseeable future until economic conditions stabilize back to the norms over the last 60-plus years. Once GDP growth returns to expansionist highs and inflation begins to rise, there may be a need to take corrective action again to slow the economy down, but for now that is not an issue. Since economic growth is lacking, government intervention is needed to help regulate and jumpstart the economy. This will allow banks to lend more, businesses to invest more and households to spend more. It is crucial for these three entities to do as such since it will help the economy grow and progress. Classical Perspective: A portion of the AS curve that is almost vertical is associated with a real GDP rate that fully employs a nation’s resources. At a rate of output, the nation has reached the limitation of its short run capacity, so an attempt to increase employment or output beyond this rat would result only in a higher aver price level. The theory is built on the fact that in the long run, a nations move gradually and automatically moves toward full employment. This inexorable like movement toward full employment is the  result of supply and demand forces that cause prices (wages, interest rates, and exchange rates) to adjust so that markets clear. And after enough time, the market will settle the supply and demand in all markets, and thereby eliminate any imbalances, such as employment. Since many classical economists do not believe that government spending gives power to the public sector and decreasing the private sector, they do not fully agree with too much government spending as it ex ploits a lot of economic resources. Example: â€Å"Suppose a nation had excessive unemployment. Classical economist would agree that a major cause of the unemployment was an average real wage rate that was above equilibrium. At this wage rate the amount of labor supplied exceeds the amount demanded, resulting in unemployment. The excessive supply of labor would put downward pressure on real wages. Falling real wages would then have two reinforcing affects that acted simultaneously to bring the labor market back into equilibrium. First, lower real wages would increase the incentive for businesses to hire workers; second, they would reduce the number of individuals in the workforce. For instance, instead of looking for work, some individuals might stay in school or remain homemakers. If real wages fell the amount of labor supplied would equal the amount demanded and unemployment would be solved.† (Marthinsen, John E. (2007)) The classical perspective emphasizes on the belief that government spending is detrimental to the economy and that the market itself is self-sufficient and can automatically adjust to increases and decrease of employment, consumer spending, business investment and so on. The current government policies have not been effective and when looking at it from this classical perspective, it might be necessary for the government to step back and let the mark equilibrate itself. References: Bureau of Labor Statistics. (April 2014), U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ximpim.nr0.htm Bureau of Labor Statistics. (May 2014), Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey Retrieved from http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000 Conerly, Bill (2014) Economic Forecast 2014-2015: Looking Better With Help From Oil And Gas Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/billconerly/2014/01/22/economic-forecast-2014-2015-looking-better-with-help-from-oil-and-gas/ Congressional Budget Office, (February 2014). The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2014 to 2024 Retrieved from http://www.cbo.gov/publication/45010 Kurtz, Annalyn, (April 2014). U.S. Economy Slows to Stall-Speed Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/30/investing/gdp-economy Marthinsen, John E. (2007) Managing in a Global Economy: Demystifying International Macroeconomics. Mason, OH: Thomas Southwestern Mutikani, Lucia (March 2014). U.S. consumers lift spending, but sentiment slips. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/28/us-usa-economy-idUSBREA2R0UB20140328 The World Bank. (2013). Household final consumption expenditure, etc. (% of GDP) Retrieved from http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NE.CON.PETC.ZS U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, (April 2014). National Income and Product Accounts Gross Domestic Product: First Quarter 2014 (advance estimate). Retrieved from https://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/gdp/gdpnewsrelease.htm US Treasury Department – Treasury Direct, (2014). Historical Debt Outstanding Annual 2000 – 2012 Retrieved from http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo5.htm

Science vs Aging Essay -- Research Papers Essays

Science vs Aging Thesis Statement: Health care and science resources should be conservatively allocated to our aging population, focusing on providing quality to the aging years without draining assets in a reckless attempt to extend life. Introduction: The demographic projections in the United Sates are significant. Between 1982 and 2030 the median age will move from 30.6 to 40.8 years and the proportion of the population over 65 will go from 11.6 to 21.1 percent (Committee on the Aging Society, 1985). Persons over 85 are the fastest growing age group, 21 times more numerous than in 1900 (Callahan, 1995). This is also an international issue; by 2040 most developed countries will have 30 percent of their population over 60 (Hanson, 1994). These figures demand our attention on issues of aging. Most elderly need economic assistance and are significantly dependent on lower age groups. In the 1930's most of the elderly lived below the poverty line. Social Security helped reduce this figure to 15.7 percent by 1980. 80 year-olds receive 50% percent of their yearly income from social security (Committee on the Aging Society, 1985). The rest of their income often comes from pension plans or family funds. Elderly populations consume significantly more medical resources than other age groups. In 1984 elderly were 12% of our population, but consumed 31% of medical resources; by 2040 they are expected to consume 45 %. The Federal Government currently spends approximately $200 billion on health care for the elderly, which still only covers 67% of the expenditures. The remaining 33%, or $100 billion, must be covered by elderly and their families (Callahan, 1995). These economic expenditures have social conseq... ...the Aging Society. (1985). Aging America: Health in a Older Society. Washington DC: National Academic Press. 7. Finch, C. E. (1978). The Brain and Aging. In The Biology of Aging (pp.301-309). New York: Plenum Press. 8. Fries, James F. (1986). The Compression of Morbidity. Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly, 61: 3, 347-355. 9. Hanson, Mark J. (1994). How we Treat the Elderly. Hastings Center Report, 24:5, 4-8. PMID: 8002311 10. Harley, Calvin B. (1996). Telomeres. In Encyclopedia of Gerontology (Vol. 2, pp. 539-543). Washington DC: Academic Press. 11. Kirkwood, T. B. (1977). Evolution of Aging. Nature, 270:2, 301-304. 12. May, William F. (1996). Testing the Medical Covenant. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing. 13. Moody, Henry H. (1994). Four Scenarios for an Aging Population. Hastings Center Report, 24:5, 32-34. PMID: 8002308

Psychological Contract in the Contemporary Organisation Essay

Every human being is an unique individual. This is an undeniable fact, thus organisations have to explore the various antecedences of the psychological contracts between employees and the organisation. Employees have different perceptions and thinking over the concept of psychological contracts. Generation Y is slowly filling up the positions in contemporary organisations. Therefore, what are the influencers revolve around this power craving group of people? Research has concluded that employees and employers have different perceptions on job support and resources (Attridge 2009, 392; Kahn 1990, 708) and even job satisfaction (McShane and Travaglione 2007, 180). Employee disengagement has been occurring more and more often nowadays (Bates 2004, 44). Employee engagement is closely linked with the result of the organisation (Medlin and Green 2009, 948; Harter, Schmidt and Killham 2003, 27), where employee disengagement may cause unsatisfactory employee achievement; leading to undesirable organisational advancement and financial development. Because of these, organisations should examine the psychological contracts between them and the employees, especially that of the Generation Y. Psychological Contracts Ppsychological contract is defined as ones beliefs about shared responsibilities and commitments in the framework of the relationship between employees and the organization (Robert, Kristie and Kathryn 2010, 220). Cyril (2004, 1) mentioned that psychological contracts are the employees’ mindset about what they look forward to from the organization and what they feel they should commit to the organization. The psychological contracts emphasize more on the relationship between an employee and employer as a whole rather than traditional compensation issues (Robert, Kristie and Kathryn 2010, 220). The concepts of the psychological contract are commitments particularly based on perceived obligations by the others (Robert, Kristie and Kathryn 2010, 220). Whether well expressed or not, the perceived obligations create commitment and responsibility that must be executed for the contract to be affirmed (Robert, Kristie and Kathryn 2010, 220). For instance, the organization making use of a relational psychological contract is responsible to account for the individual fairly, provide hazard free working conditions, allow employees justifiable personal time, and provide adequate materials to accomplish their job. On the contrary, the employee is responsible to accomplish given tasks, display a positive attitude, boost the reputation of the company, and abide corporate policy (Robert, Kristie and Kathryn 2010, 220). Given so, these obligations do not only encompass on the quantity of work is to be carried out for a certain amount of pay, but also draw in the whole pattern of rights, privileges, and obligations between employee and organisation (Mario Pepur, Sandra Pepur, and Dr. Ljiljana Viducic 2010, 231). For instance, after serving the company for a number of years, the employee may expect the company not to fire him and similarly, the company may expect that the worker not to tarnish company’s reputation or leak out confidential secrets to rival companies(Mario Pepur, Sandra Pepur, and Dr.  Ljiljana Viducic 2010, 231). Expectations as such are not transcribed into contractual agreement between employees and organisation, yet they work as power determinants of behaviour (Mario Pepur, Sandra Pepur, and Dr. Ljiljana Viducic 2010, 231). Literature Review No doubt, the theory on psychological was established in the 1960 by Argyris (Cyril 2004, 1), it is still highly applicable in today’s context. Rothbard’s (2001, 656) empirical study shows that there is a relationship between psychological contracts and employee engagement. Rothbard (2001, 656) mentioned that attention is the psychological presence and the time spent by the employee contemplating about his responsibilities at work, while absorption is concerned with the affection of employee to put emphasis on the responsibilities on duties. It is believed that the psychological contract is generally an appropriate and impactful construct that can aid explain, and inform effective management of, contemporary academic work performance and workplace relations (Grant, Branka and David 2010, 6). The psychological contract can help both employee and employer to gain awareness on contemporary employment relationships; indeed, it has been debated that perceived obligations within the psychological contract are usually more vital to work related attitudes and behaviour than are the official and explicit elements of contractual acknowledgement (Grant, Branka and David 2010, 6-7). Employees trust that the employer has the obligations to facilitate them the following: career advancement, incremental salary, alary based on the current working efficiency, upgrading, safe long-term employment, opportunities to build their career as well as support in case personal problems occur (Mario, Sandra and Dr. Ljiljana 2010, 233). On the other hand, the employees believe that they have the following obligations towards their employer: working overtime, staying loyal, taking initiative to take up new responsibilities at work, providing a beforehand notice when taking another position, be ready for transfer, rejecting support to rivalry, protecting confidential company information, spending a minimum of two years doing the routine (Mario, Sandra and Dr.  Ljiljana 2010, 233). Many studies indicated that personal and psychological factors have significant influence on employees, including biological factors and the work attitudes of employees (Hung-Wen 2010, 92). Hung-Wen (2010, 92) mentioned that Yu suggested work attitude is the level of organizational identification, the levels of involvements in current jobs and overall job satisfaction. Therefore, this research explains job satisfaction and work involvement as its two variables (Hung-Wen 2010, 92). Job Satisfaction Job satisfaction is an assessment of the work and job context by employees (McShane and Travaglione 2007, 116; Spector 1997, 2). Little and Little (2006, 115) deemed job satisfaction as an enjoyable experience or positive emotional condition . They agreed with the research done by Kreitner & Kinicki in 2004 that job satisfaction is associated with job involvement, organizational behaviours and commitment (Little and Little 2006, 115). In an adverse effect, it is also associated with turnover and stress. Similarly, experimental studies on 7,939 business units in 36 organizations find out that job satisfaction concludes employee engagement, and are forecasting organisation progression (Harter, Schmidt and Hayes 2002, 268). The extended studies by Harter, Schmidt and Hayes (2002, 268) states that it is crucial to constantly stress on the degree of employee engagement and contented and happy employees would be very much motivated in the organisation (McShane and Travaglione 2007, 180). Poornima (2009, 35) has given a hypothesis that statistically, there is a strong relationship between age and difference between expectation and fulfillment levels of employees with regard to monetary and non-monetary compensation practices followed by the organizations (Poornima 2009, 35). The result shown that those aged between 25to28 are not responding positively to monetary motivation. Research shown 85% of the young people want progressive management to inspire them and 52% of them think that the managers are not helping in their development (Robin 2007, 34). Kim (2007, 154) agrees with (Henry 2006, 11) that Generation Y is motivated by the chances to grow and develop, thus they welcome comments and feedback. Therefore, Generation Y would expect organisation to enrol them with training and development program, as well as providing them with feedback for improvement. Failing to do so, goal is not achieved, thus motivation of Generation Y decrease. With that, these create job dissatisfaction in Generation Y. Taking consideration of Poomima and Kim’s studies, Generation Y is a group of people who are more intrinsically driven rather than monetarily motivated. Work Involvement In today’s context, organisation should anticipate expectations of their employees through their psychological contracts if they want to gain their loyalty (Mario, Sandra and Dr. Ljiljana 2010, 236). Mario, Sandra and Dr. Ljiljana (2010, 236) agrees to Rousseau that the main difference between new and old psychological contracts lies in the lack of job security. She proves this by quoting an employee of a telecommunication company who says that: â€Å"It used to be that working for the company meant being part of a family (Mario, Sandra and Dr. Ljiljana 2010, 236). As organisation moves towards the modern era, the younger generations are beginning to fill up most of the positions. Tulgan (2009, 3) shared that Generation Y is so far the hardest generation to manage. While organisation expects employee to stay loyal to the company, Generation Y, a group with high expectation and believe in their capability tends to switch jobs to satisfy their hunger for fast career advancement (Tulgan 2009, 3). Another contributing factor to the frequent job switch is the Generation Y’s expectation; they are constantly looking out for jobs that provide training (Sue and David 2008, 368). Sara and Ans (2010, 256) have come up with two hypothesizes. â€Å"The level of careerism will be emphatically related with psychological contract expectations in account of job description, employment development, training, and monetary rewards. The level of careerism will be cynically related with psychological contract expectations in account of social environment, work-life balance, and employment assurance† (Sara and Ans 2010, 256). The first hypothesis does make sense as the three factors mentioned act as a motivator to increase the level of careerism. However, the second hypothesis is countered by the research of Sue and David (2008, 368) which points out that â€Å"although Generation Y has a desire for defined goals and managerial reinforcement in what is to be done, they also crave for autonomy and flexibility in decision making process. Furthermore, despite being autonomous, they are viewed as being emotionally needy and consequently, continuously looking for acknowledgement and commendation. In terms of work, they are power thirst. However, they do look upon work life balance and if given a choice will choose family and friends rather than work†. Evaluation Given the unique characteristics of Generation Y, it is difficult for the organization to determine their psychological contract with the organization, thus making it a challenge for the organization to come up with strategies to motivate and retain these â€Å"potential job switchers†. Demanding for power in workplace, yet craving for work life balances; organizations have to come up with plan to satisfy these employees before they can be aligned and work towards the same goal. Event such as Bring Your Child to Work promotes work life balance yet not disrupting the normal working procedure. Organizations can consider such event to strike a balance for the employees. Employee disengagement is one of the crucial explanations for organization turnover. With this getting more and more common in the organization (Pech and Slade 2006, 22), management should seek to understand the reasons behind the dissatisfaction and explore the psychological contract between them and the employees to reduce the possible unhappiness, thus creating a conducive work environment. Conclusion The concept of psychological contracts is characterised by dynamic features. They are continuously adjusted to new trends in the working environment. A triumphant resolution to the productive handling of employee engagement kicks off with recognition of the uniqueness of each employee. Accessing the factors influencing their needs and perception after presuming that employees are engaged is an fallacious way and is not very much encouraged. Psychological contracts can encompass various areas such as work involvement and job satisfaction. However, psychological contracts involve many other factors. For instance, human resource practices such as employees’ relation and welfare, training and development, and compensation and benefits (Saks 2006, 613). Therefore, effective understanding of psychological contracts would require organisations to contemplate the perception of individual employees towards the influencing variables. Franking speaking, how many organisations are prepared to go for the extra mile for the employees? Even though the organizations may acknowledge the significance of psychological contracts, it is intricate to get to a mutual understanding for both the organisation and employee. Organisations may only see the link between the understandings of psychological contracts in both aspects with beneficiary outcomes as a theoretical model, thus are not convinced that their employees can make it happen. Every employee is unique. They have different needs and perceptions in terms of psychological contracts with the organisation, which may also change over time. This would also mean that the organizations have to take into consideration of the incalculable factors catering to the different employees. Is this cost and time efficient? Management would rather spend the time on the operations and focus on the visible and instant results. Nevertheless, there are organizations that are still prepared to spend their effort working on psychological aspect in employees. Personally, I feel that understanding of psychological contract is essential to organization success. However, it is very much reliant on the distribution of time, effort and loyalty of the organizations to form a successful understanding and alignment of the psychological contracts between themselves and their employees.

Business Redesign for Healthlite Yogurt Company Essay

Business Structure Healthlite’s corporate headquarters is located in Danbury, Connecticut. All production takes place in processing plants that are located in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Illinois, Colorado, Washington, and California. Healthlite Yogurt Company has 20 sales regions, each with approximately 30 sales representatives. Healthlite has a 12 person in marketing division at corporate headquarters. Products Yogurt and related health products and new yogurt based products which would include frozen desserts and low-fat salad dressings. Major Business Processes for Sales The following are the way Healthlite conducts business in a day-to-day basis: Â · Sales persons must write up hard-copy tickets to place orders through the mail or by fax. Â · Each salesperson stores and retrieves data for assigned customer accounts using the minicomputer system in the regional office. Higher client satisfaction due to value-added customer service is one positive result. Decision-making can be improved because the information systems used are more efficient and can provide them accurate and updated data in real time. Improvement in control of resources (materials, labor and products) and organizational planning. Increased job satisfaction for employees’ particularly regional sales people whose jobs are now greatly facilitated with the aid of the new system. Major Business Process Changes The following major changes are required for the business redesigning plan. Eliminate the need for hard-copy tickets to place orders. Enter sales orders directly into enterprise-wide system instead of using around 20 workers at corporate headquarters to sort and to enter order tickets which could reached up to 500,000 order tickets per week. This also allows all systems users to have access to this data for analysis purposes. Do without the need of using snail mail and fax machines for taking orders. The new business system allows orders to be placed directly through the web site. No longer need to mail printed reports for individual salespeople and sales offices. Salespeople can access the system for needed information at anytime. Sales representatives no longer need to write and mail monthly reports to regional headquarters. Sales information can be accessed from the system. Managers can access up-to-date sales data in the new system anytime they need them. They no longer need to call subordinates and piece information together to update their reports. Announcements, promotional campaigns and pricing discounts can be quickly disseminated though the enterprise-wide system. Thus, helps in improving communication processes between sales managers and sales representatives. Customer Relationship Management tools are available to help with ordering. Customer history management, complaints, and real-time tracking service are also available for use. Reduce the time involved to process orders since faxing and mailing will no longer be required in order to place orders. As a result, this would enable shipments to be delivered on time. Thus, promoting customer satisfaction. Major New Technology Components of the Plan Upon analysis of Healthlite’s needs to implement technology to support the new business processes, an enterprise system comes highly recommended. This is so because an enterprise can best meet the demands and requirements. An enterprise system could link enterprise-wide information processes in turn improving the overall business efficiency. When the entire company is able to use a single software system, all departments can share information readily and freely. Enterprise systems enable the company to avail of a wide-ranging information system technology platform. This technology platform provides a single data warehouse or a databank that can be accessed by different departments to input and to obtain enterprise-wide information. Also, the new system enables data storage in one data warehouse, which will prevent inaccuracy in extracted information. The data should be grouped according to processing sites, but can be accessed by all users. This data storage process will allow differentiation among processing sites at the same time allowing enterprise-wide search capability. It is easy to see then the enterprise system is essential element in propelling Healthlite’s success as it moves into the future. An enterprise system into the Healthlite business will enable the managers to support business processes that will make the company more efficient. The enterprise system will allow for centralized data collection and entry. This centralized entry system will reduce or eliminate paper passing throughout the company. This system will also enable employees to view reports on-line which no longer requires printing of documents or doing paperwork manually unless necessary. This additional feature will help managers and market analysts in accurate sales planning, decision-making, and marketing strategy development by providing them with the ability to collect more accurate information to assist them. Healthlite must also improve the telecommunications infrastructure for the whole enterprise. E-mail capabilities will be needed throughout the company in order to eliminate the ineffective communication using snail mails and fax within the company. Email will enable speedy communication companywide. There is no need to do additional paper works by writing or typing requests. Also, the time and effort necessary to mail or fax the message will be greatly reduced through email. The message sent is received by the person addressed to in real time. If there are problems or requests required, the recipient on the email can quickly act on it. Intranet is another option the company could use. Intranet is a private computer network that can be accessed by authorized persons only. These will ensure that secret company information will not fall on the wrong hands. Adding Intranet and Internet service will definitely improve the company’s day-to-day operations. Recommendations To help facilitate the transition and to make better use of the technology or new system, the following recommendations are given: Â · Healthlite should install an entire enterprise system and not limit itself to the customer relationship management component, or better known as CRM, of the system. In order to be effective, Healthlite could introduce the changes phase by phase. This approach in implementing the enterprise software will enable users to adapt to the system well, starting with the order and sales process and advancing to the most difficult part slowly. Â · The systems development team must focus the development process of the new system on eliminating the existing business inefficiencies in manual reporting, hand order-tickets, and mail and fax order taking. Addition ally, the development team needs to follow the systems development lifecycle to establish its new customer relationship management (CRM) system. All users must be ably represented. This means that representatives in each company division must be involved in developing the system. They should be allowed to make suggestions at the same time provide necessary information in formulating the system. And all users need to have adequate information on the upcoming changes introduced to the system. Â · Healthlite should implement e-mail and Intranet use to improve its internal communications and productivity throughout the entire business. This could help do without the need for paperwork, snail mail and fax. The company should provide value-added customer service by including the customers during the design process of the business system. This is accomplished by soliciting feedback from customers in the form of questionnaires on a regular basis. Â · Due to the low shelf life of the produ cts they sell, Healthlite needs to ensure product freshness by improving the efficiency of its distribution of products and services to customers. With the new automated business system, orders are received and delivered immediately. The timely delivery of the products would ensure their freshness. Â · Management needs to address the accounting discrepancies incurred annually. The accounting problem should be identified and resolved in the design phase to make sure that the new business system they come up with is free of these errors and accounting discrepancies will not occur in the future. Â · Management also needs to ensure that the changes implemented in the business are done step by step especially that the company is in the midst of recent and rapid growth. Management needs to change its views regarding changes and adapt to the new business process accordingly. They should also lead the development process. Â · Managers need to wait until the new business process has materialized and the benefits of the new system are realized before implementing the headcount reduction in order to ensure a smooth cutover. Conclusions Despite its current business process problems, Healthlite has managed to attain succes s in its operations. This means that Healthlite has a lot of room for improvement in the future. And this could be easily attained through redesigning business processes. Currently, the organization uses little or almost non existing technology for their daily company activities. Due to the decentralization, many people are doing the same activities over and over again and doing paperworks manually which are time-consuming and could be transmitted electronically. The rapid growth of the company requires that Healthlite should quickly implement systems changes to improve its business processes and to get the product and services to the customer in a promptly and efficiently. Healthlite’s management also posed some problems due to their very conservative views regarding technology. They need guidance in determining a proven system in which they will be comfortable. The management’s support in the new business process is essential in implementing the changes effectively and leads the company into the future as well as to guarantee its competitive advantage. The company needs to know the importance of using the systems development lifecycle. This process is vital in creating a new business system that will be useful for the company. Also, this phase is important to establish efficient procedures when developing programs that will best fit Healthlite’s needs. An enterprise system will be necessary to advance Healthlite into the future. At the present the company may only focus on redesigning the ordering, sales, and marketing processes. But later on, Healthlite management needs to realize that the CRM system is going to need to be scalable. Healthlite’s business growth despite the difficulties it encountered could mean that the company has a lot of growth potentials in the future. Healthlite therefore needs to accommodate future changes and bigger adjustments. And the new business process they are about to install must be able to handle these changes and need for additional data. The company needs to identify and get rid of the sources of the accounting discrepancies annually between headquarters and the sales force. Management needs the accounting information to make decisions necessary for the company’s growth. The accounting report helps them to address potential problems and see possibilities for future expansion. The discrepancies in their accounting records due to the errors incurred are thus potentially making business decision on bad data. Before the implementation, management needs to address these problems to ensure that they will not arise in the future using the new system. Management needs to take time in implementing the headcount reductions. A successful implementation requires that all employees will be there during its implementation phase. The installation and use of the new system requires the support of all employees. https://support.pearson.com/getsupport/s/?sitename=CW+-+WPS&tabset-dd12d=1 http://business.vcu.edu/departments-and-centers/information-systems/department-resources/software/ https://www.bl.uk/business-and-ip-centre/industry-guides https://identitech.com.au/

Free The Monk and the Riddle Book Review Sample

Free The Monk and the Riddle Book Review Sample Question One: What was surprising or different about this book relative to what you know about entrepreneurship? Before reading this book, the aspect of entrepreneurship that I had in mind was that of looking for opportunities in which to achieve financial satisfaction in life. Growing up, I understood that being an entrepreneur entailed setting up businesses and ventures, which will bring about major financial returns. However, reading The Monk and the Riddle gave me a different perspective on the subject of being or becoming a successful entrepreneur. The author gives detailed expectations from the entrepreneurship field that is very different from what I had in mind. According to the book, being an entrepreneur should not be all about the result which most people bank on financial achievement but should focus mainly on the journey towards attaining the set goals (Komisar and Kent 21). Entrepreneurship should lay emphasis on leadership, management, passion, and drive which help define an individual. In the end, an entrepreneur will be rewarded from the journey undertaken in the business rather than the outcome. Being a successful entrepreneur means that a person, through the business, gained satisfaction not only financially but also in experience. Any would be entrepreneur needs to set up goals which allows for achievement of satisfaction in work itself. Another notable difference on the subject is the ability of any entrepreneur to let go off control. The mentality of all entrepreneurs is that they need have control and influence in their ventures. However, the author categorically explores the advantages of giving out control to other able people in order to allow for the growth of the business. While discussing about leadership, the author advises entrepreneurs to get people to do what needs to be done for the business and this could end up being done better. L eadership is an art and entrepreneurs must encourage people to exceed their own expectations, inspire people to be great and get them all to work together in harmony. Question Two: What are your impressions of Lenny? Why was Randy willing to give Lenny his time? The impression I got of Lenny is that of any contemporary entrepreneur striving to have his venture to pick up in the market. Lenny has great ideas of what he wants his venture to be but has his eyes closed to the reality of entrepreneurship. From the discussion presented by his interaction with Randy, it is evident that Lenny seems sure of his approach to business and the proposed business plan but lacks sight on the sound fundamentals of the initial business idea. Lenny has the mentality of working towards attaining financial objectives from his venture. From the idea presented to Randy, the would-be entrepreneur has misguided anticipations on the business front hoping to attain everything without support from other people. Lenny believes as an entrepreneur, he should be in control of everything in his business from development to implementation. However, this is a wrong impression of the journey towards attaining satisfaction in work. Lenny portrays a typical Eastern pushy-salesma n-suit, involved in the business for the money rewards only. (Lambing and Charles) Despite the ambition presented to Randy by Lenny, the latter is ready and willing to help him because as an established entrepreneur it is essential to pass on guidelines to other would - be entrepreneurs. Randy carefully listens to Lenny because he wants the young entrepreneur to drop the potential monetary rewards perspective and focus on satisfaction. More so, Randy provides direction, contacts, and leadership for entrepreneurs in need of experience like Lenny. The main role Randy plays is helping would-be entrepreneurs through the initial phase of business development and then retires to the less central role of advisor. Randys advice to Lenny is that a leader with many ideas but lacks vision and passion will lead his business to the drain. Question Three: What do you think about the Deferred Life Plan? In the book, the author notes the tendency of people in the contemporary world sacrificing their present life to hard work and earning a living to protect their future existence. In simpler terms, this is living a deferred life plan whereby one denies himself or herself a decent lifestyle in the name of protecting the future. The author argues that people do not have to sacrifice their lives in order to accomplish things they are passionate about, be it at work or in business. In my understanding, the theory and practicability of deferred life plan is real amongst young people especially those joining the labor market. Most people engage in activities, work, or business, which they have little passion but hang on to them for the sake of financial satisfaction. Interestingly, this financial satisfaction does not come about and the very people end up losing on other satisfactions they could gain at work. Putting off what you really love to do and engaging in other activities or business, which is less; satisfactory is the beginning of leading a deferred life plan. By not working on work and business, one is passionate about means deferring sense of excitement and passion for what you really care about in life. Komisar further explains thats working hard is not inconsistent with the deferred life plan but working hard for things that bring less excitement and interest is part of deferred life plan (Komisar and Kent 35). Comparing the theory with the actual life setting, with the deferred life plan, one ends up succeeding on things, which do not matter in his or her life. More understandably, deferred life plan leads to achieving at something, which has no definition of the real, you. As human beings, we need to ensure that we get satisfaction in whatever we do and this should be at a reasonable age. It is not satisfaction when we have to wait up to sixty years and above to start enjoying life. Question Four: What do you think about the evolution of Lennys opportunity? What value does Lenny get from Randy and the VCs? The evolution evidenced in Lennys opportunity is great as it offers him and other workers to engage in activities, which bring about satisfaction. The opportunity created does not only promise financial rewards but also work satisfaction. The opportunity further presents Lenny with a chance to engage in a business venture for the right reasons rather than seeking financial satisfaction only. In seeking help from people advanced in the matters of entrepreneurship, Lenny gains more information on other aspects of business. Randy gives Lenny in-depth advice on what venture capital firms require, focusing on the characteristics of CEOs during various phases of the establishments. In so doing, Lenny understands the difference between a good manager and a good leader, which as a future CEO of a business is necessary information. Management and leadership skills are a prerequisite for anyone hoping to establish any kind of venture. With time, the owner of the business will have to let go off the control of the business and this, Randy explains requires major management skills. Lenny learns that the essence of entrepreneurship is for the entrepreneur to acquire all round satisfaction at all stages of life. The activities engaged in by the entrepreneur should not limit the workers from attaining satisfaction at all levels. Being an entrepreneur means embarking on a journey for irrational and passionate people who believe in the face of doubt. More so, the significance of sharing ideas on entrepreneurship with other experienced people will help boost the initial goals. VCs are driven by risky ideas hence need potential leaders to guide them and not just followers.

What Are Variables in Computer Programs

What Are Variables in Computer Programs A variable is a way of referring to a storage area in a computer program. This memory location holds values- numbers, text or more complicated types of data like payroll records. Operating systems load programs into different parts of the computers memory so there is no way of knowing exactly which memory location holds a particular variable before the program is run. When a variable is assigned a symbolic name like employee_payroll_id, the compiler or interpreter can work out where to store the variable in memory. Variable Types When you declare a variable in a program, you specify its type, which can be chosen from integral, floating point, decimal,  boolean or nullable types. The type tells the compiler how to handle the variable and check for type errors. The type also determines the position and size of the variables memory, the range of values that it can store  and the operations that can be applied to the variable. A few basic variable types include: int - Int is short for integer. It is used to define numeric variables holding whole numbers. Only negative and positive whole numbers can be stored in int variables.   null - A nullable int has the same range of values as int, but it can store null in addition to whole numbers. char - A char type consists of Unicode characters- the letters that represent most of the written languages.   bool - A bool is a fundamental  variable type that can take only two values: 1 and 0, which correspond to true and false.   float, double and decimal - these three types of variables handle whole numbers, numbers with decimals and fractions. The difference between the three lies in the range of values. For example, double is twice the size of float, and it accommodates more digits. Declaring Variables Before you can use a variable, you have to declare it, which means you have to assign it a name and a type. After you declare a variable, you can use it to store the type of data you declared  it to hold. If you try to use a variable that hasnt been declared, your code wont compile.  Declaring a variable in C# takes the form: data_type variable_list; The variable  list consists of one or more identifier names separated by commas. For example:   int i, j, k;   char c, ch; Initializing Variables Variables are assigned a value using an equal sign followed by a constant. The form is: data_type  variable_name value; You can assign a value to a variable at the same time you declare it or at a later time. For example:   int i 100;   or   short a;int b;double c;   /*actual initialization */a 10;b 20;c a b; About C#   C# is an object-oriented language that does not use any global variables. Although it could be compiled, it is almost always used in combination with the .NET framework, therefore applications written in C# are run on computers with .NET installed.

Source report - Surrogacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Source report - Surrogacy - Essay Example Haughey’s studies develop theoretically and descriptive analysis of gender selection through surrogacy. According to the author, medical methods used in surrogacy have made it able for prospective parents to propose the preferred sex of their children. In addition, people have developed appealing hypothesis to explain an aspect of sex selection. One of the theoretical hypotheses is concerned with creating a â€Å"balance† in families. Haughey (2005: 85) provides a descriptive study on how surrogacy technology provides couples with a chance to choose sperms that fertilise eggs; hence determining the sex of the offspring. The discussion above lays a scientific foundation regarding the determination of offspring’s sexual features through the selection of sperms to be used for fertilization. Gender balancing eradicates the domination of one gender of children in the family unit by deciding which sexes should be included. In addition, some families may use sex selection to replace or rebuild the family after the death of a child. It is also evident that sex selection occurs when the foetus is selected based on gender, social or medical reasons before it is implanted into the womb. In addition, it is important to note that sex selection also occurs when the foetus is aborted based on gender. Stacey develops theoretically and descriptive hypothesis to that link gender selection in surrogacy and medical reasons. According to the author, couples prefer to point out the desired gender of their children to avoid gender specific genetic and chromosomal disorders. Surrogacy also offers a ground where embryos are screened for genetic diseases and those that are found safe implanted into the mothers’ womb. The descriptive argument presented is that sex selection prevents people from having children with sex-linked diseases such as Duchene’s muscular dystrophy, sickle cell anemia or