Monday, September 30, 2019

Champion equality, diversity and inclusion Essay

1: Understand diversity, equality and inclusion in own area of responsibility Diversity means difference. Diversity recognizes that although people have things in common with each other, they are also different and unique in many ways. Diversity is about recognizing and valuing those differences. It therefore consists of visible and non-visible factors, which include personal characteristics such as background, culture, personality and work-style in addition to the characteristics that are protected under discrimination legislation in terms of race, disability, gender, religion and belief, sexual orientation and age. By recognizing and understanding our individual differences and embracing them, and moving beyond simple tolerance, we can create a productive environment in which everybody feels valued. Equality is about ‘creating a fairer society, where everyone can participate and has the opportunity to fulfil their potential’ (DoH, 2004). Equality means being equal in status, rights and opportunities no matter what their race disability, gender, religion, beliefs and cultural differences, sexual orientation and age. see more:potential effects of barriers to equality and inclusion By eliminating prejudice and discrimination, we can deliver services that are personal, fair and diverse and a society that is healthier and happier.  Inclusion is a sense of belonging, feeling included, and feeling respected, valued for who you are, feeling a level of supportive energy and commitment from others so than you can achieve your best. Inclusion ensures everyone has access to resources, rights, goods and services, and is able to participate to activities. 1.1 Explain models of practice that underpin equality, diversity and inclusion in own area of responsibility There are 2 main models of practice underpinning equality diversity and inclusion: the â€Å"equal opportunities model† and the â€Å"difference and diversity model†. In my role of registered manager, I am responsible for ensuring that all individuals, their families, members of staff, care workers and all those I work in partnership with, are treated equally, with dignity and respect. Within the adult home care setting there is a range of policies which formally sets out guidelines and procedures for ensuring equality. The equal opportunity policy takes into account the rights of all individuals and groups within the settings (â€Å"equal opportunities model†). In my managerial role, I promote equality and uphold individual’s equality of opportunity, individual rights and choice, their privacy, individuality, independence, dignity and respect. I also promote equality of care, and confidentiality. In practice I support each individual wherever needed, inclusion, adapted to the individual needs. I support inclusion by ensuring that, whatever their background or situation, are able to participate fully in all aspects of the care being delivered. Inclusive practices ensure that everyone feels valued and has a sense of belonging. Inclusion in our settings is about providing the same opportunities and access to high quality education as well as valuing differences as something we can learn and be empowered from rather than threatened (â€Å"difference and diversity model†). 1.2 Analyse the potential effects of barriers to equality and inclusion in own area of responsibility There are many barriers to diversity and inclusion. The biggest ones are generally prejudice, culture and upbringing and religious beliefs. Prejudice is â€Å"a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or personal experience† thus creating barriers to recognizing equality of rights for all. Cultural barriers can prevent, for example, consideration of spiritual,  relational or dietary needs that do not conform with expected traditional expectations. Religious belief, where different religious beliefs are not taken into account, and minorities are marginalized and not acknowledged.  Other significant barriers could be structural, institutional and personal: Structural, where circumstances create or result in barriers – for example in access to a ‘good education’ adequate housing, sufficient income to meet basic needs. Institutional, where policies, processes, practices sustain an organizational or service culture that excludes certain people or groups. Personal barriers, where staff can hold individual prejudices that influence their practice. These actions may be conscious, but they can often be unconscious or unwitting. Some vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals need more support to ensure their voice is heard and they are able to have power in the decision making process. Within our setting, if potential barriers to equality and inclusion arise, they are flagged and staff has a good understanding of individual customers. Barriers are then removed or minimized – the care delivery is adapted, person centered and where required resources or equipment provided. In order to minimize the effects of these potential barriers, we always ensure that: †¢ All care delivered is appropriate to the age and level of need. †¢ All staff are positively encouraged to deliver care to someone with complex needs in which they might not usually be engaged. †¢ All staff working with those using our service understands the policy on diversity and equality. †¢ We provide all literature in easy to read and large print to accommodate our customer’s needs. †¢ All practices and procedures in the setting are discussed and anything that is identified as  being discriminatory towards any group or individual is amended. †¢ Management has a sound knowledge of diversity, equality and anti-discrimination issues. †¢ We assess and raise the level of awareness amongst the team about diversity and equality issues and practice. The detrimental effect of barriers to diversity and inclusion can foster low morale and lack of motivation in our care workers and customers. Having an awareness of these potential barriers and their effects allows us to address them timely and effectively. 1. EQUALITY ACT 2010 Equality Act 2010 is the law which bans unfair treatment and helps achieve equal opportunities in the workplace and in wider society. The act replaced previous antidiscrimination laws with a single act to make the law simpler and to remove inconsistencies. This makes the law easier for people to understand and comply with. The act also strengthened protection in some situations. The act covers nine protected characteristics, which cannot be used as a reason to treat people unfairly. Every person has one or more of the protected characteristics, so the act protects everyone against unfair treatment. The protected characteristics are: †¢ age †¢ disability †¢ gender reassignment †¢ marriage and civil partnership †¢ pregnancy and maternity †¢ race †¢ religion or belief †¢ sex †¢ sexual orientation The Equality Act sets out the different ways in which it is unlawful to treat someone, such as direct and indirect discrimination, harassment, victimisation and failing to make a reasonable adjustment for a disabled  person. The act prohibits unfair treatment in the workplace, when providing goods, facilities and services, when exercising public functions, in the disposal and management of premises, in education and by associations (such as private clubs). The equality act will for instance impact on my role as manager with regards recruitment. You will need to ensure that my job specification does not discriminate against particular groups of applicants. When processing applications you should concentrate on an individual’s abilities to do the job, not their disabilities. Make adaptations to accommodate individual’s differences e.g. working hours, special equipment needs etc. The impact legislation and policy has on the promotion of equality, diversity and inclusion within my setting is ensuring policy and procedures are written and adhered to and carried out within the setting, that all staff has an awareness of legislation and policy surrounding equality, diversity and inclusion in practice.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Feral Children Essay

Genie was a modern wild-child, discovered on 1970. She had been isolated from society for something about ten years. When she was discovered, she had suffered from severe social deprivation. Among the problems that were caused by lifestyle she was imposed to, were significant physical problems. According to Ward (2007): â€Å"She had a strange bunny-like walk— she held her hands up in front of her like paws and moved in a halting way. She could not chew solid food and could hardly swallow. She spat constantly. She sniffed. She was not toilet-trained and could not focus her eyes beyond 12 feet. She weighed 59 pounds and was 54 inches tall. † Some of these problems are undoubtedly caused by girl’s extremely limited social interactions. Her habit to spit and sniff, her strange style of walking are caused by lack of social interaction. Normally an average child is surrounded by the adults who give to it plenty of examples as to how to walk, how to do things and how to behave. Toilet-training also is an acquired skill that is learned only in constant interaction with parents or fosterers, i. e. in constant social interaction. Genie’s inability to focus her eyes at objects that were at relatively long distance from her is a result of life in an environment that had almost no visual stimuli, and hence this physical problem is also result of social deprivation. Genie’s inability to chew solid food and swallow, along with her height and weight are rather the result of her food ration than the aftermath of long-term social isolation. Genie’s amazing initial ability to learn human behaviors from those around her is not surprising, because her ability to perceive and learn from the local environment was not satisfied by the poor environment she lived in for many years. And when her environment was significantly enriched with irritants and stimuli, the mind of Genie had awakened from artificial slumber by the potent stream of new information from her sensory organs. Her ability to copy and took part into the physical actions like dressing are explained well by the initial imprinting that was even more efficient than usually due to the contrast between the emotionally and sensory poor environment she used to live in and new enriched with information and interactions environment she went into. As Genie was found and rescued she immediately became the subject of diversified scientific studies that took significant part of her everyday life. This raises the question – was such intensive study of Genie ethical towards her? Considering the conditions that Genie lived in before she was found, considering the fact that scientists tried to spent with her more time than it was necessary to carry out current tests in order to build a sense of family to the girl that never knew what a family is before, it is possible to say that interactions with scientists were beneficial to Genie. She immediately started to advance in a lot of things she never had a single chance to learn before. She had found people that took care of her and emulated the family to her. And whereas the studies she was subjected to had accompanied her interactions with people and were intended to find out if Genie had retained her ability to learn and socialize and how did her long isolation from society affected her, it is possible to say that such an social symbiosis between socially deprived child and scientists is perfectly acceptable. Scientists quickly found out that, despite the long time spent in environment harsh and deprived both of information and emotions, Genie had retained ability and desire for learning and manifested this ability and eager for learning very quickly after being transferred into more favorable environment. This is quite natural. The young organism with inviolate ability to study and learn her local neighborhood, being transferred from the conditions that disfavored any investigative activity to the conditions that encourage observation and learning, started to overtake the lack of information about the local environment. This is perfectly normal because it is natural to any mammal to explore his local environment to find out where the safe places are and where the places to feed and places to be avoided located. This is an instinctive set of actions that guarantees the organism better adaptation to this local environment and, therefore, better chances to survive. To explore one’s local neighborhood is instinctive, and human child is not immune to these instincts. But in humans the ability to learn and the need to explore his neighborhood is expressed much more than in any other mammal, even in other Primates, thus creating more eminent appetite for learning. But the single need for learning for a human is not enough. Need for learning and appropriate conditions to satisfy this need are important of course, but these factors are enough to learn only physical and emotional aspects of human life. As to more abstract components, for example, ability to speak certain language correctly, putting the words into the logical order in accordance with rules of the language, there are more conditions needed, some of them quite specific. Coming back to Genie example: â€Å"One of the last tests †¦ measured what parts of her brain were active as she conducted different kinds of tasks. †¦ There was almost no left brain activity. Her tests looked similar to tests of children who had to have their left brains removed. † (Ward, 2007) This shows how important is socialization in development of activities that are build on logic and that are physiologically bound to activity of the left hemisphere of the brain. On the example of Genie it becomes clear that early socialization is the key to normal development of intellectual skills based on left brain activity, and the deficit of social interactions in these early years can lead to irreversible underdevelopment of skills vitally important to contemporary human. References: 1. Ward, Andrew. (2007). Genie, a modern-day Wild Child. Retrieved September 15, 2008 from http://www. feralchildren. com/en/showchild. php? ch=genie

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Female Education

The history of progress of the human race is the history of education. Hence it is necessary or every person, man or woman, to be educated. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Women should be educated like men; otherwise there can be no peace or no progress. If you yoke an unbroken (untrained) horse with a highly trained one, the carriage will be dashed to pieces and the occupants’ lives will be destroyed. The family peace cannot be preserved with such ill-matched life-long companions.Napoleon was once asked what the greatest need of France was. He answered, â€Å"Motherland’s National progress is impossible without trained and educated mothers†. If the women in any country are not educated, about half . he people in that country will be Ignorant. The result is that such a country will not be able to go along with other nations in development and progress. I’ll There is a greet controversy going on in Pakistan their women should receive her edu cation or not.Orthodox people are in favor of female education, but they us opposed to giving them higher education but this view does not sound welt. If women are mentally fit to receive higher education, there seems to be no reason why they should not be allowed to develop their mental faculties. There is other group of liberal people which Ii In favor of the female education. To give them only the rudiments of knowledge, while they are eager for advanced studies, is to condemn them to a place of inferiority.A woman has to play three distinct pests in the course of her life in each of which certain duties are expected of her. If she is able to do these well, she is worthy of being called perfect woman. It is only by the help of education that she can hope to be able to do them satisfactorily. The first duty of a woman is to be a good daughter. Th. second is to be a good wife and the third is to be a good mother. Education Leeches a woman what she should be. It also teaches her how she should do it to be a good daughter, a good wife and a good mother.Many men spend their evening time at clubs and societies. But a gentleman with an educated wife will not feel the need of clubs and societies. He can share his thoughts with her and seek her advice in trouble. Ho can spend his leisure Lime in her company. An educated lady will be a good Mend, a clever nurse and a useful adviser to her husband. She will be a true helpmate. She can retain her husband’s affection and regard. An uneducated lady is always unable to share in his interests. There is a saying in English. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world†. The meaning is this that the mother exercises a very great influence over the lives of her children and is able to mould their thoughts and characters. If she is educated, she will make such an impression on the mind of her child, that it will enable him in later life to grow into a good and great man. Thus education will enable women to make their parents, husbands and children truly happy. Consequently it is very important that women should be educated.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Domestic Influences in the Greek and Roman Theaters Essay

Domestic Influences in the Greek and Roman Theaters - Essay Example The Greek and Roman civilizations, which are perhaps two with the most abundant reference resources having extensively recorded their respective eras, do manifest this observation, if, at least, in their literary works alone. Even as both Mediterranean civilizations have expanded the influence of their clout and power, notably the Romans who spread out east to as far as India, the influence of domestic affairs and interests in the Greek and Roman person is evident even in the higher echelons of society and governments. Following is a Greek tragedy and a Roman comedy that very well typify the works of that classical era. From these two classical works, we shall survey influences in the plot, the characters, and the themes that reflect domestic elements, or, better still, to even find these elements central to the stories themselves. The "Antigone is a tragedy by Sophocles written before or in 442 BC. It is chronologically the third of the three Theban plays but was written first."( Fagles, p. 35) The other two plays in the trilogy by Sophocles being Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone proceeds where Seven Against Thebes, which was written much earlier by Aeschylus, leaves off. In the Seven Against Thebes, the two sons of Oedipus, Polynices and Eteocles, find themselves at odds against each other in a civil war over succession to the throne of Thebes which their father Oedipus had to relinquish. The brothers tragically kill each other. The Antigone, this time the story of one of Oedipus' two daughters, Antigone and Ismene, sisters of the brothers who slew each other, begins with sisters Antigone and Ismene discoursing on the older Antogone's decision to bury the body of their brother Polynices despite an edict of King Creon to deny his body honorable burial as the other brother's body, that of Eteocles, be honored. Despite the punishment of death by stoning to anyone who defies the king's command, Antigone prevails over her sister's persuasions and proceeds to cover her brothers body with earth declaring, "I will do my part,-and thine, if thou wilt not,-to a brother. False to him will I never be found." Reminded by Ismene of the consequence, Antigone retorts, "Such be thy plea:-I, then, will go to heap the earth above the brother whom I love." The play proceeds where Creon seeks the support of the Theban Elders who, in the play, are represented by the chorus, particularly to back his edict regarding the disposal of Polynices' body. The Elders pledges their support. Then a Sentry enters with dread to tell the king of the news that Polynices' body had been buried. Furious, the king orders the sentry to find out who did and if he fails, he faces death himself. The Sentry leaves and, after a while, returns with Antigone in tow. Asked by the king, "And thou didst indeed dare to transgress that law" Antigone replies, "I avow it; I make no denial." Creon fumes and swears the king, in his time, will not be prevailed over by a woman thus declares, "While I live, no woman shall rule me." Then assuming that the sister, Ismene, must have had a hand in the act as well, the king summons Ismene who, by now, also tries to confess falsely that indeed she has a hand in it while in truth she did not. Demanded by Antigone to tell the truth and be spared, she answers, "But, now that ills beset

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Management Techniques Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Management Techniques - Research Paper Example Hence, today’s managers adopt a contingency perspective to analyze the probable causes of a problem or situation and thereby recognize the most appropriate application. The ultimate objective of every management technique is to enhance planning, organizing, directing, and controlling functions of the management. In addition, the competitiveness of a management approach can have a significant influence on the organization’s productivity, profitability, and long term sustainability. An organization’s culture and long term objectives have vital roles in designing its management technique. A potential management approach would assist the organization to obtain a range of competitive capabilities over its market rivals. This paper will discuss various management techniques and identify where each technique would be most appropriate. The paper will also address why each technique is effective and how choosing one of the discussed management techniques can help a fledgl ing manager. Budgeting Budgeting is a management technique used by organizations to effectively plan their use of funds throughout the following fiscal year. The history of annual budgeting can be dated back to early 18th century. A budget is secured by managing product, sales, expenses, and profit which are within the capacity of the business. A budget expresses an organization’s financial policy. A well prepared budget can forecasts the firm’s production, sales, stocks for the next accounting period. In addition to managing financial aspects, budgeting practice can fuel a spirit of cooperation among departmental heads and coordinate various manufacturing departmental activities. As stated in the book The cost accounting function, budgeting â€Å"aims to reduce to an economic minimum the effects of seasonal fluctuations in sales on production programs† (243). The budgeting practice will help a firm to equal the business needs to the available finance so that th e firm’s anticipated financial needs during the term of the plan would be met effectively. A budget sets specific targets for employees and managers and hence it is easy to achieve planned organizational goals for the budget period. Moreover, budgeting assists to evaluate employee performance which in turn would benefit the organization to identify its internal management strengths and weaknesses. Effective budget planning and budgetary control would assist the company to cut down operational costs, to avoid crises, and to improve team spirit among employees. The budgeting management approach is always appropriate (or vital) for every business organization regardless of the firm’s nature, size, business, and industry sector. Cost accounting Cost accounting is another potential management technique where the expenditure is classified, recorded, and allocated properly for the purpose of determining the costs of products or services. Although Luca Pacioli, father of accou nting, did not actually propose the practice of cost accounting, the cost accounting technique emerged from his ideas. Cost accounting is defined by NAA as â€Å"a systematic set of procedures for recording and reporting measurements of the cost of manufacturing goods and performing services in the aggregate and in detail† (as qtd in Shim and Siegel 2). Under this management technique, different methods including historical costing, standard costing, and marginal

Entomology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Entomology - Essay Example Dietary assessment has become an integral part of clinical evaluation and nursing assessment. Good nutrition is not only important for preventing disease, but also for comprehensive management of a sick patient. In this essay, I plan to reflect on the food I consumed over the previous week and compare with US guidelines for dietary consumption. Dietary assessment includes 24 hour recall of food intake of each day of the week, including the type and quantity, calories analysis, estimation of protein, fat and other important nutrients like vitamins and minerals and comparing with standard references for respective age, sex and physiological condition like pregnancy, lactation and adolescence. This is then averaged to per day analysis. One week's recall of food may not be the best guide for nutrition assessment. However, it keeps matter simple for calorie calculation. From my previous week food recall, it is evident that total calorie intake on an average is about 2500 kcal per day, in excess of my requirement. The recommended calorie requirement for my age and sex is about 1900 calories. The protein intake is about 25 grams when I need about 45 grams. Total fat is about 30% (when it should be less than 20%) and mainly constituting saturated fat and dietary fibre is only about 10% (when it should be 30%). Except for some iron and calcium in the breakfast and some vitamins in the snacks, my diet is poor in vitamins and minerals. Also, there is increased consumption of non milk extrinsic sugars in the form of coke and cookies. The diet does not contain fresh fruits or vegetables or starchy staple foods. Nor does the diet contain any milk. Of course, the amount of alcohol is in moderation. Due to the excess calorie intake and predominance of saturated fats and sugary foods, Ana is at risk of chronic diseases like obesity, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, arthritis and chronic pulmonary disease. Consumption of acidic foods and non milk extrinsic sugars (like in c oke, pastries, chocolates) are cariogenic and are the beginning of periodontal diseases. Also, diet poor in minerals and vitamins can lead to multi-vitamin deficiencies, anemia and malnutrition. Improper diet can also have a psychological effect leading to depression. It is important for me to refer to the dietary guidelines and alter my diet. First of all, the total calorie value of food should not exceed 2000 k cals. According to the National Food Guide to an adult’s diet, bread, cereals and potatoes should comprise one third of the diet and preferably whole grains. Another one third should comprise of fruits and vegetable

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Stress and health in novice and experienced nursing students Essay

Stress and health in novice and experienced nursing students - Essay Example tate them all.) If there are not research questions and/or a hypothesis, indicate that is the case and provide your interpretation of what the research question and hypotheses are. The research questions that became used in the experiment included, What degrees of stress and types of stressful events perceived by students in their clinical practice, what the common biopsychosocial responses were during clinical practice periods, what the differences in reports of health and stress between experienced and novice groups of nursing students were. In accordance to the research paper, stress and coping tend to affect health in social, physical and psychological aspects. Since the medical team is highly dependent on the nurses, plus the nursing students need to learn, the research became aimed at knowing the outcomes of stress to their learning. The research used nursing students from the University for Higher School for Nursing positioned in Andalusia. The research became conducted for 3 years. The research involved all the 503 nursing students. The sample became representative of the whole nursing population. The size was appropriate as it involved all the nursing students. Such a sample was excellent though data collection from each of the students might have brought some issues. In data collection, two types of tools became used the Perceived Stress Scale and the Biopsychosocial Response Scale. The two became designed by Sheu. Reliability of the two tools became mentioned in the research, for instance, the Perceived Stress Scale got reasonable reliability indexes. Biopsychosocial Response Scale became reliable too in the process of data collection. In the research, the writer utilizes the use of tables. Tables offer a summary of the data collected in a simplified form. One can be able to understand the data displayed in the table since they are simplifies and direct to the point. In the table of the stress perceived by the use of Perceived Stress Scale, a

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Market Research proposal report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Market Research proposal report - Essay Example The industry gives transport services for freight and also passengers. Businesses within the industry aim at making it very interesting to woo customers to desire to use services provided by the industry. The study of the industry reveals that there are political, economic, socio-cultural and legal factors that affect it. The Pest analysis should be used to analyze the environment in which the industry operates in. This simple analysis involves understanding the industry's political, economic, social, and technological environment with references to the various companies within the industry. (Massingham, et al. 1988) Political factors have a direct and indirect effect on the performance of the various companies within the airline industry. There are some decisions which have been made by the federal government of the United Kingdom which has really had a negative effect on the performance of the industry. For instance, in 2001, the federal government brought legal suits and made decisions to minimize the production and marketing of high performance to countries believed to be a threat to the security of U.K. This move impacted negatively to the general operations of companies within the industry. (Michael, 1985) The industry has also been affected by economic factors. These include: Currency exchange rate, interest rate policy, consumer factors, and fiscal policy rates. The industry has to adhere to the fluctuations in the market depending with how a consumer perceives the offered products. In the times of economic recession, less people use air transport because of the low affordability of this kind of transport. Hence the industry has continually suffered for lack of customers. Therefore, the industry makes minimal profits because of the few customers it is able to acquire at such times. (Jan, 2002) The market has also been affected by social factors. Forces within the society such as media, family and friends have affected the operations of companies within the industry. The media has played a role in influencing customers to believe that the services offered by the industry are of high quality. Social factors have affected the opinions, interests, and attitudes of the industry's potential customers. The industry's success can be greatly attributed to social factors. (Scholes, 1993) Technological factors have also played a role in affecting the industry's performance. The internet for example has assisted the industry to extend its global out reach. Most of the marketing mix strategies which the airline has used have kept in touch with changing technology and modernization in the ever changing world. E-commerce and Radio Frequency identification-RFID are some of the modern technological aspects embraced by the industry. The industry has tried to always keep abreast with technology. The modern technology present in the industry has given it a competitive edge over other related industries. The technology has also greatly increased the effectiveness of the services offered by the industry. (Schlesinger, 1991) Some of the services that can be introduced in to the industry include postal services. Here, letters and mails will be transported via planes to where they are needed. This enhances the speed of postal services in the world as a whole. The targeted customers will include rich business people who need to deliver mail to business people based in other parts of the world urgently. The cost of this service will

Monday, September 23, 2019

Organisational Change Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 1

Organisational Change Management - Essay Example This majorly applies to the employees who will not be directly affected by the changes and closure of the UK company branch. There need to be a way to maintain their attachment to the company and interest in the success of the company (DiPlacido, 1976). D2 is bound to receive several challenges during the execution of the proposed changes. These challenges will particularly emerge from the employees who will need to shift locations and apply their expertise in another D2 branch. This will be done in that the services of product development team in Didcot will be imported to France. This will help boost the production in France and make the company profitable. Though crucial to the success of the company, likelihood of facing resistance from employees who will have to undergo both personal and geographic change is eminent. This will trigger feelings of victimization and negative attitude towards the company (Wiltshire, 1995). Despite all the challenges, the bard of D2 has decided to p ractice the following strategic changes as immediate actions in their organizational change management: a) Operational Change: According to Truscott, centralizing the available resources to a specific production line gives the company a chance to improve its internal operational competency (2003). This D2 will achieve by stopping part of their production and opting for service outsourcing if need be. This will also enable them to get a specialized service attention. b) Strategic Change: Inefficient strategy normally neutralizes the efforts of the employees (Gutek, 2000). For this reason, D2 aims at adapting a strategy that focuses on reducing both their production and operational costs. Unlike before when they mainly focused on widespread investment, D2 will... D2 is looking forward to making significant operational changes that will also affect its employees. First, D2 is aiming at shutting down their UK site at Didcot in a bid to enable them to centralize their management and resources to the highly profitable branches and maximize on economies of scale. This will greatly affect the employees who were working at the site. D2 is also looking forward to relocating its employees at Didcot and settling them in France so that they can help improve their product design and make the company branch in France more profitable. The changes that the company will undergo while performing all these requires expertise and careful handling as it concerns employees who will have to shift their physical location. Relocating employees from one physical location to the other usually have various effects on the employees. While some might welcome it as a way of exploring new locations, many will always find it inconveniencing considering their attachment to t he location they were in. For this reason, there are several effects to the overall operation and functionality of D2 that will result from the shutdown of the Didcot site and the transfer of the employees from Didcot to France. According to Waterhouse and Brown, there are several factors and constraints that are normally associated with employee relocation (2001) that must be considered to provide for a smooth transformation of the company.  

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Gag Clauses Essay Example for Free

Gag Clauses Essay For the past ten years, the Health Management Organizations (HMO), who is responsible on the health care programs, had imposed a new system that restrict and inhibit physicians in communicating to their patients. (Wynn, 1996) This is known as ‘gag clause†. The physician must not discuss the medical condition and all treatment options of their patients. These include the right health care plan, the appropriate treatment and medications that may be benefit to the patient in terms of cost. (Liang, 1998) The issue on the gag clauses creates a big noise especially on the practitioners and physicians. This issue receives many criticisms. According to some critics, it is the obligation of a physician to educate and inform his patient on what kind of treatment, and the kind of health care plan. This is because physicians are trained to treat the bad health conditions of their patients. The gag clause thus inhibits the open discussion of the two parties. Because of the gag clause issue, the House of Representative and the Legislature of United States are now making a proper move to inhibit the gag clauses in physician contracts. But almost 200 million of the citizens of the said country rely on health care programs of HMOs. The lawmakers of United States, who had made laws and enforces these to protect its citizens, medicine companies as well as the practitioners from the HMOs, still HMOs finds a way to control the actions of their hired physicians. This is the termination-without-cause clause. In this clause, the physician to be hired by HMOs can be fired for any reason. The restrictions of physicians in communicating to their patients produce major problems especially on the side of the patient. One of these problem is the lost of trust and confidence of the patient if his original physician has been deselected. Then the second physician must handle the latter treatment on the patient which is very difficult because of little time. Then the second physician also faces a constraint in communicating to his patient. This will result to low quality health care service given by HMOs. The welfare of the patients is being jeopardized because of gag clauses. A study was conducted on the performance of physicians experiencing gag clauses from their health care company. From the physicians who were interviewed, majority do their medical obligation as part of their ethical duties in providing the necessary medication and treatments for their patients. They do not even read carefully the provisions of the contracts they signed in handling their patients. But because of the alarming issues on the deselecting, physicians were limited on communicating to their patients the health conditions and proper treatment. While on the side of physician sectors, there profession is being put at risk. As a physician, their responsibility is to take care of their patient which is the core of their medical responsibility. If these physicians were unluckily deselected, their ethical responsibility to raise and support their family will be affected. Thus, physicians are faced in a two situations were they must choose which will they do. Thus the purpose of their profession is being sacrificed. In almost contract signing, there are some elements to consider and understand by both parties before they undergo in signing. Some of the key terms to consider are the payment terms, duty and obligations of parties, representations and warranties, conditions on the closure of the contract, some liability issues and termination rights. In contract signing in a managed care setting, the identification of the parties who will sign the contract must first be done. In terms of managed care setting, the health care provider, physicians and the consumers or patients are the main characters. Then the recitals will follow. In this part, it contains the background of the contract as well the objective. The obligation of the parties involved is the next element to be discussed before signing. The health care provider will provide all the necessary treatments needed by the patient for his wellness. This includes the necessary and appropriate health care plan. While the physician medical responsibility is to provide the necessary treatment needed by the patient in which he can apply his profession. These include care and medication of the patient. And lastly, the obligation of the patient is in term of financial obligation for the health care provider and to the physician. (Allbusiness, 2007) Next to be considered are the terms of the contract. It must be clearly stated what are the sanction if one of the terms was not made. Also, the contract must be known if it is an only one time or it can be renewed. And if the contract is renewable, how it can be renewed? These questions must be first answered before the signing of the medical health care contract. After this, the price must be set. How much will it cost the service of the health care provider to their costumers or patients and the salary of the physician assigned, as well as the terms of payments between the parties? When will the due of the payment and what are the consequences if the due was not met by one of the party concerned. Warranty is also part of a contract. The warranties must be clearly stated on how it can be claimed and in what way. If the health care program does not meet the terms, how will the health care provider pay the consequence? And how long the warranty will is good for. And lastly is the term of termination of the contract. When will the health care program end in concern on the patient? When will the physician medical obligation ends. The above are mentioned are the key terms in contract signing in a health care setting. (Allbusiness, 2007) In contract signing in a health care setting, a major concern that must be considered is that-if the contract contains provisions of illegal act? Because majority of the HMOs contract’s contain provision of not letting communication on the physician-patient relationship, the Federal government of United States enforce these HMOs to eliminate these gag clauses. In a contract, it is stated that the patient under a health care program is entitled to all benefits of the health care program. ( Scanlon, 1999) Because of this, the Health Care Financing Administration force HMOs to eliminate gag clauses on their contracts. If a contract contains illegal act such that of the gag clauses, it will be considered as a violation on the Medicare law. This is because almost physicians believe that inhibiting them in communicating with their patients about their medical condition might result to increase on the risk on their health condition. (Frascati, 2005) Even tough some of the health care plans of HMOs were revised in connection with the gag clauses; still there are provisions and conditions that hinder the communication of physician-patient relationship. Some of these provisions are the business confidentiality clause, nondisparagement clause and nonsolicitation clause. These provisions are discrete form of inhibition of the communication. (Lott, 1997) If one of the provisions in a contract is unenforceable like no legal action or waiver of right to trial by jury, and then the contract is considered void. (Higuchi, 1995)

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Chinas Logistics Industry

Chinas Logistics Industry Abstract The aim of this paper is to introduce development of China logistics industry in last decade. This paper examines problems during the development and the implementations to further develop China logistics industry in the future. The first part of this paper introduces the background of China logistics industry, problem statement and research objective. The measurements of development of China logistics industry are as dependent variables discussed in Chapter four. The second part talks about literature review for logistics, 3 elements in development of China logistics industry which are cost, productivity and expansion. Also, factors that affect development of China logistics industry are given which are transportation, governments regulation, warehousing and storage, IT supporting and infrastructure. Chapter three looks at research methodology which contains source of data, method of data analysis, questionnaire and interview. The theoretical framework shows the relationship between independent variables and dependent variables. Chapter four is mainly focuses on data analysis; the results are shown to indicate the main factors that limit the development of China logistics industry. Finally, the chapter five gives the conclusion and recommendation to solve the problems that effect development of China logistics industry that is integrated information technology to reduce transportation cost. KEYWORDS: logistics, cost, information technology, transportation. Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Background of Study With the increase of the global competition and the rapid development of the Information Technology (IT), the logistics industry has become one of the most important industries in the 21st century. The scope and role of logistics have changed dramatically over recent years. In the past, logistics has played a supportive role to primary functions such as marketing and manufacturing. Now the scope of logistics has expanded beyond its traditional coverage of transportation and warehousing activities to include purchasing, distribution, inventory management, packaging, manufacturing and customer service. More importantly, logistics has dramatically evolved from a supportive role characterized and cost absorbing to a primary role and become an important of competitive advantage. Companies experiencing growing pressure to reduce costs and provide better service so that they engage in improving the logistics by outsourcing/expansion, an option that can improve both efficiency and effectiven ess. Modern theory of logistics in China was introduction in 1980s to pilot program of logistic and distribution centres built-up in early 1990s and then evolved into full-fledged industry by the end of 1990s. Since its economic reform and opening up in 1978, Chinas economy keeps booming, with an annual GDP growth rate of nearly 10 percent which has become a global manufacturing centre with its high economic growth rate (Wang et al. 2006). In 2001, a condition for China to become a full member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was the removal of restrictions to foreign logistics investments. At the beginning, foreign capital was allowed only in form of joint ventures where Chinese partner held a majority (Goh and Ling, 2003). At the end of 2005, the restrictions were completely phased out. At present, state-owned, privately/locally owned, and foreign owned logistics companies are all equally allowed to enter and compete in logistics industry in China. Chinas logistic industry has been experiencing fast growth driven with the help of sustainable national economic expansion. Although there are tremendous opportunities, still the intense competition exists, especially after 2001. The logistics industry reported an annual growth rate of 31% in 1999, 35% in 2000, and 55% in 2001, and was expected to continue to expand rapidly in the future (Business knowledge on demand, 2007). According to Exhibit 1, the average annual growth rate of the logistics industry in China was 22.2%, and logistics expenditures accounted for about 21.8% of the GDP between 1992 and 2004 (business knowledge on demand, 2007). This sector has been developed in a physically sound way under improved infrastructure and external environment. According to Asia consulting, Added value has reached to RMB 1.4 trillion in 2006 up 13.9% over 2005. The transportation fee has been RMB 2.1 trillion increasing 12.1 %. The increase can be seen in inventory and delivery service along with 16.7% of warehousing fe es. It is expected that Chinas logistics market value will reach RMB1.1972 trillion, and will continue to maintain an annual growth of 20% in 2010. 1.2 Total Logistics Market Size The GDP of China is above RMB 10 trillion by the first time in 2002 that achieved a real growth of 8%. In the 10th Five-year Plan, the government is forecasting an average growth rate 7% per annum in 2002-2007. According to the forecasts by State Development Planning Commission (SDPC), the GDP will be quadruple, about US$4.3 Trillion by 2020. The price level will be stable because of higher price pressure within the economy. In a detailed survey by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP), the total logistics market was estimated at RMB1, 788 billion, 20% of the GDP in 2000. In 2002, it was estimated that the total logistics market of China were about RMB 2 trillion. Though the economy was expanding in 7%, logistics expenses were going to increase in a slower rate. It was because there is sufficient supply of logistics capacity such as trucks, warehouses and other fixed assets. Government registration shows 700,000 logistics service providers are operating. On the othe r hand, improving logistics efficiency also reduces its proportion to the GDP. A moderate rate of 4.0%-4.9% growth is estimated in the coming five years. According to HK Trade Development Council, leading logistics companies in China such as UPS, FedEx and DHL-Sinotrans have all recorded annual growths in over 30% on operations in China and there are more outsourcing contributes to the growth of professional logistics firms. Moreover, as competition increases, it is expected that market share is shifting from local companies to foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) or local giants, who can offer more efficient services in lower fees.(LI FUNG, 2003) 1.3 Players in the China Logistics Market Chinas logistics market is fragmented, characterized by tens of thousands of logistics companies and many of them are small, poorly organized with fundamental infrastructure and technology. A vast majority of the players are lack of nationwide capabilities and serve a narrow customer base; and mainly focus on simple transportation and storage functions. Competition is fierce, particularly in the low-end market. Traditionally, Chinas logistics market is dominated by the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) which provide 90% of the logistics services, but none of these has a market share over 2%. 1.31 State-Owned Players There are many state-owned players in China logistics market. Prior to 1980, under economic conditions in that time, Chinas logistics business could only be managed by state-owned enterprises and logistics was a monopoly industry, mostly for transpiration and warehousing. The characteristics of their management mode are small-scale native enterprises, slow product renovation, poor management, production plans following from various government agencies, etc. Due to government investment and monopolistic operation, these enterprises acquired large assets and became relatively large-scale business firms. Relying on their sufficiency capital and existing market share, in the past several years these enterprises rapidly became leaders in China logistics industry. However, due to the monopolistic nature of the industry and the separated management system, it will take time for these logistics firms to become truly comprehensive. The following is a list of todays relatively powerful state-o wned backbone logistics enterprises that operate nationwide: China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO); China Railway Express Company Limited (CREC); China Post Logistics Company Limited (CPLC); China Railway Container Transport Company Limited (CRCTC), etc. COSCO Logistics COSCO Logistics is a branch of COSCO, China Ocean Shipping Company. It was formed in 2002. Because of the parent companys network and infrastructure, in 2004 to 2008 it ranked number 1 in China in terms of comprehensive logistics capacities. COSCO Logistics has 300 logistics facilities, covering 90% of the China market and the service is strongly marine transport related. 1.32 Private Players Since the mid-1990s, Chinas private domestic logistics enterprises started to develop themselves. For example: EAS International Transportation Ltd (Shanghai). This company was founded in 1985 and it involves international business. In the past twenty years, EAS has gained notable achievement in building the unique operation platform to development modern logistics business according to the demand of customers. There are many other private domestic logistics companies in China, such as St-Anda, PGL, China Overseas logistics and so on. They are all medium-size Chinese logistics provides emerged in the last 10-20 years. These firms have enjoyed the fastest growth in the market due to their light-asset nature and high efficiency. They are more focused on geographies, service and customers. But they have problems in lacking sufficient financial support for market expansion and internal management mechanisms and effective organization to support high growth and profitability. (Fu Qinqin, 2007) 1.33 International Logistics Players(ILCs) Although the domestic companies dominate the general China logistics market, ILCs are playing a more important role, and their market shares are increasing rapidly. Among which the most important are the four giant ILCs that started with parcel and courier services. The international logistics players are: DHL, TNT, UPS, FedEx and so on. Deutsche Post World Net/DHL Deutsche Post World Net (DPWN) has a uniformed brand and image for its logistics, courier and parcel, and transport service; that is DHL. DHL first entered China in 1981. In 1986, it formed a joint venture with Sinotrans in courier and parcel delivery. Mainly because of this earliest partnership, DHL-Sinotrans has the biggest market share in courier service. Both parties enjoy a very fruitful partnership. For this reason, in 2002 when the first partnership ended, DHL and Sinotrans renewed the cooperation agreement for another 50 years, till the year of 2052. In May 2004, DHL initiated its domestic delivery of parcels in China, and again, DHL led the market. In the courier and parcel delivery market, the partnership between DHL and Sinotrans is the most stable. In the past twenty years, DHL has invested about $215 million in China. Out of its total investment of $1.1 billion in Asia, that was only about 20% of DHLs investment in Asia. However, DHL plan to invest about $273 millions in China from 2004-2008, or almost 2/3 of its $400 million investment in Asia over the same period. Clearly, the investment is heating up in the China logistics market. (Xuepin Cen, 2005) Nowadays, many foreign logistics companies have established good cooperation relations with Chinese logistics firms by using joint ventures. The advantage foreign companies have competitive advantage in technology and management, but only when they are combined with experiences and existing service network of Chinese enterprises that they could be brought into full play. Therefore, some Chinese logistics companies usually face Merge and acquisition (MA) risk. A number of foreign companies that have never touched on the Chinese market patiently search for Chinese companies for cooperation projects. Many inland Chinese cities promise many commercial opportunities in the logistics sector, and it needs time for foreign companies to fully penetrate into the Chinese market. However, for foreign logistics companies they are being challenged by infrastructure and customer base and of lack of on-the-ground capabilities in China. 1.34 Third Party Logistics companies (TPLs) Chinas market for TPL is still in its early stage. Also, TPL is a relative new concept for most of the Chinese companies. A TPL company normally provides process-base services rather than a function-base logistics service, which generally toward to the integration and full control of a part or whole process of customers logistics network. The rationale for outsourcing logistics is to achieve cost saving through economics of scale. Small or middle sized companies may not always have economics of scale to economically manage logistics operation, but this is precisely one of the advantages for third-party logistics companies. The year of 2006 is the first year of Chinas 11th Five-Year Plan (2006~2010), and is also the first year when logistics is opened up completely. From the year of 2006 to 2010, the basic frame and main functions of Chinas southern international logistics centre will come into being. The proportion of logistics cost in GDP will decrease more than 3%. The third party logistics will share up to 23% in the logistics market.(Fu Qinqin, 2007) 1.4 Major modes of Transport The first few years of the 21st century have been characterized by the rapid construction of transport infrastructure in China. During the five-year plan from 2001 to2005, transport infrastructure has been built significantly including 250,000 kilometres of highways and 24,700 kilometres of expressways. By the end of 2006, the total length Chinese highway has reached 3,457,000 kilometres and 77,000 kilometres of railways (Waters, 2007). The current five-year plan (2006-2010) has an ambitious agenda and will spend hundreds of billions of dollars over the next five years to develop Chinas roads, river ports, and railroads. (Richard Brubaker,2005 ) 1.41 Ports According to Richard Brubaker, (2005) since the central government opened Chinese ports to overseas investment in March of 2002, Chinese Port facilities have received massive amounts of investment and have taken huge steps towards significantly increasing capacity. In 2003, the total investment in Chinese port development and construction was US$2.2 billion, and in 2004, the Ministry of Communication has reported this figure was to reach nearly US$4.3 billion in 2004. Currently, Chinas coastal cities like Dalian, Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, are all competing to complete new berths and establish themselves as dominant regional logistics centres. (Exhibit 2) In Shanghai for example, container throughput of 11.28 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) for 2003 is expected to increase to 14.5million TEUs in 2004, with massive expansion already underway. In addition to expansion that will add more than 2m TEUs of capacity in 2005, Shanghais massive Yan gshan deepwater terminal is also under construction and will eventually handle 25m TEUs at a cost of â‚ ¬1.5bn. Although such massive investment and expansion, the improvements brought by increasing use of foreign terminal operators, Chinese ports still need to keep up with increasing demand. 1.42 Road Benefit from government heavy investment and the unreliability of other options for instance rail and inland water, road transport becomes most popular choice for the inland distribution of goods in China. Beijing has already emphasised on a plan to double Chinas expressway mileage. (Richard Brubaker,2005) By 2005, as Chinas new inter-provincial highway system nears completion, almost 200,000 km of new roads will bring the national total to roughly 1.5 million km. Among the most significant of these developments, Shanghai-Chengdu Highway and Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway are the most arresting plan. Because most of Chinas highways are financed using a fixed return toll based system, tolls account for roughly 20% of costs faced by long distance trucking operators and create huge incentives to overload trucks. Nearly 75% of Chinas more than 100,000 traffic fatalities per year have been attributed to overloaded trucks. These deaths have led to new road safety laws, which if observed, could have significant implications for the efficiency and the costs of trucking operations where trucks are overloaded on average by 30% and often by 50%. However, at present the trucking industry in China remains extremely fragmented and is not organized on a national basis. The largest of the nearly 3 million trucking service providers in China is Sinotrans, with a registered fleet of 3,000 trucks specializing in long-distance service. Short-distance trucking services in China are generally provided by local operators who offer relatively cost effective and competitive services. In spite of national policies, this separation between local and long distance trucking operators is in part due to efforts by local and city authorities to protect local businesses. By the end of 2004, Chinas WTO commitments require that Chinas trucking sector be fully opened to foreign firms. Experts said that current market fragmentation and the benefits of newly expanded infrastructure make the trucking sec tor particularly attractive for consolidation and foreign investment. 1.43 Rail According to Richard Brubaker, (2005) Chinas Railway infrastructure has received relatively low levels of investment compared with Chinas road and port infrastructure. The Ministry of Railways has relatively modest plans to increase Chinas existing rail network from 72,000 km to 100,000 km in 2020. Use of the Chinese rail system increased 6% year on year between January of 2003 and January of 2004, though it would appear that this relatively modest increase can be less attributed to weak demand than the limitations posed by serious under capacity. Railway bottlenecks and the inability of the railway system to transport the requisite amounts of coal were in large part responsible for the power shortages of the summer of 2004. This has since led to the prioritization of coal shipments leaving other commodities and cargoes sitting on docks. Many importers, most notably Chinas steel mills have been struggling to find enough railcars to carry cargo and now often resort to barges and truck s at much greater cost. Poor handling practices, delays, unpredictable delivery times, bulk shipment requirements, theft, minimal shipment tracking, the lack of inter-modal facilities, and a general lack of infrastructure all plague the Chinese railways. However, despite these issues exist, the heavy subsidization still makes Chinas railway become the cheapest form of overland transport compare with shippers. 1.44 Inland Waterways Infrastructure on inland waterways, most significantly the Yangtze River, increased 8% between January 2003 and January 2004. (Richard Brubaker,2005) Rivers such as the Yangtze can handle ships of up to 6000 tonnes and are generally uncongested; however, canals and low bridges can be problematic and projects such as the recently completed 3 Gorges Dam can serve to prolong dry seasons and keep water levels low. 1.45 Air freight Although Chinas airfreight sector is constrained by inadequate infrastructure, its development has been rapid. China is the second-largest domestic airfreight market in the world after the United States. According to Boeings World Air Cargo Forecast, the market has grown at more than 20 percent annually since 1991. (Richard Brubaker,2005) Airports are seeing rapid expansion in three principal economic areas: the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), the Pearl River Delta (PRD), and the capital city of Beijing. Expansion in the PRD is very important that it threatens to cut into the volumes handled by Hong Kong, the worlds largest air cargo airport. But a large proportion of the goods exported from South China are routed through Hong Kong. Its position has been strengthened, moreover, by an agreement that allows Chinese airlines to expand their international services via Hong Kong and gives Hong Kong airlines greater access to the mainland. 1.46 Warehousing Most of Chinas warehousing facilities are older or old-style facilities with a range of associated issues. Many facilities do not have computerized stock supervision systems in place. Single and multi-story warehouse designs limit efficiency by preventing the use of multiple racking levels and by modern forklift trucks. Cross contamination is an issue as are unsealed loading platforms at refrigerated facilities, which expose food products to ambient air temperatures during loading and unloading. The shortage and shortcomings of existing facilities as well as the opening up of the Chinese warehousing under its WTO commitments by the end of 2005, have led to considerable investment and anticipation in this sector. (Richard Brubaker,2005 ) For example, in Shanghai, several foreign logistics services providers hoping to invest in the future and capitalize on preferential policies and proximity to port facilities (including APL Logistics, DHL and OOCL Logistics) have or are planning to es tablish massive logistics centres in Shanghais Waigaoqiao Logistics Park / Free Trade Zone. The park has been established as an international transit, delivery, sourcing and transhipment hub to promote and coordinate the development of Shanghais sea and air transport, warehousing and logistics industries. 1.5 Statements of the Problem 1.51 High Cost Since the late of 1990s, China has been aiming at fostering logistics industry and improving logistics management skills, for the huge manufacturing industries in China has driven logistics industry growing rapidly in recent years. With its imminent entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), China is embracing a big opportunity to develop its logistics industry, officials and experts noted. Zhang zhigang, deputy director of the State Economic and Trade Commission (SETC), said that: it is urgent that China reforms its old circulation system and speeds up the development of its logistics industry as China faces new challenges in the globalization process. But the high logistics cost nibble the competence of firms. According to the data released by Development Research Center of the State Council of PR China, Chinas logistics expenditures amounted to 20% of the GDP in 2000 whereas logistics spending accounted for 10.3% of United Statess GDP, 14% of Japans GDP, and 10 to 13% of Europ ean Unions GGP (Waters, 2007). The annual growth rate of total logistics expenditures is 10.29, 12.99, 16.76 and 12.86 percent from 2002 to 2005 (National Development and Reform Commission, 2004). Statistics published by China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing show that Chinas total logistics expenses reached RMB3.8414 trillion in 2006, up 13.5% year on year at current price, a growth 0.6 percentage points higher than in 2005. The rate of total logistics expense of GDP was 18.3%, 0.2 percentage points lower than in 2005. This is the mainly problem that slow down the development of China logistics industry. The total logistics cost encompasses transportation, inventory storage and management. In 2007, the total logistics cost increased by 18.2% to 4540.6 billion yuan. The total logistics cost in China generally includes three cost components, namely, transportation, inventory storage and management cost. According to Exhibit 3, it is clear that the total logistics cost increased rapidly during 1991-98, since then the growth started levelling off. In 2004, the total cost amounted to 2911.4 billion yuan (US$ 352 billion), grew by 16.6%. Of this total, transportation cost made up the largest portion and witnessed the highest growth rate. Transportation cost was 1655.8 billion yuan (US$ 200 billion), accounting for 56.9% of the total logistics cost. On the other hand, inventory storage and management cost were 846.7 and 408.9 billion yuan (US$ 102 billion and US$ 49 billion), accounting for 29.1% and 14% of the total logistics cost respectively (US$ 15.7 billion). Adding the costs of packing, transport, storage and damage, the ratio of total logistics costs to total industry production ranges from 40% to 60%, whereas in the United States this percentage is close to 20% (Smyrlis, 2006). If logistics costs are broken down, transport accounts for 57% of costs, inventory and storage accounts for 29%, and management accounts for 14% (Exhibit 4). Percentage wise, transport costs in China are twice as expensive as in developed countries (Wakers, 2007). 1.52 Low in productivity The ratio of total logistics cost to GDP represents the efficiency of logistics operation in the economy which means the productivity of logistics industry. It is also used as an indicator of the development level of the logistics industry. In general, the higher the percentage, the less efficient is the logistics industry. Exhibit 5 shows the total logistics cost as a percentage of GDP in the 10th Five-year Plan period (2000-2005). Despite the total logistics cost as a percentage of GDP has been on a downward trend that decreased from 19.4% in 2000 to 18.57% in 2005 and the total cost savings in the 10th Five-year Plan period totalled 109 billion yuan; according to exhibit 3, the logistics cost was still higher than that in US, Japan and developed countries which means lower inefficiency of China logistics industry. As predicted by the CFLP, the ratio of total logistics cost to GDP will continue higher that resulting inefficiency of modern logistics services. CFLP predicted that tot al logistics costs during the 11th Five-year Program period (2006-2010) will grow at 10% annually, 2% lower than that of the 10th Five-year Plan period. It also forecasted that the total logistics cost will reach 5,400 billion yuan in 2010, the ratio of total logistics cost to GDP at around 16.8% and cost savings yield during the period will be around 435 billion yuan. 1.53 Slowly expansion/outsourcing One of the most significant drivers of growth in the global logistics industry is the trend of mergers and acquisitions. Such buyouts and mergers enable logistics players to build up their infrastructure and service scale, both of which are critical to remaining competitive. By merging their operations and collaborating on technology, complementary services partners can also scale up their logistics capability without having to invest heavily in infrastructure. The result is lower cycle-time, streamlined business processes and lower manpower costs, which in turn boosts companies productivity and profitability. Although the giant logistics companies in China have overseas offices established from the 1980s and 1990s as their overseas branches to support their international transportation, their businesses are heavily dependent on agents. For example, Sinotrans has business in 200 countries, but there are only 40 overseas offices. The most international business is done via the agents. As Contrill claimed, dont expect a wave of Chinese 3PLs to land on Western shores soon. The pace of change in China is slow by Western standards and there is much to do in the home market. 1.6 Research objective The objective of this research is twofold. On one hand, the objective is: To understand the development of China logistics industry in last decades. On the other hand is to investigate the factors affect the development of China logistics industry and find the solutions to solve the current problems to further develop logistics industry in China. On meeting the two objectives this paper will develop a framework to address the factors that affect the development of China logistics industry. 1.7 Research questions There questions will be discussed in this article: 1: To introduce the development of logistics industry in China in last decade. 2: What are the factors that affect the development of China logistics industry? 3: How to solve the current problems to further develop logistics industry in China? 1.8 Significance of study This research would contribute by indicating and analyzing some of the problems that affect development of China logistics industry and this study was designed to answer some questions from perspectives of both the researcher and some practitioners. The theoretical framework was based on an extensive review of the literature on the various theoretical models of factors affect development China logistics industry. 1.9 Limitations of the research Because of time restriction (from September to November, 2009), this thesis will be finished within 3 months, I will cover the detail of logistics management (Transportation, Warehousing and IT supporting) as specific as possible. Because of the location of sampling in Shanghai, China, the searcher has to come to China but only around 1month, so time limited to the questionnaire distributing and receiving which cause low response rate. There are many problems that influence the development of logistics industry in China; in this paper, we only focus the above 5 main problems. Because of some companies are not public listed companies, it is difficult to find the financial data from the current annual reports released by these companies, so we may analyze these companies using the previous data (Eg: Annual Report in 2007) Some of questions are directly related to the internal strategy of company management, so managers are unwilling to answer. 1.10 Chapter Outline Chapter one Introduction: This provides the reader with background information of the study, which creates a pictorial flow of the main research. Research objectives, background of study, problems and significance as well as the limitations faced by the researcher are clearly stated in this chapter. Chapter two Literature review: This chapter explores relevant literature; it basically dealt with pertinent literature on problems of current China logistics industry with discussions on related research variables such as government policy and regulations, transportation cost, warehousing and storage, training/education/IT supporting and infrastructure. Chapter three Methodology and Data collection: This chapter describes the research design used to conduct this research. This chapter will further disclose the ways used in analyzing data collected, limitations of the methods used and how the data was collected. This section concludes with discussions of the data gathering techniques and the data analysis procedures that were used to answer the hypotheses and research questions. Chapter four Results and discussions: This chapter outlines results of data analysis, provides discussion of research findings and builds bridges between objectives, findings and relevant literature. The result section summarizes the analysis of the data and present findings of the study with respect to the hypothesis and research questions. While the discussion section reviews the findings of the study in the context of the conceptual framework of the study. Chapter five Conclusions and recommendations are provided in this chapter together with discussions on the contribution of the study to the body of knowledge. This chapter concludes the research and documents the implications of the study with recommendations for future research. Chapter 2 Literature Review 2.1 Definition of logistics Logistic is the process of planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, services and related information from their point of origin to point of consumption for the purpose of conforming to custom

Friday, September 20, 2019

Mothers That Work Essay examples -- essays research papers

The Effects of Working Mothers on their Children   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One mother expresses her personal experience and opinion on the effects of her employment on the children â€Å"I am happy to see support for the mom who wants to work outside of the home. By my children seeing me go to work, I am teaching them the values of hard work, commitment, and responsibility. I am also showing them that mothers and fathers share in all responsibilities of raising a family, financial and housework. There is no doubt in either my mind or my child’s that the first priority is each other. Out times together are positive. I have seen too many stay at home moms yelling at their children and worse, the children yelling at their mothers. I do not think this is the message that stay at home moms like to give. Their lives are now more enriched, never been happier, and that they are more fulfilled. Actually, I think a lot of stay at home moms justify their laziness and lack of ambition by saying they are staying at home for the benefit of the children† (abcnews.com 2).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For many years women have believed that if they returned to work after having children, their children would be harmed by the lack of a mother’s presence. This belief is no longer true. Studies have shown, â€Å"Despite the declining population of young people, the number and proportion of children with working mothers rose steadily during the past decade† (Kamerman 13). In fact, â€Å"1979 was the first time more U.S. children lived in families with a mother in the labor force than in families with a mother who was a full-time homemaker† (Kamerman 13). Mothers no longer have to worry; they are free to choose the career path they want to follow. Mothers can make this decision with confidence because experts believe that a mother who works has a positive effect on her children. Children with mothers in the workforce are taught responsibility, independence, the importance of an education, and also social skills that are acquired from day-care.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are still a few experts that argue children are negatively effected by the absence of their mother. They believe that this absence can cause an attachment disorder. Some also report that the lack of their mother can make it harder for a mother and child to form an effective relationship. A recent study suggested ... ...dvantage of group care is the friendships that children develop with their peers during the care. One expert observed that children’s â€Å"contacts with each other often develop a sibling-like quality† (Webb 43). Some children involved in this study even went to one another’s homes to have dinner, to play on weekends, and occasionally, to stay for the night.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The mother who works as a professional has an extremely different influence on her children than one who works in a less intellectually demanding job or one who does not work at all. Children learn from the environment and the people that they are exposed to in life, especially in the early stages. When children are exposed to hard working parents it helps them to appreciate the value of responsibility and independence. The importance of a good education is immeasurable and is also a necessity for a child to grow into a prosperous adult. Another important factor that affects a child is the day care environment that the child is exposed to on a daily basis. A good day care provider can teach a child many skills. A child can also learn from the other children that they spend many hours with in day care.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

The Divine Comedy - Heaven or Hell? :: Divine Comedy Inferno Essays

The Divine Comedy - Heaven or Hell?      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The character of Dante in The Divine Comedy who descended into the inferno caused me to stop and think about this awful place.   As the reader I got to take an imaginary journey with Dante to a horrible place where I do not care about going.   While Dante descended into hell I plan on ascending into heaven someday.   Dante had a choice to make whether or not to get back on the right path.   It came down to heaven or hell - choose.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I think it was willed for Dante to see this place while he was still living.   By seeing hell while he was alive Dante could be sure and make the right choices to find his way back to the straight path.   Being on the right path in his lifetime would ensure he would not spend eternity in such a miserable place.   I believe the whole purpose of this journey into hell was to let Dante see the anguish there and choose.   Perhaps this was a divine warning. In Canto 2, Beatrice, the symbol of Divine Love, an angelic spirit was sent to help aid Dante   from his error and help him return back.   This is purely love and compassion at its best.   Sending someone into hell to rescue another person out of there. Great lengths were taken to help Dante return back to the straight way.   I do not believe such action was taken if Dante was to end up in hell all along.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   For some reason midway in Dante's life's journey he had gone astray and at this point was searching for answers.   I guess hell was as good a place to start the search as any place.   Ã‚  Something for sure had led him astray and Dante was going to find out what it was.   Strange as it may seem Dante did find the answers he was looking for in hell.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Dante had entered into an awful place full of darkness and evil.   Dante did not realize to return back would not be easy, the Leopard stood blocking him every turn to keep him from getting back.   As a Christian I could relate to this.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Ted Bundy and Psychodynamic Theory Essay -- Psychology

Theodore Bundy was born on November 24th 1946. He was born to an unwed mother who was told that she was his sister. He was raised by his grandparents who portrayed themselves as his parents throughout his early childhood years. According to the article I read Ted’s grandfather was abusive towards Ted and his other siblings (Montaldo). Ted was shy and said to be sociably awkward, but during high school he developed into good looking guy and was liked by many. Ted met his first girlfriend in college and eventually falls in love. His girlfriend did not see Ted as someone who would be successful and eventually broke up with him and this broke his heart. This was about the time he learned the truth about his family too. He developed deep depression and this marked the time his killing ventures started. Ted’s breakup with his girlfriend was a huge deal to him. It seemed that his problems really came to surface after this point. He became quite dysfunctional at the time. The breakup could be marked under Axis III (Comer, 2011). This is a general medical condition that Ted suffers from as an adult. Ted Bundy’s style of killing describes sexual sadism. Sexual sadism is the intense sexually arousal by the thought or act of inflicting suffering on others by dominating, restraining, blindfolding, cutting, strangling, mutilating, or even killing the victim (Comer, 2011). This condition would fall under Axis I because it causes significant impairment. Ted Bundy had antisocial personality disorder which is on axis II of the DSM-IV-TR. He is characterized by the following: failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest, deceitfulness, ... ...articipate in therapy. They do not see that they need to change anything. While doing my research on Ted I do believe he was ready for change. I think that therapy sessions to uncover inner turmoil along with medication may have helped Ted. It would have been interesting to see if these treatments would have worked. Works Cited Comer, R. J. (2011). Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology, 6th edition. New York: Worth Publishers. Midwest Behavioral Health Network. (2009, September). Guidelines to use of Axis V: Global Assessment Functioning Scale. South Bend, IN, United States of America. Montaldo, C. (n.d.). About.com. Retrieved August 12, 2011, from http://crime.about.com/od/serial/p/tedbundy.htm Varcarolis, E. M., Carson, V. B., & Shoemaker, N. C. (2006). In Foundations of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing (p. 283). St. Louis: Elsevier Inc.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Constitutional Supremacy

C.L.BParliamentary SupremacyParliamentary Supremacy means that parliament is supreme over theConstitution. It is also called legislative supremacy because thelegislature is not a body created by the Constitution neither the powerof the legislature is limited by the Constitution. Legislature exercises anunlimited and supreme power in law making.Such legislative supremacy is possible only where the Constitution isunwritten and flexible.Three essential feature of parliamentary supremacy1.There is no law which parliament cannot change or modify.2.There is no distinction between constitutional law and ordinarylaw.3.There is no body which can declare the law passed by theparliament illegal or inconsistent.Constitutional SupremacyThe Constitutional supremacy means that the Constitution is supremeover the parliament and the parliament can exercise its functions beingonly within the bounds of the Constitution. Constitutional supremacy ispossible only where the constitution is written and rigi d. This constitutional supremacy is also called judiciary supremacy in thescene that the judiciary the highest court of the land is supreme overthe legislatureProfessor Hood Philips says that,â€Å"To say that a Constitution is supreme is todescribe its relation to the legislature’s power to alter the Constitutionis either limited or non-existent.†Actually a constitution with constitutional supremacy not only definesthe power of the legislature, it defines and establishes the principalorgans of the state. It is a source of their authority. It prescribes themanner in which and within their functions are to be exercised. Thethree organ of the  state cannot do anything beyond the constitutionallimitations. If any organ does anything in violation of the constitutionallimitations then court can declare the action and this paramountpower of the court is given by the Constitution it self. The Constitutionhas sanctity over everything in the realm. This position is calledCons titutional Supremacy.Characteristics of Constitutional Supremacy1.The Constitution is written.2.The Constitution must be rigid.3.  There must be, in constitution, either or implied declaration thatthis Constitution shell be the supreme law and any other lawinconsistent with this Constitution shell be void.4.  The parliament is created by the Constitution itself and itexercises its legislative power being within the bounds of theconstitutional limitations.5.There is distinction between constitutional law and ordinary law.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Mr. and Mrs. Pitt: A Troubled Relationship from the Start Essay

In the renowned fantasy novel Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling, Albus Dumbledore says, â€Å"indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.† The play, Angels in America, A Gay Fantasia on National Themes by Tony Kushner, presents several relationships of characters. The relationship of Joe and Harper Pitt in particular plays a vital role in his play. By not making the effort to fix the problems in their relationship, Joe and Harper have finally grown so distant from each other that it is impossible to fix it. Kushner uses many different writing techniques to present that Joe and Harper have a failing marriage. He uses tone and dialog to show that Harper isn’t going to follow Joe in his advancing career. Next, Kushner references movies that parallel Joe and Harper’s relationship. And lastly, Kushner adds real world examples to show the neglect of Harper’s emotional problems. All of Kushner’s writing techniques add up to clearly explain why the marriage is failing. Harper’s decision to not go to Washington D.C. with Joe is the first sign that Harper accepts that their marriage has failed. Harper denies Joe’s offer within seconds of him proposing the idea. Her instincts tell her that moving to Washington D.C. will just cover up their unhappy lives together even more. She then states, â€Å"We’re happy here,† (Kushner). The rapid response to Joe’s proposition and when she sarcastically states that they are â€Å"happy† hints that she is unhappy in the relationship. It is also shown when she directly says, â€Å"Pretend-happy,† (Kushner). It therefore implies that they are lying to themselves in order to make their relationship seem better. Harper does not want to move with Joe because she wants out of their relationship. She makes up several excuses to justify them for not moving. She starts out with referring to the Roman Polanski Film, Rosemary’s Baby. The movie’s protagonist, Waifi sh Rosemary Woodhouse, thinks that her husband has given a cult their unborn baby to be able to succeed in his failing acting career (Bozzola). In Angels in America, the similar situation is how Roy is giving Joe a promotion in order to get something out of it. The couple in the movie parallels to Harper and Joe’s marriage. Both Waifish and Harper have suspicions about their husbands that eventually become true. Harper on the other hand wants to get away from her situation by not wanting to move with Joe. She then refers to The Exorcist, but Joe quickly says, â€Å"The devil, everywhere you turn, huh buddy,† (Kushner). What Harper does not realize is that Joe is the devil and until they separate from each other, she will always be around the devil. Since Joe is the â€Å"devil,† it is nearly impossible for their relationship to grow and fix it self because it is â€Å"a thing that is very difficult or awkward to do or deal with,† (Google, Inc.). Towards the end of the conversation, Harper mentions that when they first got married Joe had â€Å"all these secrets and lies,† (Kushner). Those lies that the relationship is based upon caused it to be unsuccessful from the start. Because they were not truthful to one another from the beginning of their relationship, it has caused them later on to have problems that are coming out now. If they would have dealt with the problems that they have had since the beginning, then their marriage would not be failing. Harper realizes that her relationship has failed and therefore she declines going with Joe to Washington D.C. It is shown that she realizes her marriage has failed when later that day she says, â€Å"Without me. Without me, Joe. Isn’t that what you want to hear?† (Kushner). The emphasis Harper puts on â€Å"without me† confirms the fact that she has realized that the marriage has ended and that she wants to move on with her life. She does this so that Joe will get the hint that their marriage has failed and there is not anything they can do about it. Harper hears on the radio that part of the ozone layer is missing in Antarctica, but what she doesn’t realize is that the missing hole is a metaphor for her relationship with Joe. Kushner adds this into his play to show the audience that their relationship parallels to this atmospheric damage. Harper first mentions the ozone layer while she is alone at home waiting for Joe to come home. Harper states, â€Å"When you look at the ozone layer†¦things are collapsing, lies surfacing, systems of defense giving way†¦This is why, Joe, this is why I shouldn’t be left alone,† (Kushner). The things that are collapsing in the ozone parallels to Joe and Harper’s relationship. The neglect of the Earth, or the relationship in this matter, has caused problems to form that are nearly irreversible. With more and more neglect the worse the ozone is going to get therefor without the proper actions taken to fix the situation, it is going to diminish. Their relationship is the same way. Joe has not helped with Harper’s drug addiction, so it has gotten worse and worse. And since Joe has not helped with her problems it has just created another problem that they need to fix in need to improve their relationship. But they did not so their relationship has virtually diminished. It was exponentially declining since the start of the gap in their relationship. Since the ozone layer is depleting, Harper reasons that Joe should not be left alone, but right after she says that, she quickly changes saying that instead of Joe not being alone, she should not be left alone. This implies that Harper is the ozone layer and Joe is the person that keeps on damaging it. Harper does not know this but Kushner tells this to the audience so that they know. Joe has neglected Harper’s needs and has only thought of himself thus causing emotional â€Å"holes† in Harper. These â€Å"holes† can only be filled in with a substitute, in this case Valium. The drugs are the artificial necessities that fulfil her needs in her relationship. Just as Mother Nature tends to even things out, Harper needs to even out her emotions that are not present with Joe. Joe has caused a major portion of the holes that are found in their relationship. These holes are similar to the holes in the ozone layer that are caused by the neglect from mankind. The holes are irreversible and have a profound impact on Harper and Joe’s marriage. It is demonstrated when Joe shuts down Harper’s emotional problems that he had caused. Joe’s neglect for Harper’s emotional holes has caused them problems that cannot be fixed. Harper has always been afraid of the â€Å"man with the knives† (Kushner). At first Joe just thought that Harper was hallucinating and it was just a figment of her imagination. He even thought that Harper’s Valium addiction might have been the reason for her hallucinations. But after talking with her, he finally realizes that it has been him all along that had been the â€Å"man with the knives.† He has been slowly killing his relationship with Harper by his secrets which are represented by the knives. Harper was in bed when â€Å"someone was in there†¦ under the covers with a knife,† (Kushner). Harper and Joe’s situation represents that someone in their relationship is hiding a secret about themselves. This secret has to deal with the fact that someone is lying about their sexual needs. It turns out to be that Joe is hiding the fact that he is a homosexual to Harper. If in the beginning Joe would have told Harper that he was gay and that he was trying to work on it, their relationship would be more successful, but since he did not do this, his knives had been tearing away at their marriage. Each time he neglected to work on her problems and just let them slide by, his knife got sharper and sharper. It made it easier for them to grow apart and not know each other. Joe’s inability to help out with Harper’s problems and being secretive towards her had caused them to grow apart and ruin their marriage without being able to fix it. Harper and Joe’s relationship had diminished over the years that they were married starting from day one. They put their heads down to their problems and just let them slide. Their relationship could only slip so far until it is nearly gone and that had happened. Kushner presented their failing marriage through many ways. He used Harper’s decision to show that Harper does not want to advance with Joe in his career. Kushner then presents the movies The Exorcist and Rosemary Babies to parallel the relationship of Joe and Harper. The ozone layer is added into the play as a metaphor of their declining relationship to let the audience know that they are failing in their marriage. And lastly Kushner uses the â€Å"man with the knives† as a way to say that Joe is â€Å"killing† their marriage from neglect towards Harper’s problems. At first Harper and Joe had a great marriage, but after a while secrets and lies became the normal for them. These lies and secrets just worsened their marriage until it finally failed. Works Cited Bozzola, Rovi Lucia. Rosemary’s Baby – Rotten Tomatoes. n.d. 22 11 2012. Google, Inc. define: Devil – Google Search. n.d. 22 11 2012. Kushner, Tony. Angels in America, A Fantasia on National Themes. New York City: Theatre Communications Group, Inc., 1995. Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix . New York City: Scholastic, 2003.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

A Review of A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

The field of Science, particularly cosmology or the physical science concerning the history and evolution of the Universe, is truly an interesting and remarkable subject matter. However, understanding and eventually appreciating the significance of the said discipline are another aspects.Hence, it is valuable that such field is introduced, explored, evaluated and fully realized in both analytical and fascinating ways. This is because it is only under such circumstances that a complicated matter like Science, specifically the facts relating to the creation and development of the Universe, is simplified and ultimately recognized of its purpose and essence.Presented with such situation, it is now practical to ask how can people and the society in general is able to simplify a complex and apparently an intriguing field like Science. In particular, the challenge of effectively presenting the historical account and all the essential details about the beginning and evolution of the Universe may be difficult to achieve.This is where a non-traditional approach to the field is necessary helpful. That is, the technicalities of the origin and eventual development of the Universe are presented in ways understandable to lay people or the non-scientific public. The successful transformation of Science, from a complicated to a simple field or subject, manifests the undeniable effectiveness on the part of a person or material that aimed to modify Science or the study of the Universe.The said condition was the efficient effort undertaken by theoretical physicist and author Stephen Hawking in his 1988 book â€Å"A Brief History of Time.† The said literary work succeeded in presenting the field of Science, particularly the circumstances regarding the start of the Universe, in a manner only true physics is able to do and provide.Apart from such strict scientific presentation however, the author and his book are best to be acclaimed for the ability to illustrate, explain and eventually made people understand the topic in simple manner. The important scientific features of the book definitely serve as its assets but it is therefore one's impression especially towards the simplicity of the book that makes the material ultimately valuable.Valuable FeaturesAt the onset, the important features of the Hawking book rely on its strict adherence to the scientific creation and evolution of the Universe.   As far as true-blooded physicists are concern, â€Å"A Brief History of Time† offers little or even nothing new details and insights about the study of physical science, the Universe in particular.For people who are new or unfamiliar especially those who are totally oblivious of the said subject matters, the book however definitely serves as a valuable material. In fact, Hawking through his book provides a venue where readers are comforted in their search for answers to scientific questions. This is because the technicalities of the topics featured in t he book were presented and explained in ways understandable to ordinary people.The features of the book include a general and wide look at the major concepts or theories on the field of theoretical physics. The book also features clear-cut presentations and explanations of complicated topics concerning the study of Physics like the origin of the Universe. Additionally, the author engages in attractive approach as the book shows inviting illustrations all throughout (Hawking, 1988).Specifically, the Hawking book features several valuable scientific topics. These include the Big Bang Theory, the law of gravity, black holes, time quality, light cones and answers to a string of scientific theories that even physicists have long been searching for.The book's clear presentation of deep science or the technical circumstances of the origin of the Universe and other physics-related concepts, in effect, shows the effectiveness of the author in the field that he masters. Through these features , the book succeeds in its purpose to strictly focus on key scientific topics. While the book presents the origin of time through the image of tortoise at the start, such attempt paves the way for the realization that people indeed learn about science because of its historical perspective (Hawking, 1988).Valuable ImpressionThe relevance of the book is apparent for it enables the readers to leave valuable impression or feeling towards the content and significance of the material. On a personal note, â€Å"A Brief History of Time† allows me to have a glimpse of the historical evolution of the Universe or the field of theoretical physics in general. The book offers real physics in a manner that is understandable to both science-oriented people and non-scientists. Beyond such effort, my important view and impression about the book is all about its effectiveness in simplifying the field of science to an ordinary reader like me.It is definitely important that a science material lik e the Hawking book strictly observes or follows the fundamentals of science. However, the public is fortunate enough that the material simplified the field and its concepts for a non-science person like me to understand and realize.Simply put, the value of this book is the author's ability and effectiveness in presenting and explaining scientific ideas like the origin and evolution of the Universe in simple as well as more perceivable and appreciating manners. Hence, beyond the book's technical approach and scientific adherence, it is its efficient modification of a rather complex subject matter that leaves a person with worthy impression of the book.ConclusionAnalyzing a book like Hawking's â€Å"A Brief History of Time† is truly worthy of one's time and effort. This is because reviewing the book makes one to recognize the significance of scientific concepts and most importantly, the usefulness of making a material easy or understandable to a non-scientist reader.The vital f eatures of the book are the initial factors why one will be absorbed in reading it further. Aside from these however, it is a reader’s impression or feeling about the book that makes one realizes more its value. That is, the fact that the book effectively simplified a complicated field is an ultimate factor in making a material valuable in the study and appreciation of the origin of the Universe.ReferenceHawking, S. (1988). A Brief History of Time. New York: Bantam. Â