Political Obligation Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Political Obligation - Thesis Example The basic thesis is that obeying the law enables people to be more free within their actions than not. Rousseau's The Social Contract was a highly influential treatise on hos a society based upon laws should work, and why it does actually work. It is a firm foundation for why people should obey the law. Within this work Rousseau suggests that the individual person gives up certain freedoms in return for the protection of society as regards much larger freedoms. For example, most people try to obey traffic laws such as stopping at a red light. This might be seen as a curtailment of their freedom to drive their car wherever they want whenever they want, but obeying red light laws preserves a much greater freedom: that of surviving your journey. Thus the individual gives up a small right in return for a much greater one. The "contract" that thus ensues between the individual and society is one that is "social" in nature. The individual agrees to obey the laws and the State, in the form of the government, police force, justice system etc. agrees to provide an environment in which people are as safe as possible and free to go about their own business. The social contract can also be understood by a consideration of those societies in which it is not present. Thus in times of anarchy, such as a civil war, individuals are free to "do" virtually whatever they want as law and order has broken down. Does this imply more freedom In a theoretical sense perhaps, but the reality of the situation is that most people are afraid for their lives much of the time. The law of the jungle is no law at all. Does this imply that the modern society, as exemplified by advanced Western countries, with sophisticated justice systems and capitalist economic paradigms are totally favorable One giant of philosophy, Karl Marx, would suggest not. Karl Marx suggested that laws were generally a codified means by which one class (the ruling) keeps everyone else (ie. you and me) in check. Marxists in general recognize that for society to function efficiently, there needs to be social order. However, they believed that in all societies except the Communist one, laws were designed to be of advantage to the wealthy. Thus the famous Marxist dictum that "property is theft". It is interesting to note that even for Marx laws were necessary, as was public obedience to them. It was the nature of those laws that Marx disagreed with, not the fact that they should exist at all. One reason the individual may find for obeying the law is the tendency for "labeling" to occur within society.Labeling theory suggests that the labels we give to individuals effects how they eventually act. Thus if a person comes from a gender or racial group that is perceived to be criminal, then they are more likely to act in a criminal way. The converse is also true - if you come from a supposedly law-abiding group - within American society, white upper class would be an example, then you are less likely to become a criminal. Having a system of theoretically objective laws in place stops such stereotyping as much as is possible. If people obey those laws then labeling is much likely to occur. For example, this author was once stopped in bookstore for acting in a supposedly suspicious manner. While I did not fit the classic profile of a "criminal", I was acting as one in the eyes of store security and so was stopped and eventually searched. In my situation I was labeled as a

Bullwhip Effect In Healthcare Sector

Bullwhip Effect In Healthcare Sector In Supply Chain management, Bullwhip effect has attracted some considerable importance in the FMCG sector in the last 20 years. The phenomenon Bullwhip Effect shows how small changes at the customers end have tremendous impact on the operations back there in the chain. The cause behind this effect is mainly attributed to the increasing demand variability in the supply chain. We consider the number of companies taking part in a single supply chain. Each of the company gets the order from its immediate downstream company to be fulfilled. In Bullwhip effect the orders to the suppliers tend to have a larger variance than sales to the buyer. This demand distortion then gets amplified while propagating upstream. The paper mainly focuses on how the Bullwhip effect the matching of the demand and supply and the main causes leading to this. It also focuses on the PG case study to understand the Bullwhip effect and the steps taken to dampen the bullwhip effect. Further it aims at quantifying the bullwhip effect and reducing its impact on the supply chain. Acknowledgement I am thankful to Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering (MPSTME) for giving me this opportunity to understand the Bullwhip Effect and the major causes and the PG case. Furthermore helping us understand the various techniques and procedures for writing a research project. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to my college mentor Prof. Jinu Kurian for her continuous guidance and support and being available at all times whenever the need may arise. I would also like to thank Prof. Prasad Chakrabarty for his help and support in the project. Table of Contents Introduction The bullwhip effect occurs when the demand order variability in the supply chain is amplified as they moved upstream in a supply chain. Distorted information from single end of a supply chain to the other may lead to tremendous inefficiencies. Companies can effectively deal with the bullwhip effect by thoroughly understanding its underlying causes. Organizational leaders are implementing various innovative strategies that pose new challenges: integrating new information systems defining new organizational inter relationships implementing new incentive and measurement systems. At macroscopic level, Bullwhip Effect generates inefficiencies in production scheduling, sourcing, capacity utilization, distribution and the profit generation. While if we take a look at the operating level it induces additional inventory which is placed inappropriately to maintain the service levels. It also reduces the performance level by decreasing the incoming cash and the potential revenue. It can even dilute any companys competitive strategies. 2 factors have changed the landscape of supply chain management in the last few years significantly. Availability and use of the technology and software applications to allow capture and sharing of information across a supply chain mostly through extranets Increasing indulgence of members of the supply chain in order to move towards to put aside the traditional arms-length relationships amongst each other and in its place move towards closer, partnership-type arrangements. Again, the networks over which these collaborations take place must include the necessary levels of performance, scalability, security and reliability to realise these benefits to their maximum potential. Problem Statement To analyse the Bullwhip Effect in healthcare sector and to find out its causes, consequences and cures. Significance Global competition in the world market today contains many challenges to achieve a degree of predictability in the supply chain and remove the impact of Bullwhip Effect. Researchers have examined the bullwhip effect and some models to reduce it, however a very few research has been done on analysing the Bullwhip Effect in healthcare sector and to find out its causes, consequences and cures quantifying the effect of bullwhip and its Measurement still remains an exigent research path. Research Methods A case-study based approach was employed to conduct the research. Data were gathered primarily through interviews, observations and archival sources. At the hospitals, Interviews were conducted, in person, with doctors, nurses, administrators, and other hospital staff. At the diagnostic laboratory, personal interviews were conducted with the CEO, pathologists and other lab technicians. As far as data gathering is concerned, we decided to employ an informal, minimally structured, non-directive interview approach, enabling to minimize the influence of the assumptions. . Literature Review Fluctuations in demand have a varying graph when we compare from industry to industry. Driven by seasonal demand and business cycles, apparel industry faces major demand adjustments, while the diaper market is subjected to constant demand in the market arena. Due to misjudgement of demands, the big players in the retail market can be subjected to inventory shortages or surpluses. But given the consistency of demand in the diaper market the diaper supply chain should be more efficient and accurate. But it isnt the case. The diaper market even with the reliable demand patterns isnt able to match the demand-production matching. The major cause to this supply chain inefficiency can be subjected to Bullwhip Effect. The term was coined by Procter Gamble who noticed amplification in the information distortion as the information of the order travelled upstream in the supply chain. Bullwhip effect or Whiplash effect can be majorly seen in the forecast driven distribution channels. It indicates a lack of synchronization among the members across the supply chain. Even if there is a small fluctuation in the customer sales, it reflected upstream in an amplified form. Because of this supply patterns does not match the demand patterns resulting in inventory surplus at various stages of the supply chain.C:UsersIndiaDesktopblwhp.jpg As the customer demand would be rarely perfectly stable, businesses should forecast demand in order to match the demands with the production and managing their inventory levels. Some of the major reasons behind bullwhip effect are:- Forecast Errors Overreaction to backlogs Lead time variability No communication and no coordination along the supply chain members Delay in information and material flow Price fluctuations Product promotions Order batching raw material orders from ProcterGamble to its suppliers fluctuated over time. On further noticing it was found that farther down the chain, when sales at retail stores were studied, it was found that the fluctuation which was present, were small. It is reasonable to assume that the consumers of the diapers at the last stage of the supply chain used them at a steady rate. Although consumption at the end product was stable, orders for raw material were highly variable, increasing costs and making it difficult for supply to match demands. Lack of coordination between supply chain members also results if information distortion occurs within the supply chain. Considering the Bullwhip effect PG observed in the diaper supply chain. As a result of the bullwhip effect, orders PG receives from its distributors are much more variable than the demand for the diapers at retailers. The lack of the supply chain coordination between members has an adverse effect on manufacturing cost. It increases the manufacturing cost in the supply chain. PG and its suppliers must satisfy a stream of orders that is even more variable than customer demand. ProcterGamble responded to the increased change by either building excess capacity or by holding excess inventory, both of which increase the manufacturing cost per unit produced. It even increases the replenishment lead time in the supply chain. The increased variability due to bullwhip effect makes scheduling at PG and supplier plants much more difficult as compared to a situation with level demand. There are times when the capacity which is available and inventory cannot supply the orders coming in. This results in higher replenishment lead times in the supply chain from both PG and its suppliers. It even hurts the level of product availability and results in more stock outs in the supply chain. Very high fluctuations in orders make it difficult for PG to supply all distributor and retailer orders on time. This increases the likelihood that retailers will run out of stock, resulting in lost sales for the supply chain. It also leads to an increase in the inventory costs. To handle the increased variability in demand PG has to carry a higher level of inventory than would be required if the supply chain was coordinated. As a result, inventory costs in the supply chain increase. The high levels of inventory also increase the warehousing space required and thus the warehousing cost incurred. It impacts the transportation cost in the supply chain. The transportation requirements over time at PG and its suppliers fluctuate with the orders being filled. As a result of bullwhip effect, transportation requirements fluctuate significantly over time. This raises transportation cost because surplus transportation capacity needs to be maintained to cover high demand periods. It also leads to the increase in labour costs associated with shipping and receiving in the supply chain. Labour requirements for shipping at PG and its suppliers fluctuate with orders. A similar fluctuation occurs for the labour requirements for receiving at distributors and retailers. The various stages have the option of carrying excess labour capacity in response to the fluctuation in orders. Either option increases total labour cost. PG estimated that due to the manual interventions required in their process of ordering, billing and shipment systems, each deal to its customers cost between $35 to $75 to process. Sharing point-of-sale (POS) data across the supply chain can help reduce the bullwhip effect. A primary cause for information distortion is the fact that each level of the supply chain uses orders to forecast the future demand. Given that orders received by different levels vary, forecasts at different levels also vary. If retailers share POS data with other supply chain stages, all supply chain stages can forecast future demand based on customer demand. Sharing of POS data helps reduce information distortion because all stages now respond to the same change in the customer demand. Sharing aggregate Point Of Sale data is sufficient to reduceinformation distortion. PG has convinced many retailers to share demand data. PG in turn shares the data with its suppliers, improving coordination in the supply chain. In a continuous replenishment programs (CRS), the wholesaler or the manufacturer replenishes the inventorey regularly based on Point of sale data. In its simplest form, CRS seeks to allow more accurate production planning of inventories and also matching of supply and demand. Success with continuous replenishment programs is achieved when production planning has become demand-driven on an end-to-end basis throughout the supply chain. . Vendor-managed inventory (VMI) is a family of business models in which the buyer of a product provides certain information to a supplier of that product and the supplier takes full responsibility for maintaining an agreed inventory of the material, usually at the buyers consumption location (usually a store). A third-party logistics provider can also be involved to make sure that the buyer has the required level of inventory by adjusting the demand and supply gaps. PG now employs vendor-managed inventory (VMI) in its supply chain, starting with its supplier, 3M, and its customer, Wal-Mart In VMI, packaged-goods behemoth Procter Gamble (PG) initiated a value pricing scheme for sales to retailers. Value pricing was PG label for everyday low pricing (EDLP), a pricing strategy under which retailers are charged a consistent price rather than a high baseline price punctuated by sporadic, deep discounts. PG had many reasons for converting to EDLP. Its sales force had grown to rely on discounting to drive sales and the use of deep discounts had spiralled out of control, cutting into earnings. Background SMS Hospital, operating in Jaipur, is one of the largest government healthcare providers in Rajasthan. It consists of more than 500 beds and offers healthcare services ranging from a 24 hour accident and emergency service, to acute medical and surgical care, operating theatre suites, intensive care, ocus on cardiac and orthopedics areas and head injury and orthopaedic related trauma and community care. The hospital services more than 40,000 patient admissions and an average length of stay of 3.62 days for all patients. There are10 operating rooms (OR) with state of the art equipment, in-patients have hospital wards, acute cases beyond normal post-operative hospital care have rehabilitation unit for recovery and related ancillary services in the hospital facilities. These rooms are being used for major inpatient procedures. On an average of about 27,000 operations are performed in these rooms in a year. Specialty and staffed with suitably qualified nurses and technicians organizes 500+ beds in the hospital. The Operating Room Management Department (ORMD) is the central division, which faces daily challenges of managing and allocating the staff and equipment so that surgeries can be performed in an efficient, cost effective, and safe manner. The equipment that is owned by the hospital may either be dedicated to a theatre or be shared across theatres. The Operating Room staff is comprised of registered nurses, nursing assistants, scrub technicians and unit secretaries and an Operating Room nurse super vises all these. Equipment to be used for Operating Rooms may either be owned by the hospital or be procured from outside on a loan/hire basis. The Operating Room Management Department is responsible for assignment of theatre suitable for the scheduled surgery and ensuring the availability of staff and equipment when needed. Quality and cost of patient care implications are on overstaffed, undermanned, and unbalanced nursing teams. The hospital has adopted a hybrid strategy to meet its nurse requirements in both wards and Operating Rooms. The hospital has employed a group of permanent, full time nurse staff, which is also, complemented by a bank of casual, part time nurses which are available at short notice. Also, the hospital also has made some arrangements with several private agencies, which are known for providing qualified nurses for short periods to hospitals, on a temporary basis. Fifty % of the hospitals requirements) in the terms of nurse requirements are usually been met by permanent staff, thirty% by part time nurses and twenty% from agency staff. The hospital havent employ any specialist/surgeon, but only has a small group of physicians for overall supervision of the wards. Instead, it has arrangement with a large group of consultant surgeons who hold privileges to avail of the hospital facilities for treatment of their patients. The hospital derives its revenues from the fees charged for the use of its facilities ORs, hospital beds and other services from the patients. In most cases hospital charges are borne by patients medical insurance providers and the hospitals revenue is based on negotiated rates with these firms. Value Chain Figure 1 illustrates a schematic description of SMSs service value chain. As shown in the figure, the multi-stage process begins with the patients consultation with his or her primary care physician. Upon receiving a referral from the general practitioner to visit a medical specialist, the patient will then be assessed by a specialist. This stage does not involve the hospital and may consist of several visits to the doctors office and diagnostic laboratories, deals with the assessment of patients condition and treatment options. A determination of the need for surgery results in the addition of the patient to the doctors list of patients requiring surgery/hospitalization. Typically, specialist doctors have privileges at several hospitals in the area, and the choice of hospital for surgery is determined by a number of factors that include cost, patient preference, case complexity, wait involved, facilities and other services provided by the hospital. Following the choice of hospital, the patient is scheduled for surgery by assigning a slot in one of the doctors theatre sessions at the hospital. It is not uncommon for elective surgeries to be scheduled several weeks to a few months in advance. The schedule for each session along with patient and surgery details is expected to be communicated by the doctors office to the hospital well in advance to enable the hospital to make adequate arrangements. The surgeons operating list is not frozen and is dynamic with additions possible at a later stage (in some cases a few hours in advance) and the hospital is expected to be responsive and be able to provide the requisite support of staff, equipment and supplies. Surgery represents the third stage of the value chain and Saint Marys hospital is responsible for providing required support services. These include staffing the theatres with qualified nurses and technicians, and making available all equipment and supplies needed. The hospital is also responsible for pre-operative care of the patient and getting the patient ready for surgery and for post-operative care. Insufficient capacity and delays in these phases can result in blockage and starving of theatre resulting in underutilization of ORs with consequent adverse impact on hospital costs and efficiency. Post-operative care in hospital wards and in subsequent rehabilitation areas, if necessary represent the fourth and fifth stages before the patient is discharged and exits the hospital system. Constraints on bed capacity in wards can lead to fewer surgeries being scheduled resulting in lower theatre utilization. This is in contrast to the rehabilitation services, where capacity shortage may only lead to patients being off-loaded to other facilities owned by competitors, thereby resulting in loss of potential revenue. Planning and Scheduling at SMS Hospital Planning and scheduling at Saint Marys hospital is similar to other hospitals in Australia with annual theatre plans forming the basis for hospitals activities. The theatre plan involves assignment of theatre sessions to consultant surgeons and essentially defines the demand for hospitals services. A half-day slot is considered the basic unit for this purpose and thus each theatre has a capacity of 10 sessions per week, based on a five day week. As described earlier, surgeons expect hospitals to provide complete flexibility in organizing the activities within their sessions and hence assignment of a theatre session to a surgeon commits the hospital for providing the necessary staff and equipment for operation and post-operative care, and hence the hospital workload is a direct consequence of the theatre plan. In practice, theatre planning at Saint Marys begins three to four months in advance, in September/October for the following year. The plan is developed in consultation with the surgeons and varies little from year to year, except for changes to accommodate vacation periods of surgeons and other planned absences. The plan can be characterized as cyclic with effort to evenly spread out sessions assigned to individual surgeons. Further, to the extent feasible, weekly schedules are adopted. For example, a surgeon with 50 sessions would be assigned one session per week, usually in the same time slot every week (say, Monday morning). One feature of session plan at Saint Marys Hospital that merits special mention relates to the practice of concentration of sessions assigned to particular specialty. As a result, we find, sessions corresponding to different specialties peaking on different days of the week. Such practices are not unique to Saint Marys and are quite common at other hospitals i n Australia. The annual session plan forms the basis for nurse and technician staffing in the hospital. The labor cost of nurses and technicians is perhaps the most significant controllable operating cost at Saint Marys and directly impacts the hospitals financial viability. Staffing plan for nurses in the OR theatres is prepared for each calendar month on a monthly basis, two weeks in advance to conform to regulatory requirements. The initial plan is developed on the basis of the session plan. The nurse schedule is revised and frozen only a day in advance, at which time the requirements are assessed based on surgery lists available in the hospital. Besides adjustments for providing the required number of qualified nurses, the final schedule takes into account deviations from the initial plan (for example, absence due to sickness, or inability to schedule the nurse due to excess overtime on the previous day etc.) At this stage there is only very limited flexibility in respect of permanent, full t ime staff and the nurse scheduler relies on part time staff, supplemented by supply from external agency to meet the requirements. As mentioned earlier, current practices at Saint Marys hospital result in 20-25% of nursing needs being met with agency sources. In monetary terms, the proportion is higher due to higher rates paid for the temporary staff. Nurse staffing in wards is similar and schedules are frozen only a day in advance. Observations Our interviews with doctors/surgeons indicated that in a majority of specialties there is no discernable pattern in the demand for elective surgeries. This is in contrast to illnesses such as flu, hay fever that exhibit pronounced seasonality. Thus, daily demand for elective surgery end customer demand can be reasonably be described as fairly uniform with no seasonality (day of the week, month etc.) and low to moderate variability. Figure 2 describes the pattern of admissions (which corresponds to demand) for orthopaedic surgeries at Saint Marys hospital by day of the week. The figure is based on data for one year and excludes the holiday period (mid-December to mid-January) in Australia during which most doctors avoid scheduling elective surgeries. The data in Figure 2 shows mild seasonality by month (admissions range from a low of 332 to a peak of 512 with mean of 470) and high variability by day of the week. Excluding the weekends, the average daily admissions range from a low of 58 on Fridays to a peak of 123 on Wednesdays. The pattern is similar for other specialties, except for the location of the peak. While in Figure 2 the peak occurs on Wednesdays and Thursdays, for other specialties it might occur on other days of the week. Taken in conjunction with our premise that end customer demand is fairly constant, Figure 2 suggests strongly presence of phenomena similar to the bullwhip effect. In the remainder of this section we discuss briefly the impact of this pattern on hospital performance operational and financial. First, increased variability in the number of surgeries performed directly impacts the demand for post-operative services in the wards. Consequently, on peak days, shortage of beds makes the wards the bottleneck, thereby restricting the number of surgeries and reducing the theatre utilization and hospital throughput, which in turn leads to lower revenues and lower operating profits. While the hospital is a not-for-profit organization, operating profits represent one of the key funding sources for financing investments in equipment and facilities, and lower levels or absence of operating profit can severely restrict the hospitals ability to provide state-of-the-art high quality service. Second, the demand for nursing services both in theatres and wards is directly affected by higher variability and results in higher labor costs. With Saint Marys strategy of meeting the nursing demand with a mix of full time, part time and agency staff, higher variability of demand translates to the need for higher levels of flexibility and larger proportion of casual and agency staff. Higher wage rates for these categories increases operating costs and leads to lower profits. Third, SMSs reliance on flexible (part time and agency) staff affects the hospitals operating performance in more subtle, but significant manner. Higher levels of temporary staff leads to frequent changes in the composition of support staff assigned to each theatre, thereby inhibiting development of cohesive support teams. Consultant surgeons in our interviews mentioned this factor repeatedly as the primary cause of inefficiencies in theatre, requiring more operating time and reduction in efficient use of theatre capacity. The role of cohesive support teams in improving OR efficiencies is well known and has been noted in many other hospital environments. In the absence of such a support team, the surgery list scheduled for each session tends to be shorter (thus reducing hospital revenues). Alternately, with normal list the theatre time will be higher than planned, resulting in overtime and increasing operating costs. In either case, this practice adversely affects hospitals profits. Furthermore, this factor influences the doctors choice of hospital, prompting use of Saint Marys for more complex cases requiring its facilities. For simpler cases, the doctors tend to choose other hospitals with more efficiently organized OR theatres, perhaps with more limited range of services. As the more complex cases typically involve higher costs, this behavior has an adverse impact on Saint Marys finances. Under the Australian system the fees payable (to the hospital and doctor) are based on predetermined rates for each class and do not depend on the case complexity within each class. To summarize, increased variability in the demand for elective surgeries at Saint Marys hospital results in lower efficiencies, higher operating costs and lower revenues leading to lower profits. Thus, the presence of bullwhip effect leads to degradation of performance as in the case of manufactured goods reported in the literature. While this is intuitive and not surprising, it is interesting to note the dynamics are different from those observed in manufacturing higher levels of inventories and shortages. Macintosh HD:Users:vasvigakkhar:Desktop:Screen Shot 2012-12-29 at 2.09.56 AM.png Macintosh HD:Users:vasvigakkhar:Desktop:Screen Shot 2012-12-29 at 2.13.36 AM.png Methods for coping with the Bullwhip Effect The preceding section highlighted the different causes of the bullwhip effect in the healthcare sector and identified strategies to mitigate the detrimental impact of the effect. We briefly summarize the strategies (see Table for a summary): (i) Reducing uncertainty In order to minimize or eliminate bullwhip effect, it is important to reduce uncertainty throughout the service value chain. If information about customer can be centrally managed and if each stage of the service value chain can be provided with latest information in a timely manner, it will help eliminate duplication of effort at different stages and also ensure data consistency across all groups that require that data. It is also critical that dynamic updating of information is performed which will greatly help reduce uncertainty. (ii) Reducing variability There is inherent variability in the customer demand process and any effort that can be taken to minimize this variability will help reduce the overall bullwhip effect. Also, localized practices that lead to increased variability in demand at any of the stages should be eliminated with better coordination. Use of good forecasting methods will also assist the reduction of variability. (iii) Developing strategic partnerships The bullwhip effect can be minimized by developing key strategic partnerships with different links in the service value chain. For example, in case of hospitals, the hospital administration has to forge strategic alliances with medical specialists. These partnerships will change the way in which the information is shared and will help foster better coordination between the two parties. Although this may not fully eliminate bullwhip effect, it will go a long way in reducing the effect. (iv) Realignment of incentives One prime reason for the lack of coordination and meaningful information sharing is that the different entities are evaluated on the basis of different criteria and receive rewards for different activities. The evaluation and reward system should be modified to stress cooperation across stages and so that the planning is performed on system-level objectives and not on division/local level objectives. (v) Improving coordination across stages of service value chain To reduce the bullwhip effect, it is also important to ensure coordination across stages that are facilitated and improved. Summary and Future Research In this paper we have identified and described a phenomenon in healthcare industry that is similar to the bullwhip effect observed in the manufacturing sector which results in amplification of demand variability upstream in the service chain. Not surprisingly, this distortion likewise leads to performance degradation. However, the similarity with the manufacturing sector does not extend much further since the causes and the impact are somewhat different. For example, while bullwhip effect in manufactured goods results in higher levels of inventory and shortages, in hospitals it leads to lower levels of throughput, higher operating costs and longer patient waits. Hence, initiatives and strategies for minimizing the bullwhip effect and its impact require a different approach that addresses directly the root causes. Our study also indicates that the potential for performance improvements is quite significant. While our study focused on hospitals and other allied institutions in the health sector, we conjecture that a similar phenomenon may be present in other service industries. For example, billing practices in consumer utilities (electricity, gas etc) and credit card services with monthly cycles leads to variable unbalanced loads in certain segments. Similarly, scheduling practices in auto repair industry result in some variability amplification. Together this suggests that a more detailed study of the bullwhip phenomenon in services is warranted and may lead to order-of-magnitude performance improvements similar to those realized during the past two decades in the manufactured goods industries.

Jane Austens Sense And Sensibility Essays -- Austen Sense Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility is a book that deals with many of life's circumstances during the eightteen hundreds. Although it was written in the first person it can provide the reader with a detailed perspective on the lifestyle of the upper crust of society. However, in order to get a full sense of appreciation of this lifestyle the elements of the opposite group, the lower class, must be attained. By comparing the differences amongst lifestyles characteristics which differ between individuals of their respective groups can be explained, and more importantly be justified. The Dashwood's are undoubtedly not of the lower crust of society, instead they were of the upper middle class for a number of different reasons. The most obvious which set them apart from the lower class is that they do not need to work to in order to survive. Although they were left on a budget by the senior Mr. Dashwood, they had no inclination to work, nor was there any mention of it during the entire novel. They were content with simply waiting to be married by a financially stable male. The evidence for this statement came from Mrs. Jennings when she said;" (She) Missed no opportunity of projecting weddings among all the young people." This is the same practice that any reasonable female of that era would participate in. The aristocrats of that time would not have imagined that taking a regular job was the way to succeed, and they were right. It was impossible to succeed, however to the people who did work at those time it was not about success, but rather survival. At the time this book was written England was going through a "Boom." The industrial revolut... ...l servant, the expense would be a trifle; mama she was sure would never object."(22) This left the reader perplexed and curious to understand why this would be the case. However, after analyzing the lifestyle of the lower class, and the upper classes, the reader can gain a sense of understanding as to the mindset of the Dashwood family. It is easy to see how someone that has servants and hunters at their feet might not know how to make it on their own, or for themselves. It is easy to get accustomed to a particular lifestyle, especially if it is one you are born into. Although it is not the families fault that they are not accustomed to hard work, but it begs me to ask the question; how does one learn the meaning of hard work if one never works hard? Britain. 2005. History Channel. 2 Feb 2005. http://www.historychannel.com/perl/print_book.pl?ID=210855

On the Sidewalk Bleeding Essay

In the short story â€Å"On the sidewalk bleeding,† by Evan Hunter, the author makes us feel sympathy for the main character by using a variety of techniques such as characterisation, plot structure and language. The story opens with the main character, Andy, who has just been stabbed because he is in a gang. . Unfortunately it is too late to change what had happened and as a result the reader feels immense pity for him when he dies. This short story includes the themes of regret and how gang violence causes loss of identity. Firstly the author makes the reader feel sympathetic towards Andy by using effective techniques to emphasise the agony and the painful phase that Andy is going through. The author says that Andy is in so much pain that no sound comes out of his mouth. The passage says, â€Å"There was no voice in his throat only the bubbling of blood between his lips.† In this quote, alliteration is used with the words â€Å"bubbling of blood.† The author uses this technique to highlight how much pain and terror gangs can create. This is also effective as it creates a gruesome image in the reader’s mind of Andy in his current situation. Therefore we feel sorry for Andy as he cannot even call for help. Another way the author makes us sympathise for Andy is how the author uses the idea of Andy being isolated from the rest of the world. Andy is lying in the alley far from help and he can hear music but nothing or no-one is able to help him. We see this when the writes says, â€Å"He watched the world passing,† and also the quote, â€Å"He could hear the faint noise of music now, from and long, long way off.† These two extracts from the passage illustrate that although Andy is dying the world is still moving and no one cares or even looks at Andy. Also it shows to us that Andy is isolated from society. At this point in the story Andy realises that being in a gang has detached him from the rest of the world and there is no going back. This relates to the theme of regret as Andy starts to regret the choices he made in life. The reader starts to feel even sorrier for Andy as he starts to repent what he has done but he can’t do anything to save himself now as it is to o late. Furthermore, throughout the story the author has created characters which pass by Andy but unfortunately for Andy they don’t help him for different reasons. When the third useless person comes into the alley, Andy is in hope that she will help him but sadly she doesn’t. The story says, â€Å"An old lady stopped at the other end of the alley like a queen.† In this quote the author uses a simile to show us how the old lady was acting and how she considered herself nothing less than a queen. This quote makes us sad as Andy has now had three attempts of surviving but all of them have slipped away just because he is in a gang. This also relates to the theme of how gangs cause loss of identity as if he wasn’t in a gang he would have had at least one chance of surviving out of the three. This again makes the reader sympathise towards Andy. Furthermore feel sorry for Andy by using personifying the jacket and the knife. Andy knows that he is dying and wants to be known as an individual and not a royal. The quote is, â€Å"Had they stabbed him, Andy or had they only stabbed the jacket and the title, and what good was the title if you were dying. † In this personification is used to emphasise that the guardians only stabbed Andy simply because he was a royal and show that the knife had no hatred towards Andy only the jacket and the title. The jacket symbolises the royals and the knife symbolises the guardians to indicate how much hatred is between the two gangs. Similarly this idea is further developed when Andy blames the jacket for him loosing his life. Andy begins to realise that if there was no jacket there wouldn’t have been a rumble in the first place. The short story says, â€Å"The jacket was a stupid meaningless thing, which was robbing him off his life.† The jacket and title has ruined his life and future. The word choice of â€Å"meaningless† shows that where once the title and the jacket was so important to Andy and how he was proud of it, but now the same jacket and title mean nothing to Andy but instead detests them. Also personification is used to make the knife and jacket seem like people. This suggests that objects are more important and this goes back to the theme of when you join a gang you lose your identity. The theme here shows that when you join a gang you are no longer an individual but you are a gang member instead. Finally Andy at the end of the story was ashamed of being called a royal and his new identity. Andy tries to tell the world that he not a royal but only Andy. The reader sees this when the writer says, â€Å"I’m Andy,’ he screamed wordlessly, ‘I’m Andy.’† Reputation of Andy’s name emphasises to us that he wants to be known as Andy and not a royal before he dies. Juxtaposition of â€Å"screamed wordlessly† is used to show that Andy is trying to scream but he only can in his mind as he is in too much pain to speak. By this point Andy is utterly helpless and can’t do anything. We feel pity towards Andy as he can’t even speak his feeling so there is no chance of him surviving. In conclusion the author has used many techniques of writer’s craft such personification and language to make the reader sympathise towards the main character Andy. Although not much action happens in the short story, the author still manages to make us feel sorry for Andy as Andy goes through his life and realises that he has done nothing major in his life expect make stupid mistake of joining a gang which leads him to losing his life.

Owens & Minor’s Case Essay

What is the value-added by Owens and Minor? Is this value-addition visible? They own and manage the inventory for the manufacture.  They take on the financial risk associated with the function of managing the inventory flow to the hospitals. They care for product returns and carry the risk for that.  They carry the receivables (cash flow issues due to long payment terms of customers; actually a 90 days credit) They carry and manage most of the inventory for the hospitals, which are sometimes even running stockless. They track and verify customer prices for contracted product purchases and monitor agreements between end-users and manufacturers The distribution has changed in a way that hospitals required the distributors to carry more of the inventory and making more deliveries in lower units of measure, while keeping the same originally negotiated prices. This has put a stronger burden on the distributors. Owens & Minor creates a clear value-add for both manufacturers and suppliers. Manufactures usually only want to produce and sell the product before getting it out of the door Hence Owens and Minor takes the full responsibility for all stressful parts of selling a product. On the other hand customers don’t want to buy and own products before they are ready to use it. Thus Owens and Minor also enables them to achieving more efficient structures, while reducing additional costs related to managing efficiently. 2. Evaluate the impact cost-plus pricing has on distributors, customers, and suppliers. Suppliers: Suppliers have no motivation to try to reduce costs and increase efficiencies since profits remain the same. Market demand is not taken into consideration. If a supplier has a markup, which takes the reseller’s price point beyond current market prices, the reseller’s demand will decrease dramatically. Distributors: Services related to inventory management are not included properly, since the percentage they gain is the same for all products. Whether they are cheap and efficiently to handle or rather problematic. Hence costs will skyrocket if customers will ask for additional services (while keeping the same price). They have the drawback of customers engaging in cherry-picking  and only enabling the distributors to manage low-margin, inexpensive products. Customers: Cost-plus pricing lead to a complicated pricing structures, since distributors and customers negotiated separate product prices from manufacturers, introduced incentives, let prices vary from customer to customer, covered some products by contract and some don’t etc. Hence purchasing managers were nearly unable to properly track actual product costs and compare quotes from competing manufacturers and distributors. 3. What effect will ABP have on customer behavior? Provide an example to illustrate. ABP connects O&M‘s fee to the level of the service they provide: Customer is motivated to keep its activities down to a minimum level and only order services that he really needs ­ ABP helps customers to optimize their service-level and hence their costs. Customers who want to extend their service-level can get this because there is a way for O&M to price a higher service-level  ­ They came up with a relatively simple matrix based on two major cost drivers—number of purchase orders per month and number of lines per purchase order. The number of orders was tied to our fixed administrative fees and the number of lines was tied to our variable costs—the number of times a worker had to go to a product rack, etc. It was a very primitive way to identify our fixed and variable costs, but it was effective in showing the customer that they could lower costs. They wanted to show the customer that instead of being locked-in to a traditional cost-plus contract, they could actually affect their service delivery fee depending on the type and amount of service requested, and the frequency and size of each request. In order for the customer to look at ABP as an honest way to do business, we had to share our numbers with them; otherwise they would have viewed it as just another pricing scheme. 4. What are the obstacles to successful implementation of ABP at Ideal? How would you address these obstacles?  ­ Internal systems at hospitals (e.g. budgeting, compensation) were tied to  cost-plus percentages.  ­Product prices with cost-plus percentages were used to determine transfer pricing between hospital departments  ­Technological barriers: Customer has to change to an EDI system (electronical data input) Hospital would have to change its systems and procedures for material handling ­ For a hospital to benefit it would have to be willing to change and shed personnel, equipment and warehousing space.  ­Culture of hospitals (e.g. surgeons have different preferences for many operating room supplies) O&M should address these obstacles with the following:  ­Offering to convert the activity fee to a cost-plus equivalent  ­O&M‘s logistical services should work closely with customers moving to ABP to help them realign processes and institute cost savings.

Thanksgiving Traditions in Italy

Thanksgiving Traditions in Italy Many cultures have been celebrating harvests for centuries. Thesmophria is an ancient Greek harvest festival. Southwest American Indians perform a Corn Dance. The Jewish people celebrate Sukkot, which marks the end of the agricultural year and coincides with the final harvest before the onset of winter, and many Asian cultures have celebrations in gratitude for their rich rice harvest. The Romans also celebrated a harvest festival called Cerelia, which honored Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, grain, and fertility (and from which the word cereal comes). The festival was held each year on October 4th and offerings of the first fruits of the harvest were offered to Ceres. Their celebration included music, parades, games and sports, and a feast. But Thanksgiving in Italy? How about celebrating the Celtic New Year in Japan, or El Carnaval in Russia? The distinctly American tradition, created by Pilgrims to commemorate a bountiful harvest in the New World, doesnt translate well in another land where the Plymouth Rock would be just another stone in two–thousand–year–old Roman archaeological ruins. Even the transliteral phrase in Italian for Thanksgiving, La Festa del Ringraziamento, refers to a variety of religious holidays held throughout the year for patron saints. Variations on a Theme In fact, expatriates from North America who do honor the Thanksgiving holiday in Italy find it difficult to replicate, since the ingredients necessary for a New England–style Thanksgiving dinner are not easy to find. Italian Thanksgiving, for most Italian Americans, then, means the inclusion of special Italian recipes to accompany the roast turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, Macys Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade, and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November. Every family of Italian heritage has different culinary traditions to celebrate the holiday. An Italian Thanksgiving dinner might include ravioli con la zucca (pumpkin ravioli), tacchinella alla melagrana (roast turkey basted with pomegranate sauce and served with a pomegranate-and-giblet gravy), sweet Italian turkey sausage and mozzarella stuffing, baked sweet potatoes with lime and ginger, and even Italian cakes and pastries. What matters most, though, during La Festa del Ringraziamento isnt what ingredients are used, or who won the football game, but the opportunity for families and communities to come together and celebrate the season in a tradition thats timeless. Italian Thanksgiving Vocabulary List Click to hear the highlighted word spoken by a native speaker. lautunno- falllAmerindio- American Indianil corteo- paradeil granturco- Indian cornil Nuovo Mondo- New Worldi Padri Pellegrini- Pilgrim Fathersil raccolto- harvestil tacchino- turkeyla tradizione- a traditionla zucca- pumpkin

Functional Equivalences

Functional Equivalences Functional equivalence refers to the role or function that behavior plays in different cultures. One cannot assume that behaviors play the same role or function across cultures; therefore, assumptions made about the function of behavior in a cultural group must be verified. This concept extends to include the differences in people's perceptions about, and responses to, a particular product or activity according to their cultural features. The value that is placed on products or social activities can be culture sensitive and the exact purpose that each serves across national and cultural boundaries should be thoroughly established in marketing research.To illustrate how perceptions of the sample population may vary across cultural patterns, we can consider two different countries, the Netherlands and the United States, and compare substantial differences in individual interpretations of products such as bicycles.Not that it's unknown in other countries, but the Netherlands is the coun try where almost everybody bikes.Working bicycleVirtually every mile of road is paralleled with its own bike lane. Bicycles are extended the same respect as cars, even having their own designated traffic lights. In the Netherlands, the roads are narrow and parking spaces are hard to come by and usually quite expensive. Whereas in Holland, hundreds of miles of lush green farmlands and shoreline are accessible only by bicycle, making it thus the most valuable mode of transportation among the Dutch, in the United States a bicycle can be said to serve solely as a recreational sport and seldom used as an equally comfortable and reliable means to travel within highways. Consequently, in the Netherlands, competing products would consist of other similar modes of transportation, while in the United States relevant means of recreation would be seen as different products that compete against bicycles.Another example that demonstrates how people...

Theres a Time for Tmesis

Theres a Time for Tmesis There’s a Time for Tmesis There’s a Time for Tmesis By Mark Nichol Tmesis is a linguistic device in which a word or phrase interrupts another word or phrase. (The word is a Greek term that refers to cutting.) Depending on the type of tmesis, it is either acceptable in formal usage or relegated to humorous and/or emphatic colloquialisms. Phrasing in which the preposition down is located within the verb phrase â€Å"turn down† in â€Å"Turn down that music,† as opposed to its placement in â€Å"Turn that music down,† is a standard form of tmesis, as are whatsoever and unbeknownst, in which, respectively, so is inserted in whatever and be is placed within an archaic form of unknown. (Interestingly, in some literary usage, a tmetic word is itself cloven, as in the biblical verse â€Å"He shall be punished, what man soever offendeth.†) By contrast, seemingly tmetic words such as notwithstanding and nevertheless do not qualify, because the framing syllables do not constitute words or set phrases. A form of tmesis often heard spoken spontaneously but best reconstructed for writing is a possessive phrase such as â€Å"the girl in the back row’s,† referring to something belonging to a girl sitting in a back row; the modifying phrase â€Å"in the back row† is artificially inserted between girl and the possessive s. â€Å"The book is the girl in the back row’s,† for example, should be recast as â€Å"The book belongs to the girl in the back row.† Informal tmetic usage is ubiquitous but discouraged in formal writing. Examples include â€Å"a whole nother† and â€Å"any old how† as intensifications of another and anyhow. Recently, however, this form of tmesis has been supplanted in popularity by a form formally known as expletive infixation, in which a profane or otherwise emphatic word is inserted into an adjective to fortify its impact, as in abso-frickin’-lutely and la-dee-frickin’-da. Another colloquial construction is the emphatic insertion of so in such statements as â€Å"I am so not going there.† These contemporary conversational habits have their place in transcriptions of casual dialogue and in light-hearted informal prose, but they’re intrusive in formal writing. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Possessive of Proper Names Ending in SEnglish Grammar 101: Verb MoodUsing "May" in a Question

California's sex offender registration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

California's sex offender registration - Essay Example d a copy of the notification form processed in this stage is also sent to the DOJ. The sex offender tracking program is an expedient tool utilized for keeping track of the sex offenders in California since 1947; the state is also regarded as being the first ever to enact a sex offender registration law. This was major step towards public disclosure of criminals, for many states did not recognize such laws until the 1990s. These registration requirements are lifetime, and with an ever-increasing and current population of 35million people, California is respectively the holder of the largest database of sex offenders in the USA (Lockyer, 2002, 3). This lifelong obligation can only be reversed if the offender a ‘Certificate of Rehabilitation’ ten years after s/he has been released from custody or it can also be relieved if ‘Government’s pardon’ is attained. However, many serious offences are not even eligible to attain the aforementioned relieving docume nts (IPS, 2009, 1). There are certain conditions which must be met duly by the sex offenders, these are the requirements and the guidelines set by the DOJ. It is incumbent upon the registered offenders to update their whereabouts and necessary information per annum, within 5 working days of their birthday. This requirement is more stringent for some, the transients must update every month while the sexually violent predators are extended 90 days worth of time. Recently, they have also been imposed with the responsibility of submitting their vehicle license plate number along with a recent photograph. Since 2002, they have also been required to register themselves with the campus police department in case they plan to enroll in any courses, attend any specific programs or even as much as work. Furthermore, even for people who are sex offenders, if convicted by the military or federal court, of other states but they enter the jurisdiction of Californian state; they are required to reg ister within 5 working days of entering California. Those who fail to register and have been convicted of a felony would be convicted of a felony yet again in case of non-compliance. This tracking program requires regular updates, and if any offender violates the registration requirements, it would show the registrant to be in violation. It is necessary for the transients to update their status within five working days with a local agency, in case they change their address or is homeless; the local agency is then responsible for forwarding the information to the DOJ. The latter then updates the information in the database, on a regular daily basis. The website www.meganslaw.ca.gov is responsible for publishing the data online, however 25% of the offender’s records are kept confidential and are not publicly disclosed, this condition depends on the specific type of crime being committed. According to the information available on this government website, the sex offenders can ev ade public disclosure in the following conditions (Harris, 2009; Department of Justice, 2010): 1- Sexual battery by

Business ethics and social responsibility Assignment

Business ethics and social responsibility - Assignment Example This report will deal with the business ethics and social responsibility within Jameson Company. Jameston Company is a company that manufactures and sells drugs. It majors on selling drugs used to cure a range of disorders. These disorders include depressions, erectile dysfunctions and other deficit disorders. This company claims to value business ethics and social responsibility. This is not the case because there are many ethical issues that have risen in this company since it was established in 1957. Some of the business ethical issues include health and safety issue, gender discrimination issue, sexual harassment and marketing issues. This report will emphasize on this business ethical this issue issues in the Jameston Company and the possible solutions to these problems. Ethical issues 1. Health and safety issue There are many ethical issues that have risen in Jameston Company. These issues are caused by the individuals who are working on this company. One of the issues is the h ealth and safety issue. This appears to be a very dangerous issue and must be looked at seriously. This issue is caused by the senior management level who neglects the dangers of the antidepressant drug, â€Å"Trizon†, which is marketed by the company. This drug has been considered as the safest drug to be used as an antidepressant. Is has been believed as the best drug for depression. There are hidden facts about this drug. There are many researches that have conducted on this drug and the results show that, it is very dangerous to human health. The research h shows that Trizon increases the cases of suicide attempts on the patients who use it. This drug has been known to cause a lot of problems to both patients that use them and their surrounding environment. The company knows the dangers of this drug but they still market it. This issue can be ethical to the company since they want to market the product but are unethical to the other parties that are affected by the produc t (Painter-Morland & Werhane, 2008). Jameston Company’s supervisor, Mr. Stanton, is aware of the health and safety issues that the Trizon poses to the users. Dr. Sara Doyle tells him about the results from the research that was conducted. She tells him about the dangers of the drugs on the users but his only concern is the existence of the company. He wants the company to continue making profits by selling Trizon. Dr. Sara is aware of the risks and she wants the risks to be avoided. On the other hand, Mr. Stanton neglects the dangers of the drugs because he wants the company to exist. Mr. Stanton actions are wrong. This is because, every drug that is produced should be able support the lives of the users. It should not harm their health. Initially, the drug is believed to treat depression. The expectations that people have on Trizon is to treat depression and other disorders. The outcome is unexpected. The drug has led to increased suicide attempts by the users. Mr. Stanton i s aware of these dangers but he is concerned with company existence and profits. He is concerned with the business needs only. Mr. Stanton’s decision is unethical on one hand and ethical on the other hand. His decision can be considered unethical based on the normative theory of utilitarianism. This theory states that, an action is right if it causes less pain on the people being acted upon (Moon, 2001). Therefore, Mr. Stanton’

Microcirculation and Blood Pressure Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Microcirculation and Blood Pressure - Assignment Example Notably, the enormous amount of protein in the urine leads to water and salt retention in the kidney. This situation often leads to increased build-up of fluid including blood in the limbs and lungs. These fluid usually leak from the legs’ capillaries into the interstitial spaces. Measurement of blood pressure is never an easy task, as the process often seems. Notably, some doctors often do not follow the right procedure in carrying out this process. The detailed minor process should be carried out to ensure that accurate measurements are obtained. Blood pressure in everyone’s body often fluctuates rapidly (Porth and Porth, 2011). Moreover, the complex body system often affects and regulates the blood pressure. For instance, standing up may lead to rise or fall in blood pressure. Therefore, when measuring one’s blood pressure, the involved doctor should advise his or her patient to sit in some definite positions. Closing of legs or hanging of a patient’s arms too low will automatically raise such patients’ blood pressure thereby leading wrong blood pressure reading. Thus, numerous guidelines are in effect and should be followed properly while measuring blood pressure to ensure accurate results (Porth and Porth,

Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 26

Leadership - Essay Example Categorizing the culture of company, it can be stated that the culture of the company is Low Performance Culture. High Performance Culture is the one where shared beliefs, attitudes, actions and goals persist whereas Low Performance Culture is opposite of it. The Mission Statement of GameStop Corporation states that the company is less inclined towards High Performance Culture whereas the Vision Statement of the company states its values for its employees, shareholders etc. Out of all these four types of organizational culture, the culture of GameStop is a mix of Create and Compete. The company always focuses on brining something new as the nature of the industry is innovative and competition is very tough. Therefore, in order to keep pace with its competitors, it has to â€Å"Compete† by bringing something new through utilizing â€Å"Create† culture. "Our GameStop, EB Games and Electronics Boutique retail locations set us apart in the industry. Everything that we offer our customers-from our expansive selection of new products, to our knowledgeable associates and our value-added pre-owned products-is geared to deliver customer satisfaction. We complement our store network with GameStop.com and EBgames.com, and publish Game Informer, one of the industrys largest circulation video game magazines." The culture of GameStop supports its Mission Statement but doesn’t support its Vision Statement. In Mission Statement, the company has stated about how customer oriented it is, which is certainly true however in Vision Statement, it has stated about commitment and providing value to its employee and shareholders which is not the case in actual. The company is highly customer oriented and employees are directed to perform as per the requirements and preferences of customers. The culture of the company can be improved only when if it aligns its Vision Statement along with its corporate culture.

Clean Snows of Petawawa Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Clean Snows of Petawawa - Assignment Example Captain Kearney, the unit’s C.O., dismissively ignores the atrocities committed by the forces under his command and only asks the community to move on, which is lack of empathy as a normal human being could have only offered an apology and duly compensate the villagers for the loss. In his discussion with the tribal leaders, the captain reflects the American Grand Narrative in which American policy focused on a commitment to global leadership whereby a policy of interventionism is the order of the day with any errors and misjudgments committed being carried out in good faith (Ashbrook, 2010). For this reason, the attitude shown by the captain, when talking with the tribal leaders, shows that he considered the errors committed by the platoon under his command as done in good faith. In this case, the soldiers accidentally killed innocent villagers although the overall the overall objective of helping the community live in peace after years of atrocities committed by the rebels that the coalition forces were fighting justified the killings. Peacekeepers in Somalia, the author engages in a discussion by tracing the story in which Canadian peacekeepers engaged in violence against Somalis with the atrocities committed by the Canadians disappearing from Canada’s legal and national cognizance. To Razack (2000) the Canadian grand national narrative of ‘clean snows’ and peacekeepers who are supposed to be innocent contributed to the disappearance of the atrocities committed since the Canadian forces could not commit such atrocious acts to other human beings based on the country’s grand narrative. To recap, the story involves Canadian forces from the base in Petawawa who were sent as peacekeepers to perform their duties in Somalia. As peacekeepers, they were expected to maintain peace, in the Somali War of 1992, and it was the expectation of the world and Canadians to have their soldiers act.

Another new assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Another new assignment - Essay Example According to the Big Five Taxonomy of personality, Arnold fits in the categories of extroversion (being an extrovert), highly agreeable and highly conscientious. People exhibiting these personality traits are proven to have high job performance in most, if not all occupations, and endeavors (in Arnold’s case). They conform to exhibiting enhanced leadership style, as well as higher job and life satisfaction. This can be exemplified by the number of times he set his mind and heart to pursue clearly defined goals and was able to reach or attain these goals (as a bodybuilder, an actor, and now, a governor). His personality traits such as his being goal-oriented, focused, driven, hardworking, thorough, organized, persistent and achievement oriented exemplify These traits, especially, his clear vision of how he wants to improve things (goal and achievement oriented) as well as his charismatic personality (conscientious, agreeable and being an extrovert) gave him the drive, determination and inner strength to get to where he is now. Arnold is also exhibiting a proactive personality which identifies opportunities, show initiative, take action and persevere until meaningful changes occur. Actually, his childhood experience of being treated harshly by his parents provided the impetus for him to strive and leave the environment where he experienced hardships. This experience challenged Arnold to go beyond his dreams and expectations in life. As governor, Arnold is already exhibiting Machiavellian style in his desire to win his constituents and persuade others to conform to his reforms and economic plans. He employs both referent powers, which is based on his charisma. With referent power comes personal power due to his sources of potential influences. In the case, it was stipulated that due to his being an actor, he was able to form a network of powerful friends and advisors, who he constantly seeks advice

Clean Snows of Petawawa Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Clean Snows of Petawawa - Assignment Example Captain Kearney, the unit’s C.O., dismissively ignores the atrocities committed by the forces under his command and only asks the community to move on, which is lack of empathy as a normal human being could have only offered an apology and duly compensate the villagers for the loss. In his discussion with the tribal leaders, the captain reflects the American Grand Narrative in which American policy focused on a commitment to global leadership whereby a policy of interventionism is the order of the day with any errors and misjudgments committed being carried out in good faith (Ashbrook, 2010). For this reason, the attitude shown by the captain, when talking with the tribal leaders, shows that he considered the errors committed by the platoon under his command as done in good faith. In this case, the soldiers accidentally killed innocent villagers although the overall the overall objective of helping the community live in peace after years of atrocities committed by the rebels that the coalition forces were fighting justified the killings. Peacekeepers in Somalia, the author engages in a discussion by tracing the story in which Canadian peacekeepers engaged in violence against Somalis with the atrocities committed by the Canadians disappearing from Canada’s legal and national cognizance. To Razack (2000) the Canadian grand national narrative of ‘clean snows’ and peacekeepers who are supposed to be innocent contributed to the disappearance of the atrocities committed since the Canadian forces could not commit such atrocious acts to other human beings based on the country’s grand narrative. To recap, the story involves Canadian forces from the base in Petawawa who were sent as peacekeepers to perform their duties in Somalia. As peacekeepers, they were expected to maintain peace, in the Somali War of 1992, and it was the expectation of the world and Canadians to have their soldiers act.

Histroy week1 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Histroy week1 - Assignment Example Furthermore, history is important to individuals and society given that it harbors the immense beauty of the world. Besides, through numerous ways, history is discussed in order to understand real functions of subjects; in fact, this based on the talents and paths towards understanding meaning of history. Therefore, various definitions in history are utilized to understand fundamental facts identified in the present world. History is also considered a laboratory, where data that was gathered during past event can be accessed, and this can be applied in the quest to understand complexity of occurrences in the present. For instance, history has been applied in understanding of complexity among different species and their behaviors in social settings. History is unavoidable and it offers all-embracing ground that is evidential based on analysis of different functions regarding specific people. Therefore, understanding history help in embracing and acknowledging simplicity of the way peo ple live or coexist in the world. 2. What have been some important events in your personal history? Some of the most important events in my personal history regard to transitions from one way of life to another. For instance, moving out from home and living in order to earn a living and live independently. Though this was accompanied by challenges such as boredom due to change of environment, I was able to recover and proceed to live a good life. Besides, the day that I joined the university was a significant day that marked achievement of my academic objectives. Therefore, I consider my personal history to be important since it offers a basis of evaluation. Moreover, history helps me to determine the extent to which I have managed to achieve my personal objectives. I consider fundamental reasons of studying history to be based on diverse application of in my life. History serves a real purpose through its grounds based on human understanding of events in peoples’ lives. For instance, a story about a person’s live can be done in a way that reveals their functionalities and societies. In this way, history has prompted my thoughts regarding my experiences in life in terms of time and places. Therefore, my goals are sources of inspiration to make effort in reconstructing remote past, which is withdrawn from immediate present day utilization. To me, the encounters are very good as they nurtured my talent, hardened me to be able to handle challenging situation that do arise during my undertakings. This is because both positive and negative challenges we encounter offer an ample ground for learning various aspects of life interaction. 3. What do you know about your family’s history? I was unable to gather information regarding my ancestors due to lack of relevant sources of information. However, some of the relevant information concerning our family’s history regarded, where my parents lived after they got married and before I was born. I managed to access may family’s history of medical records, which indicated a number of significant issues; therefore, history has a great benefit in understanding various occurrences in the present. For instance, I wondered why I ended up to live in the neighborhood that I live in now; in fact, I realized that my ancestors were living in the same area. The historical information gathered can be very

Self Determination Theory in Teaching

Self Determination Theory in Teaching In the United Kingdom it is compulsory for all children to receive schooling until the age of sixteen. In the present educational climate it is foreseeable that this age limit could be extended to eighteen. In light of this, it is my firm belief that a teacher must not only have well-grounded subject knowledge and an intimate understanding of relevant pedagogy, but an effective teacher must also be able to motivate students to learn. However, to be a proficient motivator one has to understand the rudiments of what it is that drives and motivates people to act. This has long been the endeavor of Motivation Theory a well-established and active area of research within the field of psychology. It has clear links to many of the other social sciences, including education. Setting the scene As a trainee teacher I have a keen (somewhat vested) interest in understanding theories of motivation. In this review I will be placing an emphasis on Self-Determination Theory, its sub-theories, and ultimately its realization in the form of Sudbury schools. However, I would first like to develop the necessary historical context within which to discuss it. Between the 1930s and 1950s Motivation Theory was dominated by Clark Hulls work on biological Drive-Reduction. This was one of the earliest attempts to systematize and formalize our understanding of motivation. Hull posited that humans seek to maintain a state of homeostasis. He said that we have drives which arise in response to biological needs such as hunger and thirst. These drives motivate us to act in order to reduce their effects and hence maintain homeostasis. Hulls work was gradually superseded as researchers abandoned biological theories for cognitive alternatives. 1952 saw the publishing of Robert W. Whites Motivation Reconsidered: The Concept of Competence. In this article White first conceived the idea of competence motivation which one might describe in laymans terms as people like playing to their strengths. White said that we are motivated towards behaviour that makes us feel competent, knowledgeable or powerful. The fifties also saw the emergence of Incentive theories as pioneered by the likes of Berrhus Frederic Skinner. These focused principally on research into operant conditioning, behavior modification through reinforcement, punishment and extinction (Skinner, 1938). Skinners theories were notably criticized by none other than renowned intellectual Noam Chomsky (Chomsky, 1967). In his review Chomsky undermined the scientific credibility of Skinners methodology, claiming that his work was merely an emulation of science. In 1956 Leon Festinger published When Prophesy Fails, now regarded as a seminal book for its development of the cognitive dissonance theory of motivation. Festinger, building on Piagets concept of disequilibrium, believed that humans are motivated to reduce dissonance to such an extent that one can change anothers attitudes by altering their behavior or vice versa. This has since been a highly successful and extensively studied theory of motivation. Until this point psychology had been split into two competing paradigms; behavioural (subject-object relationships) and Freudian (psychoanalysis). In the 1960s a new generation of researchers came to the fore, rejecting this apparent dichotomy and spawning the so-called Third Force in psychology, focusing on human aspects such as fulfillment, self-actualization and meaning; concepts which so far had been omitted from most leading theories. The key player during this era was Abraham Maslow. He had rejected Freudian analysis as he perceived its focus to be pointed far too much towards sex and violence. He also rejected behaviourist approaches because they were overly impersonal and failed to address what he termed higher motives of human beings. Maslows ideas about motivation are best illustrated by his eponymous hierarchy of needs; a tiered pyramidal structure. The bottom tier of the hierarchy is comprised of biological needs; above those are security needs, relationship needs, self-e steem needs and finally self-actualization needs at the top. Maslow believed that when the majority of needs within a tier are met, the individual will become motivated to satiate the needs within the tier above. This process continues until the individual is finally motivated towards self-actualization (Maslow, 1943). Maslows theory has proven difficult to test experimentally, and although conceivably true, it fails to provide satisfactory explanations for many exceptional cases, and has duly received significant criticism (Wahba Bridgewell, 1976). Self-Determination Theory So far I have highlighted but a few of the salient developments within Motivation Theory from the mid twentieth century. I would now like to limit my focus to one in particular, Self-Determination Theory (SDT). SDT is a relatively contemporary meta-theory of motivation; its origins can be found in the early works of Richard Ryan and Edward Deci at the University of Rochester (Deci, 1971). At the time of its conception Ryan and Deci realized that aspects of competing humanistic, behavioural, cognitive and post-modern theories could be unified into a contiguous whole; forming what eventually became SDT (Deci Ryan, 2002). The name Self-Determination Theory is now regarded as an umbrella term for a broader collection of five sub-theories, each of which I shall review in turn. Much of SDT has evolved from initial studies into the dualistic notions of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation e.g. Lepper et al. (1973). SDT places emphasis on humans natural intrinsic tendencies to explore, develo p, learn and create without reward. This attitude is in stark contrast to the operant ideas purported by Skinner, who insisted that all behaviour is motivated by reward (Skinner, 1953). An assumption of SDT is that humans have an innate tendency to assimilate their ongoing experiences into a unified and integrated sense of self (Horn, 2008, p.134). The increasing level of interest in SDT is self-evident given the large number of meta-analyses, reviews and special issues within the research literature (Hagger Chatzisarantis, 2008). Classifying motivation For over thirty years researchers have differentiated motives into two broad categories, which ultimately reflect the locus of motivation. Intrinsically motivated behaviour is when an individual wants to act of their own volition, because a task is interesting or challenging, or purely for the sake of it. It is internally-sourced motivation, inherently connected with the individuals attitudes and sense of self. Extrinsically motivated behaviour is a response to an external factor such as a promise of reward or threat of punishment; often misaligned with the attitudes of the individual (Ryan Deci, 2000). Intrinsic motivation has proven to be of great interest to educational psychologists, as it can be catalyzed or undermined by parent and teacher practices, and fosters improved learning and creativity (Ryan Stiller, 1991). My own sentiments are in accordance with Ryan and Decis views on intrinsic motivation with an attitude of willingness that reflects an inner acceptance of the value or utility of a task the extrinsic goal is self-endorsed and thus adopted with a sense of volition. (Ryan Deci, 2000). The process of accepting an external motive and internalizing it as a new source intrinsic motivation is referred to as integration. It is no secret that teachers often have to deliver material which is either boring or dull. Therefore, knowledge of strategies for encouraging integration would clearly be advantageous when motivating students. Cognitive Evaluation Theory The first sub-theory of SDT is called Cognitive Evaluation Theory (CET). This examines how social, environmental and other external factors influence intrinsic motivation by affecting an individuals sense of competence and autonomy. CET offers three prepositions for explaining the impact of these influences. Firstly, changes in intrinsic motivation towards an activity are coupled to an individuals perceived competence at that activity (Deci Ryan, 1985a). Secondly, external attempts to regulate an individuals behaviour can result in increased, decreased or unaltered intrinsic motivation (Deci Ryan, 1985a). Thirdly, influences which an individual perceives as threatening or promoting their sense of autonomy will respectively diminish or develop their intrinsic motivation (Deci Ryan, 1985a). There has been a long and arduously fought debate as to whether or not teachers should employ rewards (extrinsic motivation) in order to encourage their students. Kruglanski et al. (1972) found that rewarding students for participating in a game resulted in a notable decrease in their intrinsic motivation. Similarly, it has been suggested that verbal praise can condition students into behaviour which has the specific intent of elliciting praise, undermining their intrinsic motivation (Deci et al., 2001). The effects of increased perceived autonomy have been studied by Goudas et al. (1995), who found that when students were given more control over the direction of their lessons their intrinsic motivation increased. Similar results where found by Mandigo Holt (2000) who claimed that perceived autonomy also increased the likelihood of students being optimally challenged, that is, taking on challenges in-line with their own skill level. Perceived loss of autonomy has been found to dimin ish students initiative and ability to learn, particularly complex or abstract concepts (Benware Deci, 1984). Related studies have found that students faced with complex tasks performed more highly when intrinsically motivated than when extrinsically motivated (Condry Chambers, 1978). According to Lepper (1988), extrinsically motivated students will only put in the minimum effort required, and tend to undertake less difficult tasks than those who are intrinsically motivated. Lepper (1988) claims that in order to promote intrinsic motivation, activities should be challenging but achievable and stimulate students curiosity. Lepper suggests that teachers can raise intrinsic motivation by contextualizing learning, so that students can appreciate the benefits of what they are doing. The construct of optimal challenge is of fundamental importance not just to SDT, but to other leading motivational theories such as Harters Competence Motivation and Csikszentmihalyis Flow Theory, which all establish connections with intrinsic motivation (Mandigo Holt, 2006). Deci and Ryan (1985) state that optimally challenged individuals will develop increased intrinsic motivation because they experience greater competence at a particular activity. In the literature one often comes across the concept of perceived locus of causality (PLOC). This is where an individual perceives their successes and failures to originate from. When an individual feels in control (perceived autonomy) this is described as an IPLOC (intrinsic). Conversely, when an individual feels they are subordinated by an external agent this is described as an EPLOC (extrinsic). Several studies have revealed that changes in intrinsic motivation can occur without a change in the PLOC (Boal Cummings, 1981; Harackiewicz et al., 1984). This is in disagreement with the third proposition outlined above. Also in contradiction to this proposition are the results of Salancik (1975) who, after rewarding participating students with money (extrinsic motivation), found they reported increased perceptions of control (autonomy). CET predicts that extrinsic motivation should result in a shift in the PLOC, thus undermining intrinsic motivation. There have been alternate theories attempting to explain why rewards might undermine intrinsic motivation. Dickenson posited three ideas; overly repetitive tasks gradual deplete motivation, rewards deemed to be coercive are undermining, and extrinsically motivated actions tend to receive less praise from peers (Dickinson, 1989). Organismic Integration Theory (OIT) The second sub-theory of SDT is called Organismic Integration Theory (OIT). Its primary concerns are modes of behaviour regulation, and the degree to which they are internalized (Deci Ryan, 1985a). Hagger Chatzisarantis (2008) describe it as explaining how people integrate behaviours that are initially non-self-determined. Deci and Ryan (1985) proposed a heuristic continuum of regulatory modes ranging from totally non-self-determined at one end to totally self-determined at the other. The validity of this continuum has since been supported by research (Horn, 2008, p.134): Amotivation total absence of motivation, linked to perceived incompetence. External regulation a form of compliance to external influences, the removal of which will likely cause an individual to cease a particular behaviour. Introjection acting on self-imposed pressures such as guilt, or finding self-esteem in the perceived approval of others. Identification consciously acknowledging the value of undertaking a particular behaviour. Integration internalization of regulation such that it is entirely compatible with attitudes and sense of self, still as a means to an end. Intrinsic regulation internalization of regulation, undertaking activities for their own sake and enjoyment with no regard to external factors. One has to be careful not to confuse the term external with extrinsic. Certain extrinsic modes of regulation are perceived to be equally as internal to an individual as intrinsic motivation. They are extrinsic in the sense that they contingent on external consequences, but internal in the sense that the motivation emanates from within. It thus makes sense to also delineate between internal and intrinsic. All intrinsic motivation is inherently internal, but not all internal motivation is intrinsic. One can be as tyrannical toward oneself as others can be. The issue is not so much whether the source of control is oneself or another, but whether or not one is being controlled (Deci Ryan, 1985). Causality Orientation Theory (COT) The third sub-theory of SDT is concerned with how individuals perceive the events which initiate, regulate and hence mediate the level of self-determination of their behaviour, viz. their causality orientation (Deponte, 2004). This new personality dimension grew out of prior work laid down by Heider and deCharms (Deci Ryan, 1985b). The General Causality Orientations Scale was synthesized by Deci Ryan, (1985b) as a fairly persistent means for characterizing aspects of personality and motivation. They outlined three orientations, namely autonomy, control and impersonal, then measured how subjects responded to various hypothetical situations (Horn, 2008). Autonomy oriented individuals have higher self-esteem (Horn, 2008), are self-initiating and actively pursue opportunities for self-determination; structuring their lives around their own goals and interests. These individuals exhibit a higher degree of intrinsic motivation and hence maintain greater self-determination in the face of extrinsic influences. External rewards hold little influence over these individuals and merely serve to affirm their competence (Deci Ryan, 1985b). Control oriented individuals interpret their behaviours as originating from, and being regulated by, external or internal controls. These individuals depend on pressure, surveillance, deadlines, threats and expectations to motivate their actions. They experience the world in terms of defiance and compliance (Deci Ryan, 1985b). Impersonal oriented individuals can experience helplessness and deem their actions as out of their hands. They perceive themselves as unable to influence the course of their own lives. Impersonal orientation is correlated with depressive attitudes and feelings of incompetence (Deci Ryan, 1985b). Recently published research conducted by Friedman et al. (2009) has claimed that extrinsically motivated individuals can become intrinsically motivated by observing the behaviour of an intrinsically motivated individual. Basic Needs Theory Now to the fourth sub-theory of SDT, Basic Needs Theory (BNT). This sub-theory posits that intrinsic motivation originates from a universal, biologically-hard-wired need to achieve autonomy, competence and relatedness. An individual will not experience complete fulfillment of a specific need unless all three are satisfied in concert. Due to the fundamental nature of these needs, humans have a natural preference to act on intrinsic rather than extrinsic motivation (Deci Ryan, 2000). BNT has empirical backing which supports it as a culturally independent theory (Sheldon et al., 2001). Goal Contents Theory The fifth and final sub-theory of SDT is called Goal Contents Theory (GCT). Within this construct a goals contents is described as either intrinsic or extrinsic. Classic examples of extrinsic contents are fame, wealth, physical appearance, reputation and most other materialistic or superficial motives. In contrast, intrinsic contents tend to be concerned with personal development and acceptance, community contribution, health, fulfillment and establishing meaningful relationships (Kasser Ryan, 1996). The pursuit of intrinsic goals has been suggested to satiate the three fundamental needs of competence, autonomy and relatedness, and hence facilitates the growth of intrinsic motivation (Vansteenkiste et al., 2003). The opposite effect has been proposed for the pursuit of extrinsic goals (Vansteenkiste et al., 2007). Self-Determination Theory in summary and in context A review of such fascinating research literature would seem rather pointless if no practical applications were to emerge from it. For this reason I have distilled some of the salient ideas into a more digestible form, in the hope that theory may be put into practice. In the context of education, teachers need only remember the following outline of SDT: All people have three basic needs (competence, autonomy and relatedness). Satisfying these needs has been shown to promote intrinsic (self) motivation. Intrinsic (self) motivation has been shown to improve students learning and performance. Teachers should employ strategies which help students to satisfy their three basic needs. The task for teachers is therefore to find effective strategies for helping their students to feel competent within their subject, to feel in control of their own learning and have input into what goes on in lessons, and to feel that their views, opinions and work are appreciated and respected. Key advice for the research-informed classroom The use of computers in the classroom gives the students a sense of privacy, autonomy and self-pacing (Underwood Brown, 1997). Research has shown that positive and negative feedback can subsequently increase and decrease students perceived competence and hence intrinsic motivation (Vallerand Reid, 1984). Offering tangible rewards in order to coerce or encourage students will undermine their intrinsic motivation. The effect has less impact if rewards are presented unexpectedly (Deci et al., 2001, p.4). Verbal praise which is intended to control students behaviour will undermine their intrinsic motivation (Deci et al., 2001, p.4). evidence suggests that teachers support of students basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness facilitates students autonomous self-regulation for learning, academic performance, and wellbeing (Niemiec Ryan, 2009). Give students choice, and freedom to decide what they learn and how (Goudas et al., 1995). Contextualize learning so that students know why they are learning things (Lepper, 1988). Teachers can raise intrinsic motivation by showing enthusiasm (Friedman et al., 2009). Sudbury Schools These schools employ a system of complete educational democracy in which students and teachers are treated as equals. There is no formal curriculum per se, as students decide on what they would like to learn. In addition, Sudbury schools do not grade, evaluate or assess their students performance. All learning is intrinsically motivated and optimally challenging. The first Sudbury school was Sudbury Valley School, Massachusetts which opened in 1968. There are presently over thirty such schools around the world, although predominately in the United States and Japan. In some Sudbury schools there are no well-defined classrooms, and it is common for students to be mixed by age. Students in these schools have a significant role in the recruitment and dismissal of staff. Visitors have often described the students as being in a state of perpetual recreation (Holzman, 1997). Sudbury schools are a testament to and realization of SDT in the domain of education.

vacume cleaner :: essays research papers fc

The Vacuum Cleaner: A History That Sucks   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ehren Gerhard Mrs. Anderson English IV March 28th, 2004  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In our past, we have always demonstrated an insatiable quest for cleanliness. For example, as early as 2300 BC twig brooms were being used to tidy up peoples cave dwellings. (Inventors) In the early 20th century, the United States was enveloped with the rise of the industrial revolution. Surprisingly, one close to home detail was yet to be improved: home sanitation. Later, a revolutionary idea to suck in dirt and dust was considered by British inventor, Hubert Cecile Booth. (Dream) This idea was the start of a cleaning revolution that influenced cleaning practices, controlled disease, and begun a sales industry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  With the persistent affliction of household disease due to sanitation, a more effective cleaning solution was in order. Current cleaning devises were limited to nothing more than a mop and a carpet sweeper. The inventor of the carpet sweeper, Melville Bissell, Originally developed it to preserve his health by sweeping away the dust in his crockery shop. The inventor soon recognized the sweeper’s market potential. They secured tufts of hog bristles with string, dipped the tufts into hot pitch, inserted the tufts into brush rollers, and trimmed them with scissors. (Dream) In another case, American James Spangler suffered from asthma and hypothesized that airborne dust from his carpet sweeper was the aggravate. He invented the electric vacuum cleaner principle that is commonly used in households today. (Dream)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another prevalent dilemma of the time was the maintenance of large structures. At the time, there were many airborne diseases and illnesses that necessitated proper sanitation and disposal. During World War 1, Hubert Booth received an urgent request to vacuum clean the Crystal Palace where the 1st World Expo was held. This was because soldiers in the Crystal Palace kept dieing from an infectious disease that contaminated it. Booth's vacuum cleaning pump sucked in a tremendous amount of dust from the Crystal Palace. It was plagued with germs and thus he subdued the disease. Leaders of Germany, Russia, and France, who attended the Royal Coronation of Edward the Seventh, were all anxious to buy Booth's vacuum cleaning pump. (Inventors)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The response to these modern marveled cleaning machines was obviously enormous. And so became the patent field and sales market. Door to door cleaning became prevalent with such inventors as Hubert Booth and John Thurman. In St. Louis, John Thurman started a horse drawn door-to-door vacuum service similar to Booth's. vacume cleaner :: essays research papers fc The Vacuum Cleaner: A History That Sucks   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ehren Gerhard Mrs. Anderson English IV March 28th, 2004  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In our past, we have always demonstrated an insatiable quest for cleanliness. For example, as early as 2300 BC twig brooms were being used to tidy up peoples cave dwellings. (Inventors) In the early 20th century, the United States was enveloped with the rise of the industrial revolution. Surprisingly, one close to home detail was yet to be improved: home sanitation. Later, a revolutionary idea to suck in dirt and dust was considered by British inventor, Hubert Cecile Booth. (Dream) This idea was the start of a cleaning revolution that influenced cleaning practices, controlled disease, and begun a sales industry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  With the persistent affliction of household disease due to sanitation, a more effective cleaning solution was in order. Current cleaning devises were limited to nothing more than a mop and a carpet sweeper. The inventor of the carpet sweeper, Melville Bissell, Originally developed it to preserve his health by sweeping away the dust in his crockery shop. The inventor soon recognized the sweeper’s market potential. They secured tufts of hog bristles with string, dipped the tufts into hot pitch, inserted the tufts into brush rollers, and trimmed them with scissors. (Dream) In another case, American James Spangler suffered from asthma and hypothesized that airborne dust from his carpet sweeper was the aggravate. He invented the electric vacuum cleaner principle that is commonly used in households today. (Dream)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another prevalent dilemma of the time was the maintenance of large structures. At the time, there were many airborne diseases and illnesses that necessitated proper sanitation and disposal. During World War 1, Hubert Booth received an urgent request to vacuum clean the Crystal Palace where the 1st World Expo was held. This was because soldiers in the Crystal Palace kept dieing from an infectious disease that contaminated it. Booth's vacuum cleaning pump sucked in a tremendous amount of dust from the Crystal Palace. It was plagued with germs and thus he subdued the disease. Leaders of Germany, Russia, and France, who attended the Royal Coronation of Edward the Seventh, were all anxious to buy Booth's vacuum cleaning pump. (Inventors)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The response to these modern marveled cleaning machines was obviously enormous. And so became the patent field and sales market. Door to door cleaning became prevalent with such inventors as Hubert Booth and John Thurman. In St. Louis, John Thurman started a horse drawn door-to-door vacuum service similar to Booth's.