Apprasial Essays

Apprasial Essays Apprasial Essay Apprasial Essay Appraial Employee Training and Development in Health Care Organizations Sean Ackerman Human Resources in Health Care Organizations May 7, 2011 The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership Harvey Firestone, American Businessman Introduction Training is a process whereby people acquire capabilities to aid in the achievement of personal and organizational goals. In the healthcare industry, employee training and development is multifaceted and complex. It must address state and federally mandated regulation requirements, organizational objectives and needs, and leadership development. This must all be delivered and documented in an organized and consistent fashion. In the simplest of terms, the training process is tied to a variety of organizational purposes and can be viewed in terms of immediate need and/or long-term objectives.5 Context In the limited perspective, training provides employees with specific, identifiable knowledge and skills for use on their current job. This type of training can present in many forms; from a newly hired employee who needs orientation to department and/or hospital operations, to introducing a new concept in technology or a new computer system to the entire organization. Whatever the reason for conducting a training session, it is important for a company to develop a comprehensive, on-going and consistent training program. This training process is essential in keeping staff motivated about learning new concepts and keeping the organization profitable. Leadership development is broader in scope and focuses on providing individuals with the opportunity to gain new capabilities useful for both current and future jobs. Developing leadership skills in current employees benefits both the organization and the individual. Experienced and knowledgeable employees and managers enhance organizational competitiveness and strengthen the organizationâ„ ¢s ability to adapt to a changing environment. In this development process, individual careers may evolve and gain new or redirected focus.2 A crucial component of leadership development is succession planning; a process of identifying a longer term plan for replacement of key employees. This is a complex process in terms of implementation. However, successful implementation of this process impacts the strength of a department as a whole. The manager that has this plan in place demonstrates strong leadership skills.5 Research Findings Analysis In the United States of America, employers currently spend approximately $60 billion annually on training. For the average employer, training expenditures run at least 1.5% to 2% of payroll expenses and average $677 per eligible employee according to a study by the American Society for Training and Development. Historically, health care organizations have lagged behind in training expenditures in comparison to organizations in other industries but training in health care organizations has evolved significantly over the past decade. There is the growing recognition by employees that training is vital to their personal growth and continued employment and success. As part of strategic competitiveness, employees whose capabilities stay current and who receive regular training are better able to cope with the challenges and changes occurring in health care. Additionally, the training process provides management with the opportunity to assess the skills and abilities of the employees and to identify potential future organization leaders.5 Training in health care organizations is offered in both non-clinical and clinical areas and is delivered via a variety of avenues. In the non-clinical area, health care training includes fire safety, sexual harassment prevention, corporate responsibility, patient safety, customer service skills, quality improvement, diversity awareness, and personal computer courses. The cost of this training is offset by increased revenue as a result of enhanced employee knowledge and skills. For example, a customer service skills training session can provide an organization with high patient satisfaction scores. These high scores directly equate to increased patient volumes and revenue.8 In the clinical area, the accreditation process for the health care industry drives the need for training in organizations. Health care organizations are legally mandated to provide consistent training to ensure that high quality medical care and safety is delivered to all patients. While medically licensed personnel employed by health care organizations, including physicians, nurses and technologists must meet annual continuing medical education requirements to maintain state licensure.8 Health care organizations in the 21st century face continuing challenges in meeting the performance expectations of critical stock holders including consumers, payers, regulators, and other providers. As the baby boomer generation ages, bringing high expectations and increased service volumes to the health care system, a new and overwhelming labor shortage is likely to emerge. Demand for top talent is intense and individuals will choose organizations that afford them meaningful opportunities for growth and development. Results of a survey by the Health Management Academy of Executive Leaders in Health Care and Fortune 500 Companies show a clear consensus that strong leadership is the key to organizational success. Only 41% of health care executives were satisfied with the strength of their current leadership development programs.11 Of additional concern to the health care industry are the results of a study by the Advisory Board which predict a 15% drop in the health care leadership pool over the next several years. To meet these challenges, leading health care organizations are designing and executing leadership development initiatives to lay the foundation for sustained long-term organizational growth and success.7 As with routine annual training, employee development begins with analysis of the needs of both the organization and individuals. Both the organization and the individual employee should assess the employeeâ„ ¢s needs by way of development. The goal in assessment is always to identify strengths and weaknesses. Methods brought into play by organizations to assess development needs can include the use of assessment centers, psychological testing, and performance appraisals. Evidence indicates that analysis of the individualâ„ ¢s development requirements frequently receives insufficient attention in many organizations. Leaders are also expected to demonstrate alignment and energy relative to mission, vision, values and the organizationâ„ ¢s culture and strategic priorities. Effective leadership development programs would include significant emphasis on values integration and communication.11 Technology The amount of each type of training, short-term and long-term, performed varies by organizations and depends on strategic planning, resources, and needs identified within the organization. Once the training plan has been designed, the actual delivery of that training can begin. Initially, the training process should be piloted on a trial basis in order to ensure that the training does indeed meet the identified needs and that the design is appropriate. Approaches and methods of training available vary and when ever-changing and improving technology enters the equation, the choices expand almost daily. Various considerations need to be balanced when selecting training approaches and methods. Some common variables are the nature of the training, subject matter, number of trainees, self-paced versus guided instruction, costs, time allotment, and completion timeline. The delivery of training in the health care system includes on-the-job preceptorship by a supervisor or another proficient employee, in service education on new products, policies and processes, continuing education classes, and training workshops or seminars.5 New technologies are being incorporated into training delivery, design, administration, and support. Health care organizations are investing in electronic registration and recordkeeping systems that allow trainees to register, participate in and record exam results for assigned training. The organization is then able to monitor learning progress. To support training, there are computer applications providing training known as electronic performance support systems. Organizations that utilize computer based programs have required training available for employees at all times. Various reports can be run from these computer based systems, making the information readily available for any accreditation organization inquiring about training for employees that has been performed.5 In the future, as learning and work continue to merge, technology will become seamlessly integrated into the employeesâ„ ¢ work environment. The Importance of Leadership Development The benefits of a comprehensive leadership development program can be represented along a continuum spanning from the individual employee only, through the employee plus the organization and ending with the organization only as illustrated below. Unfortunately, too few companies are committed to employee development.7 LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM BENEFITS CONTINUUM Employee Employee + Employer Employer ^ skills boosts morale v employee turn-over ^ knowledge clear company vision ^ productivity ^ job satisfaction ^ motivation fosters new ideas ^ compensation ^ trust prime market position ^ marketing for new hires Through corporate training programs, the individual employee is able to acquire new skills and knowledge, as well as, increase their qualifications and ultimately enhance their overall job satisfaction. Obviously, staff development is an expense but companies fully committed to providing continuous opportunities for employee learning, growth and development generate returns on their investments in terms of increased employee initiative, motivation, trust, and reduced turn over. Companies benefit just as much as the employees from investment in training and education, particularly in terms of having a recruiting edge for the most qualified job candidates. When employee development is performed strategically, a partnership develops among training and development professionals generating greater clarity and agreement among employers and their managers as to business direction, goals and priorities. As a diagnostic tool, development planning allows for the ability of employees to articulate, with precision, the business goals of the organization and the increased value to the business as a result of completion of training programs. I have personally experienced leadership development in my organization. I began my career many years ago with no particular goals in mind. As years went by, I realized I was on a track towards being a leader. The executive team had implemented a talent in sight program for managers and I had been identified as an employee with the ability to move ahead in the organization. Even though I have the ability to be a strong leader, my formal education is not on target with the goal. The CEO has strongly encouraged me to continue my formal education, so that future opportunities within the organization will be available to me. As it turns out, returning to college to receive my degree was one of my better decisions. Thankfully, I work in an organization where leadership development is a priority. Development of Leaders There are many elements for creating the best possible learning experiences for leaders, including the fundamental principals that inform our leadership development efforts and the most effective learning methods.10 Trust and personal credibility form the foundation for leadership. They should also form the foundation of leadership development. Successful leaders must be able to build and sustain trusting relationships with a highly diverse group of people. Intensive training in interpersonal skills is fundamental to every successful leadership effort. Trust and leadership abilities cannot be built over the internet. Leadership is a relationship between human beings and if successful leaders are to be developed, they must be brought together in one room.10 One of the most valuable ways to build trust and to assist the leader in getting a rounded view is to provide 360 degree feed back. This is the single most valuable tool to provide leaders with a realistic agenda for development. Forward-looking is the one attribute that differentiates leaders from other credible people. Constituents want their leaders to have a vision of the future, to know where they are heading. A respectable business cannot be built without predicting the stumbling blocks that can occur down the road. Proactivity is the key to successful leaders. Leadership development should be offered to all employees. Leaders can come from anywhere and must come from everywhere. Everyone who wants to lead must have a plan for her or his own development and take charge of executing that plan. Potential leaders need to be encouraged to get clarity about their strengths and weaknesses. The desire for learning can be inspired, but it must be nurtured continuously. Coaching is critical to that process.5 Conclusion Basic economic resource ¦.is no longer capital, nor natural resources ¦.nor labor. It is and will be knowledge. 4 There is no question that continued learning has merit. However, blinded by cost issues, some organizations forfeit guaranteed return on investment by not implementing a consistent training program for employees. Unfortunately, some learning takes place only after we acknowledge our mistakes and faults.9 Health care organizations are being subjected to ongoing changes in technology and consumer interests and preferences. Learning capabilities help organizations adapt to the ongoing changes. Focusing on training and development is making an investment in the organizationâ„ ¢s future. True success comes from emphasizing both short term operational considerations and long term developmental ones. Health care leaders must creatively meet the demands of these complementary priorities. References 1 Baptist Health Care: Where Staff Retention Drives Patient Satisfaction, A Case Study of the UCSF Center for the Health Professions from cpp.com. 2 Bring Out the Leader in Each, from allbusiness.com 3 Bolstering Staff Soft Skills Helps Hospital Face Major Challenges, A Case Study of St. Lukeâ„ ¢s Hospital and Health Network from cpp.com. 4 Druker, Peter (1993) Capitalist Society. HarperCollins, New York, NY. 5 Flynn, Walter J, Robert L. Mathis, John H. Jackson, Patrick J. Langan (2007) Healthcare Human Resource Management, Second Edition. South-Western Cengage Learning, OH USA. 6 allbusiness.com 7 Oâ„ ¢Toole, James, Edward E. Lawler III (2006) The New American Workplace. Palgrave MacMillan, New York, NY. 8 Smith, Shawn, JD, Rebecca Mazin (2004) The HR Answer Book. AMACOM, NY USA. 9 Spath, Patrice L. (2007) Guide to Effective Staff Development in Health Care Organizations: A Systems Approach to Successful Training. 10 Ukens, Lorraine L. (2001) What Smart Trainers Know, The Secrets of Success from the Worldâ„ ¢s Foremost Experts. Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, San Francisco CA. 11 Wells, Wendy, William Hejna (2009) Developing Leadership Talent in Healthcare Organizations: There are five key areas in which healthcare organizations can better foster the development of strong leaders among their employees. Healthcare Financial Management, from http://findartticles.com. Cascio, W. (2010). Managing human resources: productivity, quality of work life, profits. United States of America: McGraw-Hill. ?   Colquitt, J, Lepine, J, Wesson, M. (2011). Improving performance and commitment in the workplace. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Unit V Assessment#1 DALY - Disability-Adjusted Life Year Essay

Unit V Assessment#1 DALY - Disability-Adjusted Life Year Essay Unit V Assessment#1 DALY a The Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY) is a concept which was coined by the World Health Organization to describe the idea that not all years arecreated equally in health terms. For example, an individual who is suffering from a disability such as COPD will not have the same quality of life as a completely healthy individual and therefore their year cannot be quantified in the same way. It is a way of understanding the burden of disease on lifestyles and judge how much of a burden different issues are on how an individual lives their life (Gurjar, Molina & Ojha 170).b According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 4.6 million life-years are lost due to air pollution every year (Gurjar, Molina & Ojha 173). c Particle size has an effect on health. Particles which are larger than 10 nanometers in diameter are found in the upper regions of the respiratory tract, such as the nose and upper throat. Particles 1 nanometers in diameter or less can reach the lower areas of the resp iratory tract, such as the very base of the lung (Gurjar, Molina & Ojha 171). The types of effect that these have on health therefore differ – larger particles are likely to cause superficial illness such as a cough, whereas smaller particles in the lower echelons of the lung are likely to have a larger effect as they are more likely to reach the blood stream and other areas of the body. All particles can cause premature death, heart attacks, irregular heartbeat and problems in individuals with asthma, as well as being linked to COPD (Gurjar, Molina & Ojha 180).Gurjar, B. R., Molina, L. T., & Ojha, C. S. P. (2010). Air pollution: Health and Environmental Impacts.

Recovery of the China Stock Market and Challenges in the Post-Crisis Essay - 1

Recovery of the China Stock Market and Challenges in the Post-Crisis Era - Essay Example In fact, an outflow of approximately US$25 billion was experienced by China in December only, and at some point in the fourth quarter of 2008 a sum of US$150 billion was pulled out from the country, according to the report of the Bank of China (Min-Chan 2009, 43). The dramatic economic growth of China has to a certain extent been fuelled by its thriving export-driven production. Nevertheless, the export of China by mid-2008 diminished to a ‘negative 20-percent growth rate from the positive 20-30 percent rate in previous years’ (Platt 2009, 50). Because of these developments some financial analysts predicted that China would confront a financial crisis in 2009 and 2010. The prediction happened and this forced the Chinese government to initiate a set of stimulus package (Yao & Zhang 2011). These attempts of China to recover from the global financial crisis will be analyzed in this paper. The end of 2007 witnessed the sharp rise of China’s stock markets; however, the end of 2008 witnessed the bubbles’ remarkable rupture. The SSECI showed a decrease from 6,135 in 2007 to 1,608 in 2008 (Yao & Zhang 2011, 26). It has improved to some extent, but has been wrestling to swing around 3,000 from the period of the bubble disintegration. The SSECI showed 2,900 at the end of 2010 (Yao & Zhang 2011, 26). These changes are shown in the figure below: China exposed the avenues to new share offerings, letting loose a stream of initial public offerings (IPOs) to aid in the absorption of surplus liquidity and calm a raging stock market. What began as a drop of IPOs became a surge, with numerous companies primed to register in the Shanghai Stock Exchange (Platt 2009). According to Michael Guillen, professor of international management and director of the Lauder Institute, in his remark about the recovery attempts of China’s stock market in the Financial Times (2009), â€Å"During the last two years, monetary policy has

Code of Professional Conduct Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Code of Professional Conduct - Case Study Example These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit. We conducted our audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An Audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion. The company recorded land purchased at $100,000 at appraiser's value of $700,000 in violation of generally accepted accounting principles that such land should be recorded at historical cost of $100,000 only. In our opinion, except for the violation of the generally accepted accounting principles on proper recording of land, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position of Graham Company as of December 31, 20XY, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles. W... January 10, 20XY ADVERSE OPINION AUDITOR'S REPORT Scope Section We have audited the accompanying balance sheet of Graham Company as of December 31, 20XY, and the related statements of income, retained earnings, and cash flows for the year then ended. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit.We conducted our audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An Audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion. Middle Section The company recorded land purchased at $100,000 at appraiser's value of $700,000 in violation of generally accepted accounting principles that such land should be recorded at historical cost of $100,000 only.Opinion sectionIn our opinion, because of the material effects of the violation of generally accepted accounting principles in the recording of land, the financial statements referred to above do not present fairly the financial position of Graham Company as of December 31, 20XY, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended. Los Angeles, California

Environmental- Economics Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Environmental- Economics - Case Study Example The solution to the problem was found in china through the creation and implementation of the energy laws that were created by the Central goverment. This is because the government of China has been aware of the environmental problems. There were several policies that were introduced in the effort to find a solution for the energy environment problems. One of these was the Environmental Protection Law for trial Implementation, which was created in 1979. Provisions to protect the environment were also made within the constitution in 1982 in addition to the Article 26 of the constitution which requires that the state provides protection and improvement of the environment where people and other ecological organisms live through the reduction of pollution. These laws and policies were also established to make it possible to practically apply the governmental environmental policies. In addition, this kind of depletion and exhaustion of resources called for the reduction in the used of ene rgy in the production and consumption areas. There was also a need to save the energy and use methods that were friendly to the environment and to promote technological innovations that would reduce the intensity of energy while at the same time increasing its efficiency as illustrated in Shanghai (Fig. 1). This was enabled by the enactment of the conservation laws and the application of economic incentives whereby the used of energy would be regulated and the emission of pollutants limited (Economy & Lieberthal, 2007). At this point, the main people who were affected by the particular policy included the producers and manufacturers who were required to use energy efficient means of production. The consumers would also be affected as either the prices of goods would go up or the number of products made available would reduce (Wheeler, Susmita & Hua, 2003). For the successful

Personalisation And Its Key Elements

Personalisation And Its Key Elements In this easy, I will be discussing personalisation in considering its key elements. Looking at the impact of Fair Access to Care Services (FACS) in meeting service user needs. How it contradict in particular the notion of choice, control and independence for old people. I will also the implications for social work practice, and my own personal practice in an anti-discriminatory point of view. The adult transforming agenda is focused on the development of personalisation of support. The 2006 Community Services White Paper, Our Health, Our Care, Our Say, announced the piloting of Individual Budgets. Personalisation had its beginnings in Direct Payment which was introduced in 1987, were people who are eligible for social care can choose to receive a cash sum in lieu of services (Henwood Nigel, 2007). The development of Transforming Social Care is driven by the demographic pressures and changes to public expectations. According to Chandler (2009, p2) by 2022 20% of English population will be over 65 and the number of those over 85 will have increased by 60%. The development of better housing options and extra care housing will be crucial for the future. Majority of older people will expect to live in their own homes for as long as they possibly can. And with more people living longer and requiring support, an increasing number of families will feel the impact of these demographic changes (Chandler,2009) [online]. One of the objectives of Putting People First was to champion the rights and needs of older people in their local authority and public services within a policy, which will involve them as active citizens who may or may not need support. However, these expectations cannot be met through traditional approaches to delivering of social care services. A fundamental change in Adult Social care is required in order to ensure that the needs of each person can be met in a way that suits their personal individual circumstances. Putting people first (DOH 2009), laid out the vision for change in social careà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ this vision is of a new social care system that helps people stay healthyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ through a focus on prevention, early intervention and enablement, and high quality personally tailored services for those who need ongoing care social care support This new policy is referred to as personalisation. According to Lloyd (2010, p 189), the term personalisation is very contentious she further cited Boxall et al (2009) distinguishing between personalisation which focuses on the particular needs of individuals to the preference of one size-fits-all approach of services. The self directed support is about the control that service users can exert over the definition of their needs and the ways in which these should be met. In policy terms, personalisation is both the way in which services are tailored to the needs and preferences of citizens and how the state empowers citizens to shape their own lives and the services they receive (according to the Department of Health, document Transform Social Care, Local Authority Circular 2008, p4). Personalisation was introduced in government policy in 2007 when the Putting People First: A shared vision and commitment to transformation of adult care (DOH, 2007) Concordat was published. This outlined the reforms for social care. The key elements in the document where; Self Assessment, Individual Budget, Choice, Control, Independence. However, because personalisation is only a policy it is implemented differently across social care services. Proponents of personalisation argue that the need to personalise services arise because, services were institutionalised and driven by professional, managerial and economic agendas, rather than those of service users (Lloyd, 2010). Historically and currently, a person in need of social care services is assessed by a social worker and other agencies. Then they decide the type of support the service user will receive, who from, where and when. For a couple of years now the government has been moving towards changing that system to one which the person in need of social care gets to decide the type of support they need and how, and this is now known as personalisation. The drivers behind personalisation are found in the Our Health, Our Care, and Our Say White Paper (DOH). It suggests that people will be happier, healthier, and have better prospects for the future if they are put in control of their social care support. According to Harris White () a milestone in the pronounced shift by new labour towards personalisation was the Adult Social Care Green Paper, Independence, Wellbeing and Choice. This saw the introduction of individual budgets as the principle route to personalisation (Harris White). The Department of Health describes personalisation as an approach in which every person who receives support, whether provided by statutory services or funded by themselves, will have a choice and control over the shape of that support in all care settings Brody(2009) [online]. One key issue identified by Griffiths (2009, p3) is that individual budgets offers a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ a chance to empower service users in their dealings with public services and it puts the service user at the heart of public service reform. This is one of the key values of Putting People First (2007), to ensure people in need of social care have the best possible quality of life and the equality of independence living. Griffiths (20009, p2) further argues that individuals budget will give service users a greater choiceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. by giving money to the service user to purchase services from a plurality of providers. However, Forster (2002.p, 85) identified that there is little or no choice for elderly people. They can only have choice if the cost of their care is within the amount allocated by local Authority (LA) or if social workers agreed that it is suitable. This was also highlighted by Hudson Henwood (2008), in the CSCI document Prevention, Personalisation, and Prioritisation in social Care, that the coexistence à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ of self directed support alongside the Fair Access to Care (FACS) criteria have create some tensions while personalisation is concerned about promoting and maximising the choice and control of service users. it fails to determine how the eligibility of those groups is defined (Dodd, 2009) [online] The FACS policy guidance was publish in 2002 as a Local Authority Circular LAC (2002) 13. That Provides local authority with an eligibility framework for setting and applying their local criteria with the aim of ensuring fairer and more consistent eligibility decisions across the country (DOH). As Crawford Walker (2004), points out this system is failing to distribute resources to people who will benefit from early intervention. For example there are a growing number of old people with lower level needs who are likely to develop higher needs in the absence of responsive support. According to Dodd (2010), using one of the four levels within the Fair Access to Care services (FACS) banding as a threshold for rationing resources is too rigid an instrument for fairly and responsively allocate social care budget. He goes on to argue that currently, people with proven care needs are not receiving the services they need. Therefore as long as the FACS criteria remains in place as a rationing mechanism, it will be impossible to realise the universal model of self directed support envisaged within the personalisation agenda(Dodd,2010)[online] The CSCI report argues that as the government is concerned to hold down public spending eligibility criteria are a key mechanism, serving to regulate service provision in line with available resources and identified priorities. In the current financial climate were resources are tight, these criteria can be adjusted by the local authority in order to narrow access to care support. Lloyd (2010), policy makers are more focused on the economic challenges than the needs of older people. The implications for social workers according to Adams (2009, p145) is the amount of time they will have to spend with service users and carers who have individual budgets to help them gain the necessary knowledge and skills they may need to manage their budgets. Also, another limitation to personalization and individual budget has been identified by Griffiths (2009) that the current economic climate may pose a threat for individual budgets and may not survive the planned government spending cuts for the next few years.

Topology Essay -- Mathematics Essays Mathematical Math

Topology Mathematics is a field so vast and diverse that it is impossible to be an expert in all areas. It is also a field that is constantly evolving and branching outward. The field of topology is one of the newest intensively studied branches of mathematics. â€Å"A simple way to describe topology is as rubber sheet geometry† [2]. â€Å"Topology is an offshoot of geometry that originated during the 19th century and that studies those properties an object retains under deformation - specifically, bending, stretching and squeezing, but not breaking or tearing† [1]. Under these conditions, one could say that a square is topologically equivalent to a circle because a square can be bent and stretched into a circle [3]. However, a square is not topologically equivalent to a torus because a torus cannot be formed unless a hole is bored through the medium, or two pieces are joined together. Topologists obviously have expanded upon these simple concepts over time to create theo rems further removed from our ordinary experiences. Some of these shapes and objects exist in four dimensional space or higher dimensions and cannot exist in our world. Theoretically these shapes would be as commonplace as a tree or rock in a higher dimensional universe. However, in our universe topologists turn to mathematics to understand these shapes [6]. The first mathematical problem, which led to the origins of topology, was the Konigsberg bridges problem. The people of Konigsberg wondered if they could walk around the city in a way that they would also cross every bridge exactly once. The city map looked something like this [2]: Euler determined that it was indeed impossible to accomplish this feat. He rationalized this problem... ...nal space. Works Cited [1] http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/2/0,5716,115452+1,00.html Encyclopedia Britannica: Topology. Accessed December 6, 1999. [2] http://www.forum.swarthmore.edu/~isaac/problems/bridges1.html The Beginnings of Topology. Accessed December 6, 1999. [3] http://www.geom.umn.edu/docs/doyle/mpls/handouts/node13.html Topology. Accessed December 6, 1999. [4] http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/topology_in_mathematics.html Topology Enters Mathematics. Accessed December 6, 1999. [5] http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Klein.html Felix Christian Klein. Accessed December 7, 1999. [6] http://www.pepperdine.edu/seaver/natsci/faculty/kiga/topology.htm What is Topology. Accessed December 7, 1999. [7] Yaglom, I. M. Felix Klein and Sophus Lie. Birkhauser, Boston. 1988.

Health Care Innovation

Health Care Innovation Your name HCA/210 June 10, 2012 Theresa Brock Health Care Innovation We live in a world where everything is changing and improving rapidly. Health care is one thing that has changed for the better. New improvements to health care are being made every day among technology, medicine, and even health insurance. The average life expectancy has increased significantly over the last 100 years. One hundred years ago the overall average life expectancy in the United States was approximately 50 years old (Wikipedia, n. . ). Now, the overall average life expectancy is approximately 78 years old. One of the biggest reasons for this is health care innovation. Not only has the progress of technology and medicine raised this number, but insurance has a lot to do with this also. With the many different types of insurances that are offered today, people can get the care that they need. Years ago there was no health insurance. People would visit a doctor and pay just a couple o f dollars, or pay with food.Many people would not even go see a doctor simply because they could not afford to pay. Now, healthcare is one of our biggest debates. Essentially there are two types of healthcare insurance, Fee-for-Service and Managed Care. Both cover medical, surgical, and hospital expenses. Most cover prescription drugs and some offer dental coverage. With today's economy, many American's depend on Medicaid or Medicare for their healthcare needs (Progress in Insurance, n. d. ). The Obama Administration has set up healthcare exchanges under a new 2010 law.State-run exchanges will be launched in 2014, which opens a marketplace for private insurers to compete to offer health plans to the uninsured and to small businesses. If a state has not established a framework for the exchanges by 2013, the federal government will step in and run it (The Wall Street Journal, 11-29-11). This has become one of the biggest debates, other than the unemployment rate, during this election year with the presidential campaigns. Medicine has grown tremendously.In the old days, people would always receive an antibiotic shot with the same needle. People used home remedies such as: turpentine and sugar (now it is said that turpentine will kill you), sweet oil in ears for infection, milk weed for warts, lye soap for lice, and for a fever you were rubbed down in rubbing alcohol. There were no tetanus shots. Most people just soaked an infected area in epsom salt. Now, doctors usually only give antibiotics when absolutely necessary, there is laser treatment for warts, lice shampoo, and we now have tetanus shots.The medical device industry has brought us tremendous advances to the practice of medicine in recent decades, ranging from CT and Magnetic Resonance Imagining (MRI) machines, to laboratory diagnostic instruments and pacemakers. Much of our modern medicine relies on 3D imaging, which is fairly new (Progress in Medicine Staff, 6-6-12). Many years ago, ultrasounds, CT scan s, and radioactive/nuclear medicine for PET scans did not exist. They did have X-rays, but very poor images. Now, there are CT scans, PET scans, MRI machines, and X-rays are much more enhanced and show radiologists a great deal of information.Technology in health care has come a very long way, and continues to excel. The only negative impact that health care innovation can have on patients is costs. This could include doctor’s fees for treatment, or even copays and medicine. With the new technology, this makes health care spending go up. Therefore, this makes the costs of care that patient’s need go up. There are still people who cannot get insurance for different reasons. Some people may make just a little too much money to receive an insurance offered by the government, and others may just simply not be offered insurance by their employer.Overall, health care innovation has had a positive impact on patients. It is a natural part of life to grow. Things are always goi ng to get bigger and better, they always have. There will always be a new, better way to do things. Insurance, technology, and medicine will continue to grow, and the improvements will benefit the patients. References www. wikipedia. com. www. yahoo/progressinmedicinestaff. com. The Wall Street Journal, June 6, 2012. www. yahoo/progressininsuranse. com.

The Doctor will see you now Professor Ramos Blog

The Doctor will see you now The train comes to screeching halt. The screaming of steel is soon replaced by the wail of human voices. The train doors are ripped open and the human cattle within stumble out under the threat of death by soldiers screaming orders and waiving guns. â€Å"Schnell! Raus!† The soldier’s orders are brutally enforced with buttstock and bullet alike. Those who died in transit are unceremoniously kicked aside and trampled as frightened passengers struggle to follow orders. As you quickly shuffle outside, an assault of chaos batters your senses. Dogs are barking, soldiers yelling, passengers screaming, sporadic gunshots, and the blinding light as your eyes adjust from total darkness. Worse yet is the smell. Not the feces and urine from the train cars, but something worse, a sickly-sweet smoke that clings to your mouth and your nose. You don’t know where it comes from, and you’d rather not find out. It is then that you see him, a sharply dressed man walking briskl y through the masses as if he is looking for something. He is of average height with dark hair and a fair complexion, in a different setting he might even be considered a handsome fellow, but here he stands in disturbing contrast to what surrounds him. In his hand he holds a riding crop. He doesn’t strike anyone, he simply uses it to gesture left or right as if directing traffic in an intersection. As you get closer you hear a familiar sound, he’s whistling a song your grandmother used to play when you were a child, you can’t remember the name. As you approach, he gives you a kind smile and gestures you to the right, and your parents to the left, despite your parents best efforts to resist the soldiers enforce his command and you are ushered away to an unknown future. That is the last time you see your parents. This is the first, and most pleasant, time you will see the â€Å"Angel of Death†. Josef Mengele was a German born SS physician who would become one of the most infamous members of the German war effort and a symbol of the evils of the Nazi party. Throughout his time at Auschwitz he gained an unparalleled reputation of cruelty and sadistic tendencies towards the inmates. Surgeries without anesthesia, the purposeful infection of inmates with diseases, and the drowning of inmates in freezing water. Perhaps his favorite pastime, however, was the sorting of new inmates as they arrived aboard trains from across Europe. A survivor of Auschwitz recounts that of the twenty or so physicians at the camp, only Mengele and one other officer could stand to sort prisoners without being inebriated to some extent. Not only could he stand it, he seemed to relish in it. Deciding who would live and who would die soon became a favorite pastime for him. This â€Å"sorting† also afforded him the opportunity to search for exceptional â€Å"specimens†. Before the war, much o f Mengele’s research was based on the study of genetics, twins, and multiple births. His position at Auschwitz afforded him the opportunity to find unique individuals from across Europe and experiment on them as he pleased. So where does a man like this come from? What circumstances convince a man to treat others like this? The story of Josef Mengele has a surprisingly tame and uneventful beginning. He was born in Germany in 1911 to Karl and Walberga Mengele who raised their son with devout Catholic values. In his memoirs he reports the absentness of his father who was a successful producer of farm implements and the overbearing nature of his mother who enforced her Catholic views upon him. Aside from this he seems to have had, by all accounts, a relatively normal childhood. His father had done very well for himself in his business which afforded their family a relatively high standard of living for the time. He did very well in school and went on to study philosophy in Munich and eventually gain a medical degree from Frankfurt am Main. In many serial killers and school shooters we often see a troubled childhood or circumstances in their youth that cause them to begin down a certain path. In Mengele, however, it seems that this was not the case. Some sources claim that his overbearing mother was an indi rect influence on him as he started down this path, but it is unclear to what degree, that this was the case, if at all. Regardless of his mother’s influence, it was at his time at university that I believe began him down the path of a monster. At this time in Germanies history their was a dangerous duo in place. An enormous sense of national pride and a widely spread and accepted view of German and Aryan superiority. These views were proudly displayed throughout the country and there were even divisions of Universities that were dedicated to racial hygiene such as the one at Frankfurt that Mengele attended. It was here that Mengele would come into contact with his future mentor. The infamous Dr. Otmar von Verschuer. Verschuer was a human biologist and geneticist who was doing much research into twins, hereditary biology, and racial hygiene. He studied hundreds of pairs of twins to discover whether criminality, feeblemindedness, and cancer were inheritable. He even recommended the forced sterilization of those people who were seen as mentally or morally subpar as he believed that they were a waste of resources and they would pass on these inferior traits to others throughout the Third Reich. I believe that this was very muc h an sufficient cause for Mengeles actions. Despite Dr. Otmar never being tried or punished after the war, there is credible evidence that he kept in contact with Mengele throughout his time at Auschwitz and even had specimens sent back to his labs in Frankfurt from the camps. Some historians believe that Mengeles dedication and devotion to Verschuer is related to the lack of love he felt at home during his youth, leading him to try and please his mentor like a child would a parent. It is unclear if this was actually the case or not, but it is a definite possibility. What is clear is that Nazi propaganda and ideals had a tremendous effect on his way of thinking. We see the transition from a carefree happy youth to one of the worst war criminals in history. I believe that the immense Nazi propaganda machine and the Aryan supremacy theories that pervaded German society had a lasting and irreversible effect on young Mengele. Although I have no scientific evidence to back this up, I am a firm believer that racism is learned. Have you ever watched little kids at a park? theyll play with anybody thats the same height as they are, regardless of race or color. I believe that this may be what happened to Mengele. A survivor of Mengeles exploits, Alex Dekel recounts the attitude with which Mengele performed his experiments in an interview. I have never accepted the fact that Mengele himself believed he was doing serious work - not from the slipshod way he went about it. He was only exercising his power. (Douglas B. Lynott, Alex Dekel, pg. 13) This slipsho d method and the odd experiments he conducted lead me to believe he wasnt concerned as much with research as he was with extermination and power over the undesirable. While it is true that he was doing research on twins to help propagate more Aryan births and other experiments that had valid uses for the Nazis, I believe it was a sadistic sense of power and the belief in Aryan supremacy that fueled his research, not scientific discovery. I also have a personal theory that may or may not be valid. I believe that when Mengele looked at, and learned to hate the Jew, he may have hated a part of himself as well. His features are far from the typical Aryan and he, ironically enough, resembles a Jew. He was of average stature with a prominent brow and dark hair. This cognitive dissonance may have lead him to despise the Jews and Gypsies all the more as he realized that he could never fully become the very thing that he was trying to propagate. There is also evidence that his sexual attraction towards the female inmates may have something to do with his behavior. Douglas B. Lynott describes in his paper how he would often ask the female inmates about there sex lives, and have them paraded nude before him on multiple occasions (Douglas Lynott. pg.10). I believe the fact that these women were dubbed verboten or forbidden gave them a certain appeal to Mengele. Just as in the monster theory number six we learned that the monster is a type of desire, I believe that so to did Mengele see these monsters as attractive. I believe that the combination of both these aspects may have led him to experience a sense of self loathing that manifested as an increased urge to rid the world of the thing he most hated , yet was and wanted. Whatever his reasons, it is clear that when men are given power with no accountability, evil can abound. We must be careful to keep those in in power accountable to a higher standard lest we repeat the horrific effects of the Holocaust and men like Josef Mengele. Annotated Bibliography. 1.â€Å"When Medicine Went Mad: Bioethics and the Holocaust†; Arthur Caplan; July 17, 1992; The Humana Press Inc. This book is a compilation of expert opinions and survivor accounts of the Holocaust, its causes and effects. The author has a PhD in bioethics and the book itself is a compilation of survivor accounts and expert opinions on the subject of the holocaust and medical ethics. I plan on using this mainly for the firsthand accounts of Auschwitz and Mengele himself. 2.Bachrach, Susan. In the name of public health-Nazi racial hygiene. New England Journal of Medicine 351 (2004): 417-419. This a journal article on the policies and effects of eugenics and how the Nazis implemented them. The author is Dr. Susan Bachrach who happens to be a curator at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. I plan on using this piece to further demonstrate the evils of the Nazi’s eugenics policy as well as offer specific examples of its use. It also offers information about Josef Mengele’s mentor, Otmar von Verschuer. 3.Lynott, Douglas B. Josef Mengele. TruTV. com Online Magazine (2007). This is an article about the life of Josef Mengele and his slow descent into the monster of Auschwitz. Even though it is an article published on a rather â€Å"entertainment† based website, the sources for the article are from well known and researched books that look into Mengele’s life. I plan on using this article to describe Mengele’s upbringing and how it lead to the terrible acts he did in Auschwitz. 4. Deadly Medicine-Creating the Master Race-physician and scientist profiles; United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; ushmm.com; https://www.ushmm.org/exhibition/deadly-medicine/profiles/ This is an article that describes the various Nazi scientists during and before the war that assisted in furthering Aryan supremacy and performing terrible experiments. The website is the official one for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum which I believe is a very credible resource. I will use this to explain Dr. Otmar von Verschuers role in the Nazi empire and Mengeles life. 5. 5. Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. Monster Culture: Seven Theses. From Monster Theory: Reading Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996. 3-25. This is a series of seven these that describe monsters, how their made and how they describe the culture they come from. It was written by the guy that literally wrote the book on monsters; he has studied them for many years and these theses are part of an original book further discussing monsters. I will use this to describe the monstrous nature of Nazis.

Romanticism in Art History From 1800-1880

Romanticism in Art History From 1800-1880 Romanticism is precisely situated neither in choice of subject nor in exact truth, but in a way of feeling. Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) Right there, courtesy of Baudelaire, you have the first and largest problem with Romanticism: it is nearly impossible to concisely define what it was. When we talk about Romanticism the Movement, we arent using the root word romance in the sense of hearts and flowers or infatuation. Instead, we use romance in the sense of glorification. Romantic visual and literary artists glorified things ... which takes us to thorny problem number two: the things they glorified were hardly ever physical. They glorified huge, complex concepts such as liberty, survival, ideals, hope, awe, heroism, despair, and the various sensations that nature evokes in humans. All of these are felt- and felt on an individual, highly subjective level. Aside from promoting intangible ideas, Romanticism may also be loosely defined by what it stood against. The movement championed spiritualism over science, instinct over deliberation, nature over industry, democracy over subjugation, and the rusticity over the aristocracy. Again, these are all concepts open to extremely personalized interpretation. How Long Was the Movement? Keep in mind that Romanticism affected literature and music, as well as visual art. The German Sturm und Drang movement (the late 1760s to early 1780s) was predominantly revenge-driven literary and minor-key musically but led to a handful of visual artists painting terrifying scenes. Romantic art truly got underway at the turn of the century and had its greatest number of practitioners for the next 40 years. If you are taking notes, that is an 1800 to 1840 heyday. As with any other movement, though, there were artists who were young when Romanticism was old. Some of them stuck with the movement until their respective ends, while others retained aspects of Romanticism as they moved in new directions. It is not really too much of a stretch to say 1800-1880 and cover all of the hold-outs like Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-1873). After that point Romantic painting was definitely stone cold dead, even though the movement brought about lasting changes going forward. Emotional Emphasis The paintings of the Romantic period were emotional powder kegs. Artists expressed as much feeling and passion as could be loaded on to a canvas. A landscape had to evoke a mood, a crowd scene had to show expressions on every face, an animal painting had to depict some, preferably majestic, trait of that animal. Even portraits were not totally straightforward representations the sitter would be given eyes meant to be mirrors of the soul, a smile, a grimace, or a certain tilt of the head. With little touches, the artist could portray his subject surrounded by an atmosphere of innocence, madness, virtue, loneliness, altruism or greed. Current Events In addition to the emotionally-charged feelings one got from looking at Romantic paintings, contemporary viewers were usually quite knowledgeable of the story behind the subject matter. Why? Because the artists frequently took their inspiration from current events. For example, when Thà ©odore Gà ©ricault unveiled his gigantic masterpiece The Raft of the Medusa (1818-19), the French public was already well acquainted with the gory details following the 1816 shipwreck of the naval frigate Mà ©duse. Similarly, Eugà ¨ne Delacroix painted Liberty Leading the People (1830) fully aware that every adult in France was already familiar with the July Revolution of 1830. Of course, not every Romantic work related to current events. For those that did, however, the benefits were a receptive, informed viewership, and increased name recognition for their creators. Lack of Unifying Style, Technique, or Subject Matter Romanticism wasnt like Rococo art, in which fashionable, attractive people engaged in fashionable, attractive pastimes while courtly love lurked around every corner and all of these goings-on were captured in a light-hearted, whimsical style. Instead, Romanticism included William Blakes disquieting apparition The Ghost of a Flea (1819-20), sitting in close chronological proximity to John Constables comfortably rural landscape The Hay Wain (1821). Pick a mood, any mood, and there was some Romantic artist that conveyed it on canvas. Romanticism wasnt like Impressionism, where everyone concentrated on painting the effects of light using loose brushwork. Romantic art ranged from the smooth-as-glass, highly-detailed, monumental canvas Death of Sardanapalus (1827) by Eugà ¨ne Delacroix, to J. M. W. Turners indistinct watercolor washes in The Lake of Zug (1843), and everything in between. The technique was all over the map; execution was completely up to the artist. Romanticism wasnt like Dada, whose artists were making specific statements about WWI and/or the pretentious absurdities of the Art World. Romantic artists were apt to make statements about anything (or nothing), dependent on how an individual artist felt about any given topic on any given day. Francisco de Goyas work explored madness and oppression, while Caspar David Friedrich found endless inspiration in moonlight and fog. The will of the Romantic artist had the final say on the subject matter. Influences of Romanticism The most direct influence of Romanticism was Neoclassicism, but there is a twist to this. Romanticism was a type of reaction to Neoclassicism, in that Romantic artists found the rational, mathematical, reasoned elements of classical art (i.e.: the art of Ancient Greece and Rome, by way of the Renaissance) too confining. Not that they didnt borrow heavily from it when it came to things like perspective, proportions, and symmetry. No, the Romantics kept those parts. It was just that they ventured beyond the prevailing Neoclassic sense of calm rationalism to inject a heaping helping of drama. Movements Romanticism Influenced The best example is the American Hudson River School, which got underway in the 1850s. Founder Thomas Cole, Asher Durand, Frederic Edwin Church, et. al., were directly influenced by European Romantic landscapes. Luminism, an offshoot of the Hudson River School, also focused on Romantic landscapes. The Dà ¼sseldorf School, which concentrated on imaginative and allegorical landscapes, was a direct descendant of German Romanticism. Certain Romantic artists made innovations that later movements incorporated as crucial elements. John Constable (1776-1837) had a tendency to use tiny brushstrokes of pure pigments to emphasize dappled light in his landscapes. He discovered that, when viewed from a distance, his dots of color merged. This development was taken up with great enthusiasm by the Barbizon School, the Impressionists, and the Pointillists. Constable and, to a much greater degree, J. M. W. Turner often produced studies and finished works that were abstract art in everything but name. They heavily influenced the first practitioners of modern art beginning with Impressionism which in turn influenced nearly every modernist movement that followed it. Visual Artists Associated With Romanticism Antoine-Louis BaryeWilliam BlakeThà ©odore Chassà ©riauJohn ConstableJohn Sell CotmanJohn Robert CozensEugà ¨ne DelacroixPaul DelarocheAsher Brown DurandCaspar David FriedrichThà ©odore Gà ©ricaultAnne-Louis GirodetThomas GirtinFrancisco de GoyaWilliam Morris HuntEdwin LandseerThomas LawrenceSamuel PalmerPierre-Paul PrudhonFranà §ois RudeJohn RuskinJ. M. W. TurnerHorace VernetFranz Xaver Winterhalter Sources Brown, David Blaney. Romanticism.New York: Phaidon, 2001.Engell, James. The Creative Imagination: Enlightenment to Romanticism.Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1981.Honour, Hugh. Romanticism.New York: Fleming Honour Ltd, 1979.Ives, Colta, with Elizabeth E. Barker. Romanticism the School of Nature (exh. cat.).New Haven and New York: Yale University Press and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Situation analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Situation analysis - Essay Example Coffee for instance requires electricity to heat. Electricity may be produced from various sources and one of them is through fossil fuel. The US remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels for many years (Musial 10). It is recorded that 41 percent of the world’s man-made burn carbon dioxide comes from the burning of fossil fuels for generating electricity in the United States (Rodger 11). This means that at some point, fossil fuel is a necessity in the United States to produce electricity so that there is something that can be tapped for industrial use. In today’s modern world electricity finds its use in food preparation. For instance, coffee needs to be heated with electricity. It is better tasting when it is hot. In the United States, a cup of coffee is one of the most popular adult beverages in the country to have in a day. For some people, a cup of hot coffee in the morning completes their day. The United States is said to be the largest consumer of coffee (Hufbauer and Schott 301). The country is also known for its industry on retail specialty coffee beverage which was able to hit $3 billion sales and even higher in the mid of 1990’s (Clay 81). Since then, the industry continued to achieve an upward spiraling growth performance leading to more innovation in the coffee industry. One of its latest innovations is the Solar System Coffee Mug. This specifically implies that the market opportunity for coffee in the country is promising provided that there is a good investment plan for it. This means that investors in the first place need to understand the fact that there is already a promising market but it is up to them how they could acquire specific market share for their product offering. Strategically speaking, there is a need to differentiate their offerings in order to stand a cut above the other. However, this requires the right information and at some point, a good innovative approach is necessary. Understanding the market may be one

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

Networking 2 - Essay Example This was a big revolutionary change. Information could be shared at extremely rapid rates. It could be said that this was the beginning of the information age. Nowadays we think nothing of transferring massive amounts of information, be they databases or images, across telephone or optical wires. Much of our economy is dependent on these tools. And who looks after all of these apparatuses and functions? The computer networker. The position is becoming more and more important as the field and our reliance on information technology continues to expand. What sort of education is required by someone seeking a career in this exciting field? There are varying degrees of specialization and education, each requiring different amount of time and different kinds of aptitude. People have to know the hardware that they’re dealing with because this can be incredibly important when resolving problems. Another big issue is security. With the huge amount of viruses and worms out there, people need to know how to protect themselves. If you get a job working on the networks in a bank or at the government, for example, security is going to be a major concern because these kinds of institutions rely on confidentiality. Day to day, what do these people do with networks? The key aspect of computer networking is to share resources and to allow computers to communicate—not just from room to room but across oceans and continents. For any viable business in today’s world these are necessary facts of life. Another important thing to do is maintain the system. Computers need to be taken care of. They need updates, they need to be checked out, they need to be replaced when they get old or are no longer functional. All of these fall under the purview of the computer networker. Salary ranges across the field vary depending on the level of responsibility. Some positions play a very important role in designing networks or