Impact of Nursing Unit Turnover on Patient Outcomes Essay

The problem addressed by the article is the impact of nursing turnover on patient care.   It has been assumed that patient care is affected by turnover but there has not been a good understanding of the relationship between turnover and quality of care. Most research has simply shown that there is a direct relationship between the two without exploring the underlying mechanisms. Study purpose The study aims at describing the underlying mechanisms in the relationship between nursing turnover and quality of care of patients. The objective of the study was to find out how turnover in nursing units affects processes among key work groups and how the impact of these processes affects outcomes of patients. Study variables The study variables are nursing unit turnover, workgroup processes, patient outcomes, control variables and education level.   The independent variables was nursing unit turnover while the dependent variable was patient outcomes which included patient satisfaction, average length of stay, medication errors and patient falls. Workgroup cohesion, relational coordination and workgroup learning were the process variables. Other variables included in the article were control variables which included work complexity, teaching status, technological sophistication, hospital size and unit size as well as nurse characteristics such as RN hours, unit tenure, education level and patient characteristics (health status, patient age and previous hospitalizations). Conceptual framework The conceptual framework applied was modeled around the IPO framework (input-process-outcome) which assesses workgroup behavior and performance effectiveness. It is incorporated in most models of workgroup effectiveness. Workgroup processes are those mechanisms which inhibit or encourage members of a team to combine their abilities and behavior (Kozlowski et al, 2003). These include workgroup cohesion, workgroup learning and relational coordination. The unit level patient outcomes include patient satisfaction, length of stay, patient falls and medication errors. In the conceptual framework, the hospital, nurse and patient characteristics as well as the nursing unit were identified as control variables. Literature Review The literature review supports a need for the study as it identifies the fact that there has been research that establishes that there truly is an effect of nursing turnover on patient outcomes. However there is very little information that describes the actual relationship between nursing turnover and patient outcomes. The literature review identifies some of the effects of turnover as detachment, a disruption in communication flow and a disruption of established relationships (Sung-Heui et al, 2010). A nursing unit with high turnover requires more time for new staff to adjust while the staff that remain have to be more careful when supervising the new staff. This has the overall effect of lowering relational coordination. The article also identifies that work learning is does not occur well when there is no stability as is the case in units with high turnover (Sung-Heui et al, 2010). Learning needs both change and stability thus units with very high or very low turnover may not hav e much cognitive growth. When there is greater cohesion among staff members there is also greater motivation for the employees to provide better service which leads to better patient satisfaction (Sung-Heui et al, 2010). Other patient outcomes addressed by the article include length of stay which measures how efficient the hospital is, which in turn is an indication of the efficiency in communication between healthcare providers. If a workgroup is well coordinated then there outcomes are of higher quality and they outcomes are achieved more efficiently. The article also focuses on patient falls and medication errors as an indicator that there is work group coordination and workgroup learning. When errors occur there is opportunity for learning however if there is too high turnover, then learning does not occur and there is likelihood for errors to be repeated. Study design The study design was a non-experimental longitudinal study causal modeling study. This design was appropriate for the study since it tries to establish a relationship between two variables that is whether one causes the other. Some of the threats to internal validity that the study may have include history which means that as more time elapses between measurements there is a likelihood that time may contribute to differences in results in the variables. Testing is also a possible threat to internal validity in a longitudinal study as it requires the participants to take certain tests on several occasions (Barry, 2005) Attrition is a threat to the longitudinal study design; when participants drop out of the study before all the data is collected is likely to distort the accuracy of results (Barry, 2005). Sample and setting The sample consisted of 268 nursing units from 141 hospitals. This sample size was adequate to ensure generalizability of the research findings. Additionally using nursing units from various hospitals served to increase the generalizability of the findings. The sample was derived from the medical-surgical units and nursing units of acute care facilities of various hospitals, settings that again provided a good representation of all the hospitals and helped to increase the external validity of the study. Identification and control of extraneous variables Some of the identified extraneous variables included environmental uncertainty such as volumes, types of patients which increased the complexity in work processes and group dynamics among nurses. Work complexity was measured using a 7-item scale developed to measure environmental uncertainty. The scale measured work complexity by identifying frequent interruptions or unanticipated events. Technological sophistication was also measured using the Saidin Index which provided a weighted sum of the number of technologies and services that were available in the hospital. Study instruments/tools Both primary and secondary data were collected in this study. Secondary data was obtained from secondary data collected from the Outcomes Research in Nursing Administration Project (II) (ORNA II). Nursing units provided turnover rates for six months and nurses also completed questionnaires which measured various workgroup processes. The patient data collected was also from the ORNA II project. The use of such data collection methods was appropriate as it provided a rich data source. Additionally, the use of data from the ORNA project provided a reliable source of good quality data. Data analysis procedures The unit of analysis in the study was the nursing unit. The variables relational coordination, work group learning, patient satisfaction, workgroup cohesion, patient satisfaction and work complexity were measured at the individual level and were then aggregated to the unit level. The study used linear and count models to determine the distribution of the outcome and process variables. The average LOS was estimated using a model of random effects while the medication errors and patient falls were analyzed using a Poisson regression model that was adjusted for dispersion. The Poisson regression is appropriate for rate data such as the one collected in this study. The use of the linear counts is also appropriate as it allows for a relation between the linear model and the response variable. Strengths/limitations The strength of the study lies in the use of the IPO framework. Using this framework allows for the underlying mechanisms such as workgroup processes to be evaluated and considered as variables. Thus the study looks at input variables, process variables and output variables providing adequate data with which to describe the underlying mechanisms and relationship between nursing turnover and patient outcomes. Some of the limitations of the study include the model which assumes that the turnover affects relational coordination a few months after it has occurred. The time period of two months may not have been sufficient to assess true variation of the turnover levels. Another limitation was the missing variables that have an effect on turnover, patient outcomes and workgroup processes. Some of these include the support of managers, supervision and organizational effectiveness which also have an impact on whether a nurse stays or not. Implications The results of the study make it necessary that there be further research on the effect of nursing turnover on patient outcomes and workgroup processes. The findings of the study support a need to increase work group coordination and cohesion so as to improve patient satisfaction. These findings are consistent with previous research findings. The research findings also show that the in nursing units where there was higher workgroup learning there were fewer errors in giving medications. This supports empirical evidence for the development and sustenance of processes where nurses are supported in discussing and learning from their errors.

Intimations of the American Character: Five American Writers

America’s only 230 years old, give or take, therefore to ask after the American character is much the same as asking after the character of a two-year old – not impossible, but hardly definitive. There’s a an anecdote of general reportage that on Nixon’s first trip to China Kissinger asked Mao what he thought of the French Revolution. Mao answered that it was too soon to tell.Perhaps it is too soon to tell what the American character is as can be determined in the literature of the 17th – 19th Centuries, but one cannot mistake that in the various works of its first significant authors (writers who felt themselves sufficiently invested in this democratic experiment spread over some six million square miles of beautiful and infinitely resourceful land) the first intimations if not indications of who and what we are (as opposed to where we came from – the old countries) make themselves known.Harold Bloom, Professor, author, reader, man of extrao rdinary powers of memorization, idiosyncratic, self-proclaimed Falstaffian, wrote, ironically enough, a work entitled â€Å"The Anxiety of Influence. † With reference only to the title, which implies so much, especially for any would–be artist who seeks place his/her own unique stamp on his/her work, one encounters the first problem for the truly creative: We are not born without context. Mozarts aside, we must school ourselves, absorb, learn, model, mimic and copy before we write, paint, sing, play music, dance, in a wholly new and original way.The struggle to achieve what is original implies its own anxiety. Like Michelangelo’s slaves f marble, will we ever break free? Has American broken free of its overwhelming British influences? And if we have broken free, if we have achieved a unique and American voice, to whom do we owe the credit for the great break with our bi-continental past? The important word here is context. No source is tapped in a vacuum. We are the progeny of forebears; we are the ancestors of those to come.Time being what it is we can only look back. First, review the grim declamations of Jonathan Edwards and feel the anxiety of that faith which rested in an angry God, full of spit, fire and fury, an unhappy parent disappointed in his children, a God in a nominally Christian world, who’s narrowed the avenue of salvation to inches of rock-ledge that can be traversed by so few that a minister’s left with little to do but warn his congregation about how bad it’s going to be when they’re dropped like spiders into the eternal flame.Of course, no God is ever as awful as his followers and Edwards’ admonitions are the high point of that drive towards â€Å"purity† which drove the puritans from the corrupt Anglicanism of Elizabeth and James (not to mention Henry VIII who had his own take mercy and forgiveness). If one were to read too much of Jonathan Edwards, one might conclude that the American character is a dour, determined and fatalistic, the unfortunate result of Augustine’s fear dripped through Calvin’s Swiss rectitude by way of Anglo-Saxon provincialism played out in the hands and minds of truly brave pilgrims determined to reform themselves almost out of existence.In short the first expression of America’s self, its character, was a reaction to the wavering, the wiggle-room, and the corruption in late Elizabethan, Jamesian-Protestantism. It is the expression of what one people might attribute to a god who’s angry with the failure of his children. But Edwards’s declamations are not the word of god so much as their expression of man angry with man.Ironically, the supposed anger of this god, by way of Edwards, will move Puritan congregation to embrace a work ethic (Protestant, New England, rural, elemental, purifying) which will stand in opposition to the source of the Reformation, itself – Luther’s reading of R omans which asserts salvation by grace and not by good works. But time passed and America, with its depth and breadth of resourcefulness, its brave and entrepreneurial people who made the move, took the chance, crossed the ocean in search of a better life, and would not be held captive in the ornate chains of those ministers well-schooled in the endless dark night of the soul.Brave people, entrepreneurs, the â€Å"can-do† sort of people who cross oceans are not the type of people to succumb to anxieties. And they are not without humor. Indeed they require humor, because humor is the step-sister of practicality. The ironic point of view, the wit, the clever turn of phrase, the creativity and intelligence of the comedic mode, are often the best means to drive home points and conclusions and directives that might otherwise be lost in the didactic drone of dogma.Ben Franklin gave voice to humor and common sense and practicality in his writings. We look upon him now, perhaps unfor tunately, as a cartoon figure of Disney’s imagination, or that precious gent employed each early summer to dress up in velvet, lace and granny glasses, to walk the streets of Philadelphia and scare children with the stilted language of the poor mimic. But to do so would be our loss. Franklin was a genius.He was a polymath, self educated and like most early Americans, born (as if dropped whole) into a new land affording infinite potential without the â€Å"floors or ceilings† of given classes, gifted with the curiosity and intelligence to make sense out of the new, original American experience, and to express the process for others. He was an inventor, a newspaper man, a man of letters, a political in-fighter, a political theorist schooled in the writings of the Enlightenment.He was a humanist who, unlike his ascetic Puritans ancestors of Boston and environs, believed that humans were of value, body, mind and spirit. Franklin dared to believe, in the most general sense of the lesser-dogmatic theists that man was deserving of something better than Edwards’s angry white bearded, sententious, demanding, unpredictable, inconsistent and contrary God.Through Franklin the American character first developed the genius of common sense, leavened with humor. In the settlement of New York by the inveterate, humanistic Dutch and Philadelphia by the easy, peaceful, sometimes silent Quakers, Franklin, the man who traveled south, denied the anxiety driven, forbidding world view (so often fostered in too-cold climates) that sought to prepare man for eternity while denying the value of the here and now.Through Franklin we learn that man is capable of creativity, here and now, that man can better his station in life, that life is worth living and that process, ritual, form and style (Franklin’s writing can not but reflect some of the 18th Century politesse) are meant to follow function and that substance, rather than appearance, is the determinative va lue.Throughout a review of Franklin’s writings, one is struck by that wave of humanism and democratic values that asserted themselves in the wake of decadent royalties and courts and found their most eloquent expression in the preamble to America’s Declaration of Independence, penned by Jefferson (edited, polished, affirmed, if not ghost written by Franklin. ) Emerson, the sage of Concord, virtually unknown in cocktail conversation today, but for the notion of some salty rigid circumspect New England self reliance, is the American writer with whom all American writers must contend.Like America, itself, full of contradictions and principles that outran its very self, Emerson was an iconoclast, who looked about the beauty of Concord and saw that although the world was good, man made institutions, were, over time, necessarily corruptible and, instead of assisting the individual in his walk through life, ultimately hindered the individual from clear sight, a post-Christian pantheism, a transcendent vision of God’s grandeur and all that can be deduced, derived from that.In a way analogous to the solitary loneliness of the dark night of the soul, Emerson encouraged the brave entrepreneurial American, optimistic, human, and sufficiently wise not only to appreciate the comedic mode of life (i. e. , life is ultimately and always salvageable), but to travel past the thickets of dogma, to apply his gifted and most importantly his co-creative mind to an understanding of the world about him. Yes, the America might be the New Jerusalem, a new place of unbounded physical grace, but the kingdom must be experienced within as well.Emerson’s transcendent view is best appreciated when one posits the pure permeability of the divine through nature and then through the very self. Humanism need not stand in opposition to Edwards’s angry god, but need only accommodate God, affording Him the place he’s had forever, within and without ourselves. Thoreau lived a mile from Emerson. They were friends to the degree that that they could offer and receive friendship.Both were complex, but Thoreau gave voice and body to complexities, contradictions that flowed from Emerson’s first indications of a uniquely American voice. (All men are created equal, and yet Americans buy and sell slaves. ) Thoreau is a photographic negative to much of what Emerson implies. Tough they both lived in this grand new country, Thoreau, the prophet, also recognized problems which would and still occur to this day in a country so bountiful it invited a work ethic as boundless as its resources, size and frontiers.Work is a balm to the anxious and energetic soul. Perhaps it’s too much to say that all work is busy work (though a walk down Park Avenue on a Monday in September might make one wonder), but work and the American’s over-praise of the over-valued activity is a defense to work’s essential nature – a distraction fr om the anxiety of being. Americans praise those Americans who work hard, keep their heads down, work hard, never look up, never question, and might ask after function but never purpose.And these are the workers, the people, the men and women, who live the lives of quiet desperation. Thoreau is a radical in that he goes to the very source of an idea cloaked in so many assumptions and â€Å"givens† that the questioning itself renders him an iconoclast, an eccentric of the first order. Living alone by a pond is nothing compared to asking those questions which might upset the underpinnings of a society too busy to ask anything. Thoreau loafs with the intensity of a Kant.He questions not only the American way of life with its work ethic, but also the proposition that life’s primary value lies in work and that through work (only work) man will find his identity, ultimately his purpose and after this life perhaps his salvation. Thoreau is a â€Å"loafer† like Whitman, but Thoreau does not loaf to escape work, he â€Å"loafs† to escape meaningless work and to question the assumptions of New England in the early 19th centuryThere’s a cliche in the work-a-day world, devoted to the corporate mind and group think that sublimates the individual to the will and survival and perhaps betterment of the group. It is this: Nobody’s indispensable. Thoreau either heard or intuited this dismissal of the human and his efforts (Willy Loman 100 years on), and said: Why do we engage in a system which demands our lives, makes false promises and considers us utterly dispensable? The American work ethic makes promises and offers the appearance of payback to justify itself. Indeed, such a charade is one under-pinning of the capitalist system.We’re promised ticky-tacky houses, country clubs, swimming pools, unlimited credit at usurious rates, nice clothes, the right schools for above-average kids, and of course the magical totem , the icon, t he car, the uber-van, the humvee, the mode of transportation that will â€Å"tell them who we are. † Thoreau anticipated all of this – the uneasy contract by which Americans remain trapped in the first and second levels of the hierarchy of needs while our demi-gods of celebrity and power achieve a self-actualization denied everybody else. Not surprisingly we are then bought off with television, sports, bread and circuses.One of the contradictions in Thoreau is that the assertion of the individual is Romantic, but the means employed is ascetic and classical. To live deliberately is not to live with frippery or Boucher’s swings or the ease of decadent courts. To live deliberately is a radical undertaking, directing the speedy to slow down to take time to loaf and view the smallest, finest things, those effects of creation which in their brief majesty put to shame all the useless memos, briefs, papers, efforts and transactions set down in the 19th Century’s ethos of success and wealth as the outward sign of grace.Thoreau stands in opposition to the America’s madness for work. Walden has changed lives. People have been seen reading it during their rush commutes. Whitman turns within and explodes without. He does not so much challenge the hustle and bustle of the great democratic experiment as he seeks to encompass it, to swallow it, to take it in, because the genius of the poet – this new American poet – is begin enough, grand enough, to express the vastness of it all. Indeed every part of every part is a part of every part.To turn within is to look without, to subsume the All. Whitman breaks the line open. Even a grade student looking at a poem by Whitman and a poem by Philip Freneau can’t help but see the difference in form. The old and tired expresses itself in neat stanzas, century old rules. But Whitman’s lines span the page. They scan and pose propositions only to complete the circle with their o pposition stated like closing a door on a completed whole. The compliment forms the greater proposition.This is a poet not so much of contradictions (though he admits as much), but a poet, like a demi-god, who can reconcile the apparent and real contradictions of life. Does America contradict itself (Slavery – All men are created equal)? Yes. Can America reconcile its contradictions? Perhaps. One war says we have; other wars say we have not. Perhaps it’s too facile to remark that whereas the country was split north and south, Samuel Clemens, born in Missouri, a border state, obtained his unique voice traveling north and south along a river which in its own way sought to hold the warring halves together.In Huckleberry Finn Twain reconciles the optimism and humor of Franklin, the adventuresome self-reliance of Emerson, Thoreau’s marginal iconoclast and Whitman’s reconciled over-soul. And yet, Mark Twain, the humorist, the colloquial voice of wisdom, the woo ly relative we place at the head of the table, soon encountered, as America encountered the cracks and flaws of life, its random terribleness, its self-inflicted wounds.At the very heart of the American character is the mater of slavery, the ludicrous contradiction of eloquence scripted to blow trumpets of gold and light bonfires of freedom that would out-enlighten the enlightenment. And still the ships came from the west coast of Africa. Slaves – bought and sold. These contradictions are essential. They are indicators of life itself and neither America, its character nor its poets and writers are immune.Though we can look fondly on America’s optimism, humor, practicality, favor of substance over form, the acknowledgment that form follows substance, that in America merit counts – we must also look upon the all too common type, born of the all too common fatigue evident in a country that offers just enough in a zero-sum game to keep the citizen alive one more day , for one more effort, for one more expenditure: We know the desperate worker, who expends enormous amounts of energy, convincing himself, fooling himself that what he does has meaning and purpose, that he’s paid enough (as all those bleeding-heart liberal programs for all those minorities don’t get in the way) and that someday, maybe when he retires with a weak heart and a spent spirit, he and his wife will travel the length and breadth of this great country and call to mind something of what that old gay poet wrote – something about atoms and bed-fellows and lilacs This too is the American character – desperate, tired, vain, prejudiced, spent, rigid, utterly human and, for all of it, ultimately forgivable.

Mans Impact on the Everglades Essay

Man has never been content to leave the natural preserved in the state in which it was discovered. Likewise, the Everglades ecosystem has been bombarded by this pressure as man seeks to â€Å"redesign† the environment to suit the needs of the ever encroaching human population. This has brought about profound changes in this system and the way it operates. Collectors were among the first to extract a toll on this area because of its exotic indigenous creatures. Species which now face extinction include: several varieties of unusual Orchids and ferns, Florida tree snails, and the indigo snake. But the impact of collectors is not merely limited to the disappearance of species. For example, collectors burned Hardwood Hammocks to facilitate collecting tree snails. The high demand for feathers as the plumes of ladies’ hats also endangered the Snowy Egret at one time. Another source of destruction includes off road vehicles such as air boats and swamp buggies used to negotiate the difficult terrain. These vehicles create ever widening soil ruts because the tracks are slippery and subsequent vehicles avoid them. Because hydroperiod plays a powerful role in habitat determination, even a slight change in water depth can profoundly effect the composition of the ecosystem. Channels interrupting sheet flow provide an alternate route for the water. Vegetation is uprooted and lost, as a result, enhancing the likelihood of invasion by opportunistic species such as cattails. In some areas, off road vehicles have resulted in the damage of tree islands. Melaleuca, an Australian tree, poses a different kind of the threat: that of introduced species. The trees overtake Sawgrass marshes and Cypress swamps in areas reduced by drainage. Their tolerance of fire further enhances their spread. Eventually, dense forests form which exclude the natural vegetation and dry up the environment. Brazilian pepper began its stay in the Florida area as an ornamental. Like the Melaleuca, it forms a closed forest, destroying feeding areas of many water birds. Brazilian pepper primarily overtakes coastal lowlands and pinelands. Over 200 plant species have been introduced â€Å"successfully† into the Everglades environment. Plants are not the only successful invaders. The Blue Tilapia, an animal intruder, grows too large to be eaten by the wading birds, while creating a devastating effect on the aquatic plant life. By far the most serious effect of man on the environment remains the alterations of water flow patterns for agricultural and metropolitan purposes. The direct channeling of fresh water from Lake Okeechobee to the coast alters sheet flow, causing soil fires and saltwater backflow. Faced by these ever worsening scenarios, the Central and Southern Florida Project for Flood Control and Other Purposes (C&SF) took over the project in 1948. First, the C&SF built a perimeter to prevent encroachment of the sheet flow on developing metropolitan areas. Second, agriculture reclaimed the Okeechobee by draining the Lake swamp and rerouting the water to the Water Conservation fertile land directly south of Areas to the south. Total, Water Conservation Areas, which regulate water flow toprevent flood and drought, now represent 32 % of the original Everglades ecosystem. Everglades National Park, established in 1947, only contains 25% of the historic freshwater system. Other problems facing this ecosystem include the loss of wild life species diversity. Like the Snowy Egret, alligators, hunted for their hides, almost reached extinction until their sale was prohibited by law. Since that time, populations rebounded, however, bird populations still face intense reducing pressures. Wading birds follow the drying front during the drydown as the water flow concentrates prey at its border. Wading birds, therefore, only need make minor adjustments to determine the position of food daily. Consequently, larger rookeries and breeding seasons coordinate with the water flow so the drydown approaches the nest, allowing the parents to fly less distance every successive day. The intrusion of the Water Conservation Areas though places this pattern in serious jeopardy. The levee system interrupts the drydown as conditions on one side may not correlate with conditions on the other. For example, birds following a drydown front may reach a levee only to discover that the across the embankment, the water is too deep or the drydown in that area may have already occurred. The birds then must search other areas for other prey concentrations which may not exist, seriously impairing successful reproduction. Use of the conservation areas for flood control and unnatural releasing of water also adversely effects these communities. Often this reverses the drydown fronts. Changes in the dry/wet season cycle, likewise, affect alligator reproduction, interrupting courtship and often drowning their eggs. Alteration of alligator nesting patterns adversely affects the wading bird population because their holes customarily congregate prey during the low water season. Although, the canal construction provides alligators a substituted habitat, these canals are sufficiently deeper and steeper than traditional gator nesting holes. Consequently, wading birds can not effectively harvest prey. Nutrient rich agricultural water released from the land reclaimed below Lake Okeechobee has increased the proliferation of cattails. Cattail encroached areas do not encourage food supplies for wading birds, essentially removing this wetland area from use. However, the South Florida Water Management District has begun an experimental program using peat soil beds to remove this phosphorus from the water supply entering the Everglades region. Methylmercury, a highly toxic form of mercury, recently has been found in regional fauna in unusually high levels. The food web concentrates this chemical in the system’s top predators, causing mutations, abnormal growth and neurological disorders. Although, agriculture was originally blamed for this elevation, historical evidence provides a more accepted theory. According to this hypothesis, soil formations naturally trap small amounts of mercury. Recent drainage and oxidation of the soil caused its release. Sugarcane burning, and incineration of other products including fossil fuel have also received blame for this phenomenon. Interestingly though, an inverse relationship appears to exist between phosphorous and mercury levels. The diversion of freshwater directly to the ocean from Lake Okeechobee also adversely affects Florida Bay. The lack of water cycling through the bay caused a severe increase in hypersalinity, killing seagrass beds, mangroves, fish, sponges, and birds. The hypersalinity level approximately doubles that of sea water. However, projects undertaken to remedy this situation appear to at least initially effective. Other reasons for this salinity increase include the lack of major storm systems recently in this area. Accumulation of sediments and shoaling prevent the bay from flushing out naturally, causing stagnation. Also the construction of Highway 1 and the Overseas Railroad may have contributed to the problem, hampering further the circulation of water. Any attempt by man to undo the damage perpetrated must come from a comprehensive understanding of the function and operation of the original ecosystem in order to prevent further â€Å"well intentioned† catastrophes. Wading birds, because of their high position on the food chain, serve as trustworthy indicators of change on this fragile environment. However, the main problem to be address is not one of abuse of the Everglades in particular, but mankind’s underlying philosophy concerning our environment. We must realize that our survival remains closely linked with that of our surroundings. Any threat to our biosphere will eventually cycle through and return to affect us. The restoration of the Everglades is an ongoing effort to remedy damage inflicted on the environment of southern Florida during the 20th century. It is the most expensive and comprehensive environmental repair attempt in history. [1][2] The degradation of the Everglades became an issue in the United States in the early 1970s after a proposal to construct a jetport in the Big Cypress Swamp. Studies indicated the airport would have destroyed the ecosystem in South Florida and Everglades National Park. [3] After decades of destructive practices, both state and federal agencies are looking for ways to balance the needs of the natural environment in South Florida with urban and agricultural centers that have recently and rapidly grown in and near the Everglades. In response to floods caused by hurricanes in 1947, the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project (C&SF) was established to construct flood control devices in the Everglades. The C&SF built 1,400 miles (2,300 km) of canals and levees between the 1950s and 1971 throughout South Florida. Their last venture was the C-38 canal, which straightened the Kissimmee River and caused catastrophic damage to animal habitats, adversely affecting water quality in the region. The canal became the first C&SF project to be reverted when the 22-mile (35 km) canal began to be backfilled, or refilled with the material excavated from it, in the 1980s. The restoration of the Kissimmee River is projected to continue until 2011. When high levels of phosphorus and mercury were discovered in the waterways in 1986, water quality became a focus for water management agencies. Costly and lengthy court battles were waged between various government entities to determine who was responsible for monitoring and enforcing water quality standards. Governor Lawton Chiles proposed a bill that determined which agencies would have that responsibility, and set deadlines for pollutant levels to decrease in water. Initially the bill was criticized by conservation groups for not being strict enough on polluters, but the Everglades Forever Act was passed in 1994. Since then, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers have surpassed expectations for achieving lower phosphorus levels. A commission appointed by Governor Chiles published a report in 1995 stating that South Florida was unable to sustain its growth, and the deterioration of the environment was negatively affecting daily life for residents in South Florida. The environmental decline was predicted to harm tourism and commercial interests if no actions were taken to halt current trends. Results of an eight-year study that evaluated the C&SF were submitted to the United States Congress in 1999. The report warned that if no action was taken the region would rapidly deteriorate. A strategy called the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) was enacted to restore portions of the Everglades, Lake Okeechobee, the Caloosahatchee River, and Florida Bay to undo the damage of the past 50 years. It would take 30 years and cost $7. 8 billion to complete. Though the plan was passed into law in 2000, it has been compromised by politics and funding problems.

Statistics COMPREHENSIVE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Statistics COMPREHENSIVE - Essay Example Therefore nominal data where attributes can be ranked but the distance between ranks has no meaning. c. interval data- in this level of measurement the distance between ranks has a meaning, data can be ranked and at the same time the distance has meaning, for example temperature data is interval data where temperature difference has meaning. The average and median calculated has a meaning but ratio calculations have no meaning where one cannot state that 100 degrees Celsius is twice 50 degrees Celsius. d. ratio- in ratio level of measurement the absolute zero value has a meaning, all statistical calculation of central tendencies and dispersion are meaningful, for example data containing number of customers that visit a retail shop, the value zero has meaning and the ratio calculations also has meaning where it can be stated that 20 customers is twice 10 customers. The mean, mode and median are all measures of central tendencies of data; the mean is determined by adding up all the values in a data set and then dividing the number of observations. In the example the value of the mean will 27/8 = 3.375 The Median is the middle value of an ordered data set for odd observations or the mean value of the middle two variables for even observations. In the example the median will be 3 +4 = 7, then 7/2 = 3.5, therefore median = 3.5 Advantage: The median is not affected by

Productivity of Disabled People at Workplaces Essay

Productivity of Disabled People at Workplaces - Essay Example This document is set to discuss the major benefits associated with the hiring and employment of disabled qualified people in different business organizations. Productivity of Disabled People at Workplaces In Canada, an estimated 13% of the total population has a disability affecting their agility, mobility, vision, hearing, and or learning (Canadians in Context, 2006). This estimate is less other disabilities such as psychological, pain, speech, memory and developmental disabilities; which when included sums up to an estimated 4.4 million Canadians with disabilities, which is about 14.3 % of the population (Canadians in Context, 2006). No matter the number one decides to quote, the basic fact still remains that the fraction of the people living with disabilities across the globe has been on a constant increase down the years. Disability is not age conscious and can come at any stage in life, either being temporary or permanent, mild or severe. Once asked, an Ottawa business executive commented that: â€Å"disability is no longer a dirty word. Now we are trying to make the term disability acceptable and another part of business. In the next 10 years, when you say you have a disability, it will just mean that I work differently than you do† (Sobecki, 2007). A 2009 survey commissioned by Advancing the Inclusion of People with Disabilities pointed out that disabled adults are less likely to participate in the labor force. According to the report, only 52.1% of the total disabled women are employed as compared to the 70.1% of the women without disabilities. Furthermore, the ratio is similar in men where the percentage of the disabled men employed was 55.5 while that for men without disabilities stood at 80.2 (Advancing the Inclusion, 2009). Archaic times saw medical conditions such as diabetes and epilepsy perceived or rather viewed as disabilities which hindered the participation and succeeding of people in workplaces (Brightman, 2006). However, Brightman (2 006) asserts that much has been done to eliminate this notion via awareness campaigns, accommodation and accessibility, individuals with various different disabilities have emerged to form an integral part of the contemporary business world. The major reason behind this scenario is that major organizations, governments, employers and co-workers have come to look past such illnesses and are working together with disabled personalities helping them much in their quest for success (Sobecki, 2007). In the USA, the 1990’s Americans with Disability Act (ADA) presents employers with numerous opportunities to tap people with disabilities into their workforce (Barlow and Hane, 1992). According to the ADA, people with disabilities have the same and equal access to employment opportunities and their related benefits just as everyone else is. Other than prohibiting discrimination in employment of the disabled, it also covers other services like public transportation, state and local gove rnment activities, and telecommunications relay services as well (Barlow and Hane, 1992). In essence, the meaning of the ADA is that every person seeking employment is totally free to forward their applications to any job they feel qualified enough to carry on with. The ADA defines a

Martin Luther King, Jr Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Martin Luther King, Jr - Essay Example Organised a non-violent protest march which served to dramatise these ugly realities of America and emphasise the nature of true democracy. He delivers the historically famous speech: â€Å"I have a dream† and he says â€Å"black men as well as white men would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness†. This historical landmark highlighted the necessity of democracy that offered equal rights to all its citizens irrespective of their colour and race. The non-violent movement fought for this equality. Furthermore, he says, â€Å"Now is the tine to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all God’s children. ...all men are created equal†. So, the later part of the book starts so emphatically on the high note of equality and justice. It continues the same till 29th chapter. Racial inequality and brutality was commonplace. Notions about black were very common. But, to remove these misconceptions was the primary motive of the movement. He says, â€Å"We must use every constructive means to amass economic and political power. This is the kind of legitimate power we need. We must work to build racial pride and refute the notion that black is evil and ugly. But this must come through a program, not merely through a slogan†. Martin Luther King Jr. finds gaining political and economic power is the best way to gain what they wanted. â€Å"Black Power† was coined and put into currency. Civil rights was the motive. But, Martin Luther’s interpretation of the means to achieve Black Power was different from his contemporaries who considered militant ways. The negotiation was done so effectively that legal grounds are cited to justify the protest and March. The then Civil rights movement could have been one of the earliest instances of the voice of the voiceless, but it continues to this day in various forms, wherever prejudice or

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT - Essay Example Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Introduction 4 During CEO Jim Cantalupo Management 4 Strategic Vision 4 Core Competences 5 Competitive Advantage 5 Resources Used 6 Successful Management Strategy and the Reasons and Elements of Jim Cantalupo’s Strategy 6 After CEO Jim Cantalupo Management 9 The New Strategic Approach McKinsey’s 7-S Framework 9 New Strategic Approaches through the Application of Ansoff Growth Matrix 13 Conclusion 16 References 17 Bibliography 20 Introduction McDonald’s has been operating in the US market for many years and has grown internationally by establishing its brand value in the world. There were various challenges during the development phase of the company and there were problems related to business strategies implementation in expanding the stores of McDonald’s. The study reflects the business strategy that was implemented by CEO Jim Cantalupo during his tenure in McDonald’s. During CEO Jim Cantalupo Management Strate gic Vision Strategic vision of a company is the representation of the core values, beliefs and philosophies (Air University, 2010). Jim Cantalupo’s strategic vision was upon developing new customers and not increasing the numbers of the restaurants. Since the market was focused upon targeting the competitors’ customers, he concentrated upon new customers. Jim Cantalupo’s vision was upon offering healthier food. For existing customers, his vision was to enhance the level of service with hygienic environment and commitment to deliver service within stipulated time. His vision was upon innovation and introduced new products for all categories of customers. Core Competences Core competencies are the unique attitude, skills, knowledge and behaviour that contribute to excellence (University of Nebraska–Lincoln, 2002). McDonald’s core competence is in its operations and infrastructures. The organisation is competent for production and timely delivery of a ffordable foodstuffs to wide range of customers. The company has developed its core competency through low cost foodstuffs, high speed service and consistent quality strategy. These factors influence the customers to be attracted and being loyal towards the company. The core competency of the company is supported through its brand image, relationship between customers and suppliers, strong financial resources, market leadership and product value (Zamarripa & Wylie, 2000). Competitive Advantage According to Investopedia, â€Å"The advantage that a firm has over its competitors assisting in generating margins and sales and retaining customers than its competitors is firm’s competitive advantage† (Investopedia, 2010). McDonald’s competitive advantage is gained in the industry of fast food restaurants. The company’s innovative menu and introduction of wide range of foodstuffs have made the company gain competitive advantage over others. The food is affordable and value for money offerings aid in retaining the customers. Its franchisee based model has been able to strengthen its financial position and played a significant part in their global expansion. It is a ‘penny profit’ business but still with hard work, it has been successful. Through the global presence, economies of scale operations have led McDonald’s to gain competitive advantage over others in national and international markets. Resources Used

Practicum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Practicum - Essay Example Therefore, governments take great steps to enhance the GDP of their country. Money flowing into different industries of a country eventually translates into an increased GDP and higher economic results. One of the industries of a country that needs to flourish is the Tourism Industry. The reason is that this industry attracts the money of foreign investors or residents, and it flows in the financial system of the country that is providing tourism opportunities. This rule is not an exception in the case of Australia. Australia’s tourism activities range from accommodations and car hires to cruise operation and theme parks and major attraction operations. In the year 2005-2006, private businesses spent $840 million on the marketing of tourism related activities; this was a 9.9% increase over year 2003-2004 marketing expenditure. Among this, most of the expenses were accounted to marketing targeted at the domestic travelers (74%), compared to international travelers which accumulated up to 26%1. In the year ended 2009, the industry experienced an Internal Consumption of $92,003 Million, comprising primarily of International consumption of $23,546 Million and a domestic consumpt ion of $68,456 Million. The figures also show that more focus is given to domestic travelers relative to international holiday makers. The total direct tourism inflow to the GDP in the system came out to be $32,828 Million in 20092. The tourism contributed a total of 2.6% of the GDP in the year ended 2009; which was a decrease of 0.2% compared to the previous year. The reason behind this was that the Australian economy boosted up, and more people travelled overseas rather than internally, which created a plunge in the value of Tourism industry. Australian economy basically measures the effect of tourism activities by the demand that is created by the travelers and the tourism products and services by the domestic producers. The biggest

The Myth of Education and Empowerment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Myth of Education and Empowerment - Essay Example When I look at the aspects of school reform that are happening because of the NCLB legislation, I can understand that there are still several problems that are facing children today and part of it is that there is a systemic change coming that will influence how education is done. Before we move to that information it will be important to state the answer to the question for this essay. We have four very different people who are speaking about education. Each one of these people could be called "radical" in the way education is done today. We have Malcolm X who learned to read using the dictionary and Elijah Mohammed's teachings in the beginning. He read many books after that and become a brilliant scholar in his own right through learning thorough what some teachers call to day, "immersion." He immersed himself in the aspects of education that he wanted to learn. I am not sure that he would be the leader of the group, but I do think that he would agree with Gatto and that he would be for the idea that children could learn better in environments that were not encased in school. Mike Rose understands the plight of the student in public school in a general way. Because he found motivation through one teacher who came to his school, he would understand the unmotivated student and what it takes to get them motivated. He would understand that most of the time, the teacher who reaches out to a child in a different way than most teachers do are the ones that an individual student will work to impress.

The Provision of Architect-Engineer Services Assignment

The Provision of Architect-Engineer Services - Assignment Example Because of the focus of the company on government projects, the need to abide by the provisions of the FAR has been necessary for preparing this RFP to find the right outfit to carry out the planned project. The approach to this RFP is based on key clauses of the FAR including FAR  §Ã‚ § 15.203, 15.204 and 15.209, which focus on contracting by negotiation (Bowie, 2002). There are design development documents that confirm an award of the project rather than notice to proceed. This is in congruence with FAR  §Ã‚ § 15.207 and 15.208 to begin work 15 calendar days after the award has been given. There shall be two major progress payments which are design phase and construction phase. Any payment to be made during the design phase shall be done only upon submission, review, and acceptance of design deliverables. For the construction phase, progress payment will be done on the percentage basis, where the percentage of work completed on the items listed will determine payment to be made. In order to ensure that Government Accountability Report guidelines are implemented, verification of completeness of work will be carried out with the direction of representatives of the Contracting Officer. Calculations for payment shall also be based on Governments Verification of Works. The interested parties are to aid with the transparency of the whole selection process by enclosing a complete stamped and signed design-build construction documents that will make the work of the selection team easier. By comparing the contents of these documents, it should be possible to achieve the outcome of the FAR  §Ã‚ § 13, which ensures Simplified Acquisition Procedures. In pursuant to this, all the following indicators in the table must be covered.

Theories of rent and urban economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Theories of rent and urban economics - Essay Example The essay further outlines Smith’s rent gap theory and the agricultural land theory. The analysis is followed by an outline of the agent based land market model, and the microeconomic theory. The paper winds up with the central place theory and a conclusive remark on the varied rental patterns in an urban setting. The Collier Map show that there are different rent patterns for urban areas in UK and London in particular. The Western part of London records a mixture of rent patterns with a lower level of 10 pounds, and a higher level of 34pounds. The South East London has a rental pattern that way near similar with the difference between the highest and the lowest; levels being minimal (16-24 pounds). The same scenario applies to the North West and Yorkshire which has one of the lowest/cheapest rental rates. The outskirts of London and the hinterland towns have a low level of rent rates compared with the metropolitan. However, there are some urban areas outside the London Metrop olitan which have higher rental patterns. A good example is Dublin with a high of 35 pounds. Urban economics is the study of economies that are organized as urban areas (Harvey and Jowsey, 2003). It also studies the cities which are the modern centre of culture, innovation and education. It is in the urban centers where major commercial activities takes place hence the aspect of many offices being located in the urban areas (MacDonald & McMillen, 2007). Urban economics is closely related to the field of real estate and rental properties. Rent is the amount paid by a tenant to a landlord on a rented or leased space. Many theories exist in the field of urban economics and real estate. They are outlined below; The Neighborhood Theory The first theory is based on the housing prices, neighborhood characteristics, and racial segregation. This theory stipulates that the price of an office premise is determined by the characteristics of the neighborhood as well as the characteristics of the house. These neighborhood factors directly influences the patterns of office rent in given urban areas. Neighborhood variable affect the pattern of office rent either positively or in a negative way. These two factors combine to determine the pattern of rent in a given section of an urban area. They include; crime rate in an area, property tax rate, economic strength of the neighborhood, air pollution, accessibility from nearest train/ bus stations, extent of traffic on the street as well as quality of education/ number of institutions of learning (McDonald & McMillen, 2007). This explains the different office rent patterns in an area like Cambridge which is an educational centre and Nottingham. There has been an increase in the quality of office buildings in some sections of urban areas. This results in changes in office rent patterns. Areas with good quality buildings have different office rent patterns with areas with low quality office buildings. The same case applies to areas with different races. There is a tendency for rental patterns to be high in areas populated by the whites, as opposed to areas with a mixture of races (King and Mieszkoski, 1973). This theory explains the difference rental patterns in the London Metropolitan. Areas such as Wimbledon (?30) and Heathrow (?28) with good quality houses have higher rental patterns as compared with those with low quality such as Norwich (?15). Natural Evolution Theory Natural evolution theory is a model which was advanced by Mieszkowski and Mills (1993). They argue that the filtering model provides a primary reason for the movement and relocation of offices in the suburbs. The result is the emergence of suburbs which acts as commercial centers, characterize by high and

Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development Essay Example for Free

Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development Essay Sigmund Freud, born in 1856 was an Austrian neurologist who would later go on to found the discipline of psychoanalysis. He is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and repression and his concept of the dynamic unconscious suggesting that it is our unconscious mind that determines how we as individuals behave, Freud also believed that the unconscious mind established sexual drives as the dominant motivation of human life. He considered the unconscious mind as being the source of mental energy which determined behaviour, basing his findings on the results of his use of hypnosis where he found that he was able to produce and remove symptoms of hysteria. There have been numerous approaches in the field of psychology that have put forward the belief that behaviour is directed by an individual’s goals but the idea behind a goal-directed unconscious is an original Freudian concept. The main underlying belief of this theory is that any individuals’ behaviour is the direct result of the influences that prior experiences have had on them where these influences have an even greater effect if they are from our childhood. Freud believed that our early experiences formed the solid foundations on which we would build the structure of our life and that the adult personality is indeed formed in childhood according to the situations, treatment and feelings experienced as a child. Freud defined the human psyche as comprising of three parts, the unconscious or sub-conscious containing material that we are unable to bring into our conscious awareness and therefore unknowable. The preconscious which consists of information that is not at the present moment in our conscious awareness but is stored in our memory and can if need be easily recalled to the conscious level; and the conscious part of our mind which is where all current and new incoming content is processed. Within these parts operate the Id, the Ego and the Super Ego that work together to create complex human behaviours. The Id is the only part of our personality that is present from birth and is entirely unconscious, seeking instant gratification and fulfilling instinctive human needs. The Id is governed by the pleasure principle desiring the fulfilment of all desires, needs and wants. If these are not immediately satisfied this results in a state of anxiety or tension. The Id serves of great importance early on in life, a child will cry as a  result of their Id if they are hungry or in discomfort and ensures that their needs are met. Later on in life it is not always realistic or indeed possible to immediately satisfy such needs, it would be morally and socially unacceptable for us to just help ourselves to other peoples things in order to satisfy our own needs and wants and so later in childhood our Ego comes in to play. The Ego is responsible for dealing with reality and acts to ensure that the impulses of the Id are satisfied in a way that is acceptable to the real world and functions in the conscious, preconscious and unconscious parts of our mind. The reality principle weighs up the pros and cons of an action before deciding whether or not to act upon the impulse. Often the impulses of the Id can be satisfied but through delayed gratification with the Ego allowing the behaviour at an appropriate time and place. The Ego is a part of the Id th at has been somewhat modified and rounded by external factors in the environment in which we live. Freud originally used the word Ego to mean a sense of self but later revised it to represent a set of psychic functions such as judgement, control, intellectual functioning and memory. Finally we develop our Super Ego. The Super Ego is the part of our personality that holds our morals and ideals that we have acquired from our parents and environment and acts as a voice for right and wrong. As with the Ego it is present in the conscious, preconscious and unconscious parts of our mind. The Super Ego consists of two parts, the Ego ideal which sets out the rules and standards for good behaviour. Conformity to behaviours that are approved of by our parents and people in positions of authority give us feelings of pride and accomplishment. The second part of the Ego is the Conscience which holds information on all the things that are viewed as being bad by our parents and the society in which we live. Behaviours that are forbidden or at the very least frowned upon and fill us with feelings of guilt and remorse. The perfection principle of the Super Ego strives to suppress any unacceptable desires of the Id and to make our Ego act upon idealistic rather than realistic standards. One of Freuds better known theories and also one of the most controversial is that of psycho-sexual development. He proposed that an instinctual libido is present in all of us from birth and develops in five stages. First is the oral stage which occurs from birth up until around the age of eighteen months. The main focus here being the  gratification and pleasures the infant receives through feeding. Children in this stage place objects into their mouths in order to orally explore their environment. At this young age the child is entirely dependent on their carers and thus develops a sense of trust and comfort in relation to those carers. This stage is dominated by the Id as at this point the Ego and Superego have not yet fully developed and all actions are based on the â€Å"Pleasure Principle†. The key experience for a child in the oral stage of development is weaning, allowing the child to become less dependent on their caretakers. Freud said that too much or too little gratification may lead to an oral fixation, which Freud claimed could result in them developing a passive, immature, manipulative personality. This fixation could present in an adult as issues with eating, smoking, nail biting and aggression. The second stage of psycho-sexual development is the anal stage taking place between around 18 months to three years old. Freud believed at this stage that the primary focus of the libido was on controlling bladder and bowel movements. Toilet training is the key experience here which brings into conflict the Id that demands immediate gratification and the Ego that demands delayed gratification. The resulting outcome of this conflict is heavily influenced by the parenting style that a child receives during toilet training. The ideal resolution of this conflict is a gradual adjustment whereby the child adjusts to moderate parental demands, learning the values of physical cleanliness and self control. Freud suggested that if parents over-emphasized toilet training or punished accidents then the child may develop what we term as an anally retentive personality, with the potential to become obsessively concerned with neatness and order. On the other hand if the parents were too lenient then the child may develop an anally expulsive and destructive personality whereby they are self-indulgent, messy and wasteful. Faeces and money are often linked in psychodynamic literature and according to Freudian theory; attitudes to money can reveal what the individual experienced during toilet training. The third stage of psycho-sexual development is the phallic stage taking place between the ages of three and six. During this time a child begins to gain awareness of its body and also the bodies of their parents and other  children, in particular genitalia. They begin to explore their genitals and learn the physical differences between male and female. During this stage boys experience what Freud termed as the Oedipus complex whereby the child wishes to remove his father in order to gain full attention of his mother’s affections. This urge to eliminate the father is controlled by what he termed as castration anxiety and so instead the child learns to imitate the father. Girls experience what Carl Jung in 1913 termed as the Electra complex where instead she wishes to remove the mother in order to gain full possession of her father. Freud however rejected this term as being psycho-analytically inaccurate believing that the reasoning behind the Oedipus complex applied only to male children and that it was wrong to share this analogy between the two sexes. He did however believe that girls experienced what he termed as penis envy and that initially the child experiences a lot of anger towards their mother for not sharing the same appendage as their father but in time they learn to identify with their mother in order to possess their father. Freud was very much influenced by the death of his father in 1896. In the three years following the death of his father, Freud became preoccupied with self-analysis where he realised that he had repressed feelings of anger and resentment against his father. He believed that as a small boy he had been in love with his mother and was jealous of his father. Freud based his theory of early sexual development on personal theory instead of exploring further using empirical methods. The fourth stage of psycho-sexual development is the latency stage taking place from around the age of six up until puberty. During this stage the child enters into a sexually dormant period, consolidating the habits of the previous three stages. The Ego and Superego take precedence over the Id due to the childs defence mechanisms repressing its instinctual drives during the phallic stage. Now that gratification is delayed, the child is driven to derive pleasure from external activities such as friendships, education and hobbies. Any neuroses established during this fourth stage of psycho-sexual development may be due to the unresolved issues of the Oedipus complex or the Egos failure to focus on socially acceptable activities. The fifth and final stage of psycho-sexual development is the genital stage  that spans from puberty throughout the remainder of adult life. As with the phallic stage the genital stage is focussed upon genitalia but in this instance the sexuality is consensual and more often involving another adult in the form of a relationship rather than being solitary and infantile. This is due to the establishment of the Ego which shifts attention away from primary-drive gratification to secondary process thinking and to satisfy desire in a more symbolic and intellectual way through loving relationships, friendships and family. The genital stage is the time when a person is able to resolve any psycho-sexual childhood conflicts that they may have and allows psychological detachment and independence from their parents. In previous stages focus was placed solely on individual needs, now the welfare of others comes strongly into play and if all stages have been completed successfully then Freud believed that the individual should be a well-balanced and fully functioning person. Unfortunately it isnt all that simple and the Id, the Ego and the Super Ego continuously come into conflict with one another. The Ego has to work to control the demands of the Id whilst at the same time having regard for the restrictions placed upon it by the Super Ego. At times these desires and constraints cause conflict that our Ego is unable to deal with resulting in anxiety and stress. Freud identified three types of anxiety, firstly neurotic anxiety which occurs through fear that we will lose control of the Ids urges and the resulting punishment for inappropriate behaviour. Secondly reality anxiety which is a fear of external events often culminating in phobias, we are able to reduce such anxiety by avoiding the threatening object or situation. Thirdly is moral anxiety from a fear of violating our own moral principles and values that have been set down by our Super Ego. Neurosis also figured heavily in Freuds psycho-analytical theory. He proposed that neurosis occurs when the Ego is unable to deal with desires that produce feelings of guilt and a sense of wrong. Through repression these thoughts manifest themselves through symptoms that have no physical dysfunction. The mental illness acts as a replacement for the guilt ridden desires of the Id allowing the Ego to avoid the conflict between itself and the Id. Such symptoms however are worse than the conflict they set out to hide, not only stopping the individual from being accepting of their repressed desires but  also causing them to become socially incapable of enjoying a happy and healthy life. He also believed that neurosis can be triggered by a traumatic childhood event that the individual is unable to handle. Often such experiences give rise to feelings of guilt that we seek to repress through use of various displacement mechanisms. Sometimes these repressed memories make their way back into our conscious minds in a different form producing a great amount of anxiety in turn triggering psychological disorders that seek to block out the real cause. Psychoanalytical therapy has proved productive in being able to help a client uncover unconscious defence mechanisms and help them find better ways of dealing with their anxiety or removing it all together. Psycho-analysis opened up a new view regarding the treatment of mental illness, suggesting that psychological distress could be reduced through talking about their problems with a therapist. The work of Freud was responsible for bringing about a greater understanding of behaviour that was unusual and differences were no longer automatically equated as unacceptable, with understanding comes greater tolerance. He radically changed the view of sexuality making it an acceptable topic of conversation and a natural part of a healthy, happy life. The approach is also credited with highlighting the importance of childhood and our unconscious mind. Despite the influential effect of his theories Freud is open to numerous criticisms. Many psychologists have adopted his ideas but there has been a great deal of modernisation on his original views. Carl Jung who was a pupil of Freuds even disagreed with certain aspects of his theories; in particular Freud’s reliance on sex as the answer to many problems. Jung went on to develop his own theories known as Analytical Psychology. Erich Fromm rejected Freuds view that the drives of the human being are solely biological, believing instead that it was down to our freedom of choice and ability to choose our own destiny. He believed any conflict arose as a result of the fear or uncertainty which that freedom entailed. Feminists are particularly critical of the work of Freud due to the sexist nature of many of his ideas. Neo-Freudian Karen Horney proposed that instead of penis envy girls in fact developed power envy and that in their inability to bear  children men develop womb and vagina envy. Scientifically the validity of Freuds theory of psycho-sexual development is brought in to question due to his perceived personal fixation on human sexuality and the phallic stage of development proved controversial for being based upon clinical observations of the Oedipus complex. Many were critical of the fact that a lot of Freuds ideas were based on case studies or clinical observations rather than empirical, scientific research. Contemporary criticism questions the universality of Freuds theory of personality and psycho-sexual development. Anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski studied the matriarchal society of the Trobriand where young boys are punished by their maternal uncles not their fathers and thus suggested that in this case power is the source of Oedipal conflict not sexual jealousy. Contemporary research has also confirmed that although personality traits corresponding to the oral, anal, phallic, latent and genital stages are observable they are not necessarily fixed stages of childhood or indeed adult personality traits that were derived from childhood. While there is no denying that Freud is of great historical significance and he developed many ground breaking theories and ideas some of which still hold relevance today although many over time have been discredited. It must then be said that Freud’s theory of psychosexual development may in some cases offer us a limited understanding of a client’s issue it would not be ethical practice to rely entirely on this theory when working with a client. Due to its lack of credibility in many areas, Freud’s theory cannot be implemented as a full explanation or means with which to begin the process of understanding and healing. Bibliography Frankland, A. and Sanders, P. 1995. Next steps in counselling. Manchester: PCCS Books. pp.70-76 Hough, M. 2006. Counselling Skills and Theory. 2nd ed. London: Hodder Arnold, pp. 59-86. Malinowski, B. 1927. Sex and repression in savage society. [e-book] London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. http://openlibrary.org/books/OL17967917M/Sex_and_repression_in_savage_society [Accessed: 1st July 2013]. Cherry, K. n.d.. Freuds Stages of Psychosexual Development. [online] Available at: http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/ss/psychosexualdev.htm [Accessed: 19 Jun 2013]. Copperwiki.org. 1950. Human Centred Psychotherapy CopperWiki. [online] Available at: http://www.copperwiki.org/index.php?title=Human_Centred_Psychotherapy [Accessed: 01 Jul 2013] En.wikipedia.org. 2013. Psychosexual development Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychosexual_development [Accessed: 01 Jul 2013]. http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0072969806/286620/fei69806_ch02

Entrepreneur identifies opportunities for business

Entrepreneur identifies opportunities for business Introduction â€Å"Entrepreneur identifies of opportunities, takes risks and garners resources with an explicit focus on the creation of new products, services, knowledge or ideas ( Shane 2003)†. This article will introduce one of greatest entrepreneurs in China—Ma Yun, the English name is Jack Ma who is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Alibaba Group at present, he was a Forbes magazine was founded more than 50 years to become the front cover of the first entrepreneurs in mainland China, as well as won the named Global Leader of Tomorrow. In addition, Jack Ma also served as director of Softbank Group, China Yahoo, Chairman of the Board, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Advisory Committee under (ABAC) members, Alibaba, Hangzhou Normal University, Business School Dean, director of Huayi Brothers Media Group(http://baike.baidu.com). Background of Jack Ma and his Alibaba.com Jack Ma was born in 15th October in 1964, he hometownisHangzhouZhejiangprovince of China. Hegraduated from Hangzhou Teachers College in 1988, his major is English. After he was becamean English teacher at the HangzhouElectronicEngineeringCollege. In 1995, he has had an opportunity that visited the United States for the first time access to the Internet, which was made a huge shock to him, after returning home, he established â€Å"Chinese Yellow Pages† in Internet. In 1997, he joined the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade, the main responsible for the development of Chinese products on its official site and the online trading market (http://baike.baidu.com). In 1999, he seriously considered that he resign from the government offical work. He is one of thefounders of Alibaba.com, to develop e-business applications, particularly in Business to Business (B2B). At present,Alibaba.com is a global inter-enterprise (B2B) e-commerce well-known brands, is the worlds area of international trade within the largest and most active online trading market and the business community (http://tech.sina.com.cn).On the one hand, in order to the success of Alibaba, so that Jack Ma was invited several times to lecture the worlds leading institution of higher learning, including the University of Pennsylvania Wharton Shool, MIT, Harvard and so on. On the other hand, he was invited to Dawos AnnualMeeting have eight timessince 2002. In addition, good location, solid structure, excellent service to make Alibaba the worlds first network has more than 8 million business e-commerce website, over 220 countries and regions around the world every day to businesses and merchants to provide 8.1 million commercial supply and demand information become a global business network to promote the preferred site has been business people as the most popular B2B website (http://tech.sina.com). Outstanding performance by all walks of life to make Alibabas attention. WTO Director-General of Sutherland as the first Alibaba consultants, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Japanese economy, Trade and Industry, Federation of European SMEs and other government and private agencies to local businesses recommended Alibaba (http://tech.sina.com). Jack Ma founded Alibaba media at home and abroad, and foreign venture capitalists in Silicon Valley hailed with Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, AOL par with the top five business schools on behalf of one of the Internet. It was established to promote the establishment of Chinas business credit, in the fierce international competition for small and medium enterprises has created unlimited opportunities, Let the world is not difficult to do business (Ma 2010). Jack Ma set up the personal auction site Taobao, successfully blazed a unique path localization in China, from the first quarter of 2005 started to become Asias largest personal auction site (http://tech.sina.com.cn). The end of 2009, Alibaba Group Chairman of the Board Jack Ma appeared Xinhua News Agency, and young editors and reporters to conduct a open communication. This allows us to feel close to this young entrepreneur has been hailed as pioneering Godfather charm. His passion, wisdom, humor, as well as signature-style insolent and the Xinhua News Agency, the exciting young editors and reporters asked for the exchange of one climax after another, the applause continued, laughing (Ma 2010). How could do such successful E-business as Jack Ma who do not understand programming, do not understand finance, people do not understand the design, and how to come to an Internet company today, Jakc Ma joked and said that the company someone asked him things, he was 95 percent did not know, he absolutely did not know, but he knows who knows who should know. He said, CEOs ability that they will use someone elses head (Ma 2010). There are two approches to analysishow Jack Mapersonality characteristics make him become a great entrepreneur in the high competitive inforamtion age, including OCEAN and PEST. OCEAN (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism) According to Baron and Harringtons the OCEAN diagram shows that the successful entrepreneur have the positive aspects involves Openness, Extraversion, and Neuroticism. However, the negative aspectswhich are disadvantages to the entrepreneur includes conscientiousness and agreeableness (Baron 1981). Firstly, Jack Ma is an openness and Extraversion,because he is open to new experiences, intellectually curious, and asethetically sensitive to did his business— Alibaba, for example, since he first time seen Internet in American, after he back home he already made decision to do business related with Internet, even though during that time he did not have any knowledge about Internet. Secondly, through Jack Mas presentations, magazines, and blogs. It can be clearly that Jack Ma who is a Creative management, which means that â€Å"being more creative yourself or managing others so that they can be more creative or ensuring that the system that is being managed operates more creatively (Henry 2001)†.For example, in 1999 when he leading his team started the E-business, he did not know the professional knowledge about Internet and computer, he just got idea, but he believe that Internet will become the main business method during in the 21st century. Although Jack Ma believe that himself is an idealistic,self-confident and ambition person, he is an openness, extraversion, and neuroticism.Jack Matends to take risks, challenges assumptions, and abrasive person. Namely, when he determined do Alibaba.com, his team group have 24 people, only one agreed with his idea, the other 23 people disagreed his purpose.Howeverthese problems did not stopped his planning, he still persisted him way to did Alibaba.com and gained great successful(http://tech.sina.com.cn). Thirdly, Jack Ma is a convergent thinking which is the process of converting all of the general ideas—the goals and non-specific solutions—into the specific solutions that form an application.For example, in Alibaba.com people have word right, they can argue with the manager, they can creative new way to do business, and the com he has the idea how to do the business, while he did not understood how to do the specific and specilist job. Lastly, JackMa, he described himself that he is an idealist, his romantic idealism of this complex has also brought into Alibaba, Jack Ma said that Alibaba and other companies in addition to its assessment of the difference is outside the employees performance, but also the staff appraisal mission and values. In the future, but also add an index: Social welfare (http://yunma.blog.china ). As well as Jack Mas motto is that â€Å"Today is very cruel, more brutal tomorrow, the day after tomorrow is very beautiful, but most of the people who died in tomorrow night, only those who can see the real heroes of the day after tomorrow the sun (Ma 2010)†. This is reflected that although his mind is idealization, his action is more powerful, realistic and as firm as a rock. He has strong persist in his Internet dream on the road. Alibabas values which is not only the companys value, but also is Jack Mas and his team groups value. Such as the company take policies First: focus on the customers concern, to provide customers with advice and information to help customers grow. Teamwork: Shared-sharing in order to complete the big or small, Embrace Change: Breaking through the self, to meet the changing.Integrity: honesty, integrity, keep its promises.Passion: Never give up, optimism up. Dedicated: a professional attitude and the usual state of mind to do extraordinary things (http://page.china.alibaba.com). PEST (Political, Economic and Environment, Social, Technology) factors According to Belbins acknowledges that â€Å"the preferred role is linked to reasoning ability, personality charateristics, personal values, learned behaviours, and the priorities and processes of the managers job (Belbin 1993)†.For example the Alibaba.com catched the best opportunities to set up E-business on Internet. The Value perspect= permission, ideas and realistic connected together Social responsibility Charity, environment Political Customer, employees, stakeholders Secondly, The entrepreneurs organization Team group, trust, loyalty, goal, adhere to for example in 1999, 18 people organiza Alibaba. No money, no Lastly, The external environment: economic problem, social problem, Creaitve new way to management the future, open, share, responsble, globlization. Conclusion Alibaba the next one tenth anniversary of the three objectives: First, they want to the worlds 10 million small businesses to provide equal platform; second, to create a million jobs; Taobao online last year, the direct creation of employment opportunities At 1.7 million, 180 million per year, an increase of 2.5 million logistics industry, many employees because Taobao; third, one billion people worldwide consumer platforms. The world is needed is a more open, more sharing, more the responsibility of the social needs of a community-oriented enterprises, and from the community and serve the society for the future of social responsibility of business is full of responsibility, the world needs is a kind of spiritual , a culture, a belief, a dream.

Protection of the generator analysis

Protection of the generator analysis In the generator mainly faults are the earth faults and the inter turn faults they are caused by the thermal and mechanical stresses.The field system is usually ungrounded so when fault between field winding and rotor body exist does not give rise fault current. But when the second earth fault exist it short circuit the rotor winding and then produce the unsymmetrical field system and unbalance the force on rotor.This causes vibration of the rotor and damage the bearings.So rotor earth fault protection is to provided to restrict the fault spreading on ward. Because of that fault, unbalanceing in three phase stator currents exists.As the unbalance three phase currents have the negative sequence component, it rotates in a opposite direction at the synchronous speed giving rise to double frequency currents.This results in to the overheating of the rotor and also damage to the rotor.temperature indicators are used for detecting the rotor overheating. Rotor open circuit faults are less to exist causes arcing problems and reduced excitation. Loss of the field failure occurs due to the short circuit or open circuit in field winding. In the case of the generator start running as induction generator, supplying power as the leading power factor.Due to the loss of excitationand loss of synchronism and system stability occur.rotor protection can also be done by using the tripping scheme which opens the field circuit breaker which will trip the generator unit breaker. Rotor Protection: Different schemes are used for protection of faults occurring in rotor. These schemes are of the following: Rotor earth fault protection: As the field circuit are operating unearthed a single earth fault does not affect the operation of the generator.But this fault increases the stress to the ground because stator transients induce an extra voltage in the field winding.If there is only the single earth fault but the relay should be provided to give the knowledge that fault has to occurred so that the generator may take out of the service until the second fault occurs and become the cause of serious damage for the rotor. There are two basic methods used for the rotor earth fault protection of the generator. Method I: In this method a high resistance is connected across the rotor circuit and its mid point is grounded through a sensitive relay. This relay detects the earth fault for whole circuit except the rotor center point Method II: In this method dc injection or ac injection method is used. .In it either dc or ac voltage is connected between the field circuit and ground through a sensitive over voltage relay and current limiting resistor or capacitor. A single earth fault in the rotor circuit will complete the circuit including voltage source, sensitive over voltage relay and earth fault. DC injection method is simple and has no problems of leakage currents. If we use dc the over voltage relay will be more sensitive than if we use ac because in case when we use ac the relay not picking up the current that flows normally through capacitance to ground and also care should be taken to avoid resonance between capacitance and inductance. Rotor overheating Protection: Negative sequence component of the unbalanced currents of the stator winding causes double frequency current to be induced in the rotor winding due to this component overheating of the rotor take place. In case of over current due to over excitation in the rotor circuit, a dc relay is used. This relay senses and initiates alarm. Application of such relay is limited because relaying of dc quantities is relatively uncommon Rotor Temperature Alarm: This kind of protection is only provided in case of large generators. It gives the level of temperature. In it resistance is measured by comparing voltage and current by a double actuating quantity moving coil relay. The operating coil being used as voltage coil and restraining coil used as current coil. The relay measures the ratio of voltage and current because resistance gives the measure of rotor temperature. Automatic Field Suppression and Use of Neutral circuit Breaker: When a fault on the generator winding exist even through the generator circuit breaker is tripped, the fault continues to be fed as long as the excitation will exist. For the quick removal of the fault, it is necessary to disconnect the field simultaneously with disconnection of the generator. So it is very necessary to discharge its magnetic field as soon as possible in short duration. Hence it should be ensured that all protection system not only the trip the generator circuit breaker but also trip the automatic field discharge switch. Loss of Field Protection: Loss of field occurs due to tripping of the supply of the field current which occurs because of the reasons. Loss of field to the main exciter. Accidental tripping of the field breaker. Short circuit in the field circuit. Poor brush contact in exciter. Loss of AC supply to the excitation system. Field Protection Phenomena: when the field supply is tripped, it speed increased and it start behaving as induction generator so heavy currents are produced in the teeth and wedges of the rotor. Because of the drop in excitation voltage the generator output voltage drops slowly to compensate this voltage current start increasing then generator become under excited and start drawing reactive power 2 to 4 times the generator load. Before losing excitation, the generator is delivering power to the system. But when loss of field occur this large reactive load thrown on the system abruptly with loss of generatorà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€¹Ã…“s reactive power and it further causes voltage reduction and extensive instability Protection against Loss of field:If the system has capability to tolerate the difference of reactive power then automatic protection is not required but if the system will be instable in this condition and has not capability to tolerate then automatic protection is required. Under current Moving coil relay is connected across a shunt in series with field winding. But in case of large generators which operate over a wide range of field excitation then this relay will not work properly because field failure due to the failure of the excitation is not detected by it because it is held in by the ac induced from the stator. The most valid type of protection in this case is by using directional-distance type relay operating by alternating current and voltage at the generator terminals. In offset-mho relay is used and its setting is like that when the excitation goes certain value then this relay start operating because machine start running asynchronously. Its characteristics are shown on R-X diagram. When excitation is lost the generator impedance start a curve from the first quadrant to the fourth quadrant. This region is enclosed in the operating area of the relay so the relay will operate when the generator starts to slip poles and will trip the field breaker and disconnect the generator from the system. The generator may then return to service when the cause of failure is cleared. Fig: Loss of field protection Effects produced by loss of field: It can endanger the generator. Connected system or both. Loss of synchronism. Over heating of stator winding. Increased rotor losses. Pole Slipping: When angular displacement of the rotor exceeds the stability limit then rotor slips a pole pitch or we can say rotor flux slips with respect to stator flux. This condition is called pole slipping. Causes of Pole Slipping Following are the causes for pole slipping. Power system fault that persists for long duration .Connecting line between two systems is open. Because of insufficient torque that keeps rotor in synchronism. Faulty excitation system Operating errors. Pole Slipping Phenomena: Pole slipping does not occur very often when faults are cleared very fast. When pole slipping occurs due to this synchronizing power will start flowing in reverse direction twice for every slip cycle. On drawing this synchronizing power on the impedance plane the flow of it characterized by cyclic change in the load impedance and load impedance locus passes between +R and à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬R quadrants because real power flows in reverse direction. When the load impedance is very reactive in nature then two systems are 180 degree out of phase, this instant is when drawn on the jx axis the point corresponding to this instant is called transition point. At this stage only reactive power flows and system voltage reached to zero at the electrical mid point of the two systems. Mid point is that point where pole slipping take place and its location can be determined from the apparent load impedance to the point where the locus crosses the jx axis. Three parameters magnitude, direction and rate of change of load impedance with respect to the generator terminals tell us about the pole slipping, that is it taking place. Fig: Offset mho type pole protection relay Need of Pole Slipping Protection High current and torque can Loosen or causes of wear off winding. Damage shaft and coupling. Stator and rotor over heating. Excitation system damage Protection of Generator due to Unbalanced Loading: Due to fault there is an imbalance in the three phase stator currents and due to these imbalance currents, double frequency currents are induced in the rotor core. This causes the over heating of the rotor and thus the rotor damage. Unbalanced stator currents also damage the stator. Negative sequence filter provided with the over current relay is used for the protection against unbalance loading. From the theory of the symmetrical components, we know that an unbalanced three phase currents contain the negative sequence component. This negative phase sequence current causes heating of the stator. The negative heating follows the resistance law so it is proportional to the square of the current. The heating time constant usually depend upon the cooling system used and is equal to I ²t=k where I is the negative sequence current and t is the current duration in seconds and k is the constant usually lies between 3 and 20. Its general practice to use negative current relays which matches with the above heating characteristics of the generator. In this type of protection three CTs are connected to three phases and the output from the secondaries of the CTs is fed to the coil of over current relay through negative sequence filter. Negative sequence circuit consists of the resistors and capacitors and these are connected in such way that negative sequence currents flows through the relay coil. The relay can be set to operate at any particular value of the unbalance currents or the negative sequence component current. Under and Over voltage protection: Over Voltage Protection: Over voltage occurs because of the increase in the speed of the prime mover due to sudden loss in the load on the generator. Generator over voltage does not occur in the turbo generator because the control governors of the turbo generators are very sensitive to the speed variation. But the over voltage protection is required for the hydro generator or gas turbine generators. The over voltage protection is provided by two over voltage relays have two units à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ one is the instantaneous relays which is set to pick up at 130 to 150% of the rated voltage and another unit is IDMT which is set to pick up at 110% of rated voltage. Over voltage may occur due to the defective voltage regulator and also due to manual control errors. Under Voltage Protection: If more than one generators supply the load and due to some reason one generator is suddenly trip, then another generators try to supply the load. Each of these generators will experience a sudden increase in current and thus decreases the terminal voltage. Automatic voltage regulator connected to the system try to restore the voltage. And under voltage relay type-27 is also used for the under voltage protection. Under/Over Frequencies Protection: Over Frequency Operation: Over frequency results from the excess generation and it can easily be corrected by reduction in the power outputs with the help of the governor or manual control Under Frequency Operation: Under frequency occurs due to the excess. During an overload, generation capability of the generator increases and reduction in frequency occurs. The power system survives only if we drop the load so that the generator output becomes equal or greater than the connected load. If the load increases the generation, then frequency will drop and load need to shed down to create the balance between the generator and the connected load. The rate at which frequency drops depend on the time, amount of overload, on the load and generator variations as the frequency changes. Frequency decay occurs within the seconds so we can not correct it manually. Therefore automatic load shedding facility needs to be applied. These schemes drops load in steps as the frequency decays. Generally load shedding drops 20 to 50% of load in four to six frequency steps. Load shedding scheme works by tripping the substation feeders to decrease the system load. Generally automatic load shedding schemes are designed to maintain the balance between the load connected and the generator. The present practice is to use the under frequency relays at various load points so as to drop the load in steps until the declined frequency return to normal. Non essential load is removed first when decline in frequency occurs. The setting of the under frequency relays based on the most probable condition occurs and also depend upon the worst case possibilities.During the overload conditions, load shedding must occur before the operation of the under frequency relays. In other words load must be shed before the generators are tripped. Stator Over Heating: ProtectionStator over heating is caused due to the overloads and failure in cooling system. It is very difficult to detect the over heating due to the short circuiting of the lamination before any serious damage is caused. Temperature rise depend upon I^2Rt and also on the cooling. Over current relays can not detect the winding temperature because electrical protection can not detect the failure of the cooling systemSo to protect the stator against over heating, embed resistance temperature detector or thermocouples are used in the slots below the stator coils. These detectors are located on the different places in the windings so that to detect the temperature throughout the stator. Detectors which provide the indication of temperature change are arranged to operate the temperature relay to sound an alarm Stator Ground Fault Protection: The method of grounding affects the protection which is employed by the differential protection. High impedance reduces the fault currents and thus it is very difficult to detect the high impedance fault, differential protection does not work for the high impedance grounding. The separate relay to the ground neutral provides the sensitive protection. But ground relay can also detect the fault beyond the generator, it the time co-ordination is necessary to over come this difficulty. If we use the star- delta transformer bank, then it will block the flow of ground currents, thus preventing the occurrence of the fault on other side of the bank from operating ground relays. In unit protection scheme the transformer bank limits the operation of the fault relay to the generator