Informatics Solution Proposal: Problem Identificatio Essay

It is no surprise that customer satisfaction is the primary focus for successful delivery of healthcare. The health care industry is booming with technological trends and consumer empowerment is evident. Patients are able to shop around for the best health care available at the right cost, forcing facilities to upgrade to the latest technology in order to compete. The problem is patients often get confused keeping up with different providers and different facilities. On top of that are expected to remember their medications and complete health history, along with diagnosis, different exams and lab testing. Health care costs are on the rise because of repeat tests and data is lost in the shuffle. Our goal is to find a technical solution providing patients with an easily accessible, comprehensive overview of their entire health history. The patient deserves access to their health records, health education at their fingertips, and most of an organized system to provide the best health c are possible. Our best solution is the personal health records category. Personal health information can be easily accessed online wherever internet is provided. There can be one or multiple databases that safely stores their information and with easy access, patients won’t feel so frustrated having to wait for a healthcare worker. Another rationale is that personal health record systems can offer multiple functions for the patients, such as paying their medical bills, renewing their medications, and more. Designing the appropriate PHR system can provide an endless amount of functions to help meet patients’ needs. Finally, a PHR can save patients and providers both time and money. PHR systems can decrease the labor needed to provide patients with information while still maintaining effective communication between providers and patients (Kaelber & Pan, 2008). Some ethical issues to consider would be protecting patient privacy. Information entered into the  iPad, even something such as calling the front desk, must go through a server (or a third party). This may compromise privacy. It could end up in the iCloud, or even be hacked. Visitors in the room may see sensitive information. Additionally, expecting an older population to use an iPad could be seen as discriminatory According to Hebda, and Czar (2013), legal issues for interactive applications of consumer health information involving PHI include protecting privacy and security of PHI. Many consumer health web sites are lack ing in protection of healthcare information. Some issues included lack of anonymity, poor protection for privacy policies and health information as well as inadequate privacy policies. Special attention will have to be made to adhere to the HON code of conduct for protecting users with the implementation of interactive health care technologies. As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Congress directed the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to rule on the use of electronic health information and the devices and systems used to access this information. The final ruling requires vendors of PHR’s and related services to notify the FTC, potential involved consumers, and associated services providers of any breach in security as this information is now to be covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) (FTC, 2009). This ruling also provides for consultation on potential privacy and security breaches between the FTC and the Department of Health and Human Services (FTC, 2009). Project Overview: The purpose of the Informatics Solution Proposal is to promote nursing students’ comfort and knowledge with informatics and technology products for the health care workplace setting. Students review the functionality of various products and select one that best meets the needs of a health care setting. Learning Teams collaborate to identify a clinical or administrative issue and propose an informatics solution. Each week, Learning Teams work on an element of this project. In Week Five, teams compile their work into a proposal appropriate for the directors of a health care organization. Project Elements: Week Two: Problem Identification Collaborate with your Learning Team to identify an issue in a health care workplace that could be resolved by implementing an informatics or technology solution. The issue could be an administrative issue or a clinical issue. Draft a letter or memo to a nursing administrator informing her or him of the clinical or administrative problem, why it is a concern, and a request for permission to propose a solution. Support your letter with at least three peer-reviewed resources. Format the letter consistent with APA guidelines for formal business correspondence. Provide an APA-formatted reference page for all resources used. Note. Do not send the letter. Week Three: General Solution Collaborate with your Learning Team to determine a category of informatics or technology that could be implemented to solve the clinical or administrative issue. Compose a 350- to 500-word summary of the benefits of selecting a product from this category of technology or informatics system. Address the following: Identify a category of informatics or technology solution that may be appropriate for the identified workplace. Note. Select a category of solution but not a specific product. Provide rationale for why this category of solution may help address the clinical or administrative problem. Describe regulatory, legal, or ethical issues this category of solution may cause or resolve. Include a minimum of three peer-reviewed references, and develop an APA-formatted reference page. Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines. Week Four: Areas of Evaluation Select two products from the category that your Learning Team identified in Week Three. For example, if you selected the category of EHRs, then identify two specific EHR products. Describe a minimum of five criteria with which to evaluate the functionality of the two products. Ease of use Clarity Time Select two or more additional features to evaluate. Include a minimum of three references. References may include product websites or other reputable sources in addition to peer-reviewed resources. Faculty approval is required for sources other than peer-reviewed resources. Provide an APA-formatted reference page for all resources used. Week Five: Specific Solution Proposal Develop a proposal in which you evaluate two specific products from the general category previously selected. The goal is to persuade the directors of the health care workplace to implement your chosen informatics solution. Address the following details: Brief description of the administrative or clinical issue Concise overview of the two products (include evaluation of all relevant features of each product) Clear explanation of why one product is chosen for implementation (not both) Two suggestions of how the chosen product could be implemented Two suggestions for how the chosen product would be evaluated after implementation (one qualitative and one quantitative) Identify a future trend in this area Develop a presentation using one of the following formats: Microsoft ® PowerPoint ® Presentation including 15–20 slides and speaker’s notes Oral presentation including appropriate visual aid (for example, a handout or brochure) Prezi ® Presentation Another format approved by your facilitator Include a minimum of seven peer-reviewed references, and develop an APA-formatted reference page. Format your proposal and reference page consistent with APA guidelines. References Federal Trade Commission. (August 17, 2009). FTC Issues Final Breach Notification Rule for Electronic Health Information. Retrieved from http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2009/08/ftc-issues-final-breach-notification-rule-electronic-health Hebda, T., & Czar, P. (2013). Handbook of informatics for nurses & healthcare professionals (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Kaelber, D. & Pan, E.C. (2008). The value of personal health record (PHR) systems. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2655982/. Informatics Solution Proposal Overview

Allusion Report- the Burning Bush

Allusion Report The allusion of the â€Å"Burning Bush† is just as it sounds: it is a burning bush that continues to burn and is never engulfed by its flames. The Burning Bush was first introduced in the Book of Exodus in the Bible. Moses was grazing in the pastures just like any other day when he noticed something burning in the distance. He found it to be an ordinary desert bush, but the fire was far from ordinary. The fire consuming the bush was God presenting himself to Moses.When God spoke to Moses, he told him to unite his brothers (Israelites) and leave the land of oppression, Egypt. The allusion of the Burning Bush has been used in the novel, The Grapes of Wrath, three different times. â€Å"One cat’ takes and shoves ten families out. Cat’s all over hell now. Tear in and shove the croppers out. † (Chapter 2, page 13) Here, the truck driver is telling Tom how tractors are driving people out of the land. This alludes to the Burning Bush as being the harassment which families are fleeing from. Reverend Jim Casy- was a Burning Busher. † (Chapter 4, page 27) Casy is referred to as the burning busher because he motivates and inspires others around him. â€Å"We’d keep together on the road an’ it’d be good for ever’body. † (Chapter 13, page 202) In the Book of Exodus, God tells Moses to unite with his brother so that they will have a change of survival. Here, Tom is telling others that neither family would survive if they traveled alone, but if they travel together they will have a greater chance at surviving.The Burning Bush represents numerous symbols to Jews and Christians, such as God’s energy, sacred light, illumination, as well as the burning heart of purity, love and clarity. It is argued by many skeptical scholars that Moses was under the influence of a hallucinogenic when he says to have encountered the Burning Bush. Many entheogens have been found in south Israel and were use d regularly for religious purposes by the Israelites. Works Cited â€Å"Burning Bush – New World Encyclopedia. † Info:Main Page – New World Encyclopedia.Web. 03 Oct. 2011. . Ben, Jesse, and Phil. â€Å"The Burning Bush. † Allusions of Exodus in Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. ;http://reufus59. tripod. com/id5. html;. Deffinbaugh, Bob. â€Å"The Burning Bush (Exodus 3:1-15) | Bible. org – Worlds Largest Bible Study Site. † Free NET Bible and Thousands of Bible Studies | Bible. org – Worlds Largest Bible Study Site. Web. 03 Oct. 2011. ;http://bible. org/seriespage/burning-bush-exodus-31-15;.

Factors of Success

Heather N English 001A Midterm Essay 13 February 2013 The Factors of Success Success is a term that many use as a way to describe ideals. Living in a world that exalts the extraordinary, praises the leaders, and puts the best up on a pedestal, it is not hard to guess why achieving success is what the human race strives to do. Youth look up to the exceptional people in their life, media grasps stories of thriving individuals, and the world idolizes those who stand out. People endeavor great struggles and hardships to obtain that blissful feeling of reward and individuals are taught from day one to do whatever it takes to thrive.The book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell is a story of success and how it is achieved. Though having many different theories on success, the story focuses on the sociological phenomena of the importance of all the factors it takes to truly be an accomplished individual. Malcolm Gladwell uses different anecdotes and real life examples in his book Outliers to illust rate how success is not just solely ambition and other intrinsic factors, but a function of broader points influenced by innate, societal, and cultural factors.To support the theory on success not only being the indigenous feeling to achieve, Gladwell uses the example of The Matthew Effect, which is basically opportunities based on timing. He explains how the best Canadian hockey players have a birthday closer to January 1st and, â€Å"in the beginning, his advantage isn’t so much that he is inherently better but only that he is a little older† (25). The older the player is, the more experienced, dedicated, and capable he will be, and be scouted to move on to a higher rank. They then start to train with the best coaches and facilities, giving them success.This is showing how a factor of success is just evidently age, timing, and, â€Å"it is those who are successful, in other words, who are most likely to be given the kinds of special opportunities that lead to furthe r success† (30). Another example of the success by timing and opportunities is the story of the Beatles. The Beatles were invited to play in Hamburg and it was by pure accident that, â€Å"Bruno went to London to look for bands. But he happened to meet an entrepreneur from Liverpool in Soho who was down in London by pure chance† (48).Obviously the Beatles are one of the most aesthetically pleasing bands of the 20th century and they have considerable talent, but if it were not for that one accidental connection that was established, who knows what would have happened to their success. These examples go to show that opportunities and luck are huge factors in describing what success is. Another factor of describing what constitutes success are societal and cultural perception. Gladwell uses his narrative of Joe Flom’s classmate at Harvard, Alexander Bickel.He was the top of his class and, â€Å"perhaps the finest constitutional scholar of his generation† (121 ). As a Jewish man with a thick Brooklyn accent, he did not fit the cookie cutter image they were looking for and the firm was not interested. This goes to show the correlation between perception and success by simply being denied a job because of cultural factors. It is universally known that people judge based on opinions, which causes hindering on success. The way someone was raised in their culture might negatively affect their opportunity for success purely based on someone else’s opinion on their culture.A Wall Street Journal article titled, Race and ‘Privilege’, talks about the phenomenon of the term ‘white privilege’ and how it ties to success. The article says, â€Å"We’re [whites] privileged that people see us, not a color,† and, â€Å"we’re privileged because society was set up for us, and our silence keeps it in place†. As much as society choses to ignore it, a factor of success is cultural race. Some races are considered privileged because they do not have that hindering stereotype targeted on their back and are more likely to get a perception of something different and be presented with more opportunities.Other races are considered successful solely by the societal factors of just where they live and the culture they grew up in. Cultural and societal factors tie into success as well. The article Asian-American Parenting and Academic Success in Pacific Standard, delves deep into discussing the unique style of Asian American parenting. It goes to say, â€Å"Over the past two decades, a spate of studies has examined cultural beliefs that shape Asian-American parenting, and their effect on kids’ learning†.Then it goes on to explain how cultural ancient beliefs have shaped how parents raise their kids to this day. The 5th century philosopher, Confucius, has influenced Asian culture and, â€Å"taught that human beings should strive their whole lifetime to improve or perfect the mselves†. These ideas that have transmitted down through generations have statistics to prove that the Asian culture is no stranger to working hard to achieve success and, â€Å"such veneration of diligence helps account for the widespread Asian belief that when striving for academic success, effort counts more than innate ability†.The culture embraces the idea of shape parenting and managing by a more hands on style. Because of this more governed culture, Asian Americans come out on top resulting in becoming more successful. However, one of the most important factors of success is the intrinsic motivation that one possesses and the actual time put into what is trying to be achieved. The 10,000-hour rule is another one of Gladwell’s theories used to explain success in Outliers.Based on a study by Anders Ericsson, â€Å"The emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert in anything† (40). Or in other words, the most successful people have spent grueling time, hour after hour, to work and become experts at their craft. He uses the example of one of the most influential people, Bill Gates. When he stumbled upon a high school computer in 1968, Gates lived at the computer to learn and program his way into leading one of the top grossing industries in the world.It goes to show how much practice is needed to go into a craft to reach that threshold of expertise, which then leads to success. If a person has neither stamina nor drive to push them to work to become powerful in what they do, success cannot be achieved. Malcolm Gladwell uses different anecdotes and real life examples in his book Outliers to illustrate how success is not just solely ambition and other intrinsic factors, but a function of broader points influenced by innate, societal, and cultural factors.Combinations of all these factors are what really influence the i dea of success. Success is elusive because to acquire such rare opportunities, be raised specifically to always do well, have a culture that pushes to perform exceptionally, and have the motivation to dedicate 10,000 hours to the craft, can be grueling. However, not having the perfect combination of the factors of success does not mean that success cannot be achieved. Everyone has a different viewpoint of what success means to them and their own innate way of getting on the path to their life fulfillment.All it takes is the will to have the presence of the mind and the rest is up to the person. No one is able to have a guaranteed success. If they desperately aspire to be the best, there is a path for them. Works Cited Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. New York: Little, Brown and, 2008. Print. Seal, Kathy. â€Å"Asian-American Parenting and Academic Success. †Ã‚  Pacific Standard. Pacific Standard Magazine, 13 Dec. 2010. Web. 9 Feb. 2013. Taranto, James. †Å"Race and ‘Privilege'†Ã‚  Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, 21 June 2012. Web. 9 Feb. 2013.

Health and sefty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Health and sefty - Essay Example Naturally large number of skilled and unskilled manpower is engaged for successful completion of these projects. It has been observed with concern that large number of accidents of different types and intensities frequently occurs during different construction activities causing personal injury or property damage. Blake defines accident ‘as any assurance that interrupts or interferes with the orderly progress of the project’. The accidents are direct result of unsafe activities and conditions both of which can be controlled by health and safety management. Unsafe activities involve working without authority, failure to warn of danger, leaving equipment in dangerous condition, using defective equipment etc. Unsafe conditions involve inadequate or missing guard, defective tools and machinery, inadequate fire fighting, excessive noise etc. An accident prevention programme is aimed to reduce the number of accidents and there by the cost of construction. From the observation and analysis it has been seen that 85 to 95% of accidents are prevent able. It is not just a matter of setting up a list of rules and making safety inspection, although both of these have their place. We need a system for managing health and safety which meets the needs of project and fulfills legal requirements. Objectives of Health and Safety Management. The perceived objectives of the health and safety management for accident prevention are as under:- 1. To reduce the chances of loss of human life. 2. To reduce the temporary and permanent injuries to work force employed. 3. To avoid adoption of unsafe practices during all phases/ activities. 4. To avoid loss of materials resulting from accidents. Project Identification. A ware house was constructed for the storage of chemicals. The project involves design, excavation for basement, digging of foundations, scaffolding and form work for roof slab. The project was completed in six months and we will discuss the health and safety issu es along with risk management during all activities. Considerations and Decisions of the Architect/Designer. At the onset of design stage or planning to begin work, a comprehensive health and safety plan for the project should be formalized and set out in a health and safety plan.  Following are the salient aspects need to be addressed by the designer. 1. The project should be well designed and meeting standard engineering and environmental requirement of the area by the competent designers. 2. Principles of structural design along with standard code practices are adhered while designing with minimum risk. 3. Waste management for the debris likely to encounter during construction must be worked out in design stage. 4. Environmental factors like wind, cold, snow and rain should be considered while designing the structure. 5. Adequate fire arrangement in design should be incorporated. 6. Cross checking of design by an independent party. 7. Design must ensure safety during constructi on and maintenance afterwards. Hazard Identification. These are danger or potential danger likely to occur during any phase of project. The Maximum hazard identification levels were found to be 0.899 (89.9%) for a construction project within the nuclear industry. Investigation into hazard identification levels have been initially targeted on three different industry sectors i.e. UK rail, nuclear, and general construction. Likely hazard during identified project are

Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 63

Essay Example Then, significantly his teachings and works here on earth, through miracles, and by his very own exemplary way of life. As this paper highlights and explains the Life of Jesus by elaborating the two distinct Natures of Jesus Christ; that is His Godly Nature and His Human nature. God in all His wisdom intended that all and everything He created was for Him and Himself, hence, all His creation was to live and stay with Him. God tried to use men (Abraham and the Prophets) to bring back their fellow men to Him, but Men did not shun their evil ways and turn back to God. In the end, God offered His only Son as a Sacrifice that brought men back to Him. The climax of God’s ordained was the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was born in human form and nature, and lived as a man. This is actualized in the resurrection of Jesus Christ because in sins, men die with Christ on the cross and they are raised to new life in Christ on the resurrection (Romans 6:3-10). Also discussed in this paper are the lessons that People learn from the ideal life of Jesus. Consequently, for them to be united with God, they have to lead and live according to the teachings of Jesus. The life of Christ is all based on his salvific mission on Earth; to save mankind and bring them back to God. This is to fulfill/accomplish God’s work of Salvation and His sole purpose of creation; that was to unite all things in Him that all things may have eternal life in Him, (Elmer L. Towns 79). The Bible and other Historical writings show that, about 2000 year ago, Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem. His birth was mystical because it was through divine conception, where by the Angel of God appeared to a virgin called Mary, and she conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. However, after the intervention of the Angel, Joseph took Mary as his wife, and together they raised the child. Jesus Christ grew up just like

Madoffs Ponzi Scheme Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Madoffs Ponzi Scheme - Essay Example Still it took a long time to assess for the authorities to verify that it was a Ponzi scheme. It was one of the most cold-blooded, deliberately devised and implemented Ponzi scheme. This fraud had serious impact on people’s view about investment. All investors start viewing investment firms and charities with a lot of suspicion and firms faced a considerable fall in business. The only positive element was the fact that it acted as an eye-opener for both the authorities and the public. While public became aware about the need to be careful about the promises of unbelievably high returns, the authorities too understood the need for new statutes to prevent such frauds. Madoff’s intentions still remain a mystery It still remains a mystery why such a prominent figure who was well aware about the movements in the market and also about the implications of such a Ponzi scheme decided to implement such a devilish idea that caused irrevocable loss to many people. It is yet to be resolved as to why he went on paying the withdrawals if he wanted to cheat the investors. In addition, Madoff tried to hold back the firm’s imminent fall ten days before his arrest by receiving a huge sum of 250 million dollar from a close friend (Frank and Efrati). It seems closer to insanity that he admitted that his scheme was a Ponzi scheme and that he did not invest any money as had promised. However, it seems a calculated move that he managed to keep all his family members away from legal complexities by taking the responsibility of the fraud all to himself. One has to assume that seeing his irrational behavior, all other members managed to secure their position by avoiding any position in the company that involved the responsibility of money management. However, a man who could con the authorities and auditors for nearly two decades could easily devise a better plan than this Ponzi scheme if he wanted to. Thus, it still is to be ascertained as to why he chose a Ponzi s cheme, the outcome of which he knew pretty well. The best assumption possible is that his extreme wizardry might have turned him insane. I. What are the ethical issues involved in Madoff case? One has to admit the fact that the Madoff’s system was unethical in nature from head to toe as the scheme was a Ponzi scheme. While attracting the investors, Madoff was well aware of the imminent failure of the scheme. All financial experts and even common investors are well aware of the fact that Ponzi scheme always fail due to its own weight as such schemes require an ever-increasing flow of money to pay the retiring and withdrawing clients. Once the inflow of fund diminishes, the system collapses. 1) Misusing the office of trust The first element of unethical practice is in Madoff’s misusing his position of repute in the society. He was an educated and experienced person in a position of trust, respectability, responsibility and trust. The aura of authority he created in this field is evident from the list of his clients including influential people, big organizations and even banks. Some of them were The Fairfield Greenwich Group, Tremont Group Holdings and Westport National Bank. All his investors gave him money on the belief that there were many checks and balances to make his investment plan legitimate.  

A Science Column Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

A Science Column - Essay Example A physical quantity is defined by the sequence of operations used to determine its value (Wiliamson). The grouping of several physical quantities to find out the values of each in relation to each other is what constitutes a physical law which is defined as. The laws of thermodynamics relate the heat with temperature changes in materials of different kinds. To be clearer on this, let us begin by defining the various laws of thermodynamics. To begin with the first laws which states that Heat is a form of energy, and energy is conserved (Wiliamson). Here the first law confirms that heat is a form of energy and that it can be conserved. This is seen when we use electricity in our homes, the electrical energy is usually stored in the form of water which is then used to drive turbines hence generating electricity which we often use in our homes. This can always be conserved to minimize wastages by either conserving the water stored in a dam or switching off the electricity when not in use . The second law of thermodynamics can be stated in three different ways as defined by three different scholars. For our study we are going to use the definition of Kelvin which states that No cyclic process exists which produces no other effect than the extraction of heat from a body and its conversion into an equivalent amount of work (Wiliamson). The second law of thermodynamics here brings out the reversibility of thermodynamic processes, that is heat is never lost to the surrounding environments given that all factors such as heat loss to the surroundings through evaporation and other heat transfer processes are under control. This is always carried out in the laboratory by using a calorimeter, a laboratory instrument which is used to measure the amount of heat generated through chemical reactions and other physical changes. The calorimeter is designed for this purpose as it is made in such a way that it can minimize heat loss to the surrounding environment as well as heat gain from the same thus ensuring that heat contained in the materials is the same that is used in the entire experiment. It was upon the realization of the limiting factors in the definition of the term temperature by the two thermodynamic laws that the Zeroth law was devised the help in bridging the gap that was omitted. The zeroth law suggests that If two systems are in thermal equilibrium with a third system, then they are in equilibrium with each other (Wiliamson). This law enables one to order systems according to the direction of heat flow when these two systems are put into contact with each other. For this reason, a system is said to be hotter if heat flows from it into the other system which in this case is considered a colder one than the other when these two systems are put into contact with each other. The reverse is however true in the other direction. The third law of thermodynamics on the other and explains that the entropy of a system approaches a constant value as the t emperature approaches absolute zero (Wiliamson). This law suggests that all motions in a material tend to come a standstill, cease within that particular material as the temperature of that material reduces to absolute zero. All materials however must reach a state whereby the temperatures reduce to absolute zero hence no thermodynamic motions occurring within them. The three laws of

Spending city money on a public library Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Spending city money on a public library - Essay Example It brings people and ideas together. The librarians are as well an important element as they educate people on how to get access to information (Quick et al. 81). A library will offer access to everyone regardless, unlike a club that will only allow certain age bracket or will be accessed by revelers only. A library is an investment in the future of the society because the libraries will offer the programs that can meet the economic needs of a community (Quick et al.67). Thus, it is important for combating the economic downturn. They provide invaluable resources for those seeking jobs as most people can utilize the library to access the internet. Therefore, it helps bridging the gap between the haves and have-nots in matters internet access (Quick et al. 53). This is a very effective service to invest in for public consumption providing positive returns on the investments. Investing in a library is investing in generations of a people. This is because their cognitive ability will be enhanced by the learning they get from this facility. And not to mention, education is power. How successful can a society be with this access to information? It is the best place to invest public

Shold gun be legal or illegal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Shold gun be legal or illegal - Essay Example ties, global warming, health care, gay marriage, stem cell research and many other politically motivating subjects have ignited emotional ideological battles. Gun ownership ranks high among these political ideologies and to attempt to ban all guns would make these feelings even stronger. To make the case for upholding the widely perceived ‘right’ to bear arms by allowing rifles and shotguns of a certain length while banning handguns and assault rifles seems the sensible solution and a fight that could be won. This tactic has proven effective in other countries such as Britain and many other European nations. Those countries that ban handgun use have a much lower homicide rate than does the U.S. (Reynolds, Caruth, 1992). The concept that the easy access to firearms has an important impact on the homicide rates in this country is supported by the preponderance of the evidence. Nearly two thirds of all homicides taking place in the United States involve a firearm. Yet, chan ges in handgun laws were seen to have little to no impact on crime rates. This is not surprising based on fact that most violent criminals do not obtain their firearms through licensed sources (Wright & Rossi, 1994). Other programs, such as gun buy-back programs have been proven to be similarly ineffective for a variety of reasons including intention for use, ease of replacement and probability of use for crime. Earlier gun control policies enacted in 1976 and 1982 had similar disappointing results. Concealed weapons laws have actually been shown to have a positive effect on crime rates, that is, they contribute to an escalation in crime (Loftin, McDowall, Weirsema and Cottey, 1991). Laws that attempt to control handgun ownership for law-abiding citizens do not work and have been shown to actually... Gun enthusiasts, as they are politely referred, mimic the concept that more guns will lead to less violence, that if everyone were carrying a gun, criminals would be too scared to commit crimes. The more is less philosophy. This doesn’t square with reasonable logic or the facts. â€Å"Whenever you have more guns in a society, you’re going to have more gun violence, period†. The State of Texas is known, quite deservedly, as having an open policy regarding guns. Texas citizens are allowed to carry concealed handguns once completing licensing requirements. Then Governor, George W. Bush signed a law that specifically permits Texans to carry guns in church, the most sacredly peaceful of all places. In 2002, the Violence Policy Center conducted a study regarding concealed guns in Texas and found that, among other disturbing revelations, from 1996 to 2001, â€Å"concealed handgun license holders in Texas were arrested for weapon-related offenses at a rate 81 percent hi gher than that of the state’s general population aged 21 and older†. Lawmakers in Texas responded immediately to this situation by passing legislation that forbids the release of gun-related information.

Strategy Business Information and Analysis Essay

Strategy Business Information and Analysis - Essay Example Interesting fact is that, porter five force analyses is an integrated component of the "outside-in" approach hence discussing porter five forces for soft drink industry in the first two sections will create silhouette for the critical evaluation "outside-in" approach to strategy formulation for organizations with the help of existing literature. Part 1 According to Deichert et al (2006), global soft drink industry is dominated by Coke and Pepsi for years but these two giants have understood the importance of diversifying product portfolio into noncarbonated beverages in order to achieve sustainable growth rate. Soft drink industry can be analyzed with the help of cumulative growth rate, market size and overall profitability. According to Datamonitor (2008), market value of soft drink industry will touch a value of more than $500 billion by the year 2014. Soft drink industry contributes almost 50% of the non-alcoholic drink industry Datamonitor (2008). Currently, the industry is growi ng at pace of more than 5% and it is expected that the market volume will cross 500,000 million litres within next couple of years Deichert et al (2006). According to the research report of Datamonitor (2008), although global soft drink industry is growing at a steady pace but it will decelerate in near future due market saturation and stagnation of market price. In such context, five force analysis soft drink industries will help the study to identify forces such as substitute products, suppliers, buyers, rival sellers and intra firm competitiveness which are shaping the industry. Diagrammatic representation of five forces in soft drinks industry can be explained in the following manner. (Source: Wheelen and Hunger., 2000 and 2006) Force 1- Competitive Rivalry According to Deichert et al (2006), competitive threat is the strongest among all other forces in soft drink industry. The market is saturated due to presence of many players such as Coca-Cola, Cadbury Schweppes, Pepsi Co etc ; high degree of saturation in the industry has decreased scope for existing players to differentiate in the product portfolio hence they extensively focus on price competition in order to attract customers. Rivals in the industry such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are strong global presence and access to huge amount of both financial and non-final resources, which has further decreased the scope companies in the industry to achieve resource based advantages as mentioned by Rumelt (1986). Having top selling brands in the kitty doesn’t ensure competitive advantage in the industry, for example, Coca-Cola owns 80% of top selling brands such as Sprite, Coca-Cola, Fanta, Diet Coke but it had achieved lower sales revenue in comparison PepsiCo during 2004-05 in USA and UK market Deichert et al (2006). According to Deichert et al (2006), advertising and marketing strategy plays vital role in the industry. For example, in some cases, rivals use competitive advertisings in order to nullify relevance of other companies among customers. Force 2- Threat of New Entrant

Taino Lifestyle Essay Example for Free

Taino Lifestyle Essay The Arawak/Taino society was basically a very gentle culture. It was characterized by happiness, friendliness and a highly organized hierarchical, paternal society, and a lack of guile. Each society was a small kingdom and the leader was called a cacique. The cacique’s function was to keep the welfare of the village by assigning daily work and making sure everyone got an equal share. The relatives of the caciques lived together in large houses in the center of the village. These houses reflect the warmth of the climate and simply used mud, straw and palm leaves. The houses did not contain much furniture. People slept in cotton hammocks or simply on mats of banana leaves. The general population lived in large circular buildings called bohios, constructed with wooden poles, woven straw, and palm leaves. At the time of Columbus there were five different kingdoms on the island of Hispaniola. The Indians practiced polygamy. Most men had 2 or 3 wives, but the caciques had as many as 30. It was a great honor for a woman to be married to a cacique. Not only did she enjoy a materially superior lifestyle, but her children were held in high esteem. HOUSING AND DRESS The Arawak/Taino used two primary architectural styles for their homes. The general population lived in circular buildings with poles providing the primary support and these were covered with woven straw and palm leaves. They were somewhat like North American teepees except rather than being covered with skins they needed to reflect the warmth of the climate and simply used straw and palm leaves. The caciques were singled out for unique housing. Their house were rectangular and even featured a small porch. Despite the difference in shape, and the considerably larger buildings, the same materials were used. When the Africans came beginning in 1507 they introduced mud and wattle as primary building materials. However, there is no record of the Arawak/Tainos having used these materials. The house of the cacique contained only his own family. However, given the number of wives he might have, this constituted a huge family. The round houses of the common people were also large. Each one had about 10-15 men and their whole families. Thus any Arawak/Taino home might house a hundred people. The houses did not contain much furniture. People slept in cotton hammocks or simply on mats of banana leaves. They also made wooden chairs with woven seats, couches and built cradles for their children. In addition to houses the typical Arawak/Taino village contained a flat court in the center of the village which was used for ball games and various festivals, both religious and secular. Houses were around this court. This was a hierarchical society, and while there was only one cacique who was paid a tribute (tax) to oversee the village, there were other levels of sub-caciques, who were not paid, but did hold positions of honor. They were liable for various services to the village and cacique. Stone making was especially developed among the Arawak/Tainos, but they seem not to have used it at all in building houses. It was primarily used for tools and especially religious artifacts. The men were generally naked, but the women sometimes wore short skirts. Men and women alike adorned their bodies with paint and shells and other decorations. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Arawak/Taino diet, like ours, centered around meat or fish as the primary source of protein. There never were many wild animals to hunt on Hispaniola, but there were some small mammals which were hunted and enjoyed. They also ate snakes, various rodents, bats, worms, birds, in general any living things they could find with the exception of humans. They were able to hunt ducks and turtles in the lakes and sea. The costal natives relied heavily on fishing, and tended to eat their fish either raw or only partially cooked. Since they did grow cotton on the island, the natives had fishing nets made of cotton. The natives of the interior relied more on agriculture and de-emphasized meat or fish in their diet. The Taino had a developed system of agriculture which was environmentally friendly and almost maintenance free. They raised their crops in a conuco, a large mound which was devised especially for farming. They packed the conuco with leaves which improved drainage and protected it from soil erosion. One of the primary crops cultivated by the Taino was cassava or yuca, which they ate as a flat bread. They also grew corn, squash, beans, peppers, sweet potatoes, yams, peanuts as well as tobacco. (As an aside I would like to comment that many people in the pre-Columbian Americas had virtually work free agriculture. This system meant that people living in these materially simple social systems had enormous amounts of free time and often developed elaborate religious rites which took a lot of their time, but also had highly developed systems of games and recreation. There are some nice advantages to very simple living and diet!) One of the Arawak/Taino’s primary crops was cassava. This is a root crop from which a poisonous juice must be squeezed. Then it is baked into a bread like slab. The current method of doing this in Haiti produces a flat bread, sort of like a stale burrito or pizza shell. The Arawak/Taino grew corn (maize), squash, beans, peppers, sweet potatoes, yams and peanuts. They not only had cotton, but they raised tobacco and enjoyed smoking very much. It was not only a part of their social life, but was used in religious ceremonies too. TRANSPORTATION The Arawak/Taino had no large animals like horses, oxen or mules to ride or use for work. But they did have river and sea transportation. They used dugout canoes which were cut from a single tree trunk and used with paddles. They could take 70-80 people in a single canoe and even used them for long travels on the sea. These dugouts allowed fishing the few lakes of Hispaniola as well as fishing out a bit off the coast. DEFENSE The Arawak/Taino themselves were quite peaceful people, but they did have to defend themselves from the Caribs who were cannibals. The Caribs of this area were centered at what is today Puerto Rico, but some did live in northeast Hispaniola, an area that today is the Dominican Republic. The Caribs were war-like cannibals. They often raided the more peaceful Arawak/Tainos, killing off the men, stealing and holding the women for breeding, and fattening the children to eat. Thus the Arawak/Taino had some weapons which they used in defense. They used the bow and arrow, and had developed some poisons for their arrow tips. They had cotton ropes for defensive purposes and some spears with fish hooks on the end. Since there were hardwoods on the island, they did have a war club made of macana. This was about 1†³ thick and reminds one very much of the cocomaque stick used in later Haitian days. They did not develop any armor or specifically defensive weapons (shields, etc.). RELIGION AND MYTH The Arawak/Taino were polytheists and their gods were called zemi. The zemi controlled various functions of the universe, very much like Greek gods did, or like later Haitian Voodoo lwa. However, they do not seem to have had particular personalities like the Greek and Haitian gods/spirits do. There were three primary religious practices: Religious worship and obeisance to the zemi themselves Dancing in the village court during special festivals of thanksgiving or petition Medicine men, or priests, consulting the zemi for advice and healing. This was done in public ceremonies with song and dance People had special dress for the ceremonies which included paint and feathers. From their knees on down they would be covered in shells. The shaman (medicine man or priests) presented the carved figures of the zemi. The cacique sat on wooden stool, a place of honor. (There are many surviving stone carvings of the cacique on his stool.) There was a ceremonial beating of drums. People induced vomiting with a swallowing stick. This was to purge the body of impurities, both a literal physical purging and a symbolic spiritual purging. This ceremonial purging and other rites were a symbolic changing before zemi. Women served bread (a communion rite), first to zemi, then to the cacique followed by the other people. The sacred bread was a powerful protector. (The interesting similarities between this ritual and the Christian practice of eucharist is obvious!) Finally came an oral history lesson — the singing of the village epic in honor of the cacique and his ancestors. As the poet recited he was accompanied by a maraca, a piece of hardwood which was beaten with pebbles. There was an afterlife where the good would be rewarded. They would meet up with dead relatives and friends. Since most of the people they would meet in this paradise were women, it is curious to speculate if it was mainly women who were considered good, or if some other reason accounted for this division of the sexes in the afterlife. There are many stone religious artifacts which have been found in Haiti. The zemi take on strange forms like toads, turtles, snakes, alligators and various distorted and hideous human faces. The zemi, as well as dead caciques, have certain powers over the natural world and must be dealt with. Thus these various services are ways of acknowledging their power (worship and thanksgiving) and at the same time seeking their aid. Because of these powers there are many Arawak/Tanio stories which account for the origins of some experienced phenomena in myth and or magic. Several myths had to do with caves. The sun and moon, for example, came out of caves. Another story tells that the people lived in caves and only came out at night. One guard was supposed to watch carefully over people to be sure they were well divided in the land. However, one day he was late in returning and the sun caught him and turned him into a stone pillar. Another Indian became angry at the sun for its various tricks and decided to leave. He convinced all the women to abandon their men and come with him along with their children. But, the children were deserted, and in their hunger they turned into frogs. The women simply disappeared. This left the men without women. But, they did find some sexless creatures roaming around and eventually captured them. (Actually they used people with a disease like mange since they had rough hands and could hold on to these elusive creatures.) However, they tied these creatures up and put woodpeckers on them. The birds, thinking these were trees started pecking on them and carved out the sex organs of women, thus re-establishing the possibility of survival. A different myth simply tells that once there were no women. Man brought woman from an island where there were only women. The origin of the oceans was in a huge flood which occurred when a father murdered his son (who was about to murder the father), and then put his bones in a calabash. The bones turned to fish and then the gourd broke and all the water of the world flowed from the broken gourd. GENOCIDE AGAINST THE ARAWAK/TAINO INDIANS There is a great debate as to just how many Arawak/Taino inhabited Hispaniola when Columbus landed in 1492. Some of the early Spanish historian/observers claimed there were as many as 3,000,000 to 4,000,000. These numbers seem to be based on very little reliable evidence and are thought to be gross exaggerations. However, since nothing like a census was done, the methods for estimating the numbers are extremely shaky, whether by these early historians or later critics. One long technical article on the population comes in the with the low estimate of 100,000. Several other modern scholars seem to lean more forcefully in the area of 300,000 to 400,000. Whatever the number, what happened to them is extremely tragic. They were not immune to European diseases, especially smallpox, and the Spanish worked them unmercifully in the mines and fields. By 1507 the Spanish were settled and able to do a more reliable job of counting the Arawak/Tainos. It is generally agreed that by 1507 their numbers had shrunk to 60,000. By 1531 the number was down to 600. Today there are no easily discerned traces of the Arawak/Tanio at all except for some of the archaeological remains that have been found. Not only on Hispaniola, but also across the Windward Passage in Cuba, complete genocide was practiced on these natives. Disease was a major cause of their demise. However, on Columbus’ 2nd voyage he began to require a tribute from the Arawak/Tainos. They were expected to yield a certain quantity of gold per capita. Failing that each adult of 14 was required to submit 25lbs. of cotton. For those who could not produce the cotton either, there was a service requirement for them to work for the Spanish. This set the stage for a system of assigning the Arawak/Taino to Spanish settlers as effective slave labor. This system contributed significantly to their genocide.

A new teenage magazine with the target Essay Example for Free

A new teenage magazine with the target Essay The brief was to produce a new teenage magazine with the target audiences of either or both male or female within the target range of 13 to 19 years old. In the process of the production we could working in groups or individually. Working in a group of three produce front page and a double page spread article for the new magazine. In the production each member of the group need to have a minimum of three original pictures. Before staring the production i made a project schedule to with deadline for each sections of the production. To fulfil the brief i started researching similar text. It would best suit me to produce a magazine for male audience hence researched magazines complementing boys titles such as TOPGEAR, EVO and MAX POWER. The mise en scene and the conventions of all these magazines had resemblance regards to the design, layout. For example the magazine names where all in bold fonts with use of strong colours representing stereotypical macho man characteristics. Technical codes such as the high angle shots used to denote the power of the cars. All the magazines included vast number of images that consist of Mid shots, Mid Close Up and Mid Long shots of the cars facing the magazine to grab the attention of the readers so that they wont be bored of reading a long article. The researches into similar text help me to decide some important aspects of the magazine. I carried out a questionnaire and interviews. the questionnaire was give to both males and females. I found that there was a demand for teenage car magazine in the market but my foundings showed that females didnt have much of interest in cars. The males where asked if they would or wont buy the magazine the majority said they would if the magazines contented more of their interests of sex and cars. Whereas females lacked interest. in the questionnaire the done most participants were interested customising their cars. And that they find the cost of insurance and fuel to high some when considering to sale their cars. I have chosen my target audience to be male so both of the interviewee i interviewed where males between 16-19 drives. From this i would be able observe the interests and the difficulty first hand. To meet the demand of the targeted audience i have decided to have an article on ways to get cheaper and more affordable insurance. The format that I have decided to adopt is similar to the one of the other Car magazines and as this I found from the interview was preferable by my target audience. I have chosen the name TOPSPEED which follows the stereotype that most male readers want fast cars and babes. I would be reviewing a car that relates to target audience cars that has small engine and cheaper insurance category so that student can financially afford to drive it. The planning involved a subject matter research where the main research was done for Ford Fiesta ST in areas like car specification and its stability for young drives using i cold write up the double page spared article. The other area i researched was for student car insurance. This could be used to write up a mini article to help and give advice for getting cheap car insurance. I had never used Photoshop before so the whole process was an opportunity to learn new skill. I got some practise on Photoshop and Publisher before i started the final production. The technical skills that we practised in class include lighting. Regarding lighting, it can be used to create a particular mood. I started off by brainstorming me ideas. Finally deciding on car giving information and review car of a car that is affordable to teenagers as my target market will be more interested in rather than an expensive car that they may have trouble affording. I had descried to review the new Ford Fiesta ST because this would perfectly for my targeted audience since it had a small engine which uses less fuel plus it had i low insurance category meaning lower insurance premium. The Ford Fiesta ST was the sport version denoting speed and boy racers. Regards the design Ford was a very good looking Supermini which would easily grab the attention of the targeted audience. Analyzing the questionnaire cost of insurance was other area where young drivers had difficulties so i had decided to add tip to get cheap insurance. I write up a draft article using the information from the research which i will later improve for a magazine standard. Use this i experiment different layout for front cover and the double page spread and the use of font size different colours so that i had clear idea what work and what doesnt in a car magazine plus this help with how i want to take the pictures. I experimented with different typeface for the magazine name with different fonts colours and size to see which suits best for the front cover. Before the photo shoot i had to have a miscellaneous paperwork and productions design which includes the location of the shoot which is in Edgware i wont do any alteration to set design which is the car showroom. The showroom will have a good lighting so there is no need for me to arrange any sort of lighting for the shoot. I could have different action for the cars open doors or turn the wheel sideways will show the wheels properly and give the car character. The miscellaneous paperwork need to be done for risks assessment, equipment book forms, access permission and call sheets to be taken to the shoot location signed and dated by the person give the permission to take the photos The photo shoot was hard to arrange I called up several Ford dealerships to organise a photo shoot but only a couple of the dealership agreed to let me take pictures in there showrooms. The space around the car was limited for that reason most of the pictures i took was close up shoot or mid shoots i wasnt able to get any long shoot which would have helped show all the outer features of the car. The showroom had too much light i couldnt take some of the photos that i wanted. The car was parked in way that i could get pictures from back of the car. I wanted to take close up pictures of the speed-o-meter of the car but the staring wheel came was obstruction which i couldnt get clear picture. The staring wheel was locked which meant i couldnt turn the wheel sideways which is a convention in must car magazines. I didnt want the background of the photos i took using Photoshop i cut them out with the Magic wand tool and using the smudge tool smoothen the edges. I did this with most of the photos i wanted to use in the production. i decides to use black background for the red car. This is because the colour of the car would stand out and it strong male on your face colours. When i placed the photos on the cover page over a black background you could still see the ragged edges around the car. To solve this problem i added drop back shadow which covered the edges. I decided to use all caps and with modern but simple bold fonts in white colour that would stand out with black background. I downloaded a font from internet that you could make barcode with it this way i could customize the barcode specifically for my magazine. Inside the magazine for the main headings i used the same fonts as i had on the front cover. Experimenting with the layout I found one that would suit the best for the double page article. I divided the columns into equal sizes with little gaps between to make it easy to read. I give white border around the all the pictures used in the double page spared and place them on top of each other to give it a nice effect. When i improved my draft article and paste it into the columns of the double page spread using auto flow the article was too long and didnt fit into the area i wanted it. I thought that teens would be bored to read a long article so i decided to shorten it. I decided to have a different colour background for the mini article about insurance.

Literature Review on Compensation and Benefits

Literature Review on Compensation and Benefits CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Overview This chapter serves as the introduction part of this research, which addresses the core value of the research. Here, the overview of the relationship between the compensation and benefits and the job satisfaction among the university staff will be discussed in the well-manner. Background of Study Forty years ago, University of Malaya is the only one university in Malaysia. In today fast moving world, education is become very crucial for the young generation. Nowadays, there was many new public or private universities occur in the market. There were twenty public universities and eighteen private universities in Malaysia. There are become more and more competitors in the higher education industry and students have more choices when they want to enter to the university. The current trends for students choosing the universities are not depended on the outlook but they will choose the universities which have good academics performance and quality. Therefore, to attract more students and compete with others universities, each university must increase their competitive advantages. Thanks to the internet and the accompanying high speed of communications, nowadays technological and services differentiation is no longer a key to competitive advantage in higher education industry. So, what the main reasons to make some university more successful than others? What is the key competitive advantage in today globalize world? The answer is employees. In a university, university staff is played an important role to run the day to day operation of the organization. University with talented and motivated staffs will offer outstanding service to their students. This will increase the university performance and likely to pull the university ahead the competitors, even if the services offered are similar to those offered by their competitor. According to Tang, Roberto, Toto Tang (2004) from United States and Spain, job satisfaction is an affective reaction to a job that results from the incumbents comparison of actual outcomes with those that are desired or expected. Job satisfaction of the employees is just as important as customer satisfaction in terms of the organizational performance. Therefore, employers must make sure all their employees are satisfied with their job. But, how to make sure the staffs are motivated? How to ensure the staff are satisfied with their job? Here, the compensation and benefits is the key to those questions. Nowadays, compensation and benefits are one of the fastest changing fields in Human Resources, as many company are continue to investigate various ways of rewarding employees for increase their job satisfaction and their performance. Here, compensation refers to all forms of financial return and tangible services and benefits employees receive as part of an employment relationship, which includes topics in regard to wages or salary programs; for example, salary ranges for job descriptions, merit based programs, bonus based programs, commission based programs, long term or short terms incentives programs, and etc. Besides, employees benefit includes the allowances, income protection, life insurances, life balance, vacation, and etc. Benefits are forms of value, other than payment, that are provided to the employee in return for their contribution to the organization, that is, for doing their job. Why the compensation and benefits is so important for all the employees? The answer is compensation is the main sources of employees financial security. As we know, everyone is works in expectation of some rewards; employees may see compensation as a return in an exchange between employer and themselves, as an entitlement for being an employee of the company and as a reward for a job well done. Besides, compensation is a motivator for employees. Now, people look for a job that not only suit their interested and talent, people also look for the salary and the other benefits which the company will be offer, for example, life insurance, incentive, allowances, SOSCO, EPF and etc. Besides, in the economic downturn, based wages is become very important sources to employees for living. Therefore, if the employers give higher salary to their staff, this will be motivates them to perform well and they will more satisfy with their job. By doing so, the employees will know that the company is appreciate their contribution and their efforts are noted by management. Problem Statement As mention earlier, there are many new public or private universities occur in market. To compete with other competitor, each university must increase their competitive advantage. The key competitive advantage is employees. Therefore, the issues of the employee job satisfaction become very important for the employer. There are many factors which can influence job satisfaction among university staff, for example, job security, compensation and benefits, opportunities to use skills and feeling safe in the work environment. But, this research just will investigate the influence of compensation and benefits towards job satisfaction among university staff. For a university, there are many staffs to cover and the employer does not really understand what their staffs need. It is impossible for taking all employees compensation and benefits throughout the firm into consideration to set up the reward system. This is because different department staffs have different needs. For example, for lecturer the flexible working hours and higher bonus will be more favoured by them. But, for the marketing department the flexible working hours and more incentives and allowances will be favoured by them. Compensation and benefits is a primary motivator for employees. Nowadays, people look for a job not only suit their creativity and talents, but compensate them- both in term of salary and other benefits-accordingly. (Enotes.com, 2008) Therefore, when the problems occur to the compensation and benefits of the staffs are going to have impact on employees job satisfaction. When the staffs receives the salary less than he or she expected, he or she will feel that he or she is not appreciated by the university and what he or she did is meaningless. So, the staff will feel job dissatisfaction and less motivated by the university. According to the Society for Human Resources Management report, job dissatisfaction can contribute to multiple organizational problems and has been associated with increased levels of turnover and absenteeism, which ultimately cost the organization in terms of low performance and decreased productivity. (SHRM, 2009) Thus, employer must ensure that the compensation and benefits system is fair and equitable to all the staffs and understanding the system. By doing so, employer can create a real job satisfaction and motivate their employees. Besides, research has shown that both getting less than you want and getting more than you want leads to large discrepancies between desires and outcome and eventually leads to low job satisfaction thus to low quality if working performance. (Rice, Bennett, McFarlin, 1989) Hence, desires play an important role in assessing if increasing income impacts an individuals job satisfaction and work performance. Moreover, if the desires of the individual are already met, then an increase in income will not increase satisfaction as well as working performance. (Solberg, Diener, Wirtz, Lucas, Oishi, 2002) In other words, increasing compensation and benefits may not always lead to employees job satisfaction. Besides, employers must design an appropriate compensation and benefits system to their staff. This is because inappropriate compensation and benefits will have negative effect to employee job satisfaction. For example, assume that university staffs have received one thousand and fifty ringgit (RM) each month, no allowances and overtime claim and his or her still need to work 8 hours per day. Will you believe this staff will satisfy with his or her jobs? The answer is absolutely no. Therefore, an appropriate compensation and benefits system is very significant to an organization. As a conclusion, in today fast moving world, the issue of the compensation and benefits are getting more and more important. This is because it is have much influence on an employees life, for example, health, personality, mentality and thus lead to employees job satisfaction. Therefore, employers must ensure themselves understand the way of how compensation and benefits influence the employees job satisfaction. Objectives of the Study The objectives of this study are as following: To explore the influence of compensation and benefits towards job satisfaction among University staff To examines the awareness of the importance of compensation and benefits To investigate the importance of job satisfaction among university staff in Malaysia To identify about the opinion of the university staff about compensation and benefits on job satisfaction Scope of Study The scope of this study is all about the relationship between the compensation and benefits with the job satisfaction among university staff. This study will conduct a survey to support the finding. The respondents of the survey are the administrative staff among the university. The reason of choosing these respondents is because administrative staffs represent an important component in the university. They are played an important role to run the day to day operation of the organization. By choosing administrative staffs as survey object, this research can be strengthened by the survey results. Significance of Study The information gain from this research will be able to provide valuable insight on the influence of compensation and benefits towards job satisfaction among university staff. The aim of the research is to investigate and understand the relationship between compensation and benefits and job satisfaction. This research is conducted in a local public and private university is needed to gather the university staff basic information of salary, basic need of compensation and benefits, ideas of improving the total reward system of the university. From the result of the research, we can have a clear picture and concept of the relationship between compensation and benefits and job satisfaction among the university staff. Besides, we also can identify clearly the variable of the job satisfaction among the university staff. In addition, the significance of the study is to provide an opportunity to the university staff to express their opinions and thus the grievances on the compensation and benefits they receive. By doing so, this can help the employer to get a better understand on what their employees need. This research also enhances the understanding of both the employer and the university staff on managing and designing the compensation and benefits of staff. Therefore, the communication gap between the employer and the staff can be removed indirectly. From the information obtained, the employer can able to design an appropriate compensation and benefits system for their employees. As a result, the employer can increase the employees job satisfaction more effectively and efficiently by using appropriate compensation and benefits. Compensation and benefits are obviously crucial to either the employer or the university staff. Appropriate compensation and benefits will address fairness, openness and clarity. This can help employees to increase their job satisfaction, encourage and motivate them to devote themselves to the university thus improve the performance of the whole university. Organization of the Study In this Final Year Project 1 will be constructed into five different chapters. The following is the detail of each chapter. Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter will provide the core value and a clear image of the study and also a briefing of the whole study. This chapter will includes background of study, problem statement, objectives of the study, scope of study, and the significance of the study. Chapter 2: Literature Review The second chapter is related to the literature review. In this chapter, all the main point will be summary and related information of the articles and journals will be used which related with the research. Chapter 3: Research Methodology This chapter for the research is the method of investigation on the influence of compensation and benefits towards job satisfaction among university staff, which include theoretical framework, research design, sampling and data collection and so on. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Overview As discussed and highlighted in the previous chapter, this research examines the relationship between compensation and benefits and job satisfaction among university staff. In order to gain a better understanding about this issue, an examination of literature on related study were carried out. This chapter will consist of six sections. First, key terms definitions of the job satisfaction, compensation and benefits are provided on the following sections. For thoroughly capturing the significances of compensation and benefits, the selection related literature is explained in detail. And, the relationship between compensation and benefits and job satisfaction among university staff is being discussed and explored in the following sections by using some nations and different industry for examples. Last, the comprehensive review of all the related studies will be provided. The Definition of Job Satisfaction Job satisfaction has been explored in a variety of ways, and is defined differently by various researchers. It is also a heavily researched area of inquiry. Locke (1976) estimated that, as of 1976, about 3350 articles or dissertations had been written on the topic. Cranny (1992) indicated that more than 5000 studies of job satisfaction have been published. Job satisfaction defines as a workers sense of achievement and success, is generally perceived to be directly linked to productivity as well as to personal wellbeing (Answer, 2008). Job satisfaction is a measure of the degree to which the employee is satisfied and happy with the job. Prince and Patche (1972) defined job satisfaction as the degree to which the members of a social system have positive and affective orientation towards membership in the system. Smith (1969) perceived job satisfaction as the extent to which an employee expresses a positive orientation towards a job. Oshagbemi (2003) stated that job satisfaction is an affective reaction to a job that results from the comparison or actual outcomes with those that are desired. Job satisfaction is a pleasurable and emotional state resulting from the perception of ones job as fulfilling or allowing the fulfilment of ones important job values, provided these values are compatible with ones needs (Locke, 1976). Katzell (1964) argues that if there is consensus about job satisfaction, it is the verbal expression of an incumbents evaluation of his or her job. On this basis, it is an affective or hedonic tone, for which the stimuli are events or conditions experienced in connection with jobs or occupations. Job satisfaction refers to an employees overall affective evaluation of the job situation. There is increasing interest in the job satisfaction of frontline employees, given their prominent role in developing relationships (Schneider, Benjamin Bowen, 1993). Besides, according to Stephen and Mary (2004) a person with a high level of job satisfaction has a positive attitude towards the job, while a person who is dissatisfied with the job has a negative attitude. When people speak of employee attitude, they usually are referring to job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is a very crucial issue in higher education industry; even less evidence is available related to job satisfaction in higher education for non-western nations. However, there has been a growing interest in job satisfaction in higher education over past several years mainly due to the realization that higher educational institutes are labour intensive and their budgets are predominantly devoted to personnel and their effectiveness is largely dependent on their employees (Kusku,2003), both academic and administrative. The Importance of Job Satisfaction in an Organization Job satisfaction is a very important attribute which is frequently measured by organizations. The topic of job satisfaction is also important because of its implications for job related behaviours such as productivity, absenteeism or turnover (Oshagbemi, 2000). Besides, it is also can be an important indicator of how employees feel about their jobs and a predictor of work behaviours such as organizational citizenship, absenteeism, and turnover. Further, job satisfaction can partially mediate the relationship of personality variables and deviant work behaviours (Answer, 2008). Extensive study has shown that job satisfaction has a direct impact on the performance of employees in different levels of profession. It is related to employee motivation and performance (Ostroff, 1992). For the organization, job satisfaction of its workers means a work force that is motivated and committed to high quality performance. On the other hand, to the worker, job satisfaction brings a pleasurable emotional state that often leads to a positive work attitude. A satisfied worker is more likely to be creative, flexible, innovative, and loyal (Answer, 2008). Therefore, the issue of job satisfaction among employees must be explored and discussed in the well-manner. The Definition of Compensation Compensation has been defined in a variety of ways. In English, compensation is defines as something that counterbalances, offsets, or makes up for something elses. However, if we look at the origin if the word in different languages, we can get a sense of the richness of the meaning, which combines entitlement, return, and reward (Atul, Matt George, 2002; Mark, 2002; Mansour, Peter, Mary, Robert, 2006). In Japanese, compensation is defines as kyuyo, which is made up of two separate character (kyu and yo), both meaning giving something. Besides, in China, the traditional characters for the word compensation are based on the symbols for logs and water; compensation provides the necessities in life (Milkovich Newman, 2008). According to Deluca (1993) and Rajkumar (1996), compensation is defines as pay, reward, remuneration, or salary and wage management. These terms are often used interchangeably in organization. In an organization perspective, compensation is often defines as an important human resource management function where it emphasizes planning, organizing, and controlling various types of pay systems. For example, direct and indirect payments, monetary and non-monetary rewards and cash and non-cash payments, those compensation is used for rewarding employees who perform in their work or service (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart Wright, 2004). In this research, compensation refers to all forms of financial returns and tangible services employees receive as part of employment relationship. It can be seen as a measure of justice. Normally, it is the major source of employees financial security (Milkovich Newman, 2008). Zhou, Qian, Henan and Lei (2009) stated that compensation provides competitive base salary levels necessary to attract and retain talent and compensates for day-to-day responsibilities performed at fully acceptable level and above. Chen and Brian (2004) propose that the types of compensation typically contain the following components base salary, overtime pay (OT), bonuses, commissions, the dollar value of restricted stock awards and gains from exercising stock options, profit sharing, and so on. The following is the definition for the two components of compensation. Base-Salary Base- salary is the annual and monthly salary rates of an employee which are established under current personnel policy for each position. Besides, base- salary is to represent the employees straight-time pay for a standard 40- hour workweek (Anonymous, 2007). According to wikipedia.com (2009), base- salary is a form of periodic payment from an employer to an employee, which may be specified in an employment contract. It is contrasted with piece wages, where each job, hour or other unit is paid separately, rather than on a periodic basis. In other view of running a business, base- salary can also be viewed as the cost of acquiring human resources for running operations, and is then termed personnel expense or salary expense. Besides, Henderson (2006) and Young (1999) are stated that base-salary is a base pay that is given to employees on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis based on job structure. Overtime Pay (OT) Overtime pay (OT) is always included in cash compensation. It is the pay to time worked in excess of an agreed upon time for normal working hours by an individual employee (Answers.com, 2008). In addition, Overtime Pay (OT) is defines as the payment of premium time and one-half rates in form of monetary compensation or time off is required for hours worked in excess of 40 in one a week, with exception of those considered exempt. The overtime pay rate usually is 1.5 times of base wage per hour (Anonymous, 2007). Bonus Bonus is refers as a cash payment provided to employees based on their performance. For example, monetary incentives for achieving job targets (Bloom Milkovich, 1998; Gupta Shaw, 1998; Lowery, Beadles, Petty, Amsler Thompson, 2002). Steven and Loring (1996) stated that bonus is a single, one-off, lump-sum payment which can be in the form of cash or other creative monetary scheme, such as stock options. Bonus is defines as all payments to employees which is not paid regularly at each pay period, for example bonuses paid at fixed periods. Besides, bonus payments are generally linked to individual or collective performance. Bonus can be distributed randomly as the company can afford to pay a bonus, or the amount of the bonus pay can be specified by contract (Anonymous, no date). The Definition of Benefits Benefits refer to the part of the total compensation package provided to the employee in whole or in part by payments from the employer and its did not include the pay for time spent on work (Milkovich Newman, 2008). Besides, benefits are group membership rewards that provide security for employees and their family member. Benefits are a non-compensation paid to employees. Some benefits are mandated by law, for example social security, unemployment compensation and worker compensation. Employees benefits include pension, health insurance, fringe benefits, welfare and etc (Lee, Hsu Lien, 2006). Benefits are a crucial part of an employees total compensation package. Benefits packages are became popular after World War II, when wage controls made it more difficult to give competitive salaries (Enotes.com, 2008). Besides, benefits can be treated as the payment or entitlement, such as one make under an insurance policy or employment agreement, or public assistance program or more genera lly, something of value or usefulness. Benefits may also be seen as a reflection of justice in society (Herman, 2005). According to Carter (2008), benefits are forms of value, other than payment, that are provided to the employee in return for their contribution to the organization, which is for doing their work. Zhou, Qian, Henan and Lei (2009) argued that benefits are provides flexible and market competitive health benefits to support employment brand and support attraction and retention. Employees benefit includes disability income protection, retirement benefits, work-life balance (for example, sick leave, vacation, jury duty and etc), allowances (for example, dental, insurance, medical, transportation, housing, mobile phone and etc), and so on. The following is the definition for the two components of benefits. Allowances Bergmann and Scarpello (2002) and Milkivich and Newman (2008) stated that allowances is often related to additional financial rewards legally provided to employees based on the employment contract or organization related service, for example, entertainment allowance or allowance fixed for particular jobs or service schemes. Allowances is also defines as a amount paid to employees as part of their salary package, or defray their out of pocket expenses incurred on behalf of the firm (Business Dictionary.com, 2009). Work-life Balance Work-life balance is refers to the effectively managing the juggling act between paid work and the other activities that are important to people. Besides, work-life balance can defines as having enough time for work and enough time to have a life thus the work life balance. The concept of work-life balance is includes the priority that work takes over family, working long hours and work intensification (Dr. Mervyl, 2007). According to Milkovich Newman (2008), work-life balance is a programs that help employees better integrate their work and life responsibilities include time away from work (vacation, jury duty), access to services to meet specific needs (drug counseling, financial planning, referrals for child and elder care), and flexible work arrangements (telecommuting, non-paid time off). Besides, Melissa (2007) also stated that work-life balance is about creating and maintaining supportive and healthy work environments, which will enable employees to have balance between work and personal responsibilities and thus strengthen employee loyalty and productivity. The Importance of Compensation and Benefits in an Organization In today fast moving world, developments have made it more important than ever for companies to make sure they have a strategic, holistic and integrated approach to compensation. To compete in a tough arena, organizations now more than ever need the support of an informed, involved and motivated their employees (Chen Hsieh, 2006). Here, compensation and benefits is a primary motivator and rewards for employees. As noted by Lawler (1995), compensation can be an effective motivator only if it is important to people and it is seen to be tied to their performance in ways that are perceived to be credible and direct. Without rewards, a company is planting seeds for high turnover, low productivity and long-term failure. According to Herman (2005), compensation help to focus on the position and duties performed. And, it attempts to influence employees current and future working performance. Besides, compensation servers different objectives, the main ones being to attract, retain and motivate high-potential employees. Meanwhile, the fulfilments of those goals are subject to constraints such as the maintenance of equity, cost control and legal requirements (For example, wage and salary legislation) (Steven Loring, 1996). To employee, compensation may be seen as a return in exchange between the firms they work for and themselves, as an entitlement for being an employee of the company, or as a reward for job well done. It is given to employees in exchange for work performed (Milkovich Newman, 2008). Steven and Loring (1996) observe that for employees, compensation is an important issue since pay is perceived to be an indication to their personal and market value to the organization. Based on about.com (2009), for employers, compensation is one of the crucial communication tools, to send a message about your organizations expectations and goal achievement rewards. Besides, Yale and Donald (2002) stated that compensation rewards performance relative to others and progressive improvement in year-to-year results and providing regular measures of success or progress. It also balances rewards with risk and providing capital accumulation opportunity. Therefore, compensation has very crucial to not only the employees but also the employers. Carter (2002) proposed that benefits are increasingly expensive for businesses to provide to employees, so the range and options of benefits are changing rapidly to include, such as flexible benefits plan. For employers, they use benefits to attract and retain good and talented workers. For employees, they rely on benefits (for example, medical subsidies, vacations, and retirement) to secure their financial well-being. By linking benefits (for example, pension and holidays) to seniority, workers will be reluctant to change jobs (Gerhart Milkovich, 1992). Lee, Hsu and Lien (2006) stated that benefits are designed to safeguard employees and their family against problems due to sickness, sickness, accidents or retirements. Here, let use some examples of components of benefits to bring out its effect of employees. Work life balance with regard such as temporal flexibility, leave benefits, and interpersonal relationships has the potential to reduce or increase stress on workers with life responsibilities. The provision of work life balance strategies can provide a positive and direct effect on an employees decision to remain with an employer (Macran, Joshi Dex, 1996). Based on Milkovich Newman (2008), income protection helps protect employees from the financial risks inherent in daily life. It serves as a backup to employees salaries in the event that an employee is sick, disabled, or no longer able to work. Besides, workers allowances are absolutely needed for employees. It helps to reduce the financial burden of employees and also can treated as extra sum of salaries indeed (Herman, 2005). Therefore, a benefit has great significance to the whole organizations. The Relationship between Compensation and Benefits towards Job Satisfaction In todays globalizes world, organizations are facing changes generated by increased competition, mergers and acquisitions, shifting markets and changing employee demographics (Chen Hsieh, 2006). Therefore, it is crucial for organization to strategies their competitive and benefits plans in order to attract appropriate talent, maximize return on human capital and increase employees job satisfaction. A key component for a successful organizational intervention is the meaningfulness of the intervention to the employee. One intervention that may be meaningful to many employees is the amount of their compensation and benefits increase (Mayuri Mark, 2005). Compensation and benefits is a powerful communicator of organizational goals and priorities and companies that expect to be successful must make employees become partners in their success (Shuster Zingheim, 1993). Pam (2007) observes that employee compensation can be a sensitive subject, and people get very passionate when trying to determine the most appropriate compensation plan for any business. Nowadays, many human resources related concerns need to be addressed, but equally important understands the financial aspects of employee compensation and benefits. Thus, compensation and benefits play an important role in an organization. According to the survey report conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (2009), they found that compensation and benefits would affect em

Comparing and Contrasting Shakespeares Play Romeo and Juliet and the M

Comparing and Contrasting Shakespeare's Play Romeo and Juliet and the Movie Version "[. . . E]mblems of mafia gang-land hostility: guns, fast cars, and tattoos [. . .]" (Walker 5) are not the usual images found in a Shakespearean play. Baz Luhrmann's 1996 production of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is: [. . .] told in a setting [. . .] that is modern and yet unfamiliar: a world where the youth might conceivably always go armed; a world where love can still be so thwarted and endangered; where the innocence and passion of the protagonists can be so out of step with the current mood. (Hamilton 3) The original drama and the 1996 movie production have more differences than similarities that can be seen in comparing them both. The scenes and the language in the movie are easier to understand than reading the play because of the modern day setting and the conversational use of Shakespeare's language. In the movie, the hatred that is held between the Montague and Capulet families and leads to the destruction of the love that is found between Romeo and Juliet is portrayed more clearly than in the play. The feud between the two families can be seen in the characters and the scenes compared in the play and the movie. In the first act of Shakespeare's play, Tybalt, who is a member of the Capulet family, is upset at Benvolio, who is a member of the Montague family. Benvolio has drawn his sword in order to "keep the peace" (Shakespeare 1.1). Tybalt's hatred toward the Montague family can be seen in the following passage to Benvolio: "What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, / As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee [. . .]" (Shakespeare 1.1). Samuel Taylor Coleridge suggests that "Tybalt is a man abandoned to h... ...or Why William Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' Deserves Another Look." Literature/Film Quarterly 28.2 (2000): 118-124. 7 April 2001. . Goldman, Michael. "'Romeo and Juiliet': The Meaning of the Theatrical Experience." Shakespeare and the Energies of Drama. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP. 1972. 33-44. Rpt. in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. 2nd ed. Ed. J. A. Bryant, Jr. New York: Penguin Putnam, 1998. 160-170. Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Ed. Shane Weller. New York: Dover P, 1993. Walker, Elsie. "Pop Goes the Shakespeare: Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet." Literature/Film Quarterly 28.2 (2000): 132-139. 7 April 2001. . William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Dir. Baz Luhrmann. Twentieth Century Fox. 1996.

National Missile Defense (NMD) Research Paper -- Military Integrated D

National Missile Defense National Missile Defense (NMD) is an extremely complex land-based ballistic missile system with the sole purpose of defending the United States against a ballistic missile attack from a foreign country. The NMD architecture consists of five main components. 1. Ground-Based Interceptors (GBI): The purpose of the GBI is to destroy the incoming nuclear weapon. The interceptor is a multistage rocket, which is launched after receiving a firing solution from the command and control system. After exiting the atmosphere, the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) is released. This is the actual equipment that is to intercept the incoming warhead and destroy it by colliding with it. The EKV has on-board thrusters that enable it to change course if required to intercept the warhead. 2. Battle Management, Command, Control, and Communications (BM/C3): The BM/C3 component is divided into two main parts. First, the Command and Control (BM/C2) system controls the overall NMD system. Information from sensors is forwarded to the BM/C2, which processes the data and determines the targets for the GBI to intercept. Second, the In-Flight Interceptor Communications System (IFICS) is a network of ground systems that relay communications to the GBI while in flight to guide it to the incoming warhead. 3. X-Band/Ground-Based Radars: These radar systems gather tracking information regarding the incoming warheads during the mid-course phase of the missile. This data is then sent to the BM/C2, which in turn is sent to the GBI for guidance to intercept the warhead. 4. Upgraded Early Warning Radars (UEWR): These radars systems detect targets near the horizon, early in the ballistic missi... ...s?† Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers. 29 Sep 1999. < http://www.clw.org/coalition/ucsnmd092999.htm> 5 Class Notes from website 6 Class Notes from website 7 Gronlund, Lisbeth. â€Å"The Planned US NMD System: Is the Technology Ready for Deployment? Will the Pentagon Know If It Is?† Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers. 29 Sep 1999. < http://www.clw.org/coalition/ucsnmd092999.htm> 8 Galum, John, Joshua Shakon and Tan Mau Wu. â€Å"National Missile Defense – A CS91 Final Project.† < http://www.cs.swarthmore.edu/~eroberts/cs91/projects/national-missile-defense/index.html> 9 Approaching Ethics, Class notes regarding instructions for the Ethical Decision-making Group Capture Worksheet 10 Approaching Ethics, Class notes regarding instructions for the Ethical Decision-making Group Capture Worksheet

William T. Sherman Essay examples -- essays research papers

William T. Sherman SHERMAN, William Tecumseh (1820-91). Ranked second only to General Ulysses S. Grant as the greatest Northern commander in the American Civil War, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman was a master of modern warfare. Like Grant, Sherman was born in Ohio when it was a frontier state. He was named Tecumseh for the Shawnee Indian chief who had terrorized that region a few years earlier. Sherman was born on Feb. 8, 1820, in Lancaster, Ohio. His father died when he was 9 years old. Most of the 11 children in the family were distributed among the relatives and friends. He was adopted by Thomas Ewing. After attending an academy at Lancaster, Sherman entered West Point. During the Mexican War he saw service in California. In 1853 he resigned his commission for a business, legal, and educational career. When Louisiana seceded from the Union, he was head of the state military academy (now Louisiana State University). He resigned his position and rejoined the army in May 1861. He was commissioned a colonel of volunteers and commanded a brigade in the first battle of Bull Run, on July 21, 1861. Three months later he was given charge of the Department of the Ohio (River). On taking over his new command he reported that 200,000 men would be needed to carry on a successful campaign in that region. Newspapers said that Sherman was crazy. Time proved him right, but popular protest cost him his command. Sherman's military genius was so outstanding that he could not long be k...

Feminist Theory

Feminism refers to political, cultural, and economic movements aimed at establishing greater rights, legal protection for women, and or women's liberation. It includes some of the sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. Nancy Cott defines feminism as the belief in the importance of gender equality, invalidating the idea of gender hierarchy as a socially constructed concept. Feminism has earned itself a bad reputation, but it never undermined gender differences that exist between males and females. A man can never be as good a mother as a female can.Similarly, a woman can never be as good a father as a male can. While accepting these anatomical and physiological differences between the two genders, feminism seeks for both genders to be equally respected. They are both human and as a species, humans cannot progress without either one of them. Maggie Humm and Rebecca Walker divide the history of feminism into three waves. The first wave transpi red in the nineteenth and early twentieth century’s, the second occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, and the third extends from the 1990s to the present.In each wave of the movement, though men have taken part in significant responses to feminism, the relationship between men and feminism has been complex. Historically, a number of men have engaged with feminism. Philosopher Jeremy Bentham demanded equal rights for women in the eighteenth century. In 1866, philosopher John Stuart Mill presented a women's petition to the British Parliament and supported an amendment to the 1867 Reform Bill.An extension of feminism into theoretical or philosophical fields such as anthropology, sociology, economics, women's studies, literary criticism, art history, and psychoanalysis is called feminist theory. Feminist theory aims to understand gender inequality and focuses on gender politics, power relations, and sexuality. While providing a critique of these social and political relations, much of feminist theory focuses on the promotion of women's rights and interests. Themes explored in feminist theory include discrimination, stereotyping, objectification (especially sexual objectification), oppression, and patriarchy.Today, feminist theory has manifested in a variety of disciplines such as feminist geography, feminist history, feminist theology, and feminist literary criticism and has changed traditional perspectives on a wide range of areas in human life, from culture to law. Feminist activists have campaigned for women's legal rights such as rights of contract, property rights, and voting rights while also promoting women's rights to bodily integrity and autonomy, abortion rights, and reproductive rights.They have struggled to protect women and girls from domestic violence, sexual harassment, and rape. On economic matters, feminists have advocated for workplace rights, including maternity leave and equal pay, and against other forms of gender-specific discrimination aga inst women. During much of its history, feminist movements and theories were led predominantly by middle-class white women from Western Europe and North America. However, at least since Sojourner Truth's 1851 speech to American feminists, women of other races have proposed alternative feminisms.This trend accelerated in the 1960s with the civil rights movement in the United States and the collapse of European colonialism in Africa, the Caribbean, parts of Latin America, and Southeast Asia. Since that time, women in former European colonies and the Third World have proposed postcolonial and Third World feminisms. Postcolonial feminists argue that oppression relating to the colonial experience, particularly racial, class, and ethnic oppression, has marginalized women in postcolonial societies.They challenge the assumption that gender oppression is the primary force of patriarchy. They object to portrayals of women of non-Western societies as passive and voiceless victims and the portr ayal of Western women as modern, educated, and empowered. Today, they struggle to fight gender oppression within their own cultural models of society rather than through those imposed by the Western colonizers. They, thus, react against both universalizing tendencies in Western feminist thought and a lack of attention to gender issues in mainstream postcolonial thought.Some postcolonial feminists, such as Chandra Talpade Mohanty and Black feminists, such as Angela Davis and Alice Walker, are critical of Western feminism for being ethnocentric. Chandra Talpade Mohanty criticizes Western feminism on the ground that it does not take into account the unique experiences of women from third-world countries or the existence of feminisms indigenous to third-world countries. This discourse is strongly related to African feminism and is also associated with concepts such as black feminism, womanism, Africana womanism, motherism, Stiwanism, negofeminism, chicana feminism, and femalism.Pro-femi nism is the support of feminism without implying that the supporter is a member of the feminist movement. The term is most often used in reference to men who are actively supportive of feminism and of their efforts to bring about gender equality. The activities of pro- feminist men's groups include anti-violence work with boys and young men in schools, offering sexual harassment workshops in workplaces, running community education campaigns, and counseling male perpetrators of violence.Pro-feminist men also are involved in men's health, activism against pornography including anti-pornography legislation, men's studies, and the development of gender equity curricula in schools. This work is sometimes in collaboration with feminists and women's services, such as domestic violence and rape crisis centers. Some activists of both genders refer to all pro-feminist men as ‘pro-feminists' and not as ‘feminists'. There have been positive and negative reactions and responses to fe minism, depending on the individual man and the social context of the time.These responses have varied from pro-feminism to masculism to anti-feminism. In the twenty-first century, new reactions to feminist ideologies have emerged, including a generation of male scholars involved in gender studies and men's rights activists who promote male equality including equal treatment in family, divorce, and anti ­discrimination law. Today, academics like Michael Flood, Michael Messner, and Michael Kimmel are involved with men's studies and pro- feminism.The United Nations Human Development Report 2004 estimated that, when both paid employment and unpaid household tasks are accounted for, on average women work more than men. In rural areas of selected developing countries women performed an average of 20 per cent more work than men, or an additional 102 minutes per day. In the OECD countries surveyed, on average women performed 5 per cent more work than men, or 20 minutes per day. On 3 Sept ember 1981. The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), described as an international bill of rights for women, came into force.While Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Qatar, Nauru, Palau, and Tonga have not ratified CEDAW, several countries have ratified the Convention subject to certain declarations, reservations, and objections. A number of feminist writers maintain that identifying as a feminist is the strongest stand men can take in the struggle against sexism. They have argued that men should be allowed, or even be encouraged, to participate in the feminist movement. Other female feminists counter- argue that men cannot be feminists simply because they are not women.They maintain that men are granted inherent privileges that prevent them from identifying with feminist struggles, thus making it impossible for them to identify with feminists. Irrespective of what the feminist writers maintain, the feminist movement has effected change in Wester n society, including women's suffrage, greater access to education, more nearly equitable pay with men, the right to initiate divorce proceedings and ‘no fault' divorce, and the right of women to make individual decisions regarding pregnancy (including access to contraceptives and abortion), as well as the right to own property.