Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Extreme Nationalism

Extreme Nationalism. Objective The objective of my essay is to let you know what were the main causes of World War 2, focusing in extreme nationalism and letting you know my opinion about it. Introduction The Second World War was a global conflict that resulted in more deaths than any other war. It started in 1939 and concluded in 1945. A lot of World Nations were involved including the Great Powers. There are several causes that led to the Second World War; here I mention the main ones: * A worldwide depression. derived from the Great Depression, the world was suffering of extreme inflation, high prices and very low wages. People suffered despair and had no hope for the future and unemployment was very high. * Problems left from The First World War. – The German people were very unhappy about the treaty and thought that it was too sever to them. Germany could not afford to pay the money and during the 1920s the people in Germany were very poor because there were not many jobs and the price of food and basic goods was high.People were dissatisfied with the government and voted to power a man, Adolf Hitler, who promised to rip up the Treaty of Versailles. * The rise of Dictators. – Nations like Germany, Italy, and Japan came under the rule of dictators or military leaders. A dictator named Mussolini took power in Italy in 1922. Military leaders took control of Japan in the early 1930s. In Germany, Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party, gained power in 1933. These leaders promised to restore their countries. Hitler began to arm Germany for war. Japan invaded China.Mussolini sent Italian troops to conquer Ethiopia, in Africa. And the League of Nations failed or did nothing to stop them. * Ideologies. – Some ideologies doctrines and philosophies like totalitariansm, fascism, imperialism, militarism, racism and extreme nationalism affected too. The one I’m focusing is: extreme nationalism. Extreme Nationalism. Many countries were left ou t of the Treaty of Versailles or didn’t receive a large enough piece of the Treaty pie. This led to self interest within countries to prove their power and ability to rules as top leaders.One of the most common examples was The German Workers party, more commonly known as the Nazis. They grew and expanded from one single catalytic seed into a blooming party. Nationalism was in the minds of Germans after the end World War 1, budding and taking nutriment from the steely resentment that covered German opinions. It was from the common ground of extreme nationalism that the Nazis were able to build their empire. The party started out as the Free Committee for a German Workers’ Peace in 1918.The party was built under opposition of the Treaty of Versailles, anti-Semitic, anti-Monarchist, anti-Marxist opinions and the solid belief that German nationalists were a superior race. It demanded that people should be absolutely loyal to the nation and support its foreign expansion. I t emphasized national glory. It was from the basis of extreme nationalism that the Nazis were able to be a factor in the causes of WWII. Nationalism is defined as: 1. Devotion to the interests or culture of one's nation. 2.The belief that nations will benefit from acting independently rather than collectively, emphasizing national rather than international goals. 3. Aspirations for national independence in a country under foreign domination. Personal Opinion. About nationalism I think everywhere you look; you can find tiny hints of nationalism somewhere. Personally I think that nationalism is opinionated. And in my opinion I think that nationalism can create false enemies and starts riots in many areas of the world. A negative effect to me, are people who take nationalism to the extreme.Some of these extremists protest against churches of different religions just because of their beliefs. For example, Hitler singled out every Jew just because they weren’t Christian. Some neo- Nazi groups today believe in â€Å"white power. † They protest against all the time, and it disrupts the peace in some places and creates large disputes in many areas. Aide Thamara Mendoza 50L Another extreme effect of nationalism, are the people who literally kill just because of what they believe in. For example, Iraqi nationals yelled â€Å"ALLAH!!! right before they set off a suicide bomb on American soldier. Also, some even sneak onto planes with bombs and timers strapped to their chests knowing that they’re killing many people for their beliefs. I think that their theory is bizarre and unnecessary. These methods create large confrontation between countries, which is obviously bad. I mean, I find nothing wrong in having a slight nationalistic feeling that doesn’t hurt anyone just because your lack of tolerance doesn’t let you assimilate that they are different than you and there’s nothing wrong with it.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Ender’s Game Book Report

Ender’s Game Ender’s Game is a science fiction novel which was written by Orson Scott Card. This novel is about a brilliant military strategist, Ender Wiggin, whose story takes place in the future where there is a constant threat of an invasion from aliens who have been given the slanderous nickname, Bugger. Ender’s childhood is not an easy one considering he gets teased at school for being a â€Å"third† only to come home to an abusive brother who is always harassing Ender and his sister Valentine and he has the weight of the world on his shoulders because they believe that he is the last hope for mankind to fight off the Buggers. After many years of monitoring Ender the International Fleet decides they want to recruit Ender into Battle School, the story’s plot takes off from here where he struggles to cope with others who despise him, he struggles with the thought of leaving his childhood, Valentine and his home and he is also in the constant struggle to dominate the Battle Room. After a few years on this spaceship Ender becomes demotivated and has to visit Earth and see Valentine where he learns about Peter’s plot to take over the world. After this Ender gets shipped off to Eros, the planet which Command School is on and where he meets Mazer Rackham, who was the hero of the first bugger invasion, and Mazer begins training Ender on a simulator that learns and gets harder as the Buggers learn from the past. Eventually Ender beats the simulator only to find out he was commanding the real thing and they didn’t tell him because they wanted to keep his emotions out of it. He also finds out that Earth has been taken over by Peter so he and Valentine colonize the bugger’s old planet where he finds a bugger pupa where he then decides to try and help it. Ender was a young genius who was a third child or third in a time when having more than two children was considered bad. Because of this he was always teased but his birth was actually authorized by the government in an attempt to save the world form the Buggers. Ender changed from innocent and trusting into a hardened and semi-emotionless machine by the end of the story. Ender’s brother and sister had a very big influence on Ender, if it weren’t for them being so smart the International Fleet wouldn’t have authorized Ender’s birth and if it weren’t for Peter he wouldn’t have known how to cry silently and Valentine helped him cope with Peter while also teaching him how to love and helping him when he visits Earth right before going to Command School. The story has many settings. The first of which takes place sometime in the future somewhere on Earth where there is a constant threat of a bugger invasion and having a third child is considered bad which made life a lot harder for Ender which was one of many reasons why he left to Battle School. The setting then moves to the spaceship which Battle School is on which doesn’t really need to be on a spaceship unless Orson Scott Card wanted the spaceship to help with the feeling of isolation. As the story progresses the setting moves to the planet Eros which is where he will be fighting the Buggers thinking he is just in a simulation but he is really fighting the Buggers. One theme that I noticed throughout the novel is how something small can represent something so big like the game that they played in Battle School was a simple game but it was everything they had so it meant so much to them. Another example of this theme is when Ender was in Command School working on the â€Å"simulator† and Ender viewed the game as child’s play when in reality he was fighting the real war without even knowing. This book was interesting at the beginning because of the way Orson Scott Card introduces you to a new world where you have no idea what is going on and slowly reveals the setting as you need to learn it, not overloading you with information at the beginning of the book but not leaving you clueless wondering why something just happened. Overall I thought the book took too long to get to the point on certain occasions and I didn’t really find the plot interesting which made it pretty boring. I find the idea of Ender always being up against opponents older than him or more numerous than him relatable because sometimes I feel like I am always ignored when I ask for a later bedtime because both of my parents look down on me because I am young. The ending was very interesting when he found out that he just defeated the Buggers without knowing and felt guilty but when he got to the Bugger’s planet he found the pupa and was trying to find a new home for it.

Monday, July 29, 2019

What I will accomplish in This Course

In this semester I would like to improve and develop my English writing and reading skills thru English 122. English 122 is not only just a requirement for transferring to four-year institution, but also a benefit for my whole life. My ultimate goal is going to medical school in order to become a doctor in the United States, I believe what I am learning in English 122 will make a significant contribution to my career Writing is not just simply communicating ideas or expressing thoughts on paper; writing skill is essential because a person’s intelligence and personality can be seen and judged thru the paper he or she writes. Most importantly, good writing skill is essential to job interview. It is not avoidable that all the occupations need good writing to connect to employers and clients. If there is any misunderstanding between either clients or employers due to poor writing, it’s possible to loose jobs or contracts. As an international student, I never took neither English 116 nor English 118 during any semester in order to take English 122. In fact, the high school I graduated from had already prepared me to be eligible to take college level English class. One of the best parts of what I had learned in US high school is acknowledging grammar structure. When every time I take a look on my paper over and over, I can always tell where my grammar errors are and make corrections. For me personally, grammar is just made of a series of rules that I can easily memorize and go easy on it. On the other hand, I clearly feel myself lack of words through my essays, even though I am able to interpret things in simple ways. However, there is a big difference between college and high school writing and I believe that college level writing requires more sophisticated process and technique. If my essay is lack of words, specifically vocabulary and transition, the whole paper may not be interpreted that well. Another weakness I am very concerning is that I am not good at reasoning, a good paper must need to persuade readers to totally agree with my point of view. And I know my own explanation is not good enough to support my ideas. Applying to writing skills to real life, for instance, to medical school, neither scientific journals nor lab report can be presented verbally, both types of document must be written in sophisticate language. To let my professors and readers easily understand what I am trying to interpret, I definitely need a strong writing structure built up. And college level writing will build me the fundamental part in order to prepare for further education even job applications. Although I am in science major, I don’t want to think nor write as a scientist. Everything is not always static, so is the language. There might be a certain discipline in my paper but what I really want to learn from Mr. Leal is to think more critically, not simply just analyzing ideas of article, but also be able to stand on the other side to question the author.

Significance Of Animals Protection In Modern World Essay - 15

Significance Of Animals Protection In Modern World - Essay Example Every day in a great number of countries in the world, animals are exposed to experiments in various researches and testing of different kinds of products, which range from medicine and cosmetics to children toys and cleaning products. During such researches and tests, animals are poisoned by toxic substances, burned, implanted electrodes, blinded etc. In fact, the list of invasive and painful procedures goes on. As a result, animals experience severe suffering, for example, electric shock, isolation from other animals, separation of infants from adult animals, withholding of water and food and so on, which usually ends with death. Animals do not deserve such an inhuman attitude, which is often based on the idea that human beings are more intelligent than animals are. However, this argument is not relevant to the issue at all: smart people suffer from pain the same way people with lower IQ do. It is a well-known fact that animals experience pain as well, and the fact that a mouse doe s not understand physical laws or does not read poetry cannot be perceived as a basis for making it suffer. What is more, a wide range of animals with advanced nervous systems demonstrate abilities characteristic of human beings, for example, experiencing emotions (Panksepp 14). Therefore, the argument against animal rights based on the difference between human beings and animals may be regarded as inconsistent. In addition to this, animal testing, which leads to animal suffering, is avoidable today. The matter is that the evolutionary developments in the scientific sphere give an opportunity to avoid using animals for testing and experiments. In particular, in accordance with Ganganatha and Kuppast, who published their work in International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, today there are alternatives to animal testing methods, which are based on three R’s that is Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement.

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Conflict Management Styles Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Conflict Management Styles - Term Paper Example Additionally, this paper explains how conflict management relates to my effectiveness as a leader. An example of a conflict I have handled effectively involved a disagreement between two nurses. The two nurse had different views on how a certain case involving a patient could be handled. As each one of the nurse considered their contribution as superior, a verbal exchange arose. In handling this conflict, I encouraged the two nurses to collaborate in this case. In other words, I advised the two nurses to set their original suggestion regarding how the case would be handled aside and subsequently directed them to work together to decide on a common objective. The results to this approach were positive and in fact led to the overall improvement and advancement of the process of care within the health care institution. This collaboration ensured teamwork, encouraged communication, and hence nurses were overly motivated in their work. If such a conflict would arise for a second time, I would opt for the same approach to conflict management. However, there are ways or steps I would take in a bid to improve my comfort level and skill for managing in the future. One of the steps in engaging in dialogue or discussions with employees. Johansen (2012) brings forward the fact that "Nursing leaders and direct care nurses need to engage in dialogues that address conflict management behavior as a first step in creating a healthy work environment" (p. 52). Effective dialogues ensures conflicts are handled effectively as avoiding them would elevate stress levels among nurses as well as among other stakeholders. Secondly, I would ensure regular trainings and seminars where all employees would be trained on how to effectively manage conflicts within the workplace. Subsequently, it would also be important to identify potential conflict areas and implement strategies that would avert any conflicts from

Saturday, July 27, 2019

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

Character analysis - Essay Example Despite the apparent similarities, these characters exhibit differences in expressing their loneliness: Laura resorted to collecting glass figurines, termed by her mother as glass menagerie; while Tom frequents the movie every night to get out of the apartment and avoid having to converse with his mother. As noted, Tom and Laura, both being victims of a life without their father seemed to be living a lonely and recluse life. Since their father allegedly left them a long time ago, both children must have to contend with living with their mother who could have been devastated when their father left them. The result was the feeling of being trapped in their lives where Tom had to resort to being the breadwinner for the family and supporting both his mother and his sister. The feeling of wanting to escape from the challenges and difficulties of life led to both characters finding ways to relieve their miseries and venge on other outlets such as watching movies night after night (for Tom) and collecting glass figurines (for Laura). The movies seemed the perfect outlet for Tom to venture into lives of actors and actresses who get to portray different roles and go to different places – a life he apparently longs for; but could not achieve. On the other hand, Laura’s form of escape was different from Tom since she had been afflicted with a disability when she was young and could not move freely without a brace. This situation is also perceived as a form of being trapped in the situation she currently is and the only way to get her mind off from this misery was through collecting glass figurines: fagile, beautiful, transparent, and as she described the unicorn, she averred that â€Å"hold him over the light. He loves the light! You see how the light shines through him?† (Willams 779). Her collections seem to mirror her traits: fragile, beautiful, but cold and detached. As emphasized, Laura is â€Å"so shy that she finds ordinary human relationships almost unbearable, she is totally unequipped for the romantic role in which her mother has cast her. She takes refuge among her glass figurines, the â€Å"glass menagerie† that is the symbol of her fragility and her retreat from reality† (The Glass Menagerie par. 3). Another point of similarity is their deceptiveness to their mother. Laura was thought to still be enrolled in a business school by her mother; only to be found out that she has dropped out of school, Her inability to explain the fact that she could not continue pursuing the program that her mother advised her to take, led to the deception. When discovered, it was already about six months that she had been trying to go out every day supposedly to attend her classes; but instead, she allegedly stayed in the park or engaged in other activities. Tom, on the other hand, was likewise confronted by her mother, who also believed that he was likewise deceiving her. His excuse for going out every night was to go to the movies. Her mother could not comprehend how he could do that time and again without fail and took him considerable lengths of time. These moves and behavior exhibited their inability to confront their mother and tell her the truth about their own feelings and what their hopes, dreams, and plans in life are. Both characters have inner secrets which they could not reveal to their

Friday, July 26, 2019

The relationship between atherosclerosis and stress Essay

The relationship between atherosclerosis and stress - Essay Example This fatty build-up would later thicken and then harden or form calcium deposits in the arteries, consequently blocking the arteries. Because of the build-up, the hardened deposits may block the flow of blood along the arteries (Dugdale, 2009). In instances when the coronary artery becomes narrowed by plaque deposits, then blood flow to the heart itself can either slow down or be stopped. The patient can experience chest pain, shortness of breath, and other symptoms when this happens (Dugdale, 2009). These fatty deposits may also break off (as embolus) and flow with the blood in the arteries and veins; they may eventually get lodged in the smaller blood vessels causing heart attacks or strokes (Dugdale, 2009). The causes for atherosclerosis have not been fully determined; however there are traits and conditions which have been considered as risk factors for this disease. It is a condition which slowly and gradually develops over time and may be worsened by factors which induce plaque formation or blood coagulation. These factors may include the following factors or causes: inflammation or infection, hypertension, smoking, and elevated LDL and VLDL (DeBruyne, 2003, p. 603). Other factors like high-fat diet, obesity, high-sodium diet, cigarette smoking, family history, and lack of exercise may also cause atherosclerosis (McConnell, 2007, p. 278). Stress is also being considered as a possible cause of atherosclerosis; however, no firm support has been set forth for this theory as yet. Nevertheless, Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association cites a study which correlates the â€Å"degree of carotid arterial atherosclerosis with exaggerated response to mental stress in men under the age of 55† (as cited by Diagnose Me, 2009). Their study further established that strong blood pressure responses to stressful situations were seen in those with more advanced atherosclerosis in the carotid arteries as compared to

Thursday, July 25, 2019

International Entrepreneurship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

International Entrepreneurship - Essay Example Behavioral pattern of the suppliers and the clients and concentration in the supply makes entrepreneurs more competitive in the global market. In the market where the customers are diverse, a different approach to the market may be of great benefit to entrepreneur in a new market (Keillor 2011). The trends of innovating products and services in a particular environment have been used by multinational companies in their new products. Taking for instance the travel business in the United States, the business involves serving both the natives and the international visitors. Globalization and liberalization of economies have allowed companies to invent new ideas suitable for the developing markets. Globalization has pressurized companies to continue innovating new ideas of conducting businesses. Though much innovation has been witnessed in the global market, entrepreneurs have found it harder to penetrate the market to ever changing business environment and competition (Griffin 2005). There is more opportunity for growth due to innovation and completion in the global market. Entrepreneurs in the global markets seem to prefer working centrally and doing business from a central position. However Companies benefit international market therefore centralization of business no longer applies in the global markets (Keillor 2011). The trend of business innovation is moving towards decentralization of markets. Entrepreneurs are considering a more involving business venture where the customers, suppliers and other stakeholders are closely involved in the product and services development. Such approach proves more beneficial in the globalised market just like the trend in expansion of markets. The global market has been a major target for entrepreneurs however more innovation is required to maintain the local market. The idea used in the global market is also applicable in the local market (Keillor 2011). Though the product innovation is crucial in entrepreneurship, the process innovation plays a central role. It is important in adapting to various business environments such as fixing of costs. Process innovation can be used by the businesses which are planning to have decentralized management. Basically each market will be managed according to the requirements and the policies guarding the market. 2. Internation al Trade Barriers Doing business in the international market faces challenges such as quotas, tariffs and non tariffs. Non traffic barriers are usually imposed by governments basically to restrict the quality imports. Such barriers restrict availability of products thus complicating the prices in the market. The result is high prices. A traffic barrier such as taxes, custom duties decreases the volumes of imports thus increasing the prices of products, thus the local market is favored.

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Packet Data Transmission Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Packet Data Transmission - Essay Example The transport layer establishes a session management between the two hosts. Data received from the application layer is segmented into packets. Each packet is given a unique label before being transmitted. The packets contain the necessary information that is sent to the host computer to fetch a web page; these packets are transmitted to the internet layer. The internet layer constitutes the Internet Protocol (Parziale, 2006). Data is packaged into Internet Protocol datagrams, which hold the address details of the client and server. The addresses of the client and server side are referred to as IP addresses (Osterloh, 2001). The packets are then transmitted to network interface layer. The network interface layer is responsible for determining how data is transmitted over the network (Rufi, 2008). The transmission of data is dependent on the network medium used, for example, Ethernet and the optical fiber. TCP/IP protocol stack In order for communication to be effective, the internet protocol is based on the TCP/IP model. The TCP/IP constitutes protocols, mainly the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP), hence the name but there exist other protocols as well. The TCP/IP is a hierarchical model composed of interactive modules where each module is assigned a specific task (Bonaventure, 2011, p.75). The layers in the model are composed of protocols that can relate to each other depending on the system type. In terms of hierarchy, a number of layers below the higher layer protocols support it.

Effects of Implied Terms on Contract of Employment, a Judicial Review Essay

Effects of Implied Terms on Contract of Employment, a Judicial Review - Essay Example The employer is also bound to the employee under the implied terms of the employment contract by way of trust and confidence, payment of wages, provision of work and reasonable care. between the employer and employee. Under what circumstances the implied terms are applicable and also under what circumstance it is not applicable? What are the stands taken by the Court regarding the implied terms of the employment contract? Before proceeding to answer to theses question, firstly we shall explore the scope and applicability of implied terms in employment contract. As said above a contract gives both employee and employer certain rights and obligations. The most common example is that employee has a right to be paid for the work do. The employer has a right to give reasonable instructions to the employee for the work he entitled to do. These rights and obligations are called contractual terms. These contractual terms are two types. Express terms in an employment contract are those that are explicitly agreed between employee and employer and can include amount of wages, including any overtime or bonus pay hours of work, including overtime holiday pay, including how much time off you are entitled to sick pay redundancy pay and how much warning (notice) the employer must give you if you are dismissed. They are terms that have not been expressed orally or in writing but nevertheless form part of the contract of employment. Some are general such as the duty of each party to take reasonable care of each others property and to safeguard each others confidences. In Hagen and ors v ICI Chemicals and Polymers Ltd and ors (3) it was held that an employer owes his employees a common law duty of care to keep them adequately informed of the details of changes to their terms of employment which may follow from a company reorganization and can be sued for the tort of negligence if he is in breach of that duty.

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Strategic management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Strategic management - Essay Example A major makeover happened for the company in 1990 when it joined hands with BMW of Germany for manufacturing of aero engines. â€Å"Today it is the world's second largest civil aero engine company, the world's second largest defence aero engine company, a global leader in marine propulsion and a leading supplier of energy solutions. All of these businesses have gas turbine technology at their heart.† (Rolls Royce, 2011) Aero engine manufacturing is one of the largest engineering industrial sectors in the world. Some of the leading aero engine manufacturers in the world are Rolls-Royce Engines, BMW, Bristol Engine Company, CFM International, Pratt & Whitney, Daimler Benz, GE Aviation, Hispano-Suiza, Napier and Son, Volvo Aero, etc. Among these, Rolls Royce is one of the leading market players. Rolls-Royce Engines holds nearly one third of the business aircraft engine market. Some of the main customers of Rolls-Royce include Airbus, Bombardier, Embraer and Raytheon. Quality, Rel iability and Tradition has been the main driving force behind the success of Rolls Royce Aero Engines. The key success factors of aero engine manufacturing industry are very critical. ... Research and Development is the next success factor. R&D is the factor that drives every other success factors. Better technology is developed only through innovation. Technological innovation is possible only through better investment of time and resources into R & D. Innovative product offerings are the next success factor of the industry. Merely supplying engines is not the game plan currently. Some of the innovative plans of the industry are Corporate Care, power-by-the-hour, pay-as-you-fly program, etc. (George, 2011) Similarly, better after sales service and customer relationship management are another key success factors. The aviation industry segment can be classified mainly into two categories that are wide body engine market and narrow body engine market. As of now Rolls-Royce has considerable market share in the wide body engine market with the second position in the segment. But Rolls-Royce still needs to develop its presence in the narrow body market. Currently, Rolls-Ro yce participates in the narrow body segment in a joint venture with Pratt & Whitney and others. â€Å"Rolls-Royce is well positioned in the wide body market, but about to lose 25% of the narrow body market in which it has a 40% joint venture share by 2015.† (GLG Expert Contributor, 2010) Analysis of External Factors Like any other industry, external factors have great influence on the prospects of aero engine manufacturing industry. Some of the key external factors influencing the aero engine manufacturing industry are as follows. 1. Raw material cost 2. Competition 3. Bargaining power of customers 4. Environmental impact 5. Regulatory Pressures 6. Currency risk 7. Other external events Raw material

Monday, July 22, 2019

Space Weather Essay Example for Free

Space Weather Essay Space weather is what happens in space and how it affects the Earths weather. Even though in space it may not look like a big thing but when those effects reach Earth it can make a huge impact on the Earths weather. It can cause natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, etc. Space weather doesnt just affect the Earths weather but it can also affect new technology. Its been causing problems with new technology as early as when the telegraph was invented in the 19th century. Solar flares can disrupt power grids, get in the way of high-frequency airline and military communications, disrupt GPS signals, interupt civilian communications, etc. Space weather can cover the Earths atmosphere with a hazardous and dangerous radiation. Even the technology we use like traffic lights, cell phones, street lights, etc could be affected by a solar flare. Furthermore stuff like solar flares have been occuring more often since global warming started to become more gruesome. This is because of the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere along with other gases and these gases are trapped in the Earths atmosphere and the more gases are trapped in the atmosphere the less gases are let out into space. This can create problems like species extinction, flooding around coastal areas, make seasons longer then they should be, more frequent and severe storms, and alter temperature patterns. Along with solar flares, solar winds can also affect the Earhs weather. This is because the intense clouds of high energy particles which are often made by solar storms and make their way to Earth in about 3 to 4 days it collides with the Earths magnetic field. The particles enters Earths magnetic field near both north and south poles. When that happens it causes many problems with technology. Like solar flares and solar winds magnetic storms can also cause damage to our way of life on Earth espically now since we rely on technology so much. Magnetic storms can pump extra electricty into our power lines and pipelines causing blackouts and gas leaks. For example, in March 1989 a magnetic storm caused a thirty-six million transformer in New Jersey collapsed the entire power grid in Quebec, Canada. When that happened it left six million people without electricity. Space weather can also be very hazardous for astronauts. For example, in between the flights for both Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 an intense solar flare occurred. This would have killed the astronauts on board Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 if they had been on their way to go to the moon during that time. These are just some of the many things on how space weather can affect the Earth and the Earths weather. Just to remind you space weather is what happens in space and how it affects the Earth and its weather. It can make a huge impact on Earths weather and Earth even though in space it may not look like a big deal. These are some ways space weather affects the Earth and its weather.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Kettle Foods Marketing Plan

Kettle Foods Marketing Plan Potato chips as a product has been a major snack being consumed around the world but most predominantly in is consumed English speaking countries and some West African countries as well. Potato crisps were first developed in New York, Saratoga Springs in the year 1853 to be precise. It gradually became popular as time went on. The industry has faced several challenges over the years especially in the UK due to the economic difficulties (recession) faced by the country and consumers are also now aware of the health issues that arise due to excess consumption of such snacks which decreased the level sales level of such products. However, the industry still stands and is still leading among snack industries. There are various reasons and factors in industry still remained important and one of such is the health aspect. Many manufacturers and companies over the years have been trying to come up with a solution to the response of consumers to potato crisps as a snack product that contains a high level of fat and sodium which can lead to a high blood pressure or blood sugar and tooth erosion if consumed excessively. As mentioned above, one of the companies which have decided to come up with a solution to the problem that affects potato chips health-wise is Kettle. Kettle has been in the business of manufacturing potato chips naturally without the use of GMO ingredients. Our analysis as will be discussed will focus on the potato chips industry using Kettle Chips as a case study. Kettle was originally founded in 1978 in Salem by Cameron Healy. In 1987 accompanied by his son, Cameron went on a 6 week motorcycle adventure which led them to discover how much the British really liked chips. A branch was later established in the UK, Norwich (1988). Kettle foods today are one of the biggest potato chips manufacturers and have maintained their originality in taste and natural ingredients till date. The Kettle Brand potato chips was perfected in 1982 and have been improving and even expanded their line of production to include Baked Potato Chips, Kettle Brand, Tortilla Chips and Kettle Brand in order to meet varying tastes of their costumers (Kettle Foods Inc., 2009). 2.0 UK MARKET DATA British Population is the biggest snack eaters in Europe amid growing health concerns about savory treats. As a country it consumes an estimated 6 billion packets per year, that equivalent of almost 100 packets of crisps per person. Its a national obsession with crisps and nuts, which means that they spent  £55 per person on them last year, more than double the  £22.50 of nearest rival, Germany. This is projected to climb to more than  £80 in 2014. Overall, they munched through 300 tons of the snacks in 2010, worth  £2.47billion and a quarter of all sales in Europe. Report author James Manley, of leading market analyst Mintel, said: The UK is king in the European crisps and salty snacks market. Eating occasions are unlimited and snacking is rife throughout the day. Though the health credentials of crisps are questioned, it still holds 48 per cent of sales in UK. Other snacks, including tortilla chips, popcorn and pork scratching make up the remaining 52 per cent. UK Potato Crisps Snacks Market to hit  £2.61bn by 2014 Says New Report. As per past records and analysis, in 2006 the UK market value of crisps, salty snacks and nuts was around 2500 million pounds. It has been noticed that the consumption of the chips is continuously increasing that too at a constant pace. As per current data i.e. 2011, the market value is 3176 million pounds. In Fig1.1 diagram, there is a forecast given for four years that is from 2012 to 2016. As per Mintel forecast it is estimated that UK market share for 2012 will be around 3300 million pounds and further increasing to 3500 million pounds in 2013 and so on. The end of 2016 estimates the total UK market value for this to be 4183 million pounds. By taking all the provisions it can be concluded that in the best case scenario maximum UK market value can go up to 4627 and in the worst case scenario it can go down to 3853 in 2016, keeping in mind all the different confidence level. Thus, analyzing all the past data and future forecast of UK retail sale of crisps, salty snacks and nuts it can be concluded that UK market has got huge potential for the consumption of the crisps and all and this can be taken as an opportunity for the existing market players of crisps and they can all increase their own market share by adopting several strategies. Most of the market share is captured by walkers so this can be an opportunity for kettle chips to snatch walkers customers by putting all the marketing efforts or kettle can put such strategy to attract new different groups of customers. 3.0 INTERNAL ANALYSIS THE MARKETING MIX Marketing can quickly and simply be defined as the process of making a product or service available to the consumer at the right place, price, and time (James and Carlson, 1996-2012). This usually involves the careful analysis of the product or service in four different aspects known as the 4Ps (McCarthy, 1960) before proceeding. You as a marketer has to consider what the consumer wants or what their needs are, the environment or location of your business, if the price of the product or service youll be offering will be too high or too low and finally but not the least, how to promote the product or service. Now we will be taking a look at Kettle Chips and how they market their products putting the 4Ps, which are Product (Service), Place, Price and Promotion into consideration. Before we go into the full analysis, it is good to have in mind the aim and objective of the companys (Kettle Chips) product which is to provide for the consumer the best healthy, nutritious and tasty potato chips for them to enjoy and now we will see how they have managed to achieve this so far. Marketing Mix An effective marketing mix has to match consumer need, corporate resources and to create a competitive advantage. A market-oriented firm always keeps an eye on its environment. The environment is divided into the microenvironment and macro environment. In microenvironment, the key actors are suppliers, management of the company i.e. the company itself, customers and competitors. Micro environment are internal to the organization and the organization has sufficient controls over it. Macro environment consists of economic, social, legal, physical and technology forces. Macro-environments are usually out of the companys control. (Jobber and Fahy, 2003) Four Ps of marketing mix: 3.1 Product This part of marketing mix mainly focuses on what exactly consumer wants. Under product, we have to consider what the consumer needs are and what exactly consumers wants. For developing marketing mix of Kettle Chips we need to consider the part of the market being targeted by Kettle. Kettle Brand targets health conscious customers, which imply that their product has to be health inclined in order to appeal to the consumers and also to satisfy its customers. Secondly, Kettle, since 1978 produce their chips using only natural ingredients (Non-GMO products) in order to give their consumers extra reassurance of steps they take to ensure ingredients with integrity (Kettle Foods Inc., 2009). Findings from research, (Mintel, 2009) provides us with information showing an improvement in the sale of crisps due to the fact that they are more healthy in terms of calories and fat than they were before. The Non-GMO project stated Kettle Brand Chips as the first potato chips being produced without the use of GMOs in 2009. Their chips are gluten free and they use expeller pressed oil for their products in order to give their consumers a safe product to enjoy. Kettle Chips arent just bent on the health aspect of their products and ignoring how tasty their chips should be. They offer different seasonings of potato chips such as Sweet Onion, Tortilla Chips, Lightly Salted Sea Salt and Vinegar, Spicy Thai, Unsalted, Jalapeno, Red Chili etc. All of these are produced naturally to meet different tastes of consumers. Product Life Cycle This is simply a principle that suggests that every product has different stages that it must pass through before it is eventually pushed from the market. Introduction: This is when the product is first introduced into the market and as a result of that, a large number of the consumer market are unaware of the product so its profits are low at this stage. Normally in this stage the company or manufacturer will try to cover its high cost of production, which will result in the product becoming less affordable for the average consumer.(Vernon, 1966) According to product life cycle theory, the Kettle Chips products in this section are Jalapeno chili, Mexican Potato Bake, New Kettle Ridge Chips, Sour Cream, Corn, Tomato, Avocado and lime dip, Peach and Coriander Salsa. (Kettle Foods Ltd., 2012) Growth: This is the stage that usually determines if the product will survive or not. The producers at this stage will try to bring down the cost of the product as to make it more affordable for the average consumer by coming up with ways to cut down the costs of production and present better offers. In addition to this, the company will have to make use of a strong approach in advertisement and promotion strategies in order to catch the attention and interests of their customers.(Vernon, 1966) Under this section, Kettle Chips have products such as Mature Cheddar Multipacks, Ridge Chips, Tortilla Chip. (Kettle foods Ltd., 2012) Maturity: The third stage is only attained assuming the product has survived the previous stage (Growth Stage). At this stage, the price must have fallen to a more affordable level for more customers to purchase due to standardized production. Here, production and technology may also be exported to underdeveloped and developing countries where production costs will be lower and developed countries can focus on innovation to make the product better.(Vernon, 1966) Examples of kettle chips products that are currently in this stage are Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar and Lightly Salted. These are among the most demanded Kettle Chips seasonings.(Kettle Foods Ltd.,2012) Decline: This is the last stage. The product begins to fade out of the market, demand, and production and of course, profits begin to crash as well due to new technologies and new products coming up. It usually still survives for a while in the underdeveloped and developing countries but is eventually completely pushed out over time. (Vernon, 1966) The Boston Consulting Group Theory (BCG) Bruce Henderson founded this in the early 1970s. Initially, it was designed as tool to be used for financial management but was then put to better use in marketing. Boston Matrix considers products in two dimensions: relative market share and market growth rate. (Cranfield School of Management, 2000) Boston Matrix categorizes products in four boxes, which are Star, Cash Cow, Problem Child/ Question Mark, and Dog. Star: Building market shares as sales improve. Products here are cash neutral. They generate cash as volume and revenue builds rapidly, but they usually require special attention in funding because they are new products. Usually, aggressive marketing is required for such products. Cash Cow: The products in this box have high a high market share but low market growth, which implies that they are mature products. These generate cash that is needed to support other aspects of the business. Problem Child/ Question Mark: These are products that do not hold a dominant market share but are high in market growth. These are often newly introduced products that have a high tendency of failing in the market. They usually require large amounts of cash to fund their development. Dog: These are products that were once on top but have declined and now generating low cash flow and in some cases, even become liabilities to the business. Henderson advises that such products should be discarded. (Cranfield School of Management, 2000) In the following diagram some of the Kettle Chips products are categorized according to the Boston Consulting Group Theory. BCG MATRIX Fig. 1.2 3.2 Place When considering place, one have to consider the location of the business, how accessible it will be to the customers and probably the distribution channel or channels that will be used. Kettle Chips products are found almost everywhere around the world but predominantly in European and West African countries. The Kettle Foods office in UK supports a network of independent distributors which make their products available in the Middle East and European countries outside UK such as Denmark, Belgium, Greece, Austria, France, Germany, Finland, Ireland, Ice land, Spain, Switzerland, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Italy, Malaysia, Malta and Luxembourg (Kettle Foods LTD, 2012). Distribution Channel Kettle chips are found in various supermarkets and retail shops around the world making it easy for their consumers to access their products. There are various distribution channels that can be used by any business that produces consumer goods such as: ProducerÆ’Â  Consumer ProducerÆ’Â  RetailerÆ’Â  Consumer ProducerÆ’Â  WholesalerÆ’Â  RetailerÆ’Â  Consumer ProducerÆ’Â  AgentÆ’Â  WholesalerÆ’Â  RetailerÆ’Â  Consumer Source: Figure 9.8. Introduction to marketing theory and practice (Palmer 2004:357) Kettle Chips use wholesalers as well as retailers but do not use agents in their distribution channel. They sell directly to their wholesalers. Their distribution channel would appear like this for example: Kettle ChipsÆ’Â  TescoÆ’Â  Off-license shopsÆ’Â  Consumers (Kettle Foods Ltd., 2012) 3.3 Price Under price, there must be consideration of if the price of your product or service will be too high for your consumers or too low for the company to turn in profits. Kettle as a company usually build their facilities upon locations with good vegetation and natural resources that supports their business such as the Green building mentioned above under place and their facility in Salem, Oregon which is located adjacent to a nearly 2-acre wetland (Kettle Foods LTD, 2012) . These in turn enables them to avoid extra expenses that would have been spent on purchasing some raw materials and gives them the ability to keep a low cost on their products while making sufficient profit to grow the business. Kettle Chips products are not the cheapest and can still put up more effort in bringing their prices to a lower level. A minimum level of price should be maintained with a good quality in production because the lower the price, the higher the demand. This will give an organization an edge over its competitors that offer a higher price for the same quality or even lesser quality. (Kettle Foods LTD, 2012) Kettle Chips Pricing Strategy Kettle Chips came into the market in 1978 to be specific and at this period, they were not many companies manufacturing chips, especially in the UK and so, they decided to penetrate the market with their naturally made potato chips and were selling them at a high price. Kettle Chips had very little competition at this period so they were able to sell their products to high income earning consumers at high prices while having a low promotion. In other words, they used the Slow Penetration strategy to penetrate the market. This was possible for them because their kettle style cooking was unique at this period. Presently, Kettle Chips have a strong brand, so they maintain a Slow Skimming strategy because they have a strong brand. Being already established, they are relaxed about promotion and that is one of the reasons why more recent companies such as Walkers have a higher market share. Consumers are more aware of companies that spend a lot on promotion. 3.4 Promotion Kettle advertises their products through the use of e advertising (internet), Television and radio broadcasts, and public relations such as their community giving. Kettle makes donations of money, product and time to local organizations. They donate chips for fundraising events at local schools and give more than 175,000 pounds of potatoes to local hunger relief agencies every year. They also give out their brand products to organizations and schools. Kettle Chips successfully created a significant uplift in sales from existing, lapsed and new purchasers through a brand campaign in newspapers. They are now looking more confident than ever, their market share has increased as a result of this (Kettle Chips: The Story, 2012). The result of the campaign is as follows: Newspapers immediately boost sales by over 20% During the newspaper campaign, Kettle Chips sales of featured products were 20.5% higher among people in the public who saw the adverts, compared with a matched unexposed sample and maintained sales impact In the 12 weeks post campaign, newspaper advertising continued to increase the sales by 19.5% (Kettle Chips: The Story, 2012). Newspapers engage all types of buyers KETTLE Chips advertising successfully increased penetration and frequency of purchase as well as reengaging lapsed users. (Kettle Chips: The Story, 2012) Newspapers are brilliant for making big bold brand statements Kettle Chips simple but confident campaign captured readers attention and increased their emotional brand involvement. This was very beneficial in the sense that it gave their customers a sense of affiliation with the product and of cause; this encourages loyalty to the brand as well. (Kettle Chips: The Story, 2012) 4.0 EXTERNAL ANALYSIS Fig 1.3 The Marketing Environment. Source: Jobber, D and Fahy, J. (2003), New York: Mc Graw Hill Education UK LTD Micro Economics Introduction: Creating customer value and satisfaction is the main key to build relationships with customers. It is not a one man task.so there are many actors playing role to build micro environment. Marketing success requires building relationships with other company departments such as competitors, suppliers, customers, various publics and marketing intermediaries .All these are combined to process effective delivery network. Components of micro environment 4.1 Competitors Marketing concept is based on believing better customer value and satisfaction than its competitors. Thus the company should adopt itself to the needs of consumers.one of the important aspects of gaining strategic advantage is by positioning their offerings strongly against competitors offering in the minds of customers. All companies have their different marketing strategy based on their size and industry positioning. In the context of kettle chips, the three most powerful competitors for kettle chips are Walkers (PepsiCo), Pringles (PG), and McCoys (UB). The following table describes the leading brands value shares in crisps and salty snacks from 2009 to 2011. From the table it is clearly visible that Kettle Chips stands in the 5th position in the market of crisps and salty snacks. Fig 1.4 4.2 Customers Customers are the most important element in the companys microenvironment. The main aim of the entire delivery system is to serve customers and build strong relationship. There are five type of customer market and the company may target any or all of them. To start with the customer market, first type is consumer market, which consists of individual and households that buys product for personal consumption. Business market consists of buying the goods for further processing or in the production process whereas reseller market buys goods for the purpose to sell them at profit. Government markets consist of government agencies that buy goods for public service or to transfer them to others who need them. International market is made up of buyers in other countries who may be consumers, producers, resellers or government. Kettle chips has established itself as a premium brand for chips and thus these chips are mainly for a specific targeted customers whose income level are little high than others because as compared to walkers kettle chips are slightly costlier and kettle chips believes in delivering good quality crisps and consumers who are really health conscious go for kettle chips. Consumption of crisps, salty snacks and nuts in the last six months, by type, by demographics, November 2011 Fig 1.5* small sub-sample (75-100) SOURCE: Toluna/Mintel 4.3 Suppliers Suppliers are important link in the companys overall delivery system. They are the source of resources needed by the company to produce its goods and services. Supply shortage can cost sales in the short run but it can hamper customer satisfaction in the long run. Most marketers today treat suppliers as their partners for generating customer value. The people who make Kettle Chips have always believed that the simple approach to good food is best. So the highest quality potatoes are sourced locally, and no artificial colours, flavours, preservatives or MSG are added to the process. Only the best potatoes are used to give the distinctive golden colour, crunch and flavour of a Kettle chip. Kettle Chips source 75% of the brands potatoes from its home county of Norfolk, and 90% from East Anglia. Kettle Chips are made in the Kettle Foods Ltd factory in Norwich, where the company has been ever since it was first launched in the UK. Nelson County Potatoes is a bespoke growers group to Kettle Foods Ltd- makers of the famous hand-cooked KETTLE ® Chips, a premium quality product made using the finest potatoes. Its Norfolk-based growers produces more than 65000 tonnes of potatoes each year, a large proportion of which go in to kettle chips at the kettle foods limited base in Norwich. From this part about 100 million bags of kettle chips are produced each year and distributed across the country to all the major supermarkets and other food store. 4.4 The company For designing the marketing plans, the company has to interrelate and coordinate with all the departments within the company like top management, finance, research and development purchase, operations and accounting. The duty of the top management is to set the companys mission, objective, strategies and plans. Marketing managers work closely with other departments. Kettle chips takes pride of being a well-known and growing business with its roots based in the local community.it has got wide diversity of people from all backgrounds, working hand by hand to one common goal of making better chips. The company provides great working conditions and friendly management and this helps company retain the employees. Currently the managing director of kettle Foods at Diamond Foods, Inc. is Dominic Lowe, the Cadbury man who became Green Blacks managing director last year, moving from a  £1bn-a-year business to a  £40m-a-year one, believes the public is more concerned about the deeds of an ethical company than its ownership Macro-Environment: Introduction The macro environment comprises of forces that do not immediately affect the business but it may have effect in the long run, as time goes on. As these environmental changes take place, macro-environment affects the micro relationships of the business as well. The micro environment is complex and interdependent. (Palmer, 2004) Components of macro environment 4.5 Political/Legal factors In UK, food products including the Snacks are heavily influenced and controlled by legislation relating to composition and labeling requirements, such that consumers can be confident of the wholesomeness and value for money that they represent (Van Horn, 2002). On a world perspective, the availability of safe food is an increasing problem in fast-growing urban populations. Meeting this need by the provision of new food product is a major opportunity for UK as these markets develop. These refer to government polices such as the degree of intervention in the economy. What goods and services does a government provides, To what extent does it subsidized firms, What are its priorities in terms of health of the people, Political decisions can impact on many vital areas for business such as the education of the workforce, the health of the nation and the quality of the infrastructure of the economy such as the road and rail system. In developed economies, government intervention is inevitable in order to uphold the consumers trust and faith in the governments systems. Over the years, consumers lifestyles have become eclectic and the culture of ready meals and snacks has become popular. This has lead to several lifestyle diseases. Children studying in primary and secondary schools are the largest buyers of sweet and savory snacks. It has been observed that such snacks formed an integral part of their lunch boxes. Due to the adverse affects of snack food on childrens health, the government, through its Better Regulation Commission, has proposed certain standards for school food. The standards restrict the sale of confectionery, savory snacks except nuts and seeds, and deep fried snacks like crisps and burgers. (Better Regulation Commission, 2007). The government in the United Kingdom has become proactive in promoting healthy eating and balanced diet patterns to the citizens. The government, along with various other organizations like the NHS, initiated several awareness campaigns to tackle the growing problem of obesity. The campaigns promote the reduction of fat, salt and sugar the consumers daily diet. This move by the government can lead to a projected decline of 4.1% in the sweet snacks market and 3.4% in the savory snacks market over a period of five years (Just Food, 2009). 4.6 Economic factors These include interest rates, taxation changes, economic growth, inflation and exchange rates. Change in these factors can lead to a major impact on a firms behavior. Like Higher interest rates because it costs more to borrow. A strong currency may make exporting more difficult because it may raise the price in foreign currency. Inflation may provoke higher wage demands from employees and raise costs. Higher GDP growth may boost demand for a firms products. The market value of Snacks companies in the UK represents a further contribution to wealth, both in the holdings by private shareholders and in those held by institutions. The balance of trade arising from Kettle products is positive because the major materials are already found and created in UK plants. Also, the nature of the product cost structures is not ruling out significant inter-country shipment of such low price-dense, high bulk packs. The United Kingdom was faced with two unfortunate economic crises in the second half of 2007. The tumult in the financial markets along with steep increase in the fuel and food prices severely affected the business and commerce, as well as consumer confidence. The consumers have become relatively conservative in their approach to spending on consumer goods. The sweet and savory market has however shown a steady growth in sales. This reason could be attributed to the nature of these products. Snacks are particularly seen as indulgent and impulsive products with a low unit price. Snacks are also low involvement products unlike other consumer goods. In the United Kingdom, the market for crisps and snacks grew by 5% since 2007. This is mainly because the snacks companies have responded well to the consumers needs in this fragile economic environment. (Mintel, 2009) In spite of positive growth signs, the manufacturers still have to struggle due to the existing credit crunch, coupled with the rising costs of wheat, flour, maize and potatoes, and instability in crude oil prices. All these factors put a strain on the manufacturers profit margins. (Research and Markets, 2008) 4.7 Social factors / Cultural Changes in social trends can impact on the demand for a firms products and the availability and willingness of individuals to work. In the UK, for example, the population has been ageing. This has increased the costs for firms who are committed to pension payments for their employees because their staff is living longer. It also means some firms such as Asda have started to recruit older employees to tap into this growing labor pool. The ageing population also has impact on demand: for example, demand for sheltered accommodation and medicines have increased whereas demand for toys is falling. There is now a wealth of evidence to show that consuming a high salt diet brings with it increasing health problems. High salt intake is linked to increasing blood pressure, which causes strokes and heart disease, with other less well-known effects including stomach cancer and osteoporosis. Basically, these issues are advantage for Walkers since majority of their products are potatoes. Potatoes are low calorie and excellent for people that are health conscious. The sale of sweet and savory snacks thrives on consumption patterns of younger consumers aged between 15-34 years. Due to persistent efforts by the government to encourage consumers to adopt healthier lifestyles and eating habits, the demographics of main consumers of snacks has changed. Fewer children are attracted to crisps and snack. The Government regulations as mentioned above have also been a cause in making crisps and other sweet and savory snacks unpopular among children. 4.8 Technological factors Technology can reduce costs, improve quality and lead to innovation. These developments can benefit consumers as well as the organizations providing the products. Online shopping, bar coding and computer aided design are all improvements to the way we do business as a result of better technology. In the process of building this successful brand Kettle Chips, the business found that it had developed a reporting problem in lower management. The company system consisted of 70 to 80 spreadsheets, which were constantly being updated and sent back and forth between departments. The reporting process took at least eight weeks, and if any modifications needed to be made, it took a minimum of two days. Employees also had difficulty creating their own reports, and would have to rely on an IT software developer to do the job for them. This ended up taking most of the developers time, which would otherwise have been spent on other pressing IT needs. After a long search for a solution, Kettle Foods Ltd chose IBM Cognos Express, along with Logicalis UK as their IBM Business Partner. Kettle chips selected IBM Cognos Express because it combines the planning and modeling strengths of IBM Cognos TM1 and the reporting strengths of IBM Cognos Business Intelligence in a value-for-money offering; providing a complete planning, reporting and scenario-modeling toolset. 4.9 Environmental factors Environmental factors include the weather and climate change. Changes in temperature can impact on many industries including farming, production cost and Product life. With major climate changes occurring due to global warming and with greater environmental awareness this external factor is becoming a significant issue for firms to consider. The gener

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Effect Of Humor: Validating Racial Stereotypes

Effect Of Humor: Validating Racial Stereotypes The purpose of this research paper is to examine the effect of humor on validating racial stereotypes. Race-based comedy provides stereotypical misconceptions that influence the audience to accept these racial characteristics rather than denounce them. Racial stereotyping in comedy establishes the existence of racially defined differences, thus causing them to be regarded as natural while encouraging audiences to apply reality to myth. My primary sources are the first and second Rush Hour films, on which I will perform a close reading of how the two main characters, both of whom are minorities, interact with each other. The dialogue between these two characters incorporates many well-known racial stereotypes. My secondary sources include studies of Asians, blacks, and whites watching the films and their responses to the films jokes in the negative portrayals of their particular race. The movies fall into the buddy-cop action genre, which generally includes a white protagonist with a minority sidekick who frequently gets into trouble. However, Rush Hour is able to break from this convention and has the possibility to comment on the problematic aspects of stereotyping. With articles analyzing the dialogue between the characters as well as providing background history of blacks and Asians, comedy is able to disguise stereotypes and jokes that in other circumstances people would find offensive. Racial humor suggests that the Rush Hour series is able to gain acceptability from blacks, Asians, and whites because comedy is a form in which people will not take offense at racial exaggerations. Humor functions as rhetoric. It may not solve the problem of racial stereotyping but it provides the audience with the ability to look beyond the boundaries of race and come to understand how the triangulation of whites, blacks, and Asians allows for an infusion of identities. Annotated Bibliography Ma, Sheng-mei. Yellow King Fu and Black Jokes. Television New Media 1.2 (2000): 239-244. Sage Journals. Web. 17 January 2011. This scholarly article, written by Sheng-mei Ma professor at Michigan State University who specializes in Asian American studies and East-West comparative studies documents the start of the phenomenon of pairing an Asian martial artist with an African American comedian. Ma provides a historical context to movies such as the Rush Hour series, which combine yellow kung fu and black jokes (241). He begins by noting that the genre of kung fu was introduced to the West by Bruce Lee. Although there was no emphasis on black jokes in earlier kung fu films that starred Lee, The Last Dragon marks the development of racial depictions. In this film a young African American bows, meditates, and wears the stereotypical Chinese dress (240). The Asian Americans, on the other hand, take on black dialect and body rhythm (240). Ma considers the joining of yellow kung fu and black jokes as a marriage of convenience for box office profit in which the public supports this collaboration. Films such as Ru sh Hour contain jokes that include the common prevailing notions of Asians and blacks in American mass media, which would render yellow yellower and black blacker. However, this odd couple is able to blend with each other, creating a racial hybridity. Rush Hour focuses on the relationship between the Asian and African American stars; therefore, the film offers the likelihood of cross-racial identification. The article provides film theorists and scholars with new understandings of race-based comedy. Mas writings reinforce my thesis for the buddy-cop genre has a history of interracial partnerships where race is explicitly shown. Thus, besides validating racial differences, such films hybridize todays multicultural society. Nishime, LeiLani. Im Blackanese': Buddy-Cop Films, Rush Hour, and Asian American and African American Cross-racial Identification. Asian North American Identities: Beyond the Hyphen. Ed. Eleanor Ty and Donald C. Goellnicht. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2004. 43-60. Print. This expository piece, written by LeiLani Nishime Assistant Professor in the Department of Communications at the University of Washington who specializes in multiracial and interracial studies, Asian American media representations, and Asian American sub cultural production analyzes the history of Asian American and African American relations. The chapter explains how Rush Hour breaks the general conventions of a buddy-cop film and defies the norms of Hollywood film and generic character stereotype. She utilizes the film Rush Hour as an example for its portrayal of race relations with its removal of the white male character. By including Chan as well as Tucker, the film appeals to a wider range of audiences. The purpose is primarily to inform, but it also encourages the reader to examine certain films for comedic relief as well as social and cultural commentary. Rush Hour is a comedy yet it helps the audience to notice the concept of racial power. In most buddy-cop films, there is always someone in control and someone who is simply the follower. The white male will never be the buddy but with Chan and Tucker, they are almost equals. Nishime is most likely targeting Asian Americans because for an Asian American, America is characterized by both African American and Euro-American society. Rush Hour offers a vision of cross-racial identification and the idea of hybrid identities for there is a convergence of culture in music and film (48). This builds upon my thesis in that besides an acceptance of racially defined differences, race-based humor can provide a possible changing of racial hierarchy and the questioning of racial tolerance. Such a composition is more geared towards academia instead of garnering attention from the general public because it provides background information about Asian/Black relations, applies elevated language, and creates a possibility of a future state of relations. Park, Ji Hoon. Naturalizing Racial Differences Through Comedy: Asian Black, and White Views on Racial Stereotypes in Rush Hour 2. Journal of Communication 56 (2006): 157-177. International Communication Association. Web. 17 January 2011. This research article, written by Ji Hoon Park Assistant Professor in Communication at Hope College who specializes in Asian stereotypes in the media- analyzes the ideological implications of racial stereotyping. The article, which is a result of sociology study, explains that though minorities are starring in more mainstream films, a racial hierarchy is still evident. The study included a focus group of whites, black, and Asians in order to analyze subtle reactions and responses to the films implicit stereotypes. Minorities continue to inhibit negative stereotypes but the contradiction that arises is that these stereotypical portrayals have commercial viability. Rush Hour 2 is an example of this incongruity between racism in comedy and widespread popularity. Park discusses how the genre of comedy allows for its audience to make an interpretation of racial jokes as harmless for stereotypes are an important element of comedy in that they help establish specific character classificati ons that are based on some truth that has been exaggerated. This supports my thesis because I contend that race-based humor influences the audience to not challenge the established assumptions of race. His study supports this belief since the focus group was able to laugh throughout the entire movie. Most participants did not find the humor personally offensive but they do acknowledge that the racial humor has the possibility of becoming prejudiced. In comedy, Park notes that a joke is conceived of as racist based on whether a minority is telling it or a white person. Another aspect that creates success for this film is that all races are objects of mockery and bias. Parks conclusion is that racial stereotypes are problematic because realism in the media encourages viewers to incorporate on-screen attitudes and beliefs into the real world (172). Racial ideology is also embedded in Jackie Chans performance of the racial myth of an Asian man who excels in kung fu but is culturally ign orant as well as Chris Tucker personifying a coon (159). Furthermore, with the study, it becomes clear that the comedic portrayals of racial traits encourage participants to see the small truths in racially defined charactertistics rather than dispute these distortions. It does prompt the audience to consider that when viewing a comedy, critical analysis is usually absent and this can lead to a belief that racial differences are natural and not culturally created. Park is targeting teenagers and adults because they are able to apply actuality to racial myths and hence find amusement in the satirical portrayals of race. The anticipated audience could also include scholars since this composition was published in the Journal of Communication and scholars will be more interested in learning about the responses of black, white, and Asian viewers and how they make sense of racial differences. Rush Hour. Screenplay by Jim Kouf and Ross LaManna. Dir. Brett Ratner. Perf. Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. New Line Cinema, 1998. DVD. Rush Hour, directed by Brett Ratner one of Hollywoods most successful directors stars Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. It achieved commercial success and became the 7th top grossing film of 1998. The plot of the film centers on the kidnapping of the daughter of the Chinese Consol. Inspector Lee, played by Jackie Chan, is called to assist in the investigation because it is believed that the mysterious Crime Lord Juntao is behind the kidnapping. Lee finds himself paired with Detective James Carter of the Los Angeles Police Department, played by Chris Tucker. They gradually learn to work together and are able to reunite the family as well as discover the identity of Juntao. Rush Hour disrupts Hollywoods racial hierarchy by removing white culture and focusing on Asian American and African American culture. The film is able to break down the boundaries between races and reconstruct hierarchies, but the enjoyment of numerous racial ideologies that are integrated within the dialogue and scen es, prove that the jokes influence the audience to reify their own racial beliefs. The film gained positive reviews about Tuckers comedic performance and how Chan and Tucker work very well together. This fact supports my thesis of how race-based humor naturalizes racial differences, so the audience is more likely to focus on the true aspects of a stereotype instead of challenging the distorted portrayal. The positive reception proves that there is a paradox between racist representations and widespread approval and acceptance. The movie targets teenagers and adults because they have preconceived notions about different racial groups. Without these conceptions, the film would not be able to garner laughter but rather offense. Rush Hour 2. Screenplay by Jeff Nathanson and Ross LaManna. Dir. Brett Ratner. Perf. Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. New Line Cinema, 2001. DVD. Rush Hour 2, directed by Brett Ratner one of Hollywoods most successful directors stars Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. It received high box-office revenues and is considered one of the highest grossing martial arts films of all time. This sequel to the 1998 film Rush Hour follows Inspector Lee, played by Chan, and Los Angeles Police Detective James Carter, played by Tucker, and the adventures that they have. Carter is on vacation visiting Lee in Hong Kong, but they soon find themselves implicated in a scandal that involves counterfeit money, which brings them from Hong Kong to Los Angeles and then finally to Las Vegas. Although this movie is a comedic action film, it challenges typical Hollywood films by starring two minorities. While minorities have traditionally been casted in the roles of a sidekick or villain, Chan and Tucker are the main protagonists. By challenging the popular notion that the leading role features an individual from the dominant white race, Rush Hour 2 propose s the possibility of a cross-racial bonding between an Asian and an African American. Chan and Tucker both embody the stereotype of their particular race: Chan is a serious Asian man yet extremely skilled in Kung Fu, while Tucker is a tall African American who acts childish and seems very impulsive. To the everyday viewer, this movie serves as an entertaining comedy, but for such representations of race to be humorous, the audience must unconsciously accept or believe the stereotypes to be somewhat true. Thus, supporting my thesis that besides entertainment, the movie proves that race in comedy generalizes and influences people to accept racially defined characteristics. The movie targets teenagers and adults because it implies that a previous understanding of stereotypes is needed for the jokes to make sense and have their intended response, which is laughter. Global Strategic Management: Advantages and Disadvantages Global Strategic Management: Advantages and Disadvantages Strategic management is the process by which strategies and policies are put into action through the development of programs, budgets and procedures can be further explained that an organizations objectives must be identified in order to develop such policies and plans. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and executive team should implement such plans. Strategic Management provides overall direction to the whole enterprise. The organizations strategy must be appropriate for its resources, circumstances, and objectives. (Wheelen and Hunger 2006 p. 16.) Strategy can also be defined as the procedures involving development, drafting, implementation and assessment of multi functional decisions that are employed in an organization or firm so as it attains its short term and long term objectives, its the criteria used in specifying the firms mission, vision and developing of policies and plans and how to implement them with the goal of achieving the stipulated objectives. It further assigns r esources for implementation of policies, plans, projects and programs. Traditionally strategic management has been employed on a local basis where the objectives and plans are not global oriented, but lately the traditional concepts have been embraced in a global manner i.e. extending the skills in a world scale perspective. Global strategic management offers a clear insight on the effect of globalization in business management and organizations and hence it demands that managers should respond in the same or higher intensity in order to reap in the high benefits that come with it, Managers and CEOS have to understand that the global phenomenon does not just come into play by making your firm global but they are required to develop models that embraces and resists strains from multinational networks of subsidiaries and ensure the models considers the required persistence of deep and momentous cross – national differences with these in play and appreciation of the diversity that exists across borders and continents politically, culturally and economically Global Strategic management can be achieved and dividends passed on to the investors. Global strategic management involves a set on conceptual tools that help in navigating through the often contradictory and ambiguous mass of information, market, working staff and to sum it all up this all done and appreciated on an international platform. There exists a series of considerations that have to always be kept on the check and always be incorporated in the complex decision making procedures that characterizes this level of business management. Managers and business executives at this level have to appreciate the differences between the multi-domestic and global nature of running business at this level, traditional strategic management concepts which have proved successful in local setting have faced challenges on a global arena and given back futile results this in a way have led to extensive losses by the affected firms. With this in mind firms that are already running on a global setting or have this as a future goal have not only have or plan to have a solid global st rategic plan thats strictly tailored for the specific firm but have to in depth have a set of monitoring and evaluation criteria of exactly what type of global strategy is theirs and and will it earn them long-term profitability and value. Due to the nature and extent of running global firms many management techniques are to be employed, this have to easily integrate all the different departments in a synchronized and harmonious manner, this in itself boosts the overall management and performance of the firm. Global management requires employee management from the department heads to the lowest staff on the command chains where each and every staff of each firm has to have a clear definition and understanding of the companys objectives, mission and vision. While this is being done employees have to understand that with more powers comes extra responsibilities and hence part of the strategic management plans should involve sufficient management accountability, communications and oversight from the top executives and for this to be easily achieved and in a successful manner their responsibilities have to be broken down in processes and tasks that can be easily reflected in productivity and profitability terms. And to eas ily attain these and continuously motivate the employees in achievement of the overall company global objective direct communication channels should be created and lower placed staff should be encouraged to use the open communication means for the attainment of the goal and their role in it should be well appreciated. In addition since on a global perspective the employees base is wide and shares extreme cultural and relational ways of lives the global firms should be able to compliment this in their employees and not fight it this is an important motivational practice especially for the workers. Global firms need to also employ a detailed study research and SWOT (Strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis, and this should be done not on their already existing markets but on a wider and more challenging global perspective. The strength of the firms in a global arena need to be analyzed and in them more research should be done in order to maximize on their potential so as to enjoy the full benefits of being a global firm. The weaknesses on the other hand should not at any time be pushed aside since they define the loophole if hit well can drain the company back to the ground, hence all the weak links should be investigated and be well covered in a strong strategic defence mechanism. On the other hand the opportunities that openly lie and exist in the strategic plans of the firm need to be intelligently harnessed or tapped and full benefit accrued from them. Lastly like in the local business management global arenas also exposes the business to threats which are even more complicated than the local ones, hence when developing the strategic plan for the wider market a deeper scan is mandatory and once all are identified ways of curbing them in case anything crops up need to be developed, this had to be carefully done though since one might by fear scare away for rucuitive opportunities by not risking. Some few changes also need to be considered when developing the global plan, increase in the number of staff in order to match the extensive work load that comes up with the global market, other mechanisms employed by firms is the change of brand names and adopting of new and re-branded tags that sell the firm as a global entity and is more convincing to the market. The marketing of the firm as a global entity also need to be done but extremely vigorous so as to expose the firm clearly to the markets especially the global market. Political differences and interferences have also been some of the most important factors for consideration in the development of a firms global strategic plans. The management has to take into consideration that the firms doesnt perform under similar political backgrounds and in each country they are involved the case is extremely unique and its specific conditions need to be considered and thought of completely carefully since the differences experienced from one country to the other are important. Some of the most successful global firms even go to the extent of exchanging favours for business favours this has proved important and successful to those firms. In their planning the forms also employ social procedures which they serve the local communities with and this increases their popularity. Competitive Tactics are also very important in global strategic management, even though the market increases with size, the players in the market also increase a firm need to develop means of staying afloat in the market. The tactics have to be modern enough and able to make the customers chose it over other competitors in the market. They should be tailored to each specific consumer in each country in a language, tone and tongue they understood. Advantages of global strategic management Lower marketing costs Economies of scale in production and distribution Ability to leverage good ideas quickly and efficiently Helps to encourage ancillary industries to be set up to cater fo Uniformity of marketing practices Power and scope Consistency in brand image Helps to establish relationships outside of the political arena From the above its clear that this and more benefits are obtained from global strategic plans and this can be easily seen from first the scope of the work the firm does, this brings in more returns from the economies of scale that can be obtained from this. They also encouraged interaction among other firms global ones and this opens up chances and experiences for expansion one firm is able to learn from another an hence improve on areas the firm was weak before. The extended demographic coverage done by this firms also makes them gain firsthand experience on handling large number of clientele, data, resources and hence from their large portfolios they can easily develop even to larger firms by expanding their global strategic plans. The advantages gained from management of a firm on a international perspective range all over business management, and if the opportunities are carefully taken and the risks technically mitigated against the success of any company on a global perspective is very imminent and should be pursued though carefully by any developing firm from any location on the globe. Disadvantages of global strategic management Differences in consumer response to marketing mix elements. Differences in consumer needs, wants, and usage patterns for different products. Differences in product placement at the market. Differences in administrative procedures of the company between different employees and the employer. Differences in the legal environment, some of which may conflict with those of the home market especially when dealing with countries in the developing world. Differences in brand and product development and the competitive environment. Differences in the institutions available, some of which may call for the creation of entirely new ones (e.g. infrastructure). In a case where the global recession affect the developed worlds like our country,this may greatly affect the strategic management of the companies and this in turn affect different branches of the same company in different parts of the world, this is a great disadvantage. Different parts of the world have different laws governing investment and some of the laws and rules are hard on the foreign investors,therefore creating a big setback to strategic management of the different companies. REFERENCES http://www.palgrave.com/business/lasserre/ www.wikepedia.com http://mimm-ltd.com/Documents/WSGEC2009_UK_Program_Book_7-15-09-.pdf http://www-management.wharton.upenn.edu/mcdermott/files/MGMT655.pdf

The Count of Monte Christo :: essays research papers

The Count of Monte Christo I want to introduce you to, â€Å"The Count of Monte Christo,† by Alexandre Dumas. It is a story that starts as a love story that turns to betrayal and revenge. The Count of Monte Christo is set in France about 1804 in a large city. There was confusion to who led France, King Louis or Napoleon. France was divided by the two ruling parties. The main character is Edmond Dantes. He did many things in this story. He was a sailor, a lover, a friend, a captain, and a prisoner. Edmond was a tall, skinny black haired man in his twenties. When he was on the boat Pharon, the captain died and he was promoted to captain. When they return, he was convicted of treason and put into prison. Edmond was betrayed by the jealousy of his friends. His shipmate, Danglars, really wanted to be captain. Ferdinad wanted to marry Edmonds’ girl friend, Mercedes. Danglars and Ferdinand wrote a letter accusing Edmond of carrying a letter from Elba to the Bonapartist committee in Paris. On his wedding day, Edmond was arrested and taken before a deputy named Villefort. Edmond was secretly imprisoned in the deepest dungeons of the Chateau D'If. There Dantes' imprisonment was secured by the plotting of his enemies outside the prison, particularly towards Villefort, who wanted to cover up his own father's connections with the Bonapartists. Dantes spent 14 years in prison. While in prison, he was determined to escape and began digging a tunnel to hoping that he would escape. While digging his tunnel, he met an old inmate named Abbe Faria. The old man taught Edmond history, mathematics, and languages. In Edmond's fourteenth year, Faria became very ill. The old man told Edmond where to find a massive buried fortune. When Faria finally did die, his body was placed in a burial sac. Edmond hid in Faria’s body sac. The jailers threw the sack into the sea which allowed Dantes to escape. Dantes recovered the buried treasure and became extremely wealthy. He returned as the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo. He was slowly plotting to get even with the four men who had caused him to be sent to the Chateau D'If. Ferdinand had married Mercedes and was now the Count de Morcef. Monte Cristo released information to the press that proved that Morcef is a traitor, and Morcef is ruined socially. The Count of Monte Christo :: essays research papers The Count of Monte Christo I want to introduce you to, â€Å"The Count of Monte Christo,† by Alexandre Dumas. It is a story that starts as a love story that turns to betrayal and revenge. The Count of Monte Christo is set in France about 1804 in a large city. There was confusion to who led France, King Louis or Napoleon. France was divided by the two ruling parties. The main character is Edmond Dantes. He did many things in this story. He was a sailor, a lover, a friend, a captain, and a prisoner. Edmond was a tall, skinny black haired man in his twenties. When he was on the boat Pharon, the captain died and he was promoted to captain. When they return, he was convicted of treason and put into prison. Edmond was betrayed by the jealousy of his friends. His shipmate, Danglars, really wanted to be captain. Ferdinad wanted to marry Edmonds’ girl friend, Mercedes. Danglars and Ferdinand wrote a letter accusing Edmond of carrying a letter from Elba to the Bonapartist committee in Paris. On his wedding day, Edmond was arrested and taken before a deputy named Villefort. Edmond was secretly imprisoned in the deepest dungeons of the Chateau D'If. There Dantes' imprisonment was secured by the plotting of his enemies outside the prison, particularly towards Villefort, who wanted to cover up his own father's connections with the Bonapartists. Dantes spent 14 years in prison. While in prison, he was determined to escape and began digging a tunnel to hoping that he would escape. While digging his tunnel, he met an old inmate named Abbe Faria. The old man taught Edmond history, mathematics, and languages. In Edmond's fourteenth year, Faria became very ill. The old man told Edmond where to find a massive buried fortune. When Faria finally did die, his body was placed in a burial sac. Edmond hid in Faria’s body sac. The jailers threw the sack into the sea which allowed Dantes to escape. Dantes recovered the buried treasure and became extremely wealthy. He returned as the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo. He was slowly plotting to get even with the four men who had caused him to be sent to the Chateau D'If. Ferdinand had married Mercedes and was now the Count de Morcef. Monte Cristo released information to the press that proved that Morcef is a traitor, and Morcef is ruined socially.

Friday, July 19, 2019

Socialism :: essays research papers

History: The Socialist Party of the United States of America was formally organized at a unity convention in Indianapolis in 1901. The two merging groups were the Social Democratic Party of Eugene Victor Debs and the "Kangaroo" wing of the older Socialist Labor Party. From the beginning the Socialist Party was the organization for American radicals. Its membership included Marxists of various kinds, Christian socialists, Zionist and anti-Zionist Jewish socialists, foreign-language speaking sections, and virtually every variety of American radical. The Socialist Party historically stressed cooperatives as much as labor unions, and included the concepts of revolution by education and of "building the new society within the shell of the old." The Socialist Party aimed to become a major party; in the years prior to World War I it elected two Members of Congress, over 70 mayors, innumerable state legislators and city councilors. Its membership topped 100,000, and its Presidenti al candidate, Eugene Debs, received close to a million votes in 1912 and again in 1920. The outbreak of the war against Fascism and the wartime prosperity weakened all parties on the left. While the Communist Party suffered the most from the McCarthy period, all the left was seriously impaired, and by the mid-fifties little remained of organized radical politics. The Socialist Party was down to about 2,000 members, and had more or less withdrawn from electoral action in the face of the increasingly restrictive ballot-access laws passed by state legislatures around the country. In 1956 the Socialist Party and the Social Democratic Federation reunited, under pressure from the Socialist International (with which both groups were affiliated). By 1970, the Socialist Party was showing a growing tendency toward democratic centralism in practice. At the end of 1972 the Socialist Party, changed its name to Social Democrats USA. Since 1973 the Socialist Party USA has focused its attention more on grassroots and local politics, and has dealt with the controversial issue of Presidential politics on a case-by-case basis. Due to America's restrictive and often undemocratic ballot access laws (which have made it almost impossible to break the two-party monopoly on national politics), the party views the races primarily as opportunities for educating the public about socialism and the need for electoral democracy in the US. Socialist Party’s Philosophy: The Socialist Party stands for the abolition of every form of domination and exploitation, whether based on social class, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, or other characteristics.

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Assignment 2/Developing the Evidence Matrix/PICO Essay

Catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) are the most prevalent of all nosocomial infections inflicted upon patients while hospitalized. Approximately 30% of all hospital reported infections are of the urinary tract (Joint commission: New year will usher in new CAUTI prevention requiremants, 2011). The Joint Commission estimates the annual cost of CAUTI care is in excess of $400 million; furthermore, CAUTI care is targeted by Medicaid and Medicare services as a non-reimbursable infection. For years, postoperative urinary catheter utilization has been contested regarding the appropriate criteria required for its application, maintenance, and discontinuation. Patients hospitalized for short term postoperative care, specifically, orthopedic patients, are often catheterized due to their limited immobility. The goal of therapy with surgical orthopedic procedures is to improve mobility, not render the patient immobile. Urinary catheters are often viewed as cumbersome, inconvenient instruments of immobility by the patient. Conversely, nurses have often viewed urinary catheters as an instrument of convenience and standard of care for hospitalized patients. The use of short term urinary catheter use, whether indwelling or intermittent, in orthopedic patients has been surveyed through multiple studies, resulting in evolutionary changes in the standard of care of postoperative orthopedic patients. The contrasts  in patient outcomes utilizing indwelling catheterization, intermittent straight catheterization, and non-use of catheterization will be reviewed. PICO In postoperative orthopedic patients, how does the discontinuation of an indwelling urinary catheter compare to non-catheterization in relation to the prevention of urinary tract infection? INDWELLING URINARY CATHETERS AND THE POSTOPERATIVE ORTHOPEDIC PATIENT Population: Postoperative orthopedic patients Intervention: Discontinuation of an indwelling catheter Comparison: Non-catheterization of postoperative orthopedic patients Outcome: The patient will not exhibit any symptomology of a urinary tract infection Evidenced Based Practice Models  The Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence Based Practice Conceptual Model (JHNEBPCM) can be utilized in this area of focus as it comprises the foundations of nursing: practice, education, and research. There are three phases to this model known as the PET process: Practice question, Evidence, and Translation. The practice question identifies a problem with a current practice. Evidentiary support to answer the practice question is produced through the utilization and evaluation of research and non-research evidence. The outcome of the implemented research is then translated into practice change, the measurement of those outcomes, and the dissemination the new research (Buchko & Robinson, 2012). The Iowa Model of Evidenced Based Practice (IMEBP) is appropriate for use in this area of focus. It allows for the entire healthcare system to be utilized in determining the need for change in the delivery of care. Employing this model allows the researcher to elect to choose between a current problem and new research as the basis for change in patient care. Once the trigger has been substantiated as a priority, a team is put in place to assemble, critique, and determine if enough research has been presented to pilot a change in current practices. If there is sufficient evidence for change and the pilot  program is successful, a change in practice will occur. Once a change has been made, the data obtained from the practice change can be further  developed utilizing this model and continuing the evolutionary cycle of improving standard of care practices. INDWELLING URINARY CATHETERS AND THE POSTOPERATIVE ORTHOPEDIC PATIENT Otherwise, if there is not enough evidence, further research may be conducted to provide enough of a base to continue toward obtaining a practice change (Dontje, 2007). The differences between the JHNEBPCM and the IMEBP are minor. They both provide a common goal: to change current practices by employing evidenced based research to foster the evolution of healthcare practices. Both models use a question or a trigger to initiate a change in practice. The minor difference between the JHNEBPCM and the IMEBP is the JHNEBPCM validates its change of practice question with the application of non-research data in addition to its research data. In this way, the JHNEBPCM can consider patient preference as an indicator to best practices. Determining the Question  The National Patient Safety Guidelines, as determined by the Joint Commission, include the prevention of indwelling CAUTI, emphasizing the prompt removal of these instruments and the observation for subsequent infection (Joint commission: New year will usher in new CAUTI prevention requiremants, 2011). The initial question was, â€Å"In admitted orthopedic surgical patients, does prompt removal of an indwelling Foley catheter within 48 hours of surgery reduce the incidence of catheter associated urinary tract infection?† In order to have a broader result list in searching for articles, the PICO parameters were refined. The population parameter was reduced to â€Å"postoperative orthopedic patients.† The intervention parameter was refined to â€Å"discontinuation of an indwelling catheter.† This removed the time constraint from the initial PICO question. Using â€Å"non-catheterization,† employed the comparison tool to serve as t he basis for improved practice. The outcome parameter, â€Å"prevention of urinary  tract infection† aligns INDWELLING URINARY CATHETERS AND THE POSTOPERATIVE ORTHOPEDIC PATIENT with the Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Guidelines to preventing CAUTI, ensuring better patient care by eliminating infections.  Search of Evidence PubMed was the first database searched for postoperative urinary catheter indications and subsequent infections. The key terms, â€Å"indwelling urinary catheter AND urinary tract infection AND surgery,† were entered into the search bar, yielding 320 results. Accordingly, a second search using the key terms, â€Å"orthopedic surgery AND catheter associated urinary tract infection,† resulted in eight articles. Of those eight, two articles were chosen for review due to their specificity to joint surgery and urinary catheterization. The Cumulated Index of Nursing and Allied Health (CINAH) database was the second database searched. The key terms, â€Å"surgical patients and urinary tract infection,† produced 14 articles, of which two retrospective cohort studies were chosen for review based on the PICO criteria of urinary catheter use in the postoperative period. Additionally, a search for the key terms, â€Å"orthopedic surgery and catheter associated urinary tract infection† resulted in zero hits. The third database searched was Science Direct. The key terms searched for in this database were, â€Å"surgical patients, indwelling catheter, sterile field, and urinary tract infection.† This search resulted in 845 articles in which they were further limited to, â€Å"infection control,† which yielded 27 articles. Of those 27 articles, two were chosen for further review; a prospective observational study with descriptive and comparative design and a randomized control trial with cost-effe ctiveness analysis. INDWELLING URINARY CATHETERS AND THE POSTOPERATIVE ORTHOPEDIC PATIENT Evidence Review The first, and oldest, article reviewed was discouraging. Knight and Pellegrini’s (1996) randomized control trial determined utilization of indwelling catheters for urinary retention in postoperative total hip arthroplasty (THA) or total knee arthroplasty (TKA) procedures was beneficial for the patient. It was also determined urinary tract infections were not a consequence of indwelling catheter usage. The level of evidence met level one criteria, yet the grade of recommendation was D due to the weak recommendations with alternative approaches likely to better suit a different group of patients, those requiring urinary catheterization for urinary retention. The next study, a retrospective cohort study, sampled 35,904 patients who underwent major cardiac, vascular, orthopedic, or gastrointestinal surgery. A urinary catheter was placed intraoperatively, resulting in the development of a urinary tract infection if left in for more than two days; these patients were twice as likely to develop a urinary tract infection compared to patients whose catheters were removed within 48 hours of surgery (Wald, Allen, Bratzler, & Kramer, 2008). That same year, another retrospective cohort study by two of the previous authors along with two additional researchers, concluded postoperative patients admitted to skilled nursing facilities where their indwelling urinary catheters were maintained over the course of their care were associated with poorer outcomes. This study was restricted to the patients in skilled nursing facilities where direct patient care was limited and ongoing surveillance was minimal (Wald, Epstein, Radcliff, & Kramer, 2008). Both of these studies level of evidence met two-b criteria, grade of recommendation A and B respectively; the first study could apply to most patients in most circumstances, while the second study could apply to most circumstances. INDWELLING URINARY CATHETERS AND THE POSTOPERATIVE ORTHOPEDIC PATIENT The final review of Nyman, et.al, (2013), resulted in a one-a level of  evidence with an A for grade of recommendation. This randomized control trial concluded the employment of indwelling catheters and intermittent straight catheterization during the postoperative period for hip surgery patients had both benefits and disadvantages, yet non-catheterization was best for postoperative patient outcomes. This study was the most recent on record and aligned with the Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Guidelines. Summary Evidence based practices have become the cornerstone for the standard of care in healthcare facilities. Over the course of the past 20 years, healthcare providers have provided the research necessary to remove indwelling urinary catheters as the standard of care in postoperative orthopedic patients; from advocating of their use for urinary retention in the late 1990’s to limiting their utilization today. The higher incidence of CAUTI has provided Medicaid and Medicare programs support in rejecting reimbursement measures to facilities for these types of nosocomial infections. New nurse directed protocols supported by evidenced based research have decreased the incidence of CAUTI, although, if these practices are to continue to be successful, a physician culture change must be embraced. The entire healthcare team must continue to participate in an active role to eliminate unnecessary and preventable infections, specifically CAUTI’s. To appropriately act on the behalf of the patient, clinicians must ensure best practices not only for the well-being of the patient, but for the fiscal survival of a healthcare facility. INDWELLING URINARY CATHETERS AND THE POSTOPERATIVE ORTHOPEDIC PATIENT References Buchko, B., & Robinson, L. (2012). An evidenced-based approach to decrease early postoperative urinary retention following urogynecologic surgery. Urology Nursing, 32(5), 260-264. Dontje, K. (2007). Evidence-based practice:Understanding the process. Topics in Advanced Practice Nursing eJournal, 7(4). Joint commission: New year will usher in new CAUTI prevention requiremants. (2011). AIDS ALERT, 26(11), 1-2. Knight, R., & Pellegrini, V. (1996). Bladder management after total joint arthoplasty. The Journal of Arthroplasty, 11(8), 882-888. Nyman, M., Gustafsson, M., Langius-Eklof, A., Johansson, J.-E., Norlin, R., & Hagberg, L. (2013). Intermittent versus indwelling urinary catheterisation in hip surgery patients: A randomised controlled trial with cost-effectiveness analysis. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 50, 1589-1598. doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2013.05.007 Wald, H., Allen, M., Bratzler, D., & Kramer, A. (2008). Indwelling urinary catheter use in the postoperative period: Analysis of teh national surgical infection prevention project data FREE. Arch Surg, 143(6), 551-557. doi:10.1001/archsurg.143.6.551 Wald, H., Epstein, A., Radcliff, T., & Kramer, A. (2008). Extended use of urianry catheters in older surgical patients: A patient safety issue? Infevtion Control and Hospital Epidemiology, 29(2), 116-124. doi:10.1086/526433