Zoonotic Diseases Essay Example

Zoonotic Diseases Essay Abstract This report presents a combined epidemiological and economic framework for assessing zoonoses using a ‘‘one health’’ concept. The framework allows for an understanding of the cross-sector economic influence of zoonoses using improved risk analysis and listing a range of analytical tools. The goal of  the framework is to link the check outputs of animal and human disease transmission models, economic influence models and assessment of risk management options to gain improved understanding of factors affecting the acceptance of risk management plans so that investment planning includes the most promising interventions (or sets of interventions in an integrated fashion). A more complete understanding of the costs of the disease and the costs and benefits of control measures would promote broader application of the most efficient and effective control measures, contributing to improved animal and human health, better livelihood outcomes for the poor and macroeconomic growth. Keywords: Zoonoses, Tuberculosis, Brucellosis Acknowledgements / Foreword IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE BENEFICENT, THE MERCIFUL I would like to express my sincere gratefulness to Relief International for financial support and giving us the chance of working on this project and contribution towards betterment of humans and livestock. We will write a custom essay sample on Zoonotic Diseases specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Zoonotic Diseases specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Zoonotic Diseases specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer I am very grateful to my project supervisor Dr. Dost Muhammad Baloch, co-supervisor Dr. Muhammad Azam Khan Kakar, Dr. Ejaz of RI, Dr Abdul. Rehman, the lab in charge of DI lab Quetta and all my fellows friends for their kind co-operation and encouragement for completing this Project Successfully. I also express my gratitude to Department of Biotechnology and Informatics for providing the necessary requirement for Completion of Work. Table of Contents Abstractii Acknowledgements / Forewordiii Table of Contentsiv List of Figuresv List of Tablesvi  Terminology / Notationvii Acronyms / Abbreviationsvii. 1Introduction1 1. 1Statement of the Problem:2 1. 2Research Hypotheses:4 1. 3Significance of the Study:4 1. 4Purpose of the Research:4 2Literature Review5 3Materials Methods10 4Results / Discussion12 5Conclusions15 References16 List of Figures Figure 1: Cycle of M. Bovis Transmission between cattle and humans. The thickness of the arrows Suggests level of probability1 Figure 2: Spread of Brucellosis between cattle Humans2 List of Tables Table 1: Animal Count Pishin Dist. (2005)10 Terminology / Notation Acronyms / Abbreviations SppSpecies DLSDepartment of Livestock services T. B Tuberculosis L. ULivestock Unit Introduction The usage Zoonoses, or Zoonotic diseases, are caused by infectious agents that are transmissible under natural conditions from animals to humans. Zoonoses may rise from wild or domestic animals or from products of animal source. A number of infectious diseases, including viruses, bacteria, and parasites, can be transmitted from animals to people through a variety of infection routes, including animal bites, vectors (i.e. , insects), and animal-to-human contact (i. e. , inhalation of respiratory droplets or skin-to-skin contact). Some examples of common Zoonotic diseases include lyme disease, rabies, ringworm, and plague. Zoonoses have been known since early historical spells. There are holy references to infection, a bacterial zoonoses mainly transmitted to humans by fleas; and some historians contend that a disease first described by Thucydides during the Plague of Athens (430–425 B. C. E. ) was typhus, a louse-borne zoonoses. ). Certain zoonoses, such as yellow fever, malaria, and rabies, are well known to the general public, but a vast number of lesser-known zoonoses exist in limited cycles in different parts of the world. There are undoubtedly many zoonoses waiting in nature that have the potential to cause serious public health consequences if introduced into humans. Figure 1: Cycle of M. Bovis Transmission between cattle and humans. The thickness of the arrows Suggests level of probability * Figure 2: Spread of Brucellosis between cattle Humans *Statement of the Problem: The Department of Livestock services (DLS) has made several efforts to implement the regulation in Pishin district of Baluchistan. In spite of such efforts are in place, consumers are forced to use unhygienic and inadequate meat and milk; they are bound to live with the risk of meat borne diseases; and various cases of frauds precipitate from time to time The demand of meat and meat products are higher than the existing supply for which meat industry depends on import of live animals from different areas. The demand for meat is greater than the supply from domestic sources. In this vein, fewer literatures maintain that the prevailing supply deficit is not only due to deficit number of food animals in Pishin but also due to non-acceptance of locally produced meat by the residents. There is lack of research activities on meat borne diseases; it is occasional and isolated in nature, and the results of most of them remain as undocumented findings. Some of the Literatures report the prevalence of bacterial, viral and parasitic diseases as meat borne zoonoses in district Pishin. Some of them are brucellosis, tuberculosis many other Zoonotic diseases. Few literatures argue that the effect of zoonoses might be little through meat consumption in Pishin due to superior cooking style – frying the meat and then cooking in the pressure cooker – nevertheless, it does not rule out the absence of the spore forming pathogens and possibly their in-built toxins in the cooked meat. Regarding the presence of pathogenic microorganisms, Gautam 2005 cited in Sankhi (2006:110) has detected Salmonella Spp in buffalo meat, mutton and chicken; and Escherichia coli has been reported as the predominant bacteria followed by Staphylococcus and Salmonella Spp, and other bacteria of Entero-bacteriaceae family in raw meat obtained from buffalo, goat, cow, sheep and poultry in Pishin. Some of these reported bacteria are potent producers of toxins which causes death of humans. Given these situations, it is apparent that the meat and milk products procured, processed and marketed in the area is unsafe for human consumption posing potential public health hazards. A similar major concern of meat sector in Pishin is pollution of environment due to the waste products of meat emitted from slaughtering and dressing operation. The slaughter sites are lacking proper drainage channels as well as waste disposal system; waste materials are disposed into municipality waste tank, streets and open areas. Infectious diseases  * Major cause of deaths in humans * Major economic losses in domestic animals * Major cause of wildlife destruction * Major impact on developing countries and poverty Issues includes * What is the current status of these infectious diseases? (T. B Brucellosis) * Do we know what really cause these diseases? * What would we need to know to predict the emergence and re-emergence of a disease? Research Hypotheses: This Awareness among meat occupational and consumers helps implementation of the Slaughterhouse and Meat Inspection Act in Pishin district. Provision of sufficient regulatory infrastructures supports the implementation of Slaughterhouse and Meat Inspection Act in. Significance of the Study: The present study finds a great opportunity to carry out research in the area of meat and milk business in Pishin with particular emphasis to ascertain the implementation status of Slaughterhouse and Meat Inspection Act in. Various findings of this study are helpful in bridging the knowledge gap existing in the available literatures related to execution of meat legislation in the area. Besides, the study opens up various dimensions for the research activities regarding policy implementation process in meat sector in the country. The government authority can have the opportunity to bring necessary adjustments in its existing policies, strategies, and programmes and activities based on the various findings of the present research study. Purpose of the Research: * To see the animals infected with Zoonotic diseases (Tuberculosis Brucellosis) in Pishin district. * To screen out carrier animals in the area thus to develop strategies to prevent Brucellosis and tuberculosis in the area. Literature Review Zoonotic diseases are caused by many different pathogenic agents. In most cases, humans are accidental or ‘‘spill-over’’ hosts of a disease-ecological cycle maintained by animal hosts, including insects (Kayali et al. 2003; Schelling et al. 2003). Because of the circulation of Zoonotic agents between animals, humans, and the environment, the cost of a disease affects human activity and health in addition to other economic sectors. According to the Institute of Medicine (2009), Zoonotic pathogens caused more than 65% of emerging infectious disease events in the past six decades. The direct cost of Zoonotic diseases over the last decade has been estimated to be more than $20 billion with over $200 billion indirect losses to affected economies as a whole (World Bank 2010). In the last 60 years, many industrialized countries have successfully controlled or eliminated Zoonotic diseases through costly public investment facilitating coordinated  interventions, including ‘‘test and slaughter,’’ feed bans, mass vaccination of domestic animals and wildlife, health education and milk pasteurization. These are highly effective methods of eliminating Zoonotic diseases which require important operational, legal, and financial collaterals (Keusch et al. 2009). In most developing countries, surveillance of Zoonotic diseases is not recognized as ‘‘one-health’’ collaboration between veterinary medicine and human medicine. In addition, many countries lack diagnostic capacity and health infrastructure. In livestock populations efforts have primarily focused on implementing prevention and eradication measures with much less emphasis on the effect of mitigation (transmission control) strategies, taking into consideration economic and development impacts at the macro (national economy, environment) or micro (health, livelihoods, food security of smallholder farmers) levels. Many industrialized countries are able to control or reduce the risk of Zoonotic diseases through public investment in preventative measures such as surveillance and compensation of farmers for culled stock in the event of an outbreak. In April 2001, the British government slaughtered and destroyed more than 2 million animals in England to stop the spread of foot-and-mouth disease (Sobrino and Domingo 2001). Such interventions are not feasible in many developing countries because of poor surveillance programs, limited institutional capacity, and, without donor assistance, lack of funds for livestock holder and compensation (Zinsstag et al. 2007). This issue is illustrated by the limited effectiveness of the response following the HPAI outbreak in 2006–2008. Education programs to increase producer level bio-security measures were implemented in developing countries without careful consideration of how to alter behaviour of small scale producers sustainably, despite high level ministerial support (Narrod et al. 2011). Successful investment in zoonoses control requires assessment of the cost of disease and the cost-effectiveness of proposed interventions, in addition to adaptation of the interventions to the local context. Given that 70% of the world’s rural poor depend on livestock and working animals for their livelihoods, animals cannot be left out of the solutions (LID1999; FAO 2002). Economic impacts exist beyond the cost of control, including direct decreases in household income due to reduction in livestock/product sales, consumption impacts due to reduced food security, increased household vulnerability where livestock is used as a risk-coping mechanism and effects on household wealth which influence savings and gender equality (Birol et al. 2010). In addition there are impacts at the sector level, such as the feed and input sector or the broader economy which includes other analyzable input and output sectors (see You and Diao 2007; Diao et al. 2009). These associated costs may influence behavioural change at different levels (household, practitioners, policy) which is important to the decision-making process. A ‘‘one health’’ approach demonstrates closer cooperation between human and animal health resulting in benefits that are not achieved through the two medicines working independently. ‘‘One health’’ evolved from ‘‘one medicine,’’ a term coined by veterinary epidemiologist Calvin Schwabe in the 1960s to demonstrate that there is no paradigm difference between human and veterinary medicine thus allowing for integrated work (Schwabe 1984). To date, there have been limited efforts to conduct integrated analyses considering both the social and ecological systems, although this approach is not conceptually new having been successfully applied in an ‘‘ecosystem approach to health’’ or ‘‘Eco health’’ (Forget and Label 2001). We suggest that such an approach has enormous potential to improve public and animal health and provide cost savings in the public and private sectors. Sampling humans and animals simultaneously in an integrated study design decreases detection time for zoonotic disease (Schelling et al. 2003; Zinsstag et al. 2009a). Through integrated analysis, the full societal cost of disease can be estimated linking an animal– human transmission model to cross-sector economic analysis to show the full societal cost (Roth et al. 2003, Zinsstag et al. 2005a). The cost of livestock mass vaccination is often much higher than the public health benefit savings. Singularly from a public health perspective, such interventions are not cost-effective. An example is brucellosis control in Mongolia, where the intervention costs are less than a third of the overall cost of disease, when the private and agricultural sectors are included, with a societal benefit-cost ratio of 3.  2 (Roth et al. 2003). Assessing the cost of zoonoses in multiple sectors facilitates identification of cost-sharing options such as a separable cost method. Although brucellosis control by livestock mass vaccination is not cost-effective from a public health sector perspective, it becomes highly cost-effective when costs are shared between the public health and agricultural sectors in proportion to their benefits (Roth et al. 2003). Integrated assessments are hence crucial for Zoonotic disease control in resource poor countries (Zinsstag et al. 2007). The goal of the framework is to link the analysis outputs of animal safety at a given cost. At best, mitigation is negotiated with all stakeholders, communities, authorities, and scientists in participatory trans disciplinary processes (Schelling 2008; Zinsstag 2007). Risk managers can choose strategies depending on the risk preferences for affected stakeholders and comparative advantages in implementing risk-reduction options. It is difficult to compare strategies which consider risk reductions and others evaluating costs and benefits. Despite good intentions, decisions can lead to losses in social welfare through unexpected outcomes and consequences. Decision makers would be aided by a framework which structures complex information and accounts for implications of the intricacy. Materials Methods | Number| Cattle| 202611| Sheep/Goats| 4,40,637| Draught Animals| 5232| Camels| 305| Livestock Unit (LU)| 2,45,016| Table 1: Animal Count Pishin Dist. (2005) Draught animals are horses, mules, donkeys A livestock unit (LU) is a comparative unit, based on its fodder requirements, through which all livestock can be summarised; e. g. a cow, bull, camel and horse are defined as 1 LU, while a sheep; goat and donkey are defined as 0. 5 LU. The grazing capacity of an area is defined in the same way as the carrying capacity: For our purpose it is defined that one livestock unit can optimally survive on one hectare of are under fodder and range land (range land being forest area and area under pastures). The grazing capacity = Rangeland + area under fodder / livestock units Pishin district lies between 30 ° 04’ to 31 ° 17’ north latitudes and 66 ° 13’ to 67 ° 50’ east longitudes.. The district Pishin was a part of Quetta. In 1975 it was separated from Quetta for administrative reasons. It derives its name from the locality Pishin. Pishin is a modernised form of ‘Pushang’, which is Old Persian for the Arabic Fushang. The population of Pishin District was estimated to be over 500,000 in (2005), with 99. 9% of the population being Pashtun. We use the following methods for the sample collection of Tuberculosis and Brucellosis in district Pishin. The methods are 1. Tuberculosis * Tuberculin Test * Nasal secretion samples were taken 2. Brucellosis * For brucellosis blood samples and aborted foetus were taken Results / Discussion A randomized research was conducted of five hundred (n=500) samples of domesticated animals in Pishin district for Tuberculosis   Brucellosis. Animals include a random ratio of sheep, goat, cow and buffaloes. I had found 3 positive samples out of 500. The name of the villages where I found positive samples is 1. Ajram 2. Daman During survey of the meat and milk occupational, observations of their meat and milk establishments were also carried out. The unmanaged disposal of wastes has several implications i. e. the environment of the city contains high level of microbes in the form of dusts and droplets leading to aerosol mode of transmission of meat and milk borne Zoonotic diseases. The overall effect of the study can reduce the control of disease outbreak very difficult. In Pishin district, the proportion of people relying on live- stock for some or all of their livelihoods is high, ranging from 20% to over 60%, depending on the livestock production system and region. In both pastoral and mixed agricultural/rural systems, people live closely with livestock populations that have a high prevalence of brucellosis, Tuberculosis making these individuals at higher risk of infection. Brucellosis is known to have a great impact on economic development, both in terms of direct losses (morbidity, mortality) and indirect losses, including costs associated with ineffective control measures. However, this is the first study to evaluate quality of life of patients with brucellosis compared to a control population. In the current study, the General Health domain had the lowest mean value in the group of patients with brucellosis and Tuberculosis. The General Health domain reflects an individual’s perceptions of his or her general health status. Disease, such as brucellosis, can result in poor physical activity, an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, depression, and dependency on others. When these factors are combined with poor socioeconomic status and lack of insurance, this can result in an even more negative perception of current and future health. In Pishin, brucellosis continues to be a problem due to certain traditions and customs associated with food preparation and a lack of health programs designed to teach people about the safety concerns associated with living and working closely with livestock. Much of the rural population of Pishin has a low economic status, with many families now relying on funds sent from family members who have immigrated to other areas, Differences in quality of life between rural and urban area patients are most likely due to the additional socio-economic hardships that the rural population must endure. The results of this study indicate that brucellosis does appear to negatively impact the welfare and quality of life of patients and that this disease has the largest impact on those least equipped to handle additional stress and poor health. The data presented here reinforce the hypothesis that socioeconomics can impact quality of life associated with a certain disease or condition and that those most affected are often times individuals living in territories that are behind in their development of health and disease prevention strategies. This necessitates the need for better education and public health programs aimed at these high risk populations. Conclusions Animal and human health is inseparably linked and food animals, especially cattle serve as a reservoir of diseases of public health importance. The safety of food of animal origin with regard to infection by M. Bovis Brucella spp is worth giving consideration, taking into knowledge the current tuberculosis Brucellosis wrecking the world. Though animals with these diseases pose risk to humans, this risk is extremely remote in developed countries due to introduction of milk pasteurisation and effective bovine tuberculosis control programmes (Shitaye et al. , 2006). In contrast, spread from animals to humans in developing countries remains a very real danger, mostly from infected milk. This seems to be a danger, which is being entirely ignored (Davies, 2006). The animal and public health consequences of M. Bovis Brucella are grave. Disease surveillance programmes in animals and humans should be considered a priority, especially in areas where risk factors are present. Other recommendations made by the WHO (1994) in its message on Zoonotic diseases include: Training of personnel at all levels of control programmes and the urgent need for further research on the diagnosis and control, immunological, epidemiological and socioeconomic aspects of these diseases. * References * Godfroid, J. , Scholz, H. C. , Barbier, T. , Nicolas, C. , Wat-tiau, P. , Fretin, D. , Whatmore, A. M. , Cloeckaert, A. , Blasco, J. M. , Moriyon, I. , Saegerman, C. , Muma, J. B. , Dahouk, S. , Neubauer, H. and Letesson, J. J. (2011) Brucellosis at the animal/ecosystem/human interface at the beginning of the 21st century. Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 102, 118-131. Seleem, M. N. , Boyle, S. M. and Sriranganathan, N. (2010) Brucellosis: A re-emerging zoonosis. Review. Vet-erinary Microbiology, 140, 392-398. Schussler, J. M. , Fenves, A. Z. and Sutker, W. L. (1997) intermittent fever and pancytopenia in young Mexican man. Southern Medical Journal, 90, 1035-1037. Kauffer, M. (2008) Public policies and commitments of the researcher. Public policy, some general notes. Myrdal, G. (1968) Economic theory and underdeveloped regions (In Spanish). Ed. Fondo de CulturaEconomica, Mexico City, 22-32. Ware, J. E. and Gandek, B. (1998) Overview of the SF-36 health survey and the international quality of life assess-ment (IQOLA) project. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 51, 903-912. CONAPO and National Population Council (2005) Human development indices in Tlaxcala.. * *

When to Use a Bug Bomb to Control Pests

When to Use a Bug Bomb to Control Pests Bug bombs, also known as total release foggers or insect foggers, use an aerosol propellant to fill an indoor space with chemical pesticides. These products are often marketed as all-purpose extermination tools that are easy for a homeowner to use. But is a bug bomb always the right choice when confronted with a home pest problem? Learn when to use a bug bomb, and when you shouldnt. Bug Bombs Work Best on Flying Insects When should you use a bug bomb? Almost never, to be honest. Bug bombs are most effective on flying insects, such as flies or mosquitoes. They dont provide much control for cockroaches, ants, bed bugs, or other pests that most concern homeowners. So unless you live in the Amityville Horror house, you wont find a bug bomb to be of much help with your insect problem. Consumers are fooled into using bug bombs for roaches and bed bugs because they believe the airborne pesticides will penetrate every crack and crevice where these insects hide. Quite the opposite is true. Once these hidden pests detect the chemical fog in the room, theyll retreat further into walls or other hideaways, where youll never be able to treat them effectively. Got Bed Bugs? Dont Bother With a Bug Bomb Are you battling bed bugs? Dont bother using a bug bomb, say entomologists at Ohio State University. Their most recent study showed bug bomb products are ineffective for treating bed bug infestations. The researchers studied three brands of foggers that list pyrethroids as their active ingredient. They used 5 different bedbug populations collected from Ohio homes as their variables, and a laboratory-raised bed bug strain known as Harlan as their control. The Harlan bed bug population is known to be susceptible to pyrethroids. They conducted the experiment in a vacant office building on campus. The OSU entomologists found the foggers had a little adverse effect on the 5-bed bug populations collected from the field. In other words, the bug bombs were virtually useless on the bed bugs that are actually living in peoples homes. Just one strain of the field-collected bed bugs succumbed to the pyrethroid foggers, but only when those bed bugs were out in the open and directly exposed to the insecticide mist. The foggers simply did not kill bed bugs that were hiding, even when they were only protected by a thin layer of cloth. In fact, even the Harlan strain- bed bugs are known to be susceptible to pyrethroids - survived when they could take shelter under a piece of cloth. The bottom line is this: if you have bed bugs, save your money for a professional exterminator, and dont waste your time using bug bombs. Using ineffective pesticides inappropriately only contributes to pesticide resistance, and doesnt solve your problem. Dont believe it? Read the OSU study yourself. It was published in the June 2012 issue of the Journal of Economic Entomology, a peer-reviewed publication of the Entomological Society of America. Bug Bombs Can Be Hazardous Regardless of the targeted pest, a bug bomb should really be a pesticide of last resort, anyway. First of all, the aerosol propellants used in bug bombs are highly flammable and pose a serious risk of fire or explosion if the product is not used properly. Second, do you really want to coat every surface in your home with toxic pesticides? When you use a bug bomb, a chemical cocktail rains down on your counters, furniture, floors, and walls, leaving behind an oily and toxic residue. If you still feel a bug bomb is your best pest control option, be sure to read and follow all directions on the label. Remember, when it comes to pesticide use, the label is the law!  Take all necessary precautions to prevent accidents or health hazards. If the bug bomb treatment doesn’t work the first time, dont try it again- its not going to work. Consult your county extension office or a pest control professional for help.

Bowling for Columbine

Bowling for Columbine At one point a reporter acts as though he is bothered by the tragic killing of a six year old girl but when the camera is off is only worried about how his hair looks. Moore shows that through the fear induced by the media many Americans are desensitized to the vasy amounts of violence and gun related crimes and turning a blind eye towards a solution to it. In the graph provided with this assignment we see that violent crimes have actually gone down year after year and yet every time we turn on the news we are assaulted with violent images and reports of gun violence. The media keeps gun deaths and violence first and foremost using the news, newspapers, magazines, talk shows, etc to keep us in a constant state of fear. In the film we see the town of Virgin Utah passed a law requiring all residents to posse firearms but why would you want more guns? Because the media induced fear that without a gun you will become the victim of someone with one if you don’t. Who benefits from this fear? Well first gun manufacturers, As we’ve seen with the massive amounts of guns purchased following the tragedies of Columbine and Sandy Hook. Second would be the media, People tuning in to the news or talk shows or even buying a printed publication to read about the latest tragedy. Third would be defense manufacturers, People buying bullet proof jackets or bullet proof backpacks for their kids or even schools buying metal detectors. And finally the government, By keeping the public fearful it makes them predictable and therefore easier to control. And why would these companies and organizations want us to remain ignorant and fearful? Because of money. If you are fearful that your neighbor might harm you or your family then your more likely to run out and purchase a gun or home security system therefore generating huge profits for those keeping us fearful. If you think another country might do us harm you are more willing to go along with spending increases for the military without any hard proof. A government report comes out about increases in crime in your area and how more police are needed and they convince you to vote for tax increases to pay for these. This leads to reinforced ideas like don’t tread on me or an eye for an eye, If someone might do me or my family harm then I need to defend them. This has a legitimizing effect because unless guns are removed or the media stops reporting mainly negative and violent news people will continue to do each other harm. Even without the media stirring up fear there will still be violence and crime but would there be such high levels of violent crime? Personally I don’t believe there would be. Did this tragedy spark a moral panic? Yes and it’s evident in almost every high school in America these days. When I was in high school you could leave the campus at any time you wanted and during lunch time many students did. These days most high schools have a closed campus so you can’t leave for lunch or at any time you choose. In some schools they have cameras everywhere as well as metal detectors and security guards. In the past if a student joked about doing something horriffic, Like shooting up the school, Most kids laughed and didn’t take it seriously but today you could be expelled for it. You could even been expelled for something ridiculous like dyeing your hair blue or folding a piece of paper into the shape of a gun and pointing it at someone. I feel that this tragedy has started some serious discussions about gun control and violence in our society but until we reign in the media and hold those accountable for the massive levels of violence in the news, movies, tv, video games, and American life in general no ground will be made. In todays society we often forget about tragedies almost as quickly as they happened because of the next latest horrible event we are fed by the media. Bowling for Columbine Bowling for Columbine Bowling for Columbine At one point a reporter acts as though he is bothered by the tragic killing of a six year old girl but when the camera is off is only worried about how his hair looks. Moore shows that through the fear induced by the media many Americans are desensitized to the vasy amounts of violence and gun related crimes and turning a blind eye towards a solution to it. In the graph provided with this assignment we see that violent crimes have actually gone down year after year and yet every time we turn on the news we are assaulted with violent images and reports of gun violence. The media keeps gun deaths and violence first and foremost using the news, newspapers, magazines, talk shows, etc to keep us in a constant state of fear. In the film we see the town of Virgin Utah passed a law requiring all residents to posse firearms but why would you want more guns? Because the media induced fear that without a gun you will become the victim of someone with one if you don’t. Who benefits from this fear? Well first gun manufacturers, As we’ve seen with the massive amounts of guns purchased following the tragedies of Columbine and Sandy Hook. Second would be the media, People tuning in to the news or talk shows or even buying a printed publication to read about the latest tragedy. Third would be defense manufacturers, People buying bullet proof jackets or bullet proof backpacks for their kids or even schools buying metal detectors. And finally the government, By keeping the public fearful it makes them predictable and therefore easier to control. And why would these companies and organizations want us to remain ignorant and fearful? Because of money. If you are fearful that your neighbor might harm you or your family then your more likely to run out and purchase a gun or home security system therefore generating huge profits for those keeping us fearful. If you think another country might do us harm you are more willing to go along with spending increases for the military without any hard proof. A government report comes out about increases in crime in your area and how more police are needed and they convince you to vote for tax increases to pay for these. This leads to reinforced ideas like don’t tread on me or an eye for an eye, If someone might do me or my family harm then I need to defend them. This has a legitimizing effect because unless guns are removed or the media stops reporting mainly negative and violent news people will continue to do each other harm. Even without the media stirring up fear there will still be violence and crime but would there be such high levels of violent crime? Personally I don’t believe there would be. Did this tragedy spark a moral panic? Yes and it’s evident in almost every high school in America these days. When I was in high school you could leave the campus at any time you wanted and during lunch time many students did. These days most high schools have a closed campus so you can’t leave for lunch or at any time you choose. In some schools they have cameras everywhere as well as metal detectors and security guards. In the past if a student joked about doing something horriffic, Like shooting up the school, Most kids laughed and didn’t take it seriously but today you could be expelled for it. You could even been expelled for something ridiculous like dyeing your hair blue or folding a piece of paper into the shape of a gun and pointing it at someone. I feel that this tragedy has started some serious discussions about gun control and violence in our society but until we reign in the media and hold those accountable for the massive levels of violence in the news, movies, tv, video games, and American life in general no ground will be made. In todays society we often forget about tragedies almost as quickly as they happened because of the next latest horrible event we are fed by the media. Bowling for Columbine

Health Value Policy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health Value Policy - Research Paper Example As per my spiritual beliefs I consider myself strictly accountable to the job, assigning authorities for any on job mishap. Nurses are in charge to carry out all critical operations during one’s treatment and therefore they are also accountable for the on job negligence. Healthcare policies of different institutions not only affect their performance but also influence healthcare providers working for that institution and the society at large. Therefore it is highly significant to formulate such policies which are beneficial for both the institution and the community. Cost, quality and social issues play a very crucial role when it comes to healthcare because ethical principles for nurses are basically judged on these three variables. For instance, justice, beneficence and autonomy (Gelling, 1999) are the most important ethical principles for me being a nurse. However, at times my ethical conduct is greatly challenged by the cost of treatment, the quality of management and exis ting social issues in a way that justice calls to maintain equal treatment opportunities for every individual (Butts, 2008) but cost of treatment does not always allow that. Similarly, autonomy affects the quality since I as a nurse want to extend my maximum skills and abilities towards the patients but on the other hand the healthcare policy might not permit me to do so. Social issues particularly those concerning the young generation affect my principle of beneficence because today people do not want to take medical help for their issues other than physical health (Butts, 2008). For instance, a number of young people who are severely affected by psychological diseases hardly go for medical facilitation. Maintaining justice at all levels of life was a part of my upbringing and now after entering into the nursing field I hold a more firm believe over it. This is because medical treatment should be same for all irrespective of race, color or status. Moreover, justice with the duties of a nurse is another important element which must be considered in order to benefit others. Non maleficence is my spiritual belief and I am sure that no religion in the world teaches to harm others especially nurses and doctors who are ethically, religiously and socially responsible to extend healthcare benefits. My personal experience says that nurses are by nature very dedicated to their jobs however, the society at large and healthcare policies in particular influence their performance. For instance, cost of treatment is a major concern for all the healthcare institutions which actually stops the employees from performing at their best. Hence it is highly significant to make such policies which do not discriminate between rich and poor. Apart from this, healthcare policy is also affected by the government regulations and political instability. Political representatives are solely responsible to grant maximum healthcare opportunities to the mass population, however at times diffe rent taxes and huge government shares reduce the healthcare chances for the disadvantaged group of the society (Butts, 2012). The most significant inconsistency that I have discovered in the healthcare policy and in my personal beliefs is the poor relationship between beneficence and cost of treatment.

Environmental sustainability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Environmental sustainability - Essay Example With a surplus of paper in the market of China, excess paper in Britain became very problematic (The Mail on Sunday 2009, 1). As stated by the representative of the Environment Agency: â€Å"We are expecting the market to bounce back in the next month or so. We want people to hold their nerve—we don’t have the space in landfill if people stop recycling. We can’t lose sight of that in the face of this temporary blip in the market† (The Mail on Sunday 2009, 1). Activists all over Britain have expressed anxiety over the tons of glut recycling mounting up on a national scale. This paper hence discusses the methods of recycling paper. The next section is a thorough review of literature about the increasing necessity and existing methods of recycling paper. The third section is a critical evaluation of the methods of recycling paper. The fourth section presents the possible future developments in paper recycling in the UK. And the last section wraps up the entir e discussion. Literature Review Paper recycling has become ever more imperative over the recent decades, especially for developed countries like the U.S. and the UK. The motivators for this change involve governmental and ecological factors. In paper production, the method of drying brings about structural alterations in the paper filaments, which lessens the consequent bonding capacity of the filaments and avoids rehydration (Limbachiya, Newlands & Dhir 2001). Enhanced purifying, while reviving the capacity to bond, has a negative impact on the looseness and capacity of the soft tissue to dry (Limbachiya et al. 2001). The review of literature below illustrates these concerns with paper recycling methods. An extensive review of literature on the features and functions of paper mill sediment was amassed. This is a vital issue because management of waste is important to paper mills. This issue is particularly important for paper mills where in derivative fibre is applied (McKinney 199 4). Methods of disposal, treatment, segregation, and contents of sediments have to be dealt with. A number of studies examined the contents of sediments stemming from the process of paper production and pulp and explored the similarities and differences between virgin filament and derivative filament methods (Limbachiya et al. 2001). The deposit from independent methods was described, suggesting the content of the different waste flows in the paper mill. Other methods of disposal were also reviewed in accordance with these features. The assumption of several studies was that the ultimate sediment use may be derived from its composition, leading to more productive application of the deposit. An analysis of the existing technology for fractionation of filament is also conducted by several studies (McKinney 1994). Available tools for processing of filament fractionation is explored alongside the qualities of collected paper that are regarded fit for fractionation. Due to the fact that filament fractions usually have uniquely different characteristics, they respond distinctly to the different processes like purifying or blanching (Rader 1995). Other studies discuss the features of the fractions, fractionation design, other

The China Trade Act Of 2000 Essay Example for Free

The China Trade Act Of 2000 Essay The China Trade Act of 2000 was introduced in Congress to allow free trade with China as with other favored nations. Trade with communist countries was currently allowed only on a year-to-year basis under the Trade Act of 1974, unlike the permanent basis offered other countries. Many members of the business community, and then President Clinton wanted this stipulation lifted once China joined the World Trade Organization, which was forthcoming. This required an act of Congress. Since Republicans typically favor big business, this allied President Clinton (D) with many Republicans and against many members of his own party, as well as labor unions. The president desired to push this bill through before his term in office ended. Clinton gathered support for this bill by speaking with hundreds of lawmakers, either individually, in groups or by phone. A $10 million ad compaign, the largest ever, was launched by the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable. There were many in the legislature concerned about granting permanent free trade to China due to Chinas history of human rights violations including religious persecution, denial of political rights and labor issues. The bill was closed to amendments and most Republicans supported the bill. However, it was not clear if there would be enough votes to ensure passage of the bill. Organized labor was the biggest opponent of the bill. Even Vice President Al Gore broke ranks with the president and said the bill would only move American jobs to China. Large corporations lobbied heavily in support of the bill. Governor George Bush and General Colin Powell were even asked to help convince undecided Republicans to support the Democratic presidents goals. The bill passed the House with no amendments by a surprisingly wide margin. The business community unleashed an unprecedented campaign that was hard for anyone to match, said the president of the United Auto Workers. The bill was then handed to the Senate and immediately several opponents of the bill began a filibuster. A cloture, motional requiring 60 Senators to cut  off debate, was activated and scores of amendments offered by Senators failed. The bill passed without amendment with an 85-15 vote. The process for passage of the China Trade Act of 2000 took about 1 year from start to finish. Opinion It is interesting that a Democratic president lobbied heavily for a historically Republican platform. I am also glad to see that many from both parties worked together to accomplish an important goal. The process to pass a bill is a lengthy process. Lawmakers and special interest groups felt passionate about his issue, causing some to split from their party alignment, join ranks with the opposing party, and lobby heavily to ensure passage of this bill.

Less Than Zero :: Essays Papers

Less Than Zero What you need Its not as easy as you think to throw a Rave, this sounds kind of easy, but it take takes a lot of hard work and dedication. The first thing you need is money, and the reason you need money is because you need to make a lot of deposits. If the cash flow isn’t that big then you get what are called investors, they put in their money and hope to get it back. After the money thing isn’t a problem any more then you need to look for a venue, which is not that hard any more because there are new venues everywhere, they’re just popping up. So you need book the venue. Now that you have the location for the date of your party the work begins. Now you need DJ’s, which are not that hard to find. If you know someone then all you need is one booking manager’s number and the rest isn’t hard to find. Because the booking manager usually has other numbers to give to you. So you have a couple of DJ’s but that’s not enough you need at least one headliner DJ. A headliner is a big name DJ and they are usually a little more expensive than the others. Usually the big DJ’s need to be flown in. so a ticket has to be bought and a place to stay. So you need to get in touch with a travel agent. After you have all your DJ’s confirmed, you go off and meet with graphic designers who will design you a flyer. And you need to pay him for the work and for the flyers to get printed. After the flyers are printed then people need to go out and promote the Rave at other places. Anywhere that has the right kind of people. This is not over yet. You need sound, there are a lot of people that do sound, and they bring cabinets of speakers the turn tables everything that’s needs to be brought are there. Usually they will ask you for a deposit. But if you know them it’s not a problem. After the sound is booked, you need to book the lights. So you need to find a person to set up your lights. And when dealing with sound and lights you don’t wan to deal with the cheaper kinds you want the best because the sound and lighting make a big difference.

Band of Brothers, Easy Company

The young men of Easy Company were ordinary citizens turned soldiers. Some of them worked in agricultural farms or coalmines. Others lived in the mountain and few were sons of the Deep South. Some came from very poor families while others were raised from the middle class (Gerjevic 2006). These were just few of the brave men who composed the Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U. S. Army. In 1942, the Easy Company was created and underwent basic training in Camp Toccoa, Georgia.The training included climbing the Currahee Mountain. They were the young volunteers seeking for thrill, honor, source of income and dreamed of attaining higher level than a draftee. The training was rigid and required great physical effort. After nine months of hard training, they prepared the invasion of Hitler’s fortress (Ambrose, Simon and Schuster 2006). At about 1 a. m. June 6, 1944, came D-Day, they silently smoked, talked in whispers and uttered short prayers as they boa rd the C-47s. Each man was in full battle gear.They were ready to fulfill their delicate mission (Gerjevic 2006). The Band of Brothers successfully did their assigned role in the D-Day invasion where they parachuted into Normandy, overpowered a German defense line on Utah Beach, head the force that entered into Carentan, led the fighting in Holland, captured an area in Bastogne, bravely led the counteroffensive in the Battle of the Bulge and finally overran Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest at Berchtesgaden (Webster 2006). The Easy Company suffered physical as well as mental casualties.Overall, the Band of Brothers successfully made it and they were proclaimed American heroes. The war was a story on how draftee citizen soldiers conquered well-trained German opponent such as the Wehrmach and S. S (Ambrose, Simon and Schuster 2006). The Band of Brothers, Easy Company was born in 1942. Their contribution in the success of America in their three years in the war cannot be underestimat ed. Their courage, endurance and dedication towards the interest of the nation have earned them a place in America’s great history.The Band of Brothers is worthy to be considered as one of the greatest military unit that the United States of America ever had. Work Cited Gerjevic, Sandi, â€Å"Band of Brothers†, accessed December 5, 2006, http://www. sandigerjevic. com/brothers. html Ambrose, Stephen, Simon & Schuster, â€Å"Band of Brothers†, accessed on December 5, 2006, http://www. bookreporter. com/reviews/0671867369. asp Webster, David Kenyon, â€Å"accessed December 5, 2006, http://www. davidkenyonwebster. com/

Artificial Intelligence in Today’s Society

Artificial Intelligence in Today’s Society Larry Anderson INF103 Instructor Geathers November 21, 2011 â€Å"The goal of many computer scientists since the mid-20th century has been to create a computer that could perform logical operations. †(Bowles, 2010, 9. 2). The journey to achieving this is called Artificial Intelligence, which is considered to be the branch of computer science that is focused on creating machines that engage in human behavior, and intelligence. â€Å"The term Artificial Intelligence was first coined at the Dartmouth Conference in 1956 by John McCarthy. † (McCorduck, 2004, 2. ). â€Å"The Dartmouth conference paved the way for examining the use of computers to process symbols, the need for new languages and the role of computers for theorem proving instead of focusing on hardware that simulated intelligence. †(Krishnamoorthy & Rajeev, 1996, 9. 1). Even though this name was coined in 1956, we saw artificial intelligence 15 years earli er when the electronic computer was created in 1941. Artificial Intelligence is an exciting subject that will only get better with time, allowing humans to do things that were never thought to be reality, until the last few decades. In this paper, I will be telling you about the four main studies of artificial intelligence and their importance to our society, as well as how they are affecting our everyday lives. These four studies are expert systems, natural language, neural networks, and robotics. Mostly all artificial intelligences can be categorized under these four studies. Not only are these technologies making life easier, they are making life more enjoyable for all societies. The first study of artificial intelligence I will talk about is expert systems. Expert systems are computer programs that contain large amounts of information in a certain field. These programs use this large amount of information to solve problems that normally would require human intelligence. The great thing about expert systems is that they can process information, in seconds, which would take humans days. Every expert system is made up of two parts: knowledge, and reasoning. â€Å"The knowledge base of the expert systems contains both factual and heuristic knowledge. †(Engelmore & Feigenbaum, 1993, 1. 2). The knowledge is the information, while the reasoning is the problem solving aspect of the expert system. One common, but powerful paradigm involves chaining of if-then rules to form a line of reasoning. †(Engelmore & Feigenbaum, 1993, 1. 2). For example, if you have these symptoms, then you must have a head cold. Expert systems are affecting our everyday lives by diagnosing illnesses, and predicting the weather. â€Å"One of the first systems was a computer that could perform a medical diagnosis. † (Bowles, 2010, 9. 2). A doctor can enter symptoms into a computer, and then process a few questions for the doctor; after answering the questions the computer will make a diagnosis of the patient. This is very useful to doctors because now they can see more patients, and give promising diagnosis efficiently. The second way expert systems are affecting our lives is by predicting the weather. Meteorologists are using these systems to help predict hurricanes and tornadoes. This is very helpful to society, giving people more evacuation time during major storms. The second study of artificial intelligence is Natural Language, which is considered human language. â€Å"Natural language processing programs use artificial intelligence to allow a user to communicate with a computer in the user’s natural language. (Poole & Mackworth, 2010, 12. 6). The computer can both understand and respond to commands given in human language. The two biggest hurdles in this study are phonetic knowledge, and pragmatic knowledge. Phonetic knowledge concerns how words are realized, and how words are realized as sounds. Pragmatic Knowledge has to do with how sentences are used in different contexts and how that affects sentence interpretation. Even with the tough barriers of language, and the meaning of words computer specialists are producing helpful natural language processing programs to better society. When was the last time you made a customer service call? Natural language is affecting you when you call a customer service number, and an automated voice tells you to say a command. â€Å"Voice-recognition systems are now handling night and weekend toll-free directory assistance calls for big corporations. † (Poole & Mackworth, 2010, 12. 6). For example if you need to check your balance for a cell phone bill, a voice-recognition system can assist, without the need of a human. This allows the human customer service representatives to help customers with more complex questions. Another way natural language is being used is with Google’s real time translation application. With this application you can take snapshots of things in a different language with your phone and it will translate the words into your language in seconds. This can be useful when you are traveling in different countries, needing directions, or when you are selecting from a menu in a different language. â€Å"A neural network is, in essence, an attempt to simulate the brain. Neural network theory revolves around the idea that certain key properties of biological neurons can be extracted and applied to simulations, thus creating a simulated, and very much simplified brain. †(Reingold & Nightingale, 4. 1). The first important thing to understand is that artificial neural networks are an attempt to recreate the computing potential of the brain. However, no one has ever simulated anything as complex as an actual brain which makes it very difficult to finish the whole project. Credit card fraud is very big in the present day, because many people are not using cash; instead they are using credit cards and debit cards to make transactions. â€Å"Nearly 400,000 transactions per day are of fraudulent charges. † (Brause & Langsdorf, 1). Neural Networks are being used to detect fraud transactions with the principal of pattern recognition. Every time a credit card user uses their card there is a pattern of transaction. Neural network software uses information such as how much money a person makes, type of transactions made, and how frequent certain transactions are made to predict fraud. â€Å"Neural network based fraud detection is based totally on the human brain working principal. As the human brain learns through past experience and uses its knowledge or experience in making the decision in daily life problem the same technique is applied with the credit card fraud detection technology. † (Patidar & Sharma 2. ). The last study of artificial intelligence I will be talking about is robotics. Robots are physical agents that perform tasks by manipulating the physical world. â€Å"They perform tasks which are idealizations or extensions of human capabilities. †(Selig, 1992, 1. 1). Robots have four characteristics; sensing, movement, energy, and intelligence. First off, a robot must sense its surroundings u sing light, touch, and pressure sensors. Secondly a robot must have movement; a robot needs to move around in its in environment, whether or not the whole robot moves, or just parts. Thirdly, a robot needs power to function properly, this energy could be solar, electrical, or battery powered. Last, it must have some kind of intelligence, such as software from a programmer in order to operate. Actual robots might seem like far off science fiction, but that is not the case robots have been affecting our everyday life for years. One of the biggest uses for robots today is in the automotive industry. Over the past few decades robots have completely changed the automobile industry in many ways. Even though the use of robots has also led to many workers losing their jobs, it is very cost effective. The robots are used for welding, painting, drilling, sanding, cutting, and moving tasks in manufacturing plants. The robots have improved this industry with a job efficiency that couldn’t be duplicated by humans. These robots have made assembly lines and factories safer by handling jobs that are too dangerous and too difficult for workers to perform. Another great way that robots are working in society’s favor is by cleaning up toxic and contaminated areas that would otherwise be harmful to humans. The biggest reason that robots are able to do these jobs is that they can be easily shielded against hazardous environments and are easily replaceable, unlike humans. Robots are used to clean up nuclear waste or clean ammunition, and landmines all over the world. Robots are also an asset to the military because they can detect and diffuse bombs in a combat zone. These robots are saving lives every day because they are able to go into situations that are life threating to humans and get the job done. The studies of expert systems, natural language, neural networks, and robotics are just in their early stages of advancements, but are already showing important promising characteristics for the future of mankind. We already see these advancements being put to the test by making medical diagnosis, predicting weather, voice automated services, catching transaction fraud, building automobiles, and cleaning up hazardous wastes. There is no doubt that Artificial Intelligence is already affecting society in ways that were never imagined decades ago. Technology will continue to explode into the next few decades, excelling in Artificial Intelligence, how we embrace the advances, will define us as a society. Resources: Bowles, Mark, D. (2010). Introduction to Computer Literacy. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education. McCorduck, P. (2004). Machines Who Think. Natick, MA. AK Peters, Ltd. Krishnamoorthy, C. , Rajeev, S. (1996). Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems for Engineers. CRC Press. Englemore, R. & Feigenbaum, E. (1993). Expert Systems and Artificial Intelligence. WTEC Hyper-Librarian. Poole, D. & Mackworth, A. 2010). Artificial Intelligence Foundations of Computational Agents. Cambridge University Press. Reingold, E. & Nightingale, J. Artificial Intelligence Tutorial Review. http://www. psych. utoronto. ca/users/reingold/courses/ai/ai. html Brause, R. & Langsdorf. Neural Data Mining for Credit Card Fraud Detection. J. W. Goethe-University. Frankfurt, Germany. Patidar, R. & Sharma, L. (2011). International Journal of Soft C omputing and Engineering. Jaipur, India. Selig, J. (1992). Introductory Robotics. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall International.

Free Essays on Rene Descartes

"Rene Descartes" Rene Descartes was born on March 31, 1596 in La Haye, France. Rene’s father derived from a good family and wanted nothing but the best for his sons and daughter. At the tender age of eight, Rene was sent to Jesuit College of La Fleche where he studied a wide variety of subjects such as Aristotelian philosophy and logic, but mainly excelled in math. As the years passed, his health began to jeopardize his studies so in 1612 Rene left Jesuit College and headed for Paris. After living in Paris, Descartes studied and then received a degree in law from University of Poitiers in 1616. Just one year later, Rene joined the army of Prince Maurice of Orange and then enlisted in the military school at Breda. Finally, after traveling all over Europe, Descartes decided to end his travels and reside in Holland in 1628 where he began to write his three famous books, Discourse on Method, Meditations on First Philosophy and Principles of Philosophy where his passion for philosophy and mat hematics could shine. In my term paper, I will be focusing on specific passages from Meditations on First Philosophy, which was written in 1641. Meditations on First Philosophy is a discussion of metaphysics, or what is real. In these writings, he ultimately hopes to achieve absolute certainty about the nature of everything including God, the physical world, and himself. It is only with a clear and distinct knowledge of such things that he can then begin to understand his true reality. In order to acquire absolute certainty, Descartes must first lay a complete foundation of integrity on which to build up his knowledge. The technique he uses to lay this base is doubt. Any belief can be doubted because it is not certain, therefore making it unusable as a foundation. Descartes starts by looking at our usual sources for truth. Authority, which is churches, parents, and schools, he says, are not reliable sources for truth because time sh... Free Essays on Rene Descartes Free Essays on Rene Descartes "Rene Descartes" Rene Descartes was born on March 31, 1596 in La Haye, France. Rene’s father derived from a good family and wanted nothing but the best for his sons and daughter. At the tender age of eight, Rene was sent to Jesuit College of La Fleche where he studied a wide variety of subjects such as Aristotelian philosophy and logic, but mainly excelled in math. As the years passed, his health began to jeopardize his studies so in 1612 Rene left Jesuit College and headed for Paris. After living in Paris, Descartes studied and then received a degree in law from University of Poitiers in 1616. Just one year later, Rene joined the army of Prince Maurice of Orange and then enlisted in the military school at Breda. Finally, after traveling all over Europe, Descartes decided to end his travels and reside in Holland in 1628 where he began to write his three famous books, Discourse on Method, Meditations on First Philosophy and Principles of Philosophy where his passion for philosophy and mat hematics could shine. In my term paper, I will be focusing on specific passages from Meditations on First Philosophy, which was written in 1641. Meditations on First Philosophy is a discussion of metaphysics, or what is real. In these writings, he ultimately hopes to achieve absolute certainty about the nature of everything including God, the physical world, and himself. It is only with a clear and distinct knowledge of such things that he can then begin to understand his true reality. In order to acquire absolute certainty, Descartes must first lay a complete foundation of integrity on which to build up his knowledge. The technique he uses to lay this base is doubt. Any belief can be doubted because it is not certain, therefore making it unusable as a foundation. Descartes starts by looking at our usual sources for truth. Authority, which is churches, parents, and schools, he says, are not reliable sources for truth because time sh...

Organisational Behaviour of Nestle Company Essay

Organisational Behaviour of Nestle Company - Essay Example The management of day-to-day activities is handled by executive board members. This report aims at giving a detailed analysis and discussion of how the organization is managed and specifically, to how it manages teams and how it makes decisions. This is to evaluate whether the company management practices are in line with management theory as pertains to teamwork and decision making. As such, the report will discuss theory on effective teams and decision making in organizations, examine how the company actually conducts those practices, establish the gap between theory and practice and finally, make recommendations on best practice. I have not worked for the company before but I have researched and obtained enough information to guide the analysis from the company website and other sources such as former employees. BUILDING AND MANAGING EFFECTIVE TEAMS IN THE WORKPLACE EXPECTED Rosenhauer (2005 p. 36) defines a team as â€Å"people who work together in close proximity with each othe r and who interact with other teams in the workplace.† A team is formed to carry out a specific goal. A team can be functional or cross-functional depending on the organization structure and also on the management principles. A functional team comprises of members of same department or who carry out similar functions while cross-functional teams are formed by employees from different functions. Whatever the type of the team, its effectiveness is very crucial in ensuring organizational success. An effective team has various defining characteristics. First, it must have clear purpose or expectations (Heathfield, 2012). While building the team, management should explain to the team what is... This essay aims at giving a detailed analysis and discussion of how the organization is managed and specifically, to how it manages teams and how it makes decisions. This is to evaluate whether the company management practices are in line with management theory as pertains to teamwork and decision making. As such, the essay also aims to discuss theory on effective teams and decision making in organizations, examine how the company actually conducts those practices, establish the gap between theory and practice and finally, make recommendations on best practice. The researcher have not worked for the company before, but he has researched and obtained enough information to guide the analysis from the company website and other sources such as former employees. At Nestle Company, most of the tasks are performed by various departments such as research and development, management, human resources and production. As such, each department works as a team in order to achieve the overall objec tive of the organization. Effective teamwork and sound decision making are key to organization success. Nestle has been successful in various areas but still more needs to be done if it needs to be recognized as a world leader in Nutrition, Health and Wellness and be trusted by all its stakeholders. Nestle has a culture of shared values which guides all its actions but sometimes it may hinder success. Nestle needs to engage employees by involving them in decision making and also train the management on team management and decision making skills.

What strategies can policy makers employ to promote successful policy Essay

What strategies can policy makers employ to promote successful policy implementation Policies, policy makers and connection with history - Essay Example This process actually involves the translation of the objectives of the policy into the system. It has three basic elements which include creating responsibility or an agency who would handle this new responsibility. Secondly, there needs to be operational rules and guidelines for the policy program and personnel and resources need to be coordinated so that the intent of the policy is achieved. Thesis statement Policy implementation is the next step after adoption of a policy and they make or break the policy. There will be no effect on society if the policy is never implemented; however this is a complex procedure that has many facets and ingredients for success. Policy implementation Policies also have certain intended and unintended effects. Intended effects are those that aim to seek out a positive benefit from a policy and this could also be one of the ways that policies actually avoid the negative effects. That is why there is a standard and policy makers will always compare th eir policy against the standard to see whether it is above or below the par. An example could include the policy the State of California implemented which led to the increase in use of hybrid cars. The Federal Law provided tax cuts worth $1500 as well as special lanes to hybrid vehicles which led to an increase in the use of hybrid cars and this led to a positive effect or an intended effect. The government created an effect by taking an action which was the policy even though the option of ‘high-occupancy vehicle lanes’ is not available for new hybrid vehicles. (Suleiman, 1984) Negative side effects that are not intended are called ‘unintended’ and they are usually because policy making systems are usually complex. They may set the tax rate so high or so low that this deters money from the economy. Therefore the policy implementation fine combs the policy actions so that these unintended effects are taken care of; however it is impossible to remove the ent ire negative effects while implementation. (Yates, 1977) Policy making as aforementioned is the part where the government actually carries out and executes a particular policy that is adopted when it is required by the law or otherwise. The different agencies that are responsible for the respective policy areas come together and are given the formal responsibility for implementing the policy and this is usually the stage when the bill is no longer a bill but becomes a law. Once the government has made a public policy such as a rule, law, edict, statute or any regulation, the policy must be executed and monitored, administered and then it should be forced upon society so that it brings about the change that policy makers desire it to. The agency that is responsible for implementation is given the desired resources and the power to allow the new policy to be implemented smoothly, however this is usually not the case. But why is public policy implemented in the first place? Public poli cies are implemented so that there is some change in the population so that a certain public problem is resolved or at least ameliorated at the very least. The problem will continue to exist until the policy is carried out and once the policy is implemented, it will be evaluated to see if the results that were desired are being obtained and further revision and implantation can take place. Agencies of administration will carry out most of the work of the government and so they have an impact on the citizens of the county and are involved in policy implementa