Manage Continous Organisational Improvement Essay

Abstract The sector of healthcare is vital for living that no one may deny. The advancement of technology has been a blessing in disguise for human health. Times are gone when people used to wait in long queues to get attention from the doctors and paramedical staff. The governments of the world were also responsible to not properly utilising the healthcare setup. In many parts of the world, it was still deemed as forbidden until the advent of 21st Century. Manage Continuous Organisational Improvement INTRODUCTION The sector of healthcare is vital for living that no one may deny. The advancement of technology has been a blessing in disguise for human health. Times are gone when people used to wait in long queues to get attention from  the doctors and paramedical staff. The governments of the world were also responsible to not properly utilising the healthcare setup. In many parts of the world, it was still deemed as forbidden until the advent of 21st Century (Alison; 2012). DISCUSSION Change management is something everyone thrives upon be it a business or medical science. For effective progress in any field of study, what matters the most is a well laid out and proper action plan. For example in business arena, gaining momentum is important in terms of financial aspects. For it one who is interested in business must be familiar with implementing a business plan to the suitable effect. The first and the foremost aspect is how much investment would be required for the project to be undertaken. Every country encourages ideas and the best way to be known for this purpose is to bring out something creative. In any aspect of profession, planning plays a vital role as well as management. In all most all the line of work, there is need for budgeting, staffing along with other strategizing options. In the context of globalization and global economy, change management becomes evident when we find that companies are overlooking the global parameters of a business where change is constant. In the context of this change, outsourcing is global strategic alliance that fosters a winning international strategy. The implementation of the policy of health is a complex topic that incorporates conceptual models. It is all about the guiding principles, rules, and regulations that lead to operational strategies. There are several one must be familiar with in order to accomplish explicit healthcare policy. To understand it, the cognition with health policy or governmental law is important. These also comprise of process of funding along with decisions taken at decentralised or national level. These widely effect upon how to deliver such services (Alison; 2012). The contemporary healthcare concept incorporates people from various fields related to medical technology including surgical equipment and medications. Access to evidence from medical and health research as well as latest information is also included within. The area of healthcare is notably one of the few areas which is blessed by heavy spending of the governments and the individuals alike. Alternatively the individual with less income is forced to pay a higher co pay and deductible for a lesser amount of coverage (Alison; 2012). SCENARIO You have recently taken on the role of change manager in an organisation. The organisation has decided to introduce the concept of continuous organisational improvement and you have been asked to lead this development. Before embarking on this work you decide that it is necessary for you to complete some detailed thinking in a number of key areas. In carrying out this assignment you should either use an organisation you have or currently work for. You must know this organisation well at a strategic level. Alternatively you should use the case study material provided. Firstly you need to give careful consideration of how a culture of continuous organisational improvement will be created. The process of change is inevitable in every organisation and NHS is no different. Mr. Regal has been appointed as a new Change Manager for NHS and is a dedicated individual who knows how to run things for the benefit of the organisation. He has been working in many prestigious organisations and thus he is also familiar with psychology of team working alongside him. Mr. Regal knows that all employees of NHS will need his active support to get the job done. For this purpose, involvement of staff and planning at early stage are a key to sure success to bring the process of change. It must also be noted that the policies to bring change must not oppose organisational policies such as redundancy, reorganisation and redeployment (Elizabeth; 2012). Before progressing any further, it is important that people within NHS must have idea of what change is all about. There are many types of changes including the ones instigated from ideas within NHS whereas some come from beyond the organisation. Other ideas include temporary and permanent ones all working for benefit of the organisation (Elizabeth; 2012). Since NHS is a complicated organisation thus many changes within are not clearly defined. In a typical organisational change model, new ways of working, unfamiliar team structures, processes and procedure are encompassed. Speaking individually, changes made at staff level can bring out pessimism, optimism, motivation, energy, enthusiasm and excitement to fear, anxiety, challenge, resistance, ambiguity and dread on various  instances. The fear within the staff is due to the concerns over new management and workload as well as job security and pensions. Thus various emotions can come into play and leads to distraction from development and provision of service. The staffs of NHS are ready to deal with anxiety which may be due to anticipating change. Surely, it will take Mr. Regal to get to know about the employees and the old standards that have been the hall mark of success for NHS. However, these techniques of the past won’t last long and thus change in the system is mandatory. Thus it is important to introduce such techniques that are part and parcel of modern day mechanism (Gallouj & Djellal; 2011). Mr. Regal knows what is the main reason of downfall of organizations i.e. those who are not willing to manage or identify change in human components. He has been performing his services as a freelance consultant for last 10 years. He suggests that the involvement of the individuals working within the organisation is necessary so that the way of thinking and behaviour may be altered. Now this may seem to be easier said than done as it requires thorough practice, time and motivation. The change in behaviour may not be easily measurable or achievable since the elements of humans are unable to get attention they require. As a line manager, it is the duty of Mr. Regal to lead from the front to identify and manage such human elements. NHS must also bear in mind that the change of initiatives must not go beyond the desired capacity. If it happens, the key resources required may turn uncontrollable. The extra workload must be shared by senior support and managers according to the resources and plan of action (Gallouj & Djellal; 2011). Before starting anything, what matters the most is planning same is with organisational change. It is never easy for people to accept what comes within that change process. They find it difficult to adjust or absorb to change and also for the management, it is not an easy task. They may have to face various reactions to it including temporary reductions in performance measurements and activity. For this purpose, a proper timetable must be provided which may give the employees enough time to get ready. This may also produce the impact desired by Mr. Regal and the new management of NHS (Karen, Jean & Gretl; 2012). CLARIFICATION/RATIONALE The second step is to what the outcomes of it may be the Clarification/Rationale. For this, it is important that the management is familiar with measurable outcomes. Mr. Regal and his team managing all must have a comprehensive vision that may lead NHS to new developments. The staff may get affected by the change being implemented. COMMUNICATION & INVOLVEMENT Mr. Regal knows that in order to have proper implementation of plans, the doctors, nurses as well as other workers in NHS must have confidence. For this purpose, it is necessary that they must have recognition of benefits and responsibilities, acceptance, understanding, will, interest, and  awareness. This could only be achieved if proper strategy regarding effective communication and involvement is drawn (Karen, Jean & Gretl; 2012). It is important that all the stake holders of NHS must be taken in confidence before the implementation of policy. The communication between the both parties is vital to reach a break through. Ineffective communication may result in difference of opinion. Thus by implementing proper communication skills, effective involvement can be ensured. RISK ASSESSMENT Mr. Regal suggests that implementing the process of change within NHS may be easier said than done provided that proper planning is implemented. Nevertheless with a process of change also comes the feeling of fear from within such as negative reactions, doubt, change in working and location. This is something that must be assessed at the earliest and must be done by a competent team. They are the individual who look to safeguard the interests of working groups specially the vulnerable people who may get impacted by the change. For this purpose, an implementation plan must be designed according to the time frame of change (Karen, Jean & Gretl; 2012). MONITORING Monitoring within the organisation is necessary to know about the activities the employees are engaged in. This also depends on what type of change is being implemented within the organisation. In many organisations the best way to get feedback is to make use of various perspectives. The best form of monitoring can be done on the basis of complaints, facts, reports, opinion, outputs, behaviour and levels of error. It is not necessary for techniques of monitoring to be elaborate but they must be appropriate and timely. Despite of its effectiveness, it may be considered as violation of privacy matters of the employees. Many organisations make use of various tools including the audio monitors and cameras. The employees too may enjoy various benefits of monitoring  including the safety measures. Many organisations including the hospitals and banks make use of close circuit television systems (CCTV) to monitor for safety. ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING Mr. Regal is of opinion that NHS must implement organisational learning which facilitates room for improvement. He explains that only those organisations that are willing to learn from their mistakes and ready to transform succeed. This phase of learning may not necessarily be a beneficial one. There might be a possibility that any individual within NHS may learn but not share with his team mates. Similarly, the subordinates in NHS may not be share the information learnt due to its policies. In order for NHS to become a learning organisation, it is important that it is ready to change, learn and adapt. In today’s competitive marketplace, an organisation maintaining its position in rapid changing environment is a tough ask. Everyday constant developments are being made thus providing corporations to transform into learning organisation. Mr. Regal believes that NHS has a capability to provide platform for learning. This may be stored in the minds of the people as well as the organisational memory in form of written documents, policies and procedures. If NHS successfully transforms itself as a learning organisation, it may widen the prospects by creating practices (Neil, & Jo; 2013). In order for NHS to prosper according to the modern phenomenon of change, it is important that it must learn from experience directly as well as others. The organisation may directly learn from experience by working on procedures of incremental refinement. Mr. Regal explains that it is natural for an organisation like NHS to be faced with number of obstacles including the lack of learning orientation. This is one of the most important of all the barriers in any organisation. These may be further classified into three types environmental, individual/group and organisational. In order for NHS to progress, the  people within the working group must have an active mind. The barriers of learning within an organisation include management practices and corporate culture. Besides that concern from external stake holder, industries, and public policy results in external barriers. EMBEDDING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE Mr. Regal suggests that NHS must act according to the standards of modern day organisation. Like others, it must introduce initiatives of change regularly perhaps on multiple levels too. Mr. Regal emphasises that proper process of research needs to be implemented on total quality management. This in turn will build cultures of compliance and health. As an organisation NHS has always worked on phenomenon of high quality care for all. Today, many leading organisations throughout the world are focusing on system of the organisation and system health at the same time. These are linked with a promise that quality work today may pave way for tomorrow’s high-quality work. The hallmark of a healthy organisation is that they embed culture promoting engagement, trust and openness. They achieve it on the basis of learning and improvement process. In almost all the organisations, there are often contradictory aspects hidden. In NHS, the priority is the measurement of higher outcomes such as population health. The founding principle of NHS has always been high quality care for all (HQCfA). The main point of focus is how this may be achieved emphatically. For this purpose the priority of work is done is patient and population which is deemed as weakest link. WHAT IS QUALITY IMPROVEMENT? Quality improvement is something that every organisation must thrive upon. There are various approaches and definitions and may be more fruitful than the other one. In medical practice, the purpose of quality improvement is to look for ways to provide better services and care. Mr. Regal says that change management may only be effective if the team performs as a single  unit. Quality Improvement is a team process at its core. When the circumstances are right the team perform according to different perspectives, knowledge, skills and experience. This helps in bringing out improvements that last long and is beneficial for the entire team as one unit. In order for the program to be successful, it is important that the top leadership as well as the employee support the process of change. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are employed for the process of Quality Improvement. This helps for improvement of safety, effectiveness and efficiency. NHS has always thrived on leadership and engagement for improvement. Every organisation has a room for improvement in one way or another. Same is with NHS as assessed by Mr. Regal along with his management team. As a matter of fact changes needed in NHS include changes made on a drastic level. Change management is a process of transition from current to new mode. It is important for the individuals to be ready for the change. The first and the foremost step, is focusing on the ability of leadership. Mr. Regal must act as a role model for other employees within NHS to follow. He must set an example that becomes cornerstone of the organisation. He must implement rules and regulations that maybe followed in the long run. As a leader, he must avoid using thought process that creates separation in form of perks. Mr. Regal knows that talking to people working in the organisation on policy matter will restore their trust on him. Also he may be able to know about the problems faced by the employees and solve them individually. Two other aspects that matters the most are passion and genuineness. IDENTIFIES AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT In order to bring change within NHS, each working group must know what role they need to play. They must realise importance of their role in the process and consider it as a historical one. As a supreme command, it is the duty of Mr. Regal to communicate with each and everyone involved in the process. Those who have concerns regarding the change need to be addressed at the earliest. In order to bring down frustration, Mr. Regal must keep in mind the six phases that reflect the reaction of the people affected by the change. IMPACT OF THE PROPOSED CHANGES ANTICIPATION: Many of the employees are anxious what the change may be and how will have an impact on them. Such employees are unable to know what it has for or against them and don’t know what to expect. CONFRONTATION: This is the stage where people discover that something good or bad is going to happen. Many times they are able to figure out that the plan of change has already been initiated. REALIZATION: The third phase is of realisation where the impact of the change is in front of the people. The results will always be different as realised by the people. DEPRESSION: Besides being intellectual people begin to know the outcome of the change that makes them emotional. They begin to mourn on the past but can’t do anything about it leading to stress and depression. ACCEPTANCE: In this phase, people begin to acknowledge the process of change both emotionally and intellectually. In any organisational setup, people at first have some reservation but seeing the benefits may change their opinion. Nevertheless, there is no reassurance to it. ENLIGHTENMENT: In this last phase, people begin to wonder how they were able to manage the old ways while this change has turned out to be more fruitful to them. EVALUATION OF THE PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE ORGANISATIONAL ACTIVITIES Bringing change management and to make it work effectively is not a piece of cake for anyone. A consultant like Mr. Regal too will require time to convince employees working within NHS. For this purpose, it is important that why to bring out the best service from the organisation the world has ever seen. It is important that the management and the staff both support one another for the accomplishment of the goals desired. As a unit both of the organisation stake holders need to understand the importance of the decision. The plan is to make NHS sustainable and best value organisation for the benefit of the people. This model of Change in NHS vows for the improvement collectively in terms of experience and knowledge. This process may also take into account former employees of NHS who had a history of quality services within the organisation. Since its birth, the organisation of NHS has worked for the benefit of humanity. Today it stands tall as the largest organisation of Europe dedicated to provide detailed healthcare services at minimal or low rate. Mr. Regal hopes with his new change policy, the organisation may become the largest healthcare organisation in the entire world. However, for that purpose, proper mechanism of work needs to be planned. The day when NHS was born, it comprised of more or less 14 regional hospital boards. Today it is also known to be the extensive employer of the nation (Nigel; 2011). CHANGES REQUIRED INTRODUCING IMPROVEMENTS TO THE ORGANISATIONAL ACTIVITIES NHS may benefit a lot from change process by introducing improvements to the activities of the organisation. In aiming for continuous improvement, NHS must market what they work for i.e. healthcare services. Mr. Regal emphasises that proper planning leads all the way to success for organisations initiating change. Despite this change process being beneficial to the organisation like NHS,  but there are certain things that may turn against if the management isn’t prepared. These challenges may be because of not creating ample room for improvements, slower adoption, work surroundings, resistance and ultimately not creating the necessary improvements for the organization. If in future NHS further aims to make itself better by bringing in new concepts, they must know how to manage and operate it effectively (Nigel; 2011). To begin with changes need to be done must be planned first but implemented gradually. This may help in bringing helpful change to one and all. The employees must be taken into confidence for the implementation of policy and thus building awareness is important. Inform the employees, inviting them to be the part of change process. Make an announcement and publish it via intranet besides informing the employees by meeting them. It is also important to mention the date and time of the process to take effect. Involve in all the employees of the company so that documentation; scheduling or minutes of meeting can be carried out (Nigel; 2011). It is important to satisfy the employees that the change that is going to happen is for betterment of the organisation. Those who have questions or concerns related to it need to be satisfied. The employees are mainly concerned with how the policy change may affect them. For this purpose, it is important for Mr. Regal to remain calm and patient and address the situation effectively. In order for the assistance of the employees, he must provide documentation for the changes going to happen within NHS. Write step by step instructions things required for the completion of expected process. To help out the employees of NHS, he must offer practice and training programs so that they may learn about the new procedures. It is not necessary to implement changes overnight; it may require slow but progressive steps towards the change. The best way is to make changes one at a time. It may help the employees to learn about new procedures before moving to next step. Feedback from the staff involved is also important as comments, suggestions, ideas or concerns may help to move to the next  milestone. This may also help the employees getting closer to Mr. Regal and they may understand process in far better way. Also it is his responsibility what employees have to say about the possible changes in the procedure. Do appreciate where credit is due when any employee comes up with suitable alternative or suggestion. Mr. Regal must be open to all the employees of NHS and thus answer any questions that emerge in their minds. In case of success motivate employees by giving them appreciation through barbecues or pizza parties. This helps to bridge the gap between the management and the employees. The engagement of variety of people such as user groups, as clinicians, administrative staff and patients is also helpful for the improvement of the services. This way conflicts within an organisation may also be avoided. AGREE AND COMMUNICATE THE PROPOSED CHANGES WITH STAKEHOLDERS Before approaching the stake holders Mr. Regal and team has to go through thorough research. The best way of it is to accompany with the group of experts having good networks. Their role will be to conduct brain storming sessions to the people and groups associated. Make a list of the changes associated with NHS and record it on laptop or flipchart. On finalising the names in the list, then the stakeholders must be arranged according to affect, power and influence. There are 9Cs in healthcare service are Competitors, Commissioners, Customers, Collaborators, Contributors, Channels, Commentators, Consumers, and Champions. CONCLUSION Change management is essential part of business and so do healthcare industry. Both of them rely upon the use of technology, organisational structure, management systems and processes. A hierarchy of organisation includes the bureaucratic processes and chain of command. For this purpose approval with the management is considered mandatory. Thus the roles of employees and leaders are well defined one has to obey the order while the  other has to command. References Alison, Hann; (2012); Health Policy and Politics; Ashgate Publishing, Ltd; ISBN: 140949120X, 9781409491200; pp 150-151. Elizabeth, McCormick; (2012); Change for the Better: Self-Help through Practical Psychotherapy; SAGE; ISBN: 144626808X, 9781446268087; pp 300-301. Gallouj & Djellal; (2011); The Handbook of Innovation and Services: A Multi-disciplinary Perspective; Elgar Original Reference Series; Edward Elgar Publishing; ISBN: 1849803307, 9781849803304; 750-751. Karen, Luker, Jean, Orr & Gretl, A. McHugh; (2012); Health Visiting: A Rediscovery; John Wiley & Sons; ISBN: 1444335812, 9781444335811; pp 230-231. Neil, Gopee & Jo, Galloway; (2013); Leadership and Management in Healthcare; SAGE; ISBN: 1446294862, 9781446294864; pp 250-251. Nigel, Crisp; (2011); 24 Hours to Save the NHS: The Chief Executive’s Account of Reform 2000 to 2006; Oxford University Press; ISBN: 0199639957, 9780199639953; pp 200-201.

Creon’s tragic Downfall Essay

Creon is the tragic hero of the play, Antigone, by Sophocles, and suffers the greatest downfall. It all begins when he maes his public announcment as the new king. He states his message loud and clearly to everyone, that if anyone feels the need to bury the body od Polyneices, they will be going against the law and will be sentenced to death. In this powerful speech, he shows the need for control and order in the way he plans to rule. At the same time, he is showing arrogance in the way he insures all of his choices in judgement are correct. Creon is told that someone has gone against his words and burried the body of Polyneices; he becomes outraged and orders the sentry to find him and turn him over at once. The sentry watches as he sees Antigone come out to bury her brother’s body for a second time. He catches her and she is presented to Creon. Creon questions her, and she does not deny what she has done. He orders her to death. She tells him her reasons for her actions, but they are completely ignored by Creon. Antigone is going to be taken toa vault and left to die. Creon, being stubborn, won’t even listen to the pleas and threats of his own son, but when Teiresias enters, he listens to what will happen if he does not change his decisions. So he takes a drastic turn. He pushed all of his arrogance aside, along with his stobbornness and he asks for help, â€Å"what shall I do?† At this moment he becomes weak in front of his people. Creon the king, asking for help? He is suppose to know it all! He is then told to go quickly and free Antigone from her vault and build a tomb for the body of Polynieces. Creon is ordered to do exactly what he stated was against the law, but in order to save himself, he follows everything that he is told. Immediately he performs a burial for Polynieces and digs out Antigone’s vault, in hopes of saving himself from the proce of paying flesh for flesh. Asking for help is not an easy thing to do, especially when you’re so head strong like Creon, but asking for help in a situation where you know you need it shows incredible courage. If only Creon had done it a little bit  earlier. After doing everything he could to change his stubborn choices, he fails. Mourning over what destruction he had caused, the deaths of his wife, son, and Antigone are his entire fault. He has tragicallu ruined himself, and now instead of dying,je os fprced to live in shame and in great pain in front of the people he ruled for his short time as king.

Learning through Print and Film Essay

History is expressed in different ways and through different mediums. This is also the case for the history of Martin Guerre which was a prominent personality in French history. He has numerous contributions in the building of the French world of which includes, but not exclusive to, philosophy, law, sociology and history. Martin Guerre became the subject of various historical learning materials from print to film. This paper will be using two primary sources for the comparative analysis of the two different mediums for learning history specifically the book written by Janet Lewis and the film directed by Daniel Vigne. Before continuing the discussion of the topic of this paper, it is important to note that there are different interpretations of history that is dependent on the individuals who interpret them. Another is that the differences regarding historical accounts are also affected by the point of view. These two concepts are also present in the creation of learning materials regarding history where the gap between the written work and the visual work can be considered to be growing depending on the individuals who create them. The difference between Print and Film based mediums of instruction Written and Film based learning materials are two very different mediums of learning history. Written forms of learning usually require more time and effort to both understand and appreciate since the times have already changed to create a society which is dominantly instant as well as visual though more information is readily available to those who take the time to learn them. Film based learning on the other hand may lose much of their meaning since creators essentially have control over the film. The primary constraint of films are their time limitations where most films can only present information that they have evaluate to be important and leave those that they have deemed unimportant unpresented. Provided the limitation, the nature of the film industry produces material that can be easily remembered and understood as it stimulates the mind of the individual where almost all information have already been processed. The only thing that individuals who watch these movies need to do is to absorb the knowledge being presented. These ideas will be explained in more detail in the succeeding discussions of the paper where the conclusion is an assessment as to which the writer prefers is a better medium for instruction in the historical field. Pros and Cons of Printed medium of instruction There are numerous pros to be considered when using printed materials for learning. One of them is the amount of data that can be present in printed mediums. There are usually more information that is present in printed versions of history which gives readers a more in depth understanding of the subject matter that they want to be learning. Writers of these materials provide as much information as they can in this medium of instruction. Usually, only factual information are included in these kinds of materials which can be considered as credible and â€Å"true†. Books, journals and other written forms of communication are also more strictly scrutinized since the purpose of such material is usually for learning thus provides the individuals a more credible source of information. Another advantage of this kind of medium is that readers are encouraged to think more in order to understand the matter that is being presented. They will be using their minds to imagine and interpret the matter which is said to develop mental capacity as well as its capabilities. Disadvantages of using the printed versions of history is that it is time consuming wherein a student would usually require large amounts of time, depending on the reader’s ability to read and absorb information that is presented in them. Also, printed materials are considered boring and more difficult to understand. This is one of the greatest obstacles to learning since students find it more difficult to be involved in the study of the subject matter if it does not spark their interest. Printed materials also usually impose a greater mental toll in the minds of readers which makes the use of books particularly more difficult to use. Another disadvantage with the use of books is its affordability. There are many books there and many of them cost a lot of money. Books considered better than others cost more than those whose credibility are not scrutinized. This way, buyers are ensured of credibility but at the cost of making it more difficult to acquire especially for students (though libraries can be used). Pros and Cons of Film Based learning Mediums Film based learning materials also have their own pros and cons. First to be explored is its advantages. Films are a great source of information especially if the person who made it is able to determine which information is more important than the others. Since not all information will be able to be presented using this medium of instruction, creators are already tasked with interpreting and analyzing the collection of data for those who will watch them. In other words, films already present their own interpretation of the data available to them which leaves the individuals who will watch an already digested version. Another advantage of using films as mediums of instruction is that they usually only take up a definite duration of time usually ranging from one and a half to two hours which allows time for other activities. This means that an individual could easily understand the film during that time and if not they can easily replay the film or parts of the film that they missed or did not understand. Films also provide its readers with a more exciting and enjoyable learning experience as films are especially made to stimulate its watchers to make messages easier to convey. Moving and dynamic characters that are viewed appeal to many more individuals since films are able to easily capture the attention of viewers, thus making them more perceptive to the lessons and messages of the film. The visual element of films also aid in the memory of students since they would be able to better remember events that had an impact to them. The disadvantages of film based medium of instruction on the other hand are also numerous. One is that since the presented information in these films are already interpreted and analyzed, it provides students with a limited perspective of the events that had happened during those times. Films provide those who watch it a pretty distinct and straight forward interpretation of the events showcased in the film which does little for other interpretations. Also, since not all information are able to be presented in the film, there is a high chance that some important information may not be included. The nature of films is primarily based on entertainment which means that some elements of the lessons and messages may not be given that much importance since it could be easily covered up with artistic elements. There is also a very high chance that the presentation of characters and events may be different from what had actually happened especially since films are highly subjective based on the views of their creators. The Presentation of Preference and Justification Being presented with the pros and cons of each medium, when given a chance to choose between the two to be used for academic study, two views will be taken into account. One is in the point of view of introductory courses, those who are taking the subject as an elective or those who do not plan on taking the subject as seriously. The other point of view is regarding those who plan on taking the subject matter seriously as the focus of their education. Those who take the subject matter only as an introductory course or only as a requirement and not as a serious topic for their course will be better served by using film based medium of instruction since the purpose of which is to encourage and spark their interest for them to decide for a more serious study. When they do decide for a more serious study, films are no longer seen as an effective tool for study since it would not be able to give them comprehensive knowledge about history. The serious study of history would require its student’s awareness of even small or minor events of a certain subject in order to facilitate better and deeper understanding. Overall, it is preferred that the serious study of history is to be conducted using printed material. This is simply a more effective way to develop academicians in this field since it develops the necessary academic discipline and different analytical skills. Also there are more sources that are created each year than the number of movies that are being produced in line with this matter. Also, films are more focused on the artistic value of the film rather than providing a source of credible and accurate depiction of historical events which makes it unfit for being a serious resource for the academe. The amount of information are only limited and there is very big risk of the interpretation by the film makers being wrong which would also mean that the impression and messages that they push out to the individuals may also be wrong or at the very least, inaccurate. Though, film resources are very convenient, they do not constitute nor facilitate actual academic learning and development of the necessary skills in order in the field. Comments Changing times usually also mean changing methods of learning. There are pros and cons in each of these mediums but the best mediums are those that provide its students with quality and credible information. As of the moment, printed materials are still the ones who are able to satisfy this requirement of the academe though other sources could still be used as supplementary tools for learning. Reading printed materials is still considered the best way to learn in the academe despite its crude mediums and limitations. There is no shortcut for knowledge and information can only be truly acquired through effort, persistence and determination to learn about the subject matter. Shortcuts would also only provide limited information which is not advisable in the academe. Perhaps in the future another medium would emerge and again provide individuals who wish to study history another kind of learning experience but until the time that they are able to reproduce the same accuracy and credibility that books provide, they would not be able to rival that of the books. Books or written accounts have been used since humans were able to formulate their own writing system. The method is still the most effective means to learn even until today perhaps because there is yet to be a method that can be used to rival it.

Analysis and Evaluation of an Argument Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Analysis and Evaluation of an Argument - Essay Example Since then, the desire to develop anti-ageing strategies grew in him. He has done several researches and merged them with logic ideas. That is why he says that ageing is rather a curable disease is any other. His reasoning is based on the body tissue that results in metabolism. He said the effects of metabolism are what brings about growing old in human beings. He felt the need to enable people not to lose the ones they love anymore due to health issues, lack of liveliness, and the ability of functioning in ageing process (De Grey, 210). He felt this loss had to stop since the majority of the people that died due to old age always had agonizing and very expensive death. The expense was due to that old people were vulnerable to lots of diseases and there most of the time is spent with medical assistance. Old people are not productive. This is because they can hardly assist in any job. They are therefore seen as valueless in the society. Aubrey De Grey has developed seven biological related steps to help slow the ageing process of human being. These steps help to repair the damaged organs in the body ones the ageing process crops in the body (De Grey, 222). Accumulation of damaged organs in the tissue of the body is what brings about diseases and other problem that result in death in old age. Cellular damages occur seven ways in the ageing process. Therefore, the seven steps are to help clean the junk of the cells both inside and outside. As people age, there tend to be worn out cells that need to be removed and protein cross-linking in the body. The bad cells are the one that causes the diseases of old age and therefore, they need removal and the body needs to be induced to produce new one. Prevention is always said to be better than cure. Dr Grey uses the quote a lot and says that people should not wait until they develop ageing problems to be cured. They should be earlier precautions and preventions to old

Field site task Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Field site task - Essay Example Studies of Society and Environment (SOSE) is an essential part of almost all the Tasmanian educational institutions has been designed and implemented at school level. It contains variety of disciplines in their vast fold including History and Geography in particular and Anthropology, Sociology, Political Science and Economics in general; all of them are required to be kept in view while making a learning plan as the part of classroom curriculum on the one hand and field side task on the other. The best teaching plan will be the one designed to meet the needs and interests of the particular students we are teaching. (McDonald, 2001:23) I have selected the Salmon Ponds in my plan as the area situated in Derwent Valley for my field side task. Since fieldwork is an essential part of my course in SOSE, so all the activities related to it must be well-knitted and properly planned according to the requirements and patterns designed and developed for this purpose. Before embarking upon the t opic, it would be advisable to introduce and discuss the historical and geographical significance of the area under study. Salmon Ponds is situated in the Derwent Valley, which is not only an important part of Tasmania, but also is a remarkable region containing gorgeous scenes of natural beauties and worthwhile charms. Due to its splendid landscapes, magnificent planes and pageant hills, the valley captures the attention of visitors from different parts of the world. Since Tasmania maintains a rich cultural heritage, ideal geographical location and traditional historical background, it is therefore the area provides a lot for studies and research work especially in the discipline of SOSE. It is estimated that Aborigines were the most primitive community of the region, which have been stated living in this area for the last 35,000 years. Tasmania is said to be linked with the mainland nearly ten

Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Strategy - Essay Example But the need to look attractive has never decreased. Hence, a good demand exists for the alternatives that are cheaper and equally attractive. The Industry: Jewelry industry is a very developed enterprise in the world. Scores of world famous brands of Gold, Platinum and Diamond are popular in New York and other big cities throughout the USA. The sales have however dropped a great deal in the recent times due to acute rise in the prices (Wallop, 2011). Jewelers have now developed a new breed of artificial jewelry that looks exactly like the original gold but costs way lesser than the original. An alloy with 82% by mass of pure copper, 11.5% zinc, 4.9% tin and small quantities of ammoniac salt and limestone shines exactly like gold with the same color. And once the alloy is obtained in ingots, the process of making jewelry from it is essentially the same as from original gold. Similarly, other alloys such as Mosaic Gold, Nuremberg Gold and French Gold all resemble original gold in appe arance and manufacturability without having traces of pure gold in them. The idea presented to Triangular Solutions is to market artificial jewelry made up of any of these alloys and decorated with semi-precious stones. We can observe that, apart from eye-catching appearance, designers’ brand names are what make the jewelry attractive. Hence, it is proposed that the jewelry must be marketed under a proper brand name. Market Size: Gold jewelry is equally popular among men and women in the country. From earrings, bracelets, bangles to crowns, a great variety of jewelry items exist that are in style among the women. Men’s variety includes bracelets, watches etc. Reports indicate that the gold sales have dropped by more than 50% in the past three years from 45 tons to about 15 tons per annum (Finch, 2009). Clearly, the reason for this drop is the rise in gold prices. Hence, if an alternative is given to the customer which is affordable and as good as the original gold, the n it is expected that the people will be attracted towards it in large numbers. Team Requirements: The team must have following members for successful execution of this business plan: Chief Executive Officer: His job will be to look after the overall operations of the business and coordinate between the teams. Jewelry Designer: His job will be to come up with new and attractive jewelry designs. Domain / Market Expert: His job will be to understand and explain market trends to the team Marketing Manager: He will be responsible for marketing and sales departments. Finance Manager: He will be responsible of the financial matters of the business Scalability of the Product: The business idea suggested here is reasonably scalable over a range of business volumes. The jewelry will be manufactured by individual workers without use of any sophisticated machine tools in general. The increase in the demand will be met easily by increasing the number of workers. Another feasible option will be to get the jewelry manufactured abroad in India or China where labor is comparatively cheap. This option can specially be considered if mass production is required to meet a very high demand. If however, the product does not gain expected popularity, the productions can simply be scaled down by decreasing the labor force. Financials: The price of gold in US markets is around $1500/oz. This amounts to around $10/carat. On the other hand, artificial gold alloys discussed above cost $0.15/carat on average. The major

Experience of an International Student Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Experience of an International Student - Essay Example Older people are notably more well respected that the younger ones. Contradicting the opinions of older people is considered as a taboo in my native country. In other words, if your ideas tend to undermine the ideas of the person who is older than you are, you better keep your ideas to yourself if you don't want to offend the sensibilities of the older person. While growing up in Asian household, I deal with adult members of the family most of the time. My close associate with adults led me to become more humble and modest as our culture demands for it. Because of the strong influence of my elders in shaping my character, I tend to behave just as modestly as I would around older people when I am with my peers. Unfortunately, my modesty often leads my peers to underestimate me. This situation is really frustrating for me. While in America, I try to see things more differently. I want to broaden my horizon and embrace the freedom of expression. I am confident that having a broader pers pective of things will open up wider latitude for me to realize my dreams. Yes, I lot of people from my native land may not really understand my need to be free from the bounds of culture and practices but I feel that being able to express my true self is very important. I believe that creativity is one of the best ways to express ones uniqueness. Creativity has always fascinated me as one of the most important human characteristics. Unfortunately, I think creativity is at odds with modesty.

Police Roles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Police Roles - Essay Example In the story of how the inmate overpowered the corrections officer, the inmate pleaded that he had to use the restroom. Preying on the corrections officer's compassion and empathy, the inmate was allowed to break free. The efficiency of teamwork and manpower was phenomenal in this story. "The 24/7 operational demands of a police officer's job can have serious consequences. A significant body of scientific and operational literature clearly establishes that around the clock operations can degrade safety, performance, health, mood, and alertness" (Amendola, Hamilton, Wyckoff, 2006, p. 3) In Findlay, Ohio; the police force knows all too well that the hours can be long and the job can be stressful. But in the same sense, the officers know that community involvement is key in order to keep in touch with the public. The County has started a program named NEAT (Neighborhood Enhancement & Abatement Team). The program was established in 2004, and helps deal with nuisance problems and neighborhood cleanups. In Modesto, California two police officer while on duty working on a holiday (labor day), assisted a woman in giving birth to a baby boy in a parked car, not very far from the nearest medical center. The role of social servant rings true in this story, where the call of duty was performed in an over exceeded amount of time. When officers are placed in position, like in this story, they have to keep the "victim" calm and focused, using amateur psychology tactics. In crime shows on television, such as Law & Order, SVU, The Shield, or COPS; they show a sort of distorted view of how officers have to handle situations with quick reflex's and snap decisions. What normally would take hours to handle in real life, in television the situation is under wraps in a matter of minutes. In fact, the real scenario in life takes a major amount of time in order to achieve a positive outcome. The Fine, Fading Art of Directing Traffic Albeit, it takes a certain amount of talent, the art of flowing ease, and knowing your fellow humans in order to direct traffic. It's about multi-tasking and by not bringing the spotlight on yourself as an entertainer with your orange vest and white gloves, but keeping the driver focused on the road. The role of order maintainer in this story is depicted in such a way that it seems almost glamorized. The job in itself can be dangerous, but for the most part, directing traffic is a basic act of maintaining order where there is chaos. Simple as that. In the Findlay County Police Station, they too have had to direct traffic several times. Not one officer is in charge of this, instead one is assigned from the list of officers that are on duty. Several times even while on their "beat", officers have had to come to a site and direct traffic without getting prepared until medical crews or backup has arrived. They take this

Effective communication skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Effective communication skills - Essay Example In verbal communication, people make use of tongue for the exchange of information whereas in nonverbal communication, people make use of eye contact, body language, gestures, and appearance to send nonverbal messages to other people. Nonverbal communication plays a vital role in making the entire process of communication successful and productive. Language plays an important role in making communication effective. It covers the rich complexities that a person faces during the process of communication. If a person wants to communicate in a language other than his/her own language, he/she first needs to know the meanings of different words used in that language. It not only adds meanings to the words but also enhances the ability of a person to use those meanings for constructing sentences. Along with language dependency, communication between any two persons also depends upon the nature of relationships that exist between them. For example, the nature of communication that takes place between a person and his family members is different from the communication that takes place between that person and his boss. Therefore, we can say that communication is influenced by the nature of relationships that exists between individuals. If we discuss the importance of effective communication within the context of accounting and finance, we can say that communication plays a considerable role in improving the concepts of an individual. I personally feel that my accounting concepts have improved due to the communication which used to take place between my professor, classmates, and me. All of us used to share our concerns with each other which helped us get a deep understanding of all issues related to accounting and finance. Emotional intelligence, on the other hand, is the ability of a person to assess emotions and feelings not only of himself/herself but also of other people. â€Å"Emotional intelligence refers to the effectiveness of an

Interview of Business Professional Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Interview of Business Professional - Essay Example Although he had a chance of executing the employment alone, he sought to follow the right procedures. The position was eventually filled with the most appropriate person by following employment procedures thus issues of ethical concern were avoided. I would have done the same. The dilemma would have been a violation of the company policy since the company requires that there be at least three possible suitors from which the best is picked. Although I could have had prior experience with the potential employee, following protocols were the right ethical thing to do. In addition, following right procedure would have safeguarded the company and me (Mathis and Jackson 2010). The ethical dilemma did not violate any law or company policy. It is advisable that personal judgment be followed and further official consultations made to avoid ethical conflicts. Choosing between personal conscience and company policies is difficult but it is more appropriate to follow the conscience. Under the same circumstances, I would have acted the same way as my interviewee to avoid ethical

Organisation Culture Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Organisation Culture - Coursework Example shed in 1976, and which is based in Bangladesh, can be characterized as part of the Grameen Foundation, an organization aiming to help people worldwide to develop an income that allows them to cover their basic needs. Two are the key tools used by the Grameen Foundation in order to achieve this target: microfinance and technology. Grameen Bank is aligned with the above rule providing to poor people financing solutions, through appropriately customized microfinance schemes, so that they can develop their own business. Current paper explores the following issue: how does Grameen Bank’s Culture empower poor local women to earn a livelihood. In this context, the Bank’s current culture will be explored and analyzed at the level that it can respond to the specific need, i.e. the empowerment of poor local women to earn a livelihood. The issue described above is explored using two theoretical frameworks, as appropriate for the analysis of such issue: the Hofstede framework on culture (Figure 1, Appendix) and the theory of Schein on the three – level of culture (see Figure 2, Appendix). Hofstede tried to identify those elements that are most likely to be parts of a nation’s culture, meaning that these elements can be the basis for the differentiation of each population from other populations in terms of culture. The study developed by Hofstede revealed that there are five categories of characteristics that distinguish populations internationally: ‘a) the level of individualism, b) the power distance, c) the uncertainty avoidance, d) the masculine-feminism and e) the dynamism’ (Tian, 2004, p.18). The above elements/ criteria are used in order to explain the strategies followed by the Grameen Bank for supporting the poor women; also these elements are used for understanding the perspectiv es of the bank’s plans in regard to the financial development of poor women, at least for covering their basic needs. The second theoretical framework used in order to

The fellowship of the ring Essay Example for Free

The fellowship of the ring Essay Bilbo knows that Frodo cares for him because, he himself is worried what Frodo will do if he leaves. When they are both at the party we see them together for the first time we see Frodo with is arm around him this is shown as a close bond. On Bilbos last speech the camera is focused in what Frodo thinks when it disappears, but when Bilbo says goodbye this is merely directed at Frodo. But when he disappears the shock on Frodos face is wondered and shock because he knows now he is by himself. Gandalf and Frodo character interaction are vital of presenting good and evil the good is particularly shown in the warmth of the shire. we first see Frodo meeting Gandalf in the first glimpse of the shire. As soon as Frodo hears the rattle of the cart his face is a delight as soon as these two meet it starts of with a joke this shows that they have both got a sense of humour and they can react with each other this revolves with a big lash out of a hug these two get on like a house on fire, so they should as these two have got a big road ahead in this epic tale. Sam and Frodo in the shire we see plenty of good in couples, this is one of the finest examples, this relationship is untouchable with two friendly harmless hobbits. Someone to break this relationship has to use a lot of cunning evil and trickery. We see this relationship unfold the first time we see them together. Sam is looking depressed and Frodo approaches him. He is looking at a girl and Frodo tells him to go and dance with her, Frodo gets Sam and tugs him into dancing, this brightens up Sams evening. To me this is what I call best friends. This relationship is full of trust and loyalty but what will these two come across in the future. The one ring and whoever the ring bearer the ring can easily and quickly poison evil in someones mind who ever it may be from hobbits to the dark lord himself this ring will break and take whoever live it may come across. The special effects of the props create a good effect of good and evil , for example the Orks look like ready made fighting machines this comes to me how the detail of there skin and how you can look in there eye and feel pure evil. Now as shown in the shire the impression of good is completely different to evil, the hobbits are small and which gives us the sense of harmlessness, this is shown in how big they are and how they have feelings. There is good quality use of editing in the prologue, for example at the start where they are naming the types of creature in middle earth, there is slow zooms and good fade outs these are also used in the shire. But in the prologue what it has that the shire has not got is the jump cuts because the prologue has to cover a longer period of time. But there is good use of editing all round in both parts. Lord of the Rings looks nothing less than spectacular. What is even more impressive is the fact that director Peter Jackson decided to film all three of the books at one time, no easy task by any stretch of the imagination. He uses all the technology and wizardry available to filmmakers today and thrusts the audience deep within the treacherous and exciting Middle-earth. From the diminutive hobbits, to the Elven city Rivendell to the dark Mines of Moira, its all there. The amount of talent involved in creating the filmthe conceptual artistry, the production design, the costumesshould be recognized come Oscar time. The pacing of the movie is excellent, with enough down time and heartfelt, if sometimes stilted, speeches to counteract the incredible action sequences. You hardly notice the three hours passing by, and it leaves you at the end wanting the quest to continue. The only one deterring fact is that the film really is for its die-hard fans. Certainly in the literary world, Tolkiens story is the mother of all epic fantasies, and Jackson has remained faithful to the material. In that, the movie doesnt necessarily have the universal appeal of, say, a Harry Potter. Nonetheless, Rings is a breathtaking piece of filmmaking. If you are a true-blue Rings follower, or even if you enjoy a good epic fantasy quest, the film has it all and will certainly not disappoint you. Lord of the rings English Course work Chris Cannarile Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE JRR Tolkien section.

IKEA Franchising Strategy

IKEA Franchising Strategy IKEA is an international home furniture company that selling the wide ranges of well-designed and functional products which packed in form of ready-to-assemble. According to IKEA (2012), its business is founded in 1943 by 17 years old Ingvar Kamprad in Sweden. The headquarter company of IKEA is placed in Delft, Netherlands. With the time turned, furniture retailer IKEA becomes one of successful companies around the world and has ability to take advantage of globalization. Therefore, now IKEA has 325 stores in 38 countries in which 287 stores in 26 countries is wholly owned INGKA Holding (non-for-profit corporation) and the remaining 38 stores are run by franchisees which under Dutch company (for-profit corporation) (n.a, 2012). INGKA Holding is parent company of Dutch company. The largest stores around the world are placed in China, German and Sweden (IKEA, 2012). The IKEA business is developed starting with home selling and then turn to become international nowadays. Originally, IKEA only sold small home accessories and trinkets products in its home, Sweden. Until 1948, IKEA began to design its own furniture products and sold in low price with high quality (Ellis, 2010). The process of business development is from home selling the products, open a retail store in Almhult town, Sweden (1958), then develop a larger retail outlet in Norway (1963). In 2012, IKEA committees plan to develop a wholly-own subsidiary corporate in India countries after did the market investigation. Currently, majority of IKEA stores are wholly owned and managed by INGKA Holding (also known as Stichting INGKA Foundation). The wholly owned subsidiary strategy explain that majority of stores operations, management, its furniture design and manufacture are overseen by INGKA Holding. For the case, IKEA has long eyed the retail market in India, now plan to invest  Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬900 million to create a wholly own subsidiary in India (Kinetz, 2012). On the other hand, IKEA also implements the franchising strategy in some countries to manage minority stores. The franchisees who allowed using IKEAs concept and trademark to run business have to pay 3% of revenue back. Since the culture and value is different in every country, IKEA committees evaluate the countrys local market and its future expansion opportunities before go in. For the future expansion, we suggest that IKEA should take joint venture strategy as business expansion strategy in India country. Joint venture is a good strategy to assist a company enters into a different cultural market. As an example, Wal-Mart knew nothing about Asian retail market, they choose entered into Hong Kong via joint venture with Thai conglomerate (Neelima Mahajan-Bansal, 2012). Second recommendation we suggest to IKEA is using wholly owned subsidiary to enter Brazil. The reason we choose Brazil as another target market because it has stability of political economy environment which can reduce various risk of business (n.a., 2011). IKEA also can take the advantage of Brazil since there has full of high quality woods as the resource for business (n.a., 2011). 2.0 Current Expansion Strategy Wholly owned Subsidiaries IKEA use wholly owned subsidiary as their main expansion. The IKEA corporate structure is divided in to two parts which are operating and franchising. Most of the IKEAs operations practices are overseen and managed by INGKA Holding B.V. INGKA Holding B.V is wholly owned by Stichting INGKA Foundation, a non-profit registered in Leiden in the Netherlands which is controlled by the Kamprad family (IKEAFANS, 2009). In year 2011, there are IKEA stores in 38 countries operating around the world such as United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Netherland, France, Russia, Saudi Arabia, China, Malaysia, Australia, and etc. There are 287 stores run by the INGKA Holding B.V and the remaining 38 stores are run by franchisees (Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). IKEA can either set up new operation in the country or can acquire an established firm in the host nation and use that firm to promote its promote its product as long as IKEA own 100 percent ownership of the stock. Habitat Retail Ltd. is a household furnishings retailer in the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain and in the year of 1992, IKEA acquired Habitats UK and French chain with about pound 55m to expand their business (Moore. J, 1992). IKEA own all of their buildings and land, and stores are custom built and designed for efficiency and sales potential. In order to do that, IKEA do not cut back investment in retail stores. (Deniz, Marco Art, 2012) The main purpose of the IKEA use this expansion strategies is to ensure operational control, standardization, and provide a smooth entry into to a new market. The attractive way to use wholly owned subsidiaries is where IKEA can reduces the risk of losing control over their core competence and its concept. This expansion strategies give IKEA have the full control over operation practices such as marketing, logistics and decision in different countries to meet their standard. In addition, all the profits will go to IKEA due to having full control on every operation. It is necessary for them engaging in global strategic coordination. Wholly owned subsidiaries also required IKEA to realize location and experience curve economies (Hill et. al., 2011). This which means, IKEA able to achieve economic of scale by manufacture more products and reduce the average cost of products (Hill et. al., 2011). Indirectly, this also fulfill the IKEA porter generic strategies which is cost leadership. However, wholly owned subsidiary strategy is highly expensive choice for company that would lead to severe financial risk if not successful. IKEA have to bear the full costs and high risk by themselves of setting up the factories, stores and retail shops operations in other nations (Hill, et. al., 2011). Japan was the first country in Asia that IKEA considered to enter in 1970s during their expansion to the international market. Their first entry to Japan market was in 1974 (n.a, 2008). Due to the differences between culture, lifestyle and behavior lead to IKEA face the failure and they had to withdraw their store out of Japan. However, IKEA decided to re-enter the market in 2002. This time IKEA conducted a thorough study of the markets and understand their requirement (Alexandra, 2009). At present, there are five IKEA stores in Japan, last of which was opened in year 2011(Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). Besides that, there are political risks of entering in to the market wholly in the form of nationalisation threats or corruption and bribery (Back et. al., 2010).   Recently in year 2009, there have been issues about corruption in the opening of retail store in Russia (n.a., 2011). It has been held by safely officials requests for payments and IKEA is refusing to so. Thus, IKEA has ended up by would not build more stores outside the Moscow region until Russian officials stop withholding permission and freeze expansions on Russia (n.a., 2011). Franchising Strategy The IKEA concept which bring IKEA franchise worldwide is belong to the Inter IKEA System B.V in Netherlands. Inter IKEA Systems B.V is the franchisor and it is the owner of the IKEA concept and trademark (IKEAFANS, 2009). The franchisees have the right to operate IKEA store under the franchise agreements in accordance with franchisors systems and methods to use IKEA trademarks establish by Inter IKEA Systems B.V(Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). Besides, IKEA franchisees able to access to the product range of IKEA and opportunity to continuously take part in IKEA concept development in their own stores. (Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). Then, IKEA franchisee has its own responsibilities to manage, develop and run their local market business with efforts after granting the rights of IKEA concept. The main concept of IKEA want to expand its market by implement franchising is due to the objective of Inter IKEA Systems B.V.. According to the objective of Inter IKEA Systems B.V., its objective is to increase the availability of IKEA products through world-wide franchising the IEKA concept (IKEAFANS, 2009). So, this encourages the IKEA wanted to create infinity for IKEA through franchising. Besides, the decisive factors for IKEA to franchise for long-term approach are due to its ownership structure and total independence in furniture market (Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). Thus, IKEA bring out the franchising method so that it can secure an infinite life for the IKEA concept when the different companies in different countries able to build the resources needed to expand global under IKEA concept (Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). Moreover, the franchisor, Inter IKEA Systems B.V. acts role to perform some important tasks such as expand IKEA business, improve and develop IKEA concepts, transfer know-how of IKEA to its retailers, monitor IKEA concept implementation and protect IKEA concept (Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). Currently, total of 38 IKEA franchisees are located over 11 countries. The countries with IKEA franchisee included 2 stores in United Arab Emirates, one stores in Kuwait, 3 stores in Saudi Arabia, 2 stores in Australia, 7 stores in China Taiwan, one stores in Cyprus, 5 stores in Greece, 3 stores in Malaysia and Singapore, 5 stores in Turkey, one stores in Iceland, 2 stores in Israel, 1 stores in Dominican Republic and 4 stores in Spain (Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). Franchises strategy not only provide the firm with high control of brand and strategy, but it is also a low financial investment risk and enabling the company to benefit from local knowledge (Back, Andrew Sparapani, 2010). Furthermore, some benefits can be able to gain through franchising by IKEA. For instance, it can earn extra source of income in term of loyalty and franchise fees since it franchises its retail stores located over 38 countries. The franchisees who allowed to use the concept and trademarks of IKEA is necessary to pay 3% of revenue earn to Inter IKEA Systems B.V annually (IKEAFANS, 2009). So, this intentionally provides other cash inflow for the IKEA. Although by using franchising strategy, IKEA can relief of many of the cost and risk of opening a foreign market (Hill Hernà ¡ndez-Requejo, 2011). However, this could make IKEA difficult to control the standards and quality where some franchisees may not concerned about these issues. This could be happened and hard to detect due to the geographic distance between franchisees and main franchisor. This might lead to affect consumer views of IKEAs product if the standards of products are not standardize in its own country compare with the IKEA main stores. 3.0 Future Expansion Strategy Joint Venture to Enter into India Market Joint venture is suitable for IKEA to enter into India Market. It refers to the set up of a new company that is jointly owned by two or more participants (Hill Hernà ¡ndez-Requejo 2011). Each partner must have something special and important such as knowledge, skill, and capital to offer the venture and simultaneously provide a source of gain to the other participants.  The reason for enter into India market is India furniture retail market has been classified by CSIL Milano as one of the 14 largest furniture markets in the world with the worth of US$8 billion and is growing at 30% annually (n.a., 2012). The second reason is that the furniture industry in India is highly unorganized. Nearly 85% of the home furnishing industry is in the unorganized sector and remaining 15% is in the organized sector which included domestic players and also imports (n.a., 2009). The reason to use joint venture is due to the government policy in inviting foreign company to invest in India. According to past policy in India, foreign firms can only own up to 51 percent of joint venture (Sharma Hansegard, 2012). The policy has changed last year by allows some retailers to own 100% of their Indian units. After the change of policy, IKEA have applied for permission to invest into India. However, the result of permission still has not come out. IKEA should not realize on the permission of the wholly own subsidiary given by the local government. If government reject its application, is it IKEA will not enter into the one of the 14 largest furniture markets in the world? There are many successful example of joint venture or cooperative between foreign furniture companies with local company in India today. Arrital Cucine, an Italian furniture company sells its products in India through its Indian partner, Overseas Connexions while the Germany company, Wilhelm Bolt C o. has a technical agreement with Arvind furniture to produce furniture at India (Mukherjee Patel, 2005). There is no time for IKEA to waste as they should quickly enter into India market through joint venture with local company to set up its manufacturing plants and also sell its product around the India. Culture is an important aspect that multinational company should consider before take an action to enter into a specific country (Hill et. al, 2011). Indian culture and their home decoration style are different from western country. Consumers may not accept the western design furniture as they are used to purchase traditional design of furniture which suit to their culture. Thus, set up a joint venture with local firm is a better way to doing business in India and hence can reduce the risk of failure. The difference of culture can directly affect the way how a business operates in that country. The experience of IKEA in China should be take note. Although there is a rapid increase in the number of visitors and sales volume in China, IKEA had yet to make a profit in China. IKEA showed local consumers new home decoration concepts using its various products but Chinese consumers do not accept it (Li Xu, 2007). IKEA have 25 years of procurement experience in China but yet still cannot understand deeply about the Chinese culture and consumers living style, preferences and taste. Thus, before set up its own retail store in India, they should make a deeply study on the local market. Joint venture with local company can bring more valuable information and knowledge for IKEA. IKEA can build relationship with local suppliers, distributors, and media. They can get the data and information form the joint venture firm. Besides that, cooperation with local branded company can quickly promote its brand name into consumers mind. Who should IKEA select to cooperative is crucial. Durian, Furniturewala, Zuari, Renaissance, Furniture Concepts, Millenium Lifestyles, are some of the key players in Indian furniture industry. Local company who can provide marketing expertise, local knowledge, have strong relationship with government, suppliers and distributors should be consider as they can provide many benefit to IKEA for their future operating its own subsidiary in India (Hill et. al, 2011). Besides that, good reputation and image of the local company also is one of the aspects to be considered for cooperative. Company with good reputation can bring IKEA into local market and also consumers mind easily. In contrast, cooperative with company possess bad reputation will straightly harm IKEA brand name and thus being bookmark as poor image company in consumers mind. Thus, companies mentioned above are the best local company for cooperation. According to IKEA Company, the requirement of purchase at least 30% of goods from local small and medium size enterprise under the new policy will remain a challenge for the company (Sharma etc. 2012). Thus, direct investment may not be a best strategy as they are not familiar with local business and industry. Until now, they still cannot truly build the supply chain network in India, so how are they going to set up its own retail store and run the business by themselves. Thus, when should they enter into India? If they do seriously consider the joint venture strategy, they should enter into India 1 or 2 year ago. With joint venture with local firm, IKEA can quickly access to local suppliers through the network of the local company and operate its business smoothly. The growing of furniture industry in India is due to two reasons, Indias large size and Indian tastes have started changed and Indian people are looking for more western furniture style (n.a., 2010). The market attractiv eness is not a problem and it is a chance to take the advantage for establishes its own retail store in coming year. As conclusion, due to local government policy, cultural difference, and also local business network, IKEA should use joint venture as entry mode to enter into India. This action enables them to build up a strong base for future expansion. Wholly Owned Subsidiary to Enter into Brazil IKEA needs to expand the business by entering into new foreign markets in order to ensure the companys future growth. We recommend IKEA can enter into Brazil in South America by considering the wholly owned subsidiary strategy. IKEA have entered into Europe, Asia, North America, Middle East and Caribbean but have yet entered into South America (IKEA, 2012). Two of the mandatory requirements for IKEA to move into Brazil are that the host country must be a member of the World Trade Organisation and a signatory to the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) (Back et.al., 2011). The reason we choose to enter into Brazilian market because of the stable political economy factors. Political factors, economic factors, demand factors are factors that will influenced the potential attractiveness of a foreign markets (Hill et al., 2011). The Brazilian economys entered into a stable growth stage after the recovery form financial crisis in 2008. Besides that, Brazil estimated to grow 4.0% in 2012 and the economy is expected will rises from the seventh worlds largest to the fifth within next few years (n.a., 2011). Comparing with other countries in South America, Brazil has the highest Market Potential Index (MPI) (n.a., 2011). As a result, Brazils economy is the best that all of other countries in South America (CIA, 2012). Since domestic savings are not sufficient to sustain long-term growth rates, Brazil is currently encourages foreign direct investment (FDI) and it is the largest recipient of foreign direct investment in South America (n.a., 2011). The entry of IK EA can increase the employment rate of Brazil and increase the revenue of government. Furthermore, IKEA may exploit the market of South America by grabbing this opportunity. Furthermore, the furniture and furnishings sales in Brazil has grown by 5% in 2009 to reach over R$18 billion (U$ 555,435,224.08) and expected continue to grow in the next few years (Ong, Ng and Wu, 2010). This indicated that the demands of consumers are increasing and providing the opportunity for business to grow. IKEA expand into the Brazil market would form early market entry because it enters first into South America markets before other foreign firms. According to Lieberman and Montgomery (1988), the advantages of first mover are the ability to pre-empt rivals, capture demand by building s strong brand name, rides the learning curve ahead of rivals and the ability to create switching costs that tied customers into their products and services. For example, Walmart entered into the China market as early mover, which gained the ability to pre-empt rivals and capture early demand and still dominating the market over the late over Tesco (Waldmeir, 2010). IKEA has experienced as an early mover into the markets in the past. The company has entry into Canada markets in 1976, USA in 1985 and China in 1998 (IKEA, 2012). Thus, IKEA have the advantages of pre-empt rivals and riding the learning curve ahead of its rivals. However, IKEA also suffered from the pioneering costs when they realised of the need for localisation of its American product range (Back et al., 2011). The reasons IKEA failed in the Japanese markets was because IKEA lack of readiness for the Japanese market and lack of readiness of Japanese consumers for IKEAs do-it-yourself concept  (Wijers-Hasegawa 2006). Consequently, IKEA need to beware that riding the learning curve can be a long ride if the market is not ready to adapt the products. We suggest IKEA use wholly owned subsidiary because there are around 16,000 furniture companies in Brazil and most are family owned companies. There are few key domestic players included Florense, Brazil Furniture Group, and others. The furniture market is keep growing and there is yet well known and large furniture company emerge in the market. (Evans, 2012). Thus, the furniture market in Brazil is still unexplored by multinational furniture company. Thus, a well known brand name is easily discover by the market and the consumer when large company entering into that industry. IKEA, a world famous furniture company, have the competency to entering into furniture industry in Brazil and create strong brand image to the entire furniture market easily. As there are many small furniture companies, it is easily for IKEA to enter and dominate the Brazils market. The worlds largest rainforest, The Amazon, is located in Brazil. Thus, Brazil has abundance of high quality woods as the raw material for IKEA produce high quality furniture to consumers. This is the main reason for IKEA to use the wholly owned subsidiary to entry into Brazil. Besides that, the labour cost in Brazil is cheap compared to Europe and America (n.a., 2011). In other words, Brazil has significant comparative advantages compared to others exporting countries because it has excellent quality of raw materials at low costs and flexible labor (n.a., 2004). Wholly owned subsidiary can enable IKEA gain full control over the businesss operations which will also lower the brand risk in the same time (Back et.al., 2011). By wholly owned subsidiary, IKEA can get 100 percent profits that generated in Brazil. Besides that, by adapting wholly owned subsidiary, IKEA can gain the ability to realize location and experience economics as the company is adopting transnational strategy (Hill et. at., 2011). Thus, IKEA can make full decisions to produce products that are customized to the local customer wants and needs. In the South America Context, Brazil is the most preferred country for investment. Entering into South America market is an imported step of the IKEAs globalization strategy. 4.0 Conclusion In conclusion, we knew that IKEA is a very successful worldwide home furniture company. But, they are also facing franchising control management problem due to geographic distance. If franchises do not operate well in the current market, this will affect IKEAs reputation. They tend to reduce this problem by using wholly owned subsidiaries for expansion. This strategy also not very well for IKEA because full control over their competence and its concepts but instead increasing the risks for entry the market due to cultural conflict. We can see that IKEA was failure to entry in Japan before due to diff culture, lifestyle and purchasing behavior. So, we recommended that joint venture is suitable for IKEA to further expand. This strategy can reduce risk for entry and for better handle the market culture and policy. The joint venture that enable IKEA cooperative with those company that fulfill marketing expertise, local knowledge and skill and the most important factor is have strong relationship with government. These benefits encourage IKEA enable to operating well in the specific country. A successful company should analyze all the variables that will lead to failure before enter into a specific market. Although this strategy has occurs some problem and risk but compare to previous strategies, this strategy is better for IKEA sustainable development. Furthermore, cooperative with well known company will also increase IKEA reputation and influence local consumer purchasing behavior. Finally, a very successful company will not stop growing their business and finding the ways that lead to further expansion. They must know well their limit and beat all the deadlines. IKEA has put a lot of efforts on developing their business that strengthen capacity for further expansion. Consequently, they should use joint venture strategy to expand in other countries. The more understanding other countries culture, lifestyle and behavior, the closer the gaps for success.

Smart Prepaid Energy Meter Using GSM Module

Smart Prepaid Energy Meter Using GSM Module Abstract This paper aims at proposing a system that reduces the power loss and power theft due to illegal activities. This framework embraces another strategy known as prepaid power. The GSM module is utilized so that the client can persistently be educated of the energy utilization and if the sum energized achieves a base worth, it alarms the client to energize. The fundamental point of this task is to lessen the long lines at power charging counters and to remove the power naturally if the bill is not paid. The mechanized power charging framework stays informed regarding the continuous utilization and leaves little degree for contradiction on charging and utilization. GSM is a cell system which implies that cellular telephones unite with it via looking for cells in the prompt region. A kind of system in which zone is separated into cells, every served by its own reception apparatus, handset and is assigned a band of frequencies that is unique in neighboring cells to maintain a strategic dis tance from contortion in signs is known as a phone system. I.  Introduction The present energy use perusing is made physically by moving to shopper areas. This obliges substantial number of works and long meeting expectations hours to perform this errand. Manual charging is once in a while confined and deferred because of awful climate. The printed charging infrequently may get lost. Shrewd prepaid energy meter has been proposed as an inventive arrangement went for encouraging reasonableness and decreasing the expense of utilities. This requires the clients to pay for the power before its utilization. At first, the prepaid card is energized for a certain sum. The setup of Smart Energy meter utilizing GSM advancement makes the clients to pay for the energy before its usage. A gameplan is moreover made to close the client with the aid of GSM correspondence module when their credit in their offset goes low. This system has been proposed as an imaginative response for the issue of sensibility in utilities structure. Since a microcontroller based structure is being made, the readings can be continually recorded. This diminishes human work and meanwhile constructs the viability in calculation of bills for used energy. Brilliant energy meters will bring an answer of making mindfulness on wastage of energy and will tend to decrease wastage of power. This module will reduce the heaviness of energy giving by building the association viably and no thievery of energy will happen. II.  Existing system The current situation of recording energy utilization is by physically moving to shoppers area and composing the perusing. This obliges vast number of works and long living up to expectations hours to complete this errand. Manual charging is infrequently limited and postponed because of terrible climate. We propose a Smart prepaid energy meter has gone for recording and paying bill calm. This requires the clients to pay for the power before its whole utilization is over. The printed charging at times may get lost. III.  Proposed system This framework has been proposed as a creative answer for the issue of reasonableness in utilities framework. Since a microcontroller based framework is being planned, the readings can be persistently recorded. This diminishes human work and in the meantime builds the productivity in estimation of bills for utilized power. Brilliant energy meters will bring an answer of making mindfulness on superfluous wastage of energy and will have a tendency to lessen wastage of energy. This module will lessen the weight of energy giving by securing the association effectively and no robbery of energy will occur. We make a few suppositions, for example, we consider rough duty in the sim card furthermore expect the specified levy to be contrasted and energy meter readings. The GSM innovation is utilized so that the customer would get messages about the utilization of energy (in watts) and on the off chance that it achieves the base sum, it would naturally caution the shopper to revive. This innovation holds useful for all power appropriation organizations, private groups, IT stops and self-containing lodging ventures. The execution of this task will help in better energy administration, protection of energy furthermore in getting rid of the superfluous bothers over wrong charging. IV. Literature survey Ben Belghith, O.,Sbita, L. proposed a method to monitor and control photovoltaic system [1].Photovoltaic system is used to generate electricity using sun light, solar cells are used.a sensor network is created with start topology.LABVIEW is used to manage sensor sensors.In this paper, the author proposed a remote monitoring technique to replace the manual monitoring and checking of the proper working of the cells.GSM module is used for remote controlling. A sensor network is established in a remote large area to study the environmental conditions. Punetha.D.,Mehta, V. proposes a method to use this technique to send the details to the registered GSM [2] . The receiver end gets the information whenever he needs and if any update is there, it is sent as a message to the user. Mohammad .N.,Barua, A. ; Arafat, M.A. uses GSM module to recharge when electricity is needed .[3]. This is done using the pin number in the scratch card. Song Lai-quan ,Sun Huai-yuan ; Zhou Yu-dong ; Ge Bin proposes a method to bring the blood pressure details of the patient to his cell phone.[4] This reduces time wastage and gives accurate result. V.  Experimental setup The components utilized as a part of this project are PIC controller otherwise called Peripheral Interface Controller are utilized due to their minimal effort, wide accessibility, extensive client base, far reaching accumulation of utilization notes, accessibility of ease or free advancement devices, and serial programming and re-programming with blaze memory capability.It is utilized to give an interface between the energy meter and GSM module.It contrasts the qualities with send the revive update or demonstrate that energize has been fruitful or not. GSM module otherwise called Global System for Mobile, is a kind of cell network.It is utilized to join with the system. LCD otherwise called liquid crystal display is utilized to show the messages/ reminders.It is a level board. Power supply gives electric power and proselytes AC to low voltage. Energy meter is utilized to gauge the measure of energy devoured. Output load is the output terminal, the outcome obtanined will be shown. The PIC microcontroller 18f452 goes about as the essential controller,collects data from energy meter and additionally from the sim card. The energy meter perusing is contrasted and the sim card data by the microcontroller. The coding underscores the way that it diminishes human work however builds the proficiency in count of bills for utilized power. The GSM modem is serially joined with the controller which is the real correspondence module in the middle of client and meter. The GSM correspondence module is utilized to send message to the client about the units of energy devoured and the current accessible parity sum in the prepaid card to the client. A Liquid Crystal Display is utilized to show the expended energy and the offset add up to the outside world. The client will get a caution on coming to the base offset and the energy will be cut off utilizing transfer switch when the revived sum gets spent. Rationale is made that fluctuates the energy utilization as indicated by the use of burden, so under no heap, there is no energy utilization and no diminishment in the sum that is revived. The framework wipes out charging postponement, uproots expense included in detachment/reconnection, empowers controlled utilization of energy, and helps clients to spare cash through better energy administration. VI. Discussion The configuration of Smart Energy meter using GSM innovation makes the users to pay for the power before its utilization. A course of action is additionally made to close the user with the assistance of GSM correspondence module when their credit in their balance goes low. This framework has been proposed as an innovative answer for the issue of reasonableness in utilities framework. Since a microcontroller based framework is being composed, the readings can be constantly recorded. This lessens human work and in the meantime builds the effectiveness in computation of bills for utilized power. Smart energy meters will bring an answer of making awareness on wastage of power and will have a tendency to lessen wastage of force. This module will lessen the weight of energy giving by building the connection effectively and no burglary of power will occur. VII.  Conclusion The outline of Smart Energy meter utilizing GSM innovation can make the clients to pay for the power before its utilization. Thusly, purchasers hold credit and afterward utilize the power until the credit is depleted. The off chance that the accessible credit is depleted then the power supply is curtailed off by a hand-off. A game plan is additionally made to close the client with the assistance of GSM correspondence module when their credit in their parity goes low. This framework has been proposed as a creative answer for the issue of moderateness in utilities framework. Since a microcontroller based framework is being planned, the readings can be persistently recorded. This lessens human work and in the meantime builds the productivity in estimation of bills for utilized power. Keen energy meters will bring an answer of making mindfulness on superfluous wastage of energy and will have a tendency to lessen wastage of energy. This module will decrease the weight of energy giving by securing the association effectively and no robbery of energy will occur. IX. Analysis The analysis performed on the project shows that it has the following features that makes it more advantageous . Improved operational efficiencies i.e.,the prepaid meters are likely to cut the cost of meter reading as no meter readers are required. In addition, they eliminate administrative hassles associated with disconnection and reconnection.. Better customer service:The system eliminates billing delay, removes cost involved in disconnection/reconnection, enables controlled use of energy, and helps customers to save money through better energy management. Power sector reforms:The upcoming competitive and customer focused deregulated power distribution market will force the market participants to make the existing metering and billing process more competent. This is likely to drive the prepaid market. Increasing non-technical losses:Metering errors, tampering with meters leading to low registration and calibration related frauds are some of the key components of non-technical losses. X. Result The images given below shows how the output will be displayed when the project is executed. The command prompt displays the respective messages to the registered number. LCD displaying the message (to recharge) LCD displaying successful recharge XI. References Ben Belghith, O.,Sbita, L. ,â€Å"Remote GSM module monitoring and Photovoltaic system control†, IEEE Green Energy, 2014 International Conference on March 2014. Punetha.D.,Mehta, V. ,â€Å"A Wireless Approach to Real Time Remote Monitoring System examining Environmental Parameters Using Feasibility of a GSM Module†,IEEE Advances in Engineering and Technology Research (ICAETR), 2014 International Conference on Aug 2014. Mohammad .N.,Barua, A. ; Arafat, M.A. ,â€Å"A smart prepaid energy metering system to control electricity theft†,IEEE Power, Energy and Control (ICPEC), 2013 International Conference on Feb. 2013. Song Lai-quan ,Sun Huai-yuan ; Zhou Yu-dong ; Ge Bin ,â€Å"New Design for Electronic Blood Pressure Monitor Based on GSM Module TC35i â€Å",IEEE Measuring Technology and Mechatronics Automation (ICMTMA), 2014 Sixth International Conference on Jan. 2014.

ATA to Ultra ATA :: essays research papers

ATA to Ultra ATA/66 Advanced ATA Storage Interface Introduction Interface History Understanding the Need for a Faster Disc Interface Technology Overview Performance Increase Cost Stabilization Backward Compatibility System Requirements Data Integrity and Reliability Conclusions More Information Introduction The PC industry is constantly searching for advanced technology. This equates to more disc space, faster performance, more memory, better displays – virtually every component is under relentless pressure to improve. Continual improvement for the disc drive industry means lower costs, improved reliability, higher capacity, and better performance. As PC performance increases, the performance of the hard drive, which is the central input/output (I/O) device of the PC, becomes increasingly important. Improvement in disc drive performance is a complex area and is measured using several components: seek time, rotational latency, internal transfer rate, cache, and interface speed. Interface History The hard drive interface is the path through which data travels between the PC and the hard drive. The original ISA-dependent ATA (IDE) interface was limited to about 4 Mbytes/sec in the beginning, but reached as high as 8 Mbytes/sec. Interface protocols, such as programmed input/output (PIO) and direct memory access (DMA) modes, were designed to take advantage of the new local bus architectures that replaced ISA. ATA interface modes have progressed from PIO to DMA and now Ultra DMA, giving data transfer rates from 8.3, 11.1, and 13.3 Mbytes/sec up to 16.6, 33.3, and now 66.6 Mbytes/sec. Specification ATA ATA 2 ATA 3 ATA/ATAPI 4 ATA/ATAPI 5 Max Transfer Modes PIO 1 PIO 4 DMA 2 PIO 4 DMA 2 PIO 4 DMA 2 UDMA 2 PIO 4 DMA 2 UDMA 4 Max Transfer Rate 4 Mbytes/sec 16 Mbytes/sec 16 Mbytes/sec 33 Mbytes/sec 66 Mbyte/sec Max Connections 2 2 2 2 per cable 2 per cable Cable Required 40-pin 40-pin 40-pin 40-pin 40-pin, 80-conductor Additional Features - Base - Speed - Synchronous Transfers - S.M.A.R.T. - Secure Mode - Queuing - Overlap - ATAPI - Speed - Data Reliability Year Introduced 1981 1994 1996 1997 1999 The trends in the above chart show that several components have improved with the evolution of the ATA interface. Speed and functionality have made major strides over the years. Performance remains the most commonly considered attribute with interface developments, and Ultra ATA/66 makes burst data transfer rates of up to 66.6 Mbytes/sec possible. Understanding the Need for a Faster Disc Interface Ultra ATA/66 provides a low-cost, high-reliability, backwards-compatible solution to data transfer bottlenecks that slow overall system performance. As the data storage density (areal density) of disc drives and rotational speeds have increased, bottlenecks also increased, thus requiring the ATA interface to improve performance to attain compatible data transfer speeds.

generalized anxiety disorder Essay -- essays research papers

Generalized Anxiety Disorder Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a chronic and often disabling condition that is associated with uncontrollable worry and tension. The vicious cycle of anxiety and worry interferes with relationships, careers, and education, and often leads to depression. This disorder is much more than the normal anxiety that everyone experiences from time to time, and can be crippling in its severity. GAD is unlikely to disappear without proper treatment, and often worsens over time. Physical manifestations of GAD often include headaches, trembling, twitching, fatigue, irritability, frustration, muscle tension, and inability to concentrate. Sleep disturbances may also occur. Individuals suffering from this disorder may appear to be always tense and unable to relax, or may startle more easily than others. Often they might seem to be constantly moving or fidgeting, unable to sit comfortably through a movie without worrying about something else that needs to be done. Some research suggests that GAD may run in families, and it Generalized Anxiety Disorder may grow worse during times of stress. Symptoms can begin at any age, but the risk is highest between childhood and middle age. GAD affects about 4 million adult Americans. Women are twice as likely to be affected than men. The disorder usually comes on gradually, although it can be suddenly triggered by a childhood psychological trauma, the death of a loved one, divorce, and losing or changing a job. DSM-IV Diagnostic Criteria: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Excessive anxiety and worry (apprehensive expectation), occurring more days than not for at least 6 months, about a number of events or activities (such as work or school performance). 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The person finds it difficult to control the worry. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The anxiety and worry are associated with three (or more) of the following six symptoms (with at least some symptoms present for more days than not for the past 6 months). Note: Only one item is required in children. -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  restlessness or feeling keyed up or on edge -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  being easily fatigued -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  difficulty concentrating or mind going blank -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  irritability -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  muscle tension -  Ã‚  Ã‚  &nb... ...he anxiety the patient is having. There are many studies pertaining to generalized anxiety disorder. The studies examine the genetic and environmental risks for major anxiety disorders, their course-both alone and when they occur along with other diseases such as depression-and their treatment. Like heart disease and diabetes, these brain disorders are complex and probably result from a combination of genetic, behavioral, developmental, and other factors. Much of the research of anxiety centers on the amygdale, an almond-shaped structure deep within the brain. The amygdale is believed to serve as a communications hub between the parts of the brain that process incoming sensory signals and the parts that interpret them. Other research focuses on the hippocampus, another brain structure that is responsible for processing threatening or traumatic stimuli. By learning more about brain circuitry involved in fear and anxiety, scientists may be able to devise new and more specific treatments for anxiety disorders. Researche rs are attempting to learn how genetics and experience interact in each of the anxiety disorders-information they hope will yield clues to prevention and treatment.