Health care Essay Example for Free

Health care Essay 1a. What model of healthcare does the US and your chosen country have (Japan)? Be very specific. The United States has a healthcare system that is different from almost every country in the world. I would call the United States health care system a hybrid type system. I would call our system a hybrid because we fall into almost every type of category possible when it comes to health care; for instance, people who are uninsured have to pay out-of-pocket when they want to see a doctor versus someone who is insured and only has to pay a deductable. Many companies in the United States offer free medical care for employers, or they make health care insurance fairly cheap to afford. Unlike many countries our healthcare system is a little rocky. Insurance companies can drop you for being to high risk leaving you stranded to find another insurance company or leaving you to pay out-of-pocket. Our system has forced many of our fellow citizens homeless, or with masses amount of debt. Japan on the other hand has a Universal healthcare, in which everyone is covered up to 70% of the cost. Japan’s healthcare is much cheaper than hear in America because in Japan, it is accustom to their culture that a family member acts as a nurse, in which they help assist with the patient. In Japan, they have separate hospital beds in the room for a person from the family to sleep in. The family member acts like a nurse by providing food, cleaning, and changing sheet just to name a few. People from Japan who are employed but do not receive health coverage from their company, can participate in a national health insurance program offered and controlled by their government. People in Japan cannot be denied coverage unlike our healthcare in America, and by law Japans hospitals have to be a non-profit hospital which is run by physicians. 1b. In 10 sentences or less [emphasis on less], describe the Beveridge, Bismarck, National Health Insurance and Out-of-Pocket models. The Beveridge model is named after William Beveridge and was designed/implemented in Britain’s National Health Service. This system is funded by the government through tax payments, similar to how a public library works. According to PBS, â€Å"Bismarck-type health insurance plans have to cover everybody, and they dont make a profit. Doctors and hospitals tend to be private in Bismarck countries†(Health care systemthe four basic models, 2008. ). â€Å"Universal health care is a term that refers to a governmental system meant to ensure that every citizen or resident of a region has access to the required medical services†(What is universal health care, 2003-2013). According to TLC, â€Å"An out-of-pocket expense is a no reimbursable expense paid by a patient. This could include any medical benefits that your health plan doesnt consider covered services. But out-of-pocket expenses can also include covered expenses that you are responsible for before your health-plan benefits kick in at 100 percent coverage. When the insurance company pays all of your expenses and you have to pay only your monthly premium, you have reached the out-of-pocket maximum’’(Jeffries, M. , 2013). 2a. What types of healthcare plans are available in each country? You must discuss each in detail. The US has managed care plans [Health Maintenance Organizations, Preferred Provider Organizations, Exclusive Provider Organizations, Point of Service Plans], and indemnity coverage as well as Medicaid and Medicare and your countrys plan so you need to touch on them all in order to be detailed in your response. The United States has a managed care plan; managed care is used to help control cost. For instance, lets say you are rushed to the hospital, the first thing they EMT’s will ask you regardless how hurt you are â€Å"do you have insurance†. It is sad that the United States has such a terrible health care system. The United States utilizes HMO, which is health maintenance organization, this plans limits the amount of doctors you can see. This is where a person pays a monthly premium in exchange they are covered for hospital visits, pediatric care, x-rays, and many other services our health care has to offer. The person who utilizes this plan generally has to pay co-pay, which the cost varies depending on the type of plan you have. Many people like this type of plan because when you go to the doctor you don’t need to fill out claim forms. Members show a card when they go to the doctor or hospital. The downfall to this plan is that you might have to wait longer in the waiting room. Another plan the United States has is called point-of-service plan. This plan allows the members of the plan to refer themselves to an outside plan and still be able to obtain some coverage. A doctor can also make a referral out of the network and in-turn the health care plan will pay for most if not the entire bill. A preferred provider organization is another type of plan offered by the United States. Just like the health maintenance organization, the preferred provider organization limits you to the number of doctors you can see, but when you do find the right doctor most of your medical bills are covered. The preferred provider organization requires you to choose a primary care physician in order to monitor your health care. If you elect to go to a doctor who is not part of this plan, some of the medical expenses are covered. I deem some people like this plan because if their primary care doctor is not part of the plan, they don’t have to change doctors. According to Health Insurance. Info â€Å"An Exclusive Provider Organization (EPO) is a network of individual medical care providers, or groups of medical care providers, who have entered into written agreements with an insurer to provide health insurance to subscribers. In EPO, medical care providers enter a mutually beneficial relationship with an insurer. The insurer reimburses an insured subscriber only if the medical expenses are derived from the designated network of medical care providers. The established network of medical care providers in turn provide subscribed patients medical services at significantly lower rates than what would have been under normal circumstances. In exchange for reduced rates of medical services, medical care providers get a steady stream of business†(Exclusive provider organization, 2010. ). Japan has a national health insurance plan; this plan for people who are not covered by their employer. You can obtain this health care plan by living in Japan for a year. Japan does have universal health coverage as well, but this plan varies between each individual. Some factors that affect this plan are: visiting, studying, working, your age just to name a few. Your premium that you pay depends on your salary you make for the year, so the cost varies for every individual. In Japan their health care system provides free examinations for specific diseases, infectious diseases and parental care. The government pays up to 70% of the cost for every citizen and foreigners who have lived in the country for a year or longer. Japan has an awesome health care plan compared to the United States, and I deem this is why their economy is flourishing and they have one of the healthiest populations in the world. People in Japan have a longer life expectancy compared to any other county in the world; I deem this is due to the bombing health care, their life style choices, and knowledge. 3a. What alternatives are available if an individual loses their healthcare due to job loss? In the US there is more than one alternative. Please be specific for each country. People in Japan are covered no matter what happens to their job. They have a universal health care system in which their government pays up to 70% of their entire cost for any medical bill. People, who don’t have a job, hardly have to pay any coverage when they are ill no matter how severe their condition is. Unlike Japan, in the United States you generally will loose your health benefits, or you will have till the end of the month to utilize it. Some employers will allow you to have your benefits for 26 weeks, which is ample time to find another job with health benefits. You will have to file a claim through your place of work in order to do this action. 4a. The storage of healthcare records are evolving? Describe what EHR, EMR and the cloud are with respect to this evolving technology. We want to see a minimum of five points per explanation. â€Å"An electronic record of health-related information on an individual that conforms to nationally recognized interoperability standards and that can be created, managed, and consulted by authorized clinicians and staff across more than one health care organization†(What is emr and ehr, 2013. ). EHR’s has some great benefits, one great benefit it has over paper records is that it can notify a doctor or physician that a patient is due for a routine check up. Another benefit is that it makes it almost virtually impossible to loose or misplace someone’s records. I like the fact that you can call your doctor and ask them to just simply print and mail you your medical records with all of your medical history; it makes it much easier for a patient to access. I deem one day that doctors will be able to email, or have an app where a patient can access their medical records electronically just for viewing or printing purposes. According to Healthit. gov â€Å"An electronic medical record (EMR) is a digital version of a paper chart that contains all of a patient’s medical history from one practice. An EMR is mostly used by providers for diagnosis and treatment†(What is an electronic medical record, 2012. ). This is not as beneficial in my opinion as EHR’s are. The reason I feel this way is because EMR’s can only access medical files from one practice. Many people have more than one doctor such as an eye doctor, physician, and even a dentist. All these different practices utilize some sort of medical history that you have compiled over a certain time span. The cloud is a database where every doctor you encounter can access you files. Many people have mixed views about this so called â€Å"cloud†. From a doctors point of view it is great! They can see your medical history for every doctor you have been to. Some people may deem this to be a violation of HIPPA. Many people find it an invasion to their privacy and why would a physician need access to any of my other files. One benefit is doctors can see specific medicines you maybe allergic to that you may have for got to inform them about. 5a. What problems are associated with each country’s healthcare plan(s)? Details please. The United States health care system has many flaws; one is hospitals tend to over price patients. I learned from my Health Law and Ethics class, that some hospitals charge unnecessary charges such as $10. 00 for a cup they carry you medicine in. If you are in the hospital for some time that really adds up quickly! Another flaw our health care system has is over spending on testing. Our country spends more money on test with their patients than any other country. I read an article that a patient was experiencing heart burn constantly and rather than giving a $1,200 stress test (way over priced if you ask me) the doctor charged the patient with a $8,000 CT scan. Many insurance companies will not accept a patient who has had previous records of specific diseases or any chronic condition in fear that they will have to pay too much for their care. If a person who is young and can’t qualify for Medicare, Medicade, and does not have company medical benefits, they have to pay out of pocket. Japan is known for having one of the most superior health care systems in the world. One flaw that it has is a surprisingly high suicide rate. One study showed that these suicides were due to health problems. Japan has a high cancer rate because of the obsessive smoking and drinking in their country.

Mechanical Barriers to Communication

Mechanical Barriers to Communication Any act by which one person gives to or receives from another person information about that persons needs, desires, perceptions, knowledge, or affective states. Communication may be intentional or unintentional; it may involve conventional or unconventional signals, may take linguistic or non-linguistic forms, and may occur through spoken or other modes. Organisations cannot operate without communication. Communication can take various forms but all forms involve the transfer of information from one party to the other. In order for the transfer of information to qualify as communication, the recipient must understand the meaning of the information transferred to them. If the recipient does not understand the meaning of the information conveyed to them, communication has not taken place. Communication is the life source of organisations because organisations involve people. People cannot interact with each other without communication. In the absence of communication, everything would grind to a halt. For example; the workers in an organisation would not know the organisations objectives so they would not strive to achieve the organisations objectives. The workers in an organisation would not know what their roles and responsibilities were, so they would not be able to carry out their daily tasks and duties. The managers would not be able to train their workers reports so the workers would not possess the skills they needed to carry out their jobs. The managers would not be able to inform workers of changes The organisation would not be aware of their competitors activities On the whole people are able to communicate with each other as this is a basic human function. However successful organisations strive not only for communication but effective communication. Interpersonal Communication This is defined as communication between two or more people and involves the transfer of information (or message) from one person to the other(s). The person transferring the information is called the sender or transmitter. The people receiving the message are known as receivers. The transmitter will need to send the information in a format that the receiver(s) will understand. Converting the information into a format that the receivers will understand is known as Encoding. Messages can be encoded into a variety of formats oral, written or visual. After encoding the message is transferred via a medium called a channel, for example a letter, fax, phone call, or e-mail. After transference the information will need to be interpreted by the receiver. This process of interpretation is known as decoding. Finally the receiver will send a message back to the transmitter confirming whether the information sent has been understood. This back check is known as feedback. The communication process involves seven key elements as illustrated in the diagram below. Why you need to get your message across Effective communication is all about conveying your messages to other people clearly and unambiguously. Its also about receiving information that others are sending to you, with as little distortion as possible. Doing this involves effort from both the sender of the message and the receiver. And its a process that can be fraught with error, with messages muddled by the sender, or misinterpreted by the recipient. When this isnt detected, it can cause tremendous confusion, wasted effort and missed opportunity. In fact, communication is only successful when both the sender and the receiver understand the same information as a result of the communication. By successfully getting your message across, you convey your thoughts and ideas effectively. When not successful, the thoughts and ideas that you actually send do not necessarily reflect what you think, causing a communications breakdown and creating roadblocks that stand in the way of your goals both personally and professionally. In a recent survey of recruiters from companies with more than 50,000 employees, communication skills were cited as the single more important decisive factor in choosing managers. The survey, conducted by the University of Pittsburghs Katz Business School, points out that communication skills, including written and oral presentations, as well as an ability to work with others, are the main factor contributing to job success. In spite of the increasing importance placed on communication skills, many individuals continue to struggle, unable to communicate their thoughts and ideas effectively whether in verbal or written format. This inability makes it nearly impossible for them to compete effectively in the workplace, and stands in the way of career progression. Being able to communicate effectively is therefore essential if you want to build a successful career. To do this, you must understand what your message is, what audience you are sending it to, and how it will be perceived. You must also weigh-in the circumstances surrounding your communications, such as situational and cultural context. The Communications Process To be an effective communicator and to get your point across without misunderstanding and confusion, your goal should be to lessen the frequency of problems at each stage of this process, with clear, concise, accurate, well-planned communications. We follow the process through below: Source As the source of the message, you need to be clear about why youre communicating, and what you want to communicate. You also need to be confident that the information youre communicating is useful and accurate. Message The message is the information that you want to communicate. Encoding This is the process of transferring the information you want to communicate into a form that can be sent and correctly decoded at the other end. Your success in encoding depends partly on your ability to convey information clearly and simply, but also on your ability to anticipate and eliminate sources of confusion (for example, cultural issues, mistaken assumptions, and missing information.) A key part of this knows your audience: Failure to understand who you are communicating with will result in delivering messages that are misunderstood. Channel Messages are conveyed through channels, with verbal channels including face-to-face meetings, telephone and videoconferencing; and written channels including letters, emails, memos and reports. Different channels have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, its not particularly effective to give a long list of directions verbally, while youll quickly cause problems if you give someone negative feedback using email. Decoding Just as successful encoding is a skill, so is successful decoding (involving, for example, taking the time to read a message carefully, or listen actively to it.) Just as confusion can arise from errors in encoding, it can also arise from decoding errors. This is particularly the case if the decoder doesnt have enough knowledge to understand the message. Receiver Your message is delivered to individual members of your audience. No doubt, you have in mind the actions or reactions you hope your message will get from this audience. Keep in mind, though, that each of these individuals enters into the communication process with ideas and feelings that will undoubtedly influence their understanding of your message, and their response. To be a successful communicator, you should consider these before delivering your message, and act appropriately. Feedback Your audience will provide you with feedback, as verbal and nonverbal reactions to your communicated message. Pay close attention to this feedback, as it is the only thing that can give you confidence that your audience has understood your message. If you find that there has been a misunderstanding, at least you have the opportunity to send the message a second time. Context The situation in which your message is delivered is the context. This may include the surrounding environment or broader culture (corporate culture, international cultures, and so on). Barriers of Communication 1. Physical barriers Physical barriers in the workplace include: Marked out territories, empires and fiefdoms into which strangers are not allowed Closed office doors, barrier screens, separate areas for people of different status Large working areas or working in one unit that is physically separate from others. Research shows that one of the most important factors in building cohesive teams is proximity. As long as people still have a personal space that they can call their own, nearness to others aids communication because it helps us get to know one another. 2. Perceptual barriers The problem with communicating with others is that we all see the world differently. If we didnt, we would have no need to communicate: something like extrasensory perception would take its place. The following anecdote is a reminder of how our thoughts, assumptions and perceptions shape our own realities: A traveller was walking down a road when he met a man from the next town. Excuse me, he said. I am hoping to stay in the next town tonight. Can you tell me what the townspeople are like? Well, said the townsman, how did you find the people in the last town you visited? Oh, they were an irascible bunch. Kept to themselves. Took me for a fool. Over-charged me for what I got. Gave me very poor service. Well, then, said the townsman, youll find them pretty much the same  here. 3. Emotional barriers One of the chief barriers to open and free communications is the emotional barrier. It is comprised mainly of fear, mistrust and suspicion. The roots of our emotional mistrust of others lie in our childhood and infancy when we were taught to be careful what we said to others. Mind your Ps and Qs; Dont speak until youre spoken to; Children should be seen and not heard. As a result many people hold back from communicating their thoughts and feelings to others. They feel vulnerable. While some caution may be wise in certain relationships, excessive fear of what others might think of us can stunt our development as effective communicators and our ability to form meaningful relationships. 4. Cultural barriers When we join a group and wish to remain in it, sooner or later we need to adopt the behaviour patterns of the group. These are the behaviours that the group accept as signs of belonging. The group rewards such behaviour through acts of recognition, approval and inclusion. In groups which are happy to accept you, and where you are happy to conform, there is a mutuality of interest and a high level of win-win contact. Where, however, there are barriers to your membership of a group, a high level of game-playing replaces good communication. 5. Language barriers Language that describes what we want to say in our terms may present barriers to others who are not familiar with our expressions, buzz-words and jargon. When we couch our communication in such language, it is a way of excluding others. In a global market place the greatest compliment we can pay another person is to talk in their language. One of the more chilling memories of the Cold War was the threat by the Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev saying to the Americans at the United Nations: We will bury you! This was taken to mean a threat of nuclear annihilation. However, a more accurate reading of Khruschevs words would have been: We will overtake you! meaning economic superiority. It was not just the language, but the fear and suspicion that the West had of the Soviet Union that led to the more alarmist and sinister interpretation. 6. Gender barriers There are distinct differences between the speech patterns in a man and those in a woman. A woman speaks between 22,000 and 25,000 words a day whereas a man speaks between 7,000 and 10,000. In childhood, girls speak earlier than boys and at the age of three, have a vocabulary twice that of boys. The reason for this lies in the wiring of a mans and womans brains. When a man talks, his speech is located in the left side of the brain but in no specific area. When a woman talks, the speech is located in both hemispheres and in two specific locations. This means that a man talks in a linear, logical and compartmentalised way, features of left-brain thinking; whereas a woman talks more freely mixing logic and emotion, features of both sides of the brain. It also explains why women talk for much longer than men each day. Removing Barriers at All These Stages To deliver your messages effectively, you must commit to breaking down the barriers that exist within each of these stages of the communication process. Lets begin with the message itself. If your message is too lengthy, disorganized, or contains errors, you can expect the message to be misunderstood and misinterpreted. Use of poor verbal and body language can also confuse the message. Barriers in context tend to stem from senders offering too much information too fast. When in doubt here, less is oftentimes more. It is best to be mindful of the demands on other peoples time, especially in todays ultra-busy society. Once you understand this, you need to work to understand your audiences culture, making sure you can converse and deliver your message to people of different backgrounds and cultures within your own organization, in your country and even abroad. Barrier refers to something non physical that keeps apart or prevents activity, movement so on. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¡ Types of Barriers Physical mechanical barriers Language or Semantic barriers Socio-psychological barriers Organisational barriers Personal barriers 1- Physical Mechanical Barriers Noise It is the disruption or interference in communication process anywhere along the way. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¡ Noise though of varying degree, disturbs or interferes with communication. Whatever that distracts the receivers attention causes communication breakdown. Noise can be physical psychological. Physical distractions or disturbances such as loud speakers, gossip etc., draw the attention of the receiver. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¡ Psychological noise is related to mental disturbances like ego clash, pre occupied thoughts, hang over, anxiety. DISTANCE Long distances between the sender the receivers can also obstruct effective communication TIME Time refers to the reaching of message. If an important message reaches late it is sure to affect communication. INFORMATION OVERLOAD It refers to excessive transmission of information. Much more information than what the receiver can process is transmitted to him/her. The receiver can ·t understand , digest, analyze act upon information overload that is beyond mental capacity. MECHANICAL BARRIERS Outdated machines equipment may produce excessive noise leading to physical barriers in communication. Distraction like background noise, poor lighting., affect the morale of the employees also obstruct effective communication. 2- SEMANTIC OR LANGUAGE BARRIER UNCLEAR MESSAGE Lack of clarity in message makes it badly expressed. poorly chosen empty word , phrases, inadequate vocabulary, failure to clarify implications etc., are some common faults found. FAULTY TRANSLATION The message that every manager receives from his superiors, peers, subordinates must be translated into language suitable for the respective person( for whom the information is destined). SPECIALISTS LANGUAGE It is often found that technical personnel special groups tend to develop a special, peculiar technical language of their own. It hinders their communication with persons not in their specialty, because of the receivers ignorance of that type of language. 3- SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL BARRIERS DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTION Perceptual barriers may arise due to differences between individuals in the way they perceive, organize understand their environment. DIFFERENCES IN ATTITUDE People differ with regard to attitudes opinions which often interfere with communication. If the message is consistent with our attitudes opinions we receive it favorably. INATTENTION Communication has no impact on those who are unable or unwilling to listen. If people do not pay the required degree of attention to listening understanding the messages they are supposed to receive. PREMATURE EVALUATION Some people form a judgment before receiving the complete message. Such premature evaluation prevents effective communication. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¡ RESISTANCE TO CHANGE when new ideas are being communicated, the listening apparatus may act as a filter in rejecting new ideas. Thus resistance to change is an important obstacle to effective communication. CULTURAL DIFFERENCE Cultural refers to values, beliefs, norms, attitudes perceptions of people of different nations or regions. Symbols, words, colors, gestures, language must be carefully selected when senders of information are dealing with people of different nations regions. 4- ORGANISATIONAL BARRIERS STATUS RELATIONSHIP ONE WAY FLOW ORGANISATION STRUCTURE RULES REGULATIONS 5- PERSONAL BARRIERS ATTITUDE OF SUPERIOR- the attitude of superiors towards communication affects the flow of messages in different directions. LACK OF CONFIDENCE IN SUBORDINATES LACK OF TIME MESSAGE OVERLOAD Barriers to effective Communication (leaky bucket) At each stage in the process encoding, transference, and decoding there is the possibility of interference which may hinder the communication process. This interference is known as noise. Often a comparison is made between communication and a leaky bucket. If you use a leaky bucket to carry water, water will be lost at various points in your journey from the water tap to your destination. It is not possible to stop losing water because the bucket contains holes. The amount of water you will lose will be determined by the number of holes in the bucket, the size of the holes, the route you take to your final destination and length of time it takes you to get to your destination. There may also be other events that occur during your journey which increase the amount of water lost. Similarly when information is transferred from the transmitter to the receiver not all of the information may be received by the receiver because of holes called noise. Each of the noise may be affect the amou nt of information transferred. Just as in a leaky bucket, more holes decrease the amount of water, more noise decreases the amount of correct information received. Language issues and Cultural Differences The receiver(s) may not (fully) understand the language used by the transmitter. This may occur if the transmitters language is foreign to the receiver. There may also be language problems (that the communication process) if the message contains technical information and the receivers is not familiar with the technical terms used. Cultural differences created by an individuals background and experience affect their perception of the world. Such cultural differences may affect the interpretation (decoding) of the message sent. Environmental issues If the environment that the transmitter or receiver are in, is noisy and full of sound, the sounds may prevent the message being fully understood. Background noise is often created by colleagues or machinery. Channel issues If the channel used to transfer the information is poor it may prevent all or some of the information being transferred. Examples include a faulty fax machine, a crackling phone, handwriting that cannot be read or in the case of oral messages incorrect facial gestures. Receivers Attitude and behavior If the receiver(s) is not interested in the message (or unable to give their full attention to decoding) this may reduce the amount of information received or the accuracy of the information transmitted to them. Similarly the receiver(s) may misinterpret the message by jumping to conclusions or reading the message in a manner that suits their own interests/objectives and distort the true meaning of the message. Transmission journey i.e. steps in the message, If the message is complicated or there are lots of steps taken to transfer the message it may affect the accuracy or interpretation. Comparing with the leaky bucket if the leaky bucket has to carry water over a longer distance more water will probably lost than if the journey was shorter. Internal / Organisational Communication This is communication that takes place within (or across) an organisation. In addition to the usual face to face, telephone, fax or mail; modern organisations may use technology to communicate internally. Technology may be used for e-mails or a linked internal communication system such as the intranet which is an internet system designed solely for use by those working for the organisation. External Communications Conversely external communication is communication between the organisation and those outside the organisation. Modern organisations may design technological systems so that they can communicate with customers and undertake e-Commerce. Alternatively they communicate with other businesses through the internet or similar systems and undertake e-Business. Functions of Internal and External Communications Technology has rapidly expanded the types of internal and external communication available to organisations. The diagram illustrates the vast array of internal and external communication available. Combined together internal and external types of communications allow various sectors of the local, national and international community to interact, liaise and conduct business. Formal and Informal Communications Formal communication is defined as communication which occurs through the official organisational channels or is undertaken by an employee to do their job. For example official meetings, letters and a manager asking an employee to carry out a particular task. Conversely informal communication is that which occurs outside the recognised communication networks such as talking in the lunchroom or hallways between employees. Informal communication can be productive or negative. It has the potential to build teams, improve working relationships and generate ideas as employees are in a relaxed environment. Upward and Downward Communications Downward communication is communication created by directors and managers and passed down the hierarchy of workers in the organisation. In traditional organisations this is the preferred method of communication ie Managers decide what the systems, rules and procedures will be and then they pass these down to employees they manage and supervise. Downward Communication can increase efficiency by synchronising organisational procedures and can ensure that everybody is working towards the same overall aims and objectives. Types of downward communication include job descriptions, appraisals/evaluations, organisational policy, and organisational systems. Although there are advantages to downward communication organisations have began to encourage upward communication. This is communication which originates at the lower level of the employment hierarchy and is then communicated up through the line. Organisations encouraging upward communication believe that everybody is capable of generating thoughts and ideas which may help the organisation to progress, particularly when they are working closely in the area that the idea applies to. Upward communication may increase motivation and make employees feel valued and respected whilst enabling managers to understand how employees are feeling. Furthermore if problems occur at they are more likely to be identified earlier by those working closely in the area that they occur. Types of upward communications include suggestion schemes, feedback forums/surveys, grievance procedures and employee-manager discussions. Lateral Communication This is communication that occurs between employees on the same level in the organisation. As this can involve decision making it can create efficiency as employees do not have to wait for managerial approval. On the other hand if the manager is not kept informed or if the manager fails to set boundaries there is potential for conflict. Diagonal Communication This occurs when communication occurs between workers in a different section of the organisation and where one of the workers involved is on a higher level in the organisation. For example in a bank diagonal communication will occur when a department manager in head office converses with a cashier in a branch of the bank based on the high street. TELECOMMUNICATIONS GLOSSARY Term Definition Telecommunication Communication between parties based in different locations by using a cable, telephone, broadcast or a telegraph. Networking Linking to or more computers together so that information and facilities can be shared. Computers in the same room may be linked together or the organisation may decide to link, computers in different parts of the world together. Local Area Network (LAN) Computers linked by a network without the use of telecommunications. Often the computers linked are based in the same location, group of buildings or site. Wide Area Network (WAN)    Computers linked by a network using telecommunications. Often the computers linked are based in different locations. Teleconferencing    Through the use of telecommunication devices such as video link participants based in different locations communicating is known as teleconferencing. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Computer networks used to exchange standard business transaction documents between organisations. QUESTION 3 How might a manager use the GRAPEVINE to his or her advantage? First of all the definition of grapevine is that it is the unofficial way that communication takes place within the organization. It is neither supported nor authorized by the organization. It can also be called gossip. As we know many gossips have no factual bases at all; most of them however do. A manager can use grapevine to his or her advantage if it is an organization where people are used to get their information from these sources. And of course it would be a lie to say that most of us dont gossip, or listen to them at least occasionally, especially if it involves us. Bad information spreads a lot faster than good news, so the information gets to employees real fast. It can happen by a word of mouth, or recently more frequently by electronic means. If an organization is based on honesty, these grapevine information can be a lot more accurate than in an organization that is based on an authoritative culture. Usually there is always some truth to it however. Rumours about major lay-offs, plant closings, and the like may be filled with accurate information regarding who will be affected and when it may occur. This truth component is what a manager can use to his or her benefit. Most employees know that if there is any kind of grapevine information circling in the company, whatever its about can be true. If a manager for example wants to influence employees to work harder, or put more effort into it, he or she can simply start a new gossip, or encourage an existing one about lay-offs that might involve their department. Im not saying this is a nice way to do this, but if nothing else works, why not. This is however not the sign of the good manager, because he or she should be able to use other methods of motivation. A good leader needs to be able to exert high level of effort from his or her employees by motivating them in different ways. Another way of looking grapevine information is its usefulness in supplementing formal information channels. It provides a way for employees to communicate their imaginations and inputs to a certain issue. If management is not really doing a good job with communicating with employees about what is going on in an organization, then grapevine can satisfy these natural needs for information. Grapevine is a healthy human desire to communicate. It is the informal communication channel within the organization. Managers have to acknowledge this fact, and try to use it to their own advantage. Managers interested in creating good communication within the organization will use grapevine as a mean to improve it. The real value of grapevine should be to management is that it reveals issues that generate from those whom interested in or effected by it. Managers can also participate in grapevine. They can be filters, who monitor the information and forward to upper management only the valuable and important components. Grapevine usually pops up during times of uncertain times; therefore management has to make sure that it is providing enough information about important issues. The longer the rumour goes around, the hardest it is to control, so management had to intervene quickly if it wants to avoid its damaging effects. The fact is that grapevine is exists within organizations, and they always have a truth component to them. Management therefore can use them to their own benefits, as a compliment to the official and formal channels of information. How to use the Grapevine effectively in business organizations? Grapevine is an informal channel of business communication. It is called so because it stretches throughout the organization in all directions irrespective of the authority levels. The management can use grapevine to supplement the formal channels of communication. Though it carries some degree of error and distortion, efforts can be made to correct it. Ignoring the grapevine is nothing but to ignore a valuable source of communication. The management can eliminate its negative consequences and, at the same time, it can nourish its positive benefits. The managers have to learn to manage and control it. 1. The management can open up all the channels of organizational communication to present the facts positively before the employees and ther

Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters-II

Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters-II The Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters-II (MESSY-II) and Its Adaptation for Iranian Children and Adolescents with Intellectual Disability Bakhtiyar Karami, Mojtaba Gashool, Shoaib Ghasemi, Hamid Alizadeh Abstract The aim of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters-II (MESSY-II)in a community population in Iran. The Iranian version of the MESSY-II was administered by interviewing care staff of all children and adolescents (n = 355) with administratively defined intellectual disabilities (IDs) living in Tehran,Esfahan, Karaj Kordistan. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the unidimensionality of the subscales as well as the proposed two factor structure of the original MESSY-II. The present study demonstrates that the three subscales are highly similar constructs across different language and cultural settings, and that the MESSY-II is applicable in research on populations with varying mental functioning, diagnoses, ages, and living arrangements. Keywords: Social skills, Assessment, MESSY, Rating scale, Factor structure Introduction The development of social skills is an important process in young childhood and adolescence. Deficits present in childhood that are left undetected and/or untreated can lead to increased problems into adulthood (Greene et al., 1999). In addition, impairments in social skills may be related to larger problems such as developmental disability, attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, anxiety, antisocial behavior, and other mental health problems (Davis et al., 2011; Lugnegard, Hallenback, Gillberg, 2011; Mahan Matson, 2011; Matson Wilkins, 2009; Worley Matson, 2011). Social skills deficits may occur as a result of these disorders or as part of the disorders themselves. As a result, identification of social weaknesses is essential for providing treatment and improving prognosis and quality of life. Identifying social strengths is also important for treatment and can guide clinicians to use assets that the child already possesses to help improve the areas of defi cit. The assessment and training of social and adaptive skills is important for a number of reasons. First, social and adaptive skills deficits can compromise successful transition from institutional to community living (Jacobson Schwartz, 1991; Doll, 1953). Second, deficits in these areas may contribute to the etiology of psychiatric disorders and behavioral problems (Borthwick-Duffy Eyman, 1990; Matson Sevin, 1994). Finally, social and adaptive deficits often persist in living areas where the philosophy of care consists of passive learning rather than active treatment (Matson Hammer, 1996). The MESSY (Matson, 1988) was developed in 1983 for assessing the social skill deficits of children aged 4 to 18. The original normative sample at the time was based on 744 typically developing children in Northern Illinois (Matson, Rotatori, Helsel, 1983). The initial items included in the measure were based on a review of standardized measures, including items that addressed social behaviors. Two independent raters then selected the items believed to fit the definition of social skills. These 92 items were then administered to 422 children (self-report form) and 322 teachers (teacher-report form) twice, at a 2-week interval. Test-retest reliability was conducted and items with Pearson’s correlations greater than .50 and .55 for the self- and teacher-report versions, respectively, were retained. The results yielded 62 items for the self-report form and 64 items for the teacher-report form. Original tests of reliability and validity indicated strong internal consistency and test-retest reliability andadequat convergent validity (Matson et al., 1983). The MESSY has been translated into nine other languages and researched internationally: Spanish (Mendez, Hildalgo, Ingles, 2002), Chinese (Chou, 1997), Japanese (Matson Ollendick, 1988), Dutch (Prins, 1997), Hindi (Sharma, Sigafoos, Carroll, 2000), Hebrew (Pearlman-Avnion Eviator, 2002), French (Vertà ©, Roeyers, Buysse, 2003), Turkish (Bacanli ErdoÄÅ ¸an, 2003), and Slovakian (Vasil’o (Bacanli BaumÄÅ ¸artner, 2004). In addition, the MESSY has been researched with various populations, including children with hearing and visual impairments (Matson, Heinze, Helsel, Kapperman, Rotatori, 1986; Matson, Macklin, Helsel, 1985; Raymond Matson, 1989) , intellectual disabilities (Matson Barrett, 1982), anxiety disorders (Strauss, Lease, Kazdin, Dulcan, Last, 1989), depression (Helsel Matson, 1984), bipolar disorder (Goldstein, Miklowitz, Mullen, 2006), and autism spectrum disorders (Matson, Stabinsky-Compton, Sevin, 1991).2222 However, there is still no agreement about which factorial structure best explains the data because the results of former studies showed a different number of factors and different arrangements of items. Thus, the objectives of the present study are to examine the psychometric properties of the MESSY for the first time in an Iranian sample and to compare the results to foregoing studies with the MESSY in other socio-cultural contexts. 1. Method 1.1. Participants Thirty hundred and fifty five 355 (223 male, 132 female) participants were recruited from undergraduate psychology courses. Their ages ranged from 3 to 26 years, with a mean age of 11.34 years (SD = 3.87). According to clinical practice in Iran, the participants were classified into having a mild (40.8%), moderate (47.0%), severe (11.3%), or profound (0.8%) level of mental retardation. The most frequent diagnoses were Down’s syndrome (53.8%), autism (20.8%), mentally retarded (16.9%), and 8.5% of the individuals were reported to have other disorders. 1.2. Measures Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters-II (MESSY-II; Matson et al., 2010). The MESSY-II is a social skills measure for a broad range of children, ages 2–16, based on observations of both appropriate and inappropriate social behaviors. This measure is a renormed version of the original MESSY, which was designed to assess social skills in children ages 4–18 (Matson, Rotatori, et al., 1983). The original scale had two different forms: a self-report form and parent/teacher report form consisting of 62 and 64 items, respectively. At present, the MESSY-II only has one form, which is a parent/caregiver report form. During the renorming process it was decided that social skills would best be examined through parent/caregiver report as opposed to self- report due to difficulties with poor insight in the populations frequently administered the MESSY. Also, since the measure’s  utility has largely been clinic and community focused, there is a decreased need fo r a teacher report form. The MESSY-II has 64 items identical to the original MESSY parent/teacher report form, which are each rated on a Likert-type rating scale from 1 (‘‘not  at all’’) to 5 (‘‘very much’’). Recent studies indicate that the scale has strong psychometric properties including internal consistency, and convergent and divergent validity (Matson et al., 2010). Although the original MESSY parent/teacher report form yielded a two factor structure (i.e., Inappropriate Assertiveness/Impulsiveness scale and Appropriate Social Skills scale), the factor structure of the MESSY-II has yet to be established. 1.3. Procedures The participants for this investigation were recruited throughout the children adolescents who enrolled in exceptional children schools. We first select 4 state – Tehran, Esfahan, Alborz Kordistan randomly and then separate a list of exceptional children schools in this 4 state. After permission from authorities (Misinstry of Education in each city), the head teachers were contacted in order to coordinate the data collection processes. Then, after training the head teacher about MESSY-II in an agreed date teachers were asked to complete a paper and pencile version of the final draft of the Iranian version of MESSY-II for each student while one of us (AMo) was present in the agreed school for any possible help or inquiries. Data collected in about 1 month. 1.4. Data Analysis In order to determine the factor structure of the MESSY-II, an exploratory factor analysis with Principle axis factoring was used on the 64 items of the MESSY-II. Given the likelihood of correlations among the underlying constructs of the factors, an oblique promax rotation was used (brown, 2006). The optimal factor structure was determined via examination of the scree plot, and comprehensibility of factors (zwick velicer, 1986). Items with factor loadings greater than .30 were retained for each factor (kline, 2000). Internal consistency of the factors was examined using Cronbach’s alpha (Cronbach, 1951) and the 0.70 criterion for adequate reliability (Nunnally Bernstein, 1994). 2. Results Exploratory factor analysis yielded a two-factor solution for the MESSY-II. The total variance accounted for by the two- factor model was 41.43%. Inappropriate Assertiveness/Impulsiveness factor accounted for 29.37% of the variance. Appropriate Social Skills factor accounted for 12.6% percent of the variance. The correlation between two factors was moderate r= .410. Two items (i.e., item 20: Is afraid to speak to people; and item 46: Feels lonely) did not meet the criteria of .30, and were removed from the measure. Table 1 lists the factors and corresponding items. Next, internal consistency was examined for the two factors of the MESSY-II using Chrobach’s alpha. Inappropriate Assertiveness/Impulsiveness had an internal consistency of .950 (M=70.58; SD=24.87), and Appropriate Social Skills had an internal consistency of .952 (M=75.64; SD=24.91). corrected Item-total correlations were considered for each of the retained factors to determine if the removal of additional items was warranted due to coefficients below 0.30 (Field, 2005). Item total correlations of Inappropriate Assertiveness/Impulsiveness subscale ranged from 0.42 (item 15) to 0.70 (item 9, 17, and 52). item total correlations of Appropriate Social Skills subscale ranged from 0.37 (item 19) to 0.77 (item 41).since no item on any of the scales had a correlation of less than .30 and, therefore, all items were retained following the two items that had been removed during the exploratory factor analysis. 3. Discussion Impairments in social skills are a defining aspect of developmental disabilities, and deficits in these skills can affect the ability of children, adolescents, and adults to progress in other areas across the spectrum of development. Furthermore, social deficits are major risk factors for challenging behaviors (Farmer Aman, 2009; Tenneij, Didden, Stolker, Koot, 2009), and similarly, they can compound problems of psychopathology (Brim, Townsend, DeQuinzio, Poulson, 2009; Matson, Dempsey, Rivet, 2009; Niklasson, Rasmussen, O ´ skarsdo ´ ttir, Gillberg, 2009; Rose, Bramham, Young, Paliokostas, Xenitidis, 2009). For these and other reasons, the development of measures of social skills is very important (Matson Boisjoli, 2009a, 2009b; Matson Dempsey, 2009; van den Hazel, Didden, Korzilius, 2009). The purpose of this paper then, was to determine the factor solution of a measure used to assess social skills, the MESSY-II in Iranian population (Matson et al., 2010). The original MESSY was initially developed nearly three decades ago, but recently renormed (see Matson et al., 2010). Exploratory factor analysis of the MESSY-II yielded a three factor solution. Two of the factors were consistent with inappropriate social skills while the other consisted of items relating to appropriate and adaptive social skills. The data were collected as part of an epidemiological research program including all children adolescents with administratively defined ID living in 4 state – Tehran, Esfahan, Alborz Kordistan. Overall, the results showed that the internal consistency of the Iranian MESSY-II is in line with previous research on the MESSY-II and that the proposed two-factor model had an acceptable fit. This study showed satisfactory cultural adaptation, reliability, content validity and factor structure for the Iranian version of MESSY-II. However, considering the study limitations, the findings should not be generalized. In general this instrument will be a valuable teacher/parent reported measure for the evaluation of social skills (Inappropriate Assertiveness/Impulsiveness Appropriate Social Skills) among children adolescents with mental retardation in Iran and other Persian-speaking countries. Table 1: Factor structure of the MESSY-II Item no. Factor 1: Inappropriate Assertiveness/Impulsiveness Factor 2: Appropriate Social Skills 1 Makes others laugh .484 2 Threatens people or acts like a bully .770 3 Becomes angry easily .688 4 Is bossy (tells people what to do instead of asking) .541 5 Gripes or complains often .638 6 Speaks (breaks in) when someone else is speaking .702 7 Takes or uses things that are not his/hers without permission without permission .535 8 Brags about self .576 9 Slaps or hits when angry .753 11 Gives other children dirty looks .677 12 Feels angry or jealous when someone else does well .615 13 Picks out other Children’s faults/mistakes .561 15 Breaks promises .464 16 Lies to get what he/she wants .537 17 Lies to get what he/she wants .734 21 Hurts others’ feelings on purpose .587 22 Is a sore loser .601 23 Makes fun of others .616 24 Blames others for own problems .619 29 Is stubborn .703 32 Thinks people are picking on him/her when they are not .517 35 Makes sounds that bother others .548 36 Brags too much when he/she wins .526 38 Speaks too loudly .532 43 Always thinks something bad is going to happen .427 48 Gets upset when he/she has to wait for things .450 52 Gets in fights a lot .736 53 Is jealous of other people .467 57 Stays with others too long (wears out welcome) .529 58 Explains things more than necessary .376 60 Hurts others to get what he/she wants .746 62 Thinks that winning is everything .483 63 Hurts others’ feelings when teasing them .759 64 Wants to get even with someone who hurts him/her .717 10 Helps a friend who is hurt .672 14 Always wants to be first .585 18 Walks up and initiates conversation; .470 9 Slaps or hits when angry .340 25 Sticks up for friends .608 26 Looks at people when they are speaking .759 27 Thinks he/she knows it all .316 .493a 28 Smiles at people he/she knows .586 30 Acts as if he/she better than others .675 31 Shows feelings .659 33 Thinks good things are going to happen .474 34 Works well on a team .834 37 Takes care of others’ property as if it were his/her own .767 39 Calls people by their names .607 40 Asks if he/she can be of help .811 41 Feels good if he/she helps others .839 42 Defends self .598 44 Tries to be better than everyone else .741 45 Asks questions when talking with others .671 47 Feels sorry when he/she hurts others .589 49 Likes to be the leader .381 .468 a 50 Joins in games with other children .767 51 Plays by the rules of a game .812 54 Does nice things for others who are nice to him/her -.362 .712 a 55 Tries to get others to do what he/she wants .354 .368 a 56 Asks others how they are, what they have been doing, etc. .579 59 Is friendly to new people he/she meets .713 61 Talks a lot about problems or worries .312 .433 a References Kline, P. (2000) an easy guide to factor analysis. Routledge,: London. Nunnally J. C. Bernstein I. (1994) Psychometric Theory. McGr59aw-Hill, NewYork, NY. Zwick, W. R., Velicer, W. F. (1986). Comparison of Five Rules for Determining the Number of Components to Retain. Psychological Bulletin, 99(4): 432-442. Brown, T. A. (2006). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research. New York: Guilford Press. Field, A. (2005). Discovering statistics using SPSS. London: Sage Publications Inc Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16(3), 297–334. Davis, T. E., III, Hess, J. A., Moree, B. N., Fodstad, J. C., Dempsey, T., Jenkins, W. S., et al. (2011). Anxiety symptoms across the lifespan in people diagnosed with autism disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 5, 112–118. Lugnegard, T., Hallerback, M. U., Gillberg, C. (2011). Psychiatric comorbidity in young adults with a clinical diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 32, 1910–1917. Greene, R. W., Biederman, J., Farone, S. U., Wilens, T. E., Mick, E., Blier, H. K. (1999). Further validation of social impairment as predictor of substance use disorders. Findings from a sample of siblings of boys with and without ADHD. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 28, 349–354. Mahan, S., Matson, J. L. (2011). Children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders copared to typically developing controls on the Behavioral Assessment system for children, Second Edition (BASC-2). Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 5, 230–236. Matson, J. L., Wilkins, J. (2009). Psychometric testing methods for children’s social skills. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 30, 249–274. Worley, J. A., Matson, J. L. (2011). Psychiatric symptoms in children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder: An examination of gender differences. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 3, 1086–1091.

A World of Freedom With Chains Attached :: essays research papers fc

Everyone has heard of the Internet and how it is going to help set the world free. The Internet is the fastest growing form of communication and is becoming more and more commonplace in the average American home. Companies these days do big business over the Internet, and online shopping has grown tremendously in the last few years. For instance, the online auction site eBay sells millions of items every year online. Many companies are making even more plans to expand their business to the Internet. Wireless, borderless communication and the uninterrupted flow of information have been promised to bring democracy, education, and culture to every corner of the world with a phone line. Unfortunately, there have been numerous attempts lately to censor the Internet in the name of â€Å"decency.† If the Net is controlled, regulated, restricted, or censored in order to keep it â€Å"clean,† it will have severe effects on its capabilities and potential. In recent years, America and other leading countries’ economies have become increasingly dependent on the need to instantly move large amounts of information across long distances. Computerization has changed everyone’s life in ways that were never before imagined. The global network of interconnected computers allows people to send electronic mail messages across the world in the blink of an eye and stay updated on world events as they happen; the world has become a much smaller place as a result of this global communication and exchange of ideas. There have also become thousands of online â€Å"communities† of people who share common interests through message boards, chat rooms, and electronic mailing lists (Wilmott 106). At present, the Internet is the ultimate demonstration of the first amendment: free speech. Here is a place where people can speak their mind without being punished for what they say or how they choose to say it. The Internet owes its incredible worldwide success to its protection of free speech, not only in America, but also in countries where freedom of speech is not guaranteed. For some, it is the only place where they can speak their mind without fear of political or religious persecution (â€Å"Cyberchaos†). The Net is also one of America's most valuable types of technology; scientists use email for quick and easy communication. They post their current scientific discoveries on online newsgroups so other scientists in the same field of study all over the world can know in minutes.

Analysis of Flea by John Donne :: essays research papers

The Flea The narrator in The Flea is a youthful man trying to convince a young woman to give her virginity to him. He tries to do this by comparing their relationship to a flea that is in the room. The flea bites them both and Donne explains to her that this is symbolic of both of their worlds combining into one. He says that the flea is now the realm of love, lust, and marriage. At first this poem seems to be just about love, commitment from a male to a female, who says no his lustful desires. However, a deeper look than just the superficial reveals that the male in this poem is actually revealing a valid point to his lady: that the loss of innocence, such as her virginity, does not constitute a loss of her honor. At first, this poem seems to be simply about a young, sexually hungry man who is trying to convince a girl to give into his sexual wishes. She denies the ?wanna be? lover because she believes that the act of intercourse before marriage is a dishonorable sin in the eyes of the church. The lady ends up killing the flea and symbolically killing the false world the man had constructed in the flea. She then says that neither of them are any worse by killing the flea, which the male agrees with. The man concludes his point by granting that the death of the flea does not really have any consequences, just like her fears to loose her respectability and honor. His main point in all his talk about the flea is to show her that her honor will not be ruined if she yields to him. John Donne?s poem connects flesh and spirit, worldly and religious ideas in a fascinating way between seemingly unrelated topics. He compares sexual intercourse to a bite of a flea and says that now their blood has mixed inside the flea. He also compares the inside of the tiny flea to the entire world, including the couple.

Solar Energy Informative Speech

Heather Smith Informative Outline Michelle Talasis Topic: Solar Energy General Purpose: To inform Specific Purpose:To inform the uses of Solar Energy to my audience. Thesis:When all of our natural fossil fuels are low or gone, solar energy will be one of the leading sources of energy that we will need in the future. Introduction Attention Getter: Natural fossil fuels, such as coal used for burning, oil used for gasoline, and natural gas used to heat and warm houses, are a threat to the Earth and everything in it. Fossil fuels pollute the air and they are non-renewable and non-recyclable.We need different energy sources that are renewable and recyclable for our future existence. Unlike fossil fuels, solar energy is renewable and recyclable. When all of our natural fossil fuels are scare or gone, solar energy will be one of the leading sources of energy that we will need in the future. With all of the technology we have today, we can develop different ways to use and harness these ener gy sources. Reason to Listen:Solar energy is making a big impact on lives today all over the world. The development of solar energy in all ways and technologies is making our world a cleaner, safer, and less dependent nation.A. Thesis Statement: When all of our natural fossil fuels are low or gone, solar energy will be one of the leading sources of energy that we will need in the future. B. Credibility Statement: My dad is an electrician that puts up solar energy plants for businesses. I had to research for this paper. C. Preview of Main Points: 1. First I will explain solar energy technology and how it can be used in houses. 2. Next, I will explain the uses of solar energy and how it will be helpful saving water. 3. Finally, I will explain the unique uses of solar energy in transportation and military weapons. II. Body A.People have created new technologies for others to use in their homes, vehicles or buildings. 1. One of the technologies that people have created to be energy effi cient is the photovoltaic cells or â€Å"solar cells† which use sunlight and convert it into electricity automatically. PVs can be used in anything from watches to an electric grid. They can also be used to provide energy to places where power lines cannot be attached to buildings. â€Å"Thermal technologies use the heat from the sun and use it directly in space or water heating in homes and buildings or it is directly converted into electricity,† says Fischer and Finnell.Thermal technologies are also used for agriculture needs that farmer’s livestock or crops require. With solar energy being used in electrical, heating, and transportation applications, the idea for an energy efficient house would be more probable. Energy efficient improvements can cut energy costs by over 40% in most affordable housing. They help reduce health risks from mold, dust mites, radon, and combustion by-products and other contaminants. These houses have less condensation, and better m oisture control and temperature. These energy improvements usually cost less than the savings they offer on utility bills.Increasing the value of a home is a great investment-paying high energybills are not. Transition:Now that I have discussed new solar technologies that people use in their homes, and for electricity, I will now explain the uses of solar energy in water. A. Solar power has helped with electricity and heat, but it can also help with the growing need for fresh water. 1. â€Å"Instead of using fossil fuels and electricity to desalinate water, engineers at the University of Florida have developed a system that uses a gravity-induced vacuum and solar energy. † (â€Å"Here Comes the Sun†) The desalination of water is the same process as nature. . A U-shaped pipe is place in two different containers, one side in salt water and the other in fresh water. ii. A vacuum is then surrounded by a circulator that heats the saltwater and the salt water is then evapora ted. iii. The evaporated steam is then condensed and finally the fresh water drips down into a tank. This system have been proved to be 90% efficient, while the solar â€Å"stills† only proved to be 50% efficient. Water has been desalinized by solar power for more efficient and inexpensive drinking water and fresh water supply, but it is also being detoxified by solar power for other usages around the house.Detoxification of water by solar power has proved to be one of the most promising methods to disinfect water, an earth-friendly operation and it does not create harmful emissions. â€Å"One way was ZED or Zero Effluent Discharge,† says Inamdar and Singh. i. ZED disposed of inadequately cleaned waste water that is contaminating fresh water resources, the waste water will recycle water properly if it is forced to generate fresh water from the waste water generated by them, and it is economical to use recycled water than to pay for consuming fresh water and wasting was te water.Transition:Now that we have learned the uses of solar energy in water, I will explain the uses solar energy in military weapons and transportation. Solar power is being used for disinfecting water and electricity, but for transportation and military weapons? 1. Solar power has been used in cruise boats and ferries. â€Å"The first boat that used solar power was in Australian waters that won a contract to build another ferry to carry passengers between San Francisco Harbor and Alcatraz Island,† explains Thwaites, a science writer and broadcaster in Australia. i.The guy who built the solar powered boat is Robert Dane. ii. He wanted to build a boat that was powered by solar power and wind power. iii. He called it the Solar Sailor, which has an electric motor they can power to drive the propeller properly, meaning the boat will be more efficient and easy to move and back up without stalling them. Solar Sailor technology also helped the Navy create UOVs or Unmanned Ocean Vehicles. i. These vehicles could be used to collect data for climate research, ocean exploration, offshore oil exploration and production and even surveillance of pipelines and telecommunications.Solar power is also being used in the US Military and even some weapons too. â€Å"The US Military have installed black and blue solar panels to use in solar-powered battlefield radios and even in tents with solar panels woven into their fabric to power military equipment,† says John Naish, an environmental campaigner. The solar panels are also being used for sensors and radars, which saves troops from being predictable targets when they regularly refuel generators. I. Conclusion Review of Main Points: Today, I explained how solar energy technology can be used in houses.Second, I discussed the uses of solar energy and how it will be helpful saving water. Finally, I talked about the unique uses of solar energy in transportation and military weapons. Restate Thesis:When all of our nat ural fossil fuels are low or gone, solar energy will be one of the leading sources of energy that we will need in the future. Closure: If we don’t continue to develop different ways and technology to lessen our needs on all of our natural fossil fuels, water, natural gas, and the environment, we will soon be living in our own human and mechanical waste.

Littlefield Technology Game Capacity Essay

The game was held over a week and enabled us to increase our understanding of inventory management at the production stage in the supply chain. In this game, the objective was to accomplish production and delivery of the production within 3 days of lead time. Over the course of the game, we were to monitor the production numbers and make adjustments through the number of machines which we owned. Machines affected the revenues through the purchases and the goal was to obtain as much revenue as possible. Through the game, we learnt how to analyse our production numbers and plot strategies to tackle the demand that was constantly changing. Strategy Our strategy was to obtain a stable utilization rate throughout all machines to prevent incurring any late penalty. For example at Day 50, before the game started, we observed that machine 1 was running at 100% utilization for a few days before, and we predicted a bottleneck situation would occur here. Therefore we decided to purchase an additional machine immediately as the game started so as to allow continuous processing of lots to meet the demand and prevent losses in revenue. After purchasing additional machine 1, we continued observing the utilization of the machine. We were careful not to buy additional machines unnecessarily so that we can earn more revenue from the interest. On day 88, machine 1 hit 100% utilization for 4 consecutive days. However, the average revenue earned was still $1000 despite the high utilization. Therefore we decided not to purchase additional machines at station 1. This proved to our favour as the revenue earned did not drop during this period of time even though station 1 utilization continue to be close to 1. Furthermore, we continued to earn a higher interest than other teams who bought additional machines. Due to this plan, we were amongst the top few teams at this period of time. At day 120, a situation similar to day 88 began to occur; machine 1 hit 100% utilization continuously for 6 days and continue to hit close to 100% for the next few days. We had thought that we could tide through it like before without the need of an additional machine. However, this time round, a bottleneck formed at station 1 and the revenue started to drop quite severely. Therefore, we decided that an additional machine is needed at station 1 to prevent further drop in the revenue. However, the purchase of an additional machine did not salvage  our situation as the queue size at station 1 w as too large. During this period, a lot of income was lost due to our production not being able to meet the 3 days of lead time. Our revenue only stabilized on day 130 for 2 days before dipping again. This time, the bottleneck transferred to station 3 and the queue has risen drastically to about 600 jobs. Therefore, we made the decision to purchase another machine for station 3. With this, our revenue finally stabilised at day 139. In the following days, we continued the strategy of monitoring the revenue, as well as the stations’ utilization and queue size, before deciding whether to purchase additional machines. Following this strategy, we acquired a total of 4 Machine 1s, 2 Machine 2s and 2 Machine 3s. As the demand fell towards the end of the game, we decided to sell off machines at the under-utilized stations so that we could increase our revenue from the sales of the machines, as well as gain more interest, and increase our ranking before the game ends. Therefore, at the end, we were left with 3 Machine 1s, 1 Machine 2 and 2 Machine 3s. In the case of station 2, which executed steps 2 and 4 of the production, we were able to toggle between three policies: giving priority to First In First Out (FIFO), step 2 or step 4. In the early stages of the game, the utilization at station 2 maintained at a relatively safe level. However, at about day 120, the average demand began to increase and the utilization began to hit 100%. It remained at this range until we made the decision to purchase an additional machine for the station at day 150. As the performance of station 2 affects the jobs arriving at station 3, the delays in production snowballed and this drastically affected our revenue. Conclusion In hindsight, it is unfortunate that we were not able to maintain our advantage as the leading few teams. We suffered a major setback during the day 120 period due to unexpected demand spikes and poor decision making. However, we did manage to salvage our situation in the end and obtained a respectable rank of 7th place. We have learnt that we cannot assume the best of any situation and that we have to be prepared for sudden influx of demand and also that there is no one size fits all policy. The game simulates a real assembly scenario. While the strategy helped us gain revenue, the scenario does not comply with certain real life supply chain conditions such as taxes. All fixed overhead which we have no control, such as salaries,  rent, utilities, etc. are ignored. These factors will introduce more complexities into making decisions.