Media And Its Impact On Politics - 1325 Words

In a world where hundreds upon thousands of media platforms exist, it’s not surprising that media is one of the strongest, if not the biggest, influences in our current presidential election. No matter where each of us turn, whether it be to a newspaper, social media, or our televisions, every single one of us has seen some sort of news report or article discussing presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. However, every year, there seems to be this constant struggle when it comes to the media coverage, as it appears that when the quantity and accessibility of coverage increases, the quality of the content appears to dip lower and lower.. Therefore, if one were to give an overall grade in terms of the job the media has done in covering the 2016 presidential election, the grade would be that of a â€Å"D+†, because while the quantity and accessibility of the coverage has substantially improved, the biased and muddled quality of what’s being covered has overwhelmed the improvements to the campaign coverage, deteriorating to the lowest standard in the history of presidential media coverage. Primarily, the media deserves to be credited for the improvements in the amount, or quantity, of what has been covered. This year’s first presidential debate was the most televised presidential debate in history, since televised debates began during the 1960 election year (Grynbaum). The debate was televised live â€Å"across 13 †¦ TV channels†, with a number of social media networks,Show MoreRelatedMedia And Its Impact On Politics2005 Words   |  9 Pages Media today has become extremely corrupt while spreading news about today’s politics. Today s new articles on politics are usually either bias, the story is slightly altered, or the information in the articles are just found to be rumors later on. There aren’t many news sources today that are producing reliable articles that aren’t biased one way or another towards politics. I believe that all sources of media today have had a combined negative impact on politics today because people use ne ws mediaRead MoreThe Impact Of New Media On Politics1504 Words   |  7 Pages The impact of new media on politics in America There is no question that over the years various forms of media have been instrumental tools for politics in this country. In the earliest years of this nation’s politics, the number of politically sponsored newspapers was significant. Later radio came into being and it saw its first uses in politics to cover such things as the election race between Warren G. Harding and James M. Cox in 1920 (Bardes). In the 1950s, television saw its first usesRead MoreImpact of Media on Politics Essay1135 Words   |  5 PagesImpact of Media on Politics The role media plays in politics is undeniable. Our soundbite culture with its inherent limited attention span dictates a â€Å"McNugget† of information. Unfortunately this often leads to misrepresentations being accepted as fact. A glaring example of this was the Killian documents controversy. In September 2004, the CBS program 60 Minutes Wednesday aired a report critical of President George W. Bushs service in the United States National Guard. The four documents includedRead MoreThe Impact Of Social Media On Politics1982 Words   |  8 PagesYour Name Professor Name Subject Name 04 September 20XX The Impact of Social Media on Politics With every advance in technology comes impact on everyday life. This is especially true for advances in media technology. While the media is a pervasive aspect of life on a day to day basis, a time when it really becomes important is when the subject regards government and political information. The Internet has become an increasingly important tool for American citizens to not only gain political knowledgeRead More The Impact of Mass Media Influence on Politics Essay2941 Words   |  12 PagesThe Impact of Mass Media Influence on Politics What impact do the mass media have on modern government and politics? The mass media is now a global phenomenon and has revolutionized the way individuals communicate with each other and receive information. In this essay I will examine the three forms of mass media - newspaper, radio and television - and the way they have evolved. I will explain the three main theories relating to the impact of mass media on the public. I will then discuss howRead MoreThe Impact Of Media On Public Opinion And Chinese Politics1712 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction 1. Background Media in China has a tremendous influence on public opinion and Chinese politics, the significant increase of state owned media outlets beging from 1949 to 1980s and marketable ones since 1979 indicates the state’s purpose to address the following two major issues: 1) to reduce the government’s financial burden. 2) to help modernize China’s economy. (in-class teaching material) Since those media began to be allowed to support themselves in various ways, several hundredRead MoreThe Impact Of Digital Media On The World Of Trade, Commerce, Education, And Politics1250 Words   |  5 Pagestend to be more interested in popular trends and lean to updated elements. For example, prior to the emergence of mobile technology, people used to consume digital media contents by using their desktop or laptop computer. However, nowadays, people are using mobile phones more than any other types of devices to access any type of digital media (Small Business Authority, 2014). To exploit this trend, organizations must keep track with changing mobile technology to remain competitive. Design of responsiveRead MoreHow Social Media Drives Politics1608 Words   |  7 PagesHow Social Media Drives Politics I. Introduction a. Be wise in choosing what to believe on Social Media because politicians can manipulate you into thinking one thing when in fact what they mean is the opposite. b. Social media tools including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have dramatically changed the way political campaigns are run and how we interact with our elected officials. These websites have made politicians more accessible and allowing campaigns to carefully craft and customize their candidates’Read MoreMedia And Its Impact On Society787 Words   |  4 Pages Media today has massive influential impacts all over the world. Every house has a sort of media such as Television, radio, newspaper, Internet, and other media channels. Media have been demonstrated to elevate or to raise doubt about perspectives of social groups, including those characterized by race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and sexual personality (Scharrer 171). Gender prospective is one of the most effected elements. It has shaped the way people think of themselves and the way they seeRead MoreThe Media And Its Impact On Presidential Elections1335 Words   |  6 PagesThe Media and its impact on Presidential Elections On a July day in 2015, reality television star and real estate mogul Donald Trump announced his candidacy for President of the United States in the 2016 election. Following his announcement, the mainstream media openly mocked Trump, and some found great humor at the idea of his campaign, wondering how long it would take before he dropped out of his â€Å"doomed before-it-began campaign,† as many called it. By being openly dismissive of Trump’s campaign

Mother Tongue By Amy Tan - 1375 Words

Vladimir Paramoshin Prof Marguerite Atterbury Literacy Language (English 110) 10/ 23/2017 The potential that lies behind the usage of our language and words. â€Å"I am a writer. And by that definition, I am someone who has always loved language. I am fascinated by language in daily life. I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language-the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth. Language is the tool of my trade. And I use them all-all the Englishes I grew up with.† -Amy Tan, Mother Tongue Language is what allows humans to be creative. Creative in the way we express ourselves, creative in the way we put our ideas forward, creative in the way we correspond†¦show more content†¦It is the core of her existence. Gloria Anzaldua speaks many divergent forms of Spanish and English. She states, â€Å"And because we are complex, heterogeneous people, we speak many different languages.† There has been an argument whether language originated from emotions or logical and rational thought. It doesn’t really matter how it originated, I personally believe that we were created by a higher Creator with the ability to talk and to write and to communicate with each other. To be able to express our feelings of love or hate. As of now there are about 5000-7000 different languages in the world. I can speak and write in two, English and Russian. Having moved from Russia to America in my teenage years I went through some exact situations as did Amy Tan. I’m specifically referring to the instance where she would be using her language to speak for her parents because they didn’t speak fluently. I did so on many occasions as well in the past when I was a teenager, either talking to somebody on the phone and pretending that I’m my Dad, resolving his issues. Helping constantly translate in stores or with Credit Card companies on the phone, or just about any life issue that needed language or translation. Now I constantly find myself thinking in different languages, talking in varying dialects. With my kids I’m more loving and inspiring and gentle. With my parents I’m more patient and understanding. With friends moreShow MoreRelatedMother Tongue By Amy Tan1553 Words   |  7 Pages(Date) â€Å"Mother Tongue† Response Essay In the essay â€Å"Mother Tongue,† Amy Tan emphasizes the idea that the language we are taught in childhood plays an important role in our lives. She writes about the profound effect language has on her life and how she is inspired by her mother’s â€Å"impeccable broken English† to become a writer (317). Tan describes her mother as an educated person who can read sophisticated and technical literature written in English with ease. However, Tan’s mother is oftenRead MoreMother Tongue, by Amy Tan819 Words   |  4 Pages Despite growing up amidst a language deemed as â€Å"broken† and â€Å"fractured†, Amy Tan’s love for language allowed her to embrace the variations of English that surrounded her. In her short essay â€Å"Mother Tongue†, Tan discusses the internal conflict she had with the English learned from her mother to that of the English in her education. Sharing her experiences as an adolescent posing to be her mother for respect, Tan develops a frustration at the difficulty of not being taken seriously due to one’s inabilityRead MoreMother Tongue By Amy Tan1306 Words   |  6 Pages Mother Tongue is a story that describes how Amy Tan’s mother was treated unfairly because of her â€Å"broken English†. As the second generation of Chinese immigrants, Tan faces more problems than her peers do. H er mom, who speaks â€Å"limited† English, needs Tan to be her â€Å"translator† in order to communicate with the native English speakers. Tan has felt ashamed of her mother â€Å"broken† language at first. She then contemplates her background affected her life and her study. However, she changes her thoughtRead MoreMother Tongue By Amy Tan883 Words   |  4 PagesIn Amy Tan’s essay â€Å"Mother Tongue,† it is obvious that language plays an enormous role in our life. Language can influence and give us an insight into another culture different from our own. Amy Tan discusses the many ways in which the language she was taught and native to was important and powerful throughout her life. Language can be defined in various forms, but I hold and acknowledge Amy Tan’s explanation: â€Å"Language can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth.† I canRead MoreMother Tongue By Amy Tan1290 Words   |  6 Pageslanguag e is a difficult and demanding task. In â€Å"Mother Tongue†, Amy Tan expresses the limitations caused by the use of imperfect English in society and her struggles to revitalize it into her life and her writing. Through the use of several rhetorical strategies such as expanding on her own credibility with the use of ethos, appealing to the audience’s emotions using pathos, stating statistics using logos and providing an example of repetition, Tan successfully manages to prove her point on the struggleRead MoreMother Tongue By Amy Tan967 Words   |  4 PagesIn â€Å"Mother Tongue†, Amy Tan describes the several different kinds of English her that she speaks. It is an interesting concept to think about the fact that more than one variation of a single language exist. After reading â€Å"Mother Tongue† I began looking at my own life and seeing if I could recognize the different variation of English that I have come in contact with. After some serious thoug ht, I realized that I have not only come into contact with many different kinds of English, but I speak manyRead MoreAnalysis Of Mother Tongue By Amy Tan913 Words   |  4 Pages Analysis of Mother Tongue by Amy Tan In the narrative essay, â€Å"Mother Tongue† by Amy Tan, the author sets out the story between her mother, whose English is her second language, and Tan herself can speak native English very well. The essay covers the tonal shift of Amy Tan s psychological change, from grudge to understanding. Although she begins the essay saying, I am not a scholar of English or literature. I cannot give you much more than personal opinions on theRead MoreAmy Tan s Mother Tongue1060 Words   |  5 Pagesupon me for my inability to speak English properly. However, in the essay â€Å"Mother Tongue†, the author Amy Tan gives a different, a more optimistic outlook on the various forms of English that immigrants speak as they adapt to the American culture. Using simple language to develop her argument, she casually communicates to the audience rather than informing, which helps the audience understand what is being presented. Tan’s mother plays an important role in her outlook of l anguage because she helps herRead MoreAmy Tan s Mother Tongue992 Words   |  4 PagesIn the essay â€Å"Mother Tongue† Amy Tan, the author, gives a different, a more upbeat outlook on the various forms of English that immigrants speak as they adapt to the American culture. Using simple language to develop her argument, she casually communicates to the audience rather than informing which helps the audience understand what is being presented at ease. Her mother plays an important role in her outlook of language, because she helps her realize that language not only allows one to be a partRead MoreAnalysis Of Mother Tongue By Amy Tan1048 Words   |  5 PagesTwo Worlds - One Story In â€Å"Mother Tongue,† Amy Tan reflects on her childhood to describe how her mother contributed to her understanding of language. Tan encounters numerous situations when she feels like she is judged based on how her mother spoke â€Å"broken† English. Nevertheless, she overcame her teachers’ opinion that she should focus on math and sciences and became a writer. I have a similar experience because I have lived in a different country for a long time, and I speak a different language

Thesis Statment Free Essays

Thesis Statement: Definition: the thesis statement is the most important sentence in your essay. It is the main idea for the whole essay; it is frequently shows (directly, indirectly) the number and the content of the body paragraphs of the essay. Clear thesis statement are essential for good writing. We will write a custom essay sample on Thesis Statment or any similar topic only for you Order Now Parts of a thesis statement: A thesis statement has two main parts: the topic and the controlling and additional one not necessary predictor. A- Topic: the subject of the essay, what the essay is about. Ex: Frank McCourt faced two obstacles. B- Controlling: what you are going to say about the topic. Ex. Frank McCourt faced two obstacles. C- Predictor: it is a third component in a thesis statement. It tells the reader how many body paragraphs there will be in the essay and what their content will be. Ex. Frank McCourt faced two obstacles lack of education and poverty. Activity 1: predict the content of the body paragraphs of the following statements circle the topic, underline the controlling: 1- As we human beings shape our environment by building and producing, we are increasingly polluting our air, water and our soil. – The main advantages of urban planning are that we can control a city’s appearance, we can organize transportation effectively, and we can make sure there are enough open spaces. 3- With its winding paths, lake, and small forests, Central Park in New York City is the most important example of the romantic style of landscape architecture in the United States. Rules for Thesis Statement: 1- T hesis statement must be a complete sentence with a subject and a verb. City living hazardous to your health. (not a thesis) City living is hazardous to your health. – Thesis statement must be a statement not a question. Are dogs good companions? Dogs are good companions. 3- Thesis statement is an opinion it can’t be a simple statement of fact (doesn’t need any support) I have an older brother and a younger brother. I have much in common with my younger brother than I do with my older brother. 4- Thesis statement is a statement not announcement and must state the controlling idea. This essay I’m going to talk about air pollution. Recent methods of reducing air pollution are showing some positive results 5- Thesis statement should have only one controlling idea. Public transportation in my hometown is too expensive, and it is slower than that in Tokyo. Public transportation in my hometown is too expensive. Activity: 2 state if the following sentences is a good thesis statement or not and state the rule it violates. 1- Japanese car are better than American cars. 2- A Mitsubishi is a Japanese car. 3- I’m going to show you why seat belts are necessary. 4- Are seat belts necessary? 5- Wearing a seat belt can save your life. 6- Students who work while they are studying meet a lot of people, and their professors also work hard. 7- Work-study programs an analysis. – In this essay, I will compare working on campus and working off campus. Activity 3: choose 4 topics to write 4 thesis statements. 2 must have a predictor: 1- __________________________________________________________________________ 2- __________________________________________________________________________ 3- _____________________________________________________________ _____________ 4- __________________________________________________________________________ ———————– Wild animalsendangered speciestransportationocean/ water Climate changeworld’s food productioneducationforest/ vegetation How to cite Thesis Statment, Essay examples

Research Paper free essay sample

Your final project for this course will be a research paper of 1500 words with a minimum of four sources. Well have a library orientation session on October 28 that will assist you in learning how to do academic research on a literary topic. You will choose any text (or two texts), either poetry or short fiction, that we have read over the course of the semester for your topic.I recommend you take one of three approaches that I will be going over with ou in class: formalist (focusing on the texts structure and literary devices), theoretical (reading the text for issues of gender, race, class, psychology, etc. ), or contextual (focusing on the texts historical, cultural, and social context). Assignment Requirements: We will review two separate drafts of the research paper that must be a minimum of 750 words: once in class as peer review on November 18, and once in an individual paper conference with me on November 25. Fortunately, there are many corporations are voluntary elect to employ and report their sustainability performance. Nevertheless, there is no indication of any development of formal international recognised legislation to enforce corporations to report its sustainability performance. The authors believed that part of the recent corporate failures were caused by corporate mismanagement mostly a human error and failure moral-hazard system risk control. Hence, the motivation of this academic paper was to recommend that an adequate risk control was necessary to be put in place, and a meaningful and accurate corporate sustainability disclosure to be required. The paper suggests that Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) should actively work on a standardised sustainability reporting. Theoretical Concepts There are theoretical and practical rationales in this research. The theoretical concepts examined in the paper are stakeholder theory and public interest theory. There are many organisations that voluntary report their sustainability performance to the public. There are different reasons for them to adopt this reporting strategy. This may due to an entity is more likely to focus on meeting the expectations with a particular group of stakeholders such as investors, employees, customers, regulators and other specific groups. Usually an organisation has the responsibility to account for the right of their stakeholders such as ‘right to information’. If an organisation fail to meet the expectation of the public and stakeholders, this may result lose their support from the community and the opportunity to run their business locally. Therefore alignment of company reporting with the expectations of key stakeholders serves to improve the quality of a company’s relationships with such stakeholders and thus protect and enhance the value of the organisation (G100, 2003). Therefore it is critical for an organisation to address the needs and expectation from their identified stakeholders. On the other hand, the authors analysed the disclosure indicators between GRI and DJSI. In 2009/2010 there were 317 global organisations listed on the DJSI. In 2009 there were 1299 registered reports with GRI. Among these 1299 reports, the authors discovered that the level of compliance with the GRI guidelines were inconsistent. In general, there are three levels in GRI Guidelines to determine what the degree of compliance that a reporting organisation has account for their disclosure on materiality. Level A is intended for advance reporting organisations. Suppose these ‘Level A’ reporting organisations are expected to report a thorough materiality process in response and communication with their stakeholders. Lower compliance level is Level C that includes those reporting organisations are at lower compliance level. However, the authors found that there were only 31% of the reporting organisations were with great process towards sustainability implementation. In addition, there were 25% of the reporting organisations were most likely not to adhere to the disclosure guidelines. The reason for this are either (1) reporting sustainability are voluntary so they don’t need to adhere all the requirements, (2) some aspects may not be relevant to a particular organisation or the organisation choose not to report part of the requirement, (3) they have combined/used other sustainability instrument to report their sustainability performance. The authors reveal the above were some of the limitation to the current G3 Guidelines. As GRI Guidelines are non-regulatory and non-binding disclosure requirements, as well as missing ‘enforcement’ that require those reporting organisations have to comply with. The authors believed that legislation is necessary to be put in place by an authority and/or professional bodies. They said legislation is needed in order to maintain a stable capital market, and refinement and early detection of any corporate mismanagement. As a general rule, the introduction of regulation is to rotect investors as well as the public. It is believed that regulations are initially to benefit the society as a whole and it is an instrument to create confidence to the society in relation to the capital market. However, there are arguments about the cost-and-benefit to the increasing of regulations. These regulations may create huge cost to companies but with less corresponding benefit and it may crea te a false sense of security to the society. This may be one of reason why there is uncertainty for other organisations to employ the sustainability development. Comparison We have found that the authors have compared the GRI reporting guidelines with the DJSI World disclosure indicators and the report revealed some difference between the GRI-G3 Guidelines and DJSI World: (1) Data Availability and Accessibility: The DJSI covers the top 10 percentage of the biggest 2500 companies in the Dow Jones Global Total Stock Market Index (DJGTSM) that pursue economic, social, and environmental reporting (DJSIs, 2009). Each year, the index components will be announced by the SAM Indexes GmbH, a Switzerland-based investment group. It serves as a reference point to the global rating agencies and investors. On the other hand, the GRI Guideline is designed and developed through a process of multi-stakeholder consultation including individual, professionals and non-governmental organisations (NGO). According to G100, 2003, â€Å"Internationally, the most prominent, comprehensive and generally accepted guidance is that published by the GRI. † The GRI-G3 Guidelines provide reporting framework to an organisation of any size, sector or location to prepare their sustainability report. 2) Objectives: The DJSI defines corporate sustainability as a business approach that create long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks deriving from economic, environmental and social developments. (DJSIs, 2009) and that can be quantified and screened for investing purposes. On the other hand, the GRI guidelines are based on the notion that transparency and accountability about economic, environmenta l, and social impacts are of interest to a diverse group of stakeholders (GRI, 2008). 3) Application disclosure information: The authors utilize sample firms from both standards to draw inferences on sustainability indicators of performance. They discovered that the content of both standards are similar but the disclosure format method and the depth of indicators are differences. For example, they have compared the ‘social responsibility’ between both standards. The authors find that GRI Guidelines have better disclosure indicators especially in the systemic risk of moral hazard such as anti-corruption and anti-trust practices. As a result of the above findings, the authors believe that DJSI’s information is focus on an investment perspective. Alternatively, GRI Guidelines are more focus on a wider group of stakeholders. Although both standards are served for the same purpose that is to enhance sustainability measuring and reporting. However, these two standards are with different scope of data availability, accessibility, objectives and indicator measurement. The authors suggested it is necessary to further standardization sustainability disclosure and enforced by a professional body such as Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Implications amp; Conclusion The implications of the above findings indicated that it is significant to form a standard sustainability guideline that appropriate to any size of corporations to employ their sustainability development. The quality, content, as well as the disclosure indicators are the critical factors; this is to determine the level of risk and materiality related to the financial and non-financial information. In particular, to certain an entity’s sustainability development can create an opportunity for an entity to sustain itself through risk management in the long run. The research paper written by Christofi A. , Christofi P. , and Sisaye S. as discussed about historical development and reporting practices of corporate sustainability. To be exact it gave an overview of how and why sustainability reporting has been developed and moreover it discussed reporting instruments such as GRI and DJSI. We understand the reason why organisation will voluntary to report their sustainability performa nce as well as how important of the disclosure indicators are. According to GRI, 2008 A sustainability report should provide a balanced, objective and reasonable representation of the sustainability performance of a reporting company – including both positive and negative contributions. We will take into account of all these factors when we  evaluate the sustainability report of our chosen organisation Samsung Electronics. Part 2 – A Critical Evaluation of an Organisations’ Sustainability Report Introduction Samsung Electronics Co. , Ltd. is found in 1969 in Suwon of Korea. They are the first Korean company included in the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World in February 2011. In 2010, they was ranked 19th in the Interbrand’s Best Global Brands. Their main business is manufacturing and sells a wide range of electronic goods, communication devices, and semiconductors. They have one global headquarter in Korea and nine regional headquarters worldwide, which consists of 199 subsidiaries, and they have employed 178,732 full time staff and 11,732 contractors at the end of 2010. As they are one of the largest manufacturing corporate in the world, so we are interested to evaluate their sustainability performance. Vision amp; Strategy Since 2009, they set their long term corporate vision for 2020 as ‘Inspire the World, Create the Future’. The objectives of their core strategy are harmonising among diverse stakeholders by (1) protecting the environment, (2) improving the social conditions in their service regions, and, at the same time, (3) generating economic performance (as per the CEO report in 2011 sustainability report). They believed that integration of sustainability development is essential for sustainability growth. To achieve their sustainability development, they have categorised their strategies into six areas: talent management, integrity management, green management, social contribution, partner collaboration, and product and services. In recent years,  Samsung has built their organisation structure into eight divisions, including visual display, IT solution, Digital Appliance, Mobile Appliance, Mobile Communications, Network, Digital Imaging, Semiconductor, LCD divisions. The goal of organisation structure is help managers to implement and control the system facility and efficiency. Furthermore, the new structure enhances global competitiveness and more effectiveness organisation management. Samsung has established successfully the corporate governance to implement and monitor the sustainability strategy across the company. As seen in the annual sustainability report, the company has suggested three significant strategic approaches; visions for industry, vision for society and vision for employees. To ensure the accuracy of implementing and monitoring these approaches, Samsung has established creative management, partnership management and talent management. The responsibilities and roles of each department are increasing the external capabilities, partner collaborations, satisfying the expectation of its stakeholders. Organisation’s Profile and Management Approach Furthermore, Samsung has set up the management systems to ensure the company continuously obtaining future probability and sustainability, which is based on main direction of creation, innovation and change in consistent with the global economy. Their scope and tasks to achieve their sustainability development, that reflecting significant influences to employees, societies, partnerships, and customers as a whole, are classified in the following areas: * Talent management: employee value, work-life balance. * Integrity management: corporate ethics, fair trade compliance and intellectual property protection. Green management: emphasis on climate change, develop eco-products, encourage Eco-Friendly workplace, green communication. * Social contribution: pursuing a happier society, partnership programs. * Partner collaboration: global competitiveness. * Products and services: customer enjoyment service and customer trust. In January 2009, Samsung built the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Liaison Office that is responsible for reporting directly to the CEO and the Sustainability Management Committee. Report Content and Quality There are four principles for defining report content: materiality, stakeholder inclusiveness, sustainability context and completeness. (1) Materiality: We found that the level of information provided form Samsung sustainability report is not detailed enough. For example, information about global network gives us an understanding on how many departments of production, research and development and sales in each region and the report also provided information about how many people are working in each region; but it is missing further information on how many people work in individual division. This is key information for us to compare with the accident rate. It seems they are not complied with this principle. (2) Stakeholder Inclusiveness: In both of their reports, they have identified their stakeholders into eight groups – customer, business partners, shareholders/investors, non-governmental organisations, employees, local communities, government and press. In order to meet with the needs from their stakeholders, they will identify all relative issues and will follow up with communication activities. In addition, they have expanded social network services to strengthen communication with both internal and external stakeholders. In essence, Samsung has satisfies this principle. (3) Sustainability Context: Samsung has categorises its sustainability issues into 6 areas talent management, integrity management, green management, social contribution, partner collaboration, and product and services. At the end of the report, it contained performance highlights, short-term plan for the next year and performance indicators. Basically, Samsung has satisfies this principle too. (4) Completeness: Overall, Samsung has provided general information in their reports. By looking at the table of the content of the report, the reader can find that all important topics. Yes, Samsung has satisfies this principle. There are six principles for defining report quality:   balance, comparability, accuracy, timeliness, clarity and reliability. (1) Balance: The balance of the information provided by Samsung is enough but they are relatively emphasised on those positive aspects. In the negative aspects, for example, in the area of product and service, they have employed outside agency to conduct a global customer satisfaction survey and used it for setting improvement targets, but it is missing further information about the effect of the survey. Another example is they have disclosed that they have 57 million customer inquiries and grievances (Korea: 34 million, overseas: 23 million) on their product and after sales services, again, there is no further information. It seems they are trying to meet the disclosure requirement. In general, they have relatively emphasised on the possible aspects, like awards, partnership program in social contribution, economic performance and so on. It is obviously, Samsung has failed to meet with this principle. 2) Comparability: We found that the two reports were inconsistent, the format and level of information provided are different. In 2011 report was with more information with performance highlights, indicators as well as a short-term plan for next year. In 2010 report is with more information in the individual areas, for example, they have included their company code of conduct in their integrity management. Besides, we found that it is quite difficult to compare their report with other company especially in the same industry. Because the format and information are vary from one company to others. We believe that this is caused by lack of a standard sustainability reporting framework. Therefore, their report does not comply with this principle. (3) Accuracy: In general, Samsung as a big corporation have responsibility to provide accurate information. We believe the information they have provide are accurate and reliable, and stakeholders assess their company’s performance. Yes, Samsung satisfies this principle. (4) Timeliness: Organisation should make report available on time for the stakeholders to make informed decisions. In general, Samsung has provided their reports on a regular schedule and information is available in time. Their reports are generally available around early of June. Yes, Samsung satisfies this principle. (5) Clarity: In general, everybody can assess Samsung sustainability information from their company website and can obtain a PDF format of the sustainability report. Besides, their website provides information and contact details of their CSR office and stakeholders can contact them for any queries on their report. Yes, Samsung satisfies this principle. 6) Reliability: Basically, the level of information in Samsung’s report is quite general. However, it still can subject to examination and that establishes the quality and materiality of the information. Range of the aspects of performance reported The range (breadth) of the aspects of performance reported for these two years are adequate. In these two reports, they have categorized their sustainability development into six s egments which are talent management, integrity management, green management, social contribution, partner collaboration, and product and services. In the 2011 sustainability report, they have presented the highlights of progress, a three year performance indicator, and a short-term plan for each of the segments. The level of information provided in each segments is sufficient. However, due to there are lack of standard requirement of what level of information should be presented, we found that the information between the two years are difference and inconsistent. In addition, there are no comparisons with other companies or with industry average. Sometimes, it may be difficult to know how a particular company compares with another one. As a reader, we would like to have more meaningful information and progress in regarding to their economic, environmental and social performance. Performance Indicators In 2010 sustainability report, Samsung has set number of the action plans for year of 210 and they are:- * Sharpen competitive edge in core businesses * Promote open innovation * Develop new businesses and new markets * Expand partner collaboration and establish green leadership * Establish market-driven system * Foster a creative organisational culture We will use the above as short-term goals and will evaluate their sustainability performance. As Samsung is one of the largest manufacturing corporate. We are interested to understand their disclosure indicator in the social performance of (1) labour practices and decent work and (2) society. (1) Labour practices and decent work: Overall, Samsung has demonstrated the results of performance against goals in this area. Information has been covered in the area of talent management. They have set the objective to attract and retain top talent with promoting worker diversity and fostering a creative organisational culture through strengthening employee competencies. The level of information is met with requirement in the performance indicator related to employment and occupational health and safety. Employment status by region| Region| 2008| 2009| 2010| Korea| 84464| 85089| 95662| Other| 77236| 72612| 94802| Total| 161700| 157701| 190464| In 2010, their sales and profits has been boost even though there are weak euro stemming from debt crisis in Europe and they have expanded more business subsidiaries in overseas. Their workforce has been increased significantly. Some of their contractors have been transferred as permanent staff especially in the peak season. However, this situation may arise with some restraint in the labour budgets, overall staff management when the global continuous economic downsizing more severely in the upcoming years (2) Society: As per requirement from G3. 1, society performance indicators focus on any impacts that will arise from the local communities in where they operate, and disclose any risks that may arise from interactions with other social institutions of which are managed and mediated. Risks including bribery, corruption, undue influence in public policy-making, and monopoly practices. In the 2011 sustainability report, it has demonstrated the result of performance against the above plan. They have opened 3 more subsidiaries in 2010 from a total of 196 to 199. The movement of their subsidiaries are as follows:- Global Network| Production| Sales| Ramp;D| Other| Total| Year 2010| 40| 50| 18| 91| 199| Year 2009| 39| 53| 24| 80| 196| Movement| 1| -3| -6| 11| 3| Once their new business subsidiaries are in operation, they will implement their sustainability strategy in the area of social contribution and integrity management. In the social contribution, Samsung has incorporated their corporate social responsibility philosophy: â€Å"leverage Samsung legacy of technology innovation to change our communities and human life and offer new opportunities to more people by preserving the environment for future generations†. In return, Samsung has developed various contribution programs through, partnership, donations and volunteering, which are tailored to each local community and aim at deliver real change to these local communities. Result in 2010 is positive. The number of people participating in volunteering is increased significantly. However, the dollar value on social contribution which is only KRW239 billion. When we compared it with the sales KRW154 trillion and net income KRW16. 1 trillion, the percentage to sales is less than 0. 15% and to net income is 1. 5%. It seems their dollars value contribution to the society is so little. Samsung has identified organisational risks of unlawful activities and violation of the laws in each region, in order to minimise these risks. Samsung has established its own code of conduct outlining ethical standards that require all employees has to comply with. Besides, they have introduced different compliance programs such as compliance education, integrated training through self-inspection to raise awareness of compliance among employees to follow. Any unlawful activities such as bribery, corruption and influence in public policy-making and monopoly are strictly prohibited. Although they have integrated different compliance programs, however wrongdoing activities are still happened. In 2010, 28% of the people who were disciplined were dismissed by Samsung. Besides, Samsung has been fined with KRW16 billion with violation of collusion on system air conditioners in Korea and $145. 73 million Euros with violation of DRAM price collusion in overseas. It seems their controlling system is inefficiency and we believe they need a tightening monitoring system in order to minimise their business risks. Conclusion Based on our evaluation on our chosen organisations’ sustainability report, we are of the opinion that their sustainability reports have covered enough information and this information can be easily accessed. However, the level of detail in their information provided in their report is very general. Their compliance program, for example, is an essential for any company, and does not provide the necessary information for us to properly analyse their integrity. The report roughly covers the data. As a reader, we would like to know more details of how problems occur, instead of what, and how they are going to rectify or prevent it. Besides, when we referring to their report, the currency they are using is South Korean Won which is quite difficult for us to understand the monetary effect. We would suggest an appropriate international currency should be used. The clarity of change between the two years reports are inconsistent. The 2010 report was with more information such as code of conduct, value system which is a useful insight, and the 2011 report was with more information such as short-term plans, performance highlights and more performance indicators. We are trying to compare Samsung’s performance with other company that is in the same industry. However this is quite difficult as the format and level of information are different from Samsung to the other company. This may be a restraint of a voluntary report. These different indicated the current limitation of sustainability development, that is lack of standard sustainability reporting. Currently sustainability reporting is a non-regulatory and non-binding requirement. After we evaluated Samsung’s sustainability report, it seems their â€Å"voluntary sustainability report may more about public relations than about increasing the transparency and accountability of corporations with respect to their sustainability performance† (Cho, 2012). We believe that â€Å"the development of CSR standards could become a major influence on global trade and investment. Questions of effectiveness, transparency, accountability and democratic participation are important for any new manifestation of regulation or governance† (Bendell, 2011). As per the insight from KPMG 2011 â€Å"while the GRI Guidelines will continue to be the de facto standard, we believe that global CR reporting would benefit from further global standards that enable the benchmarking of the quality of the information and quantitative performance in CR activities†. We believe that an organisation should initiative to ensure they have made every effort to listen and meet the needs from both their internal and external stakeholders, through incorporated the sustainability development this should be the best channel for an organisation to improve the communication with both their internal and external stakeholders. Finally through sustainability on economic, environmental and social, this will benefit to the organisation, people as well as the planet too. Word count: 4022 References 1. Bendell, J. , Miller, A. , Wortmann, K. (2011), â€Å"Public policies for caling corporate responsibility standards: Expanding collaborative governance for sustainable development†, Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, Vol 2 Iss: 2, pp. 263-293 2. Cho, C. , Michelon, G. , Patten, D. , (2012), â€Å"Enhancement and Obfuscation through the Use of Graphs in Sustainability Reports: An International Comparison†, Sustainability Accountin g, Management and Policy Journal, Vol 3 Iss: 1 3. Dow Jones Sustainability Index, available at: http://www. sustainabilityindex. com/Ethibel Sustainable Index, available at: http://www. thibel. org/subs_e/4_index/main. html 4. Dyllick, T. , Hockerts, K (2002), â€Å"Beyond the Business Case for Corporate Sustainability†, Business Strategy and the Environment, 11,2; ABI/INFORM Global pg. 130 5. Giannarakis, G. , and Litinas, N. , Sariannidis, N. , (2011), â€Å"Evaluation of Corporate Social Responsbility Performance Standards†, African Journal of Business Management, Vol 5(17), pp. 7367-7374 6. Global Reporting Initiatives, available at: http://www. globalreporting. org/Home 7. Hammond, A. , Adriaanse, A. , Rodenburg, E. , Bryant, D. , Woodward, R. 1995), â€Å"A Systematic Approach to Measuring and Reporting on Environmental Policy Performance in the Context of Sustainably Development†, World Resources Istitute 8. KPMG (2008), â€Å"Count me in – The re aders take on sustainability reporting† (4/15/2008) 9. KPMG (2011), â€Å"KPMG International Survey of Corporate Responsibility Report 2011† (11/7/2011) 10. Stiglitz, J. , Sen, A. , Fitoussi, Jean-Paul, (2009), â€Å"Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress† 11. World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) (1987), Our Common Future, Oxford University Press, Oxford

Statistics order 2 Essay Example

Statistics order 2 Essay The article on Japans’ joblessness rates is given a clear heading. That, the 3.7% unemployment rate is the lowest in nine years is incorrect.   The 3.6% recorded in February of 1998, is much lower than 3.7% June.   If the June rate was the lowest, the rate should be less than 3.6%. The interpretation of the household spending rate gives readers clear understanding of why the rate is computed.   We have, however, not given the initial and final values to determine the accuracy of the said increment.   The lack of this information makes it impossible to gauge the margin by which the forecasted value was missed.   The article gives an explanation of why the Bank of Japan would raise the interest rate.   This informs the citizenly clearly what causes such major decisions in government.   The article in this respect serves its rightful purpose, explaining complex details in simple terms.The decrement in consumer price indices, 0.1, is not given measurement units.   Should it be 0.1% or what does 0.1 represent? But the article has explained what is included and excluded in the computation of the index.   On unemployment numbers, the article should have said number of people jobless.   Leaving it at just numbers may raise questions.   The report should give which quantities were measured, that is, people.   The increment and final values are given which ease consumers’ work of comparison.   Apart from these shortcomings, the article is very informative and has good flow.   The dates of the report are indicated, the report is for the month of June though the year should have been stated because comparison is done with results of another year.The article on college graduates salary scale is very well presented.   The article includes the sample size picked and the firm that did the survey.   Its always important for a research, study to be owned by somebody or some firm.   This gives readers a chance to follow up if they n eed more details.   The order is excellent as a good breakdown is given to every subtopic. A small table has been given used which informs the readers a lot just at a glance.   It would however have been better if the contents of the table were arranged with the highest improved salary group first.   It would be easier to follow than the way it was on the article.   It would also allow better comparison to be done.   There heading given is quite captivating, it catches the attention of readers.   The study is inferential since the results from a sample are used to generalize on the whole population.   The results suggest that all job group categories’ salaries had increased. (http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/04/pf/college/grads_salaries/index.htm?cnn=yes).The accuracy of the increments cannot be tested since initial salaries are not given, only the percentage increment is shown.   Such figures could easily have been included in the table.   Space may have been t he problem but reporters should always remember that statistics should be to inform as much as possible even under constraints.   Effects of the results have been briefly but informatively discussed and thus shows the importance of the survey.On the article on mortgage applications, the flow of the results is poor.  Ã‚   The reporter was not keen enough as he repeated a statement.   This shows that the article was written in a hurry and more details could have been left out.   The study is a descriptive one since all applications constitute the population.   The report allows good comparison of previous and current values.In the article, explanation is offered for what is excluded in the computation of the 30 year mortgage rate.   It is explained also how the fall in the index value is affects business in the real world.   Another statement has been repeated with a little change of words but having the same meaning.   This further questions the reporter’s thor oughness in the presentation.   The reporter was just writing to fill up space, not to convey any worthwhile information.   Such reporting has made the report doubtful and readers could easily dismiss the whole of it!The accuracy of the results is also put in question.   The writer does not seem to have understood the report she/he read which resulted to giving insufficient information.   Such insufficient information is what causes a bad view of statistics.   No wonder then that the name of the reporter is missing.   The term ‘seasonality’, being statistical term, should be explained to the readers.   The effects of falling home prices on the mortgage companies has been well discussed.   This displays good use of statistical knowledge. Statistics should be used to describe why things are moving the way they are, for example, why are some mortgage companies being liquidated?   Answer is because of failing home prices.The report of GDP growth is well or dered.   It has the time frame given, the report is for the 2nd quarter but we are not told when that quarter begins or ends and when the last quarter began and ended.   The heading of the article is satisfactory as it gives readers enough information on what the articles is about.   The article is broken down into sub units and explanation as to how they affected to the GDP is given.   The PCE deflator is explained, that is, the composition used in its computation and the use to which it is put is mentioned.The forecast figures of the economists have been indicated giving readers the opportunity to evaluate the margins of error.   The reporter of this article managed to present very complicated information in understandable terms.   Matters of economic performance baffle many and simplification of these matters helped a lot.   The accuracy of the computations cannot be ascertained since not all initial and final values are given.   The report, however, does a good c omparison between first and second quarters.   The interaction of various indices with the overall economic performance is well covered.The article on home prices has a proper heading which fully details the content that the report is intended to address.   The results are well presented by breaking them down.   The composition of the indices is included.   There are, however, no explanations on what there indices mean or are used for.   More information should be provided to ensure that the consumers of the data understand the implications of all measures used.   The study is inferential since only a sample is used to infer on the overall industry performance.   Since the growth has been declining for quite a long time it is easier to use a table to present the extent of the decline. The report only gives percentage drops with initial values missing.   This makes it hard to determine the accuracy of the results.   The report could have been extended to have more d etails.

Essay about Telecommunication.Docx

Essay about Telecommunication.Docx Essay about Telecommunication.Docx Importance of Telecommunication Networks in Business 1. Customer Service * It enables companies to communicate effectively with customers and deliver high standards of customer service. 2. Collaboration * Telecommunication is also a key element in teamwork, allowing employees to collaborate easily from wherever they are located. 3. Remote * Mobile telecommunication gives companies the opportunity to introduce more flexible working by allowing employees to work efficiently from home. 4. Smartphones * The introduction of Smartphone gives employees new levels of productivity and capability on the move. (Explanations) 1. The telephone remains an important element of a customer service strategy. By using call management techniques, you can handle incoming calls quickly, even when lines are busy, and you can route calls to employees with the right skills to deal with the inquiry. Alternatively, you can offer callers the ability to choose from a range of options, such as "Press '1' for Accounts," or Press '2' for Sales." You can also use the telephone to contact customers proactively, following a service call, for example, or after a purchase. 2. Collaboration between different departments can help your company improve performance in projects such as new product development, customer relationship management and quality initiatives. According to consultancy McKinsey Company, collaborative, complex problem solving is the essence of the work of many employees. Telecommunication helps your project teams maintain momentum and make important decisions, even when all members cannot attend meetings. Abse nt members can join a teleconference or a Web conference if they have a smartphone or computer with Internet connectivity. 3. If your employees in sales, technical and service teams spend a large portion of their working days with colleagues, visiting customers, working at home or traveling, mobile telecommunication can help them maintain essential contact and work productively on the move. The Yankee Group Enterprise Mobility Survey found that 40 percent of respondents regarded more than a third of employees as remote or mobile workers. 4. If your employees in sales, technical and service teams spend a large portion of their working days with colleagues, visiting customers, working at home or traveling, mobile telecommunication can help them maintain essential contact and work productively on the move. The Yankee Group Enterprise Mobility Survey found that 40 percent of respondents regarded more than a third of employees as remote or mobile workers. Disadvantages Separating Work and Home * It's not difficult to fall into the trap of overworking yourself. If you work from home rather than a coffee shop or library, you may find yourself checking emails, working on projects or simply thinking about work well into your "off" time. It may also be difficult to define concrete work hours and avoid distractions at home. Family members or social interruptions may distract you, or you may be tempted to take care of chores and errands around the home, putting off your work until later. Social Isolation * When you telecommute, you get the freedom of less supervision. However, you also may become socially isolated. While some workers thrive on being able to work alone, you may not feel part of a professional community or miss the face to face interaction you get in a traditional office setting. Connect with other telecommuters to avoid isolation. If you're a freelancer, seek out forums, websites and blogs of others in your situation or utilize clients' resources to communicate with others in your industry. Inadequate Work Environment * When you work in an office, most of the setup is done for you because you're already in an office or cubicle. At home, it's up to you to create an efficient environment specifically for work. It needs to be well-equipped and suit your work

Shortcomings of the healthcare system in the U.S Assignment

Shortcomings of the healthcare system in the U.S - Assignment Example Measurement must be both comprehensive and innovative to entail the data domains of processes, outcomes, cost and patient satisfaction (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). Stanhope and Lancaster, in Chapter one of the book, present some evidences of how the healthcare system has transformed. They argue that an ideal system should focus on every patient while prioritizing population health to improve and manage epidemic conditions such as heart diseases, obesity and diabetes (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). In providing improved patient outcome, translational biomedical research should be included in an ideal healthcare system, and constant research is thereafter required to establish the clinical interventions outcomes in the best patient outcomes. Additionally, the movie â€Å"Opening Doors: Public health Nursing in its 100th years† directed by Stephen Longstreth highlights public health nursing profession that involves nurses reaching-out to homes and communities they are serving. Thi s documentary educates nurses on the importance of population-centered healthcare in the community. Nurses’ commitment to the community and families in which they live is significant in the prevention of illnesses (citation). According to the movie, nurses should be involved in tackling issues such as teen pregnancy, healthcare counseling, and substance abuse for people who have a limited access to social and healthcare services. This is because their direct participation in addressing health care problems, in their communities, is a crucial role for nurses. Better System Performance In simpler terms, an ideal healthcare system should be systems-oriented. This implies that patients must enter into an experience, which is established around them and... Shortcomings of the healthcare system in the U.S This paper, therefore, provides descriptions and characteristics of an ideal healthcare system that is consistent with the current Healthcare Reform Movement. It then compares nursing practices with the concepts of population focused nursing that are presented in the text â€Å"Public Health Nursing: Population-Centered Health Care in the Community† and movie â€Å"Open Doors† (1990). An ideal healthcare system offers three key principles, which include better system performance, better patient outcome and better professional development. The main goal of such a system is to ensure that all American citizens have an equal access to quality healthcare services at a reasonable cost. Better Patient Outcomes: An ideal healthcare system should focus on population and patient outcome. Better outcomes are acquired through care that is family and patient –centered, preference sensitive and evidence centered. Chapter one and two of the reading describe â€Å"Perspectives in health care and population-centered nursing† and â€Å"Influences on healthcare delivery and population-centered nursing†. In simpler terms, an ideal healthcare system should be systems-oriented. This implies that patients must enter into an experience, which is established around them and in-line with their needs. This experience should, therefore, be longitudinal, cross-departmental, will center and interdisciplinary on patient and their families through a healthcare journey.

Project management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 18

Project management - Essay Example I could not concentrate long enough to think of any contribution to make to the group and I even forgot the basic steps of the theory which we had been taught to act as a guide. My group members however came to my rescue and did all the work at this stage. I cannot up to date be able to explain how the process of strategizing took place exactly and even had to read about it later on in order to understand and be able to move onto the next step (Kendrick, 2010). The strategizing part was not over yet as we had to continue with additional planning which mostly dealt with marketing planning and strategizing on the different ways to campaign. This involved a lot of team work to brainstorm the perfect ideas for marketing campaign which would gain the maximum support and attract the target group was hoping to attract at that time. The fact I had a little previous knowledge in marketing was a huge contribution to the group and to this stage in our project (Levine, 2002). There had to be recruitment and training which was still our responsibility and this was really stressful to find over twenty members of staff who had the right qualification, right energy and determination to work in the project and who shared the same enthusiasm and willingness to spend long hours even without pay working for the success of the project. This process took longer than was expected or even accounted for in our timeline and hence affected the whole project despite the fact that we rushed some of the steps such as budgeting (Termini, 2009). The budgeting step was my area of specialty as I am good at approximation of costs and making mini budgets for personal reasons. I therefore was confident about assisting the team in this step and since we knew what we wanted and where we would get them from in terms of materials, the budgeting stage was smooth. This taught me that having prior

Making a Choice in US News Media's Top Stories Essay

Making a Choice in US News Media's Top Stories - Essay Example Each news network must present what the viewers like hearing thus, Fox presents more of Iraq success than CNN and MSNBC. This is because many of the republicans do not like stories that pertain to the Iraq war. The US media is facing blames for its lack of consistency and validity. True to mention, celebrities are what the growing generation likes to hear. There are issues that every citizen should be aware of. It is the duty of news media to present and use their time appropriately, as they present what is of essence to the citizens. The book written by Schechter Danny and Dadge David tells a story of a war that should have been presented to the citizens but instead has been abetted by what the authors refer to as the nominally â€Å"free† media. It appears that the government has power to limit what the US citizens should here. Instead of allowing for the presentation of the news, it turned to be a place of bullying of the representatives of the news media to disrupt any cri tical reporting. Since the administration well understood how the media operates, it put in place strategies that disrupted any counter-narrative that emerged with the aim of challenging the storyline presented by the administration. This shows how citizens are hindered from receiving stories that would be beneficial to them. As Schechter and Dadge wrote their book, the Iraq war was still in progress and believed that the coverage leaves so much that citizens can desire. The authors wish for an opportunity through a campaign to tell the truth as pertain to the war. This book shows how news media are denied the opportunity to present the truth to the citizens. The authors, in introducing their book... Today's news media refers to all forms of mass communication ranging from television, newspapers, radio, magazines, and the internet. It is through these forms that people gain access to information and news. It is evident as times change that media plays a bigger role in the lives of people all over. As media performs these roles and technology advancing so fast, there are numerous issues surrounding the efficiency, integrity, and limits of media. An understanding of the issues will help every nation to regulate news media effectively. This essay focuses on criticizm, that the today's media faces for its inefficiency in addressing issues and failure to uphold integrity, with each type of media working tirelessly to compete effectively in the market. With the uneven distribution of technological advancement, news to citizen varies with the news network. With more concern directed to what news media refer to as â€Å"hot stories†, citizens in the US are denied access to importa nt happenings that they should be aware of. In conclusion of this essay, the researcher used a few articles to prove that it is crucial for citizens to make right choice of news media depending on the news they would like to hear. This is because each media has its target. News media must understand that US citizen need to stay informed of local and foreign news. Therefore, addressing top stories helps in keeping citizens updated. Implementation of these issues will see the media go a long way towards realization of its goals.

Business E-solutions for Small Construction Companies

Business E-solutions for Small Construction Companies BUSINESS E-SOLUTIONS FOR SMALL CONSTRUCTION  COMPANIES AND FREELANCERS Sergiu Catinas Florin Matei Abstract.There is a direct correlation among number of employees who work in construction industry and the average productivity of the construction workers. A first notice when these two factors are compared simply resides from the annual charts that follow these two factors. It is quite obviously that the average productivity of the workers depends primarily on technologies used, but depends on some other factors as well. The link among technologies used and productivity is not a subject to discus in this paper. Even though it is well known that construction industry requires a big variety of skills it is well known that some of the construction jobs are completed by workers with multiple qualifications. Also a principle of productivity clearly states that productivity of a worker is grown once the area of qualification is restrained. Therefore, in order to create a better productivity of the construction workers it is necessary to create workers with super high qualification in one small area and allow movement of the working force among construction sites. Most of the construction company has a great deal of mobility, but the most sensitive problem remains the problem of getting together the needs of labor with the suppliers of labor services. The main purpose of this paper is to underline the needs of a better link among construction actors. Also the paper proposes an e-solution for a better connection of construction players through implementing/changing an internet based site and shows some of the proposed benefits. Keywords: e-solution for construction business G14 A12 E60, construction average productivity D61 B22, construction companies’ mobility M54 C12, publically provides goods H44 D60. 1. Introduction By definition the average productivity is defined as in (1). Please note that an average productivity can be expressed with respect to marginal productivity as Saari1 said and as seen in as in figure 1. Figure 1 average productivity and marginal productivity with respect to real output/input As expressed by Harris2 the main economical factors that influence the productivity in construction industry are mortgage and accountants, fraud, cash flow, estimators and the cost engineers. By analyzing these factors and the influence of these factors over the total cost of a construction project, a solution is to be created in order to address the influence of factors like fraud and cash flow as well as the other three factors. Out of statistics offered by US Department of Labor the average construction manager contractors and the number of construction output in 2012 in US are almost the same (450 000-number of construction managers and 480.000-number of output construction in US according to US Department of Construction). Also by considering the top 5 US contractors and the number of their projects ongoing over the number of the contractor’s company employers the rate is over 0.08 in all cases, according to ENR.Construction.statistics. This leads to the idea that the big general contractors don’t have more than 12 of their own employees on the site. More over the second observation is that the big general contractors use the working labor of the subcontractors in order to complete their jobs more than their own workers. An internet based solution in order to reduce the general cost of the construction project is the proposal introduced by the present paper. The solution presented tries to m inimize the importance of the general contractors by implementing an internet based program that will allow small contractors and freelancers to bid for their project with no respect the general contractors. This system will bring significant benefits for small contractors and freelancers and will increase the average productivity of construction labors. 2. Main Concept As expressed above, the main idea is to implement a system based on the internet application that allows creating a strong connection among actors from construction industry. As a historical data it is important to mention that similar attempts were made outside Romania, but this kind of projects are not very popular. Also a similar model was build for tracking industry in USA. The system proposed would generate business revenue for all three categories involved in the construction industry, being a â€Å"triple win† system. The winners would be the owner of the site through charging money for any contact established, the general contractor or owner of the construction site and the freelancers or contractors that execute jobs because they can find jobs for their own. Never the less a major winner for this system could be the government through a better control of the labor black market and the society in general because this system would develop very effective companies and fr eelancers with high standards of safety and quality. More over a quality control can be implemented through expressing a relevant history data of every participant and through offering solid warranties for executed projects. 3. Details about techniques of implementation The internet page should provide valuable information about potential contractors or subcontractors. First this page would provide references wit previous jobs done so far by the contractors. This can provide solid knowledge about the quality, timing and safety rules applied by the contractors. According to this it can be created a scale ranging from 1 to 100 that would give a good view about an opportunity to create business relation with a specific contractor/freelancer. The internet page proposed by this idea can create a good point of view about the payment conditions, contract forms and eventually any history data for the beneficiary institution/person. Very often the government has that data offered but the private entities are not capable of showing any data related to their capabilities of assuming contractual obligations. The owner of the internet page, which can be a private entity or the government can charge both the contractors/freelancers and the developers/private owners or government agencies. Due to a good administration of the internet page it is recommended for the government to create and own such a business. The charge can be enforced only when the contact is established and an extra charge can be enforced when a contract is signed through this internet connection. Once the need for a job is expressed in details by the developer an auction that can last for 10 days can be started in order to allow the contractors and freelancers to put their best offer online, similar with the e-bay system. The winner would have to make a written contract with the developer and enforce according to the terms established in the description provided by the developer and the applicable law. To mention that a similar system exists in Romania, but with no history data for none of the sides and not very popular. Also the actual system is not open for private jobs. More over the actual internet page called â€Å"www.licitatia.ro† is for contractors only and not for small enterprises or freelancers and sometimes the value of contracts is not affordable for small companies. The main idea for this site is to create opportunities for small companies to cooperate with big contractors. A great disadvantage for the internet page that already exists is that the winners of the auctions are most of the time big construction companies and the execution of the job is done through small contractors/freelancers by subcontracting the job. T he main idea of this site is to allow the investor to create a working plan and graphic and according to that graphic to connect directly to small contractors/freelancers and decrease the cost of the labor. 4. Technical motivation for the propose As expressed by Harris2 the main important economic factors for a construction project are: fraud, mortgage and accountants, cash flow, estimators and cost engineers. Figure 2 Labour productivity growth in US, measured by GDP per hour worked (indexed) Fraud can’t be expressed mathematically by any formula and can vary a lot from a project to another. The Romanian construction industry is marked by so called underground black market of workers/labors. The rate of construction workers in Romania that are not hired legally is over 28% according to INS Bucharest. Apparently these workers represents a cheaper work force for the employers, but the long term run shows a different situations when accidents on the site construction happened and in our country the percentage of workers injuries and fatalities is double among black market according to Business Inside Magazine statistics. Therefore is hard to deliver any precise formulas or data regarding fraud in Romanian construction industry or elsewhere but we surely know that black market in construction is significant. For the mortgage and account factor the situation is expressed in detail by Nigrini4. The problem comes from the underestimation of the project and the lack of money to complete the jobs contracted. One of the solutions is implemented by creating smaller jobs and that is a main source of inspiration for the present paper and the idea proposed. Cash flow can be defined5 as the movement of money into or out of a business/project and it has three aspects: operational cash flow, investment cash flow and financing cash flow. Also cash flow factor is one of the great advantages that can be obtained through introduction of the idea presented in this paper. Estimators can get greater attention through introduction of the present idea. The error introduced by estimators is as Amos6 said in (2) and (3). (2) (3) Where is the parameter being estimate and is the expected value of the estimator. Please note that the error, â€Å"e†, depends not only on the estimator (the estimation formula or procedure), but also on the sample. Estimator engineers are engineers in charge with an estimation of the projects to be executed. The estimator engineers will have a greater implication by applying the present idea and their contribution should be linked to the estimators through trying to eliminate the errors margins as Amos6 proposed in the mathematical formulation expressed by (4) that shows how far, on average, the collection of estimates are from the expected value of the estimates. (4) 5. Example of the benefits of implementing the present idea. Consider a large construction project in Romania, in the city of Cluj-Napoca of a total value 54.00 million euro. The general contractor that was award the contract was a big general contractor with good experience in similar jobs. The second bid offer was as big as 92.10 million euro and the beneficiary was the institution of prefecture. The project was to build a sport complex in the city of Cluj-Napoca. Due to a court decision the project was stopped in the construction phase for over 18 months. The court decision was issued as a complaint by the general contractor who made an offer of 92.10 million euro. The time spent from the moment of interruption due to the court decision and the moment of the re-awarding the job to a bidder involved big amount of financial losses for both of the general contractors. Not to mention the financial losses suffered by the contractors, but to mention the difference of the bids amount will result as a margin profit of 37.90 million euro. If the exa mple above is not relevant for the profit margins obtained by general contractors let’s take the revenues of the top general contractors from US in 2012 and divide it by number of contracts completed by the same amount of time. This would generate revenue of 1.08 million dollars per project and considering an average medium project of 1.78 million dollars. These data are obtained from US Department of Construction Statistics. By applying the dates in our specific case we would obtain revenue of 19.87 million dollars. By considering dollars to euro ratio as 0.76, the revenue for our specific case would be 15.1 million euro. And this calculus does not include any losses due to the court decision that put a brake on the project. If the estimator engineers made a mistake according to (2),(3),(4) that error can be estimated from statistics as an average of 17% of the total value of the project after the project is finished according to Corps of Civil Engineers from US. In our spec ific case the average error of the estimator engineers for the project from Cluj-Napoca is 9.18 million euro. The difference of 5.92 million euro can be estimated as profit margin that can be linked to the present paper idea by creating small jobs to be done and the saving of the 5.92 million euro could be achieved. Please note that in the example above the cost of implementing the idea was not mentioned but according Brynjolfsson7 in the current practice the cost of IT development could not be more than 5 % of the total amount of the project, so a profit margin is still available. 6. Conclusions As expressed above the main idea of this paper is to express the need and procedures of creating an internet page that allows the beneficiaries of the construction structures to create a working plan and implement this plan. This working plan is technically known as Gantt plan and contains dates regarding each article of work and labor needed and the time allocated for that process. The site would create an auction system for every job/article that needs to be done. This system would benefit the contractors and small freelancers, the beneficiary of the construction structures as well as the government agencies and the general welfare. This internet application would create a triple win situation for government, contractors and beneficiaries of the construction structures. Moreover, another benefit would be due to high specialization class of small contractors and freelancers and the safety measures that would be strongly estimated and evaluated. The internet page proposed is subject to have a special section reviews regarding safety measures enforced. Regarding the safety of the labors and workers the government can enforce in a more efficient manner the black market control. Obviously the government agencies would have a better idea in what specific areas of construction the number of accidents is bigger and can enforce better safety rules. Also by knowing the contracts signed the government can put a better hand on the quality of the work in the most sensitive areas and can control the construction sites on the exact time when the most sensitive work and companies are on the site. References [1] Saari, S., Productivity. Theory and Measurement in Business,: European Productivity Conference, Espoo, Finland, 2006, pp. 44-69. [2] Craig, C.; Harris, R., Total Productivity Measurement at the Firm Level, Sloan Management Review, Feb-March 1973, pp13–28. [3] Hollmann, John, K., Total Cost Management Framework, AACE International, Morgantown WV, 2006, pp113–147. [4]Nigrini, M., Forensic Analytics: Methods and Techniques for Forensic Accounting Investigations. Hoboken, NJ, John Wiley Sons Inc., June 2011, pp 206-235. [5]Strong, R., Portfolio construction, management, and protection, South-Western Cengage Learning, Mason, Ohio, 2009 , pp.527-537. [6] Amos, S., Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering,-Fifth Edition, AACE International, Morgantown, West Virginia, 2004, pp 109-127. [7] Brynjolfsson, E., The productivity paradox of information technology.Communications of the ACM International, Mason, Ohio, 2003, pp 66–77.

Essay --

Money can’t buy happiness. Or can it? In the modern society that we live in nowadays, the theory of consumerism and a person’s happiness, or quality of life, are inseparable, especially in Canada. So much that consumerism seems to be dominating every aspect of our Canadian lifestyle, even the aspects that weren’t by the slightest amount affected by the behavior of consumers ten years ago. Consumerism is a theory that greatly contributes to the enriched quality of life that Canadians enjoy. This economic theory allows for consumer behavior to be central to economic decision-making, higher employment rates to be established, and to initiate a significant increase in globalization. Consumerism is defined as linking prosperity to consumer demand and making consumer behavior central to economic decision-making. This means that we, as consumers, have the ability to influence the quality of life, citizenship, and identity of ourselves and the people around us. Based on our values and beliefs about our identity, health and safety, employment, the environment, and product marketing, we can have our say about a certain product by influencing the demand of it. This can be accomplished by deciding whether or not we want to purchase that product. However, the degree of influence can by greatly augmented by use of boycotts, when a group of consumers choose not to buy or use a product or service to bring about change. We can use this strategy to substantially draw the attention of the targeted company and push them to consider the demand of us consumers and change their actions accordingly. For example, in the year of 2007, the Animal Rights Group initiated a boycott towa rds several cosmetic companies to stop the testing of cosmetics on animals... ...e goods that are shipped out of our ports to countries all around the world. The interrelation of consumerism and globalization helps to create a global bond that most Canadians would be distressed to live without. Consumerism has proven to be central to today’s society and economy. Its promotion of consumers’ interests allows us, as consumers, to manipulate different aspects of the world’s businesses and markets. The chain effect of consumerism is a big factor in maintaining Canada’s employment rate, and increasing each person’s financial status. Globalization and its connection with consumerism works to bond people of all different origins, and spread the world’s markets. Consumerism proves to be a major component of today’s society, enhancing quality of life for Canadians. It could even be thought of as a culture that we all live upon, that links us together.

Ipl Scandals

————————————————- The  Indian Premier League  (IPL) is a professional league for  Twenty20  cricket  championship in  India. It was initiated by the  Board of Control for Cricket in India  (BCCI), headquartered in  Mumbai,Maharashtra[3][4]  and is supervised by  BCCI  Vice President  Rajeev Shukla,[5]  who serves as the league's Chairman and  Commissioner. It is currently contested by nine teams, consisting of players from around the cricketing world. ————————————————-However, the league has been engulfed byseries of corruption scandals. ————————————————- Controversies involving the Indian Premier League From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The  Board of Control for Cricket in India  (BCCI) has found itself in the middle of many conflicts with various cricket boards around the world as a result of the  Indian Premier League  (IPL). The main point of contention was that signed players should always be available to their country for international tours, even if it overlaps with the IPL season.To address this, the BCCI officially requested that the  International Cricket Council  (ICC) to institute a time period in the International Future Tours Program, solely for the IPL season. This request was not granted at a subsequent meeting held by the ICC. [1] Contents  Ã‚  [hide]   * 1  Conflicts with the England and Wales Cricket Board * 2  Media restrictions * 3  Conflict with Cricket Club of India * 4  Suspension of Lalit Modi * 5  Chirayu Amin named IPL interim chairman * 6  Termination of the Kochi franchise * 7  2012 spot fixing case * 8  References| ——â€⠀Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€- edit]Conflicts with the England and Wales Cricket Board Because the inaugural IPL season coincided with the  County Championship  season as well as  New Zealand's  tour of  England, the  ECB  and county cricket clubs raised their concerns to the BCCI over players. The ECB made it abundantly clear that they would not sign No Objection Certificates for players—a prerequisite for playing in the IPL. Chairmen of the county clubs also made it clear that players contracted to them were required to ulfill their commitment to their county. As a result of this,  Dimitri Mascarenhas  was the only English player to have signed with the IPL for the 2008 season. [2] A result of the ECB's concerns about players joining the IPL, was a proposed radical response of creating their own Twenty20 tournament that would be similar in structure to the IPL. The league — titled the  Twenty20 English Premier League  Ã¢â‚¬â€ would feature 21 teams in three groups of seven and would occur towards the end of the summer season. 3]  The ECB enlisted the aid of  Texas  billionaire  Allen Stanford  to launch the proposed league. [4]  Stanford was the brains behind the successful  Stanford 20/20, a tournament that has run twice in the  West Indies. On 17 February 2009, when news of the fraud investigation against Stanford became public, the ECB and  WICB  withdrew from talks with Stanford on sponsorship. [5][6]  On February 20 the ECB announced it has severed its ties with Stanford and cancelled all contracts with him. [7] ————————————————- [edit]Media restrictionsInitially the IPL enforced strict guidelines to media covering matches, consistent with their desire to use the same model sports leagues in North America use in regards to media coverage. Notable guidelines imposed included the restriction to use images taken during the event unless purchased from  cricket. com, owned by Live Current Media Inc (who won the rights to such images) and the prohibition of live coverage from the cricket grounds. Media agencies also had to agree to upload all images taken at IPL matches to the official website. This was deemed unacceptable by print media around the world.Upon the threat of boycott, the IPL eased up on several of the restrictions. [8]  On 15 April 2008 a revised set of guidelines offering major concessions to the print media and agencies was issued by the IPL and accepted by the  Indian Newspaper Society. [9] ————————————————- [edit]Conflict with Cricket Club of India As per IPL rules, the winner of the previous competition decides the venue for the finals. [10]  In 2009, the reigning Champions,  Deccan Chargerschose the  Brabourne Stadium  in  Mumbai. [10]  However, a dispute regarding use of the avilion meant that no IPL matches could be held there. The members of the  Cricket Club of India  that owns the stadium have the sole right to the pavilion on match days, whereas the IPL required the pavilion for its sponsors. [11]  The members were offered free seats in the stands, however the club rejected the offer, stating that members could not be moved out of the pavilion. [10][12][13] ————————————————- [edit]Suspension of Lalit Modi On 25 April 2010, the BCCI suspended  Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, for â€Å"alleged acts of individual misdemeanours†.The suspension notice was served on him by Rajeev Shukla, BCCI vice-president, and N Srinivasan, the board secretary, sending an e-mail to the same effect. It followed a da y of negotiations with interlocutors attempting to persuade Modi to resign but pre-empted a potentially flashpoint at a scheduled IPL governing council meeting, which Modi had said he would attend. Modi was officially barred from participating in the affairs of the Board, the IPL and any other committee of the BCCI. [14] ————————————————- edit]Chirayu Amin named IPL interim chairman Chirayu Amin, an industrialist and head of the  Baroda Cricket Association, was named interim chairman of the IPL by the BCCI, following Lalit Modi's suspension. [15]  According to BCCI, many important documents were missing from the IPL and BCCI offices. â€Å"Many of the records are missing. The IT is asking for documents. We don't have them. We have asked BCCI CAO Prof Ratnakar Shetty to look into the missing records and papers,† said BCCI President Shashank Manohar. [16] — ———————————————- edit]Termination of the Kochi franchise On September 19, 2011, the newly elected BCCI president N Srinivasan, after the annual general meeting in Mumbai, announced that the Kochi Tuskers Kerala IPL franchise was terminated by the BCCI for breaching its terms of agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, each franchise has to submit a bank guarantee every year that covers the fee payable to the BCCI. The 2010-founded team was bought for Rs 1,550 crore and the consortium has to pay a bank guarantee of  156 crore every year till 2020. 17]  The consortium that owns Kochi is reported to have defaulted on an annual payment of  156 crores as a bank guarantee. In April 2010, the BCCI's working committee had rejected demands from Kochi and Pune Warriors for a reduction in their franchisee fees. The two new franchises, which made their debuts in 2011, had sought a 25% waiver on the grounds that the BCCI had stated in the bidding document that each team would play 18 league matches in a season. The schedule was later reduced to 14 matches per team. ————————————————- edit]2012 spot fixing case Main article:  2012 Indian Premier League spot fixing case On 14 May 2012, an Indian news channel  India TV  aired a  sting operation  which accused 5 players involved in  spot fixing. Reacting to the news, Indian Premier League president  Rajiv Shukla  immediately suspended the 5 uncapped players. The five players were,  TP Sudhindra  (Deccan Chargers),  Mohnish Mishra  (Pune Warriors), Amit Yadav,  Shalabh Srivastava  (Kings XI Punjab) and  Abhinav Bali, Delhi cricketer . [18]  However, the report went on to claim that none of the famous cricketers were found guilty.On the reliability of the report,  Rajat Sha rma, the  editor-in-chief  of news channel  India TV  quoted that the channel had no doubts about the authenticity of the sting operation and prepared to go to court. [19] Mohnish Mishra who was part of  Pune Warriors India  team for the season, admitted to have said that franchises pay black money, in a sting operation. Mishra was caught on tape saying that franchisees paid them black money and that he had received  1. 5  crore  (US$273,000)  from the later, among which  1. 2  crore  (US$218,400)  was black money. [20]  He was also suspended from his team. [21]

The 1929 Stock Market Crash essays

The 1929 Stock Market Crash essays In early 1928 the Dow Jones Average went from a low of 191 early in the year, to a high of 300 in December of 1928 and peaked at 381 in September of 1929. (1929) It was anticipated that the increases in earnings and dividends would continue. (1929) The price to earnings ratings rose from 10 to 12 to 20 and higher for the markets favorite stocks. (1929) Observers believed that stock market prices in the first 6 months of 1929 were high, while others saw them to be cheap. (1929) On October 3rd, the Dow Jones Average began to drop, declining through the week of October 14th. (1929) On the night of Monday, October 21st, 1929, margin calls were heavy and Dutch and German calls came in from overseas to sell overnight for the Tuesday morning opening. (1929) On Tuesday morning, out-of-town banks and corporations sent in $150 million of call loans, and Wall Street was in a panic before the New York Stock Exchange opened. (1929) On Thursday, October 24th, 1929, people began to sell their stocks as fast as they could. Sell orders flooded the market exchanges. (1929) This day became known as Black Thursday. (Black Thursday) On a normal day, only 750-800 members of the New York Stock Exchange started the exchange. (1929) There were 1100 members on the floor for the morning opening. (1929) Furthermore, the exchange directed all employees to be on the floor since there were numerous margin calls and sell orders placed overnight. Extra telephone staff was also arranged at the members boxes around the floor. (1929) The Dow Jones Average closed at 299 that day. (1929) On Tuesday, October 29th, 1929, the crash began. (1929) Within the first few hours, the price fell so far as to wipe out all gains that had been made the entire previous year. (1929) This day the Dow Jones Average would close at 230. (1929) Between O...

Jaundice Disease Essay Example

Jaundice Disease Essay Example Jaundice Disease Essay Jaundice Disease Essay The word jaundice is derived from a French word called as jaune, which means yellow. It is a very common condition which is seen in newborn babies which can be treated by exposing them to sunlight. It is also known as yellow skin or eyes disease. It turns your skin, mucous membranes, sclera (the white of your eyes) into a single yellow color. This yellow pigment which is seen on your skin is due to bilirubin which is a byproduct of old red blood cells. If you are affected by jaundice consider it to be a serious problem which cannot to be taken lightly. Nearly 1% red blood cells retire everyday and those are replaced by fresh blood cells. These old blood cells are processed in the liver and later disposed. If there happens to be too many old red blood cells the yellow pigment builds up in the body, which results in the first stages of jaundice. Even though jaundice is not a disease but it is a sign for many other diseases. Jaundice is very common among babies due to the immature functioning of the liver. It is not equipped to deal with the removal of bilirubin from the bloodstream. Jaundice occurs mainly due to liver failure but there are many other reasons by which it is affected. Bilirubin is a natural product arising from the normal breakdown of red blood cells in the body and is excreted in the bile, through the actions of the liver. Jaundice is most often the result of a disorder affecting the liver it can be caused by a variety of other conditions affecting for example the blood or spleen. It should be thoroughly investigated so that the underlying cause can be identified and treated. The red blood cells in our circulation carry oxygen to all parts of the body and have a life span of about 120 days. At the end of their life they are broken down and removed from the circulation by special cells called phagocytes, which are found within the bone marrow, spleen and liver. New red cells are of course continually manufactured and this also takes place within the bone marrow. Following breakdown of the red cells some of their component parts such as amino acids and iron can be re-used by the body. Other components such as bilirubin need to be removed. Knowing how this removal pathway works is the key to understanding how jaundice occurs. Most waste products of the body are excreted in the urine via the kidneys but the liver and bile system is the other main physical route out of the body for these substances. By waste products we mean the many compounds that arise in the course of the bodys metabolism but almost all forms of drugs must also be eliminated either via the urine or bile routes. In the case of bilirubin released from old red cells, it passes through the bloodstream to the liver, where the liver cells process it. These cells carry out many complex chemical functions and also produce the liquid bile, which is the vehicle by which the cells discharge their output to the bile duct system. This is a branching network of tiny tubes throughout the liver, which merge in the same way as the branches of a tree. Ultimately a single main bile duct comes out of the liver and joins the first part of the small intestine (duodenum). Bile (and therefore bilirubin) then passes out through the small and large intestines and is excreted in the stool (feces). Bile is green in colour, but bacteria in the large bowel act to change the bilirubin to substances that are brown, which gives stool its characteristic colour. Some of the bilirubin is reabsorbed back into the body through the bowel wall, eventually appearing in the urine as a substance called urobilinogen (although the typical yellow/orange colour of urine is in fact due a different pigment called urochrome). Therefore, any failure of the bilirubin removal pathway will lead to a build-up of bilirubin in the blood. When this happens the individuals skin turns yellow, causing jaundice. There are many conditions that could be associated with jaundice, such as: An excessive breakdown of red blood cells The balance between manufacture and breakdown of red cells is normally precisely balanced and equal but there are several conditions in which the rate of breakdown increases. If the amount of bilirubin thus released exceeds the livers capacity to remove it, then jaundice will develop. The medical term for excessive red cell breakdown is haemolysis, and within the developed world it is a fairly rare condition. Malaria is however a major cause in tropical climates as the malaria parasites live within the red cells and shorten their life. Similarly the condition in which a foetus develops haemolysis due to incompatibility of its Rhesus blood group with that of its mother is now rarely seen in the UK where we routinely check for Rhesus antibodies in the mothers blood. In parts of the world where antenatal care is not as good haemolytic disease of the newborn is much more common. A temporary jaundice of newborn babies is however quite common, due to the relative immaturity of the babys liver cells and the higher than normal rate of cell breakdown that occurs in the first few weeks of life. It improves rapidly without treatment although when too high it can be speeded up by exposing the baby to ultraviolet light. Jaundice of the newborn is commoner in premature babies as their liver is even more immature than a baby born at term. Autoimmune haemolytic anaemia is a rare disease in which the bodys immune system seems to attack the red cells. It usually affects adults. Haemolysis can also be a side effect of some drugs, eg dapsone. Impairment of liver cell function The commonest cause is a viral infection of the liver cells (hepatitis). Many different types of infection including glandular fever (mononucleosis) can also be responsible for this. Alcohol abuse and subsequent scarring of the liver (cirrhosis) can cause significant cell damage leading to jaundice. Other less common conditions causing liver cell damage include haemochromatosis, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency and primary biliary cirrhosis. Tumours of the liver either primary liver cancers (arising from the liver tissue itself) or more commonly, the secondary spread of a tumour from elsewhere in the body into the liver can lead to cell failure and jaundice. Blockage of the bile ducts This can occur as a result of abnormality inside or outside the ducts. The commonest example of an internal blockage is a gallstone. Tumours of the bile duct are rare but if large enough, or situated just where the bile duct meets the duodenum, then they can block the flow of bile. At this junction point, known as the ampulla of Vater, the tube from the pancreas gland also joins to the duodenum. Cancer of the pancreas tends to arise in the part of the pancreas nearest to the ampulla of Vater, so is another potential cause of obstructive jaundice. Any external organ or mass lying nearby that becomes large enough to press on the bile duct could be responsible. Examples include swollen internal lymph glands, a cyst (perhaps of the pancreas) or scar tissue following a previous infection or surgery. Symptoms of Jaundice, other than that of the jaundice itself, will relate to the underlying cause. For example someone with haemolysis might also be anaemic and tired. If a gallstone were responsible there would probably have been a preceding history of pain in the abdomen. A cancer might be accompanied by weight loss, and so on. When jaundice is due to obstruction of the bile duct the person will often notice that their urine becomes dark and stools become pale, as the excess bilirubin spills over into the urine and no longer colours the stool. Obstructive jaundice is also often accompanied by intense itching. The diagnosis is made by recognition of the patients appearance and accompanying symptoms. A blood test will confirm the raised bilirubin level and other tests such as those for hepatitis and haemolysis are also done on the blood. Ultrasound is a good way to inspect the liver and bile ducts for signs of obstruction, and often can give useful information on the pancreas gland. CT scanning also helps diagnose obstructive jaundice accurately. Treatment will depend upon the diagnosis behind the symptom of jaundice. For example, if the problem is one of gallstones, then removal of the gallbladder may be required. Jaundice comes in several other types, I will elaborate briefly about some of those types as follows: Neonatal jaundice is usually harmless: this condition is often seen in infants around the second day after birth, lasting until day 8 in normal births, or to around day 14 in premature births. Serum bilirubin normally drops to a low level without any intervention required: the jaundice is presumably a consequence of metabolic and physiological adjustments after birth. In extreme cases, a brain-damaging condition known as kernicterus can occur; there are concerns that this condition has been rising in recent years due to inadequate detection and treatment of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia. Neonatal jaundice is a risk factor for hearing loss. Jaundiced eye, It was once believed persons suffering from the medical condition jaundice saw everything as yellow. By extension, the jaundiced eye came to mean a prejudiced view, usually rather negative or critical. Alexander Pope, in An Essay on Criticism (1711), wrote: All seems infected that the infected spy, As all looks yellow to the jaundiced eye. Similarly in the mid 19th century the English poet Lord Alfred Tennyson wrote in the poem Locksley Hall: So I triumphed ere my passion sweeping thro me left me dry, left me with the palsied heart, and left me with a jaundiced eye. In conclusion, if you or one of your friends or relatives suspect that you may have jaundice, it is essential that you arrange to see your doctor in order that the underlying cause is identified and any possible treatment initiated as soon as possible.