When Jargon Fails

When Jargon Fails When Jargon Fails When Jargon Fails By Mark Nichol Jargon has its purposes. In content pertaining to popular culture, when employing slang to engage readers and other consumers of entertaining information, concise and/or colorful slang enlivens the experience. But in writing about business and technology, jargon can encumber rather than enhance comprehension, and writers should take care to use it judiciously. Consider this sentence: â€Å"What ‘black boxes’ for validation and/or testing exist in the organization?† This sentence has a couple of problems. First, why is â€Å"black boxes† enclosed in quotation marks? Evidently, the writer erroneously believes that doing so helps signal to the reader that the phrase â€Å"black boxes† is jargon being used figuratively; unless youre referring to those little plastic cubes that hold paper clips, no object that can be described as an actual black box exists in the organization, and these marks supposedly serve as a disclaimer. But quotation marks are superfluous for this purpose; they are useful for calling out ironic or specious wording, like pacification in the context of war, but not for emphasizing metaphoric usage of words and phrases. Furthermore, however, is the phrase even useful? Think about various examples of figurative jargon employed in business contexts: Talk about planting a seed, or restraining a loose cannon, or starting over with a clean slate, and colleagues will know what you’re talking about- its clear from the context that gardening, artillery, and chalkboards are not under discussion. But what is a black box? The term alludes here to a device- which is no longer black nor shaped like a box- used in aircraft to make an audio recording of the actions taking place in the cockpit during flight; a black box can be retrieved from a plane after a crash to determine the cause of the accident. This is a pertinent metaphor for a mechanism for documenting validation and/or testing of organizational processes or systems, but because â€Å"black box,† though familiar to readers, is not as transparent in meaning as many other examples of figurative jargon, the reader will have to pause and analyze the analogy, which distracts from the reading experience. Would it be helpful to provide a gloss, or a brief definition of the jargon? That would be useful if the entire article were about a documentation mechanism. But in the context from which the sentence about black boxes was extracted, it is simply a passing reference, and defining the phrase would be merely a further distraction. In this case, the best solution is to replace the jargon with a phrase that clearly expresses the intended idea: â€Å"What mechanisms for documenting validation and/or testing exist in the organization?† When writing or editing in any context, evaluate whether jargon or other slang serves communication or itself (or, worse yet, the writer’s ego), and retain or revise accordingly. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:The Meaning of "To a T"The Parts of a Word5 Examples of Misplaced Modifiers

How Delphi Uses Resource Files

How Delphi Uses Resource Files From bitmaps to icons to cursors to string tables, every Windows program uses resources.  Resources  are those elements of a program that support the program but are not executable code. In this article, we will walk through some examples of the use of bitmaps, icons, and cursors from resources. Location of Resources Placing resources in the .exe file has two main  advantages: The resources can be accessed more quickly because it takes less time to locate a resource in the executable file than it does to load it from a disk file.The program file and resources can be contained in a single unit (the .exe file) without the need for a lot of supporting files. The Image Editor First of  all, we need to create a resource file. The default extension for resource files is  .RES. Resource files can be created with  Delphis Image Editor. You can name the resource file anything you want, as long as it has the extension .RES and the filename without the extension is not the same as any unit or project filename. This is important, because, by default, each Delphi project that compiles into an application has a resource file with the same name as the project file, but with the extension .RES. Its best to save the file to the same directory as your project file. Including Resources in Applications In order to access our own resource file, we have to tell Delphi to link our resource file in with our application. This is accomplished by adding a compiler directive to the source code. This directive needs to immediately follow the form directive, like the following: {$R *.DFM} {$R DPABOUT.RES} Do not accidentally erase {$R *.DFM} part, as this is the line of code that tells Delphi to link in the forms visual part. When you choose bitmaps for speed buttons, Image components or Button components, Delphi includes the bitmap file you chose as part of the forms resource. Delphi isolates your user interface elements into the .DFM file. To actually use the resource, you must make a few Windows API calls. Bitmaps, cursors, and icons stored in RES files can be retrieved by using the API functions LoadBitmap, LoadCursor, and LoadIcon respectively. Pictures in Resources The first example shows how to load a bitmap stored as a resource and display it in a TImage component. procedure TfrMain.btnCanvasPic(Sender: TObject);var bBitmap : TBitmap;begin bBitmap : TBitmap.Create; try bBitmap.Handle : LoadBitmap(hInstance, ATHENA); Image1.Width : bBitmap.Width; Image1.Height : bBitmap.Height; Image1.Canvas.Draw(0,0,bBitmap); finally bBitmap.Free; end;end; Note: If the bitmap that is to be loaded is not in the resource file, the program will still run, it just wont display the bitmap. This situation can be avoided by testing to see if the  bBitmap.Handle  is zero after a call to  LoadBitmap()  and taking the appropriate steps. The  try/finally  part in the previous code doesnt solve this problem, it is just here to make sure that the bBitmap is destroyed and its associated memory is freed. Another way we can use to display a bitmap from a  resource is as follows: procedure TfrMain.btnLoadPicClick(Sender: TObject);begin Image1.Picture.Bitmap. LoadFromResourceName(hInstance,EARTH);end; Cursors in Resources Screen.Cursors[]  is an array of cursors supplied by Delphi. By using resource files, we can add custom cursors to the Cursors property. Unless we wish to replace any of the  defaults, the best strategy is to use cursor numbers starting from 1. procedure TfrMain.btnUseCursorClick(Sender: TObject); const NewCursor 1;begin Screen.Cursors[NewCursor] : LoadCursor(hInstance,CURHAND); Image1.Cursor : NewCursor;end; Icons in Resources If we look at Delphis  Project-Options-Application  settings, we can find that Delphi supplies the default icon for a project. This icon represents the application in the Windows Explorer and when the application is minimized. We can easily change this by clicking the Load Icon button. If we want, for example, to animate the programs icon when the program is minimized, then the following code will do the job. For the animation, we need a  TTimer  component on a form. The code loads two icons from resource file into an array of  TIcon  objects; this array needs to be declared in the public part of the main form. Well also need  NrIco, that is an Integer type variable, declared in the  public  part. The  NrIco  is used to keep track of the next icon to show. public nrIco : Integer; MinIcon : array[0..1] of TIcon;...procedure TfrMain.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);begin MinIcon[0]:TIcon.Create; MinIcon[1]:TIcon.Create; MinIcon[0].Handle:LoadIcon(hInstance,ICOOK); MinIcon[1].Handle:LoadIcon(hInstance,ICOFOLD); NrIco:0; Timer1.Interval:200;end;...procedure TfrMain.Timer1Timer(Sender: TObject);beginif IsIconic(Application.Handle) then begin NrIco:(NrIco1) mod 2; Application.Icon:MinIcon[NrIco]; end;end;...procedure TfrMain.FormDestroy(Sender: TObject);begin MinIcon[0].Free; MinIcon[1].Free;end; In the Timer1.OnTimer event handler, IsMinimized function is used to see whether we need to animate our main icon or not. A better way of accomplishing this would be to capture the maximize/minimize buttons and than act. Final Words We can place anything (well, not everything) in resource files. This article has shown you how to use resources to use/display bitmap, cursor or an icon in your Delphi application. Note: When we save a Delphi project to the disk, Delphi automatically creates one .RES file that has the same name as the project (if nothing else, the main icon of the project is inside). Although we can alter this resource file, this is not advisable.

Protest Movements Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Protest Movements - Essay Example People usually relate protests with a lot of negativity, however, protest movement is a form of negotiation tactic that most people adapt to air out their views and makes their voices be heard. The most frequently used protest tactics during protest movements are strikes and mass demonstrations, and most states allow individuals to demonstrate more so they encourage peaceful demonstration as opposed to chaotic protests. The street protest participants should not involve themselves in activities like looting, steal, of commit other forms of crime. Peaceful demonstrations are in most cases successful. In most cases, inequality and discrimination in the society are some of the leading factors that trigger protest movements. Protest movements are very useful in the society and they enable people to talk about their feelings and address issues affecting them. However, protest movements can as well be very destructive especially chaotic demonstrations and interfere with the wellbeing of in dividuals in the society. Today, many states offer individuals with the freedom to protest or engage in protest movements as a way of sharing their views and feeling on certain issues affecting them and the society at large. Truly, freedom of expression is a constitutional right of every one in many nations today. This includes freedom of protest and demonstration among other social movements. For instance, In the United States, individuals’ right to free speech is outlined in the First Amendment of the US Constitution and so every American has the freedom to protest but without arms. Apart from being a constitutional right, protests are like democracy in action. In democratic nations, citizens have a right to share their opinions peacefully without any chaos involved. They are free to protest on different issues including unemployment and some government policies among others. Democracy does not only involving casting votes but also

Human Resources Administration Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Human Resources Administration - Assignment Example The third step is in the wake of understanding that more efforts would be needed to move things from one place to another if unions are formed, and hence it would be a good idea to do away with the same, right from the outset of such understandings. The fourth step is in making the employees comprehend that if they avoid unions, they will reap the rewards themselves because more work will be done in a lesser amount of time, and hence their benefits would be ensured easily. The fifth and last step is in the form of gaining an idea that unions leave a very negative perspective of the company and no employee would like to be seen as a hindrance within the smooth working tenets of an organization. Hence forming unions needs to be avoided at all costs. The reason for choosing these five points is because they give an overall view of how the unions need to be avoided at all costs. It also makes one realize where the negativity creeps in and what needs to be done to make sure that the employees remain steadfast with their respective domains. The cost, time and effort factors are pertinent for any business and should always be thought out of as such. If these aspects are not properly covered, then unions will come in and hence the focus of the organization would shift as a result of the same. Employees would ask for more favors from the organizational tenets and there would be more instances of collective demonstrations and upheaval for all the wrong reasons (Ferris, 2012). From an organizational standpoint, this cannot be tolerated at all because these document how improper the standards of the individuals working within the organizations are at the end of the day. It also dictates the anomaly that comes about for an organization be cause it has to see which employees are loyal to the core, and which ones are creating problems for its business operations,

Japanese Exclusion Act of 1924 Essay Example for Free

Japanese Exclusion Act of 1924 Essay Japanese Exclusion Act of 1924, also known as the Immigration Act of 1924, was one of the federal laws of the United States that limited the quantity of immigrants to United States from any country to a certain percentage of the total number of people from that country who were already living in the United States based on the 1890 Census. As for the case of Immigration Act of 1924, only two percent f the total number of people already living in United States from other country since 1890 can only be admitted (Historicaldocuments. com 1). In fact, the Immigration Act of 1924 superseded the Emergency Quota of 1921, which required three percent of the total number of people already leaving in United States from other countries in 1910, in order to further intensify the lowering down of the total number of immigrants to the United States from other country. Specifically, the said law aimed to restrict Europeans especially those coming from the Eastern and Southern part of the said region including East Asians and Asian Indians among those regions that were restricted by the federal government of the United States from immigrating into their country. Furthermore, this act also barred all immigrants that were considered by the federal government as ineligible for citizenship based on the race, the region where a certain foreigner came from. Like for the case of those people from Eastern and Southern Europe as well as those people from the East Asia and Asian Indians was being prohibited by the federal government from naturalizing themselves into being an American citizen. Among of those countries that were greatly affected by the promulgation of the said law, it is Japan who showed great protest and actually requested the United States to move the said laws on the case of the Japanese. But at the end of the day, the federal government stick to their stand and continued the implementation of Immigration Act of 1924. Furthermore, the main argument of the Japanese why they were protesting on the said act was the clear violation of United States on the Gentleman’s Agreement. Now, it was deemed that this clash between United States and Japan caused great tension between the two countries and this served as the ground for Japan to become an ally of Germans during World War II. Now as for the scope of this paper, chains of events will be discussed and revealed on how the passing of Immigration Act of 1924 led Japan towards their collaboration with the Germans on the Second World War (UShistory. com 1). Early Years of Immigration to United States In the 1860s and 1870s the Chinese, most of them were men, made up of some 10 to 15 percent of the population of many western states. After the Chinese Exclusion Act as well as the filling of the West by pioneers, that the percentage must be dropped rapidly. Still, the Chinese population in the country continues to grow mainly because of the high birth rates and Chinese immigration to Canada. From 1870 to 1920 around 25 million immigrants entered the United States wherein the Southeastern Europe provided nearly 3,500,000 immigrants between 1900 and1920. While Italy on the other hand, contributed to around 3,100,000 immigrants to the United States and Russia as well as Poland contributed to around 2,500,000 immigrants. Moreover, there were more Japanese immigrants as compared to Mexico and France. In 1882, around 30,000 Chinese immigrants entered the United States brining the total of number of Chinese in US to 150,000. This is also the year where the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed by the government that limits the number of Chinese that can enter the United States based on a certain percentage. This Chinese Exclusion Act is effective after 10 years and will deem to be permanent until the twentieth century. By 1908 to 1914, federal officials recorded 6,800,000 arrivals of foreign immigrants to the United States while on the other hand only 2,000,000 departures were accounted. Moreover, ninety two percent of the total number of people arrived to United States on 1910 said that they were about to join their friends and relatives that had been living in the United States plus the fact that almost ninety percent of all the immigrants settled either North or West while leaving a small percentage to drop into the South. By 1910, foreign-born men and women comprised about 53 percent of the national industrial labor force and 75 percent of the populations in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and Boston were made up of immigrants and their children. By 1916 in San Francisco, 75 percent of the total population regarded a foreign language as a primary tongue. Japanese Immigration to United States Japanese Immigrants to United States Started in 1880s when large number of farmers from Southern Japan moved to United States. There were no legislations that prohibited or regulate the number of immigrants to United States during those times regardless of from what country an immigrant came from. What caused the Japanese people to migrate to United States was the disenfranchisement of the regions of Japan from the industrial and land reforms during the â€Å"Meiji Restoration† thinking that they can improve their status of living from moving to another country. With the booming of sugar plantations in Hawaii, a lot of Japanese workers migrated on the said state of US and then later on moved forward to California. By the early 1900’s, Pres. Roosevelt mandated the San Francisco School Board to withdraw the order regarding the segregation of Japanese school children in exchange of Japan’s rein in on emigration of peasants and laborers to the United States. After this event, the Japanese government entered an agreement with the federal government of the United States agreeing upon to regulate the number and type of Japanese that can only be allowed to immigrate to United States which was widely known as the Gentleman’s Agreement (State. gov 1). Moreover, the Japanese government only permitted those educated Japanese citizens to immigrate to United States and restricting the immigration of laborers regardless if they were skilled or unskilled.

Analysis of a Story in the Newspaper -- Media Publication

Introduction ‘News media investigate, analyze, and report to stakeholder publics on issues and event s that occur around the globe in a twenty-four-hour, 365-day news cycle’ (Richard,2007:98). Because of the way news media works, we know what is happening in the world and we can have ‘connection’ to other places. With new media arising, the information transmission process become even faster. Though new media is getting more prevalent, still, a considerable amount of people rely on one of the traditional news media – newspaper. Facing the competition, the way news reported may change as newspapers ‘need to maintain large circulation figures to stay profitable’ (Bignell 1997:83). This directly affects how news is presented. To make news appeal to readers, information may under ‘design’ as mentioned by Thorne (2008), the function of newspapers in the 21st century is not only ‘referential’, ‘ entertainment has become equally important in the battle to win readers’(P.262). In this paper, a piece of news was taken from WiseNews for analysis. It was an event occupied a large coverage in newspaper and caught lots of public attention – The Manila Hostage Incident. I would like to see how journalist presents the story to their readers through looking at its structure and the use of language. Information Flow In reporting the news, journalist adopts the story-telling approach. ‘Journalists are professional story-teller of our age’ (Bell,1991:147). When reporting an incident. Journalists tend not to simply report the fact in each paragraph without linking the information together. Instead, they tend to make the piece of text into a story. Headline Te headline is considered as ‘an abstract of the abstract’ (Bell, 1991:149)... ...authority. Appraisal elements are used to align readers including concession, modality and appreciation. Echoing Bell (2004), journalists are ‘story teller’. When presenting news to readers, they do not simply report facts but tell a story by the use of certain format and lexical choices. Works Cited Bell, A. (1991). The Language of News Media. UK: Blackwell Publishers Bignell, J. (1997). Media semiotics. New York: Manchester University Press Kessler, L. and MnDonald, D. (1989). Mastering Writing with Substance and Style. USA: Wadsworth, Inc. Martin, J.R. and Rose, D. (2007). Working with Discourse. London: Continuum. Reah, D. (2002). The Language of Newspapers. NY: Routledge Richard, S. (2007). Media Relations. Australia: Oxford University Press. Thorne,S.(2008). Mastering Advanced English Language. Great Britain: Cromwell Press Ltd.

How far was Lloyd Georges fall from grace in 1922 the result of his own mistakes after 1918? Essay

A general election held in 1918 gave Lloyd George and the Conservative coalition a very comfortable majority in parliament, but it also left Lloyd George in an untenable position. The coalition consisted overwhelmingly of Conservatives, meaning that Lloyd George’s hold on power was extremely weak. He could not do many of the things he would have liked to do in a purely Liberal government, simply because he did not have the support of the Conservatives. After the war, Lloyd George faced some very serious domestic problems. Firstly was the issue of the German reparations and punishments. There was a strong feeling in Britain that Germany was fully responsible for the war, and therefore should be punished severely. Lloyd George did not subscribe to this opinion. He felt that Germany should be punished, but not to the extent that it ceased to exist. He came to the conclusion that if Germany was effectively destroyed by war payments, it would leave a large power vacuum in the centre of Europe. Lloyd George was worried that this gap would be filled by the Communist ideals of the Bolsheviks. Along with this, the post-war depression that was consuming Britain resulted in a loss of popularity for Lloyd George. The new markets Britain were relying after the war had not materialized, and several of Britain’s old markets had found cheaper suppliers. This resulted in a large scale closing of many industries. The failure of both France and Russia to pay back their war loans meant that Britain in turn was not able to pay back the loans borrowed from America. This in turn resulted in a dramatic increase in unemployment, going far beyond the ‘intractable million’. In both of these situations, the Conservatives in the coalition were more than happy to sit back and let Lloyd George take the blame for these domestic problems. They began to notice his dwindling popularity and made no effort to halt it. The Conservatives were more than aware that they had a large enough amount of MP’s to have an overall majority in parliament, so for the time being they were content to sit back and allow Lloyd George to try and work Britain out of it’s economical mess. After the war, the vast gap in Liberal and Conservative policy became overwhelmingly apparent. The pressing issue of the continuing nationalisation of the coal mines caused many problems for Lloyd George. As a liberal, George was in favour of public ownership of the mines. Knowing that it would be impossible to convince the Conservatives to carry on with the nationalisation, he ordered an independent commission into the matter. He told the trade unions that he would abide by whatever was decided by the commission. Lloyd George assumed he had averted the matter by appointing a top judge, Mr. Justice Sankey. Lloyd George felt that Sankey was bound to want privatisation of the mines. When Sankey found in favour of continuing nationalisation, Lloyd George was in a compromising situation. He had already promised to carry out whatever Mr. Sankey decided, but he did not want to upset the Conservative majority. In the end, Lloyd George decided to do nothing. This greatly upset the trade unions, and resulted in a lasting distrust in him. The Chanak incident resulted in a similar situation for Lloyd George. Firstly, it widened the chasm between the two factions of the coalition further, with Lloyd George supporting the Greeks, and the Conservatives continuing their support of Turkey. More importantly, the Conservatives were worried with Lloyd George putting Britain at military risk so soon after WWII. This is the clearest sign of Conservative disillusionment with continuing the coalition. Lloyd George was also plagued by external factors he had no control over. An example of this is the change in leadership of the Conservative party. Bonar Law was an extremely influential figure within his party. He was good at persuading people to his point of view. His successor Austen Chamberlain lacked the finesse of Bonar Law. He spoke to his party about continuing the coalition only days after two coalition Conservative MPs had been defeated in by elections. This meant that at the time the Conservatives had very little patient with the coalition. The growing disenchantment with Lloyd George was only elevated by his style of government. During the war, George formed a small war cabinet that had the power to make changes in any area of the government. After the war, this continued. Rather than consulting his cabinet on important matters, he preferred to consult a small group of advisors. This obviously upset the Conservative cabinet, as their influence over Lloyd George was falling. Another source of discontent from the Conservatives toward Lloyd George was the so called ‘honours scandal’. After his split from Asquith and the original Liberal party, Lloyd George’s liberals needed a secure source of funding. To aid this, he allowed honours to be sold to wealthy people for a great deal of money. This was certainly not the first example of this happening, but it was the first example of it happening on such a wide scale. To further contribute to the problem, several less than savoury business bought themselves titles. The press caught hold of these affairs and made it commonly known, much to the Conservatives dismay. Examples like these show clearly that Lloyd George contributed significantly to his own downfall, but it’s likely that the Conservative decline in support played a larger part in his fall from grace. While Lloyd George was popular with the public, he was an electoral asset, but as his popularity among the electorate decreased, so did his support from the Conservatives. Backbench Conservative MPs were particularly upset with continuing the coalition as it meant they had less promotion opportunities as a number of cabinet places had to be filled by Liberal MPs. Even if Lloyd George’s popularity among the electorate had remained high, it is hard to imagine the Conservatives wanting to continue the coalition past 1922. The 1918 election had given the Conservatives the confidence they needed after having several years out of power. They realised they would have had a majority in Parliament without the Liberals in the coalition. While it is impossible to ignore Lloyd George’s shortcoming as Prime Minster in peace time, it is clear that Conservative disillusionment was the main cause of his downfall. Bibliography: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk http://www.llgc.org.uk â€Å"David Lloyd George – A Biography† Peter Rowland

Patient Advocacy Analysis Essay

Introduction A patient advocate may be present for healthcare appointments and alert the healthcare provider about patient compliance issues. He or she may separately assist the healthcare provider and support staff with potential issues and communication challenges. The patient advocate is also responsible for maintaining communication with the patient and healthcare provider to ensure that patients understand the procedures. By reducing fear and increasing patient compliance, this can result in higher successful treatments. Generally, a patient advocacy contract that includes a release of medical information must be placed with each healthcare facility (Ad Hoc Committee on Advocacy, 1969). Some institutions may require a power of attorney for healthcare for a patient advocate to exchange confidential information. The patient advocate may provide medical literature and research services to the patient, family, or healthcare provider. The patient advocate may also assist with family communication on issues arising from illnesses and injuries . This may include further referral for care and support for both patients and families. The patient advocate has a responsibility for awareness of compliance, appropriateness, and coordination of care for the patient, such as oversight for potentially conflicting treatment modalities and medications. The patient advocate can ensure that questions about the appropriateness of treatment are promptly discussed with the patient’s care provider, and that all treatments and concerns are promptly entered into the patient’s healthcare record. The patient advocate is also responsible for reviewing the patient’s healthcare record for correctness and for explaining it to the patient. Another responsibility of the patient advocate is to create and maintain an electronic log for the patient that is available on disk to healthcare providers i This log may be of great benefit in subsequent urgent situations. The patient advocate can also assist in resolving disputes between patients and their healthcare provider, as well as engaging in communications on behalf of the patient in case of employment issues by approaching the employer to achieve a mutually beneficial solution for the employer and the individual employee. Where applicable compliance standards are not met, the patient advocate may conduct liaison with corporate oversight, government agencies, or legal professionals to further negotiate such issues on behalf of the patient and family. It is the duty of a patient advocate to maintain patient privacy according to local and national laws, treating all patient and family information as privileged and protected. This includes ensuring that healthcare providers’ communications are treated as highly confidential and privileged, whether or not those communications are specific to the patient, and that permissions to disclose information are negotiated carefully. It is also the duty of the patient advocate to follow any referrals for medical, financial, legal, administrative or other personnel to assure that the patient is always kept safe and well informed, never abandoned or misled during the process (Carlton, 1984) SWOT Analysis When developing a SWOT analysis for the Patient Advocate Organization, three primary purposes emerged: 1. Inspire continued trust and confidence in the nursing profession among patients, their families, and the American people; 2. Leverage nurses, the single largest health care workforce, together with patients, partners in their care, in accelerating performance improvement; and 3. Stimulate reform through shared perspectives, knowledge, and values among nurses and patients, their families, and consumer stakeholders. A SWOT analysis focuses on internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats. In this instance, these concepts have been applied to a proposed alliance that serves these three proposed purposes. Typically, SWOT analyses are presented in tabular formats and entries are listed in one of four quadrants in the table (i.e., strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats). The SWOT analysis is presented in Table 1. Strengths Purpose 1. Inspire continued trust and confidence. a. Existing nurse workforce is the largest segment of the healthcare workforce b. Living up to nursing’s promise to represent the patient voice c. Expanding consumer recognized success (e.g., number of hospitals, evidence-based link to quality/safety). d. Expanding and maturing evidence-based that establishes nursing-quality-value linkages. e. Operating consumer advocacy groups is a well-known skill for several of the major groups with which we could partner f. Convener organizations have a proven track record in working together (e.g., areas of education, competency development, leadership) Purpose 2. Accelerate performance improvement a. Expanding and maturing evidence-based that establishes nursing-quality-value linkages b. Partnering to expand and accelerate current and future measurement sets (examples follow): b.1. Experience with, and advancement of, measure development and data collection (i.e. NDNQI, AWHONN EDGETM Database, etc) b. 2. Existing national, regional, and state nursing performance measures databases (e.g., NDNQI, CalNOC, Maine and Massachusetts) b.3 Existing national quality measurement and reporting infrastructure (e.g., Compare websites) Purpose 3. Stimulate reform a. Existing nurse leaders with strong organizational skills and credible backgrounds b. Threats by existing nursing and nurse faculty shortages are widely recognized by policy makers and health care stakeholders. c. Patients and nurses, each individually,†¨make strong advocates; together, their combined effectiveness will likely be transformative d. Reviewing the evidence suggests that nurses make effective policy advocates Weaknesses Purpose 1. Inspire continued trust and confidence. a. Existing, numerous professional nursing organizations and specialty groups result in fragmentation and diffusion of the expertise and resources among nursing as a whole. May be confusing/distracting to consumer groups who join an alliance b. Creating a new â€Å"fancy† alliance may not change nursing’s image from that of a profession that â€Å"takes orders.† We may remain unable to gain access to high levels of policy making and policy makers c. Funding source for sustained support is unknown d. Participation would be voluntary (e.g., What incentive†¨would organizations have to provide technical time and support for NPQA?) Purpose 2. Accelerate performance improvement a. Representation of VANOD, CalNOC, MilNOD is lacking in the convener group gathering under the planning grant b. Lacking sufficient nursing-sensitive outcome measures and resulting data to address all patients in all settings across an episode of care limits how comprehensively nursing care quality can be portrayed and might limit partnerships with certain consumer groups c. Developing standard language may be necessary prior to creating additional standard measures (e.g., birth date or date of birth) d. Adding/changing billing codes (e.g., G-codes, E-codes) to document nursing care is not in the realm of influence for nurses or consumers but together we may have more success. Purpose 3. Stimulate reform a. Nursing is not typically a ‘target’ of federal policies because of employee-employer relationship (rather than direct contractors with payers for services) b. Existing consumer and nursing organizations approach policy makers with multiple requests: lack of unity c. Nursing inclusion within existing alliances may be viewed as duplicative Opportunities Purpose 1. Inspire continued trust and confidence a. Build upon nursing social capital with consumers as the most trusted among health care professions b. Identify (empirically, anecdotally) and enhance the value-added of nursing with consumer participation and support c. Improve consumer understanding about the quality of nursing care d. Improve nursing’s knowledge of consumers’ experience of professional nursing Purpose 2. Accelerate performance improvement a. Continue quid pro quo to various alliances (i.e. HQA, KCA, QASC) providing entry into these policy discussions b. Dedicates significant, shared resources to improving quality, safety and value c. NPQA could serve as a neutral reporting entity to achieve economies of scale and scope by moving performance measurement reporting from various nursing organizations to a central source. d. NPQA sets agenda for measure adoption and collection Purpose 3. Stimulate reform a. Disseminate practice-based questions/issues to policy makers and thought leaders to guide funding of research or studies b. Recognize evidence that suggests that nurses, APRNs and consumer groups have opportunities to strengthen their policy voice c. Vision for proactive, toward thinking policy agenda that can push (e.g. What so we want decision makers know about nursing performance?), pull(e.g. What do decision makers already know about nursing performance ?) and/or Partner (e.g. What do decision makers want/need to know about nursing performance ?) Threats Purpose 1. Inspire continued trust and confidence a. Consumer partners may overwhelm nursing. Nursing may be subordinate to consumer leadership. b. Potential to be barraged or criticized by special†¨patient advocacy groups and specialty nursing groups who are not included in membership c. Partnership adds complexity to operational aspects of an alliance such as leadership, governance, membership dues, etc Purpose 2. Accelerate performance improvement a. Current national practice specialty organizations (AORN, AANA, ONS, AWOHNN, AACN, ACNM) have limited resources and will have to decide where to invest (e.g., choices will need to be made that could result in weakening NPQA) b. Data may portray low quality nursing performance with subsequent unintended consequences for nursing c. Established boards of both large nursing organizations and consumer organizations may refuse to support or may change support as leadership and resources fluctuate d. Alliances with whom nursing has a quid pro quo relationships have not universally welcomed nursing participation and have rationed our involvement (e.g., don’t recognize different nursing groups) e. Consumer group(s) may not recognize a need to measure nurse performance in the same manner in which nurses do. Conflict may result (e.g. consumers may think, â€Å"Did the nurse carry out the order?†) Purpose 3. Stimulate reform a. Absence and inattention to nursing issues/strengths in health care reform proposals b. Presence of a strong medical lobby and physician advocacy groups linked with consumers c. Established alliance landscape and inconsistent/ ‘unwelcoming’ nature among existing alliances to nursing d. Lack of awareness by policymakers of the necessity to engage nursing to realize dramatic and sustainable improvements in quality and safety Customer analysis Before implementing this process in South Florida, it is necessary to conduct the market research to check whether this process has market relevance to this area. In other words, it is important to find out whether customers want to use patient advocacy and then analyze if it is available for implementing it in this area via the drives of value. Basically, there are three interdependent drivers of value, including population health, patient experience and total cost per capital, to promote the development of patient advocacy. The data published by U.S. census government shows that the population in Florida is experiencing a huge change during recently year, no matter the change is characteristic by age or race. First, as illustrated in Figure 2, we can see that from 1960 to 2040, the actual and projected census population will rapidly grow from around 50,000 to over 25,000,000 in Florida. There are two main factors causing this phenomenon. On the one hand, there are the baby boomers. This accounts for the natural population increase. While births exceeded deaths during each of the two decades, less than half a million persons were added to Florida’s population each decade due to the natural increase. On average, 118 more Floridians were born than died each day during the decade of the nineties (Census Report, 2000). On the other hand, individuals’ life expectancy is rapidly extended. As populations of modern societies have begun to age, the older age cohorts have become disproportionately represented. Figure 3 show that the age group over 65 and up holds the largest percentage during 2010 to 2030. For example, in the area of Southeast Florida, its population of 6.2 million, is larger than 34 of the 50 states in 2008. About one in every three (31.2%) South Florida resident was born in the state of Florida. Meantime, in South Florida, the elderly are projected to reach almost one million (20.7% of the total) in 2030, up from 14.4% in 2010 (Ogburn, 2010). Compared to the Treasure Coast, the change is becoming more obviously as it is shown in Figure 4. The data described above figures out that even though the population growth slowed down in recent days, South Florida continue s to grow at a speed that is faster than the nation as a whole, with higher rates in the northern region. Apparently, the change population characteristic provides a huge market for the patient advocacy. A demographic trend often overlooked in discussions of healthcare is the changing structure of American families and households. There has been a decline in the proportion of the population that is married and a proportionate increase in the size of the single, divorced, and widowed population. The average household size has declined, and there has been a large increase in the proportion of the population that lives alone. Therefore, more and more households are involved in the health industry to some extent. This means that Floridians’ expectations for acquiring healthcare knowledge and learning about diseases is increasing. This will help them know how to make decisions when they face the healthcare problem and know whether the plan recommended by physicians and nurses are available to them. Secondly, as illustrated in Figure 5, it can be shown that the race/ethnic composition o f Southeast Florida was made up of 37% Hispanic or Latino. In 2000, the non-Hispanic White population represented 47% of the regional total, down from 57% in 1990. In other words, the non-Hispanic White population of Southeast Florida ceased to be the majority sometime in the 1990s, due mostly to the growth of the Hispanic population in Miami-Dade Country (Ogburn, 2010). Hence, it is very important to take the Spanish language into account when patient advocacy is established. Thirty-three percent of the South Florida population is over age 65, so for those elderly who do not know how to speak English, patient advocacy could help them understand what the medical staff tell them about their diseases or how to take those pills. It also helps to reduce the potential abuse error when patient advocacy staffs teach those patients via their own language. Thirdly, as acute illness has declined as the pervasive type of disorder, chronic conditions have emerged as the dominant type of health problem in developed countries. Chronic conditions generally do not contribute directly to mortality, but are often cited as underlying causes of death. They are more likely to interfere with the quality of life, since they often result in some form of disability. Chronic diseases always result in more cost and more time for recovery. Some maybe even cannot be treated. Thus, patients find themselves confused about the advantages and disadvantages of the treatment. Patient advocacy members listen to confused patients and help them collaborate with physicians and insurance companies. Patient advocacy will offer medical assistance, insurance assistance, home health assistance, elder and geriatric assistance and legal assistance. Those types of assistance will help patients with chronic illnesses to understand their healthcare conditions in detail. The Four Ps The four marketing Ps (product, price, place and promotion) are important in developing the entire marketing process for every company or organization. In other words, the heart of a marketing strategy is the development of a response to the marketplace. For every business, all they need to do first is to identify the customers’ needs, and then determine the price customers are willing to pay. Then, they need to identify what place is most convenient for customers to purchase the product or access the service and, finally, they need to promote the product to customers to let them know it is available (Berkowitz, 2011). Hence, when conducting the Four Ps analysis, there are some questions we need to figure out. Those questions are shown on Figure 6.1 (â€Å"4Ps Marketing,† n.d.): Product The important thing to remember when offering the service of patient advocacy to customers is that they have a choice. For example, for health care providers, they can rely on the customer service center in their own organization to deal with patients’ complains; for patients, they might turn to their doctors or friends who have those treatment experience for help when they need. Therefore, patient advocacy organizations should considerable emphasis on developing a list of help service which customers really want. For example, in South Florida, as we also mentioned earlier in this paper, a large proportion of people speak Spanish as their first language, so Spanish speaking can become a selling point and add into the service list in this area; especially in a situation of establishing commutation between a Hispanic or Latino patient and an English-speaking physician. What is more, for those existing services, the organization should also pay attention to the product life cycle as well. For example, with the implementation of Obama Care, the American healthcare system has become a complex system, and it has become increasingly difficult for patients to understand and adapt, so patients’ fears and frustrations have continued to grow since they may get confused by the new policies and become worried about how to get their reimbursements after the treatment. In other words, customers’ requirements change over time. What is important and useful today may be discarded tomorrow. Therefore, marketing should continuously monitor the external environment and other factors to modify the services in order to meet the customer’s need. Price Price focuses on what customers are willing to pay for a service (Berkowitz, 2011). And the customer’s perception of value is an important determinant of the price charged. Customers draw their own mental picture of what a service is worth. So the pricing decision is a major aspect of marketing strategy. In the healthcare industry, the issue of price is less likely to be a concern since pricing was based on predetermined reimbursement formulas. However, in order to sustain and develop and organization, whether public, non-profit organization, private, or for-profit, patient advocacy organizations still need to pay attention on how they establish the price. 1. The Types of Services and Complexity of Service. As customers’ needs are varied, there are perhaps dozens of services health advocates can provide, ranging from explaining treatment options to reviewing hospital bills, from uncovering clinical trials appropriate to customer’s need, to getting their insurance company to pay a claim they think should be covered. Each service should cost differently according to the time it takes to accomplish it. 2. The Background and Expertise of the Employee Just as would be true in any service business, the more credentials an advocate has achieved, the more it will cost. Further, some advocates have developed specific niches to their work that becomes a benefit to customers, who may be worth a higher salary. So obviously, a higher price should be made for these employees in order to sustain the organization. 3. Geographic Location. Just as there are variations in cost for almost anything we buy based on where we live, the same is true for health advocacy services. As shown in Figure A7 (â€Å"Miami Household,† 2011), in Florida, take Miami as an example, households with income under 15,000 reached 25% in 2010, which was twice as many household of the entire United States. Considering the low-income rate in this area, the price should not be too high when providing services. However, the danger of using low price as a marketing tool is that the customer may feel that quality is being compromised. It is important when deciding on price to be fully aware of the brand and its integrity. A further consequence of price reduction is that competitors match prices resulting in no extra demand. This means the profit margin has been reduced without increasing sales. Place All businesses must decide how many other organizations are needed to distribute their product or service, so does the patient advocacy organization (Berkowitz, 2011). In fact, the purpose of getting any intermediary organizations involved is to provide service to customers in a more accessible way. Therefore, not only big general hospital, but also small primary care clinic should be considered when providing services. Besides, â€Å"place’ in the marketing mix, is not just about the physical location or distribution points for services. Especially in the healthcare industry, it encompasses the management of a range of processes involved in bringing patient advocacy to the end consumer. Promotions Promotion is more than just advertising (O’Malley, 2001). The promotions aspect of the marketing mix covers all types of marketing communications such as advertising, personal selling, publicity, and sales promotion. However, advertising is an important part of promotion. Generally, advertising is conducted on TV, radio, cinema, online, poster sites and via the printed press (e.g., newspapers, magazines). Different advertising channels can be used to maximize the effectiveness of advertising. For example, TV advertising makes people aware of a help service and press advertising provides more detail. This may be supported by in clinic or hospital recommendation to get people to try the service. It is imperative that the messages communicated support each other and do not confuse customers. A thorough understanding of what the brand represents is the key to a consistent message. The purpose of most marketing communications is to move the target audience to some type of action. This may include purchasing the service, visiting or calling the organization, and recommending the choice to a friend or purchasing another service that he or she may also need. The key objectives of advertising are to make people aware of the service offered by the organization, which they cannot get from anywhere else, and to feel positive about it and remember it. Therefore, when promoting, messages should gain the customers’ attention and keep their interest. The next stage is to get them to want what is offered. Showing the benefits that they will obtain by taking action is usually sufficient. The right messages must be targeted at the right audience, using the right media. Take South Florida as an example, 33% of the population in this area is over age 65, so it is important to find an advertising channel to reaches this group of people. In this case, Internet advertising may not be such a good idea while newspaper and television may bring more customers to the organiza tion instead. Conclusion After analyzing the market in South Florida, we can easily reach the conclusion that there are great needs to have patient advocacy in South Florida. In fact, patient advocacy is an emerging practice, and it deserves more recognition when developing healthcare business. Whether you are in private practice, serve as a hospital patient advocate or are developing an advocacy program in a managed care company, having a clear marketing plan of patient advocacy in your business region is a key factor to successfully grow your practice in the future. References Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Healthcare costs and financing. Research Activities. 2011. Accessed at heep://www.ahrq.gov/research/jun11/0611RA11.htm. Ad Hoc Committee on Advocacy. (1969). The social worker as advocate: Champion of social victims. Social Work, April, 16–20. Berkowitz, E. N. (2011). Essentials of Health Care Marketing. 3rd Edition. Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC. Carlton, T. O. (1984). Clinical social work in health settings. New York: Springer Publishing Company. Florida Population: Census Summary 1990 and 2000. Make a difference as a patient advocate. Retrieved from: http://allhealthcare.monster.com/benefits/articles/3210-make-a-difference-as-a-patient-advocate?page=2 Miami Household Income Statistics (2011). CLR Search.Retrieved from: http://www.clrsearch.com/Miami-Demographics/FL/Household-Income Ogburn R. F., 2010. Demographics and population growth in southeast Florida. South Florida Regional Planning Council. Retrieved from http://www.sfrpc.com/region/demographics.htm O’Malley, J. F. (2001). Healthcare marketing, sales, and service: An executive companion. Chicago: Health Administration Press, p. 101 4Ps Marketing Mix Example (n.d.). SmartDraw. Retrieved from http://www.smartdraw.com/examples/view/4ps+marketing+mix/

Bending Moment Lab Report Essays

Bending Moment Lab Report Essays Bending Moment Lab Report Paper Bending Moment Lab Report Paper Moments are calculated by using static theory, or multiplying perpendicularly directed load by the respective distance to the pivot point. 1. 2 Objective The main objective of that laboratory is to provide students with basic experience and thus, the comparison between calculated and measured values (software) should be demonstrated to show the ability to apply static theory from applied mechanics module. 1. 3 Theory Shear forces The shearing force at any section of a beam is the algebraic sum of the lateral components of the forces acting on either side of the section. F is the resultant action on the left of AAA. As the beam is in equilibrium then resultant reaction on the right of AAA must be downwards. Figurer. Shear forces diagram Equilibrium state fix=ON; iffy=ON; IMO=ON. M In our case we use AAA as a reference point to calculate the bending moment Bending Moment Bending Moment at AAA is defined as the algebraic sum of the moments about the section of all forces acting on either side of the section. Bending moment is considered to be positive when the total moment on the right of AAA is clockwise, whereas moment to the right of AAA is anticlockwise. That type of behavior of ending moment is called sagging since it makes the beam to become concave upward. The opposite of sagging is called hogging. Figure 2. Bending moment (sagging) diagram 2. Experimental apparatus The provided technical equipment is a very functional device that enables students to perform laboratory sessions for mechanical, civil and structural engineering students. It help students to learn more and create a clear visualization and straightforward proof of the bending moment theory in a beam. Experiments include the ability to place the load at any point on the load line o measure the bending moment. The whole apparatus consists of hardware (device itself) and software (program for determining bending moment) Software Software of the STAR is a program that enables computer to perform various tasks as with loads on the line as by virtual visualization. The computer simulation implies the usage of software without teaching hardware equipment. To put it simply, experiments could be actually conducted without the apparatus. Figure 3. Bending moment hardware apparatus Hardware The high quality bending moment device consist of two parallel beams which eave a cut position that acts like a pivot. To accomplish bending moment in a beam experiment students apply loads along the beam. The moment arm bridges the cut onto the load cell thus calculating the reacting and measuring the bending moment force. Students are then able to see the force resultant on the digital display. Additionally, weighs, weighs hangers as well as student and teacher laboratory manuals are included. 3. Experiment Figure 4. Loads and reaction forces diagram In the first part of experiment conducted only one load of 3 available different dads were applied at the distance of mm from the left corner of beam (0-PI).

Native Elements List

Native Elements List Native elements are chemical elements that occur in nature in an uncombined or pure form. Although most elements are found only in compounds, a rare few are native. For the most part, native elements also form chemical bonds and occur in compounds. Here is a list of these elements: Native Elements That Are Metals Ancient man was familiar with several pure elements, mainly metals. Several of the noble metals, such as gold and platinum, exist free in nature. The gold group and platinum group, for example, are all elements that exist in the native state. The rare earth metals are among elements that do not exist in native form. Aluminum - AlBismuth - Â  BiCadmium - CdChromium - CrCopper - CuGold - AuIndium - InIron - FeIridium - IrLead - PbMercury - HgNickel - NiOsmium - OsPalladium - PdPlatinum - PtRhenium - ReRhodium - RhSilver - AgTantalum - TaTin - SnTitanium - TiVanadium - VZinc - Zn Native Elements That Are Metalloids or Semimetals Antimony - SbArsenic - AsSilicon - SiTellurium - Te Native Elements That Are Nonmetals Note gases are not listed here, even though they may exist in pure form. This is because gases are not considered minerals and also because they freely mix with other gases, so you are unlikely to encounter a pure sample. However, the noble gases do not readily combine with other elements, so you might consider them native in that respect. The noble gases include helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon. Similarly, diatomic gases, such as hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen are not considered native elements. Carbon - CSelenium - SeSulfur - S Native Alloys In addition to elements that occur in the native state, there are a few alloys also found free in nature: BrassBronzeElectrumGerman SilverGold-Mercury AmalgamPewterSilver-Mercury AmalgamWhite Gold The native alloys and other native metals were mankinds only access to metals prior to the development of smelting, which is believed to have begun around 6500 BC. Even though metals were known before this, they typically occurred in very small quantities, so they were not available to most people.

Technical writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Technical writing - Essay Example Therefore, the purpose of this memo is to provide information about the influence of the Japan’s business culture and negotiation styles on business. Despite the recent changes in the Japanese business culture, the Japanese negotiation style remains the most distinctive in the world. It is far different from negotiation styles in Japan’s closest neighbors such as Taiwan and Korea. Japanese executives adopt a subtle, low key bargaining, contrary to the typical aggressive haggling of Chinese and Korean business executives (Hodgson, Sano and Graham 39). This poses challenges in doing business because, Japanese tend to be slower and more deliberate in making concessions (Nishiyama 102). This takes a long time in making business decisions for the parties involved. Other challenges arise because of the Japanese’s retreat into vague statements or silence when there are complications, making of frequent referrals to the head office or superiors, and their nonverbal behav iors that are complex and confusing (Nishiyama 102). The memo has been written in this chosen arrangement technique because of its purpose. Being an informative memo, provision of information and details about Japan’s corporate culture and negotiation styles and how they pose challenges to doing business in Japan is the core function of this memo. ... Part B: A Report on the Challenges Associated with doing Business in Japan The major challenges that are associated with doing business in Japan are embedded in the country’s corporate culture and language. First, when one goes to do business in Japan, he or she faces challenges of acceptance. The Japanese does not accept foreigners readily and take them as their own as is the case in other countries. This creates a challenge in developing, and maintaining effective business relations within the Japanese system. Another challenge stems from how male Japanese relates with females. For instance, male Japanese executives have no experience in dealing with female managers, and have little or no protocol of doing so (Mente 79). Therefore, females doing business in Japan faces difficulties because some Japanese tends to believe that women are not meant to be business managers in the first place. The Japanese market is a difficult market. There are significant challenges associated w ith entry to the Japanese market, which is extremely expensive and time consuming. In some cases, it may be absolutely impossible to break into the distribution channels for certain products. This is because these channels are tightly knit that no foreigner can penetrate them (Mente 42). Inability to break into these channels has nothing to do with prices or product salability, but it is linked to the strong relationships between Japanese manufacturers, retailers and manufacturers. Unique culture and difficulty Japanese language creates significant challenges in doing business. Language barrier and misunderstanding of culture lead to miscommunication and misunderstanding (Haghirian 55). The

Analysis of breastfeeding ad Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analysis of breastfeeding ad - Essay Example People may find the image controversial, thrilling or some may even judge it as obscene because of the showing of the nipples but it cannot be denied that it only reflects the reality that babies really suck nipples to be fed. If this image will be judged as obscene, its creator can readily defend themselves that they are only portraying a reality. The ad may be controversial but it cannot be readily dismissed as garbage because it was created by a reputable ad agency. It meant that the people who created the ad were professionals and knows what they are doing. The reputation of the advertising agency who created it made the ad credible and served as the ethos. Initially, people may want to dismiss the ad as something obscene or improper but when they realize that it was actually created by a professional and global advertising agency, they would tend to analyze and reconsider their opinion and look the ad closely. Had this image been created by a nobody, it would have dismissed as d isrespectful and obscene. But it received a different treatment when it was made by an advertising agency that breastfed advocated even lauded the ad. The advertisement becomes very powerful because the image used the rhetorical tools of pathos, ethos, and logos effectively. The image of the baby sucking his or her mother’s nipple is very emotional. It is also logical because that is how really babies are fed. It is also credible because it is made by a reputable advertising agency. The ad is so powerful that it stirred controversy.