Operation management - Operational Analysis Essay

Operation management - Operational Analysis - Essay Example Like any other Wal-mart store, ASDA is well known for its bargaining pricing of its products and services that it sells. It is also known for giving access and selling a wide range of products and services to its customers ranging from accessories and clothing to gardening and household equipment. Services include photography and pharmacy services. The motto of ASDA Wal-mat store Inc has been to help consumers save money and also help consumers lead a cheaper, but higher and better living standard (ASDA, 2010). The main objective of this company is to maintain excellent customer service by providing quality products at affordable prices. Another objective is to improve the sales of the store and implement productivity initiatives. The company has enjoyed a number of successes, including the ability to buy in bulk, sell products and services in huge volumes, and be able to survive on reduced on low profit margins. This has in turn helped the organization to pass on the cost benefit to the consumers and at the same time be able to give consumers more value for money which has been a crucial part of the success of the company in a highly competitive market. The paper will take an analysis of ASDA Wal-mart stores mainly concentrating on its current operations management activities. Introduction In any organization or company, operational management deals with the design and management of processes, products, services, and supply chains (BARNES, 2008). This mainly looks at the development, acquisition, and utilization of resources that are required by the organization in order to deliver goods and services to its consumers. Operational management ranges from the strategic level to the tactical level and finally, to the operational level. In other words, operational management is a function that aims at making sure that there is a smooth flow of processes to convert input into outputs in a cost effective and efficient way. There is normally demand for companies to su stain themselves and survive in a competitive market. However, there are two ways which company can adopt to which are cutting their costs or increasing their revenue. In both cases, the OM capacity of an organization is challenged. In this competitive market where competition increases all the time, a company like ASDA to implement effective operational management tools and systems in order to ensure that the production of goods and services is maintained smoothly and that the demands of customers are fulfilled quickly. OM attempts to create the desired balance between costs and revenue to get the maximum profit and at the same time maintain the quality of goods and services. Normally, big companies like ASDA have huge responsibilities to be able to keep up with the operational management activities involving capacity planning, manpower planning, acquisition, and control, scheduling, managing quality, material control, cost control, training and development for employees, and facil ity location and layout planning (LOADER, 2007). Information and Analysis Current Operations Below is an overview

Evocative Object Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Evocative Object - Essay Example ICT refers to technologies that guarantee passage of information through telecommunications. The effects of information and communication technologies reflect on how humans do things in present day life as compared to how they used to in the agrarian economy. The information and communication technologies affect various human fields including health, education, modes of transport, communication, agriculture, governance, security, entertainment, sports, industrialization, and others (Seyler 1). The advancement of information and communication technologies is a continuous process that becomes complex and more effective every day. Nevertheless, these advancements equally have negative effects on the environment where they lead to pollution and security where they promote terrorism. Moreover, they come at a price. However, in most cases the inherent benefits of information and communication technologies are more than the costs accrued. Actually, the benefits of information and communicat ion technologies depend on the mode of application, the gadget itself, government policies, and other external factors. Some of the most common and advanced information and communication technologies include cell phones and computers (Seyler 21). Indeed, there are different versions of computers and cell phones with variant applications that continue to flood the global market. Personally, I have had experiences with technology in many cases in my course of life. However, this paper will illustrate my experience with a cell phone as a form of information and communication technologies. It will equally relate my experience to the society in the context of its technological application. The use of cell phones is growing in the modern world due to the friendly, effective, and advanced applications they contain. Its use varies from different personalities including students, business personalities, doctors, service men, pilots, engineers, and the general society (Seyler 26). As a studen t, I have various uses of my cell phone both inn school and outside school. Indeed, in my very first day in college, I was new in town had a vague idea on where my school is. As such, it was physically impossible to access my school on the registration day. However, iPhone had a GPRS and could thus access Google maps application forming a trusted source of direction. There with just a click on my phones keyboard the goggle maps directed me on the shortest direction from the airport to the school free of charge. This application was so beneficial that my mother actually had to buy an iPhone on her way from work. Again, while at school I have used my cell phone in various significant roles. Indeed, I still remember the day that my friend had an accident along the highway far from town. I used my cell phone again to take pictures of the accident using the video recorder and call the police and the ambulance at the scene of the accident. This saved the life of my friend, reduced traffic snarl at the highway, and ensured timely notification to the authorities. Indeed, I equally used the cell phone to inform my friend’s parents of the accident. Back in school, I use my cell phone in different studies and research. Since my cell phone can access the internet and has a capacity to download and store online information, I frequently use it to further my education. Actually, I use my phone to access emails from my tutors, download assignments, find research materials, and forward my assignments. I do this by connecting my phone to my computer at home using a cable and subsequently use my phone as a modem through tethering. This makes my studying more effective and convenient. In addition, my phone has a calculator that is very relevant in doing calculations at school. Indeed, I use my

United States participation in WWII Essay Example for Free

United States participation in WWII Essay United States participation in WWII brought many changes to the United States. Having been thrust from an isolationist foreign policy back into the spotlight of a new Cold War, the nation began to accept and embrace its status as a world superpower. Although the War changed the United socially and politically, the most significant changes were economic in nature. The social order prior to WWII changed drastically after the war. One such area of transition was that of the role of women in society. (Amott Matthei pg. 18)   Women in general and married women in particular had an increased presence in the work force. There were two factors from WWII that prompted this. (Amott Matthei pg. 19) One was the fact that most able-bodied men were drafted into the military, leaving a gap in the labor force that women were openly encouraged to fill. (Amott Matthei pg. 20)   The second factor was the increased need for production during war time. (Amott Matthei pg. 21)   After the war, while many women returned to the domestic lifestyle that was glorified by the media at the time, many more women stayed in the working world lured by increased pay incentives and a better overall economy. (Amott Matthei pg. 42) On the hiring side, women were no longer limited by the so-called â€Å"marriage bar† that made it extremely difficult for married women to find employment. (Amott Matthei pg. 47)   The working woman served as an example of the type of independent person that many women sought to emulate in the 1960s and 1970s. (Amott Matthei pg. 50)   It was after the war that women began to truly break down the social barriers, particularly in the work place that had kept them in traditionally female jobs, such as teaching and nursing. (Amott Matthei pg. 190) The War also portended a renewed struggle for civil rights for minorities in the United States. African-American men and women fought along with their white counterparts in segregated units during WWII. (Bailey Farber, 817) The African-American community was galvanized to domestic action through a program called â€Å"Double-V†. (Bailey Farber, 819) The two â€Å"v’s† stood for victory at home and victory abroad. The victory at home was to be against racial prejudice, but the federal government did not take that portion of the slogan very seriously. (Bailey Farber, 820) Nevertheless, African American participation in the war effort both at home and overseas saw many people unable to support the racial superiority theories and other inborn prejudices that led to the social inequality of the nation up until the War. (Bailey Farber, 821) After the war, changes began to occur at a far more rapid pace for race relations than before. The president of the United States, Harry Truman, desegregated the military by executive order in 1948, and as the 1950s and 1960s came, an increased sense of entitlement among minorities led to a burgeoning civil rights movement that captured the attention of the entire nation. (Bailey Farber, 823)   From the Bus Boycott in Montgomery, Alabama in the mid-1950s, to Dr. Martin Luther King’s March on Washington, the effort to call attention to minority issues had finally seen the light of day. (Bailey Farber, 825) A spate of Supreme Court decisions and federal legislation wiped away the last vestige of legal discrimination on the basis of race; and while racism did not disappear during this time, it was, in most places, shunted into the dark corners of society, where it dwelled among the abhorrent and outdated attitudes that marked a backward and degenerate portion of the population. (Bailey Farber, 830) The end of WWII marked a new era in international relations for the United States as well. (Dauer, pg. 18) The race for the technology to use Atomic weapons was won by the United States, but the Soviet Union, which had expanded immensely as a result of the War, quickly obtained the technology to keep up with America. (Dauer, pg. 21)   This fact, plus the growing animosity engendered by the two conflicting political and economic policies of Democracy and Communism, set up a new world order where two powers sought to spread their ideology throughout the remainder of the world. (Dauer, pg. 31) US foreign policy was dictated entirely by this struggle from the closing days of WWII until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. (Dauer, pg. 34) As early as 1948, the United States engaged in an airlift of supplies to West Berlin in order to keep the remainder of the city from yielding to a Communist blockade. US policy in post-war Europe was entirely contingent on the European nations’ attitudes toward Communism. (Dauer, pg. 41) Under the Marshall Plan of recovery, only those nations committed to the notion of Democratic government, and thus opposed to Communism were to receive material aid to rebuild after the war. U.S. policy of containment, which was the notion of keeping Communism within its post-WWII borders, dominated the political landscape throughout the 1950s and 1960s. (Dauer, pg. 53) The United States joined yet another war only five short years after the end of WWII, entering Korea to prevent the Communist regime in the North from unifying the peninsula under the aegis of the Communist theory. (Dauer, pg. 57) All over the globe, the United States sought to intervene to arrest communist influence. These concerns reflected in the support of Israel in the Middle East, the Southern leaders in Korea and Vietnam, Batista in Cuba, and US association with all manner of undesirable leaders who had the sole virtue of not being communist. (Dauer, pg. 89)

Informed Consent in Treatment

Informed Consent in Treatment Danelle J. Hollenbeck Introduction Informed consent is an ethical idea or concept which clients must understand and agree to prior to receiving an assessment, treatment, etc. This paper explores informed consent in treatment and confidentiality. It explores why it is important to acquire informed consent and maintain confidentiality when providing treatment. Due to restrictions in length of the paper, I will not focus on informed consent involving minors or the incapacitated. Informed Consent in Treatment Informed consent is an ethical and legal design to ensure clients are provided with knowledge and information about the treatment in which they are seeking, thus decide whether or not they want to participate in the treatment when the consent has been given to them and is worded in language that is easy to understand (Fishers, 2013, p.12). Standard in informed consent would be the nature of all information that is included in the procedures and steps that must be taken to protect the rights of children and adults with impairments, thus not able to provide consent (Fishers, 2013, p.12). It is important that a practitioner receives informed consent for evaluations, assessments, and treatment, except when mandated by law (â€Å"APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, â€Å"n.d.). Practitioners using the services of an interpreter must obtain informed consent from the client in order to use that interpreter, which ensures on behalf of the client that confidentiality is maintained. It is also imperative that practitioners inform (whilst obtaining informed consent) they inform clients as early as possible about fees involved, limits of confidentiality, and involvement of third parties (â€Å"APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, â€Å"n.d.). Where I work we have a packet in which the first 4 sheets are consent to share information and include consent to share data to NTDMS, two charities we work in partnership with and would be providing services to clients, and social services. There is also a form they sign which states t hat information obtained in this assessment is confidential unless they are at risk to themselves or others, or have put a child at-risk. Informed consent also includes identifying a person’s professional identity, explaining the risks, and the client’s ability to discontinue treatment at any time. According to Hudgins, et al (2013) â€Å"informed consent also includes the notice that is  required by federal or state laws, professional ethical codes, or both, concerning the patient rights†Ã‚  (pg.11). this is very important to have so people entering into treatment know what their rights  are. Effective ways to ensure the ethical standards are being met is to put informed consent in the  patient handbook (Hudgins et al, 2013, p 8). The most powerful tool in compliance and ensuring  ethical standards is to create a pathway into the informed consent process which exists right at  the beginning. HIPAA patient material that is required and Part 2 can be included in the patient  handbook, along with the â€Å"Mental Health Bill of Rights† that may be required by state statute  Hudgins et al, 2013, pg. 8). Informed consent, as with any medical procedure, should be revisited  and documented. The practitioner has a duty to ensure the client is involved in ethical decisions  about his or her care. The process of securing informed consent involves patient education by the  practitioner (Rock Hoebeke, 2014, pg. 4). Each patient is expected to be the guardian of their  own body, as long as they are of sound mind. A patient of sound mind may choose not to go  ahead with treatment, even if it is life-saving (Rock Hoebeke, 2014, pg. 2). American law does  not permit the practitioner to have personal judgment over the client (Rock Hoebeke, 2014, pg.  2), nor permit the practitioner to assert personal judgment over the client. According to Rock   Hoebeke, â€Å"Respect for human dignity requires the recognition of specific patient rights,  particularly, the right of self-determination. Self-determination, also known as autonomy, is the  philosophical basis for informed consent in health care. Patients have the moral and legal right to  determine what will b e done with their own person; to be given accurate, complete, and  understandable information in a manner that facilitates an informed judgment; to be assisted with  weighing the benefits, burdens, and available options in their treatment, including the choice of  no treatment; to accept, refuse, or terminate treatment without deceit, undue influence, duress,  coercion, or penalty† (2014). It is therefore imperative each person entering into treatment has  the means allowed to accept or deny treatment by under which the means they understand it. Another point to consider regarding informed consent is that although a practitioner  may appoint a receptionist or nurse to obtain the written informed consent, it is legally and  ethically the practitioner’s sole responsibility to ensure his or her client has been educated in  regards to assessment and treatment. This cannot be delegated to a latter employee (Hock   Roebeke, 2014, pg. 3). Ethically and legally reliability getting informed consent lies within  the practitioner providing treatment, which includes also the risks and benefits of the treatment. Although delegation clearly is appointed at the pathway of treatment when doing an assessment,  the practitioner does so at the sole discretion that they are doing so risking liability. Those who  have been delegated this work should be properly trained as outlined in Standards 2.05 (â€Å"APA  Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, â€Å"n.d.) which states those who are  delegated work have been properly trained (apa.org). Therefore the person witnessing the  signature is knowledgeable and looks for clues to determine if the person is lucid and  comprehends the informed consent. This can cause further ethical and legal  situations if each person providing informed written consent is not coherent. Finally, spontaneously signing the form by a patient should not be allowed. It is  imperative that each patient reads and understands the forms they are signing. Signing without  reading has been a habitual practice (Rock Hoebeke, 2014, p. 4). The receptionist, nurse, or  other point of contact before seeing the practitioner is the advocate of the patient, thus should  assess the patient’s understanding of treatment. In practice, I have taken clients into a private  room and read to them the informed consent forms to make sure they understand what they are  signing. I already employ all of these methods in my daily practice setting now when undertaking  first contact, initial assessments, etc. I plan to use the Ethics Code and guidelines in the same  manner in which I was trained. Because I am providing a service to people I must ensure they  understand the service they are receiving. If they are not able to read or write, I will read it for  them in a private setting, or if they require an interpreter I will employ Standard 2.05 (â€Å"APA  Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, â€Å"n.d.) and hire a trained interpreter. It  is imperative I follow the Ethics Code in strict line with my work so that I am not  jeopardizing my clients or also myself. References APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://memforms.apa.org/apa/cli/interest/ethics1.cfm#10_01 Fisher,C.B. (2013).Decoding the ethics code: A practical guide for psychologists: includes the 2010 APA amendments to the ethics code(3rded.). Los Angeles [etc.: SAGE. Hudgins, PhD,C., Rose, PhD,S., Fifield,P., Arnault,S. (2013).Navigating the Legal and Ethical Foundations of Informed Consent and Confidentiality in Integrated Primary Care(Vol. 31). Retrieved from American Psychological Association website: http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.lib.kaplan.edu/eds/detail/ Rock,M., Hoebeke,R. (2014). Informed consent: whose duty to inform?MedSurgNursing,23(3), 4. Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.lib.kaplan.edu

Holography: From Physics to The Big Screen Essay -- Cinematography

The technical evolution of film industry is one notable feature of modern civilization. The innovation of combining motion pictures with recorded sound. Black-and-white film gradually replaced by the colour motion picture film and the visual effect involve the integration of live-action footage and computer generated imagery to create a scenes which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly or impossible to be recorded and the popularization of three-dimensional cinema. The developments of technique contribute the film industry to get closer to people’s perception, however, in the real life. The observation of objects would change if we look from different distance and angle. And this experience of perception cannot be done in film. Because of the lack of stereoscopic impression of film images, it limits our sense so that the actual we see might be different. In 1920s, Sergei Eisenstein had predicted that the future of cinematography was tridimensional and there are many other film pioneers hold the same view. What most film histories leave out is that the Lumià ¨re Brothers were trying to achieve a three-dimensional image, Louis Lumià ¨re eventually re-shot L’Arrivà ©e d’un Train with a stereoscopic film camera and exhibited it (along with a series of other 3D shorts) at French Academy of Science. The films were shot in two views of the scene and then printing the film in two different colors and combining them with layered film on one reel. S3D (Stereoscopic 3D) film with better use of polarization systems were invited in 1930s and shown in the public in 1950s, however, after this initial huge excitement, S3D films were not widely recognized. Although the polarized stereoscopic film technology have been improved in all possible... ...nounced that they developed a generator of holograms on a board with a circuit that generates holograms on the LCD panel. The holography had demonstrated its potential. Now holograms are not so distant future any more. The idea of the holographic movies started becoming popular among filmmakers. Andrei Tarkovsky said, "The most important thing for cinema is for it to become holographic". A hologram can be made not only with the light waves of a laser, but also with sound waves and other waves in the electro-magnetic spectrum. Acoustical holography can see through solid objects by using sound waves. Microwave holography detects images by recording the object’s radio waves. Some holograms made with ultraviolet light can record an image of particle such as atom or molecule. Holography is one of the most significant discoveries humankind has ever made.

Incest in Jane Smileys A Thousand Acres :: Smiley Thousand Acres Essays

Incest in A Thousand Acres Incest in A Thousand Acres invades all the other items: it is there, and is crucial for everything that happens, but it is hidden beneath the surface of appearances. Tim Keppel has pointed out not only that "Smiley's major departure [...] is her decision to tell the story from the viewpoint of Ginny and explore the inner lives of the so-called 'evil' sisters" (Keppel, p.105), but that "Smiley makes her most dramatic re-vision of Shakespeare" (Keppel, p.109) in the storm scene. This has traditionally been the scene when the audience form a bond of sympathy with King Lear because of his pathetic insanity, while in A Thousand Acres, the focus of the narrative stays with the sisters and gives us a strong reason to form a bond of sympathy with them instead: Rose tells Ginny about the incest they both underwent, but that Ginny has suppressed from memory. Rose inhaled, held her breath. Then she said, "He was having sex with you. [...] After he stopped going in to you, he started coming in to me, and those are the things he said to me, an that's what we did. We had sex in my bed." (189-190) That Larry has complete control of the lives of Rose and Ginny is already evident, and now we understand more of why. It is not only a matter of sexual abuse, but of asserting a perverted form of power. This is one of the links formed within the framework of the novel between women and nature: They are objects of property. "You were as much his as I was", Rose says. "There was no reason for him to assert his possession of me more than his possession of you. We were just his, to do with as he pleased, like the pond or the houses or the hogs or the crops." (191). All of this is subject to the power inscribed in Larry and the system he embodies. This connection is given a more general relevance in the overall political project of the novel, transcending the workings of one malfunctional family. First, because Larry follows a long line of patriarchal power structures: "You see this grand history, but I see blows.[...] Do I think Daddy came up with beating and fucking us on his own?[...] No. I think he had lessons, and those were part of the package, along with the land and the lust to run things exactly the way he wanted to.

Comparative Analysis of Two Essays

Comparative Analysis of Two Essays on Truth and the Media Both â€Å"Who Killed Privacy? † and â€Å"The Shock of the True† deal with the subject of truth and the media, each has a different focus. In Roger Resentment's â€Å"Who Killed Privacy† the issue is whether the fact that something is true Justifies it as a subject for discussion in the media, and to what extent the public interest in the subject is appropriate. â€Å"The Shock of the True† is an exploration of crime and violence as a subject of works of non-fiction.Both authors imply that a great deal is printed or shown in the media for he express purpose of satisfying the publics lust for the lurid or the scandalous. Individual privacy enters into the discussion in the first of the essays, with the author concluding that the truth of a statement often bears no relevance and that details of the private lives of public figures are exploited for the titillation and curiosity of the public.Reference is made to the details of improper conduct made about George Bush and Bill Clinton and the sexual scandal of presidential candidate Gary Hart: â€Å"†¦ It seemed clear to most voters that the ability of both men to govern was not Impaired y their scandals. Yet Gary Hart's boat fling seemed to indicate a person out of control, so a distinction was drawn. The author cites well-known Instances of the intense focus on private, but true, facts that constitute an abusive use of the freedom to disseminate information. He mentions TRW and other credit agencies for making private information available without regard to Its accuracy, and chastised programs like â€Å"Marketplace Households† for publishing software containing personal, financial and consumer habits of Individuals. He states that, despite legal efforts to the contrary,