Siddhartha and The Alchemist comparison essay

Every individual’s life is a journey. There are different stages in life that one goes through and by experiencing these different stages of life one becomes wiser. In the novel, Siddhartha and The Alchemist the protagonist Siddhartha and Santiago both go through man different stages in life which made them grow, learn and transform into wiser people. Both protagonists go on a journey which is eventually the same but the purpose of journey is different. Similarly, both protagonist struggles through their journey to become a wiser people. However, the end result for both protagonists was the same which is discovering themselves. Both the father discourages them for leaving their house and going on their journey.Siddhartha the protagonist in Siddhartha is the son of the respected and wealthiest Brahmin. However he is not happy even though he has everything he could ever ask for. Siddhartha realized that he made everyone else happy but that he himself wasn’t. He also got t he feeling that he had already learned the best of what his teachers had to teach but it still wasn’t enough. He still wasn’t satisfied. â€Å"Tomorrow morning, my friend Siddhartha is going to join the Samanas. He is going to become Samana† (Hesse, 9). . Samanas are monks who go around begging for food and they are known for their spirituality.Siddhartha thinks of joining the Samanas as he wanted to become spiritually knowledgeable and get rid of the â€Å"self†, which is a sense of greed and jealousy. But before he could go join Samanas he has to go ask his father’s permission to let him go. When Siddhartha goes to see his father to ask for permission his father was unhappy with Siddhartha’s decision because he wanted Siddhartha to stay home, take care of the house as well as take over the Brahmins position. But however, Siddhartha was not willing to take no for an answer and said â€Å"I will stand here and wait, you will grow tired Sidd hartha, I will grow tired, you will fall asleep Siddhartha, I will not fall asleep, you will die Siddhartha, I will die† (Hesse, 11) which shows his passionate desire for enlightenment.The father and son disagreement is also in Alchemist but it is less intense than the disagreement between Siddhartha and his father. Santiago is a young boy who decided that he did not want to become a priest but a shepherd. His father  tries to explain Santiago to think again about his decision of traveling by saying â€Å"Among us, the only ones who travels are the Shepherds† â€Å"well then I’ll be a shepherd† (Coelho, 9). While going against what was wanted of his parents, his father showed acceptance of his decision to become a shepherd by giving him three ancient Spanish gold coins. Santiago’s life as a shepherd and his journey started from that day.Santiago was comfortable with being a shepherd. He knew how to be a shepherd; he trusted the sheep and the sheep trusted him too. But being a shepherd did not truly make Santiago happy. One day Santiago was taking shelter with his sheep’s under the old church. He has the same dream every time he falls asleep under the sycamore tree that grows out of the ruin of the church. Santiago was so driven by the reoccurring of the same dream and eventually Santiago sold his flock of sheep and embarked on his great journey to the pyramids. Throughout the novel, each protagonist showed their strong will to go on journey even if it meant going against their family.The Protagonist in both novels faces obstacles along their journey but these obstacles made them stronger and wiser. On his journey to get answers for his question and reach Nirvana. Siddhartha struggles, starves, get burned and sacrifices his easy life and chooses this hard path just in order to gain Nirvana (enlightenment). As he leaves home to become Samana, he realizes that the path he has chosen is not the right one.† It was th e self, the character and to rid myself of the self, to conquer it, but I could not conquer it. I could only deceive it†¦..I am Siddhartha; and about nothing in the world do I know less than about myself, about Siddhartha† (Hesse, 38).Siddhartha struggles not knowing what to do, where to go and who he was. Siddhartha was trapped in a cycle of losing and regaining his self. â€Å"You have observed well, you have seen everything. You have seen Siddhartha, the son of Brahmin. Who left his home to become a Samana and who has been Samana for three years. But now, I have left that path and came into this city, and the first one I met, even before I had entered the city, was you. To say this, I have come to you, oh Kamala! You are the first woman whom Siddhartha is not addressing with his eyes turned to the ground. Never again will I love my eyes when I meet a beautiful women† (Hesse, 53).Things suddenly changes after meeting Kamala. Siddhartha starts getting involved in the things that he was once against which are pleasure and money. He struggles and works  hard in-order to impress Kamala. In the same way, Santiago faces numerous obstacles along his journey as well. On his journey when Santiago arrives in tangier, he meets a boy who is his age who speaks Spanish and offered to help him get to the pyramids. When they were about to leave the bar owner grabs Santiago and tells him something. â€Å"The boy push the owner aside and pulls Santiago outside with him† and tells him that â€Å"the owner wanted Santiago’s money† (Coelho, 37). But the owner of the bar was trying to warn Santiago about his new friend. Santiago ends up getting tricked and losing all his money.He later realize the bar owner was trying help him. After that incident he ends up working at a crystal shop in order to earn money for his trip. Another obstacle he faces is when there was a battle going on in the desert. Some armies blocked him and the alchemist fr om going. The alchemist told the armies that Santiago is someone† who understand the force of nature† (Coelho, 163). By listening to what alchemist said. The armies put Santiago on test. If he fails they would kill him. Both protagonists go through a lot of obstacles on their journey. Having the ability to succeed to your personal legend, and find self-discovery allows people to open their minds and see the world for what it really is and how everything has a purpose in life.On his path to self-discovery, Siddhartha, had to confront many challenges, such as leaving his family, friends, and loved ones as he kept going on his journey. Siddhartha overcame these problems through introspection and help from others Siddhartha couldn’t figure out how he could find Nirvana (enlightenment). He understood it when his son left him to follow his own dreams. â€Å"His face resembles that of another person, whom he had once known and loved and even feared. It resembles the fac e of his father, the Brahmin. He remember how once, as a youth, he had compelled his father to let him go and join the ascetics, how he had taken leave of him, how he had gone and never returned†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.had not his father died long time ago, alone, without having seen his son again?† (Hesse, 131).He realizes that he wouldn’t have been able to stop his son just; like how his father wasn’t able to stop from leaving. Santiago’s dream was to make it to the pyramids, but the adventure that he found himself on in order to get to those pyramids taught him more than he ever thought. â€Å"He thought many roads he have travelled, and of the strange way god have chosen to show him  his treasure. If he hasn’t believed in the significance of recurrent dreams, he would not have met the gypsy women, the king, the thief or†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Coelho, 165). He learns many things on the way to find his treasure. Therefore, his journey becomes successful as he fi nds treasure.While staying with the crystal shop owner he learns that â€Å"every blessing ignored becomes a curse† (Hesse, 58). And also learns that it is necessary to adopt different methods in order to succeed in life. Siddhartha and Santiago come across things that came in their heart which made them wiser. Throughout the novel, each protagonist shows that their life is a journey, not a destination, and that the real treasure is in the journey itself. They showed strong determination which resulted in success of their journey. Each protagonist faces numerous obstacles which made them grow wiser and they discover their true selves.

Jun Assignment Mpa for 2012-13

IGNOU M. A in Public Administration Solved Assignment Dec 2012 Presented by http://www. IGNOU4Ublog. com TUTOR MARKED ASSIGNMENT (TMA) Course Code: MPA-011 Assignment Code: Asst/TMA/2012-2013 Marks: 100 This assignment consists of Sections I & II. There are five questions in each section. You have to answer a total of five questions in about 400 words each. It is necessary to attempt at least two questions from each section. Each question carries 20 marks. Section-1 consists of questions from Units 1 to 10 and Section-II consists of questions from Units 11 to 21. Section – I . Examine the views of F. W Riggs on Society-Administration relationship. Solution: Coming soon†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. ———————————————————————————————– 2. ‘State’s role needs to be examined in the context of its Liberal and Marxist perspectives’. Discuss. Solution: The liberal conception of the state is of a limited organization that represents popular will. The state plays a minimal role in the directing of society and economic affairs, but can play a significant supporting role in modern liberal (social liberal) theories.Classical Liberals favor a minimal state that only provides for basic services such as defense, enforcing contracts and protecting property rights. Social liberals accept more roles for the state, primarily in the economic sphere, such as regulation of capitalism in order to protect consumers and workers, welfare programs to help the poor and disadvantaged in society and public services that benefit everyone. To liberals, the state plays a supporting role in society, and is usually left to operate in the political and social spheres.Marxists conceive of the state as an institution of capitalism that can be transformed to benefit the working class, as the state is the only institution that is capable of organizing and managing the economy on a large scale. The state would be radicalized in that the workers and people would control it through direct democracy or council democracy. The state becomes an integral part of the economy in that it owns the means of production in the phase of socialism.Marxists see the state as becoming unnecessary when the productive forces develop and authority on the state level is no longer required, leading to the disappearance of the state and social class. This society is called communism, where the means of production is owned communally but operated and managed by cooperatives. Socialism is an economic system whereby either the state or worker cooperatives own and control the means of production, strategic resources and major industry.The principle of socialism is to organize the economy in a rational manner that avoids the pitfalls of capitalism and the free market through plan ned or state directed economic systems. Socialism can also utilize the market mechanism to distribute goods and services in the form of market socialism, while the state or public retains ownership of major economic institutions. The revenue generated by the state economy would be used to finance government programs, potentially eliminating the need for taxation.A private sector for non-heavy industry can exist in a socialist system, but the state, public or cooperative sector would play the dominant role in the economy. To socialists, the state is a part of the economy and the state plays a dominant role in structuring economic and political affairs. ———————————————————————————————– 3. Explain the Neo-liberal Perspective of State. Solution: Neoliberalism is a co ntemporary political movement advocating economic liberalizations, free trade and open markets. Neoliberalism supports the privatization of nationalized industries, eregulation, and enhancing the role of the private sector in modern society. It is commonly informed by neoclassical or Austrian economics. The term neoliberal today is often used as a general condemnation of economic liberalization policies and advocates. Neoliberalism shares many concepts with mainstream schools of economic thought. The term â€Å"neoliberalism† was coined in 1938 by the German scholar Alexander Rustow at the Colloque Walter Lippmann. The colloquium defined the concept of neoliberalism as â€Å"the priority of the price mechanism, the free enterprise, the system of competition and a strong and impartial state. To be â€Å"neoliberal† meant that â€Å"laissez-faire† liberalism is not enough and that – in the name of liberalism – a modern economic policy is required. A fter the colloquium â€Å"neoliberalism† became a label for several academical approaches such as the Freiburg school, the Austrian School or the Chicago school of economics. During the military rule under Augusto Pinochet in Chile opposition scholars took up the expression again without a specific reference to any theoretical revision of liberalism.Rather, it described a set of political and economic reforms being implemented in Chile and imbued the term with pejorative connotations. In the last two decades, according to the Boas and Gans-Morse study of 148 journal articles, neoliberalism is almost never defined but used in several senses to describe ideology, economic theory, development theory, or economic reform policy. It has largely become a term of condemnation employed by critics of liberalizing economic tendencies. And it now suggests a â€Å"market fundamentalism† closer to the â€Å"paleoliberals† as opposed to the primary meaning.This leaves some con troversy as to the precise meaning of the term and its usefulness as a descriptor in the social sciences, especially as the number of different kinds of market economies have proliferated in recent years ———————————————————————————————– 4. ‘The nature of social participation is ever changing’.Elucidate Solution: Whether we live in the crowded bustle of an inner city or in a quieter, less populated rural area, most of us are part of the community in which we live. Social participation refers to people's social involvement and interaction with others. Activities such as volunteering, making donations, participating in sports, and recreational activities are all forms of social participation. While Canadians may differ in why, how, and how much they ge t involved, most would agree that social participation improves their own and the community's well-being[1].Measures of social participation include participation in political activities and participation in social activities. Measures of factors that influence social participation include social networks, sense of belonging, and level of trust. Highlights 54. 6% of Canadians – 58. 3% of men and 51. 7% of women – reported being involved in at least one political activity in 2002. Involvement in at least one social activity group, such as professional associations, or cultural, educational, and hobby organizations, was reported by 61% of Canadians in 2003. In 2003, the great majority of Canadians (93. %) reported having some close friends or family members. However, 6. 3% of Canadians reported having no close friend or family member. In 2003, the vast majority of Canadians had a â€Å"somewhat or very strong† sense of belonging to Canada (88%), to their province (81%), and to their community (70%). A little more than half of Canadians (56%) in 2003 believed that others could be trusted. The level of trust was highest among individuals aged 45 to 64 years old (59%) compared with other age categories. Footnotes There is no agreement on how to best define ‘community. For example, and the 2003 General Social Survey on Social Engagement (Statistics Canada, cat. no. 89-598-XIE) leaves the definition open. Generally, the term ‘community' refers to the people and institutions that are in proximity to our place of residence. However, it can also include a more global sense of community, where charitable donations to an international charity can benefit people of other countries. ———————————————————————————————– 5. Ans wer the following questions in 200 words each: ) Concept of ‘Hind Swaraj’ Solution:The concept of swaraj, or self-rule, was developed during the Indian freedom struggle. In his book Hind Swaraj (1909), Gandhi sought to clarify that the meaning behind swaraj was much more than simply â€Å"wanting [systems of] English rule without the Englishman; the tiger's nature but not the tiger. † The crux of his argument centered on the belief that the socio-spiritual underpinnings of British political, economic, bureaucratic, legal, military, and educational institutions were inherently unjust, exploitative and alienating.As Pinto explicates, â€Å"The principal theme of Hind Swaraj is the moral inadequacy of western civilization, especially its industrialism, as the model for free India. † Gandhi was particularly critical of the deeply embedded principles of ‘might is right' and ‘survival of the fittest'. On another level, the call for swaraj represents a genuine attempt to regain control of the ‘self' – our self-respect, self-responsibility, and capacities for self-realization – from institutions of dehumanization.As Gandhi states, â€Å"It is swaraj when we learn to rule ourselves. † The real goal of the freedom struggle was not only to secure political azadi (independence) from Britain, but rather to gain true swaraj (liberation and self-rule). Gandhi wanted all those who believed in swaraj: (1) to reject and wholly uproot the British raj (rule) from within themselves and their communities; and, (2) to regenerate new reference points, systems, and structures that enable individual and collective self-development.This regeneration was to grow from the strengths, perspectives, wisdom and experiences of people living in village India, rather than from cities in Britain, America, and even in India for that matter. Understanding the real ‘Self', and its relation to communities and society, is critical to the project of attaining swaraj. How is this relevant for us today? We feel that South Asia (along with the rest of the world) is experiencing a tremendous crisis, one overwhelming in its scale and pace of growth.While it is easy to get caught up in the symptoms of this crisis (the brutal violence, the enormous inequities, the extinction of cultures and languages, the degradation of the environment), it is equally, if not more, important to understand its roots. We must creatively analyze the content and the consequences of our current economic, political, social, and educational systems, without reverting to a romanticized past of so-called untouched or pristine traditions.From these critical reflections, we must generate new spaces, systems, and processes – based on moral and holistic visions of human potential and human progress – which can lead us out of the global self-destruction which engulfs us. Throughout it all, we must consider and negotiate our own role s, while asking ourselves how we are either working for solutions or contributing to making the crisis worse. Thus, today, we recognize Gandhi's concept of swaraj integral to three parallel action-reflection agendas for the 21st century: ———————————————————————————————– ) Citizen’s Charter Solution: Citizen’s Charter is a document which represents a systematic effort to focus on the commitment of the Organization towards its Citizens in respects of Standard of Services, Information, Choice and Consultation, Non-discrimination and Accessibility, Grievance Redressal, courtesy and value for money. This also includes expectations of the Organization from the Citizen for fulfilling the commitment of the Organization.The Citizen's Charter was a British p olitical initiative launched by the then Prime Minister, John Major, on 22 July 1991, less than a year into his premiership. [1] It aimed to improve public services in the UK by: Making administration accountable and citizen friendly. Ensuring transparency and the right to information. Taking measures to cleanse and motivate civil service. Adopting a stakeholder approach. Saving time of both executant and the clientele One part of the initiative was the granting of â€Å"Charter Marks† to those public bodies meeting defined standards. ———————————————————————————————- Section – II 6. Examine the role of Bureaucracy in policy monitoring and analysis. Solution: Bureaucrats put government policy into practice, and therefore the federal bureaucracy has a large impact on policymaking. In order to get their policies passed, the president and Congress must work with the bureaucracy. Controlling the bureaucracy can be difficult for the following reasons:Size: The president cannot monitor everyone or even every group within the bureaucracy, so much of what bureaucrats do goes unmonitored. Expertise of bureaucrats: The people who administer policy often know much more about those issues than the president or members of Congress. This expertise gives the bureaucrats power. Civil service laws: Firing bureaucrats, even for incompetence, is very difficult. Clientele groups: Many federal agencies provide services to thousands of people, and those people sometimes rally to defend the agency.Policy implementation: When Congress creates a new program, it does not establish all the details on how the policy will be implemented. Instead, Congress passes enabling legislation, which grants power to an agency to work out the specifics. Although the agency must stay within some bounds, it has a great deal of latitude in determining how to carry out the wishes of Congress. Power of Persuasion Presidential scholar Richard Neustadt has argued that the president’s primary power is that of persuasion.The president must lobby or persuade bureaucrats. But trying to convince members of the bureaucracy that their goals fit with the president’s goals is a time-consuming and often frustrating process. For this reason, many presidents have seen the bureaucracy as an obstacle to getting their agendas approved. Rule-making The federal bureaucracy makes rules that affect how programs operate, and these rules must be obeyed, just as if they were laws. The rule-making process for government agencies occurs in stages.After Congress passes new regulatory laws, the agency charged with implementing the law proposes a series of rules, which are published in the Federal Register. Interested parties can comment on the rules, either at public he arings or by submitting documents to the agency. After the agency publishes the final regulations, it must wait sixty days before enforcing those rules. During that time, Congress can review and change the rules if it desires. If Congress makes no changes, the rules go into effect at the end of sixty days. Federal regulations affect many groups of people, who have often challenged those regulations in court.Because litigation is a slow and expensive way to change regulations, Congress passed the Negotiated Rulemaking Act of 1990 to limit the need for litigation by opening the rulemaking process to those affected by it. The act encouraged federal agencies to engage in negotiated rule-making. If an agency agrees to the proposed regulations, for example, it publishes the proposals in the Federal Register and then participates in a negotiating committee overseen by a third party. Agreements reached by the committee are then open to the normal public review process.Parties to negotiated rule-making agree not to sue over the rules. ———————————————————————————————– 7. Write a note on the nature and characteristics of good governance. Solution: Good governance has 8 major characteristics. It is participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive and follows the rule of law. It assures that corruption is minimized, the views of minorities are taken into account and that the voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making.It is also responsive to the present and future needs of society. Participation Participation by both men and women is a key cornerstone of good governance. Participation could be either direct or through legitimate intermediate institutions or representatives. It is important to point out that representative democracy does not necessarily mean that the concerns of the most vulnerable in society would be taken into consideration in decision making. Participation needs to be informed and organized. This means freedom of association and expression on the one hand and an organized civil society on the other hand.Rule of law Good governance requires fair legal frameworks that are enforced impartially. It also requires full protection of human rights, particularly those of minorities. Impartial enforcement of laws requires an independent judiciary and an impartial and incorruptible police force. Transparency Transparency means that decisions taken and their enforcement are done in a manner that follows rules and regulations. It also means that information is freely available and directly accessible to those who will be affected by such decisions and their enforcement.It also means that enough information is provided and that it is provided in easily understandable forms and media. Responsiveness Good governance requires that institutions and processes try to serve all stakeholders within a reasonable timeframe. Consensus oriented There are several actors and as many view points in a given society. Good governance requires mediation of the different interests in society to reach a broad consensus in society on what is in the best interest of the whole community and how this can be achieved.It also requires a broad and long-term perspective on what is needed for sustainable human development and how to achieve the goals of such development. This can only result from an understanding of the historical, cultural and social contexts of a given society or community. ——————————————————————————————â€⠀Ã¢â‚¬â€œ 8. Explain the meaning of Ethics, underlying its ‘foci’ and ‘loci’. Solution: Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior.Major areas of study in ethics may be divided into 3 operational areas: Meta-ethics came to the fore with G. E. Moore's Principia Ethica from 1903. In it he first wrote about what he called the naturalistic fallacy. Moore was seen to reject naturalism in ethics, in his Open Question Argument. This made thinkers look again at second order questions about ethics. Earlier, the Scottish philosopher David Hume had put forward a similar view on the difference between facts and values.Studies of how we know in ethics divide into cognitivism and non-cognitivism; this is similar to the contrast between descriptivists and non-descriptivists. Non-cognitivism is the claim that when we judge something as right or wrong, this is neither true nor false. We may for example be only expressing our emotional feelings about these things. [2] Cognitivism can then be seen as the claim that when we talk about right and wrong, we are talking about matters of fact. Normative ethics Traditionally, normative ethics (also known as moral theory) was the study of what makes actions right and wrong.These theories offered an overarching moral principle one could appeal to in resolving difficult moral decisions. At the turn of the 20th century, moral theories became more complex and are no longer concerned solely with rightness and wrongness, but are interested in many different kinds of moral status. During the middle of the century, the study of normative ethics declined as meta-ethics grew in prominence. This focus on meta-ethics was in part caused by an intense linguistic focus in analytic philosophy and by the popularity of logical positivism.Virtue ethics Virtue ethics describes the character of a moral agent as a dr iving force for ethical behavior, and is used to describe the ethics of Socrates, Aristotle, and other early Greek philosophers. Socrates (469 BC – 399 BC) was one of the first Greek philosophers to encourage both scholars and the common citizen to turn their attention from the outside world to the condition of humankind. In this view, knowledge having a bearing on human life was placed highest, all other knowledge being secondary.Self-knowledge was considered necessary for success and inherently an essential good. A self-aware person will act completely within his capabilities to his pinnacle, while an ignorant person will flounder and encounter difficulty. ———————————————————————————————– 9. ‘The solution to governance challenges lies in civil soci ety movements’. Discuss. Solution: Until recently, the study of development process until recently has centered largely on the triangle of states-markets-international institutions.For the last decade, mainstream development discourse has adopted the notion of ‘civil society' as simultaneously the site of ‘citizens' collective action' as well as a set of actors to be incorporated in the planning, implementation and evaluation of development projects. This notion of ‘civil society' has tended to focus exclusively on NGOs. This course provides a more political understanding of ‘civil society' by examining social movements in relation to civil society and to the development project itself. It begins by current theories of ‘civil society' and ‘new social movements'.It then assesses the impact of nationalist and socialist movements on shaping the development agenda of nineteenth-century European and late-colonial states, and how social movements from the 1950s-1980s interacted with national governments in blocking, changing or advancing the development agendas of states (e. g. , Gandhian movements in India, the housing rights movements in urban Latin America, and the movements against minority rule in Southern Africa). The course focuses on contexts (e. g. democratisation, globalisation, etc. ), sectors (e. g. environment, agriculture), spaces (e. g. ural, urban) and agents (e. g. women). Subsequently, the course addresses the issue of ‘global civil society': issues of ‘globalisation' and transnational networks of solidarity created in response to it, for example, the movements against ‘sweatshop labour', the Zapatista movement in Mexico, and movements against transnational companies and institutions of global governance (WTO, World Bank, IMF etc. ). ———————————————————†”———————————– 10. Answer the following questions in 200 words each: a) Concept of New Public ManagementSolution: New public management (NPM) denotes broadly the government policies, since the 1980s, that aimed to modernise and render more effective the public sector. The basic hypothesis holds that market oriented management of the public sector will lead to greater cost-efficiency for governments, without having negative side-effects on other objectives and considerationsSome modern authors define NPM as a combination of splitting large bureaucracies into smaller, more fragmented ones, competition between different public agencies, and between public agencies and private firms and incentivization on more economic lines. 2] Defined in this way, NPM has been a significant driver in public management policy around the world, from the early 1980s to at least the early 2000s. NPM, compared to other pub lic management theories, is oriented towards outcomes and efficiency, through better management of public budget. [3] It is considered to be achieved by applying competition, as it is known in the private sector, to organizations in the public sector, emphasizing economic and leadership principles.New public management addresses beneficiaries of public services much like customers, and conversely citizens as shareholders. In 2007, the European Commission produced a white book on governance issues whose objective was to propose a new kind of â€Å"relationship between the state and the citizens,† reform governance, improve public management and render decision-making â€Å"more flexibleSome authors say NPM has peaked and is now in decline ——————————————————————————————à ¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€œ ) Business Process Engineering Solution: Business process re-engineering is a business management strategy, originally pioneered in the early 1990s, focusing on the analysis and design of workflows and processes within an organization. BPR aimed to help organizations fundamentally rethink how they do their work in order to dramatically improve customer service, cut operational costs, and become world-class competitors. 1] In the mid-1990s, as many as 60% of the Fortune 500 companies claimed to either have initiated reengineering efforts, or to have plans to do so. BPR seeks to help companies radically restructure their organizations by focusing on the ground-up design of their business processes. According to Davenport (1990) a business process is a set of logically related tasks performed to achieve a defined business outcome. Re-engineering emphasized a holistic focus on business objectives and how processes related to them, encouraging full-scale recreation of pr ocesses rather than iterative optimization of subprocesses.

Andrew Grove

Intel Corporation is one of the world leaders in terms of microchip and microprocessor production. They embark on a mission of staying in the top and even formulated a strategy on exploring other forms of markets like that of digital health and wireless applications. They have also been known to forge tie-ups with leaders of the prospective markets they are exploring. They have tied up with search engine Google for the wireless application as an example. Basically, Intel operations are divided into two sections: the communications group, known as ICG or Intel Communications Group; and the other section consists of the Intel Architectural business. The architectural section is responsible for the production of â€Å"platform† boards that consists of chipsets and microchips, which are used in desktop processors; including the Intel Pentium 4 processor and the Celeron. On the other hand, the communications section deal mostly with the production and development of wireless technology. They are mostly concerned with flash memory and cellular base-band technology. Intel is also known for large-scale tie-ups with other firms. Example of such is their tie-up with search engine Google for development of wireless technologies. They are also know to be connected with other firms like Microsoft and Dell. However, competition has been seen to catch up on the leadership oh Intel. Recently, a lot of clamors have been heard in the recent decision of present CEO Paul Otellini unveiled his plan to ship the micro-chip corporation to another industry. While the rest had their problems with it, former CEO Andrew Grove is all praises for it. The present CEO’s vision is to generally change the image of Intel starting from what Andrew Grove practically built. Starting from the scrapping of the famous â€Å"e† trademark of the logo, the company motto and even the brand, the company has been envisioned to undergo a transformation. A lot of managers seem to be against the changing of such things that made Intel a household name. Even the logo has been widely known in all parts of the globe. Meanwhile, Andrew Grove has been vocal about his approval of the said changes. In his opinion, they are of the same line of thinking that the present CEO has, that the company really has to undergo these changes in order for the to tell the world that even Intel is adjusting to the fast-paced growth of the industry and that they, as a company, should be at equal footing with the rest of the companies in the same industry.   He further stresses that it is a imperative for the company to show that the company exhibits a show of risk-taking and result orientation, accompanied also by the value of discipline. Before, under Grove’s supervision and Craig Barrett (Grove’s successor), the company focused on the production of microprocessors and took the lead in that industry for years. They helped give birth to the Information Age by producing more microchips and therefore, producing faster computers and ending in the development of micro processing. However, what Otellini had in mind is far from the former image of Intel, considering that he even wanted to change the logo and company symbol. He wanted to venture into uncharted regions of digital health industry and that of â€Å"platform† inventions. Despite the negative views about Otellini’s decision, Analysts from outside the company have cited other views about the subject, stating the fact that sometimes, change is needed for a big company to maintain solid advantage. They also added that other companies that survived the changes maintained industry leadership, just like what happened to Texas Instruments. However, the other side notes that it is not really that advisable to change their target industry and find a niche in other markets, although they have leadership in the industry they would leave. Adding firepower to the firepower of the critics, Intel’s competitor, AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) Inc., have scored a major point against Intel as it topped the company in terms of consumption as AMD Inc rose to a higher percentage in 2003 and analysts view that it would continue to rise against Intel unless Intel releases a new competitive line of processors in the future.. In the wireless communications field, Texas Instruments and Qualcomm Inc are still standing their own ground against Intel’s advances. Also, the two companies are planning to release their own versions of the platform that they assured, would gain more shares of the market than the new Intel is trying to build a niche on. On the other hand, many people are applauding Otellini’s vision of the new Intel, stating that they have never seen so much innovation in technology with respect to their fields, especially that of medicine. Also, people have actually seen the growth of the company, showing promise for a whole variety of new plans that are underway. Not only did the plans boost company ties with other companies, but also made their partner companies believe in the new flexibility of Intel. They promoted closer ties with cellular phone conglomerates Nokia and Samsung; had present tie-ups with Google; ties with Sony and Philips; and with those ties, Intel was able to produce and release different types of innovative products. There different developments have different market reactions. Some producing great results, others not. However, analysts are right in pointing out that other companies that are industry leaders also experienced changes that looked like they are headed nowhere, although in the end, they have proven that their change would actually pay off. And now, Intel took their lead and eventually took some changes in themselves as well. The problem would be, if they can maintain the positive effects and eliminate the negative effects of the changes. As for their decision of making the company over, It is. The industry’s reaction to it seemed to treat the decision as a smart move as well. Rival AMD Inc made some deals with ATI, and this showed that Intel produced a bigger threat than before. Also, the result of other marketing strategies in the release of the new products proved that Intel can really hold its own against the rivals in the industries that they have entered. They also showed that they can maintain the leadership in their industry, and even remodeled themselves into a more serious threat than that of before. However, not all decisions solely produce good effects. The negative effects therefore should be dealt with accordingly. Otellini did not make a bad move and he assured that he would produce good results which he did, although in the process nearly humiliating the company as he suffered near losses and continue to be behind Texas Instrument in the other fields. Intel not only made a good decision externally but also made breakthrough decisions internally, taking care of their employees better and giving chances to other fields like medicine to be at the same level as that of the engineers, the firepower of Intel before. May be this was a factor in Otellini’s equation that he devised for company growth. All in all, Intel has made a remarkable shift from the way it was thirty seven years ago. It also departed from the household figure that we recognized. Although this a bold move in there part and a rather risky one considering the old model is one of the main reasons why Intel made it to the top. In Otellini’s, and now Intel’s belief, It is one risky move that was designed to maintain leadership and gain advantages in other fields that they would pursue in the future. The market and business world would have to look out as Intel’s new look is bound to stay, and so is their new outlook in the business battles. BIBLIOGRAPHIES Intel Corp. Company Profile. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved October 26, 2006. (http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/13/13787.html) Intel Corporation. Computer Business Review Online. Retrieved October 26, 2006. (http://www.cbronline.com/companyprofile.asp?guid=E82C088A-0488-4DB5-8953-9E316C2B44D1&CType=Background)

Customer Issues in Financial Services Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Customer Issues in Financial Services - Essay Example The next aspect, pricing, depends on who has the upper hand, whether the buyers or the sellers. If the goods are freely available and competitively priced, definitely, it is the buyers who have the upper hand, but if there are shortage of goods and its suppliers, with high demand, definitely it would be the sellers who would call the shots. The aspect of penalties arises due to non-fulfilment of contract, or breach of trust on the part of the concerned parties. This could be due to external or internal factors, but which nevertheless influence the performance, or non-performance of the contract, to such an extent that Courts award penalties to be paid to the aggrieved parties. Under UK Contract Act, there is a commitment on either side to deliver, and breach of this delivery could give rise to penalties. However, it is to be borne in mind that Courts assess the penalties based upon actual losses sustained by the aggrieved parties, and not on contingent, or assumed profits. Thus, it would be well within the powers of the Court to allow for actual losses sustained by aggrieved parties, but not future loss of profits. Coming next to the aspect of exclusions, it is often seen that... Thus, the fine print in contracts is sought to absolve parties of their commitments and responsibilities under covenant bindings. Again, the main areas that need to be covered would be in terms of customer satisfaction, complaint handling and how to handle disputes. The main aspect with regard to customer servicing would be in the event when things go wrong between the sellers and buyers. In the present context of retail trade in UK, it is seen that the standard of client servicing has deteriorated over the years, leading to greater proportion of complaints, litigation, etc. It is quite possible that sellers may try to absolve themselves of blame by citing negligence or lack of product knowledge or care in usage by buyers. It is seldom that vendors would accept responsibility for defective goods or lowered quality, or timeliness of services. Therefore, it becomes necessary "To protect consumers from being misled or pressured by a supplier's promotional activities (for example, most countries place restrictions on investment advertisements)." (McKiernan and Cha 2008). This writer believes that this statement could have limited application in the real commercial world of financial services. This is because financial services organizations need to comply with statutory norms, not only in terms of their performance but also in terms of financial reporting. It is now necessary to consider certain decided case laws in UK to understand the impact of contract laws. The first would be the case of Hedley Byrne & Company Ltd v. Heller & Partners Ltd (1964). In this case, the applicant, Hedley Byrne brought action against a bank that vouched for the financial soundness of a client company, albeit with a disclaimer that the

The Multiple Benefits of Dual Language Assignment

The Multiple Benefits of Dual Language - Assignment Example Educators realize that dual language programs are the best way to go about this. Although according to the authors the legislation is flawed because it compares this years students with last years and it also does not give a timeframe. Thomas and Collier found that in the Houston, Texas, Independent School District the English learner students scored more highly than those in a transitional bilingual program. What they also discovered is that the scores for native speaking English students were also higher than those in the mainstream system. As a bonus, these English speaking students also scored higher in their chosen foreign language than those learning in standalone programs. Not only did students score higher grades, but they also picked up another language at the same time. Thomas and Collier found that native speakers who were in dual language programs saw improvements in both their native language and second language. This shows that the programs are effective in equipping students with the right skills to succeed. Native English speaking students can get just as much out of the programs as English learners

Emily Dickinson Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Emily Dickinson - Essay Example In a tumultuous time, American writing became introspective and biographical (Casper, 19), and Dickinson's melancholic poetry of the self reflected both her immediate surroundings and her nationality. The mid-nineteenth century was also a time of high expectations for the future, and this was a theme that Dickinson picked up on in her work. The reader's expectations play a huge role in literature, and Dickinson played with them mercilessly, asking why we expect certain things and completely blind-siding us. Although it can be argued that our expectations of literature are merely to be entertained, and occasionally provoked, this essay will look at expectations as a motif of literature, both internal and external. This essay will look at five of Dickinson's poems, of varying lengths, styles and subjects, and show how the poet uses and manipulates the motif of 'expectation' to constantly surprise the reader, in ways both good and bad. It is difficult to date much of Dickinson's work, a s her copious output was private, and typically her texts lack titles. The first line of the first poem to be discussed is â€Å"I had been hungry all the years†, and is a perfect introduction to the idea of subverted expectations. The extended metaphor of the poem uses lunch to represent a long anticipation for an event which turns out to be extremely disappointing – although it sounds silly, Dickinson's use of rhyme and rhythm creates a pounding tone which reinforces the sense of misfortune, and of high hopes dashed. The speaker describes herself as â€Å"trembling† (3) in impatience to eat the food, only to find that it makes her feel â€Å"ill and odd† (14), and that â€Å"Nature's dining-room† (12) in which she ate before is far more suited to her temperament. This could be an allegory of growing up, as the speaker fails to mention if she was allowed to return. The final stanza concludes the moral of the story, that the mere fact of not being able to eat creates hunger, which â€Å"The entering [into the new realm] takes away† (20). The speaker's expectations were always fruitless. The repetition of the word 'hungry' grounds the poem, reminding the reader of the physicality of the subject. Punctuation provides the same function in â€Å"Frequently the woods are pink†, a poem which subverts the very notion of expectation itself. The speaker of â€Å"Frequently† expresses wonder at the â€Å"Wonderful Rotation!† (11) of the earth, turning everything alternately â€Å"pink† (1) and â€Å"brown† (2). The liberal sprinkling of dashes and exclamation marks – five of the former and three of the latter, in a poem just twelve lives long – induces the reader to pause at certain points in the poem, enhancing the effect of the preceding line. The pauses echo the speaker's surprise, and implicitly encourage the reader to ask themselves: why do we not find the fast rotation of th e earth as impressive and amazing as it is? Extending the question, does being accustomed to a phenomenon necessarily mean that we forget its wonder? The interjection of â€Å"– they tell me –† (9) increases the sense of wonder, as if the speaker cannot quite believe what â€Å"they† say. Sunrise and sunset are so magical as to deserve such a â€Å"Wonderful†

Law in a changing society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Law in a changing society - Essay Example This can be put forward as an ideal solution to solve legal issues. Parties involved in the process, therefore, take it upon themselves to conduct a thorough and conclusive investigation on which they will base their argument during the trial process. Whereas, this has always been an ideal solution there are factors that should be considered. The assumption made by the legal system that all parties involved in a case have equal resources to carry out investigation may not always be correct (Parkinson 2009, p.46). The system is, therefore, likely to lock out necessary evidence on account of insufficient resources to provide this evidence. The system further fails to recognize parties that may be disadvantaged by factors such as disability and race. The law governing residential tenancies in Australia does not include boarders and lodgers. This means that when faced with a legal challenge, they can only seek justice in the Supreme Court. At the Supreme Court, they will have to argue their case through the traditional adversarial process. The cost of filing a case currently is $894. This considered, the process becomes too expensive for a person who wanted to seek justice. Over the last 30 years, the Australian legal system has sought to adopt some of the aspects of the inquisitorial system. In the section of anti-discrimination law, the Australian law now provides that there should be an investigation by an independent body. This can be done before the disputing parties get brought together to solve their disputes (Parkinson 2009, p.48). The law can be seen to have adopted some of the aspects of the inquisitorial law in the western countries. At the state and territory level, the law provides that the decision making body for allegations of discrimination should be a tribunal. The tribunal looks for evidence that is relevant to the case. The tribunal manages to go beyond the evidence

Real Estate Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Real Estate Development - Essay Example Graaskamp emphasized that developers have a role to play in making social impacts on the community (Greer 34). The real estate decisions they make impact greatly on how the environment of neighborhood will turn out. The developers have to find ways of breaking past constraints to come up with real estate solutions that are favorable to the neighborhood. Graaskamp definition of project feasibility by stating that â€Å"a real estate project is feasible when the real estate analyst determines that there is a reasonable likelihood of satisfying explicit objectives when a selected course of action is tested for fit to a context of specific constraints and limited resources† (Graaskamp 515). Graaskamp’s concept of project feasibility is important in focusing on the assumptions that are involved in the decision to make real estate developments. By considering project feasibility, developers have a chance of making real estate decisions that are beneficial for the market and the investors as well (Etter 95). In real estate development, the term market is used to describe feasibility study refers to the evaluation of a project’s practicability. The feasibility study is normally carried out on the expected cost, operating performance and mortgage market conditions. A project’s feasibility study consists of a financial and market analysis (Graaskamp 517). This study is important as it helps developers establish whether or not a proposed project has the ability to generate enough cash to pay loans and construction debt services as well as provide enough equity capital return. A project feasibility study aims at answering the following questions: what is the developer doing? Who is he doing it for? Whom will he affect? Does the project make financial sense? (520) A market study is described by Graaskamp as the analysis of geographic fragmentation patterns, trends and

Trends in Health Information Systems and Applications (M4C) Essay

Trends in Health Information Systems and Applications (M4C) - Essay Example In the recent years, the use of technology in managing information about medications, doctors’ orders, laboratory results, vital signs, nurses’ notes, and other data related to a specific patient, has been tested and employed by institutions to determine its capability to improve the outcomes of the patient care provided by the health care team. According to Winter et al., (2011), a health information system (HIS) is a system that which â€Å"comprises all the information processing† involved in healthcare delivery through the use of interlinked computers that allow a centralized storage of data for the different health departments and individuals (e.g., pharmacy, laboratory, nursing department, physicians, etc.) which contribute to the overall care provided to patients. Although some studies pointed out the lack of specificity of the benefits of HIS to healthcare institutions, its disadvantages (e.g., ethical issues related to information privacy, human-computer interaction problems, etc.) as well as its cost (Kuhn & Giuse, 2001), findings from other reliable researches serve proof to the emerging importance of keeping a centralized health electronic records storage (Chaudhry et al., 2006).

Superior's balance sheet Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Superior's balance sheet Report - Essay Example The working capitals for Superior Living for the three years are computed as follows: The above calculations clearly highlights that Superior Living has had a steady working capital which is adequately higher than the current liabilities of the company. However, if the company aims at entering into newer projects and investments, the company would require to have a higher working capital. The ration of the current assets and current liabilities is referred to current ratio. The current ratio highlights the liquidity position of the firm and this also highlights the ability of the firm to cover the current liabilities with the help of the current assets. The ratio between the ready cash assets and the current liabilities is referred to as the quick ratio. This is calculated as current assets – inventories – prepaid expenses. The liquidity ratios for Superior Living are computed as follows: Superior Living’s ratio has been at a steady around 2 for the three years. This is a strong indication of good liquidity within the company. It is interesting to note that the inventories form a large portion of the current assets and they cannot be readily liquefied. The ideal quick ration is 1:1 however the company has a much lower ratio and accounts to 0.55. This highlights the fact that the short term cash needs and solvency of the company can be hard to meet (Burks and Wilks, 2007). Hence the company needs to improve the cash assets. Superior living’s short term debts and long term debts are as in the table below. Short term debts refers to the ones which are due within a year which the long term debts refers to the ones due in more than one year (Samuels et al, 2000). Superior highlights a very low gearing ratio and is as low as 2% - 3% for the three years. It is essential to note that despite the increase in the long term debt, there is no evident change in the debt equity ratio. The company is not utilizing its borrowing abilities as an optimum gearing

The Impact of Information Technogoly in Public agency Research Paper

The Impact of Information Technogoly in Public agency - Research Paper Example The  Federal Bureau of Investigation  (FBI) is a  US government agency attached to the Department of Justice with its headquarters in Edgar Hoover Building, Washington D.C (FBI, 2012). The US government established the FBI in 1908 with a core mission of investigating federal crime, enforcing federal laws, enhancing national security, and bringing criminals to justice (Hamilton, 2007). Its priorities include protecting the United States from terrorist attacks, protecting civil rights, combating public corruption and all forms of crime, protecting the United States against cyber-based attacks, supporting local and international partners, combat transnational criminal organizations, and protecting the United States against foreign intelligence (United States Department of Justice, 2010). To realize its priorities and mission, the FBI relies on domestic and foreign Intelligence, Law Enforcement Communities, federal government support, and top class information technology to improve its operations operational and enhance the effectiveness of the agency. However, with the recent and vibrant technological advancements terrorist and criminals are now using recent technologies to launch attacks to its allies and US. Hence, to remain reliable in its commission, the FBI requires the best of information technology to keep in pace and curb the high-tech insecurity. As such, the FBI has developed the FBIs IT strategic plan and initiated measures of acquiring the best information technology professionals, digitized its operations, and maintained the FBIs IT enterprise and website (United States Department of Justice, 2010). This has been significant in providing technical direction FBI business processes, maintaining the FBIs technology assets, and providing high-tech identification and information services relating to national

Are our zoos cruel to wild animals Essay Example for Free

Are our zoos cruel to wild animals Essay Zoos are places that often visited by the people for recreation, moreover for the family who has child. They can find many kinds of animal, without going to the wild forest. Zoos can make the visitors happy, but it might not be the same condition as the wild animals feeling. I trust that zoos are cruel to the faunas. Numeruous people think that zoos are good for the wild animals. Keeping animals in the zoos can save the animals from extinction than let them free in their habitat. In their wild habitat, the animal might be killed by their enemies. If they live in the zoo, they could not be killed by their predators because they live in each cage. In addition, they also think that not all of the zoo are cruel to the wild animal because some of them have standart operational procedures how to protect animal in the zoos, for example is Safari Park Zoos, the biggest zoos in Indonesia. On the other hand, there are some reasons that can explain why zoos are cruel to the animals. First of all, zoos are not condusive for wild animals life. They should live in their free habitat. They could feel bored with the limited place that is available in the zoo. Also they cannot interact with the other animals. It can make them feel depressed. If the faunas feel uncomfortable with their habitat, they cannot reproduce well. So, their offspring will be stopped and the wild animals will be extinct. Except that, the zookeepers also make some mistakes. The zookeepers usually does not take care of the animals. They does not give the suitable food for the animals, does not keep the animals clean, and does not give the good treatment for the animals which are getting sick. The zookeeper sometimes exploitate the animals for their commercial aims. They do not care with their condition. Perhaps the wild animal is already tired, but the zookeeper still force them to entertain the visitors. The examples are elephant and dolphin which work hard for entertainment events in the zoo. All in all, it requires the zoos management to improve their ability in managing the zoos. They can decorate the zoos as similar as possible to their natural habitat. They also should make training for the zookepers. So, they can give the better treatment for the animals.

Mental Health Issues among University Students

Mental Health Issues among University Students Introduction Mental health issue among university students is a major growing health concern. Research conducted in recent years has established that cases of students diagnosed with mental health issues are on the rise. A study conducted by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) found out that one in four students in the US suffers from a mental-related health issue. In the UK, university counselors have reported increased cases of students dealing with mental-related issues. A survey conducted by NUS in 2014 established that 75% of the students suffered from a mental health issues (Winrow, 2017).   There are also increased cases of university students dropping out of school because of being overwhelmed by mental health issues. Mental health status of a university student is of uttermost importance because it plays a critical role in shaping the education life. In the UK, about 15,000 first year students reported dealing with mental health issues (Burns, 2017). The figures are a sharp contrast to about 3000 students in 2006 that were diagnosed with mental health issues. Surveys conducted by different companies have also established that females are more likely to report a mental health issue than males. Mental health issues affecting university students There are numerous mental health issues that affect university students. Depression is among the prevalent mental health issues among students. A survey conducted by YouGov found that 77% of students with mental health issue had depression (Aronin and Smith, 2016). Anxiety is another mental health issue facing university students. Anxiety is largely caused by divergent issues like exam fear and experiencing difficulties while studying. University education is quite demanding and may prove a high-energy consuming activity for some students. Students are also expected to attain a certain score to guarantee them a pass in a certain class. Resultantly, some students may become anxious about their performance, which may affect their mental status. Stress among university students is another major mental health issue. Stress among university students is influenced by different factors. The highly demanding university studies are a leading cause of stress among the university students. Othe r causes of stress include examinations, deadlines, managing debts and demand coursework. Other mental health issues facing university students in the UK include self-harm, suicidal thoughts, eating disorders, and addiction. Causes of mental health issues There are numerous and divergent students pressures that may cause mental health issues. They include; Living independently for the first time Some university students are compelled to live independently depending on the location of the university they study. Living away from their homes may result to loneliness. Students living alone may feel overwhelmed by responsibilities, which they are expected to do on their own. At times, they may also feel scared. Such situations may lead to mental health issues. Managing an increased workload Students are expected to go through a large amount of workload during their university education. Students are expected to bear the amount of workload expected in a university. However, some students find it a tall order, which may make them uncomfortable and unhappy. Failing to manage increased workload can result in poor performance. Such students may fail to complete assignment and fail to meet deadlines set for different academic activities. As a result, such students may develop stress, which affects their mental health status. Additional work responsibilities Some students may be in engaged in other responsibilities like working on a part-time basis. They may engage in such activities to raise income that will help them to sustain their university education. Balancing between education and part-time job is at times a challenge that may bring health mental issues. Culture shock, language barriers, and homesickness International students studying in different UK universities suffer from culture shock, language barrier, and homesickness. These students are compelled to leave their families and countries and embark on education in the UK.   They are compelled to go through a difficult period of learning a new culture feel like strangers. Cultural differences may at times feel strange and difficult to adopt. International students also experience language barrier, which may make it difficult for them to comprehend what the professors are saying. Language barrier may also make it difficult for such students to interact with local students. International students experience homesickness because they are separated from their family and loved ones. Such issues lead to substantial levels of stress, which affect their mental health status. Increased study costs The cost of funding university education is on the rise. Resultantly, students are increasing a difficult situation of dealing with the soaring expenses to fund their education. A research conducted among 2000 students by NUS established that a third of them report of having mental health issues because of financial problems (Minsky, 2016). The students stated credit cards and payday loans as some of the financial problems that contributed to mental health issues. Maintenance loans given to students results in increased stress because students are worried about their debts. Increasingly competitive job market The job market is getting increasingly competitive, which results in increased pressure among university students. New grads looking for jobs are compelled to cope with increased competition. Employers have increased the competitiveness of the job market because they are looking for grads that possess hard and STEM skills. Universities are churning out students, who do not have employability skills that can match the fast-changing skills that characterize the competitive job market. Curbing health mental issues Besides relying on health authorities to monitor mental health issues among students, universities need to increase support services that should look after their own students to help them deal with mental health issues. The already established support services that deal with mental health issues are overwhelmed by the increasing number of students affected. A study conducted by IPPR found out that one in four students is using or waiting to use counseling services. In Leeds University, the study found out that there was a 50% increase in demand of mental health services, while the University of Birmingham there has been an annual increase of 5-6% for the past 10 years in need of the services (Burns, 2017).   Universities need to prioritize mental health issues and channel more resources and effort towards curbing the issues. Additionally, universities need to improve students’ access to National Health Service (NHS) In summary, it is evident from the above discussion that mental health issues among university is a major concern that should be taken more seriously given the rising cases of the affected students. Mental health issues stem from different student pressures like living independently for the first time, managing an increased workload, additional work responsibilities, and soaring university cost. Students may experience different mental health issues like depression, stress, anxiety, and eating disorders. Universities need to increase their efforts towards establishing the right support services to handle increasing cases of students experiencing mental health issues. References Aronin, S. and Smith, M. (2016). YouGov | One in four students suffer from mental health problems. [online] YouGov: What the world thinks. Available at: https://yougov.co.uk/news/2016/08/09/quarter-britains-students-are-afflicted-mental-hea/ [Accessed 15 Feb. 2018]. Burns, J. (2017). Sharp rise in student mental illness. [online] BBC News. Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/education-41148704 [Accessed 15 Feb. 2018]. Minsky, C. (2016). UK students’ mental health affected by financial worries. [online] Times Higher Education (THE). Available at: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/news/uk-students-mental-health-affected-financial-worries [Accessed 15 Feb. 2018]. Winrow, L. (2017). More students are dropping out of university because of mental health. [online] The Independent. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/more-students-are-dropping-out-of-university-because-of-mental-health-problems-a7788901.html [Accessed 15 Feb. 2018].

Human Rights Violations Philosophy Essay

Human Rights Violations Philosophy Essay Human rights describe equal rights and freedom for anyone and everyone regardless of race, color, sex, language, religion or political affiliation. All humans live in societies together. As stated by the U.N. declaration of Human Rights in 1948 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. This statement defines that each and every human is entitled to all rights. Human rights are fundamental to human existence. There may be disagreement on the details of human rights, but barely any on the basic aspects of them. Human rights were always violated in human history. The  leaders mostly oppressed people and did not grant their entitled human rights. Even religious leader in some cases were responsible for the violation of human rights. Maslows hierarchy of needs can attest to the basic fundamental human rights that we all share. In order to be at a level of satisfaction an individual must meet five basic criteria. The basic needs are the physiological needs (food, water, etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦), safety needs, needs of love and affection, needs for esteem, and once everything else is met, self-actualization or as Maslow describe it, the need to be and do that which a person was born to do. This ties in with human rights in that it can connect us and become equals. Even though the U.N. has made a declaration concerning human rights, we as humans should not have an international governing body lay it out for us. Leaders, citizens, all people should know that we are all free and have rights that should be met. If not, measures should be taken to make sure that every human beings rights are not violated. History of the Issue Human right has been constantly evolving throughout human history. They have been tied to the laws, customs and religions. An example of laws that contain references to individual rights is the tablet of Hammurabi. This tablet was created by the Sumerian king Hammurabi about 4000 years ago. While considered barbaric in todays world, the system of 282 laws created a model for the legal system. This kind of model protected people from arbitrary persecution and punishment. But the problems with Hammurabis code were mostly due to its cause and effect nature, it held no protection on more abstract ideas such as race, religion, beliefs, and individual freedoms or commonly called human rights. The term has only come into common use in the 20th century. The idea of human rights is not universal, it is the product of 17th and 18th century European thought. The idea itself does not exist in every society or civilization. This issue was a major cause in 17th century England. The protection of the peoples right (mostly right to political participation, and freedom of religious belief and observance) against an oppressive government was the start of the English Civil War of 1640. It was also the start for another revolution called the Glorious Revolution in 1688, which then led to the English Bill of Rights a year later. The Bill of Rights dealt with the fundamental concerns of that time. It subjected the King to the rule of the law like any other citizen instead of the King claiming to be divine. It protected some basic rights to justice, cruel and unusual punishments and unfair trials etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Near the end of the 18th century, the philosopher John Locke argued that it was part of Gods natural law that no-one should harm anyone in their pursuit of life, liberty, possessions, and health. These rights could never be given up. If these rights were threatened to be taken away it was necessary to do whatever to protect them. From this view the governments role was limited in that people could be not under control of a ruler without their consent. The responsibility of a government is to protect the natural rights of its people. This idea also led to the American Revolution with the formation of the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration states that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness which assert that premise of human rights. Even with the declaration in place, and later the constitution; women were not recognized to have rights and slavery was still instituted throughout the whole nation. The doctrines of human rights that are in place now are a result of these ideas from early generation of thinkers. Human rights are natural in that every person owns them regardless of a system of law, religion, or government. Governments must be able to protect and respect these laws and promote them to all individuals. In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was made by the U.N. in an effort to make human rights part of international law. The greatest 20th century statements of natural or human rights can be dated to 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This preceded a range of international Conventions, Covenants, Declarations and other treaties that have followed the tradition. Most came from the United Nations. But other groups have also adopted human rights standards. Some common universal rights are the right to an education, freedom, life, and the right to own property and cultural rights. The declaration serves to protect these rights in those nations that signed it and helps make aware of nation-states that violate and suppress the rights of their own citizens. Causes and Impacts of the Issue There are many events in history that can be traced to the cause of human rights being a focus point. These events had probable causes to why there are human rights violations today. One cause is the state. The state or government may impose certain laws that infringe on individuals freedoms because they believe its necessary in order to maintain power or eliminate opposition. For example public humiliation, or punishment such as those taken place in some middle eastern can be seen as violations. Another cause is the lack of generosity or selfishness that states and individuals have. Companies that produce bottled water or provide it to countries often charge families more then they earn in a days wage just for water. Certain elements of cultures and religions can lead to practices that violate human rights as well. Based on these causes an increase of human rights violations has impacted the entire global community in the past to the future. The use of child labor has been dated back to the industrial revolution in England. According to  UNICEF, there was an estimated 158 million children aged 5 to 14 in child labour worldwide, excluding child domestic labour. Another violation is the ongoing mass murders that occurred and/are occurring now. Currently the Darfur conflict is a major human rights violation because the Sudanese government is destroying African Muslim communities because some among them have challenged Khartoums authoritarian rule. As a result, more than  400,000 civilians  have been killed and 2.5 million people are displaced from their homes. Other violations such as racism, the Rwandan genocide, and the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo in the 1990s are examples of some human rights violations that have occurred in history. It is estimated that at least 60 million people have die d in wars and human rights abuses since 1945 and this number continues to climb if no action is taken. Countries that fail to take action will see an increase in deaths due to human rights violations. Conclusion and Solutions There are many solutions out there to prevent the abuse of human rights. Through education and the media people can be aware of the numerous human rights violations taking place in the world today and gain some knowledge of whats going on in the world. Organizations have erupted in an effort to protect the rights of those that have been violated. One organization that does this is the Amnesty International. Amnesty International as quoted in their website à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦inspires hope for a better world through public action and international solidarity. We help stop human rights abuses by mobilizing our members and supporters to put pressure on governments, armed groups, companies and intergovernmental bodies. Another group is Doctors for Borders an organization created by doctors to help those in nearly 60 countries threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, principally due to  conflict, epidemics,  malnutrition,  exclusion from health care, or  natural disasters. These organizations reflect the impact of the Declaration of Human Rights. The declaration has paved the way for people to realize the potential threats of human rights abuse. I believe that the world and the people residing have had enough time to see what has occurred in the past. We need to learn from our mistakes in the past and never let such atrocities such as the torture of the Jewish families in the concentration camps, segregation in the U.S., or the gulags in Russia take place. Countries are more educated now and all should take a stand. We are all one people living under the same roof and I think human rights of all individuals should be protected. Being a Catholic, I hear sometimes hear people say to other people go to hell and they respond by Im already here. If we respected our fellow brethren and took the time help those in need, take of the earth etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦we could turn this so called hell into heaven ourselves.

time capsule :: essays research papers

Lanyard I chose this object for the time capsule because it is the school of my choice. I hope to start in October of 2002. Currently I do not know whether I will attend the university because of money issues, this place is very expensive! This object fits into or nation because it represents the school, which represents the nation. Kettering is one of the top overall schools in the nation, and the number one mechanical engineering school, it represents how important education is to us Americans. Bible I chose to put the Bible into the time capsule to represent the ongoing fight between the Jews and the Palestinians. The Bible contains the First Testament, which the Jews believe in, and the Palestinians don’t. The Jews believe that Israel is their holy land and rightfully theirs, the Palestinians have lived there for hundreds of years before they were kicked out in WWII and replaced with the Jews. This relates to our nation because we are trying to help solve the dispute between these two. President Bush has tried many times to form a treaty between these two, but has recently demanded that they solve their problems now. Messy Pictures   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I took these pictures to represent out economy. The first picture represents the state of the economy just after Sept. 11. The second picture shows the state of the economy currently, things are not quite as messy as the picture to show that the economy is cleaning up and getting better. The third picture is what I hope to see when I reopen this time capsule in a couple of months. Everything is cleared up, and all that is left is money. Birth Certificate   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I chose to include a copy of my birth certificate to represent the second American Taliban member found in Afghanistan. Yasser Esam Hamdi was found fighting with the Taliban and was also found to be and American citizen. He was born in America to Saudi parents, but moved back to Saudi Arabia when he was just a toddler. I put my birth certificate into the time capsule because that is what Hamdi had shown U.S. officials to prove he was an American. Just because he was born in America he has caused an uproar in the media and will face different charges than the non-citizens that committed the same crimes he did. Does this little paper make someone a citizen even though they lived their entire lives in another country and fought along side that country against America?

Overestimation of the Placebo Effect :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Overestimation of the Placebo Effect The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the Placebo Effect is overestimated through misinterpretation of the data. Specifically, the objective is to explore whether the passage of time during clinical trials accounts for many results widely attributed to the placebo effect. That is, the passage of time in itself-through a combination of spontaneous changes in symptoms, regression effects, and homeostatic changes-produces most of the favorable results credited to the placebo. Despite its widespread acceptance for approximately fifty years, the Placebo Effect has recently become controversial, with several researchers claiming that the presumed benefits of placebos are overestimated. Dr. Asbjorn Hrobjartsson and Dr. Peter C. Gotzsche of the University of Denmark and the Nordic Cochran Center reviewed journal articles looking for the original research stating that 35% of patients improve if given a placebo. Interestingly, none of the papers they examined included original research on the placebo effect, but all cited the same reference. The original source was a 1955 article, "The Powerful Placebo," published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and written by Henry Beecher, chief of anesthesiology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Dr. Beecher had analyzed about a dozen studies and had come up with the 35% figure (1). Challenging the validity of this finding, Drs. Hrobjartsson and Gotzsche hypothesized that two important factors were ignored. First, that the natural course of many diseases is to wax and wane. Second, that a patient who feels terrible one day will almost certainly feel better the next day. Hrobjartsson and Gotzsche analyzed 114 studies conducted between 1946 and 1998 that used not the usual two, but three groups of patients. One group received appropriate medical treatment, one group received placebo treatment, and the third group received nothing. (The studies involved 7,500 patients with 40 different medical conditions, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, asthma, behavior disorders, such addictions as alcohol abuse and smoking, and such neurological diseases as Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, epilepsy, as well as bacterial infections and the common cold (5). As Hrobjartsson and Gotzsche predicted, the patients in this third group improved as often as the patients in the placebo group (1). Carol Hart (2) cites Shapiro and Shapiro, who offer possible confounds that lead to overestimation of the placebo effect. Observations of the third control group-the group with neither treatment, nor placebo-may have improved because of three mechanisms.

Yaroslav the Wise :: History Ukraine Ukranian Essays

Yaroslav the Wise Yaroslav, son of Vladimir, took over full control of Kyiv in the year 1036. This did not occur until after the deaths of his father and many brothers. Upon Vladimir’s death in 1015 his son Sviatopolk rushed in and took control over Kyiv, killing three of his own brothers in the process. Yaroslav could not let this stand. Joined by Mstislav, another brother, and hired Scandinavian mercenaries, they ousted Sviatopolk and split the empire between themselves. Mstislav controlled Chernigov and Yaroslav went to Novgorod, as he preferred that to Kyiv. Mstislav died in 1036, and at that time Yaroslav became the undisputed ruler of all Kyivan Rus lands. At this time he moved his capital back to the traditional city of Kyiv. [2] Yaroslav did much for the betterment of the Ukrainian state during his reign. He settled the problem of having unruly neighbors to the south. He led a sound defensive stand against an attack of the marauding Pechenegs.[3] These southern folk had been a pestering nuisance for a number of years. After the defeat of these troublesome foes, there was nothing else to worry about in the south because the people that moved in next were much more peaceful. He could now worry about the Polish problem in the east. The Poles were not happy about there western land holdings. They wanted to annex the Ukrainian lands to the west of them. Yaroslav lead an expedition in the late 1920’s and dominated the Polish army, plundered their cities and took many prisoners.[4] After this the Polish peoples revolted and threw out old hierarchy of government and getting rid of Christianity. He later married his sister to the new king of Poland and for the time being the trouble with Poland was over. During this time period it was a great honor to be married to the family of a foreign countries monarchy. It was also a wise governing decision as it made connections and allies out of countries that otherwise may have been foes. Yaroslav the Wise :: History Ukraine Ukranian Essays Yaroslav the Wise Yaroslav, son of Vladimir, took over full control of Kyiv in the year 1036. This did not occur until after the deaths of his father and many brothers. Upon Vladimir’s death in 1015 his son Sviatopolk rushed in and took control over Kyiv, killing three of his own brothers in the process. Yaroslav could not let this stand. Joined by Mstislav, another brother, and hired Scandinavian mercenaries, they ousted Sviatopolk and split the empire between themselves. Mstislav controlled Chernigov and Yaroslav went to Novgorod, as he preferred that to Kyiv. Mstislav died in 1036, and at that time Yaroslav became the undisputed ruler of all Kyivan Rus lands. At this time he moved his capital back to the traditional city of Kyiv. [2] Yaroslav did much for the betterment of the Ukrainian state during his reign. He settled the problem of having unruly neighbors to the south. He led a sound defensive stand against an attack of the marauding Pechenegs.[3] These southern folk had been a pestering nuisance for a number of years. After the defeat of these troublesome foes, there was nothing else to worry about in the south because the people that moved in next were much more peaceful. He could now worry about the Polish problem in the east. The Poles were not happy about there western land holdings. They wanted to annex the Ukrainian lands to the west of them. Yaroslav lead an expedition in the late 1920’s and dominated the Polish army, plundered their cities and took many prisoners.[4] After this the Polish peoples revolted and threw out old hierarchy of government and getting rid of Christianity. He later married his sister to the new king of Poland and for the time being the trouble with Poland was over. During this time period it was a great honor to be married to the family of a foreign countries monarchy. It was also a wise governing decision as it made connections and allies out of countries that otherwise may have been foes.

The two heroes of industrialization

The Two Heroes of Industrialization During the late 1800s, many people began to start their own companies. Two of the most famous entrepreneurs, Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, were the most renown of these people. Their success is seen through all the things that are named after them – the Carnegie Library, Carnegie Hall, Carnegie Mellon University, Rockefeller Foundation, Rockefeller Center, and many more. Though they may seem very much alike, these two businessmen share differences as well.Despite the fact that Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller gained their position in two diverse ways, they both had illustrious companies with discontented workers. These industrialists certainly got to where they were in two very different ways. Carnegie is famous for going from â€Å"rags to riches. † He defines the American Dream. Starting out as an immigrant, he worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. He was then promoted, and was able to buy stock. From the i nvestment money, he started his own company – Carnegie Steel Company.From there, he went on to be a ealthy entrepreneur and philanthropist. Rockefeller, on the other hand, achieved his position In a more realistic way. Together with other people, he formed illegal trusts. Luckily, it proved to be a success. His wealth came from his famous company, Standard 011 Company. After the founding of his company, he sold oil for low prices In order to drive out his competitors, then once he had a monopoly, he would raise the price again. Rockefeller proves to be model for economic success. Since these Industrialists had large companies, they needed workers to run them.Carnegie and Rockefeller did not pay them much, or else It wouldnt be profitable. The workers had six to seven day work weeks, no holidays or vacations, and had to come to work on sick days. The Injuries were common, for many of the workers were Inexperienced. The laborers at this point were unsatisfied, and had to stand up for themselves. They formed labor unions In order to fight the companies. A few people died because of the attack between the workers and companies. Carnegie and Rockefeller both went through laborers' complaints, dissatisfaction, and aggression.These two businessmen reached their economic success In unlike ways, yet both had eminent companies and displeased workers. Without their efforts, the world wouldn't be where It Is right now. Thanks to them and their contributions, many companies, colleges, and organizations have been established. Rockefeller, on the other hand, achieved his position in a more realistic way. success. His wealth came from his famous company, Standard Oil Company. After the founding of his company, he sold oil for low prices in order to drive out hisSince these industrialists had large companies, they needed workers to run them. Carnegie and Rockefeller did not pay them much, or else it wouldn't be profitable. come to work on sick days. The injuries were co mmon, for many of the workers were inexperienced. The laborers at this point were unsatisfied, and had to stand up for themselves. They formed labor unions in order to fght the companies. A few people These two businessmen reached their economic success in unlike ways, yet both wouldn't be where it is right now. Thanks to them and their contributions, many

Meaningful Use Essay

In 2009 the HITECH influence was enacted with the purpose to improve health for Ameri cig arttes b argonly satisfying the requirements of the Act potenti all in ally reduces the type of the c be given to the persevering receiv able to the ontogenesisd warheads fixed on offer uprs. Providers must purchase Electronic Health track read (EHR) tech no.ogy and comply with purposeful utilise (1). Initially suppliers be compensated for combat-ready in pregnant engagement, however, the ultimate blockade result is providers are penalized if the 15 onus Measures for which they attest to are not met.Although the remark property can provide a gain in the beginning, what happens when the stimulus m whizzy is g iodine? Will the applied science be able to keep up itself? thither are costs for maintenance and upgrades of software for technology. For a large institution, such as capital of the United States University, this could cost millions of dollars. Technology cos ts and inform of Meaningful custom whitethorn outgo the professed value (1). Health instruction Technology (HIT) is determinationd today for a cast of reasons.It is aimd by an individual to search relevant tuition about themselves, family members, and friends. Additionally, it whitethorn be used to main course health service, entry appointments, and refill medicinal drugs. peerless may similarly use HIT to transport with their provider via a tolerant entrance (PP), seek out training on a chronic condition, or put on a tolerant health record (2). tip 1 of The Meaningful Use conventionality, or Meaningless Use rule as many named it, is the only pegleg that is before long enacted and contains three bearings. Only bingle accusatory is tolerant-facing.This objective requires the long-suffering role to be supplied with an electronic copy of their health information, which may include diagnostic test results, task call, medicament list, and allergies (2). Th e issue with this objective is that if in that location is a collaborative hospital/provider coif such as Barnes infirmary and Washington University they from each one postulate affected role role portals. If a tolerant has a radioscopy test performed and the results are not readily available at the end of the authorization visit the information may be in the hospital system.Using the hospitals portal, the patient can access information that has yet to be reviewed by the provider allowing for confusion and anxiety on the part of the patient. Another objective is use of EHR technology to rate patient-specific education resources and provide those to the patient as discriminate. (2) Elements from the first objective can be used for this bank note and can target a patients specific problems. This has found to be very challenging in orthopedic Surgery as this is a specialized practice and this measure is focused on educating patients on disease prevention, such as heart di sease and diabetes control.The last objective for Stage 1 is sending reminders to patients for contraceptive and follow-up business concern and providing patients with timely electronic access to their health information. Once again, this has been a challenge to the fortissimo practices as they are limited on what preventive reminders they can offer. The providers heart as though they are providing reminders to patients solely to fulfill administration requirements. One would ask if the government is dictating how providers treat patients. As a professional working in this medical field, I would attest to this world the case.Another issue faced with technology and the EHR is that they provide access to patient selective information however, providers face difficulties with using them to support lecture and coordination of care. (3) The HITECH Act envisions that providers exit exchange patient data through a park platform and protocols. Some states are incumbently implement ing platforms to exchange such data, but are still in the early phases. (3) A big concern with this is that Health Information Technology alone cannot convert our health care system and at that place necessitate to be some form of financial incentive for coordinating care for patients.Secure put across via a patient portal is some other means of communicating with HIT among a patient and provider. Providers, however, are worried of this means of communication as they feel it will overwhelm them. It is time go through and adds yet another task consuming their time without compensation (2). Does this hold the provider liable if the patient does not transmit the correct information or if there was insufficient information relayed to the provider and interposition of the patient was not appropriate or delayed?In all of the enquiry I read I could not find anything that addresses this issue. One would think this would be a major concern with all providers. Washington Universit y is in the pilot stages of implementing the patient portal and the providers for Orthopedic Surgery lease raised concerns of liability issues. Projects are afoot(predicate) for health care plans to compensate providers for beneficial messaging in hopes to minimize their indecision to participate in this form of communications. However, if they do participate will this cause premiums to increase for individuals in those health care plans?If premiums are increased to pay providers, are we rightfully benefiting the health of the patient? The answer is no. (2) Providers are currently reimbursed on a fee-for-service scale. In our Orthopedic Surgery practice some providers see on an just of 45-50 patients a day. This can potentially wanton it difficult for the provider to take the appropriate time to listen to each patients concerns with the added burdens placed on the providers with current and future Meaningful Use requirements.Adding an EHR to each clinical encounter could pote ntially barely distance the provider from the patient. (3). In class, a comment was made by Dr. DeSchryver concerning a visit with her health care provider in which the provider was documenting in the EHR during the visit. This caused her to feel interchangeable she was not receiving the attention that she deserved. With the added documentation requirements placed on providers and the limited timeframe allowed to document this will become the norm in provider practices.Providers have 72 hours from the time of the persona visit to document Meaningful Use measures. Although HIT can provide tools to admirer with decision making in regards to diagnosis, trouble of disease, treatment, and prevention, the current EHRs do not have a link to support systems to help manage chronic care. aboriginal care practices must now pitch their focus on healthy patients, as well as acute and inveterate ill patients. With HIT a provider can effectively report the look measures, however the curren t EHRs cannot identify which patients may quest particular services (3).It appears that we do not have the technology required or currently a sufficient number of trained users for a successful implementation of the HITECH Act. We are potentially embedting providers up for failure both on a patient satisfaction level or reimbursement level. There take aims to be further investigation on clinical care processes, the execution and use of HIT, and restructuring of reimbursement to the providers. The current EHRs need to be able support both coordination of care and outcomes. EHR Vendors need to consider they can provide spotless data for reporting.Another measure of Meaningful Use is E-Prescribe. The requirements are electronic transmittal of prescriptions and maintenance of medication list. If this is done decent and the EHR system is set up powerful it can improve patient safety, prompt prescribers of drug-to-drug interactions, provide information on patient non-compliance to medications, and drug formulary information for insurance benefits. (4) A study was conducted with 10 physician practices that installed stand-alone e-prescribe systems to replace previously hand writing prescriptions.This study reason out that e-prescribing will require the provider accounting entry accurate medication memorial and prescriptions to batten that their formulary and benefits can be verified. This will similarly require health plans to go steady that they have a full set of formulary information. Currently pharmacies access this information and it will most likely die hard as such. Providers in this study also relied on patients to provide medication history information as the medication history in the e-prescribe system was inaccurate. (4)In a large institution such as Washington University, a patient may see multiple providers from different specialty groups. One challenge we face with medication history is a provider from one segment cannot discharge a medication that a provider from another department prescribed, even if the patient stated that they are no longer taking it. We are required to tell the patient to dismiss that provider, a lot of times the patient will tell us that they no longer see that provider and want us to discharge the medication, which our University policy does not allow.The medication will not be removed from the medication history list and the patients record therefore becomes inaccurate. The HITECH Act was enacted to allow patients access to their PHI, communicate with their healthcare provider, maintain their health record, schedule patient appointments, and request prescription refills via a patient portal however, there are many obstacles that providers and patients face through Stage 1 of Meaningful Use. Technology is one obstacle that is faced with both the patient and provider.There needs to be a sufficient amount of support and resources in the community for patients who do not have the literac y needed to understand how to use patient portals. The government needs to also ensure that providers are trained and have an goodly understanding of what is required of them for Meaningful Use. The government also needs to make certain that EHR Vendors are reporting accurate Meaningful Use measures. E-Prescribe and hospital/provider collaboration issues are two other obstacles that need to be addressed as well.There needs to be a entanglement for all of the systems to be able to address to each other so that patient care is not delayed or potentially at risk. There also needs to be added compensation for coordination of care for providers as this may take outside some of the hesitancy that the providers have for the added burden placed on them however, this should only be done if this does not affect a patients healthcare premium. It is in my opinion that the Government was pressured to pass the healthcare Reform Policy and as a consequence the American people and healthcare p roviders will suffer as a result either through health or monetary measures