Native North Americans: Journal Entry of a Subordinate Group

One often wonders where the Native North Americans originated from. Some theories have been discussed about the peopling of the Americas. Early theories involving lost tribes and continents were based purely on speculation instead of actual scientific facts. Discoveries made during many archeological expeditions have helped shape the always changing interpretations by adding more questions and more theories. There have been genetic and linguistic studies which raised more understanding and brought new questions. It is theorized that during the latter part of the Cenozoic era, also known as the age of mammals that the Wisconsin glaciation caused enough of the planet’s water supply to turn into ice. This lowered the oceans and exposed now submerged land. This event created a stretch of land that the large mammals of the Ice Age era, along with the natives of that era, could very well have migrated across the newly formed land bridge, which now connected two continents. This land bridge is known as the Bering Strait, or Beringia. During the time that Beringia existed, the Wisconsin glaciers most likely prohibited migration to any southern or eastern regions. Another theory suggests that the early natives may have inhabited the now Alaskan region because it was ice-free due to low precipitation. Several melts over a period of time created passageways, and evidence from archeological site implies that there was an ice-free corridor for thousands of years. It was during another melt approximately ten thousand years ago, that a second corridor was most likely formed farther east along the borders of Saskatchewan and Canada plains. This points to the possibility that the ancient people could have traveled eastward along the rivers in the Great Plains, and down further south. The Indians known to history as the Sioux are also known as Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota, meaning allies. This is my heritage. I am a member of the largest division of Siouan family, otherwise known as Sioux. The name is from a term given to the largest and well- known of the tribal groups. At one time, my people stretched from the west banks of the Mississippi northward from Arkansas and the Rocky Mountains. The Dakotas also inhabited territory east of the river up to Wisconsin and Missouri. They were here to encounter DeSoto on his journey in 1541, when he reached the Indian villages in what is now eastern Arkansas. Another hundred years passed before any mention of Sioux existing, when in 1658 some Jesuit missionaries heard of the existence of about thirty Dakota villages just north of a Potawatomi mission. This was located at about the head of Green Bay, Wisconsin, in St. Michael. It was during the middle 1600’s when the Sioux, along with the Arapaho and Cheyenne had to migrate further westward towards the Great Plains to what is known as North Dakota, Minnesota, and South Dakota. This migration was mainly due to the O jibwa and Chippewa tribes pushing them out of the Great Lakes region. The Ojibwa and Chippewa had been pushed out of their own land that had been further east, by the European settlers of that time. In 1805 Lewis and Clark passed through the center of this region and made contact with the Sioux tribes. After this took place, several more expeditions brought traders that settled among the tribes, and in the course of some time, permanent settlers arrived. This made the area so small that eventually the people of my tribe were forced to live in Indian Territories or confined to Nebraska, the Dakotas, or Montana. This brought on a series of raids and counter raids that lasted from roughly 1850 through 1890 and were known as the Sioux Wars. In the first years of the twentieth century, the Dakotas also known as Tetons began the process of adapting to their new way of life. They still had strong faith in their own traditions, but realized that the old way was gone forever. Numerous changes with the economy and politics were forced on my people by the government. The people strived to establish a life for themselves that used both new changes, but still remained true to their values and beliefs. During the rest of the twentieth century, all of the reservations for the Dakotas, Lakotas, and Tetons lost more land due to ownership passes and inheritances. Division between rural dwellers and people who live in town have grown bigger. Rural residents tend to retain their use of native language, and be involved in cultural events, when townspeople adapt other aspects of the American culture. Most of the Sioux nation and other groups of American Indians live in South Dakota, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and North Dakota at present time on privatized land created by the government many years ago. Wendy Coghill

Big business and how it affects media ethics Essay

The effect of media on the public as shown in the long list of Hollywood movies is of prime interest with big business that targets mass consumption of their products, services and ideas. Big business sells not merely a product or a service but a whole lifestyle and mode of thinking. Big business sells a whole package of beliefs passed on from one generation of consumers to the next. McGuire (1986) noted several of the most commonly mentioned intended media effects: (a) the effects of advertising on purchasing, (b) the effects of political campaigns on voting, (c) the effects of public service announcements (PSAs) on personal behavior and social improvement, (d) the effects of propaganda on ideology, and (e) the effects of media ritual on social control. And the one who could manipulate the media eventually controls the effects media has on its audience. And due to this interest, big business has not been complacent in using media to further its interests to the extent of affecting media ethics. There is a war between big business and media as one tries to use, outwit and profit from each other’s power. Media needs the advertising money that big business has. And big business needs media’s format and reach to help push their products in competitive markets. On ordinary and traditional circumstance, business news will be the usual reporting of financial markets, who recently go hired or who recently got promoted but times are changing as media and big business realize the power they have over each other. â€Å"Private enterprise has been and continues to be thought of as a private ?affair by many who engage in it. But for a multitude of reasons, the ? media try (and not often enough, some argue) to make private transactions public business. The press is watching business closely. One page from a metropolitan ? newspaper can tell the story. The Orange County Register, a southern ? California daily with a circulation of over 300,000, reported stories under ? these headlines one day in early 1987: â€Å"GM plans to lay off 2,000 in ? Kansas City†; â€Å"Ford exec asks cut in Japanese Imports†; â€Å"SEC chief says ?more big news is coming†; â€Å"Guiness director quits over scheme†; â€Å"People/Continental to offer 2-for-1 tickets†; â€Å"GE to lay off 3,000 workers at ? Northeast plants†; A large picture showed striking Lockheed Shipbuilding workers crossing a picket line ? in Seattle. † (Blohowiak, 1987) It’s more dangerous when both cohort each other into twisting the truth and step over business and media ethics. In this light, big business and media profit from the unethical practice of their crafts with the mass markets eventually receiving unjust consequences as illustrated by the highly celebrated Enron fiasco. â€Å"In the wake of apparently dishonest practices by Enron Corp. executives, and apparent negligence by members of its board of directors, many are asking how people believed to be so smart could have lacked the moral courage to seek and tell the truth. As there is after every financial scandal, a call is being made for more courses in â€Å"business ethics† in the leading universities. † (Berlau, 2002) Another example of the big business that has continually been in headlines is the business of war. Media has played a critical role in convincing voters to support the decision of their leaders to go to war and spend for war. Smith in 1994 explains â€Å"that armament firms have sought to influence public opinion through the control of newspapers in their own and foreign countries, that armament firms have organized international armament rings through which the armament race has been accentuated by playing off one country against another, that armament firms have organized international armament trusts which have increased the price of armaments sold to governments. † (Smith, 1994) As the Bush administration furthers its campaign against terror, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are slowly becoming the most expensive campaign since World War II. Lawmakers and congressional staff reports that Pentagon is preparing $127 billion to $160 billion worth of requests for its armed services due for 2007. â€Å"That’s on top of $70 billion already approved for 2007. Since 2001, Congress has approved $502 billion for the war on terror, roughly two-thirds for Iraq. The latest request, due to reach the incoming Democratic-controlled Congress next spring, would make the war on terror more expensive than the Vietnam War. † (Wolf, 2006) The business of war just like any other kind of big business will succeed to prosper and profit because behind these big businesses are media partners that by themselves big business as well. Media ethics is nowhere to be found in bottom line discussions between the big businesses and the use of the networks to serve specific interests as elaborated by the action of Sinclair Broadcasting Group and their support for the Bush Administration presidential campaigns. â€Å"If what can only be described as an attempt by a large, conservative corporation to keep a corporate president in power, Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which owns 62 stations nationwide, has ordered all of its stations to pre-empt regular programming and instead show an anti-Kerry film along the lines of the Swift Boat Liars one week before the election. â€Å"It’s not the American way for powerful corporations to strong-arm local broadcasters to air lies promoting a political agenda,† said David Wade, a spokesman for the Democratic nominee’s campaign. â€Å"It’s beyond yellow journalism; it’s a smear bankrolled by Republican money, and I don’t think Americans will stand for it. † (Bowers, 2004) Big business has taken into its payroll media elements including important roles that protect standards. This is imperative if big business wants to ensure success in the big amount of money they invest on advertising or news reporting for example. Although bad or good advertisement is still advertisement and can help brand retention, at the end of the day, consumers would always go for the products and services that have a good reputation. And with media ethics slowly getting softer and softer, with manipulations with words, graphics and endorsers, a not so good product will sell. These are possible due to evolving market models. â€Å"The unrestrained market model has diminished the authority of news editors, once guardians of quality, the domain’s bulwarks against illegitimate pressures exerted by the owners, the public, or other stakeholders. The editors, in a sense, were newsrooms’ superegos, the disinterested enforces of standards. Most editors are now firmly embedded in the corporate hierarchy, directly answerable to fiscal matters. They are paid like executives – a big change from the recent past – and are expected to conform to corporate fiscal priorities. † (Gardner, 2001).

Human Factors in Aviation Essay

A large number of flight accidents occur mostly due to lack of efficient vision of the surrounding environment. Traditional visionary systems rely on synthetic vision or specifically vision of the existing environment devoid of mist, fog and other abnormalities. Real scenarios require the ability to provide reliable vision overcoming natural hindrances. Humans learnt the art of flying when they abandoned the idea of flapping of wings. Similarly, the latest developments of enhanced vision systems have sidestepped the existing traditional vision systems to ensure flight safety. In recent years, Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFID) has posed a significant risk in both civilian and military aviation. One of the aviation’s worst accident occurred in Tenerife, when two Boeing 747’s collided as one aircraft was attempting to take off while the other was to land. The risk of CFID can be greatly reduced with the aid of a suite of Radar and collision avoidance equipment commonly termed as Enhanced Vision systems (EVS). Rationale One of the primary causes for many runway accidents is reduced visibility. One solution to this limitation lies in the use of infrared sensing in aviation operations. All objects on earth emit infrared radiation and their emissions and features can be detected through total darkness as well as intervening mist, rain, haze, smoke and other scenarios, when the objects are invisible to the human eye (Kerr, 2004). The first EVS system was targeted for production in 2001 as standard equipment on Gulf Stream GVSP aircraft. The system was developed in part by Kolesman Inc under the technology license from Advanced Technologies, Inc. utilization of EVS addressed critical areas like CIFT avoidance, general safety enhancements during approach, landing and take off, improved detection of trees, power lines and other obstacles, improved visibility in brown out conditions, improved visibility in haze and rain, identify rugged and sloping terrain and detect runway incursions. Enhanced Vision Systems Enhanced visibility system is an electronic means to provide a display of the forward external scene topology through the use of infrared imaging sensors. They are a combination of near term designs and long term designs. Near term designs present sensor imagery with super-imposed flight symbology on a Head up display (HUD) and may include such enhancements as runway outlines, other display argumentations like obstacles, taxiways and flight corridors. Long term designs include complete replacement of the out-the window scene with a combination of electro optical and sensory information. Infrared Sensors EVS uses Infrared (IR) sensors that detect and measure the levels of infrared radiation emitted continuously by all objects. An object’s radiation level is a function of its temperature with warmer objects emitting more radiation. The infrared sensor measures these emission levels which are then processed to produce a thermal image of the sensor’s forward field of view. EVS IR sensors operate in the Infrared spectrum (Kerr, 2004). The different types of spectrum are Long wave IR, Medium wave IR and Low wave IR. Two variants of this technology are currently in aircraft use. A single sensor unit operating in the long wave, maximum weather penetration band has significant far penetrating capability. Short wave sensors have the ability to enhance the acquisition of runway lighting. A dual sensor variant composed of short and long wave bands used for both light and weather penetration fuses both sensor images for a full spectrum view. Image sensors operating in long wave Infrared spectrum are Cyro-cooled. Models of EVS One of the commonly used EVS systems is EVS 2000. The operation of the model EVS 2000 dual image sensor is given in figure 1. Long Wave Infrared sensor provides best weather penetration, ambient background and terrain features. Similarly, the Short Wave Sensor provides best detection of lighting, runway outline and obstacle lights. The signal processor combines the images of both the sensors to display a fused image picturizing the current environment (Kerr, Luk, Hammerstrom, and Misha, 2003). (Source: Kerr et al, 2003) Boeing Enhanced Vision System Boeing’s EVS enhances situational awareness by providing electronic and real time vision to the pilots. It provides information at low level, night time and moderate to heavy weather operations during all phases of flight. It has a series of imaging sensors, navigational terrain database with a virtual pathway for approach during landings, an EVS image processor and a wide field of view, C-through helmet mounted display integrated with a head tracker. It also consists of a synthetic vision system accompanying the EVS to present a computer generated image of the out-the window view in areas that are not covered by the imaging sensors of the EVS. The EVS image processor performs the following 3 functions. It compares the image scanned by the ground mapping Radar and the MMW sensor with a database to present a computer generated image of the ground terrain conditions. It is accompanied by a Global Positioning System (GPS) to provide a location map during all phases of flight. The IR imaging sensors provide a thermal image of the front line of view of the aircraft. Typical HUD symbology including altitude, air speed, pressure, etc is added without any obscuration of the underlined scene. The SV imagery provides a three dimensional view of a clear window site with reference to the stored on board database. Figure 2 gives the Boeing’s EVS/SV integrated system. The projection of SV data should be confirmed by the EVS data so that the images register accurately. The system provides for three basic views i. e. , flight to view or the normal view, the map views at different altitudes or ranges and the orbiting view or an exocentric/ownership from any orbiting location from the vehicle (Jennings, Alter, Barrow, Bernier and Guell, 2003). (Source: Jennings et al, 2003) EVS Image processing and Integration Association Engine Approach This is a neural net inspired self organizing associating memory approach that can be implemented in FPGA based boards of moderate cost. It constitutes a very efficient implementation of best match association at high real time video rates. It is highly robust in the face of noisy and obscured image inputs. This means of image representation emulates the human visual pathway. A preprocessor performs the feature extraction of edges as well as potentially higher levels of abstraction in order to generate a large, sparse and random binary vector for each image frame. The features are created by looking for 0 crossings after filtering with a laplacian of guassian filter and thereby finding edges. Each edge image is then thresholded by taking the K strongest features setting those to 1 and all others to 0. For multiple images, the feature vectors are strung together to create a composite vector. The operations are performed over a range of multi resolution hyper pixels including those for 3-D images. FPGA provides a complete solution by offering the necessary memory bandwidth, significant parallelism and low precision tolerance. Figure 3 provides an illustration of an association engine operation (Kerr et al, 2003). Fig 3: Association Engine Operation (Source Kerr et al, 2003) DSP Approach One approach to perform multi sensor image enhancement and fusion is the Retinex algorithm evolved at the NASA Langley research center. Digital signal processors from Texas instruments have been used to successfully implement a real-time version of Retinex. C6711, C6713 and DM642 are some of the commercial digital signal processors (DSP) used for image processing. Image processing which is a subset of digital signal processing enables fusion of images from various sensors to aid in efficient navigation. Figure 4: EVS Image Processing (Source: Hines et al, 2005) Image processing architecture and functions of EVS, Long Wave Infrared (LWIR) and Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) processing can be done simultaneously. The multi spectral data streams are registered to remove field of view and spatial resolution differences between the cameras and to correct inaccuracies. Registration of Long Wave IR data to the Short Wave IR is performed by selecting SWIR as the base line and applying affine transform to the LWIR imagery. LaRC patented Retinex algorithm is used to enhance the information content of the captured imagery particularly during poor visibility conditions. The Retinex can also be used as a fusion engine since the algorithm performs nearly symmetrically processing on multi-spectral data and applies multiple scaling operations on each spectral band. The fused video stream contains more information than the individual spectral bands and provides the pilot a single output which can be interpreted easily. Figure 4 illustrates the various processing stages in fusing a multi spectral image (Hines et al, 2005). Design Tradeoffs LWIR based single image system is no panacea for fog, but reduces hardware requirements. It is also a low cost solution with lower resolution. An image fusion system provides active penetration of fog and better resolution but comes at a higher cost. Increasing the bandwidth provides better size and angular resolution and satisfactory atmospheric transmission but costs high. Basic diffraction physics limits the true angular resolution but can be overcome by providing sufficient over sampling. Sensitivity vs. update rate and physical size vs. resolution have traditionally been issues with passive cameras. Fortunately, dual mode sensors overcome these trade offs (Kerr et all, 2003). A successful image capture of landing scenario is given in figure 5. Figure 5. EVS view Vs. Pilots view (source: Yerex, 2006) Human Factors Controlling the aircraft during the entire period of flight is the sole responsibility of the pilot. The pilot seeks guidance from the co-pilot, control tower and inbuilt EVS to successfully steer the aircraft. The pilot controls the aircraft based on a representation of the world displayed in the cockpit given by the inbuilt systems and may not see the actual out-the-window visual scene. Visual information is presented but may not otherwise be visible. Some of the information may be lost due to limitations of resolution, field of view or spectral sensitivities. Therefore, with EVS, the world is not viewed directly but as a representation through sensors and computerized databases. More importantly, the essential data for pilotage should be available on the display. Though EVS systems gives a representation of the exact view of the flight environment, its accuracy plays a significant role in flight safety. Thus human factor are vital for flight control.

Question 2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Question 2 - Assignment Example This study will involve the analysis of the key theories and constructs into scholarly works that relates to the relationship between cultural diversity and organizational culture. The following pointers will be highlighted throughout the studies: Cultural diversity is an important and vital aspect of organizations today. This is because there is a general trend towards inclusion in the organizations around the country and issues perceived to be racist are treated with the highest levels of criticism and hostility. Cultural diversity is seen as a method of promoting inclusion in an organization and diversifying the processes and systems used by an organization to ensure that people from all different backgrounds get represented in an organization (Laleye, 2012). Culture is the way a group of people live and this is represented by the outward expression of their different processes and preferences for various things (Kelley & Fitzsimons, 2010). According to one definition â€Å"culture consists of shared beliefs, values and attitudes that guide the behaviors of group members in a given location.† (Kelley & Fitzsimons, 2010, p. 151). Culture and diversity are important aspects of the society. According to Hoftstede, culture is the software of the mind that guides the way people behave and react to certain things and situations (Hofstede, 2010). This is a standardized definition which explains the role and importance of culture in a given society and community. This involves the different processes and aspects of a given place and location and it affects the way people behave and carry out their activities and processes. Culture therefore forms a framework within which people act and behave in relation to their upbringing and other innate qualities that are representative of the group they belong to. Different people have different cultures and different social and cultural trends

D. Question Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

D. Question - Assignment Example The first step in determining any disease or nutritional deficiencies is to perform a physical examination which encompasses an assessment of age, sex, as well as anthropometric data (the measuring of weight, height, body mass index, and waist or arm circumference). According to Fischer & Hamilton (2013), the two primary techniques for carrying out a physical exam include body inspection and palpation. In addition, these two techniques are subdivided within themselves (p. 2). Shiny hair reveals healthy and nourished body, while an unhealthy body will show vulnerability to damage of hair or stop growing altogether, for example dandruff, baldness, folliculitis, pemphigus foliaceus, hirsutism, and grey hair (UMMC, 2013). While healthy nails will be smooth and strong, have a little color and be transparent, whereas unhealthy nails will have psoriasis, beau’s lines, onycholysis, yellow nail syndrome, and trachyonychia. Examples of nutritional deficiency diseases include scurvy, pernicious anemia, intellectual disability, rickets, kwashiorkor, marasmus, vitamin k deficiency, tetany, keshan disease, growth retardation, beriberi, pellagra, goiter, biotin deficiency, ariboflavinosis, hypocobalaminemia, night blindness, and paraesthesia (Mulcahy, 2012). Poor hair condition and diseased nails are triggered by chemical and hormonal imbalances, because of aging, illness and nutritional deficiency (Academy Medical, 2011). Furthermore, nutrition deficiency is a significant cause, resulting to chemical and hormonal imbalances, as well as illness, and accounts for the majority of both hair disorders as well as nail disease. Usually where there are nutritional deficiencies, it is due to improper working digestive system, an unbalanced diet, inadequate nutritional supplements and metabolism or inflammation within the body area where energy is being redirected. As a result, other

The Effect of the Paywall Strategy on News Corp Company Essay

The Effect of the Paywall Strategy on News Corp Company - Essay Example The newspaper industry earns the majority of its revenue through advertising from other companies who pay to depend upon the number of circulations. The advent of internet gave rise to electronic news where advertisers pay depending upon the page views. The paywall strategy implemented by News Corp by putting WSJ, The Times and The Sunday Times behind the strategy has resulted in a downfall in the number of monthly page views. However it is pertinent to mention here that availability of free content online and decline in the circulation of newspaper prompted the management to put online content behind paywall so that it may increase the newspaper circulation and at the same time generate revenue from subscriptions (Salmon, 2010). The objective behind the paywall strategy is to identify the customer and their wants and interests more clearly and build direct customer wherever possible. It further makes it clear that advertising alone will not bear the operational costs of print news a s successful newspaper of the future will charge for their content (News Corp, Annual Report, 2009). The strategy worked for Wall Street Journal as it provided editorial content, analysis and expert articles on topics which attracted certain target groups for subscription (Drury, 2010)2. According to comScore, the readership of Times UK website declined from 4 million unique visitors to 2.4 million, a 62% drop in the readership whereas page views came down by 90% from 41 million views in May 2010 to 4 million in September 2010 (Schonfeld, 2010)3. a) According to first quarter report for the fiscal year 2011, the newspaper businesses achieved an average 13% increase in advertising revenue with gains as compared to quarter in the previous year (News Corp, 2010). As paywall strategy was implemented in early June 2010, the results published in the report reveal positive results with an increase in the revenue, which means that company is making substantial profits through subscriptions. However the drop in the page views will be a big blow to the company as advertisers would not want to invest their money on a place where they could not get more visitors. Though the annual reports show marginal profits in newspaper segment, drop in page views from 21 million to 2.7 million will definitely have an impact on online revenue generation (Salmon, 2010).     

Cultural Impacts On HR Activities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Cultural Impacts On HR Activities - Essay Example This esssay stresses that economy is the second dimension of culture. In this case the production and distribution of the wealth is to be considered. Anything and any item that has value can be regarded as wealth and it is worthwhile till its value is lost and it becomes scarce. This category can also include the goods and services. However, in this case the goods are considered until they provide the services that they are supposed to. This paper makes a conclusion that the multicultural international work force needs to be created for the international operations. The specific example that can be quoted here is that of the multinational firms having their headquarters in the united states. The American managers are sent to the overseas countries to carry out the overseas assignments where they face the cross cultural challenges. Culture here plays the strongest role as the cultural backgrounds teach the managers the manners and the ways to react to a situation. Beliefs and the behaviours are the end products of the culture. The human resource training is being given to the mangers to understand the facts and the sensitivities related to the different cultures. The appropriate and the most suitable intercultural services is the need that should be realised by human resource managers in modern times as here the right selection will be a determinant of the organizations’ success. The global village has opened newer and better opportunities for the organizations to grow by making more intercultural contacts that lets these organizations grow.

Generation X Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Generation X - Essay Example At one point of time like Baby Boomers they have been center of the strategies of marketers and business strategists. According to Morton (2003) population of Generation X is approximately 46 millions and they have $125 billion spending power. The ethnic representation of various ethnic groups in the Generation X is as follows: Generation X had been different in the way it had reared, the kind of education they got and the socio-cultural changes they bought within the US society and are still bringing. At the time when Generation X was growing up, majority of them had experienced the pain of broken families. This lead to several changes in behavioral and cultural aspects of the society with Gen X. Generation X had less emotional dependency on their parents or family members. They had learnt to live in an emotionally independent environment where they had to live in stepfamilies, broken families or in a family where both the parents were working. The parents of their generation had less time and took less effort to provide emotional support and security to the children. Spending most of the time alone, individual of this generation had developed a mind set where they did not have trust on any kind of institution be it family or other social structures. Generation X was the first generation which stayed back home alone, in front of television sets. The programs of those days were full of violence, crime and pop culture. These impacted the mind of this generation which took the violence as a normal thing of life. There had been various stigma attached to Generation X. They had been stereotyped to be slackers etc. Although Generation X often is referred to as a homogenous group, it is actually comprised of many different subgroups of individuals, with differing backgrounds, outlooks, and beliefs. Members of the generation often are derided by a stereotype that casts them as "slackers" (persons who lack drive and

Critically evaluate the behaviours and traits for effective lead Essay

Critically evaluate the behaviours and traits for effective lead - Essay Example This process can be effective through appropriate management of change to adapt to all the environments of the business. Change management refers to an organized and planned approach that helps to address the various variations that occur in the business environments. This also involves the appropriate response mechanisms for responding to changes that may occur among the workplace because of the changes that the business adopts. Change management involves an outline of a process to follow in order to experience an overall transformation in the whole business together with its employees. This guideline represents different steps that an individual has to adhere to so that the organization and its employees are coordinated towards the process of fulfilling its objectives. Create a Sense of Urgency An organization can only change if it can acknowledge the change. The leaders of the organization and its employees must recognize the need for change. The leaders of the organization partic ularly the managers should strive to inform employees about the need for change in the organization. This is done by developing a sense of urgency in the organization and its employees about the outlined procedures to revolutionize the organization. The management should be able to convince the employees through instilling positive thinking amongst the employees. This can be done by explaining the future circumstances to employees and potential future threats that may necessitate a change. This is to prevent the company from falling into such pitfalls. The company can also examine opportunities that can be possible in the future, if the company adopts different mechanisms of approaching its business environment. The company can give forth-convincing explanations about the change it needs. This is a strong motivator to speech and thinking among employees in order to arrive at the necessary change. This will also attract support from other areas of interest such as customers and other industries that may have interests in the company. This further boosts confidence for the company’s proposal since all parties are able to accept the change (Green, 2007, 167). Form a Powerful Coalition The organization should focus on leading the change to realize change. The company organization needs to bring a group of experienced individuals that are able to further the objectives of the organization towards change. Individuals from different levels of the company’s hierarchy, who draw their power from different sources, should be pooled together because they can offer the necessary advice on how change can be realized. This coalition will offer a priceless effort towards furthering the company’s urgency by build the required momentum towards change (Cameron & Green, 2009, 121). Create a Vision for Change The organization should be able to consolidate its ideas of change and bring it to the individual’s level of understanding. The vision for change should summarize the core values that the organization aims to achieve and should be effectively comprehended by the coalition formed to push for it (Vukotich, 2011, 41). Communicate the Vision The organization should ensure that its vision is thoroughly communicated and embedded in the organization. This is done through frequent expression of this vision in the decisions that the company makes,

Types of Services Essay Example for Free

Types of Services Essay The layout, menu, inventory, food prices and decoration of the restaurant determined by the services style. The service style of a restaurant depends on personal preferences, target market and location. Fine dining offers the finest food, services and atmosphere to the customers. Many people choose fine dining for a special occasion, so food should not disappoint, either in the selection or quality. No need to have an extensive menu, but it should be interesting, and offer unique dishes that customers cannot find in any other restaurant. Good food, drinks and wine should be extremely superior to anything offered at other restaurants and wine should be paired with the desire dishes and complement to customer’s menu. Also have prix fixe or limited menu that change on weekly or daily basis which allows people to buy seasonal items. In this kind of restaurant customer service is more attentive than in casual dining. Fine dining services goes far beyond taking an order and deliver food. Also provide the other services like crumbling the table between courses, replace linen napkin, explain menu without notes. Fine dining restaurant attract the people like business man, couples, family, tourist. These specific groups are focused because these are the people who frequent other restaurants and bar in the area also they are willing to spend their money on good dining and service at a value price. Cuisine History China has a civilized history of 5,000 years and Chinese cuisine has evolved over time. Chinese Cuisine enjoys high reputation in the world due to its abundance and exquisite, delicious taste and charming appearance. The Chinese food varies from local ingredient, climate, customs and cultures, so there are widely diverse food styles and taste in local regions. Chinese cuisine is any of several styles of food originating in the regions of China, some of which have become highly popular in other parts of the world.as early as the 7th century B.C Chinese cuisine began to be separated as southern and northern cuisine. Southern dishes emphasize freshness and tenderness. Northern dishes have more fat and garlic which is offset with vinegar, due to its cold weather. Its cooking techniques, preparation, serving and appreciation of food have been developed to the highest level. Cooking has occupied an important position in Chinese culture throughout its history. Chinese culture considers cooking as â€Å"an art and a science†. Rich and poor, the Chinese people consider that delicious and nutritious food is a basic necessity. There is an old Chinese saying â€Å"Food is the first necessity of the people†. Preparation method Stir frying The most frequently used method is stir frying. this method cooks processed ingredients at high heat for short period. Edible oil is used as the heat conductor. Because of short period of time, ingredients keep their nutrition value. Stir frying meat is juicy and testy , vegetables are tender and crispy. Deep frying This method uses more edible oil than stir fry, producing crisp textured food. In this method, cut the ingredients in small pieces, soak them in seasoning for a while, coat with corn starch, then fry in hot deep oil over medium heat. Shallow frying Shallow fried dishes are rather tender inside, appearing golden or slightly burnt outside. First cut the ingredients in slice or flat pieces and rubbed with seasoning. For crispiness, ingredients coated with cornstarch. Ingredients should be fried one side first and then turn to other. Braising In this method cooks ingredients over medium heat in small amount of sauce and simmering for short time of period. Also known as Hong Shao when the sauce is based on soy sauce. Boiling This is the simplest method among all the methods. It is used for small sized and soft ingredients, mostly for the vegetable soups like egg and tomato and tofu soup. It takes shorter time than braising. Prepared ingredients placed in wok with water and seasonings when the surface of the water is agitated by bubbles. Steaming This is the special method invented in china. It is used for steaming dumplings and buns in north china. In this method, place the ingredients in a steamer basket which is placed over water in a steamer pot. Roasting Roasting is to cook the food over the open flame of charcoal or in oven. To roast food, the ingredients must be cleaned, seasoned and basted with edible oil in order to reduce the loss of moisture in the ingredients during the roasting process. Regional differences within the country â€Å"There is no single Chinese diet but a wide variety of diets across the country that varies with ethnic and geographic differences.† Chinese cuisine is divided into two distinct styles northern and southern. There is a plenty of regional diversity between southern and northern region in the country’s cuisine also plenty of customs and traditions associated with the preparing and consumption of food. Northern cuisine is characterized by its extensive use of oil but the food itself is not cloyed. Northern people believe that the use of vinegar and garlic make the food delicious and tasty. There are many northern dishes that revolve around pasta. Northern popular dishes are ravioli-dumplings, noodles, steamed stuffed buns, steamed bread and fried meat dumplings. The areas of Tientsin and Shantung are the regions that are known for making use of Northern style cooking.in north Beijing jiaozi, Peking duck, Chinese traditional dumpling. Jiaozi is filled with pork and vegetables but it can be varied by the fruits or chestnuts. In history Peking duck is served to important and wealthy during the Qing dynasty. In southern style cooking people are used to use chili papers making the food more peppery and the food in general is known to possess tenderness and freshness. It doesn’t mean that all the food prepared in south is peppery, people can choose food according to their taste. Rice dishes like rice cake, noodles and congee are very popular in southern style cooking. In south, food taste is varies according to cities like people in shanghai like to eat sweet, Wuhan people like to eat peppery taste, some people in other cities like to eat salty food. In south, Guangdong region is famous for its light flavor and cooking technique and another creation of this region is dim sum which is small bite sized appetizer food.

Definitions and Causes of Intellectual Disabilities

Definitions and Causes of Intellectual Disabilities Task 1 1.1 Give 2 definitions of intellectual disability in accordance with a recognized source. Definition 1: â€Å"Intellectual disability means a significantly reduced ability to understand new or complex information and to learn and apply new skills (impaired intelligence). This results in a reduced ability to cope independently (impaired social functioning), and begins before adulthood, with a lasting effect on development.† (World Health Organization, 2014) Definition 2: â€Å"Intellectual disability is a disability characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and in adaptive behaviour as expressed in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills. This disability originates before the age of 18.† (American Association on Intellectual and Development Disabilities, 2008) 1.2 Using a definition of intellectual disability give 2 examples of how this impacts on the person’s adaptive skills: Conceptual skills such as reading time, counting money, reading and writing, expressing something are affected. Practical skills such as mobility, meal preparation, using telephone or mobile and daily living skills such as eating and dressing up are also impaired. Using a definition of intellectual disability give 2 explanations of how this impacts on the person’s cognitive ability: An intellectually disabled person has problems in thinking and reasoning things to make sense of them and utilize that information or advise in the daily living. Such as person also has problems in interpreting the tone in the voices speaking to them and communicating properly with other people. Task 2 2.1 Give 2 examples of causes of intellectual disability that occur before birth and describe two (2) main characteristics of the effects. E.g.1 Genetic Disorder Chromosome abnormality or disorder in the genes can lead to intellectual disability before birth. (American Association on Intellectual and Development Disabilities, 2008) Main Characteristics: One of the examples of Intellectual Disabilities due to genetic disorder is Downs Syndrome. Downs Syndrome occurs due to abnormality in chromosome 21 whereby there is an additional Chromosome 21. It can occur in any family of any race, religion or culture. Babies or children with Downs Syndrome depict small chin, almond shaped eyes and a around face as physical characteristics. Such children will also have a oversized tongue and much shorter limbs. Another type of disability caused by genetic disorder is Prada Willi Syndrome. With Prada Willi Syndrome, there is abnormality in chromosome 15. There is a minute gene deletion in the chromosome 15. The reason for this deletion is remains unknown. People with such disability tend to suffer from food craving and weight gain mainly. E.g. 2 Brain development Caused by environmental factors such as consumption of alcohol by the mother during pregnancy, drugs, infection, other environmental toxins and unknown factors. Brain or portion of it is damaged due to exposure to such elements. (American Association on Intellectual and Development Disabilities, 2008) Main Characteristics: An example of such is Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, caused by exposure to alcohol intake during pregnancy by the mothers. There is interference by alcohol in the delivery of food (nutrition) and oxygen to the brain, which affects the brain development and the connection of brain to the other organs of the body. These children have shorter than average height, have small head and small eyes with low birth weight and have flat face too. Exposure to environmental toxins such as methyl in the air (whereby methyl molecules replace hydrogen in the air) leads to Fragile X Syndrome. Children with Fragile X-Syndrome would have been affected by DNA rearrangements and this is more common in males. These children or males generally tend to have large testicles. 2.2 Give 2 examples of causes of intellectual disability that occur during or immediately following birth and describe 2 main characteristics f the effects. E.g. 1 Low Birth Weight Children with low birth weight can also be impaired and classed under intellectual disability. Source: (Centre for Disease Control, 2013) Main Characteristics: The child with low birth weight of basically below 2.5kg but especially below 1.5kg have great risks and chances of having cerebral palsy. It is not really a c cause rather a risk factor. Such a child has problems in balancing her/himself due to cognitive impairment. Children with low birth weight can also develop or be affected by epilepsy (World Health Organization, 2012). Perinatal injury factors such as low birth weight leads to brain damage. These people tend to have involuntary episodes of seizure, which can be several at times. E.g. 2 Trauma Brain injuries or trauma can also lead to many intellectual disabilities. This can vary in degree yet leave a huge impact. Traumas at times can be prevented but there are certain times it can not be. Source: Auckland Goldstar Institute (2014), Powerpoint slides 23-27) Main Characteristics: One of it is epilepsy. The brain damage due trauma can lead to epilepsy. People with epilepsy have involuntary movements of the body. This could be referred to as episodes of seizures. Such children/clients may be devoid of awareness of their environment and can also be unconscious for sometime. Another of the intellectual disabilities caused by trauma is cerebral palsy. The brain injury during birth affects a persons’ ability to move and coordinate. Such clients have problems with bladder or bowel movements. It is difficult to control these. 2.3 Give 2 examples of causes of intellectual disability that occur during childhood years and describe the impact of the day-to-day support needs of the person. E.g. 1 Infections Infections such as Meningitis can lead to epilepsy. Meningitis affects the brain directly and can be taken as a cause of epilepsy. (Source: Auckland Goldstar Institute (2014), Powerpoint slide 23) Impact: The client will have convulsions now and again. This is due to the brain damage from meningitis infection. There could be partial seizures, which would be eventuating from a small part of the brain being affected. E.g. 2 Exposure to Environmental Factors We are exposed to many factors or toxins in the environment on daily basis. Some of these factors can lead to Autism. (Source: Auckland Goldstar Institute(2014), Powerpoint slide 33) Impact: Have difficulty in speaking, can be repetitive with words or have flat tone of voice. Hence, they experience hardships in communicating with many people. They find it hard to socialize with large groups of people. This can lead to these clients feelings isolated and as they are unable to develop or make friends. Task 3 Describe conditions frequently associated with intellectual disability. Condition 1: Epilepsy Cause: Epilepsy, another of those common intellectual disabilities has been related to many causes. While some times it is unknown, the known factors are: genetics serious head injuries or severe head trauma hypoxia or lack of oxygen during birth infections such as encephalitis and meningitis Main Characteristic 1: Such clients can experience convulsions or seizures. Seizures may be partial. This happens due to injuries to the brain whereby the part of the brain controlling body movements is affected. Main Characteristic 2: The person/client may also lose awareness of presence in a place and happenings around it. This also happens due to brain effects resulting from any of the causes. Physical Support: Need help in ensuring correct administration of medications, monitoring of that these medications are taken, tending to any effects or side effects. Safety of such clients is paramount as these clients have seizures and involuntary body movements. Thus, these clients as well as the family (or whanau) need to be educated on what it is and the management (this includes ensuring safety, taking care of other needs, medication intake, taking appropriate steps when a person has seizures) a of epilepsy. A safe environment that is free of and hazards is also needed. The airways of any person having seizures should always be kept open. Social support: Clients need encouragement and positive response to help them maintain their dignity during and after seizures. These clients also need motivation and support to help them get into studies and be educated. Since epileptic clients can get socially shy and may not mix around with others, they need constant support and encouragement to help them be in contact and maintain communication with her/his friends and co-workers. Cognitive support: Epileptic clients can end up losing a lot of learning hours and opportunities due to seizures. They thus experience difficulties in learning. This can and often leads to needing additional teaching support in terms of using devices such as visual aids, diary for appointments, calendars, memory aids and even a 1 to 1 teacher support. These support modes will be really helpful to them. Condition 2: Spinal bifida Cause(s): Spinal bifida, which is a before birth is a condition whereby a person has incomplete brain, spinal cord and/or meninges development. The type and location of the malformation denotes the severity of the condition as to where it is mild or severe. While the cause is generally unknown, it can be possibly related to genetics, folic acid deficiency in diet and also environmental factors. Main Characteristic 1: People with spinal bifida can experience bladder or bowel control loss. They have lack of control on them urinating or defecating, on the amount and when they do it. Main Characteristic 2: Feeling of muscle weakness or paralysis below the region where the incomplete closure (cleft) or malformation has occurred. Thus, as a result they can also feel loss of sensation in the region below the affected area. Physical support: A person with spinal bifida needs assistance with mobility. Walkers or wheelchairs will be required for such people as they have affected lower limbs or are paralytic. Additional support from occupational therapists or physiotherapists may be required together with additional environmental adaptation. Medical or surgical interventions can be required for such clients. Social support: Accessibility to community based activities and appropriate transportation support is required for such people. Education and work opportunities support also need so that they receive similar treatment as other people and so that these people can also advance in life. As they may feel shy because of their condition, they will need activities of sports or recreation so that it can espouse them to make friends and socialize with other people. Cognitive support: Hydrocephalous (build up of fluid in the brain) can interfere in learning process. Even surgical interventions can lead to missing school whereby learning is disrupted. Hence, additional support in the forms of having home based learning with tutors and supplementary efforts from teachers in school become mandatory. Condition 3: Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Cause: the prime cause of this condition is alcohol exposure to the foetus while in the utero. The leads to brain damage and problems with growth. The delivery of oxygen and necessary nutrition is disrupted by alcohol and this affects tissue and organ development including the brain. Main characteristic 1: Some of the physical characteristics of the such people are low birth weight, small head and small eyes. This can be basically happening due to lack of nutrition to the foetus. Main characteristic 2: Language and speech delays are also experienced by these people as brain functions and development had been affected by lack of oxygen. Physical Support: Health care staff support in forms of physiotherapists and speech therapists will be required to assist such people. These staff will help to overcome the difficulties of language, pronunciation and speech. Social support: As these people have problems with their speech and language they could hesitate in interacting and socializing with other people. Trainings for social skills, interaction and communication with family, friends and others could be very helpful. The clients could improve in confidence and interact with them more. Boosting of confidence and encouraging independency related activities could also provide the necessary support. Cognitive support: Supportive educational activities could be organized with these clients to enable them overcome their speech problems and learning. Language problems can also be addressed through this support. Special education teachers and speech therapists could play vital roles in addressing the needs of such clients. References: American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (2008), Frequently Asked Questions on Intellectual Disability and the AAIDD Definition, AAIDD Information, American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, pg. 1 Auckland Goldstar Institute (2014), Intellectual Disability, Powerpoint Slides4-36 Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (2013), Celebral Palsy, Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, National Centre on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. Retrieved from www.cdc.gov CCS Disability Action (2013), Spinal Bifida, Types of Disabilities. Retrieved from http://www.ccsdisabilityaction.org.nz Prader Willi Association of New Zealand (2014), What is Prader Willi Syndrom? Retrieved from www.everybody.co.nz World Health Organization (2012), Epilepsy, Fact Sheet No999, Geneva. Retrieved from www.who.int World Helath Organisation (2014), Mental Health, World Health Organization, Geneva. Retrieved from www.euro.who.int

Economic Policy In Sweden During The Great Depression Economics Essay

Economic Policy In Sweden During The Great Depression Economics Essay When the Great Depression swept across Europe in the early 1930s the impact of the economic downturn varied across countries. While for example Germany, Austria and most of Central Europe experienced a long and deep economic crisis, the economies of the Nordic countries Sweden, Denmark and Norway were not only affected later and more mildly by the Depression, but also recovered earlier. The crisis in Sweden for example only lasted a little more than two years (in Germany and Poland it lasted for more than 4 years, see graph 1) and peak decline in industrial production was at 10.3% while for example Germany or Poland had declines in industrial production of more than 40% (see graph 2). Even when looking at comparable GDP figures, Sweden was with a decline of 6.5% well below countries such as Germany (25%) or Austria (23.4%, see graph 3). Moreover and of greater interest for this paper is the fact that Sweden did not only perform better during the Great Depression but also pursued a different economic policy. Most prominently cited amongst economic historians are two distinctly Swedish policy measures: First, looking at Swedens monetary policy, scholars point out, that the country left the gold standard very early and unique at that time simultaneously put the preservation of the domestic purchasing power of the krona on top of the political agenda. Second, it is often mentioned, that the Social-Democratic government, which came into power in 1932, invested heavily in public work programmes following a Keynesian-type fiscal policy. The present paper seeks to analyse whether these two factors are a) sufficient and b) withstand a closer empirical evaluation when it comes to explain the better development of Sweden during the Great Depression. In order to do so, the paper will, as a first step, outline the economic situation in Sweden and the corresponding economic policy prior to the crisis. This is necessary, as it provides an overview of the nature of Swedens economy, its degree of integration into the international market and accordingly its general contagion risk at the time of the crisis. Secondly, the above mentioned policy measures during the Great Depression will be outlined. Thirdly and most central in this paper is an analyses of the effectiveness and consequences of these policy measures. The last chapter will then draw the attention to other factors outside the control of government policy that might have helped Sweden to ease the effects of the Great Depression. Literature Immune to crisis? Swedens economic development prior to the Great Depression Even though Swedens macro-economic policy is often seen as the major contributor to the countries positive development during the Great Depression, one must not fail to see, that some of the reasons for this development are rather to be found in specific characteristics of Swedens economy prior to 1929/31 than in any explicit policy measure thereafter. Two pre-existing conditions can be outlined, that seemed to have stabilized the economy during the crisis. Firstly, a constantly undervalued krona made Swedish exports cheap on the international market. Secondly, the banking sector in Sweden was centralized and crisis-prone. Thus, a banking panic never occurred. The following paragraphs explain these specifically Swedish conditions in greater detail. Traditionally, Swedens economy was based on the countrys rich endowments of iron and timber. Its main trading partner was Britain and later on Germany and the United States. During the beginning of the 20th century Sweden also became a major exporter of technologically sophisticated goods such as telephones (e.g. Ericsson) or appliances (e.g. Electrolux). As Sweden was at least on paper a neutral power during World War I (WWI) many investors sought to acquire Swedish assets at that time, as the country seemed to be a safe haven for capital. Additionally, by mainly exporting raw materials, Sweden could take advantage of the increase in foreign demand for those goods caused by WWI. By the end of the war Sweden had transformed from a major international borrower to a creditor to the rest of the world. While the export industry could profit from these developments, inflation increased mainly due to increasing costs for imports. Between 1915 and 1918 the cost of living rose by as much a s 90%. This inflation was eventually condemned between 1920 and 1924 when prices declined by 55% due to a restrictive monetary policy. After 1924 a slower, but persistent deflation continued until 1931. With such low domestic prices, Sweden was highly competitive on the international market. That is why during most of the 1920s Sweden experienced a strong export-led economic growth. This is why after WWI Sweden reinstated the gold standard as one of the first industrialized countries in 1924. Many economic historians believe that this return to the gold standard occurred at a rate that left the krona undervalued well into the 1930s. As a consequence Swedish exports remained highly competitive even in times of economic crisis. The domestic market also stabilized during the 1920s. Due to export bans and high import taxes during and after WWI, Swedish consumers, whose purchasing power constantly increased during the 1920s, substituted imports with domestic products. Additionally, demographics played a role. During the 1920s and 1930s there was a rapid rise in the number of young people of working age (especially those aged 20-29). Respectively, demand for housing, food, clothes and other consumer products increased which contributed to a strong growth of domestic production as well. When the stock market crash of October 29, 1929, triggered the Great Depression, another factor for Swedens low proneness to crises became obvious. Swedens banking structure was very concentrated. This was much in contrast to for example the United States, where the banking structure was highly fragmented and decentralized. According to Ben Bernanke, such a structure is much more likely to cause banking panics. Sweden however was characterized by a branch banking system, where risks were dispersed. It is argued that especially in the case of Sweden, earlier experiences with failing banks in the 1920s had led to reforms that had put the banking system on a sound footing. That is why at the beginning of the 1930s the banking sector in Sweden did not experience widespread panics. Putting all these facts together, it can be argued, that Sweden was from the very beginning less likely to be effected by the Great Depression than those countries whose banking sector collapsed. This especially holds true when considering the fact that trust in the economy never vanished in Sweden due to a generally stable banking structure. Additionally, even though exports declined from 1931 until 1932, Swedens export industry always remained highly competitive. This was not least due to an undervalued krona, whose parity remained stable well into the 1930s. Nevertheless, analyzing the characteristics of Swedens economy prior to the Great Depression only answers part of the question to why Sweden performed considerably better during the crisis than other nations. Especially when Sweden left the gold standard in 1931, specific policy measures as described in chapter two played an equally significant role. What was so special? Swedens response to the Great Depression Prior to the Great Depression, the political mainstream of the Western industrialized world followed a laissez-faire ideology that propagated the free play of the market. It was believed that capitalism had a self-equilibrating tendency, leading to an optimal level of resource utilization. Hence, economic policy at that time simply meant that governments should balance their budget, maintain the gold standard and let businesses reequilibrate themselves. However, while many countries had to reconsider their economic policies during the Great Depression, Sweden had already made this step beforehand. During the late 1920s, Swedens economic policy was already based on the advice of trained economists who did not solely propagate the contemporary neo-classical view on economics but rather pursued their own theories on how the state should react during an economic crisis. This so called Stockholm School was a loose group of economists whose most important figures were Knut Wicksell, Eli He ckscher, Gustav Bagge, Bertil Ohlin and David Davidson. Especially Knut Wicksells findings at the beginning of the 20th century inspired most of the works of his followers. Wicksell is best known for Interest and Prices, his contribution to the fledgling field now called macroeconomics. In this book and in his 1906 Lectures in Political Economy, volume 2, Wicksell sketched out his version of the quantity theory of money (monetarism). The standard view of the quantity theory before Wicksell was that increases in the money supply have a direct effect on prices-more money chasing the same amount of goods. Wicksell focused on the indirect effect. In elaborating this effect, Wicksell distinguished between the real rate of return on new capital (Wicksell called this the natural rate of interest) and the actual market rate of interest. He argued that if the banks reduced the rate of interest below the real rate of return on capital, the amount of loan capital demanded would increase and the amount of saving supplied would fall. Investment, which equaled saving before the interest rate fell, would exceed saving at the lower rate. The increase in investment woul d increase overall spending, thus driving up prices. This cumulative process of inflation would stop only when the banks reserves had fallen to their legal or desired limit, whichever was higher. In laying out this theory, Wicksell began the conversion of the old quantity theory into a full-blown theory of prices. The Stockholm school, of which Wicksell was the father figure, ran with this insight and developed its own version of macroeconomics. In some ways this version resembled later Keynesian economics. Wicksell also argued passionately for making price stability the supreme goal of monetary policy. A stable price level, he maintained, made planning easier for participants in both financial and labour markets. In an 1898 analysis, Wicksells key recommendation for central banks was to increase interest rates whenever prices were rising and to lower them when prices were falling-a monetary policy that he considered to be straightforward. He argued that low interest rates would tend to increase prices. A low rate of interest would lead a borrower to buy some commodity which otherwise he would not have bought at all and would lead someone who wishes temporarily to keep some or all of his goods off the market . . . [to ask ] . . . the Bank for money with which to meet his immediate or pending liabilities without having to sell his goods. Thus, demand would rise and supply would fall, thereby ensuring an increase in prices.18 This meant that the stabilization of prices required only that interest rates be increased when prices were rising and reduced when prices were falling. Wicksell stressed that movements in the price level exerted a particularly large effect on borrowers because an increase in all prices made it easier to repay debts while a reduction made it harder. He also noted that real wages could be affected if nominal wages (in kronor) did not keep up with changes in prices. Even though Wicksell died in 1926 his followers such as Eli Heckscher, Bertil Ohlin, Gustav Cassel and Gunnar Myrdal, could build upon his theoretical work and formulate concrete policy advice in 1931, when the Great Depression finally reached Sweden. The following paragraphs reveal how their influence and advice on the Swedish central bank (Riksbank) and on the political elite helped Sweden through the crisis. Monetary policy During the early months of 1931, Sweden was the recipient of capital inflows. However, the German standstill led many international investors to withdraw their funds from Sweden both because they lacked access to their German funds and because they feared that the crisis would spread. These withdrawals contributed to a drastic reduction in Swedish reserves. By September of 1931, reserves had fallen to less than one-tenth of their January level. Similar pressure was placed on the British financial system, and on September 21, Britain abandoned the gold standard. On September 27 Sweden, too, abandoned the gold standard. The Riksbank and the minister of finance immediately announced that the new monetary goal for the country would be to preserve the domestic purchasing power of the krona using all available means. The next day, September 28, the Riksdag gave its official assent by relieving the Riksbank of its responsibility to convert notes into gold at a fixed rate. People who wished to exchange kronor for foreign exchange could still do so at commercial banks, whose representatives met daily (along with a Riksbank official) to set exchange rates. In making price stability the primary objective of its monetary policy, Sweden pursued an internationally unique agenda. Based on Knut Wicksells argument that stable price levels made planning easier for participants in both financial and labor market, the Riksbank new role was to maintain price levels within a certain range. In order to do so, the first step the Riksbank undertook was to develop a new, weekly index of consumer prices. This was necessary as the goal was to give the public certain definite stand points for estimating future developments in prices. Consequently, the new index was designed to include a wide range of goods and services that reflected purchases made by average families in Sweden. This ensured that the purchasing power of the Krona could be measured for most individuals correctly. The weekly inflation was then computed by weighing the percent change in each good and service consumed by the fraction of total consumer expenditure that households allocated to this item. Instruments used by the Riksbank in order to fulfill the price stability target were changes in the discount rate and operations in the foreign exchange market. Accordingly, the Riksbank changed the discount rate from 8% to 6% in 1931 as there were no longer signs for a continuing inflation. After that, the discoun t rate was lowered to 2.5% in 0.5% steps until 1937. In retro perspective the monetary policy of the Riksbank proved to be very effective. Statistics show a considerably stable level of consumer prices between 1931 and 1938 (see graph 7). Most importantly however is the fact, that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the monetary program of 1931 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ maintained public trust and confidence in the banking sector. One can therefore conclude, that not only did the centralized branch system of the banking structure prevented Sweden from the experience of a fully scaled banking panic, but also a sound monetary policy based on the theoretical findings of the Stockholm School. Nevertheless, the price stabilizing policy of the Riksbank did not remain unchallenged. For example, Bertil Ohlin, who wrote an article entitled The inadequacy of price stabilization. There he acknowledged that the economic situation would most undoubtedly have been still worse if prices had been allowed to fall as they did in countries that kept to the old gold parity, and that the knowledge that the Riksbank would endeavor by every means in its power to prevent any appreciable fall in prices has exercised a reassuring influence on trade. However, Ohlin went on to argue that stabilization of prices could not prevent reductions in investment and hence in GDP. The next chapter explains how this argument was also put forward by the Social Democrats in 1932. Public deficit spending In the 1932 elections, the Social Democrats obtained the highest number of votes and formed a government. The new minister of finance, Ernst Wigforss, held that a monetary policy focused on price stability was insufficient to obtain an acceptable outcome for Sweden. The new finance minister had long championed the idea of intentional deficit spending in recessions. Wigforss had been a professor of linguistics at Lund before he became one of the leading intellectuals of the Social Democratic Party, and he worked closely with a number of Swedish economists, including Gunnar Myrdal, Erik Lindahl, and Bertil Ohlin. The group developed theories justifying the use of fiscal policy as a stabilization tool that were quite similar to those developed by John Maynard Keynes. In a 1928 article, for example, Wigforss wrote: If I want work for 100 people I do not need to put all 100 to work. . . . [I]f I can get an unemployed tailor work, he will get the opportunity to buy himself new shoes and in this way an unemployed shoemaker will get work. . . . This crisis is characterized above all by a relationship which is called a vicious circle. . . . One can say the crisis drives itself once it begins, and it [will] be the same once recovery begins. Wigforsss advocacy of deficit spending in response to the Depression was a radical departure from the policies of previous governments. Prior to 1933, government borrowing was primarily limited to loans for productive purposes, that is, for investments that would generate future government revenue, such as the postal service, telephones, electrical power generation, and railroads. Income derived from these activities would then cover the interest payments on the public debt while also generating additional income for the state.36 In contrast, nonproductive government expenditure was supposed to be paid for with current government revenues. Since it was impossible to predict current revenues or nonproductive expenditures accurately, Sw eden had reserve funds that accumulated any unanticipated surpluses. These funds were then available to cover unanticipated deficits. In the fiscal years 1931-1932 and 1932-1933, for example, the budget was balanced by reducing the reserves of the Alcoholic Drink Account. Thus, while budget deficits in the modern sense occurred, they were not acknowledged, and they were not the result of any policy aimed specifically at creating or allowing a deficit. One of the more controversial issues amongst economic historians is the questions whether public deficit spending and public work programs really helped Sweden out of the economic slump or whether they were merely a side note during the Great Depression. The reason for that is that the coming to power of the Social Democrats in 1932 are widely perceived as a turning point in Swedens economic policy and sometimes even as the global birth of modern macro-economic policy. However, empirical evidence proving that a special Social Democratic economic policy caused Swedens quick recovery is scarce. As a matter of fact, the debate about the future fiscal policy of Sweden under Social Democratic rule already circled around issues much similar to those that John Maynard Keynes dealt with four years later in his magnum opus the General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. Swedens financial minister Ernst Wigforss argued that price stabilization would not be enough to fight the depression. He rather proposed a public work program designed to put unemployed back to work even if this meant budget deficits. Much like the policy advocating stable prices, this one was again based on advice put forward by contemporary economists. This was a radical departure from the policies of previous governments. A balanced budget had always been the highest maxim. Usually, government loans were only used for investments that were expected to generate future profits such as postal services, railroads or electric power supply. All other nonproductive expenditures were paid for by reserves the government had built up. Unsurprisingly, this radical change in policy went not without fierce debate and controversy in parliament. The first unbalanced budget proposed by Wigforss for the years 1933 and 1934 was criticized for causing inflation and depriving businesses of capital necessary for their development. To counter these arguments, the Social Democrats moved away from financing public wor k programs through deficits and proposed an inheritance tax used to finance their plans. Additionally, the Agrarian Party did not agree to the budget as they feared a negligence of the population working in the agrarian sector. As a consequence, the Social Democrats had to include high subsidy payments for the agricultural sector in the budget. When it finally passed the parliament in 1933 much of the planned deficit spending policy had disappeared. Moreover, most of the funds still allocated to public work programs could not be put to use as a nationwide lockout of employees in the construction sector blockaded the building industry. This lockout took place because the employer association SAF wanted to enforce lower wages for the industry. This conflict was solved in 1934 and only then could the government finally make use of the allocated funds for public works. Did they find the Holy Grail? The effects of Swedens economic policy Renowned economist and chairman of the Fed, Ben Bernanke, wrote in his essay collection on the Great Depression that Understanding the Great Depression is the holy grail of macro-economics. He thereby referred to the very difficult but ultimately rewarding task of finding a definite answer to the question of the real causes of the Great Depression. This, he argues, could help to identify future crisis better and address them more effectively. When looking at the fact that Sweden had overcome the Depression rather well by applying certain types of policies, the question arises whether the Holy Grail might have already been found long before Bernanke published his book. This chapter will therefore look more closely at the real effect that the Swedish economic policy had from 1929 to 1937. The range and depth of the several above mentioned policy measures varied significantly. It is therefore convenient to divide the chapter into the several policy fields that were addressed between 1929 and 1937. The evaluation is mainly done by using statistics of key figures that are in direct relation to the executed policy. By drawing on secondary literature it is then elaborated whether the figures in the statistics did or did not change due to a specific policy or due to other factors. When looking at the debate on the cause of Swedens recovery the author argues that according to one view the increasing demand and thus increasing exports led to a recovery. Hence, monetary policy was the most powerful contributory factor. The public works policy could not have had any significant effect, since the works were not started on any substantial scale until recovery was well under way. On the other hand, the expansion of the export market at first did not have an extensive impact on the labor market as at first large pile of build up stock were used for exports. No increase in production or employment took place. The author concludes that it was a mixture of growing demand abroad, monetary policy, deficit spending and support of the agriculture that led to Swedens recovery. Even if it is clear that the public works did not lead to recovery it is unclear whether exports alone did the trick. Just lucky? External factors fostering Swedens recovery Leaving the gold standard After Great Britain left the gold standard on September 21st 1931, Sweden followed six days later as one of the first countries. The effects on both the domestic markets and the foreign sector were at first positive. Leaving gold meant that the Swedish Riksbank could lower the interest rate, therefore practicing an inflationary monetary policy rather than a deflationary policy as before. This let the money supply increase and accordingly aggregated product demand. As Sweden experienced a deflation prior to 1931 the increase in money now turned the economic situation into a mild inflation. This proved to be a rather favorable constellation, as with lower interest rates at the central bank and accordingly low real interest rates for businesses, investments increased. Hence, optimism amongst entrepreneurs never fell to a point where all investments were put on hold. Rather, trust in the economy always remained at a substantially high level, while prices remained at level that did not se em to hurt the economy too much. Another important factor was the effect of an inflationary monetary policy on the export sector. Leaving gold was followed by a depreciation of the Krona. This meant that Swedish products became cheaper and did not decrease significantly, which is remarkable when looking at global trade statistics during the Great Depression. Graph 6 shows that Swedish exports did quite well during the 1930s, while a lot of other western economies had to face significant declines in exports. Additionally, a depreciation of the Krona also meant that imports became more expensive for Swedish consumers. As a consequence import substitution occurred, strengthening domestic enterprises. All put together, it becomes evident (see Berry Eichengreen), that leaving the gold standard early played an important role for the depth of and the recovery from the Great Depression. Conclusion This paper examined the economic policy of Sweden during the Great Depression. The primary question was to find out which factors contributed to the relatively mild course of the crisis. Accordingly, the first chapter outlined the basic condition the Swedish economy was in prior to the crisis. This was a necessary entrance into the subject as it revealed that Swedens exposure to contagion was at least with respect to the banking sector limited. On the other hand, the chapter revealed as well that the decrease of foreign demand due to the crisis had a definite negative impact on Swedens export industry. Nevertheless, it can be argued that under these circumstances, Sweden was from the very beginning less likely to be effected by the Great Depression than those countries whose banking sector collapsed. This especially holds true when considering the fact that trust in the economy never vanished in Sweden due to generally stable, basic economic parameters. Hence, the specific characte ristics of Swedens economy prior and during the Great Depression already answer part of the question to why Sweden performed so well. As Sweden was nevertheless hit by the crisis through the export market and the collapse of the international trading system, the second part of the answer can be found within the internationally unique policy measures Sweden pursued between 1931 and 1937. In chapter two it is argued that Swedish politicians deliberately followed an economic policy outside the neoclassical mainstream. This is mainly due to the so called Stockholm school, whose followers very early acknowledged that the state had to play a vital role during an economic crisis. As this group of economist and their advice was very well accepted within the political elite, policy measures could be put into practice without having to make too many concessions to third parties. Thus, policy reaction to the crisis was quick and effective. In chapter three, several major policy measures that helped Sweden to recover from the Great Depression quicker than others are analysed in detail: the early abandoning of the gold standard, the stabilization of the purchasing power of the krona and public work programmes. While the suspension of the gold standard was merely a reaction to the fact that one of Swedens major trading partners, the UK, abandoned gold, the other two measures can clearly be traced back to the Stockholm School. It is argued in the paper, that stabilizing the purchasing power of the krona definitely helped to maintain trust in the economic system and provided planning reliability for businesses. The role of the public work programmes however remains somewhat blurry. Even though Sweden seems to be an early if not the first country to follow Keynesian-like policies, the effects of the deficit spending policy is somewhat disputed by scholars. There is however consensus on the fact that the policies of the Social Democrats in the early 1930s paved the way for true deficit spending and broad government intervention in the following decades, leading to the today renown Swedish welfare state. Lastly, Swedens quick recovery is looked upon in chapter four. As available statistics do not reveal a significant success of the government work program, outside factors might explain more accurately why Sweden recovered so quickly. Looking at exports statistics one can clearly see that a general upswing in the global business cycle was very well received by Swedens export industry. Especially the booming housing market in Great Britain pampered the export sector. Putting all pieces together, this paper showed that a mixture of internal and external factors helped Sweden to overcome the Great Depression better than others. While a relatively low exposure of the banking sector to the international market helped to maintain trust in the economy, the stabilizing monetary policy of the Riksbank strengthened the planning reliability for customers and businesses alike. The quick recovery at the end of the Depression however can mainly be traced back to external factors. Nevertheless, the fact that businesses could quickly react to the growth in foreign demand at all is in great parts due to the stabilizing policy of the government.

Online Social Networking and Politics Essay -- Facebook, Twitter, Pint

Introduction The internet is one of the most dynamic inventions in the history of mankind. It spreads knowledge and allows for rapid communication amongst untold numbers of people on a scale previously unimaginable. It has revolutionized countless aspects of the modern world, ranging from its effects on business practices and the economy to creating new forms of leisure activities and educational content. The multitude of ways the internet has affected the modern world is truly astonishing. Online social networking is a relatively recent phenomenon of the internet. Online social networks have permeated their ways into millions of peoples’ lives. People create digital identities of themselves, updating and maintaining their online profiles, allowing users to more easily keep in touch with family, friends, and the world around them. Groups and micro-societies are formed when users rally behind a common interest, activity, or goal. This user-managed method of organizing people and information has quickly found its way into varying aspects of our culture. One important area in which the internet and online social networks have found their way is American politics, and they are changing it like it has never been changed before. Howard Dean The rise and fall of former Vermont governor Howard Dean in the 2004 presidential campaign marked the beginning of a new era in American politics. Dean was a game changer. He was the first candidate to utilize the power of the internet and online social networks for campaigning purposes, without which he would have not risen to (at one point) be considered a front-runner for the Democratic ticket. As his campaign manager Joe Trippi notes, the Dean campaign started out small in both the num... ... Vargas, Jose Antonio. 20 November 2008. â€Å"Obama Raised Half a Billion Online.† The Washington Post. sec. Politics http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2008/11/20/obama_raised_half_a_billion_on.html Walsh, Kenneth T. 17 January 2008. â€Å"The Battle Cry That Backfired on Howard ‘The Scream’ Dean.† U.S. News & World Report http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/politics/2008/01/17/the-battle-cry-that-backfired.html Wilgoren, Jodi and Jim Rutenberg. 1 February 2004. â€Å"Missteps Pulled A Surging Dean Back to Earth.† The New York Times sec. 1 p. 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/01/us/2004-campaign-former-governor-missteps-pulled-surging-dean-back-earth.html?pagewanted=1 Willard, Terri. March 2009. "Social Networking and Governance for Sustainable Development." International Institute for Sustainable Development. http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2009/social_net_gov.pdf

The Distortion of Indonesian Culture :: essays research papers

I.Pendahuluan Kebudayaan,adalah sebuah pola yang terintegrasi dari pengetahuan manusia, kepercayaan, dan perilaku. Kebudayaan, dapat didefinisikan, berisi bahasa, ide-ide, kepercayaan, kebiasaan,larangan-larangan, hukum,institusi, teknik, hasil karya seni, ritual, seremoni dan komponen lainnya yang terkait. Perkembangan kebudayaan tergantung kepada kapasitas manusia untuk belajar dan menerima pengetahuan yang kemudian diwariskan kepada generasinya. [1] Dengan melihat kebudayaan, sebagai contoh kebudayaan Jepang, atau kebudayaan Barat dapat dilihat nilai-nilai yang memiliki banyak perbedaan yang dijalankan didalam kedua masyarakat yang disebutkan diatas.Kebudayaan barat membentuk masyarakat yang memiliki keterbukaan, critical thinking, dsb. Di Jepang terbentuk masyarakat yang masih menganggap nilai-nilai luhur nenek moyangnya, dan nilai kekeluargaan sebagai pegangan. Kebudayaan terbentuk melalui pola-pola hidup yang diterapkan oleh masyarakat, yang dipengaruhi oleh kondisi internal dan eksternal masyarakat itu sendiri. Dalam kondisi internal, bentuk kebudayaan dipengaruhi oleh hubungan kekerabatan, seremonial, bahasa, hukum dsb. Oleh kondisi internal, kebudayaan dipengaruhi oleh lingkungan geografis, dan oleh berbagai faktor, kebudayaan lain yang mempengaruhi kebudayaan tersebut. Kebudayaan yang kemudian membentuk masyarakat selanjutnya. Namun, kebudayaan tidak lantas terus-menerus sebagai panutan statis pembentuk masyarakat tetapi juga dibentuk lagi oleh masyarakat. Hal ini adalah proses kreasi-interaksi antara budaya dan masyarakat. Budaya sangat berpengaruh, budaya mencerminkan pengalaman sejarah suatu bangsa, yang tertanam dalam tradisi mereka, dan membentuk sikap dan pengharapan mereka terhadap dunia. Budaya bisa menjadi pendorong atau beban yang menghambat atau mempercepat perubahan [2] Dengan membicarakan kebudayaan di Indonesia, cukup rumit memang untuk memahami keseluruhan budaya di Indonesia; melihat Indonesia yang multietnis dan multilinguistik, dapat disimpulkan bahwa kebudayaan di Indonesia sangat beraneka ragam dan rumit. Jika ditelusuri lagi, melihat kebudayaan masyarakat Indonesia, berarti kita harus melihat kembali proses sejarah perkembangan suku-bangsa di Indonesia, dari zaman perunggu, besi, zaman pra-tradisonal, zaman tradisional, pra-modern, dan akhirnya masyarakat modern kontemporer yang ada sekarang ini. Masyarakat suku-bangsa di Indonesia telah melewati banyak tahap-tahap kreasi-interaksi kebudayaan seperti yang disebut diatas tersebut. Mulai dari scope internal di antara suku-suku bangsa indonesia sendiri, maupun oleh pengaruh eksternal kebudayaan kolonial yang menjajah bangsa ini selama tiga setengah abad. Kemudian kesadaran para pemuda-pemuda lintas etnik yang menyepakati kesatuan budaya-budaya Indonesia yang beraneka-ragam dalam sumpah pemuda 28 Oktober 1928 dan mencapai puncaknya pada kemerdekaan bangsa ini sebagai suatu bangsa yang berdaulat penuh. Namun dinamika kebudayaan Indonesia tidak sampai di sini, masyarakat kontemporer Indonesia masih mempengaruhi kebudayaan Indonesia masa mendatang yang memang tetap rumit. Apa yang akan saya angkat pada essai singkat saya tentang kebudayaan Indonesia adalah sedikit dari kerumitan yang ada dalam kebudayaan Indonesia dalam interaksinya dengan masyarakat lain yang memiliki kebudayaan yang lain pula. Pada essai ini saya menanggap bahwa kebudayaan Indonesia telah sangat terdistorsi oleh kebudayaan lain yang mempengaruhi kebudayaan dasar bangsa Indonesia yang baik,seperti budaya gotong-royong, kekeluargaan dan sebagainya.

Indian Republic Day Speech Essay

India celebrates our 64th Republic Day which is one of three national days in India. Commonly 64th Republic Day is a public holiday in most of the countries to honor the day on which the country first became republics. In such some are Commonwealth countries, the British sovereign was ruling the state until the change of status. Even though India obtained freedom on August 15, 1947, Indian Constitution implemented and came into effect only on January 26, 1950. King George VI, the last and only â€Å"King† of the modern India, was leading our state during the evolution period from 1947 to 1950. Lord Mountbatten and C. Rajagopalachari were serving as the Governors-General of India at that time. Afterwards Rajendra Prasad was elected as the first president of India on January 26, 1950. With this the Parliament officially approved the Constitution of India and declared itself as a â€Å"Republic† on January 26, 1950, a date thereafter celebrated every year as Republic Day in India. Lets know about India Republic Day official celebration in New Delhi. According to the Republic Day celebration on January 26th every year a grand parade is held in New Delhi, the Capital of India, beginning from Raisina Hill near the Presidential Palace Rashtrapati Bhavan, along the Rajpath, past India Gate and on to the historic Red Fort in the heart of the city to honor this occasion. Defence forces of state, Indian Army force, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force performs the past in parade with their ceremonial dress and official decorations on this auspicious occasion of Republic Day. At the end of parade Air Force jets perform a colorful flypast by in a Tiranga formation which is adventurous and eye-catching at a time. Similar celebrations with such parades are held in the capitals of all the states of India on the Republic day. The Governor of the each state takes the salute in their respective celebrations. More over all official government offices will also celebrate this national day which is also considered as people’s day. Once this salutation gets over, a 21 gun salute is presented, the President unfurls the National Flag and the National Anthem is performed. This regards the beginning of the parade. The Republic day Parade commences with winners of bravery awards passing the President in open jeeps. We all are proud to be Indians and would salute the great glory of our country. By saying this I would like to finish my speech.

Policy Priority Issue Essay

Policy Priority Issue Those who utilize the Medicaid system range from low income families to the over 65 age group. Within this population is also those who are disabled due to physical or mental problems. This is among the sickliest of our American population. A paper based on a study in Oregon stated that â€Å"Medicaid significantly increased the probability of being diagnosed with diabetes, and being on diabetes medication as well as high blood pressure and high cholesterol.†(Baicker et al., 2013, p. 1715). Much of this is due to the struggle that the Medicaid beneficiary has to accessing all of the benefits of the program. This mostly consists of medical appointments, especially those related to a specialist physician. This paper will identify the importance to make available proper healthcare to those who receive Medicaid. Not only with specialty doctors but also with their own primary physicians. The need to transfer the ownership from the government to the patient is necessary for better healthcare outcomes. This is directly correlated to the care received and expected by the patient. This will result in a better outcome both medically for the patient and fiscally for the government. The specific problem Medicaid is a government sponsored and run program, it provides care to over 53 million low income Americans yearly and has an average operating budget of $349 billion dollars (O’Shea, 2007). This increasingly high expenditure has caused much strained to the budgets of not only the federal government but also the state budgets as well. With the changes to the way we view healthcare and the use of evidence based practice in the care delivered it is evident that the quality of care given to those with Medicaid is missing. Evidence has shown that patient’s with Medicaid receive inferior care than those with private insurance based solely on the access they have to the Medical providers, especially those who provide specialty care (O’Shea, 2007). In a survey conducted in 2003, it highlighted that the recurrent problem is the reimbursement rate from Medicaid to the physician (O’Shea, 2007). The Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) show that 21% of physicians that state they accept Medicaid have reported they will not accept a new Medicaid patient in 2004-2005(O’Shea, 2007). This number would only logically be assumed to have risen in 2013 A survey conducted by the U.S. National Health reported that researchers have found two standout trends among Medicaid beneficiaries: they have more difficulty getting primary care and specialty care and they visit hospital emergency departments more often than those with private insurance (Seaberg, 2012). The lack of primary and specialty care access is mostly contributed to the following barriers; unable to reach the MD by phone, not having a timely appointment with the MD and lastly unable to find a specialty MD that will accept Medicaid. In a recent report released by the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, it stated that about 30% of Medicaid patients experience â€Å"extreme uncoordinated care†, there is a strong correlation between this situation and higher Medicaid spending and less quality of care given (Bush, 2012). After January 1st 2013, healthcare providers have experienced a 2% reduction in payments for Medicaid beneficiary, this will only create more of a problem for these patients to seek the care thy desperately need. The question must be asked, how can we give the care necessary to those with Medicaid and also make this as cost effective for the providers seeing the patient as well. Steps to Change There is much conversation in government today that would expand the Medicaid program, but there is no discussion on payment to physicians, hospitals and other providers, which is the main problem at hand. A system that would most be beneficial is one that is centered on the patient-doctor relationship (Felland, Lechner, & Sommers, 2013). This would not only improve the standard of care given to the patient but help with the fiscal decline related to a very broken system that is presently in place. Our aim should be to stop the decision making from the government, and transfer this power to the individual as well as promote individual responsibility for healthcare choices. A policy that would restructure the financing of healthcare to assist low-income families and medically needy Americans to purchase coverage that would best meet their needs and their medical situations. This approach would need to be Nationwide and would be a great undertaking to accomplish. The rational approach model would be the model of choice for this type of change. It would take many years to accomplish based on financial barrier as it pertains to the various budgets at the state and federal levels. However, the end result would be that a personal ownership of health insurance, and control over the flow of dollars in the health care system, this will enhance personal responsibility. Another aspect it would accomplish would be that patients would demand and receive better value for health their care dollars. This ownership of their own care would raise much awareness in the patients and facilitate many quality conversations with their healthcare provider. This is an opportunity currently unavailable to patients enrolled in the Medicaid program and has resulted in a system that does not give quality care and the costly price to the government is evident. Until we can have all 50 states participating in this policy change Nationwide, there are some steps that can be taken with the present system in place. These would involve the use of technology in interesting situations. If you cannot get the patient to the physician, regardless of primary or specialty, bring the physician to the patient. Using telehealth programs would help identify problem before they are in need of emergency attention (Felland et al., 2013). Kentucky used this system to help with the overpopulated Medicaid system and this state was able to save money and provide quality care to those who are in need of it (Ungar, 2013). Another solution would be to expand the primary role of the primary provider. Utilizing the Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP) to take on the care of patients in the role of the Primary Provider would help ease the burden for the dwindling Medical Community (Felland et al., 2013). With only 7% of the graduating physicians choosing primary care a large strain is evident on the medical community to provide care to patients (Sellers, 2013). Both the above policy changes would best be suited under the stage-sequential model. Putting both of these changes in to place at the same time in multiple areas then re-evaluating the need for changes in order to define a process that could be utilized Nationwide would be important for success. Both of these policy changes would give way to better care for the Medicaid beneficiary, better outcomes and a use of funds that would be cost effective as well. Conclusion In conclusion this paper has reviewed the importance of change needed to the present Medicaid system. The present system has shown to take away the ownership of healthcare from the patient and given it to the government. In doing so several areas for needed improvement have been identifies; cost, lack of resources among physicians and most important below quality care. All resulting in a system that is not able to deliver quality care to those who are in desperate need of it the most. By implementing the changes outlined in this paper, it will be able to change and improve these barriers for the better, resulting in better patient care outcomes, better financial outcomes and a healthier America. References Baicker, K., Taubman, S., Allen, H., Bernstein, M., Gruber, J., Newhouse, J., †¦ Zaslavsky, A. (2013, May 2, 2013). The Oregon Experiment — Effects of Medicaid on clinical outcomes. The New England Journal of Medicine, 368, 1713-1722. Bush, H. (2012, November 2012). Caring for the costliest. Hospital and Health Networks, 156-162. Felland, L., Lechner, A., & Sommers, A. (2013, June 6, 2013). Improving access to specialty care for Medicaid patients: policy issues and options. The Common Wealth Fund. Retrieved from http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Publications/Fund-Reports/2013/Jun/Improving-Access-to-Speciality-Care.aspx O’Shea, J. (2007). More Medicaid means less quality health care. Retrieved from http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2007/03/more-medicaid-means-less-quality-health-care Seaberg, D. (2012). Medicaid patients go to emergency room more often. Retrieved from http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=21732 Sellers, A. (2013, July 23, 2013). Nur se practitioners aim to fill care gap.