Methamphetamine Abuse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 11250 words

Methamphetamine Abuse - Essay Example It is also a belief that chronic abuse of the drug would eventually lead to profound reduction in the gray matter of the brain. There are many associated health risks reported with methamphetamine abuse, some of which are risky sexual behavior, social and family problems, and drug induced psychosis (Murray, 1998). Quite as expected, methamphetamine is a popular drug of abuse with limited role as a licit therapeutic agent only in certain indications (Gibson, Leamon, & Flynn, 2002). Due to growing problem of methamphetamine abuse, there is increased demand of the drug, and in many parts of the United State, there are illegal indigenous methamphetamine synthesis laboratories to meet this demand, which hardly follow any safety protocol (Topolski, 2007). People working in these facilities are exposed to increased risk of occupational hazards. There are also reports of increased industrial accidents in these manufacturing units. It has been reported that methamphetamine abuse, manufacturing, control, and accidental or unintentional exposure, all have been associated with health hazards, which have grown into a significant public health problems with no easy solutions (Spoth, Clair, Shin, & Redmond, 2006). On the other hand, there is quite a volume of research in this area with abundant information. Therefore, it would be prudent to undertake a research in this area with the aim of finding solutions to these problems associated with methamphetamine. In order to be able to understand the problem better, it is felt that this problem should be studied in greater detail right from its roots. If involvement in illegal drug manufacturing leads to inordinate exposure with potential and real health risks (Lazarou, 2008), then the root is at the social and economic drivers of the illegal manufacturing of methamphetamine, almost to the extent of household small scale industry dedicated to production of street drugs. Drug abuse of any kind is associated with criminal activities of trading with tremendous fiscal implications (Cartier, Farabee, & Prendergast, 2006). Therefore identification and characterization of the problem need an analysis of the epidemiological details of methamphetamine abuse, since solutions for the epidemiological factors may lead to decreased abuse and demand. If the demand is less, there would be less production as expected, and this may curtail the occupational hazards associated with methamphetamine manufacturing units (Tunnell, 2006). Thus the objectives of this research are to study and critically review information on methamphetamine abuse history and epidemiology, processes and materials employed in the manufacturing of illegal methamphetamine, so an analysis of hazards and risks for the first responders and public associated with such illegal laboratories

Information Technology Management Emphasis Essay Example for Free

Information Technology Management Emphasis Essay The Master of Business Administration—Information Technology Management is specifically designed for experienced business professionals and managers seeking upward career mobility in the information technology arena. The program prepares you for a mid-level to upper-level information technology management position in business, industry, and non-profit organizations. MBAITM Understanding the Competency-Based Approach Practically speaking, what does it mean when we say that WGU programs are competencybased? Unlike traditional universities, WGU does not award degrees based on credit hours or on a certain set of required courses. Instead, students earn their degrees by demonstrating their skills, knowledge, and understanding of important concepts through a series of carefully designed assessments. Progress through your degree program is governed, not by classes, but by satisfactory completion of the required assessments that demonstrate your mastery of the competencies. Of course, you will need to engage in learning experiences as you brush up on competencies or develop knowledge and skills in areas in which you may be weak. For this learning and development, WGU has a rich array of learning resources in which you may engage under the direction of your mentor. You will work closely with your mentor to schedule your program for completing the assessments. (We discuss assessments in much more detail later in this guide.) You will work closely with additional faculty members as you proceed through courses of study that are designed to lead you through the content you must master in order to pass individual assessments. The benefit of this competency-based system is that it makes it possible for people who are knowledgeable about a particular subject to make accelerated progress toward completing a WGU degree even if they lack college experience. You may have gained your skills and knowledge of a subject on  the job, accumulated wisdom through years of life experience, or, indeed, took a course on a particular subject. WGU awards a degree to you based on the skills and knowledge that you possess and can demonstrate, not the number of credits you have on your transcript. Accreditation Western Governors University is the only university in the history of American higher education to have earned accreditation from four regional accrediting commissions. WGUs accreditation was awarded by (1) the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, (2) the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, (3) the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and (4) the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The university’s accreditation status is now managed by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). The university is also accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC), and the WGU Teachers College is accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). The nursing programs are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). The Health Informatics program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM). The Degree Plan The focus of your program is your personalized Degree Plan. The Degree Plan is a detailed blueprint of the learning resources and assessments that comprise your program. The length of your program depends on both the amount of new information you need to learn and the amount of time you plan to devote each week to study. Students will vary widely in the specific skills and information they need to learn. For example, some may be highly knowledgeable in a subject matter and would not need to engage in new learning opportunities. Others may find that portions of the program require completely new learning and that they may need to take an online class or participate in a study module to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to pass the program competencies in that area. Some individuals may be able to devote as little as 15ï€ ­20 hours per week to the program, while others may have more time. For this reason, you will complete pre-assessments to help your mentor form a profile of your prior knowledge and experience for use in creating your Degree Plan. WGU’s Mentoring Approach ]Our mentoring approach is a powerful component of the WGU educational experience. When you enroll at WGU, you will begin interacting with your personal mentor, course mentors, and support staff. Your mentor takes an active role and a personal interest in your success. Whether by e-mail or phone, your mentor will be your ―point personâ€â€" of communication throughout your program. Your mentor will help motivate you to work hard to complete your program. When you have questions or concerns, your mentor team will help you resolve them. You and your mentor will work together to evaluate your educational background, strengths, and weaknesses. With this analysis, your mentors will help determine in which areas you are already competent (and can move quickly to assessment) and areas you need to work on; this will become your personalized Degree Plan. Your mentor will direct you to the Courses of Study that contain the best learning resources for you (courses, texts, independent study modules, etc.) and are supported by course mentors that serve as your content experts for each area of study. As you proceed through your academic program, you and your mentor will determine when you are ready for the required assessments. If you are ready, your assessment will be scheduled. You will follow this same process as you proceed through each domain. Connecting with Other Mentors and Fellow Students As you proceed through your Degree Plan, you may also have direct contact  with other faculty members. These communications can take a variety of forms, including participation in learning communities, office hours via the courses of study, and webinars. As a WGU student, you will have access to your own personal MyWGU Student Portal that will provide a gateway to courses of study, learning communities, and program communities where you will have interactions with faculty and other students. Courses of study and communities are specifically designed to support you as you develop competencies in preparation for your assessments through the utilization of threaded discussions, blogs, and chats that are guided by content experts. You will access your program community during the Education Without Boundaries introductory course to network with peers who are enrolled in your program and to receive continued support through professional enrichment and program-specific chats, blogs, and discussions. WGU also provides a Student Services Associate to help you and your mentor solve any special problems that may arise. Education Without Boundaries Orientation Education Without Boundaries (EWB) is a required orientation that focuses on acquainting the student with WGU’s competency-based model, distance education, technology, and other resources and tools available for students. You will also utilize tutorials, message boards, online MBAITM chats, and other activities to connect with other students in your program. This orientation is completed before you start your first term at WGU. Transferability of Prior College Coursework Because WGU is a competency-based institution, it does not award degrees based on credits but on demonstration of competency. However, if you have completed college coursework at another accredited institution, you may have your transcripts evaluated and may be able to have some lower-division or co-requisite assessments cleared. The guidelines for determining what will  Ã¢â‚¬â€¢clearâ€â€" through transfer vary based on the degree program. The following transfer guidelines generally apply to graduate programs: Graduate domains (i.e., subject areas) cannot be cleared through transfer. Requirements in the domains that can be considered the degree major cannot be cleared through transfer. Furthermore, WGU does not clear any requirements based on the students professional experience and does not perform a resume review or portfolio review that will automatically clear any degree requirements. Degree requirements and transferability rules are subject to change in order to keep the degree content relevant and current. Remember, WGUs competency-based approach lets you take advantage of your knowledge and skills, regardless of how you obtained them. Even when you do not directly receive credit, the knowledge you possess may help you accelerate the time it takes to complete your degree program. Continuous Enrollment, On Time Progress, and Satisfactory Academic Progress WGU is a ―continuous enrollmentâ€â€" institution, which means you will be automatically enrolled in each of your new terms while you are at WGU. Your terms are six months long. Longer terms and continuous enrollment allow you to focus on your studies without the hassle of unnatural breaks between the shorter terms that you would experience in a more traditional environment. At the end of every six-month term, you and your mentor will review the progress you have made and revise your Degree Plan for your next six-month term. WGU requires that students make measurable progress toward the completion of their degree programs every term. We call this On Time Progress – denoting that you are on track and making progress toward on time graduation. As full-time students, graduate students must enroll in at least eight (8) competency units each term, and undergraduate students must enroll in at least twelve (12) competency units each term. Completing at least these minimum enrollments is essential to On Time Progress and serves as a baseline from which you may accelerate your program. We measure your progress based on the assessments you are able to pass, not on your accumulation of credit hours or course grades. Every time you pass an assessment, you are demonstrating that you have mastered skills and knowledge in your degree program. For comparison to traditional grading  systems, passing an assessment means you have demonstrated competency equivalent to a ―Bâ€â€" grade or better. WGU has assigned competency units to each assessment so that we can track your progress through the program. A competency unit is equivalent to one semester credit of learning.

American Coverage of Lebanon’s Civil War :: Free Essays Online

American Coverage of Lebanon’s Civil War The afflictions the Lebanese people experienced for over fifteen years caused by a civil war were not a prominent headline in American newspapers until the kidnapping of Associated Press Beirut bureau chief, Terry Anderson. America’s profound ignorance about Lebanon is directly correlated to the failure of the American media to report in depth about the Lebanese conflict. America’s particular ignorance concerning the Lebanese conflict is not acceptable because Lebanon plays a key role in the persistent problems in the Middle East, which directly affect the United States and world peace. There may be no way to objectively report the situation in Lebanon because the history of the myriad culture clashes there are so intricate but Mark Pedelty, author of War Stories: The Culture of Foreign Correspondents, acknowledges that objectivity is not necessary for good reporting, and in actuality breeds poor reporting. To try to solve the problem of America’s ignorance, Terry Anderson has taken the first step in recognizing the problem of ignorance toward the conflict and then by searching for and publishing knowledge which aids the American people in understanding the conflict, as well as the cultures and people of Lebanon. The possible bias and reasoning behind what was reported about Lebanon needs to be explored. All the newspapers reported on the lives of the hostages, their families, and the expected hopes for their release. All sources which I have researched have neglected to delve into the background of the Lebanese conflict, focus on the Lebanese civilians, or offer extensive explanation of motives or strategy behind the American hostage situation. The bias could have been intentionally what most Americans identify with as â€Å"pro-Israeli† tendencies, or could have been unknowingly biased through the method of filtering information to report. The reporting of the Lebanese conflict can be considered bias and non objective. Pedelty discusses the problematic utopian ideals of objective reporting, and the reporting of the Lebanese conflict can be paralleled with his discussion of the coverage of El Salvador on many different levels. Pedelty structures his argument against the common perceived notion that objective journalism is good journalism. First he defines the key factors of objective journalism which are: â€Å"emotion is taboo... politics are not considered objective... [and] objectivity is supposed to be value-free† (Pedelty, 171). Pedelty also acknowledges that â€Å"objectivity remains the standard by which journalists are judged† (Pedelty, 173).

The Failure of Napoleon?s Russian Campaign :: essays research papers fc

Napoleon Bonaparte was seemingly invincible. Under his command, the Grande Armee had conquered much of Europe, and was viewed by others as an austere foe. Though despite all this, Napoleon made a fatal mistake: he entered Russia. Of the 600,000 troops that reached the Russian border, only 100,000 made it out (Moore, Online). Through the Russian Campaign the seemingly indomitable man of Napoleon began to crumble at the base, and after numerous fatal errors, the foundation fell. Napoleon’s Russian Campaign of 1812 resulted in failure. Napoleon unleashed his armies to Russia in June of 1812. The initial reason for the start of the Russian Campaign was that of desertion (Bloy, Online). This became evident when Czar Alexander I of Russia left the Continental System. While hurting Britain’s economy, the Continental System also hurt Russia’s. Soon enough, Napoleon sent over 600,000 troops to Russia, hoping to straighten out the czar (Burnham, Online). The czar seemed not to be worried, and readily commanded two Russian armies to protect their country. The initial attacks against the Russians were relentless, and the two armies were readily overwhelmed. On June 24 the two Russian armies retreated, under the command of General Barclay de Tolly and General Bagration (Moore, Online). The Czar Alexander was cunning, and instead of directly confronting the Grande Armee, he would always retreat. This greatly irritated Napoleon, who pressed on further and further, deep into Russia (Sparknotes, Online). However, t his process of enticement and retreat seemed to be working, as the battle-hungry Napoleon kept on proceeding. Knowing that they could not win a fight by force, the Russians were cunning and traded space for time with the French. By this time, the Russians had developed the â€Å"scorched-earth† policy, which was the destruction of one’s own land (Burnham, Online). Whenever the Russians would retreat, they would burn all the land behind them. This greatly angered Napoleon, mainly because one of his most formidable strategies in war was using the land of the enemy for his own resources (PBS, Online). Napoleon had gravely underestimated the Russians. The gravest threat to the Russian forces was a direct, large-scale confrontation with Napoleon’s army, but such a colossal battle was surely inevitable. Despite the constant retreating, the Grande Army did engage the Russians in one significant conflict: the Battle of Borodino. The Russians, under the control of General Mikhail Kutusov, assembled massive defensive positions in await for Napoleon’s army.

Gin Act DBQ

In eighteenth-century England, the English saw a huge rise in the popularity and sale of Gin. Gin slowly (from 1701 to 1751) gained much favor over beer and peeked in 1741 out consuming beer times six (Doc. 1). As Gin sales started to take over the sale of beer, the government saw this as an opportunity to make taxes and restraints on the sale of Gin to benefit the government. As this persisted, The Gin Act of 1751 was instated. This act is one way that the government made sure that Gin sale did not get out of hand. Although in the preamble of the Gin Act of 1751 it states that Parliament assembled, ever attentive to the preservation and health of your Majesty’s subjects, I believe that Parliament had a more financial goal rather than health goal. As these restraints and taxes were brought upon people who produced Gin, there were mixed feelings on how these restraints would affect the community and the common welfare of the people. Citizens used many aspects of society to gain ground behind their opinions on the restrictions on the sale of Gin. Many citizens were in fact for the restraints because of the occupation they worked, the religion they belonged to, or the position they held in government. Other citizens felt the exact opposite. Many felt that the restrictions of Gin sale were not just and would not allow for citizens â€Å"relief or support of nature† (Doc. 8). Others were pushing towards a more neutral view on if Gin was bad or good. This type of people was indirectly affected by the sale of Gin but wanted to have their opinions stated. Amongst the many motives that citizens had to favor the restrictions on Gin, one was to better the common welfare of the people. William Hogarth showed so perfectly, in his work Gin Lane that he believes that Gin degrades the people which degrade the city. In his painting of Gin Lane, he shows how much people don’t care about their city and their fellow neighbors. He shows this through the many buildings falling apart and many drunken people. He is showing how much Gin is ruining the city and the people (Doc. 11). William Hogarth then shows through the painting of Beer Street how much better of an idea to slow the consumption of Gin and up the consumption of beer would be. It depicts a calm very clean and orderly city. Although drinking and enjoying themselves, all the citizens of the city are all cohesive and working their job as they should (Doc. 12). People were worried since the production of Gin has gone up significantly and that the price has gone down that drunkenness would become the characteristic of the people. Meaning all the poor would get drunk and corrupt the city life and generations to come because of the low Gin price (Doc. 13). Since a majority of people in England worked long and hard weeks, gin was considered harmful because people would work so many hours that when the weekend would come, they would come drink glass after glass until they were cursing at each other and quarreling and making a scene (Doc 3). gin lowered people's morals and made their behavior more atrocious as well as destroying some of the Kings men which was not attractive to the common person (Doc 7). It was once stated in a speech at Parliament that â€Å"Gin not only infatuates the mind but poisons the body; it not only fills our streets with madness and our prisons with criminals†. This just shows how much people believe that Gin is to blame for vagabonds on the streets and criminals. These people are worried about their well being and want to support restrictions on the sale of Gin. Some citizens approved and supported the sale of Gin in England. England at that time had already gone through the Agriculture Revolution. The new technologies brought by the Revolution had tripled England's wheat supply and had forced the sale and demand of wheat to plummet. People supported gin because it could help them as well as their government by providing relief from the over production of wheat. This remedy would in turn produce more demand and improve sales (Doc 1). Even England's climate aided in the sale of gin. Englishmen and women at that time worked very long hours either in their home or working for another family. When it came time for the weekend, gin was considered a relief or an out to people’s problems. Since England's weather was often foggy, cold, and damp, gin would relieve people from their hardships (Doc 8). William Pulteney is a great example of someone who needed Gin sales to go up because it depended on his finances. Pulteney was a landowner who probably had wheat on the land; therefore he obviously was against the restrictions and for the sale of Gin because if Gin sellers didn’t want his wheat anymore because beer took Gin over, he would be kicked off his land (Doc. 4). Many people saw how easy government put these taxes on Gin, so why couldn’t they do the same to property. People felt very violated after this (Doc. 5). Grain was distilled to make Gin and Daniel Defoe felt that this was a great way to support Gin and to gain from it too (Doc. 2). There was also a neutral side of people who really didn’t care if Gin was good or bad but they were indirectly affected by it and demanded a say. On one account, John Wesley, a Methodist who believes that drunkenness is a means of removal from religious society, therefore is strongly against the mass sale of Gin. This is just one example of how Gin indirectly affected a religious man. Another person who could get stuck in the crossfire is someone in a government position. A member of parliament who is always worried about the King and if he is pleased, is obviously against the restrictions but in a different way. This member of parliament is mainly only worried about the King and really has not correlation to Gin except in the pocket book. In eighteenth century England, government was attempting to restrict the sale of Gin throughout England. Many people did not want Gin and were for restriction on Gin either because of how it reflected on the city or how it affected someone’s job. Others strongly though that Gin was helping the economy and was keeping wheat owners in business. There was also a part of people who took a more neutral stand on weather Gin was good or bad. Although many opinions on this topic, all were centered on the way the person lived and their position in society.

How to Easily Get Lithium From a Battery

How to Easily Get Lithium From a Battery You can obtain pure lithium from a lithium battery. Its an adult-only project and even then, you need to use safety precautions, but its simple and easy. Safety Precautions Lithium reacts with moisture and may spontaneously ignite. Dont allow it to come in contact with your skin. Also, cutting into a battery often causes a short circuit, which may produce a fire. While this is not unexpected or problematic, it does mean you need to perform this procedure on a fire-safe surface such as concrete, preferably outdoors. Eye and skin protection is a must. Materials You want a new battery for this project since the lithium can be extracted as a relatively uncorroded metal foil. If you use a used battery youll get a product that might be better for making colored fire, but it will be impure and fragile. New Lithium Battery (e.g., AA or 9V lithium battery)Safety Glasses or GogglesGlovesInsulated Wirecutters and Pliers Procedure Basically, you cut the top off the battery to expose the roll of lithium metal foil inside. The trick is to do this without shorting out the battery. While you dont want a fire, be prepared for one. Simply drop the battery and let it burn out. This should not take long and usually wont damage much of the lithium metal in the battery. Once the fire is out, proceed. Youre wearing protective gear and know not-to-panic if you see fire, right? Okay then, use the cutters to carefully remove the top from the battery. This is when youre most likely to accidentally cause a short. Try to cut the tough outer rim of the casing without hitting the central core.Quickly cut any connections and remove any rings or disks from the top of the battery. If the battery starts to get hot, you likely have a short. Cut away anything suspicious to address the issue. Cut and peel back the casing to expose the metal core, which is the lithium. Use pliers to extract the lithium. Try not to puncture the central plastic container, as this can lead to a short and fire. Its sort of like playing that Operation game except if you touch something you shouldnt, youll heat up the metal and potentially see the fire.Pull away the plastic tape or wrap and unroll the metal. The shiny metal is aluminum foil, which you may remove and discard. The black powdery material is the electrolyt e, which you can wrap in plastic and discard in a fire-safe container. Remove any additional plastic. You should be left with sheets of lithium metal, which will oxidize as you watch from silver to brown. Either use the lithium right away or store it right away. It degrades quickly in air, especially humid air. You can use the lithium for projects (for example, it burns bright white as a metal while its salts impart a red color to flames or fireworks) or store the lithium under liquid paraffin oil.

Essay on Australias Population

Essay on Australias Population Essay on Australias Population The population of Australia has increased largely since the turn of 20th the century and it is not controlled or monitored. Without a population plan advised by the prime minister where will Australia’s growing population stand in 2050? Australia’s population currently stands at 22.8 million people with the birth rate at one birth every one minute and forty-seven seconds and the death rate at one death every three minutes and thirty-six seconds. The government should consider keeping the population constant or to let it rise under control with a population plan. To determine how the population should look by 2050 we can explore three demographical issues: * Population Growth rates This is how fast or slow population is decreasing/increasing over time. Factors included are natural increase (Number of births less the number of deaths) and net overseas migration (Migrants entering the country less than those leaving). * Changing Population Structure The changing trends of demographic structure such as the ageing population * The Spatial Distribution Where residents are located. Two main factors that contribute greatly to population growth are: Natural Increase and Net Overseas Migration. Australia’s population grew by 1.4% during the year ended 30th June 2011. The growth rate has been declining since 2008 when the peak was 2.2%. Natural increase and net overseas migration contributed 47% and 53% respectively to total population growth for the year ended 30 June 2011. Since 1970 the government has supported multiculturalism in Australia and has put together 5 types of programs that allow migrants to enter Australia: * Skilled migration (GSM) * Business People * Family Members * Humanitarian Entrants or Refugees * Employer Sponsored Over the past 20 years migration and natural increase have both contributed equally to population growth, but in 2006 when Kevin Rudd was elected as prime minister the migration levels climbed to 66%, Mr Rudd supports a bigger Australia and the overseas migration levels have continued to rise since his resignation, this is a factor as to why the population has increased so rapidly in such a short space of time. Another contributing factor to the growth of Australia’s population is the baby bonus and paid parental leave, this encourages increase and although it has been falling with the fertility rate at 1.8% and the replacement rate at 2.1%, it has started to climb again. With such low fertility rates, this creates a higher ageing population. Australia’s Population Structure has faced one of its most significant challenges recently, an ageing population; over the past 20 years our median age has increased from 31.8 years to 36.9 years, according the ABS. By 2056 our median age will sit between 41.9 years and 45.2 years. This is until the government introduced the baby bonus, with the benefits of paid parental leave and $5000 to cover the costs of welcoming a new baby into the world; the government has encouraged people to have more children. There are two reasons for our ageing population: low fertility rates and increased life expectancy. An ageing population can slow down economic growth. As the population of traditional working age falls, the rate of labour force participation is also projected to fall. The labour participation rate is expected to fall to less than 61% by 2050, in comparison to 65% today and within the next few years, immigration will be the only net labour force growth in Australia. Another problem is the government’s plan for people to work past the traditional retirement age, a new policy was introduced ‘compulsory superannuation ’, this entitles every working Australian to invest in an industry super fund to reduce the reliance on the pension. Australia’s average population density is 2.7 people per square kilometre, however the population is not evenly distributed throughout the nation; 68% of Australians live in one of

A detailed description of the pharmacological treatments used in Alzheimer’s disease The WritePass Journal

A detailed description of the pharmacological treatments used in Alzheimer’s disease Introduction A detailed description of the pharmacological treatments used in Alzheimer’s disease IntroductionReferencesRelated Introduction The nervous system is involved in the transmission of signals for communication and for coordination of body systems. The principle cell of the nervous system is a neuron, the neuron components are a cell body, dendrites, axon, synaptic terminals and myelin sheath (not always). The cell body component of the neuron integrates signals and coordinates metabolic activities. Dendrites are the branched projections of a neuron that act to conduct the electrochemical stimulation. The axon in the neuron conducts the signal and the synaptic terminals transmit the signals. The myelin sheath is the coating on some neurons that that acts as an insulator to speed the conduction of nerve impulses, usually around only the axon of a neuron. The transmission of a nerve impulse along a neuron from one end to the other occurs as a result of chemical changes across the membrane of the neuron. The membrane of an unstimulated neuron is polarized- that is, there is a difference in electrical charge between the outside and inside of the membrane. The inside is negative with respect to the outside. Such polarization is established by maintaining an excess of sodium ions (Na+) on the outside and an excess of potassium ions (K+) on the inside. Na+/K+ pumps in the membrane actively restore the ions to the appropriate side. Other ions, such as large, negatively charged proteins and nucleic acids, reside within the cell. It is these large, negatively charged ions that contribute to the overall negative charge on the inside of the cell membrane as compared to the outside. In addition to crossing the membrane through leakage channels, ions may also cross through gated channels. Gated channels open in response to neurotransmitters, changes in membrane potential, or other stimuli. The following events characterize the transmission of a nerve impulse. Resting potential: The resting potential describes the unstimulated, polarized state of a neuron. Graded potential: A graded potential is a change in the resting potential. A graded potential occurs when the stimulus causes Na+ or K+ gated channels to open. Na+ channels open, positive sodium ions enter, and the membrane depolarizes (becomes more positive). If the stimulus opens K+ channels, then positive potassium ions exit across the membrane and the membrane hyperpolarizes (becomes more negative). Action potential: An action potential is capable of traveling long distances. If a depolarizing graded potential is sufficiently large, Na+ channels in the trigger zone open. In response, Na+ on the outside of the membrane becomes depolarized (as in a graded potential). Repolarization: In response to the inflow of Na+, K+ channels open, this time allowing K+ on the inside to rush out of the cell. The movement of K+ out of the cell causes repolarization by restoring the original membrane polarization. Soon after the K+ gates open, the Na+ gates close. Hyperpolarization: This is when K+ channels closes and more K+ has moved out of the cell. As a result, the membrane becomes hyperpolarized. Refractory period: The membrane is polarized, but the Na+ and K+ are on the wrong sides of the membrane. During this refractory period, the axon will not respond to a new stimulus. To re-establish the original distribution of these ions, the Na+ and K+ are returned to their resting potential location by Na+/K+ pumps in the cell membrane. Once these ions are returned to their resting potential the neuron is ready for another stimulus. Transmission of Nerve Impulses between Neurons: The nerve impulse (action potential) travels down the presynaptic axon towards the synapse, where it activates voltage-gated calcium channels leading to calcium influx, which triggers the simultaneous release of neurotransmitter molecules from many synaptic vesicles by fusing the membranes of the vesicles to that of the nerve terminal. The neurotransmitter molecules diffuse across the synaptic cleft, bind briefly to receptors on the postsynaptic neuron to activate them, causing physiological responses that may be excitatory or inhibitory depending on the receptor. The central nervous system (CNS) is that part of the nervous system that consists of the brain and spinal cord. The central nervous system is one of the two major divisions of the nervous system. The other is the peripheral nervous system (PNS) which is outside the brain and spinal cord. The peripheral nervous system (PNS) connects the central nervous system (CNS) to sensory organs (such as the eye and ear), other organs of the body, muscles, blood vessels and glands. The hippocampus is one of the first regions of the brain to suffer damage; memory problems and disorientation appear among the first symptoms. Damage to the hippocampus can also result from oxygen starvation (hypoxia), encephalitis, or medial temporal lobe epilepsy. People with extensive, bilateral hippocampal damage may experience anterograde amnesia- the inability to form or retain new memories. Cholinesterase is a family of enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine into choline and acetic acid, a reaction necessary to allow a cholinergic neuron to return to its resting state after activation. Cholinesterase inhibitors work by increasing levels of acetylcholine, a chemical messenger involved in memory, judgment and other thought processes. Certain brain cells release acetylcholine, which helps deliver messages to other cells. After a message reaches the receiving cell, various other chemicals, including an enzyme called acetylcholinesterase, break acetylcholine down so it can be recycled. Alzheimers disease (AD) is a slowly progressive disease of the brain that is characterized by impairment of memory and eventually by disturbances in reasoning, planning, language, and perception. Alzheimers disease is a result from an increase in the production of beta-amyloid protein in the brain that leads to nerve cell death. The only way to know for certain that someone has AD is to examine a sample of their brain tissue after death. The following changes are more common in the brain tissue of people with AD: Neurofibrillary tangles which are twisted fragments of protein within nerve cells that clog up the cell. Another change which is common in brain tissue of a patient with AD is neuritic plaques (containing beta-amyloid protein) mentioned above. This results in abnormal clusters of dead and dying nerve cells, other brain cells, and aberrant protein deposits. When nerve cells are destroyed, there is a decrease in the chemicals/electrical signal that helps nerve cells send messa ges to one another, which are called neurotransmitters. As a result, areas of the brain that normally work together become disconnected. The probability of having Alzheimers disease increases substantially after the age of 70 and may affect around 50% of persons over the age of 85. However Alzheimers disease is not a normal part of aging and is not something that certainly happens in later life, many people live to over 100 years of age and never develop Alzheimers disease. Fig 1 (alz.org/brain/images/09a.jpg) In fig 1 above is a view of how massive cell loss changes the whole brain in advanced Alzheimers disease. This illustration shows a crosswise slice through the middle of the brain between the ears. In the Alzheimer’s brain, the cortex shrivels up, damaging areas involved in thinking, planning and remembering. Shrinkage is especially severe in the hippocampus, an area of the cortex that plays a key role in formation of new memories. The ventricles spaces grow larger. The risks factors implicated in Alzheimer’s disease are age, ApoE4, Down’s syndrome, head injury, low education and also family history i.e. genes. The main risk factor for Alzheimers disease is increased age. As a population ages, the frequency of Alzheimers disease continues to increase. Studies show that 10% of people over 65 years of age and 50% of those over 85 years of age have Alzheimers disease. There are also genetic risk factors for Alzheimers disease. Most patients develop Alzheimers disease after age 70. However, 2%-5% of patients develop the disease in the fourth or fifth decade of life (40s or 50s). At least half of these early onset patients have inherited gene mutations associated with their Alzheimers disease. Also a child of a patient with early onset Alzheimers disease who has one of these gene mutations has a 50% risk of developing Alzheimers disease. Other risk factors for Alzheimers disease include high blood pressure (hypertension), coronary arter y disease, diabetes, and possibly elevated blood cholesterol. Individuals who have completed less than eight years of education also have an increased risk for Alzheimers disease. These factors increase the risk of Alzheimers disease, but this does not mean Alzheimers disease is necessarily expected in persons with these factors. The onset of Alzheimers disease is usually gradual, and it is slowly progressive. Problems of memory, particularly for recent events (short-term memory) are common early in the course of Alzheimers disease. Mild personality changes, such as less spontaneity, apathy, and a tendency to withdraw from social interactions, may occur early in the illness. As the disease progresses, problems in abstract thinking and in other intellectual functions develop. Further disturbances in behaviour and appearance may also be seen at this point, such as agitation, irritability and a deteriorating ability to dress appropriately. Later in the course of the disorder, affected individuals may become confused or disoriented. Eventually, patients will be unable to engage in conversation, become erratic in mood, uncooperative, and lose bladder and bowel control. In late stages of the disease, persons may become totally incapable of caring for themselves, and a result of this could be death. Those who develo p the disorder later in life more often die from other illnesses (i.e. heart disease). Fig 2 Deaths from Alzheimers disease: (alz.org/downloads/Facts_Figures_2011.pdf) From Fig 2 Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth-leading cause of death in the country and the only cause of death among the top 10 in the United States that cannot be prevented, cured or even slowed. From the data in the graph, death rates have declined for most major diseases while deaths from Alzheimer’s disease have risen 66 percent during the same period. Unfortunately, there is no cure for AD. However there are goals in treating AD, these goals are to slow the progression of the disease (although this is difficult to do), manage behaviour problems, confusion, sleep problems, and agitation, modify the home environment and support family members and other caregivers. Cholinesterase blockers are one of the main treatments of AD. Cholinesterase inhibitors are prescribed to treat symptoms related to memory, thinking, language, judgment and other thought processes. The different cholinesterase inhibitors are Donepezil, Rivastigmine, Galanthamine, Tacrine and Memantine. The three main drugs currently licensed for the treatment of AD are Donepezil, Rivastigmine and Galanthamine. Donepezil is the generic name and the brand name is Aricept. Donepezil is approved at all stages of Alzheimer’s disease. However the side effects of this drug are nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite and increased frequency of bowel movements. Galanthamine, brand name Razadyne, is approved for the mild to moderate stages of AD. The side effects of Galanthamine are nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite and increased frequency of bowel movements. Memantine (brand name Namenda), is approved for moderate to severe stages of AD, The side effects of this drug are headache, constipation, confusion and dizziness. Rivastigmine (brand name Exelon), approved for mild to moderate Alzheimer’s, the side effects of Rivastigmine are nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite and increased frequency of bowel movements. Tacrine (also known as Cognex), this was the first cholinesterase inhibitor and was approved in 1993 but is rarely prescribed today; this is because of associated side effects which i nclude possible liver damage. Cholinesterase inhibitors work by increasing levels of acetylcholine, a chemical messenger involved in memory, judgment and other thought processes. Certain brain cells release acetylcholine, which helps deliver messages to other cells. After a message reaches the receiving cell, various other chemicals, including an enzyme called acetylcholinesterase, break acetylcholine down so it can be recycled. But Alzheimer’s disease damages or destroys cells that produce and use acetylcholine, thereby reducing the amount available to carry messages. A cholinesterase inhibitor slows the breakdown of acetylcholine by blocking the activity of acetylcholinesterase. By maintaining acetylcholine levels, the drug may help compensate for the loss of functioning brain cells. The benefits of cholinesterase inhibitors are that people taking the cholinesterase inhibitor medications performed better on memory and thinking tests than those taking a placebo, or inactive substance. In terms of overall effect, most experts believe cholinesterase inhibitors may delay or slow worsening of symptoms for about six months to a year; although some people may benefit more dramatically or for a longer time. Namenda is approved to treat moderate-to-severe Alzheimers disease. Namenda works by a different mechanism than other Alzheimers treatments; it is thought to play a protective role in the brain by regulating the activity of a different brain chemical called glutamate. Glutamate also plays a role in learning and memory. Brain cells in people with Alzheimer’s disease release too much glutamate (Alzheimer’s Association 2007). Namenda helps regulate glutamate activity. Namenda works by blocking the receptors for the neurotransmitter glutamate. It is believed that glutamate plays an important role in the neural pathways associated with learning and memory. In brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, overexcitation of neurons produced by abnormal levels of glutamate may be associated with neuronal cell dysfunction (resulting in cognitive and memory deficits) and eventual cell death (leading to deterioration and collapse of intellectual functioning). By selectively blocking a type of glutamate receptor (NMDA receptor) while allowing for normal neurotransmission, Namenda may help reduce the excitotoxic effects associated with abnormal transmission of glutamate. (psychatlanta.com) Namenda may have increased benefit when used with Aricept, Exelon, Razadyne, or Cognex. Memantine, a voltagegated and uncompetitive NMDA antagonist with moderate affinity, can protect neurons from excitotoxicity. It was approved for treatment of the patients with moderate to severe AD.   (Alzheimer’s Association 2007) A growing body of evidence suggest that drugs indicated for other conditions may also possess preventive efficacy for AD. Among the most promising are antioxidants, nonsteroidal, statins, certain anti hypertensive agents, alcohol, fish oil and possibly estrogen. Antioxidants have been recommended for prevention of dementia. The use of natural antioxidants may inhibit damage to the muscarinic receptors caused by free radicals, possibly by preventing or treating AD. High dietary intake of vitamins C and E lower the risk of AD. Estrogen is a weak antioxidant, it is biologically plausible that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) could protect against AD (Zandi PP et al 2002). AD is more likely to develop in a person with atherosclerotic cerebrovascular disease (Postiglione 1995). Antiatheroscleotic pharmacotherapies are used to treat atherosclerotic cerebrovascular disease, which then prevents AD from occurring (John B et al 2004). Folic acid is a AD preventer and is effective against AD. Folic acid is effective because it reduces homocysteine concentration, increased levels of homocysteine concentration increases the risk of AD. Statins is very effective at reducing the risk of AD. Statins reduce the risk of AD by reducing the cholesterol levels by interfering with the activity of enzyme. Moderate take of alcohol and intake of N-3 fatty acids reduces the risk of AD. Studies have shown that intake of N-3 fatty acids and weekly consumption of fish can decrease the risk of AD by 60 %. Pharmacological treatments of Alzheimers disease are limited. Recent observational studies have shown that use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may protect against the development of the disease, possibly through their anti-inflammatory properties.  Ã‚   (Mahyar et al 2007) The results from research which has been carried out has been varied. Caffeine can be used as a treatment in Alzheimers disease (Chuanhai et al 2009). Caffeine causes most of its biological effects via antagonizing all types of adenosine receptors (ARs), as does adenosine, exerts effects on neurons and glial cells of all brain areas. In consequence, caffeine, when acting as an AR antagonist, is doing the opposite of activation of adenosine receptors due to removal of endogenous adenosinergic tonus. Caffeine, through antagonism of ARs, affects brain functions such as sleep, cognition, learning, and memory, and modifies brain dysfunctions and diseases i.e. Alzheimer’s disease. (Gary W et al 2009). Studies shows that people that take regular supplements decrease the risk of AD. Many people take folate (vitamin B9), vitamin B12, and vitamin E. However, there is no strong evidence that taking these vitamins prevents AD or slows the disease once it occurs. Recent studies have shown that people believe that the herb ginkgo biloba prevents or slows the development of dementia. However, high-quality studies have failed to show that this herb lowers the chance of developing dementia. Treatment of ancillary symptoms of Alzheimer disease has improved as well. Techniques have evolved to treat depression, sleeplessness, agitation, paranoia. Also family support is a cure in its own why which gives the patient a feel good feeling to overcome AD. References Volume 20, Supplement 1, 2010 Therapeutic Opportunities for Caffeine in Alzheimers Disease and Other Neurodegenerative Diseases (Guest Editors: Alexandre de Mendonà §a and Rodrigo A. Cunha) Pages 3-15 Volume 20, Number 3, June 2010 Special Issue Basics of Alzheimer’s Disease Prevention (Editor: Jack de la Torre) Pages 687-688 Supplement 3, November 2010 Anesthetics and Alzheimers Disease (Guest Editors: Pravat K. Mandal and Vincenzo Fodale) November 2010 Pages 1-3 Recommendations for the diagnosis and management of Alzheimers disease and other disorders associated with dementia: EFNS guideline Volume 14, Issue 1, pages 1–26, January 2007, From mild cognitive impairment to prodromal Alzheimer disease: A nosological evolution J.L. Molinuevo, C. Valls-Pedret, L. Rami, Volume 1, Issue 3, June 2010, Pages 146-154 G. Waldemar; B. Dubois; M. Emre; J. Georges; I. G. McKeith ; M. Rossor; P. Scheltens; P. Tariska; B. Winblad, Article first published online: 9 JAN 2007, European Journal of Neurology Mahyar Etminan et al 2003,Effect of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on risk of Alzheimers disease: systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies   doi: 10.1136/bmj.327.7407.128, BMJ. 2003 July 19; 327(7407): 128. Gary W Arendash, Takashi Mori, Chuanhai Cao, Malgorzata Mamcarz, Melissa Runfeldt, Alexander Dickson, Kavon Rezai-Zadeh, Jun Tan, Bruce A Citron, Xiaoyang Lin, Valentina Echeverria, and Huntington Potter. Caffeine Reverses Cognitive Impairment and Decreases Brain Amyloid-%u03B2 Levels in Aged Alzheimers Disease Mice. Journal of Alzheimers Disease, Volume 17:3 (July 2009) Chuanhai Cao, John R Cirrito, Xiaoyang Lin, Lilly Wang, Deborah K Verges, Alexander Dickson, Malgorzata Mamcarz, Chi Zhang, Takashi Mori, Gary W Arendash, David M Holzman, and Huntington Potter. Caffeine Suppresses Amyloid-%u03B2 Levels in Plasma and Brain of Alzheimers Disease Transgenic Mice. Journal of Alzheimers Disease, Volume 17:3 (July 2009) John B. Standridge MD (2004) Pharmacotherapeutic approaches to the prevention of Alzheimers disease, Department of Family Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine, Chattanooga Unit, Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. Zandi PP et al (2002 Nov 6), Hormone replacement therapy and incidence of Alzheimer disease in older women: the Cache County Study, JAMA. 288(17):2123-9. Postiglione A, Napoli C, (1995 Aug 6), Curr Opin Lipidol. Hyperlipidaemia and atherosclerotic cerebrovascular disease. (4):236-42 alz.org/national/documents/topicsheet_treatments.pdf ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC165707/?tool=pubmed webmd.com/alzheimers/guide/treatment-overview ant.org.tw/Mag_Files/19-4/B.19-4ra.pdf ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21213151 alz.org/downloads/Facts_Figures_2011.pdf cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/Transmission-of-Nerve-Impulses.topicArticleId-22032,articleId-21935.html psychatlanta.com/documents/namenda.pdf

Public Service and Commercial Broadcasting in British TV Assignment

Public Service and Commercial Broadcasting in British TV - Assignment Example With the television industry required to turn digital and with increasing political interference, the role of PSB and its future has been under debate recently. While programmes such as Master Mind, Dr. Who, and Blue Peter have been hallmarks of PSB, there are certain episodes such as the Hutton Case that has cast PSB under a negative light. In this paper, an attempt has been made to understand the role of PSB in Britain and the controversy that surrounds it. The aim of the paper is to suggest ideas for the future of PSB and commercial broadcasting on British TV. British TV is unique in the sense that it is greatly dominated by public service broadcasting; a prime example of which is British Broadcasting Company (BBC). This corporation and others of its kind are funded by the government and the contents that they produce are thus controlled and scrutinized before being presented to the public (Scannell, n.d). In Britain, there are four principal broadcasters: BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Independent Television (ITV). BBC is the main provider of public service broadcasting and is funded by the government which uses a license fee from consumers to fund the operations of BBC (The House of Commons: Culture, Media, and Sports Committee, 2010). All of these broadcasters are controlled by Ofcom, an organization responsible for controlling and monitoring communications in Britain. Ofcom has placed a mandate on all broadcasters to provide public service broadcasting in order to earn their right of broadcasting in Britain under the IBA Act for Indepen dent Television and Royal Charter for the BBC (Negrine, 1994). Public service broadcasting in the UK serves four main important purposes. These being: to provide knowledge relating to current events to the public; increase the scope of informal learning and its interest in different fields including science, arts, and humanities; to bring into consideration the different perspectives to a story.

Human genetic enhancement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Human genetic enhancement - Essay Example The introduced genes may support the normal genes and enhance certain traits and this also provides solution to many human genetic or phenotypic disorders such as short height etc. However, the implementation of the technology on humans have raised a number of ethical concerns since it alters nature’s selection and destroys the original identity of the person who is being bio-enhanced even though the same technology maybe beneficial is used knowledgably and hence the U.S policy makers must keep a number of things in mind before adjusting the limit to which genetic enhancement maybe allowed. The President of America has ordered the removal of all limitations on the research involving stem cell technologies since the field is deemed promising and the research of â€Å"human embryonic cells and human non-embryonic cells has the potential to lead to better understanding and treatment of many disabling disease and conditions† (The President,2009, 10667). This has enable rese arch endeavor in the field of enhancement however, this is deemed â€Å"interfering† and â€Å"unethical†. In the framework of human rights, each individual has the right to his or her own genetic identity and hence enjoy the uniqueness bestowed through the genetic makeup. The molecular tools that helps to manipulate this genetic makeup destroys this uniqueness and the original identity of the person which automatically leads to violation of the basic human rights. One of the most important features of genetic enhancement at the embryonic level is that it would enable a baby to have 3 and even 4 genetic parents at one time and therefore gives rise an ethical dilemma since this will interfere with the identity of the child. Researchers who are associated with the development of the technology claim that human genetic enhancement is a primary tool for preventing or diagnosing genetic disease in babies. Rob Stein informs us that geneticists and researchers have found out how to manipulate the DNA in the human egg and this is being hailed as an immensely advanced achievement since it will help prevent hereditary genetic disorders in the babies (All things Considered,2012). The researchers develop healthy embryos by substituting the mutated or defective DNA in the baby with normal DNA taken from healthy gene. Mitchell in his article says that a line must be drawn between genetic therapy and enhancement. The scientists involved in genetic enhancement technology have diminished the line between using genetic manipulation for treating genetic problems and disorders and substituting or supplementing normal genes with selected better genes to create a superior human (Mitchell,2010). Biological enhancement is not in conformity with the true motive of medical treatments. Medical treatments are aimed towards providing good health to patients and keeping them as â€Å"natural† as possible i.e. the internal and the external balance of each individual mus t be kept optimum and a complete state of homeostasis must be maintained. Mitchell writes â€Å"Whether we call it healing, wellness, or shalom, the goals of medicine are restorative and preventive† (Mitchell,2010) and human genetic advancements must not be thereby deemed as a method for clinical prevention of diseases. It cannot be denied that man has always wanted his children to be better. It is often a

Is Hazard Transfer an Inevitable Consequence of Globalization Essay

Is Hazard Transfer an Inevitable Consequence of Globalization - Essay Example Thesis: globalization refers to the modern markets, of both developed and developing countries, which are exposed to external changes, innovations in technologies, implementation of various cultural and social changes etc. Globalization is a background of the modern development in the society in different spheres. Globalization and political economy There is no doubt that there are advantages and disadvantages of the global processes, but in the context of the modern world, globalization sets the pace of political, economic and social development. The modern citizens do not have another choice, but only keeping pace with these changing and challenging triggers of modern life development. In the process of globalization, international governments struggle for a control over the international economy, basing on their needs for wealth, which are an integral part of their current struggle for power (Gilpin, 2001). Unlike previous years, modern world accepts geopolitical hegemony (as in c ase of the United States) and not the priority of autonomous market (as in case of the United States too) (Waltz, 2000, p. 47). ...   A process of integration of national economies into a global one is a sequential process of gradual adaptation and changes of national powers into a complete successful process increasing profits of different countries (Schumacher, 1973). A shift of accents from ‘globalization as an interdependence’ to ‘globalization as a gradual balancing of international and domestic politics’ was initiated in the 40s of the twentieth century (Kapstein, Mastanduno, 1999, p. 163). With the course of time, globalization turned from a forcible process of states’ oppression into liberating trades, financial markets, and investments. A distribution of consequences of a process of globalization was the following: from â€Å"pressure for the reduction the welfare state in developed countries and for the liberalization of the economy in developing ones† (Langley, 2000, p. 462). It is more pleasant to consider a process of globalization in political economy in the following way: â€Å"the rush to free trade and capital market liberalization, the reforms of many welfare states, and the creation of independent central banks globally† (Wangoola, Youngman, 2006, p. 22). From this perspective, a process of globalization is considered to be favorable for political economy. A meaningfulness of every state is supported by the relevance of its potential assistance and cooperation with other states. It is a kind of interaction between players in the international arena. In such a way, it is relevant to support and develop a process of globalization on the international level for the countries’ benefits (Croteau, Hoynes, 2003).

CHAPTER 8 DISCUSSION EXERCISE- THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION HEALTHY Assignment

CHAPTER 8 DISCUSSION EXERCISE- THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION HEALTHY WORKPLACES MODEL - Assignment Example In this context, a healthy workplace is an environment filled with sustainable strategies and resources meant to create and maintain suitable levels of physical, emotional and psychological well-being among the workforce. One of the key underlying principles of WHO workplace health model is leadership involvement. In addressing health issues within a workplace, leaders and managers should be at the forefront. Primarily, subordinate employees work under strict directions provided by leaders. Actually, subordinate employees have limited influence in the formulation and structuring of workplace practices (World Health Organization 21). Contrarily, leaders have the freedom and permission to integrate health objectives in workplace practices. Besides leadership involvement, another paramount core principle in the model is sustainable representation of workers. Technically, employees possess practical knowledge on the depth and breadth of health challenges within their respective workstations. In this case, democratic representation of workers in decision making and policy formulation will enhance the representativeness of healthy workplace practices (World Health Organization 21). Personally, I would inco rporate both principles of leadership engagement, and sustainable representativeness in my future workplace. As a participant in strategies of improving workers’ health, I would actively engage in awareness campaigns, especially charity runs and related community outreach programs. Undeniably, the first step in addressing health problems within a workplace is awareness creation. Most workers and community members may be oblivious of unhealthy workplace practices. In this case, awareness campaigns will not only highlight the presence of undesirable workplace practices, but also elaborate on the probable impacts of those practices. In this context, I would participate in the planning and staging of awareness marathons, and offer any

Public resource management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Public resource management - Essay Example The Council plays a strategic role which is beyond the constricted confines of acting merely as providers of social housing. The Westminster Council Management has on the other hand, continually recognized the importance of local authority by getting involved in an outward looking approach and being part of the broader roles that range from social to economic perspectives (Hyman, 2010). The Westminster Council has at all times acted in various capacities as a facilitator, co-coordinator and as a financial source and delegate in acquiring the needed service from other stakeholders. In particular, the Planning and Housing Departments have worked well together by using their powers, part of which includes compulsory purchase aimed at attaining the match needed effort of reduced housing shortage outcomes. Beyond service delivery, Westminster is the centre of national government. This is reflected in the number of workers in the public sector, in the city. Tourism activities and entertain ment related industries have been identified as potential employers. To this extent, serving as the economy’s driver, considering that Westminster is well known for its ever growing sector in the West End region. Market forces that are experienced globally have an impact on valuation, and availability of accommodation and this is well replicated in this city. This can be viewed in the way government regulations set to control council practices. To a large extent, they have been instrumental as they have worked beyond management of the Westminster Council as well as adopted policies of the Greater London Authority in determining the desired quality of affordable housing. Decisions made by the private sector landlords and investors can be influenced by limited extent by the local authority itself in seeking solutions to housing ills. It therefore, remains clear for the commission to direct its recommendations to these other targets within the Great London but in particular focu s on Westminster City Council (Palmer, Kenway and Wilcox, 2006). Background Information Westminster was incorporated in 1911. The city’s progressive council is recognized for excellent performance in management and full delivery of services to businesses and the neighboring community. All this is achieved without additional help from either districts or taxing authorities (Hyman, 2010). The report explores layers of complexity that undermine the good intentions in solving housing problems. Apart form handling housing issues, Westminster Council is responsible in providing parking space, recreational venues, and library and water services to the residents aw well as waste collection services and security to the city dwellers. Budget Development Objectives Westminster, as any other organization, has its own consideration that has been behind repeated success and growth of the council. This has been an influential means of raising the council’s operational efficiency in t he previous years. However, it is vital to realize that not any of the recognized ideas can be accomplished if there are no clear financial limitations built in the budgeting process from the beginning. In formulating a realistic budget, Westminster’s strategies are often based on four major dimensions. These are: The council management, planners and interested stakeholders have to identify

CHAPTER 8 DISCUSSION EXERCISE- THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION HEALTHY Assignment

CHAPTER 8 DISCUSSION EXERCISE- THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION HEALTHY WORKPLACES MODEL - Assignment Example In this context, a healthy workplace is an environment filled with sustainable strategies and resources meant to create and maintain suitable levels of physical, emotional and psychological well-being among the workforce. One of the key underlying principles of WHO workplace health model is leadership involvement. In addressing health issues within a workplace, leaders and managers should be at the forefront. Primarily, subordinate employees work under strict directions provided by leaders. Actually, subordinate employees have limited influence in the formulation and structuring of workplace practices (World Health Organization 21). Contrarily, leaders have the freedom and permission to integrate health objectives in workplace practices. Besides leadership involvement, another paramount core principle in the model is sustainable representation of workers. Technically, employees possess practical knowledge on the depth and breadth of health challenges within their respective workstations. In this case, democratic representation of workers in decision making and policy formulation will enhance the representativeness of healthy workplace practices (World Health Organization 21). Personally, I would inco rporate both principles of leadership engagement, and sustainable representativeness in my future workplace. As a participant in strategies of improving workers’ health, I would actively engage in awareness campaigns, especially charity runs and related community outreach programs. Undeniably, the first step in addressing health problems within a workplace is awareness creation. Most workers and community members may be oblivious of unhealthy workplace practices. In this case, awareness campaigns will not only highlight the presence of undesirable workplace practices, but also elaborate on the probable impacts of those practices. In this context, I would participate in the planning and staging of awareness marathons, and offer any

International Business - Inflation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

International Business - Inflation - Essay Example However inflation in rest of the world is seeing with great skepticism. Many political leaders view it as a failure of the policies of the governments especially in developing countries. Inflation, especially food inflation is on rise on those countries therefore there inflation is now more defined in terms of political terms rather than in economic terms. Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, seems not much worried about the inflation in the country. His stance seems to be in-line with US. Stephen Harper believes that sluggish economic growth is the main reason for the current economic problems whereas inflation is not the main cause of it. (CLARK, 2008) However the stance of the central bank of Canada is slightly different as compared to Mr. Stephen Harper as they view inflation as a worrying sign. Since Canadian economy is largely based on service sector therefore strong Canadian dollar is helping it. However it must be noted that the falling US economy has pushed for the relocation of the US factories to Canada which is helping Canada as strong Canadian dollar against US dollar provide. Further as the increase in the value of Canadian dollar sustain the overall attractiveness of the Canadian Products will increase therefore countries like China and India, Canada will be a better alternative as compared to US. It is believed that rising oil

Business and Research Project Essay Example for Free

Business and Research Project Essay JC Penny has been running successfully for close to 90 years. Most entrepreneurs and managers face the same dilemmas at times. The choices one makes are the basis for his or her company success. The CEO of JC Penny Ron Johnson was faced with many management dilemmas. The first of many dilemmas that Ron Johnson was faced with was to innovate or conserve JC Penny. Innovation is important, but one should also focus on new applications and new markets as well. However, the revenues of innovations are in the future. One needs also to get the maximum out of one’s current business. According an article published by Forbes â€Å"Ron Johnson did not try and solving the real problem with JC Penny. Sales fell some 25%. The stock dropped 50% He spent lavishly trying to remake the brand. He modernized the logo, upped the TV ad spend, spruced up stores and implemented a more consistent pricing strategy. But that all was designed to help JC Penney competes in traditional brick-and-mortar retail. Against traditional companies like Wal-Mart, Kohl’s, Sears, etc† (Hartung, 2014). If the leader or manager does not invest there comes a time when the current business declines without new innovation to take over JC Penny revenues. If a manager invests too much, it may end up endangering the continuity of the current business. According to Joshua Kennon â€Å"J.C. Penney saw sales fall from $19.903 billion in 2007 to $12.985 billion in 2013. This caused the firm to go from a pre-tax profit of $1.792 billion to pre-tax losses of $1.536 billion, a staggering swing of $3.328 billion. Dividends were slashed, book value destroyed. There were rumors the company was surviving by pushing payable bills and hoarding cash† (Kennon, 2013). The purpose of learning team C’s research is to identify the most important factors to customers that are considering shopping at J.C. Penney. This statement speaks to the researcher’s attention and states goal or objective of the research. This statement will evaluate errors that were made J.C.  Penny’s top management, putting the company into a very vulnerable predicament with the core customers. The factors that will be considered are directly associated with management errors such as: †¢Misreading what shoppers want- coupons, sales price/clearance items †¢Not testing the ideas in advance- assuming the culture was the same as other companies †¢Alienated the core customers †¢Misreading the JC Penney brand †¢Not respecting the JC Penney company overall From these errors the team will provide research questions to include in the paper, gather the information the is related to the customer most recent shopping experience with the company to develop a proposed research plan to address the most management dilemmas. Draft of Research Questions Learning team C intends to research the reasons J.C. Penney had a decline in customer core base and sales which almost led to the demise of the company. This research will be conducted via survey with the intent of possibly salvaging the creditability of the company. Our learning will provide surveys to adults that have shopped J.C. Penny either online or in the store within the last two years. The survey questions used would supply management with opportunities to test potential marketing strategies to revive sales and retain the company’s initial core customer base. LTC will provide the following questions to gather data for research in the survey: †¢What is the age group/gender of the participant †¢How far from home will he or she be willing to drive to the store †¢What is the importance of coupons and sales price/clearance items †¢How frequent does the participant shop online or in the store †¢How important is the brand name that is provided by the company †¢How important is the atmosphere of the store (i.e. Arizona, IZOD, Dockers, etc) †¢How important is the culture of store (i.e. is food courts or specialty boutiques important) After compiling a more precise list of question to provide for the survey, we will rank the factors from least to greatest importance to determine the  decision making process for J.C. Penney current dilemma. Conclusion Eventually, JC Penny did fire Ron Johnson and rehired the previous CEO Mike Ullman, who stills faces big challenges. JC Penny has posted sales drops and losses in its first three quarters. As JC Penny attempts to recover from its dilemmas from the period in which it alienated consumers, and infuriated its employees, its new CEO Mike Ullman, is making headway in trying to purge corporate ranks and bring the customers back to shopping at JC Penny. In business leaders or managers all face some challenges that if left unaddressed such as JC Penny dilemma can massively affect the business. The good news is that there is now a solution in place to help JC Penny return to being successful. References Hartung, A. (2014). Two Wrongs Wont Fix JC Penney. Retrieved from https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/cwe/citation_generator/web_01_01.asp Kennon, J. (2013). The Collapse of J.C. Penney – What Caused It and Can It Be Fixed?. Retrieved from http://www.joshuakennon.com/the-collapse-of-jc-penney-what-caused-it-and-can-it-be-fixed/

Child Labor In India

Child Labor In India Child labor is something where children of younger age start to earn in order to support their family. In other words, child labor is any kind of work children are made to do that harms or exploits them physically, mentally or morally. According to the World Labor Report, the child labor is considered as forced labor because children are rarely in a position to give free consent to any activities performed by them as most aspect of their lives are determined by adults. Child labor is a curse to our society and a crime against humanity. Children work when they are supposed to play or go to school. By making them work in this tender age we are not only destroying their future, but also playing with the destiny of the country. The child is the father of man. This famous line quoted by William Wordsworth specifies the importance of the child for the development of building a healthy nation and society. Childhood is the most innocent stage in human life. A child normally has to enjoy its childhood days with its parents, teachers, friends etc. It is that stage of life where fine and long lasting impressions gather in childs mind. However, this simple rule of nature has been crippled by the ever-growing menace of child labor. In this modern world, child labor still remains a serious problem in many parts of the world. Today, throughout the world, around 215 million children are child labors. The sad thing is that they work under hazardous circumstances. More than half of them are exposed to the worst form of child labor such as work in harmful environments, slavery, or other forms of forced labor, illicit activities including drug trafficking and prostitution, as well as involvement in armed conflict. Child labor is a major problem in India. It is a great challenge that the country is facing. India accounts for the second highest number of child labors after Africa. In a country like India where over 40 percent of the population is living in conditions of extreme poverty, child labor is a complex issue. However, acute poverty is the main cause for child labor throughout the world, but everybody society. Parents, government, individual, low wages, unemployment, poor standard of living, deep social prejudices and backwardness are directly responsible for child labor in India. In Indian, despite, there is no enactment which genuinely contributed for eradication of child labor. The constitution in article 25 states that no child below 14 years will be employed in any factories or mines or engaged in any hazardous occupation that is harmful for them. But, till now it is not remarked anywhere of ablution or elimination of child labor. Admitting that the Child Labor Prohibition and Regulation Act of 1986 have put forward some average working conditions for children who work in hazardous environment, yet the word hazardous has not been specified clearly anywhere in the constitution, or in any act asserted on child labor. Thus, the clarification of the term hazardous is unclear and inadequate especially in the case of child labor. Child labor can be factory work, mining, or quarrying, agriculture, helping in parents business, having ones own small business, or doing odd jobs. Children work as waiters in restaurants and sometimes as tourists guides. Other children are forced to do draggy and uninteresting jobs such as polishing shoes of rich people or accumulating boxes. However, instead of working in factories and sweatshops, most child labor occurs in the informal sector, children are forced to sell products on the streets, work in agriculture fields or hidden away in houses- far from the reach of official labor inspectors and from media inspection. There are many types of child labor but bonded child labor or slave labor is one of the worst types of labor for children. It is estimated that approximately 10 million bonded children laborers are working as domestic servants in India. Apart from this there are nearly 55 million bonded child laborers who are employed across several other industries. A recent International Labor Organization (ILO) report says that in India there are about 80 percent of child laborers who are hired in the agriculture sector. Generally, the children are sold to the rich moneylenders to whom borrowed money cannot be returned. In addition to this Street children is another type of child labor where children work on the street as beggars, flower sellers, etc. Sometimes children are not being provided with food for long so that people feel sorry for them and give alms. The statistical information regarding child labor cannot be taken to be precise, as there are areas where no accounting has been done. Child labor is in fact, a source of income for poor families. Poor parents give birth to children thinking they would earn more money. The children either increase their parents income or are the only wage earners in the family. Because of poverty families are forced to send their children into labor, the employers find it a source of cheap and trouble free labor. Children can be beaten and tormented into doing dirty jobs. Innocent children are employed by industries and individuals who put them to work under exhausting environments. They are made to work for long hours in dangerous factory units and sometimes made to carry load even heavier than their own body weight. Millions of children are involved in work that is unacceptable for children, including the sale and trafficking of children into debt bondage, serfdom, and forced labor. It includes the forced employment of children for armed conflict, commercial sexual exploitation and illicit activities such as producing and trafficking drugs. This is the story of child labor in all the poor developing and underdeveloped countries of world including India. Even after sixty-five years of independence India has not been able to give any liberation to the poor. Yet withdrawal of child labor is cureless task in the current socio-economic scenario, the Indian government is dedicated to the task of confirming that all the children should be literate and that no child remains illiterate, hungry and without medical care. When this ideal will be achieved is a million dollar question. Child labor is, no doubt an evil that should be done away with at the earliest. The prevalence of child labor rebound and effects adversely on society that it is not able to stop this evil. But in a society where many households have to go through the discomfort of starvation if the children are withdrawn from work, beggars cant be chooser. Unfortunately these families have to send their children to work, knowing that the future of the child will be ruined but they have to, as that is the only way open for them to survive in this world. Therefore unless the socio economic status of the poor families is improved, India has to live with child labor.

Human Nature: Good Or Evil? Essay -- essays research papers

Human Nature: Good or Evil?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many things can be said about the gallons of blood, miles of entrails and seemingly endless array of bones, muscles and other fascinating odds and ends that we call our human bodies. For instance, as you break down the body into different categories each part can be examined endlessly. Such can be said about a very intricate part of the body. This is the most important part and without it the rest of the body would have no direct, this part is the brain. The brain contains many chambers, ones that trigger memories, hunger, sexual arousal, and so forth. However, there is one part of the brain that is rather ambiguous to human being. This section of the brain is where we get our instant reactions to act how we do. This isn’t as simple as it seems though. Do we act kindly and well natured by instinct? People like Mahatma Gandhi, and Mother Theresa would like to thinks so. Or do we act in a negative, more primitive and bloodthirsty way, like Adolph Hitler, or Ted Bundy. I feel that human nature is more evil than good, because of the examples that people like the ones I mentioned have acted, by our primitive urges that we have inherited from our Neanderthal fore-fathers, and by our instinct to protect ourselves over all others.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Adolph Hitler, almost single handedly, killed off hundreds of thousands of Jews, and so-called imperfect people in Germany during the 1...

Nature Versus Nurture: Both Play a Role in Development Essay -- child

Nature versus nurture is a commonly debated topic in the scientific world. For example were all child molesters abused as children themselves or are their genes or other factors to blame for their bad decisions? Genes seem to determine much about children, such as eye color and height, but do they also determine behavior and overall health, or is the environment the children were raised in to blame? For example, when a child is misbehaving, is it the parents responsibility to take the blame for their offspring's behavior due to how they have chosen to raise their son or daughter, or is the child's genetic makeup to blame for their faults? Can a child's environment override the genes a child is born with? Mischievous children's genes and environment are both to blame for their actions. Just because a child sees his or her parents invest their time in drugs or alcohol does not make the child themselves end up in the same situation proving that environment is not the only determining factor in a child's behavior. Genetics play an important role as well. The environment a child is ...

Cyber crime Essay

The proliferation of the use of internet technology for some time now has seen the growth of crimes that are committed over the net which is also referred to as the cyberspace. These crimes are referred to as cyber-crime. Basically cyber-crime is part of electronic crime and it is a criminal activity that is executed through computer network (Balkin, 2007). Traditionally the term espouses such crimes as fraud, theft, forgery, blackmail, and other illicit activities that are done over the network. However as the use of computer networks have increased and more types of computer crimes have come up and the definition of the crimes has also become expounded. The web is a worldwide thing in which materials are posted and accessed from all corners of the world. This worldwide coverage of the net gives rise to a diversity of information that is found in the net and it follows that cyber-crimes are a worldwide crimes. The nature of the differences in cultures in the world for example give rise to a need make sure the net is an objective platform of information dissemination, be it religious, social, or political material. The growth of business over the internet; e-business has also brought in another type of cyber crime whereby people may defraud potential customers of their money by advertising goods, services or even jobs that are non existent. Other types of cyber crimes exist, and they shall be looked at in the following discussion. According to the USA’s Department of Justice, there have been very many cases of cyber-crime that are reported annually. This made the US government to join hands with the European council’s Convention against Cyber crime in 2006. Look more:Â  the issues concerning identity theft essay Types of cyber-crimes The crimes that are common in the cyber are fraud. Fraud is a dishonest misrepresentation of facts that is intended to cause loss for somebody else and benefit the fraud doer. This includes changing inputs in internet in unauthorized manner, altering or deleting data that is already stored in the net, altering existing system tools, manipulating bank systems so as to make unauthorized access to bank ATM’s (Shinder, 2002). Offensive content is another form of cyber crime. Harmful contents of websites are considered as cases of cyber crime. Also distasteful or offensive the information carried in a cyber sites is not allowed. All materials that have the potential of inciting hate crimes in societies, materials that encourage political rebellion, or blasphemous material are not allowed also as they are basically offensive in significant manner. If these kinds of materials are found posted on the web their owners are accused of cyber crime. The reason for the restriction of these materials is that they lead to hostilities based on faith, race, etc that the modern world does not have a place for. Harassment is another type of crime that occurs over the net. It includes the circulation of derogatory comments, and obscenities that are directed at certain individuals that are based on their aspects of gender, religion, race, sexual orientation or national identity. This is mainly done through news groups, e mails with hate messages, and chat rooms. Another crime that is supported by the net is drug trafficking. Drug trafficking is done through the net in that the illegal substance sellers use encrypted e-mail and other available internet technologies. The substances themselves are delivered to the buyer after they make payments. This crime leads to more sales for the drug sellers since the trade is restricted in most countries and the intimidated users of the drugs resort to this option as a save haven. Cyber terrorism is another kind of cyber crime. This crime is the coercion or intimidation of organizations or the government to advance a certain persons political or social goals. This is done by launching attacks on their computer networks, and the information stored there using computer. This vice can be defined as an act of terrorism that is committed via the use of computer resources or cyberspace. It ranges from simple propaganda to the use of the internet to commit a serious terrorist attack (Blane, 2003). Hacking activities are classified as acts of cyber terrorism. This activity is the attacking of websites of families, individuals, and groups within a network, in order to collect information that is useful for criminal activities such as blackmailing, robberies, or ruining the activities of the web owners. A Canada case in 2000, which involved a Mafia boy who had committed 54 counts of illegal access to computers, is a classical case of cyber crime. The defendant also faced ten counts for mischievous data attacks on dell computer, yahoo, among other companies’ websites. There are many let downs in the fight against cyber crime. Many countries around the world lack systems and laws that are aimed at combating the crime. In extreme cases there are nations that condone or encourage some cyber crimes. In many of the countries the burden of fighting cyber-crime is left to corporations that are affected in one way or the other by the vice. Some of the countries have laws against the crime but the law is not implemented while others have proposals for the law but they have not made the law. Nigeria here serves as an example of such a country which has a good plan for fighting the crime only that the proposals have not been made into law. The bill addressing the crime is in the national assembly waiting to be discussed. If the bill were passed, cyber criminals would be prosecuted and duly punished. This go slow attitude is seen in many countries that don’t seem to realize the danger that cyber-crimes pose to the victims. In any case government agencies like the police force, and crime investigation departments are among the leading victims of cyber crimes. Also politicians get lots of cyberspace blackmail and hence they should be in the forefront of finding a solution to the problem. Again cyberspace crimes are an image destroying affair. For instance a cyber-criminal operating from a country A to injure a victim in country B destroys the overall image of their country and this may translate to less trust for his country in the eyes of other countries. The result of this may be economical loss of for the country that hosts the cyber-criminals as web based companies refrain from investing in the country (Yar, 2006). Protections against cyber-crimes The enactment of laws against cyber crime by the governments has been a move in the right direction. In US there are such laws as; Computer Abuse and Fraud Act that address issues of fraud that is related to computers, SPAM act that is intended to at controlling assaults of non solicited pornography. Other laws address extortion threats, identity theft, wire fraud, electronic communications privacy, and secrets of trade (Thomas, 2000). Legal frameworks that address each emergent form of cyber-crime should be made. The laws that are made should be implemented and avoid the situations from the past where some of the laws have not been put into practice. There should be cooperation with among the stakeholders concerned in the cyber-crime inclusive of all operators and technical solution providers in the sector. Such cooperation is a fast way to eliminating cyber criminals as their life in the community will be made difficult. The operators of cybercafes should not involve themselves with people who abuse the internet and commit the crimes. Public awareness on the crimes should be instituted. This campaign should inform the public about the dangers involved in the crimes. Awareness about cyber-crime should be created among members of the society so as to cut the number of cases that are likely to occur if the people are not aware. The structure of the Europe’s convention against cyber-crime is that nations who become signatories of it harmonize their national laws, improve their investigative capacity on the matter and cooperate with other nations in the fight against the crimes. If this convention is adopted internationally it is able to stop the problem to a great extent. This is due to the trans-border nature of the problem. Since the net is used and violated worldwide then a workable solution to the problem should be worldwide. If the convention is not adopted in all countries, and cyber-criminals continue to operate freely there still will be effects on those countries that have ratified the convention (Shinder, 2002). On top of all this, victims of cyber-crimes should report the cases to the authorities for actions to be taken. Cyber criminals should be named and shamed so that they may cease from the practice. Conclusion Cyber crimes are very prevalent in today’s world and all actions that is required should be done to curb them. The current actions taken against the crimes are not enough and more should be done to address the problem as it posses a grave danger to the entire population of the world as it has the potential to influence political, social and economical wellbeing of communities, individuals and institutions. Protection of the self’s interest can only be guaranteed through the concerted efforts of all stakeholders and nations in fighting the crime. References Balkin, J. (2007). Cybercrime: Digital Cops in a Networked Environment NYU Press Blane, J. (2003). Cybercrime and Cyberterrorism. Nova Publishers Shinder, D. (2002). Scene of the Cybercrime: Computer Forensics Handbook. Syngress Thomas, D. (2000). Cybercrime: Law Enforcement, Security and Surveillance in the Information Age. Routledge Yar, M. (2006). Cybercrime and Society: Crime and Punishment in the Information Age. SAGE http://www. usdoj. gov/criminal/cybercrime/ http://computerworld. co. ke/articles/2008/11/10/nigerian-govt-rated-low-curbing-cybercrime

Supply Chain Management for Manufacturing Industry

The main objective is to know about the SCM of manufacturing industry to know we have analyses several topic are: †¢Supply chain is a network of all firms relationships that gat a product to market, including the original acquisition of raw materials; production of the item at a manufacturing facility; distribution to a retailer; sale of he finished item to the customer, and any installation, repair, or service activities that follow the sale. †¢ How to effectively manage the supply chain is a central issue for all levels of management, regardless of industry. †¢This workshop has been designed and tailored by Mr. Ejazur Rahman amassing his over a decade experience in working and managing the Supply chain function of a reputed global manufacturing and marketing organization. To know Successful supply chain management requires decisions.To know scm, competitive, sales and marketing strategies. Who should attend the programmed? Inventory management system of scm. How to a chieve excellence in scm. Supply Chain Management for Manufacturing Industry Supply chain management (SCM) is the oversight of materials, information, and finances as they move in a process from supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. Supply chain management involves coordinating and integrating these flows both within and among companies.It is said that the ultimate goal of any effective supply chain management system is to reduce inventory (with the assumption that products are available when needed). As a solution for successful supply chain management, sophisticated software systems with Web interfaces are competing with Web-based application service providers (ASP) who promise to provide part or all of the SCM service for companies who rent their service. Supply chain management flows can be divided into three main flows: †¢The product flow †¢The information flow The finances flow The product flow includes the movement of goods from a supplier to a customer, as well as any customer returns or service needs.The information flow involves transmitting orders and updating the status of delivery. The financial flow consists of credit terms, payment schedules, and consignment and title ownership arrangements. †¢1. Supply Chain Management – What and Why? †¢2. Objectives of a Supply Chain †¢3. Decision Phases in a Supply Chain †¢4. Process Views of a Supply Chain †¢5. Supply Chain Performance : Achieving Strategic Fit 6. Drivers of Supply Chain Performance †¢7. Designing the Supply Chain Network †¢8. Demand and Supply Planning in a Supply Chain †¢9. Planning and Managing Inventory †¢10. Designing and Planning Transportation Networks †¢11. Achieving Supply Chain Excellence in a manufacturing/service organization 1) Supply chain management what? Supply chain management (SCM) is the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the ultimate provision of prod uct and service packages required by end customers (Harland, 1996).Supply Chain Management spans all movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory, and finished goods from point of origin to point of consumption (supply chain). – Supply chain management (SCM) is the oversight of materials, information, and finances as they move in a process from supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. Supply chain management involves coordinating and integrating these flows both within and among companies.It is said that the ultimate goal of any effective supply chain management system is to reduce inventory (with the assumption that products are available when needed – Supply chain management (SCM) is the oversight of materials, information, and finances as they move in a process from supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. Supply chain management involves coordinating and integrating these flows both within and among companies. It is said that the ultimate goal of any effective supply chain management system is to reduce inventory (with the assumption that products are available when needed).As a solution for successful supply chain management, sophisticated software systems with Web interfacervice for companies who rent their service. Why supply chain management The definition, put forward by an American professional association, is that Supply Chain Management encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing, procurement, conversion, and logistics management activities. It also includes the crucial components of coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, third-party service providers, and customers.In essence, Supply Chain Management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies. More recently, the loosely coupled, self-organizing network of businesses that cooperates to provide product and s ervice offerings has been called the Extended Enterprise. [1] Supply Chain Management can also refer to Supply chain management software which are tools or modules used in executing supply chain transactions, managing supplier relationships and controlling associated business processes.Supply chain event management (abbreviated as SCEM) is a consideration of all possible occurring events and factors that can cause a disruption in a supply chain. With SCEM possible scenarios can be created and solutions can be planned. functions Supply chain management is a cross-function approach to manage the movement of raw materials into an organization, certain aspects of the internal processing of materials into finished goods, and then the movement of finished goods out of the organization toward the end-consumer.As organizations strive to focus on core competencies and becoming more flexible, they have reduced their ownership of raw materials sources and distribution channels. These functions are increasingly being outsourced to other entities that can perform the activities better or more cost effectively. The effect is to increase the number of organizations involved in satisfying customer demand, while reducing management control of daily logistics operations. Less control and more supply chain partners led to the creation of supply chain management concepts.The purpose of supply chain management is to improve trust and collaboration among supply chain partners, thus improving inventory visibility and improving inventory velocity. Several models have been proposed for understanding the activities required to manage material movements across organizational and functional boundaries. SCOR is a supply chain management model promoted by the Supply Chain Council. Another model is the SCM Model proposed by the Global Supply Chain Forum (GSCF). Supply chain activities can be grouped into strategic, tactical, and operational levels of activities. Strategic Strategic network optimisation, including the number, location, and size of warehousing, distribution centers, and facilities †¢Strategic partnership with suppliers, distributors, and customers, creating communication channels for critical information and operational improvements such as cross docking, direct shipping, and third-party logistics †¢Product life cycle management, so that new and existing products can be optimally integrated into the supply chain and capacity management †¢Information Technology infrastructure, to support supply chain operations †¢Where-to-make and what-to-make-or-buy decisions Aligning overall organizational strategy with supply strategy Tactical †¢Sourcing contracts and other purchasing decisions. †¢Production decisions, including contracting, scheduling, and planning process definition. †¢Inventory decisions, including quantity, location, and quality of inventory. †¢Transportation strategy, including frequency, routes, and contra cting. †¢[Benchmarking] of all operations against competitors and implementation of best practices throughout the enterprise.†¢Milestone payments †¢Focus on customer demand. Operational Daily production and distribution planning, including all nodes in the supply chain. †¢Production scheduling for each manufacturing facility in the supply chain (minute by minute). †¢Demand planning and forecasting, coordinating the demand forecast of all customers and sharing the forecast with all suppliers. †¢Sourcing planning, including current inventory and forecast demand, in collaboration with all suppliers. †¢Inbound operations, including transportation from suppliers and receiving inventory. †¢Production operations, including the consumption of materials and flow of finished goods. Outbound operations, including all fulfillment activities, warehousing and transportation to customers. †¢Order promising, accounting for all constraints in the supply c hain, including all suppliers, manufacturing facilities, distribution centers, and other customers. 2)The Objective of a Supply Chain The objective of every supply chain is to maximize the overall value generated. The value a supply chain generates is the difference between what the final product is worth to the customer and the effort the supply chain expends in filling the customer’s request.For most commercial supply chains, value will be strongly correlated with supply chain profitability, the difference between the revenue generated from the customer and the overall cost across the supply chain. For example, a customer purchasing a computer from Dell pays $2,000, which represents the revenue the supply chain receives. Dell and other stages of the supply chain incur costs to convey information, produce components, store them, transport them, transfer funds, and so on.The difference between the $2,000 that the customer paid and the sum of all costs incurred by the supply c hain to produce and distribute the computer represents the supply chain profitability. Supply chain profitability is the total profit to be shared across all supply chain stages. The higher the supply chain profitability, the more successful the supply chain. Supply chain success should be measured in terms of supply chain profitability and not in terms of the profits at an individual stage. Having defined the success of a supply chain in terms of supply chain rofitability, the next logical step is to look for sources of revenue and cost. For any supply chain, there is only one source of revenue: the customer. At Wal-Mart, a customer purchasing detergent is the only one providing positive cash flow for the supply chain. All other cash flows are simply fund exchanges that occur within the supply chain given that different stages have different owners. When Wal-Mart pays its supplier, it is taking a portion of the funds the customer provides and passing that money on to the supplier. All flows of information, product, or funds generate costs within the supply chain.Thus, the appropriate management of these flows is a key to supply chain success. Supply chain management involves the management of flows between and among stage sin a supply chain to maximize total supply chain profitability. 3) Decision Phases In a Supply Chain Successful supply chain management requires many decisions relating to the flow of information, product, and funds. These decisions fall into three categories or phases, depending on the frequency of each decision and the time frame over which a decision phase has an impact. 1.Supply chain strategy or design: During this phase, a company decides how to structure the supply chain over the next several years. It decides what the chain’s configuration will be, how resources will be allocated, and what processes each stage will perform. Strategic decisions made by companies include the location and capacities of production and warehouse f acilities, the products to be manufactured or stored at various locations, the modes of transportation to be made available along different shipping legs, and the type of information system to be utilized.A firm must ensure that the supply chain configuration supports its strategic objectives during this phase. Dell’s decisions regarding the location and capacity of its manufacturing facilities, warehouses, and supply courses are all supply chain design or strategic decisions. Supply chain design decisions are typically made for the long term (a matter of years) and are very expensive to alter on short notice. Consequently, when companies make these decisions, they must take into account uncertainty in anticipated market conditions over the next few years. 2. Supply chain planning: For decisions made during his phase, the time frame considered is a quarter to a year. Therefore, the supply chain’s configuration determined in the strategic phase is fixed. The configurati on establishes constraints within which planning must be done. Companies start the planning phase with a forecast for the coming year (or a comparable time frame) of demand in different markets. Planning includes decisions regarding which markets will be supplied from which locations, the subcontracting of manufacturing, the inventory policies to be followed, and the timing and size of marketing promotions.Dell’s decisions regarding markets a given production facility will supply and target production quantities at different locations are classified as planning decisions. Planning establishes parameters within which a supply chain will function over a specified period of time. In the planning phase, companies must include uncertainty in demand, exchange rates, and competition over this time horizon in their decisions. Given a shorter time horizon and better forecasts than the design phase, companies in the planning phase try to incorporate any flexibility built into the suppl y chain in the design phase and exploit it to optimize performance.As a result of the planning phase, companies define a set of operating policies that govern short-term operations. 3. Supply chain operation: The time horizon here is weekly or daily, and during this phase companies make decisions regarding individual customer orders. At the operational level, supply chain configuration is considered fixed and planning policies are already defined. The goal of supply chain operations is to handle incoming customer orders in the best possible manner.During this phase, firms allocate inventory or production to individual orders, set a date that an order is to be filled, generate pick lists at a warehouse, allocate an order to a particular shipping mode and shipment, set delivery schedules of trucks, and place replenishment orders. Because operational decisions are being made in the short term (minutes, hours, or days), there is less uncertainty about demand information. Given the const raints established by the configuration and planning policies, the goal during the operation phase is to exploit the reduction of uncertainty and optimize performance.The design, planning, and operation of a supply chain have a strong impact on overall profitability and success. Continuing with our example, consider Dell Computer. In the early 1990s, Dell management began to focus on improving the improved performance. Both profitability and the stock price have soared and Dell stock has had outstanding returns over this period. 4)Supply Chain Process Platform The winners in fiercely competitive markets create agile and efficient business processes, supported by flexible, reliable and cost-effective technology.When your market position depends on your supply chain, you need processes and solutions that work together seamlessly to provide the information and automate the activities you need to operate most effectively. All of Manhattan Associates' solutions operate on a common Servic e Oriented Architecture (SOA) platform, to maximize the value of your technology investment. With Manhattan Associates' Supply Chain Process Platform, you can easily integrate any or all of our applications into your existing systems or add new solutions from our suite of products.That means dramatic reductions in complexity and faster implementation whenever you need new functionality. With shared master and transaction databases, data capture management (such as voice and RFID) and a real-time alert system that operates across all Manhattan Associates' solutions, the Supply Chain Process Platform provides a safeguard that flags any inconsistency in your data, ensuring a safe implementation and continued smooth operation. Our Supply Chain Process Platform offers flexibility, scalability and supportability to meet the requirements of the most complex supply chains for the most demanding companies.The Manhattan Supply Chain Process Platform: †¢Makes customizing your solutions to meet your business requirements easier than ever †¢Simplifies adding new functionalities or incorporating technical innovations †¢Provides a shared platform for collecting, managing, distributing and acting on information and events that flow through the supply chain †¢Ensures that solutions are robust, scalable, resilient and consistent across all components. Uniting the Platform Applications for Maximum ValueThe Supply Chain Process Platform provides a foundation for all Manhattan platform applications: †¢Supply Chain Intelligence: With easy-to-read reports presenting powerful analytics, you can monitor the performance of your suppliers, carriers, customers and employees from one intuitive dashboard. †¢Supply Chain Visibility: See a single, consistent, real-time view of your entire global supply chain. †¢Supply Chain Event Management: Receive notification of all supply chain events as they occur and respond immediately across your full supply chain. 5) Supply Chain Performance : Achieving Strategic Fit Competitive strategy: defines the set of customer needs a firm seeks to satisfy through its products and services ? Product development strategy: specifies the portfolio of new products that the company will try to develop ? Marketing and sales strategy: specifies how the market will be segmented and product positioned, priced, and promoted ? Supply chain strategy: – determines the nature of material procurement, transportation of materials, manufacture of product or creation of service, distribution of product –Consistency and support between supply chain strategy, competitive strategy, and other functional strategies is importantAchieving Strategic Fit(1/2) ? How is strategic fit achieved? ? Other issues affecting strategic fit How is Strategic Fit Achieved? ? Step 1: Understanding the customer and supply chain uncertainty ? Step 2: Understanding the supply chain ? Step 3: Achieving strategic fit Step 1: Understan ding the Customer and Supply Chain Uncertainty (1/3) ? Identify the needs of the customer segment being served ? Quantity of product needed in each lot ? Response time customers will tolerate ? Variety of products needed ? Service level required ? Price of the product ? Desired rate of innovation in the product Overall attribute of customer demand ? Demand uncertainty: uncertainty of customer demand for a product ? Implied demand uncertainty: resulting uncertainty for the supply chain given the portion of the demand the supply chain must handle and attributes the customer desires ? Implied demand uncertainty also related to customer needs and product attributes ? First step to strategic fit is to understand customers by mapping their demand on the implied uncertainty spectrum Step 2: Understanding the Supply Chain (1/2) ? How does the firm best meet demand? ? Dimension describing the supply chain is supply chain responsiveness Supply chain responsiveness — ability to – respond to wide ranges of quantities demanded –meet short lead times –handle a large variety of products –build highly innovative products –meet a very high service level ? There is a cost to achieving responsiveness ? Supply chain efficiency: cost of making and delivering the product to the customer ? Increasing responsiveness results in higher costs that lower efficiency ? Figure 2. 3: cost-responsiveness efficient frontier ? Figure 2. 4: supply chain responsiveness spectrum ? Second step to achieving strategic fit is to map the supply chain on the responsiveness spectrumStep 3: Achieving Strategic Fit ? Step is to ensure that what the supply chain does well is consistent with target customer’s needs Other Issues Affecting Strategic Fit ?Multiple products and customer segments ? Product life cycle ? Competitive changes over time 6)Drivers of Supply Chain Performance Supply chains are becoming increasingly global and ever more complex, as organiza tions try to support strategic management practices such as entering new markets, increasing the pace of new product introductions, improving the reliability and speed of order fulfillment . . . all the while trying to lower supply chain costs.For organizations to work closely with their suppliers, logistics providers, distributors and retailers, their supply chains must be streamlined and technology-enabled. However, organizations that want to streamline their supply chains must first understand what is working well, what is not and where the opportunities for improvement are. These companies need to have a way to measure the performance of their supply chain on an ongoing basis. Traditional approaches of measuring supply chain performance — scorecards, dashboards and reports showing supply chain metrics — suffer from three shortcomings: 1) They are not linked to strategy. ) They have a silo approach. 3) They have a flat hierarchy. Let's examine each of these shortcom ings more closely. They are not linked to strategy. It can be difficult to see how a supply chain metric affects your overall objectives. If the metric is trending in the wrong direction, which aspect of your supply chain strategy will be affected? Without a framework that links each metric to a certain element of strategy, the context behind a metric can get lost. When such context is missing, it becomes a challenge for organizations (large ones in particular) to get everyone to see the common vision.Next-generation Supply Chain Performance Management (SCPM) systems will need to be able to show the link between any metric and the element of strategy it impacts. They have a silo approach. Current supply chain analytics solutions do a good job of showing the performance of metrics for individual departments, such as cost per unit purchased, percentage of on-time supplier shipment for the procurement department, or set-up times, capacity utilization and percentage of scrap for the pla nt.However, this type of silo approach sacrifices the overall process and end goals in the interest of improving the performance of an individual department. As a result, functional silos are reinforced within the organization. The key is to measure the performance of overall business process in such a way that poor performance of a departmental metric could be overlooked in the interest of increasing the overall business process performance. To achieve this, next-generation Supply Chain Performance Management systems will need to do more than show departmental metrics – they need to have a process orientation. They have a flat hierarchy.The metrics that help you measure the overall performance of your supply chain are not standalone — they are related to each other, sometimes in a hierarchical fashion. Such relationships help you drill down and better understand root cause more effectively. For example, if a hierarchical relationship were developed between outbound sh ipment cost metric and those metrics that affect shipment costs, your system will tell you that outbound shipment costs are trending up despite the carrier rates trending down due to lower fuel costs, because your express freight shipments in a certain division are up significantly month over month.However, most current supply chain analytics have no way to define such relationships. Next-generation Supply Chain Performance Management systems of tomorrow will need to be able to define and show relationships between metrics. What supply chain performance management systems must include All these issues need to be addressed by next-generation Supply Chain Performance Management systems. Such systems should include three capabilities: an analytics framework; a process orientation; and linkages. Analytics framework.The ideal SCPM system should allow a user to define a complete framework for supply chain analytics. This framework should include: †¢overall supply chain objectives; â € ¢the top-line metrics that affect the objective; †¢the description, targets and acceptable range for each metric; and †¢a list of reports where the metric can be found. 7. Designing the Supply Chain Network Overview In today’s volatile business environment, many companies are expanding, merging, contracting, or otherwise redesigning their supply chain networks.Here learner applications of optimization models to the analysis of these network design problems. Modeling concepts are reviewed as well as practical methods for data gathering and validation, model implementation, and scenario construction. New applications will be presented including network design models to plan for new products, to manage production and inventories of products with short shelf lives, to select vendor contracts, and to control CO2 emissions. Several case studies will be presented along with discussions of network design problems faced by course attendees.Who Should Attend This program is intended for: †¢Managers and analysts responsible for network design decision-making †¢Managers and analysts responsible for acquiring or developing, and applying data-driven modeling systems to support network design decision-making †¢Consultants who direct or participate in network design studies †¢Academics who teach supply chain subjects to students in management and engineering Participants will not need advanced analytical skills to fully absorb material presented in the program. )DEMAND AND SUPPLY PLANNING IN SCM SCM facechallenges to people at manufacturing companies who need to gauge customer demand and respond to changes in demand, even when they take place at a moment's notice. Manufacturers' responsiveness and agility in the areas of sales and operations planning (S;OP) and demand management—the two major parts of supply chain planning—are still hampered by cumbersome, static processes. Common problems include: †¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Lack of r eal-time, robust, and actionable data. †¢Lack of integration among financial, operating, sales, and marketing plans. †¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Inability of people to share information and documents. †¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Poor analytical capabilities and collaborative planning environments. †¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Lack of alert and monitoring capabilities. Solutions Supply Chain Demand and Supply Planning solutions from Microsoft and its partner ecosystem help manufacturers change the way they manage their supply chains to become more demand-driven, adaptive, and responsive.By improving people's visibility into customer demand and supplier capabilities, these solutions create an environment that enables real-time decisions about manufacturing activity, which can lower inventory while improving customer service. Demand management solutions offer real-time demand management business processes, delivered with an integrated business intelligence and collaboration framework, to empower people with collaboration a nd analytic capabilities.Sales and operations planning (S&OP) solutions, which include connected systems, process workflows, event management, and live communication, offer collaboration, analysis, integration, workflow, and monitoring functionality throughout all phases of a manufacturer's S;OP workflow—beginning with the baseline forecast created by people in the manufacturer's sales and marketing departments, all the way through the forecast for a specific customer, the creation of a consensus forecast, supply planning, resolution and exception processes, approval and budgeting, sales allocations, order promising, and communication with the manufacturer's production facilities. Infor Supply Chain Management is a global solution with implementations at over 1,600 customer sites in 40 countries. Backed by domain experts who know supply chain management and the challenges you face, our supply chain planning and execution solutions comprise the following key components: Strate gic Network Design —modeling and optimization tools for determining the most effective number, location, size, and capacity of facilities to meet customer service goals; time-phased tactical planning for determining where and when to make, buy, store, and move product through the network.Demand Planning —forecasting tools, web-based collaboration interface, and sales and operations reporting and metrics that help companies predict and shape customer demand with greater accuracy. Distribution Planning —inventory analysis and time-variable stock target calculations for ensuring the optimal balance between service levels and inventory investment; synchronized replenishment plans for all network points right back to manufacturing and supplier sources for better visibility. Manufacturing Planning —constraint-based advanced planning system for engineering, assembly, and repetitive manufacturing environments; similar tools for process manufacturers. Production S cheduling —finite capacity scheduling for engineering, assembly, and repetitive environments, as well as batch-process production facilities.Transportation and Logistics Planning —transportation planning, transportation procurement, route planning, transportation management, small parcel shipping, and international trade logistics for global, multi-modal operations. Warehouse Management System —end-to-end fulfillment and distribution including inventory, labor, and work and task management, as well as cross-docking, value-added services, yard management, multiple inventory ownership and billing/invoicing, and voice-directed distribution. RFID —comprehensive RFID-enablement framework delivering business value through process optimization for manufacturers and other companies, as well as compliance solutions for retail, pharmaceuticals, the US Department of Defense, and others.Event Management —proactive, real-time exception management technology for detecting conditional change anywhere in the supply chain and communicating it instantly for resolution. 9)Planning and managing inventory By Curt Barry Inventory is most likely the largest balance sheet asset in your company. How well you plan, purchase, and manage your inventory largely determines your level of customer service and profits. But selling goods in multiple channels means dealing with channel-specific planning and inventory needs. Planning and inventory systems In most companies, the systems for merchandise planning and inventory control remain highly fragmented by channel.For promotional planning, many multichannel companies need to be more diligent and use a single promotional calendar rather than channel-specific schedules on which merchandise planning is based. These should include in-store promotions, catalogs, and e-mail campaigns. Internet inventory management philosophies are slowly evolving in most companies. Traditional catalogers now average more than 50% of sales from the Internet, although much of that business is generated by receipt of the catalog. Products may be active and available longer if there is stock. What sells online is heavily influenced by placement on landing pages and organization and ranking within category product searches.The online product assortment can be more extensive than that in a single catalog. Internet may have a total chain assortment different from any one store or region. The Website may have a clearance or liquidation aspect. These principles of planning and managing inventory are not industry established best practices, but are being hammered out in the trenches every day. From a purchasing perspective, companies are rolling multiple channel plans and forecasts together into a single purchase order management system to write Pos. When will there be true integrated systems for planning and inventory systems? For most companies, not any time soon. Retail and direct channels have different data needs and processes.It will probably be a few years before commercial software companies that cater to retail and direct have the most basic of systems in place. MICROS Retail, Direct Tech, and Manhattan Associates all have development projects to bring channels together in terms of planning and inventory systems. Channel Inventory – a distribution view With all the complexities of planning and inventory control, how are distribution centers accommodating the channels? When multichannel marketing was in its infancy more than a decade ago, the prevalent thinking was to have a single DC that would process both direct and retail replenishment orders. There would be one pooled inventory, one staff and one facility — end of discussion. But logistics thinking is changing.But to accomplish this, they have the additional overhead of multiple facilities and staffing, and their warehouse management and order management must be capable of managing multiple inventories and allocating a nd filling orders. As e-commerce in retail companies has grown substantially, logistics management has come to realize that picking, packing, and shipping of small orders is very different from full-carton replenishment to stores. With large volumes it may prove to be more efficient to have dedicated centers for direct. Another of the real drivers behind this shift is the realization that without having separate sales and stock plans, there is no accountability by business units to make their sales plans.So if the first unit to allocate inventory gets the stock, then there may not be inventory for later drops of a catalog, e-mail campaigns, initial stocks to open stores, etc. Other companies use a â€Å"virtual inventory† concept, not in the sense of drop-shipping, but of the inventory system being able to keep planned sales by product and SKU by channel, and being able to reserve inventory for the channel business unit. Importing’s effect Where we source product is al so changing how we can plan and manage it. Much of the multichannel world relies on imported product. Even if you buy from a domestic distributor, chances are that merchandise is imported.Additionally, companies may not be looking at a fully loaded product cost including agent's/broker's fees, demurrage, duty rate, product development costs, and buyer's travel. Couple that with warehouse storage space requirements for container size receipts and the inventory carrying costs. All of this leads to higher inventory and carrying costs and slower turnover. What to do about it? †¢Use mixed container loading, where appropriate. †¢Weigh the increase in per unit cost to take smaller quantities. †¢Move the entire merchandise and creative planning calendar for promotions back and do each season earlier (no easy task). †¢Challenge merchants to look Stateside to try to get the product with smaller quantities, or to develop product in the U. S. and later roll it out off-shore if it sells. †¢Tackle the issue of ccounting for all the product costs to be sure you have an accurate, fully loaded cost and sufficient initial markup without being overstocked. Liquidating overstocks Inventory that doesn't sell and liquidation are two dreaded aspects to merchandising. Because you have to take in larger imported orders and distribute to more channels, you need a cost effective strategy for in-season liquidation and clearance. In a cost-based system it's hard to determine how much gross margin is lost in marking down retail prices. Our experience is that it may represent 2% to 4% of net sales at least. What to do about it? †¢Develop a liquidation strategy. Options include clearance catalogs, Web specials, bind-in or package inserts, sales pages, and telephone offers. Develop a report showing candidates for liquidation based on rate of sale. †¢Develop an age of inventory report that will age products in time brackets (30 days, etc. ) to stay on top of inventory. transportation, importing, retail versus direct packaging, technology used in the supply chain and DCs, etc. All this necessitates setting standards with vendors so that you aren't working on an exception basis with every one. Vendor compliance and supply chain In most multichannel businesses the size of the product assortment and vendor base have grown dramatically. Supply chains have become increasingly complex with modes of vendor compliance is at the heart of efficient supply chain management.Routing inbound shipments to reduce costs and scheduling inbound appointments can help speed product flow through the DC, significantly helping in turn to reduce inventory levels. Automating the supply chain through advanced shipping notifications (ASNs), RFID, and cross-docking to stores can go a long way toward reducing costs, but these cannot be implemented without a comprehensive vendor compliance policy. Start small by communicating your company vision, the need for on-time delivery, routing guides, inbound dock standards like carton labeling, product specifications, accounting and paperwork requirements, contact list, and the costs of back orders. Begin a charge-back policy and implement it with your largest vendors.Later, you can add other items that are typically included, such as service level standards, packaging, labeling, case labeling, valued and value-added services, logistical requirements, scheduling appointments, cross-docking and direct-to-store requirements, charge back for non-compliance, etc. The trend is to push compliance back up the supply chain. This means as many value-added services as possible — packaging, marking, quality inspections — performed by vendors or merchant reps in factories. Catching errors at the source and using source-based services speeds inventory flow, and any such issues are cheaper to deal with in the vendor's environment. 10)ACHIEVING SCM EXCELLENCE A new survey reveals what separates manufactu ring industry leaders from laggards IT HAS BEEN several years since a comprehensive and independent survey of the state of supply chain management (SCM) in the paper manufacturing industry has been carried out.A lot has happened both in the industry and in the field of SCM during this time. Moderator Consulting carried out an extensive survey during July-October 2005 to see where we stand today. Altogether 11 European paper companies participated in the survey, which covered issues such as SCM strategy, process and management models, reporting systems, managing customer relationships, efficient operations, people and supporting systems and future plans. The respondents covered all the main product groups in nine European countries. The results of individual companies were obviously kept strictly confidential. Common terminology and definitions were used in the survey to ensure common understanding of the questions and issues.The results provide a good cross-section of the industry p erformance and challenges. Besides being a major cost and working capital factor, SCM can also be considered a source of significant competitive edge. Some of the findings are listed below. 1. Nearly half the respondents still need to develop more robust SCM strategies. While all companies said they have an SCM strategy, the content, communication and integration into overall business strategy in many cases leaves much to be desired. For instance, some companies had no logistics provider strategy or did not include development of cost factors. 2. The industry has clearly been moving toward a more integrated management structure.Most SCM-related decisions, such as strategy, demand planning and vendor and location management are nowadays made at corporate / business area levels, with sales companies and mills mostly in an execution role (Figure 1). However, even though management structures are more integrated, several companies have yet to adopt more of a process approach, with the p rocesses and their ownerships defined. Systems for monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) seem nowadays to be at a reasonably good level in nearly all the respondent companies. 3. The outsourcing process appears to be complete. The dominant logistics management mode is nowadays clearly â€Å"preferred partnerships† – on average 60%, and covering the whole infrastructure.Interestingly although â€Å"preferred partnerships† was stated as the dominant transport mode, respondents still had between 50 and 100 regular haulage â€Å"partners† in use on average. This may indicate room for some further consolidation. IT systems management is the exception to the outsourcing rule: very few companies have outsourced this aspect of their operations. 4. Many companies still need to segment their customers and define corresponding service levels for each customer or customer group. This may mean that these companies are offering the same service, such as dedicate d stocks or a 24 hr/ single pallet delivery – with corresponding costs – to all or most of their customers.This can hardly be optimal from a cost-to-serve viewpoint, unless price supplements are enforced. However, customers rarely accept such surcharges nowadays. 5. Surprisingly few customers participate in the demand planning processes (only five to 10 on average). Participation in this context means active involvement and, considering the industry's forecasting challenges this may offer an improvement in some industry segments. Transaction automation with customers and logistics providers also offers big potential: only 10-20% and 50% respectively said they currently transact electronically. More standardization is needed. 6. Most companies seem quite satisfied with their IT systems.On a scale of one (very dissatisfied) to five (very satisfied), a clear majority of the companies gave a mark of four for most of their systems, such as mill execution, sales and distribu tion and data warehousing. The substantial investments in IT systems over recent years appear to have paid off in a number of cases. 7. Most companies were satisfied with both the number and caliber of their SCM personnel. Main training requirements were focused on customer relations issues. 8. Future development needs to be carefully planned. As generic future goals, most respondents stated that their main focuses are on cost and inventory reductions, as well as on improving customer service. Improved internal integration and process management was also listed as a priority generic target.However, these may be conflicting targets, unless planned carefully. More specifically, the respondents were asked to prioritize a list of 14 specific SCM initiatives provided, based on their planned implementation in the next three years initiatives included issues such as RFID, vendor managed inventory (VMI), activity based costing, harmonization of IT infrastructure, e-commmerce with logistics providers and offering outsourcing capabilities to customers. The clear â€Å"winners† were VMI, e-commerce projects and collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR) following close behind. These are huge undertakings with significant risks, resource and planning requirements.However, the companies that successfully implement them would take their supply chain to an entirely new level of sophistication, responsiveness, efficiency and transparency. Finally,The industry has been moving toward a more integrated and customer-centric management approach. Industry and customer consolidation are the most likely reasons for this. IT systems and performance monitoring finally appear to be in good shape in most companies. This is a good basis for future development, even though many companies revealed some worrying weaknesses in a number of critical areas and are clearly lagging behind the leaders. The leading companies – based on this survey – can best be characterized as having a clear, comprehensive and well-communicated SCM strategy.They also have an integrated management structure and KPI monitoring in place; processes are defined in detail; service/cost tradeoffs are optimized; logistics partners are managed efficiently; they have implemented wellfunctioning IT systems; and have competent and well trained people, all of which are reflected also in their costs and performance. Is this just good, basic management? Easy to say, much more difficult to accomplish in real life! Furthermore, the leaders have ambitious plans for the future – especially in areas involving their customers. These companies are clearly outperforming their peers and they are well positioned to increase their competitive edge by efficiently and intelligently serving their customers.