Health Promotion and Prevention of Diabetes Melliitus free essay sample

The three primary levels of health prevention (primary, secondary and tertiary) should be utilized. This paper will be a literature review of three journal articles focusing on diabetes mellitus and will discuss the purpose of health promotion in nursing practice; nursing roles and responsibilities in health promotion; nursing actions that promote health prevention and promotion; and finally a comparison of the three primary levels of health prevention. Health Promotion in Nursing Health promotion is defined as a multifaceted approach to encouraging health related lifestyle changes of individuals and communities with the ultimate goal of enhancing the overall health of the individual and the community (Bennett, Perry, Lawrence, 2009). Fry, Gleeson and Rissel (2010), recommend that health promotion be made a separate occupation from nursing. They argue that individuals would be specialists in the field of health promotion which would greatly aid in the health issues experienced by individuals and the community (Fry et al. We will write a custom essay sample on Health Promotion and Prevention of Diabetes Melliitus or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 2010). This new occupation has yet to be established, leaving nurses to continue to use health promotion techniques in their practice. Nursing Roles and Responsibilities in Health Promotion Nurses comprise a large and powerful workforce that should be incorporated in health promotion efforts (Fry, Gleeson Rissel, 2010). Community nurses, especially school nurses have a responsibility to be observant of the people around them and use their knowledge to educate on health promotion and prevention (Bennett et al. , 2009). By educating school children on reducing modifiable risk factors for diabetes such as obesity, inactivity and poor diet, nurses could potentially decrease the amount of adolescent and adult onset diabetes (Bennett et al. , 2009). Nursing Actions that Promote Health Nurses play an integral part of health promotion, especially when it comes to diabetes. Nurses should use the nursing process to assess individuals, diagnose, implement a plan to assist with eliminating risk factors, and evaluate the progress achieved. Nurses in the community have the power to educate individuals on their modifiable risk factors and how to change their lifestyles to prevent the onset on diabetes (Bennett et al. , 2009). Nurses must continue to educate individuals on health promotion and utilize other members of the health care team, such as social workers, for uninsured or poverty stricken individuals. Comparison of the Primary Levels of Health Prevention Prevention can be broken down into three categories which divide the different types of health promotion and prevention. Primary Prevention Primary prevention occurs prior to the onset or contraction of an illness such as giving immunizations (Bennett et al. , 2009). For diabetes mellitus, primary prevention would be changing eating and exercising habits prior to a diagnosis. Diabetes mellitus has modifiable risk factors that if changed early in life may reduce a person’s risk for developing the disease (Caple Schub, 2012). These risk factors include obesity, inactivity, and unhealthy eating habits (Caple Schub, 2012). Using a primary prevention approach, an individual or community could greatly reduce their risk of diabetes by reducing their modifiable risk factors (Caple Schub, 2012). Secondary Prevention Secondary prevention is used to maintain a person’s health, lessen the length of illness and prevention progression of an illness (Bennett et al. , 2009). Secondary prevention involves screening examinations. It is recommended that screening for diabetes mellitus be done on overweight and obese individuals (Caple Schub, 2012). Since this disease can go on for years without being caught, secondary prevention can be used to identify the disease and attempt to control and maintain the person’s health status (Caple Schub, 2012). Since diabetes can be controlled with modifications to an individual’s daily life, goals for participants of diabetes secondary prevention programs would be similar to primary prevention activities such as weight loss, lowering blood lipids and blood pressure, increasing physical activity, reducing consumption of saturated fats, and increasing consumption of fruit and vegetables(Fry et al. 2010). Tertiary Prevention Tertiary prevention occurs after an individual has acquired a disease and strives to limit complications to the individual’s health (Bennett et al. , 2009). For example, a person with diabetes mellitus loses a limb. The tertiary prevention model would strive to protect the other limb, and the limb remaining after the amputation. Conclusion Nurses posse ss a power to assist with changing the way individuals and communities view and utilize health promotion and prevention practices. Utilizing three journal articles the following topics were discussed: the purpose of health promotion in nursing practice; nursing roles and responsibilities in health promotion; nursing actions that promote health promotion; and a comparison of the three primary levels of health prevention and how they relate to diabetes mellitus. References Bennett, C. , Perry, J. , Lawrence, Z. (2009). Promoting health in primary care. Nursing Standard, 23,(47),48-56. Caple, C. Schub, T. (2012). Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2: Prevention in Children and Adolescents. CINAHL Plus with Full Text, EBSCOhost accessed August 11, 2012. Fry, D. , Gleeson, S. , Rissel, C. (2010). Health promotion and secondary prevention: response to Milat, O’Hara and Develin. Heath Promotion Journal of Australia, 21(2), 86-91. U. S. Dept of Health and Human Services. (2012). Healthy People. gov. Closer Look: Health Disparities: Compare the Top 10 Causes of Death across Populations. Retrieved on August 10,2012 from

How the Great Depression Altered US Foreign Policy

How the Great Depression Altered US Foreign Policy As Americans suffered through the Great Depression of the 1930s, the financial crisis influenced U.S. foreign policy in ways that pulled the nation even deeper into a period of isolationism. While the exact causes of the Great Depression are debated to this day, the initial factor was World War I. The bloody conflict shocked the global financial system and altered the worldwide balance of political and economic power. The nations involved in World War I had been forced to suspend their use of the gold standard, long the determining factor in setting international currency exchange rates, in order to recover from their staggering war costs. Attempts by the U.S., Japan, and the European nations to re-instate the gold standard during the early 1920s left their economies without the flexibility they would be needed to cope with the financial hard times that would come in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Along with the great U.S. stock market crash of 1929, economic difficulties in Great Britain, France, and Germany coincided to create a global â€Å"perfect storm† of financial crises. Attempts by those nations and Japan to hold on to the gold standard only worked to fuel the storm and hasten the onset of a global depression. Depression Goes Global With no coordinated international system of dealing with a worldwide depression in place, the governments and financial institutions of the individual nations turned inward. Great Britain, unable to continue in its long-held role as the mainstay and chief ​money lender of the international financial system, became the first nation to permanently abandon the gold standard in 1931. Preoccupied with its own Great Depression, the United States was unable to step in for Great Britain as the world’s â€Å"creditor of last resort,† and permanently dropped the gold standard in 1933. Determined to resolve the global depression, leaders of the world’s largest economies convened the London Economic Conference of 1933. Unfortunately, no major agreements came out of the event and the great global depression persisted for the rest of the 1930s. Depression Leads to Isolationism In struggling with its own Great Depression, the United States sank its foreign policy even deeper into post-World War I stance of isolationism. As if the Great Depression was not enough, a series of world events that would result in World War II added to Americans’ desire for isolation. Japan seized most of China in 1931. At the same time, Germany was expanding its influence in Central and Eastern Europe, Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935. The United States, however, chose not to oppose any of these conquests. To a large degree, Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt were constrained from reacting to international events, no matter how potentially dangerous, by the demands of the public to deal exclusively with domestic policy, primarily bringing an end to the Great Depression. Having witnessed the horrors of World War I, Hoover, like most Americans, hoped to never see the United States involved in another world war. Between his election November 1928 and his inauguration in March 1929, he traveled to the nations of Latin America hoping to win their trust by promising that the U.S. would always honor their rights as independent nations. Indeed, in 1930, Hoover announced that his administration’s foreign policy would recognize the legitimacy  of the governments of all Latin American countries, even those whose governments did not conform to American ideals of democracy. Hoover’s policy was a reversal of President Theodore Roosevelt’s policy of using force if necessary to influence the actions of Latin American governments. Having withdrawn American troops from Nicaragua and Haiti, Hoover proceeded to avoid U.S. intervention in some 50 Latin American revolutions, many of which resulted in the establishment of anti-American governments. As a result, America’s diplomatic relations with the Latin American warmed during the Hoover presidency. Under the 1933 Good Neighbor Policy of President Franklin Roosevelt, the United States reduced its military presence in Central and South America. The move greatly improved U.S. relations with Latin America, while making more money available for depression-fighting initiatives at home. Indeed, throughout the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations, the demand to rebuild the American economy and end rampant unemployment forced U.S. foreign policy onto the backmost burner †¦ at least for a while. The Fascist Effect While the mid-1930s saw the rise conquest of militaristic regimes in Germany, Japan, and Italy, the United States remained entrenched in isolation from foreign affairs as the federal government struggled with the Great Depression. Between 1935 and 1939, the U.S. Congress, over the objections of President Roosevelt, enacted a series of Neutrality Acts specifically intended to prevent the United States from taking any role of any nature in potential foreign wars. The lack of any significant U.S. response to the invasion of China by Japan in 1937 or the forced occupation of Czechoslovakia by Germany in 1938 encouraged the governments of Germany and Japan to expand the scope of their military conquests. Still, many U.S. leaders continued to believe the need to attend to its own domestic policy, mainly in the form of ending the Great Depression, justified a continued policy of isolationism. Other leaders, including President Roosevelt, believed that U.S. non-intervention simple allowed the theaters of war to grow ever-closer to America. As late as 1940, however, keeping the U.S. out of foreign wars had widespread support from the American people, including high-profile celebrities like record-setting aviator Charles Lindbergh. With Lindbergh as its chairman, the 800,000-member-strong America First Committee lobbied Congress to oppose President Roosevelt’s attempts to provide war materials to England, France, the Soviet Union, and the other nations fighting the spread of fascism. When France finally fell to Germany in the summer of 1940, the U.S. government slowly started increasing its participation in the war against fascism. The Lend-Lease Act of 1941, initiated by President Roosevelt, allowed the president to transfer, at no cost, arms and other war materials to any â€Å"government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States.† Of course, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1942, thrust the United States fully into World War II and ended any pretense of American isolationism. Realizing that the nation’s isolationism had to some degree contributed to the horrors of World War II, U.S. policymakers once again began to emphasize the importance of foreign policy as a tool in preventing future global conflicts. Ironically, it was the positive economic impact of America’s participation in World War II, which had been long-delayed in part by the Great Depression that at last pulled the nation out of its longest economic nightmare.

Business Implications of Security on the Internet Essay

Business Implications of Security on the Internet - Essay Example Loss of revenue is one of the major business implications of security on the internet. Lack of internet security can lead to loss of revenue in two main ways. Firstly, if the internet server that a business uses is compromised, hackers can (in most cases) gain access to the businesses financial information. Such information can be used to pilfer business funds and this leads to loss of revenue. Secondly, in cases where businesses rely a great deal on the internet and use e-commerce sites to sell their goods/services, a compromised internet network or site automatically leads to loss of revenue since such a site is rendered inoperable and consumers are not able to access the site (Ringwelski, 2010). There has also been loss of productivity on human personnel because of internet security measures taken by company. Due to the rise of internet security breaches, businesses may be forced to implement certain measures that ultimately lower all their employees’ productivity. For inst ance, employees may be asked to conduct various security checks before accessing the internet and this may be time consuming and lower productivity. Another major repercussion of internet security on businesses is the potential risk of the businesses reputation being damaged. In cases, where a business’s internet security is breached, hackers can damage the company’s reputation by posting false information about the company on the compromised site, or stealing the information of the company’s clients. For most businesses, this risk can be even more debilitating than the loss of business revenue. This is because while a business may recover from a loss of revenue, a damaged reputation can cause customers, investors and shareholders to lose faith in the business and withdraw their support. The loss of such support often leads to the collapse of the business (Shoniregun, 2005). Evidently, implications such as the ones discussed herein can lead to businesses being d amaged extensively. For these reasons, different businesses have devised various solutions to deal with internet security. For instance, some companies have developed information-sharing partnerships with various government agencies. Such partnerships enable companies to rely on the government’s law enforcement abilities to detect and prevent breaches in their internet security. In such partnerships, businesses rely on government law agencies to provide them with any information that can improve their internet security and the

Fashion Designer and Fashion Merchandiser Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Fashion Designer and Fashion Merchandiser - Essay Example The essay "Fashion Designer and Fashion Merchandiser" compares the Fashion Designer and Fashion Merchandiser. Fashion designers study popular trends among the public and accordingly design their accessories and garments. Their target groups include people of all ages and classes in general. Fashion designers work in close collaboration with manufacturers to acquire the embellishments and fabric for designing and supervise the production as well. Since marketing is very important for their business, most fashion designers also work closely with creative directors and plan fashion shows. While acquiring a degree is not a prerequisite for being a fashion designer, yet having a diploma in fashion designing at least is recommendable. Fashion designers’ salaries vary depending upon their popularity. Fashion merchandisers offer their services to the fashion retailers and choose the accessories and garments to be sold at their stores. One of their functions is to develop attractive di splays to motivate the public to shop. Fashion merchandisers negotiate with the designers and wholesalers to acquire the accessories and garments at a lower price to make the business more profitable for the stores they represent. While there is no established education requirement for an individual who wants to become a fashion merchandiser, some employers might prefer fashion merchandisers with some education in fashion which would reflect their theoretical knowledge and understanding of the latest trends.

Discuss the foreign policy positions of former President George Bush, Essay

Discuss the foreign policy positions of former President George Bush, Jr. and President Barack Obama in terms of realism and idealism - Essay Example Political realism highlights the role of the state and assumes that the state’s foreign policies are driven by the nation’s interest. It is primarily based on the state’s efforts to preserve its territory integrity as well as political autonomy. This means that the state interests are based on power and security. This power is defined in terms of military, economic, cultural, diplomatic and economic terms. In a realist state, every nation should use their resources in order to defend their nation. This concept is derived on the fact that the international environment is an anarchical environment. Therefore, regardless of the treaties made by the state, it is the duty of the state to defend its interest. According to the realism school of thought, the state is under no foreign authority (Crawford 15). Political idealism, also referred to as Wilsonian Idealism, holds that a state’s foreign policy should reflect the internal policy. Although it is based on human nature, it significantly puts ethics and morals into consideration. Idealist government fosters equal rights, democracy rule and religion in their foreign policy (Crawford 50). It is based on civilian-scientific development methods rather than war and power. The idealist state emphasizes on the international values rather than the nation’s interest. The doctrines of realism contradict those of the idealist school in that ethics and morality take a centre stage in idealism. During his campaign, the incumbent president George Bush openly declared that he was a realist who was committed to ending the Clinton doctrine and the indiscriminate use of the military force where they did not serve the interest of the US (Mackubin 24). During his campaign, he did not speak of democracy and freedom in the country. He clearly stated that, like his father, Bush was

Environmental conditions: Apple iTunes in the UK

Environmental conditions: Apple iTunes in the UK 1. Introduction The following report will carry out an assessment of the macro and micro environmental conditions that are likely to impact upon Apple iTunes within the United Kingdom. The analysis which will be carried out will include an assessment of the degree of the threat or the opportunities posed by the existing and potential competition. iTunes is a digital media player application which is used for playing and organising digital and video files. iTunes also connects to the iTunes store via the internet to purchase and download music, music videos, television shows, applications, games, audio books and podcasts. The Music industry has radically changed in the last couple of years, thanks to the increasing penetration of broadband, which has made it increasingly convenient for music lovers to buy via the web, this has the effect of promoting digital downloads. Content owners have been hit by the increasing problem of illegal downloading which has had the effect of devaluating the value of music for an entire generation of youth. (Mintel 2009) After its launch in 2002 Apples iTunes has come to dominate the music delivery business in many countries around the world, including the United Kingdom. Using a number of tools which look at both the micro and macro environment, and various analysis I will draw many conclusions whether there is a likelihood of continued success for Apple iTunes in the future. 2. What is Apple iTunes? iTunes is a free application for your Mac or PC it organises your digital music and video on your computer. It syncs all your media with you iPod, iPhone and Apple TV. It is also a store on your computer; it has everything you need to be entertained anywhere, anytime. (Apple 2010) Apple iTunes was developed in early 2002 and has developed ever since in relation to Apples continued success with their portable media player the iPod. Ever since 2002 many new features have been added to iTunes such as in April 2003 when version 4.0 of Apple iTunes was released which added the feature of the iTunes Store, to make it the success of what it is today. (Apple 2004) 3. Apple iTunes Market Position The music industry has witnessed a massive change over the last few years; this is due to many reasons. One fundamental change has been the increasing user usage of broadband technology, the increased speed and more people adopting the technology has led to consumers to view downloading music via the web to be convenient and simple. This development originally led many of the traditional high street retailers such as HMV to start selling music online in CD format. In more recent times music both single tracks and albums have become more and more easily accessible for the average consumer due to the continued popularity of services such as Apple iTunes. 3.1 Market Data on The Music Industry In January 2009 the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) predicted that the UK will spend over  £600 million on digital music in 2012 (Mintel 2009). As you can see from (Appendix 2) downloads are dominated by singles or the download of individual tracks. But iTunes and other digital competitors are looking at improving the way in which they are marketing to consumers hopping to persuade them to purchase more albums digitally. Also in (Appendix 2) using BPI figures it shows the demand for single downloads has increased by a massive 340% from 2004-2009, where by the sale of single music in physical format has decreased by 850%. The same trend can be seen for album sales as well. As you can see from the table in (Appendix 1) pre-recorded music sales are continually moving from the traditional music stores, supermarkets etc to the internet to services such as iTunes. Over a period from 2007-2009 there was a 6% increase of sales of pre-recorded music on the internet, where as other means of selling/distributing pre-recorded music saw a considerable decrease year on year over the same period. The music industry has seen revenue decrease by 4% in 2008 and it is predicted that this trend will likely continue. Although digital distribution of music will ensure the costs involved when selling music will be dramatically lower, this will lead to increased profit margins for legal music sales in the future. Mintel has forecasted that the music market will continue for the next few years until 2013 to continue to decline. The market will see a dramatic fall of 33% of current prices from 2008-2013, 2009 saw the biggest drop which was 16% (Appendix 3). This is all due to a number of contributing factors, the main being that economic conditions are poised to remain uncertain which hampers consumer confidence. (Mintel 2009) 3.2 Music Market Industry Key Points/Findings The music industry has changed in recent years due to the major rise in downloadable content which is seen as more appropriate due to the rise of the portable media player as well as it being much easier for consumers to get hold of music, by simply downloading. The following will outline some key findings from the Music Industry which Apple iTunes operate within. * The music market for digital download retailers market share will continue to grow with many new entrants looking to move into the market where Apple iTunes dominate by offering digital rights management (DRM) free tracks. (Mintel 2009) * The Dominance of iTunes will remain until new entrants are established. (Mintel 2009) Over recent years ever since the download revolution began there has been one major retailer, iTunes. They have been seen as a threat to major music labels, to counter this threat major labels have granter DRM free tracks to many other retailers to encourage completion in the market place. This move looks to have changed the market place in the future by allowing the consumer to have more choice where they choose to purchase/download there music. (Harvey 2009) 3.2 Competitors It is vitally important when analysing the market which Apple iTunes operate within to outline their competitors. Many different competitors can affect Apples performance within the market, the competitors can be categorised into direct, close, substitute or indirect competitors. It is vitally important to analyse all of these competitors because they will all affect Apple iTunes in some aspect. As you can see from (Appendix 5) it shows all of the possible competitors within the industry, Apple in 2008 had a market share of 80% Apple the market leader with an 80 per cent market share (Lynch 2009) which means there are at least 25 firms who are in (Appendix 5) and many other firms battling it out for the remaining 20% of the market. Apple have been able to gain such a large market share with little or no competition due the agreement they had with the major record labels such as Sony/BMG, Vivendi Universal, Warner and EMG up until 2007 Apple were the market leaders and were starting to begin to dictate prices to the record labels which began to make them worried that they had originally given away to much to Apple iTunes. The record companies realised that Apple had gained dominance of the music on-line delivery industry and could dictate prices to the record companies. As a result, the record companies decided to drop DRM completely and encourage other delivery companies to enter the industry they needed some competition for Apple. (Lynch 2009) Once DRM free music began to be readily available it enticed many new businesses into the market, in the table in (Appendix 5) you can see the many firms who have seen how successful iTunes has been and they would like to gain some of the success which Apple has created for itself with iTunes. Direct competitors are those who offer a very similar service to what iTunes offers firms such as Amazon, HMV Digital, and Tesco Digital are all looking to break the dominance of Apple by offering a similar service but by offering the tracks at much cheaper price, due to them wanting to break into the industry. While Apple raised prices, competitors cut theirs. Amazon, the online retailer, cut the price of many of its top-selling music downloads on Monday to 29p as it competes for a larger share of the digital music market. (Ahmed 2009) Close competition are businesses which offer a similar service to what iTunes offers but are not in direct completion, these are firms such as subscription based services of Napster, Sky Songs and eMusic as well as bundled download services run by both Nokia and Omnifone which are Comes With Music and Music Station respectively as well as services run by the major mobile networks within the UK such as O2 and Orange. Competition which is classed as substitutes to the service which iTunes offers are firms which offer a different service to iTunes but could be used instead by potential customers. These are businesses such as Spotify and We7 who offer free music for users but the service contains many adverts which make the service free, the revenue is all advertisement driven. Also substitute services are business which use the latest web technology which is streaming, firms such as YouTube, MySpace Music and Last.fm are all services which are free and legal allow users to listen to music online but not actually download and put onto a portable media player, such as the iPod. New services like Spotify give us hope for the future, but physical sales continue to fall and even digital services struggle to compete with free illegal music. (Mostrous 2010) Substitute services such as Spotify which are free to the consumer may the future of music as they offer a service which costs nothing and is legal. Indirect competition, is a service which is completely different to what is offered by iTunes. Sony has started to promote and sell the e-book reader, which is a similar idea to the iPod but instead of music allows users to download books and read them on a screen. It seems the traditional gift wrapped tome is being trumped by downloads, after Amazon customers bought more e-books than printed books for the first time on Christmas Day. The department store chain John Lewis highlighted the popularity of e-readers this Christmas, reporting a jump in sales of Sonys eBook readers. (Allen 2009) The music market when from physical music CDs etc to digital downloads, now the book market looks to go a similar way by offering the user to read books in a digital format. 4. Macro Environmental Factors The macro environment is the major external and uncontrollable factors that have an influence on the organisations ability to make decisions and also can affect the strategy and the performance. The macro environment looks to include many factors such as economic, legal, social, political and technological changes. (Grant 2005) Included in the following section of the report a PESTEL analysis will be carried out of Apple iTunes which is a framework which looks at the macro environmental factors any business faces in the external environment, also an industry life cycle will be carried out. 4.1 PESTEL Analysis This model is a way of looking at Apple iTunes macro environment; it looks at the six key factors of the external environment, Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal. The following section of the report will use this framework to look at the key factors effecting Apple iTunes in the macro environment. (Masterson 2004) Firstly, political this looks at if there are any pressures from the government or associated bodies, also any potential pressure from other business such as the major record labels such as Sony/BMG in Apple iTunes case. A breakthrough occurred when Apple iTunes made a deal with the record industry in 2002 which revolutionised the music industry. For the first time it was possible to download music for a payment without the problems of DRM which had become frustrating for consumers. By 2008 iTunes was the market leader with a massive market share of 80%, before this in 2007 the major record companies began to realise they had given away too much to Apple. iTunes had gained dominance in the market and were in a position to dictate prices to the record companies, this had the result in record companies dropping DRM and encouraging new entrants into the market to compete with Apple iTunes. The first two new entrants which tried to break up the dominance of iTunes were Nokia and Amazon. (Lynch 2009) Censorship can cause a great deal of problems for a service such as iTunes, in the build up to the Olympic Games in Beijing, China iTunes was selling on its iTunes Store a Tibetan album. Due to the political unrest between Tibet and China, the Chinese government blocked the use of the iTunes Store Parts of iTunes are blocked in China; access to iTunes store is completely restricted in the majority of China. (Branigan 2008) Next is Economic, which looks at how Apple iTunes will be affected by the macroeconomic environment. The UK economy still remains in a recession which has effects for all of Apple iTunes potential customers within the UK market, consumers are unlikely to be willing to purchase luxury goods such as the music iTunes offer within its online store. This is due to levels of disposable income is not at the levels of previous times, also due to low levels of disposable income Apple iTunes will see very few new customers as people who have not experienced downloading music before may not even have a computer so will not go out and purchase one in these times. Although many experts believe the UK economy will begin to show some growth in the near future, the economy will still be in a recession, officially the recession has not yet ended. Analysts believe that fourth quarter figures will show the economy returning to growth. (BBC Business News 2009) It is extremely important for Apple to be a ware of the economic factors within the macro environment. Thirdly social, this looks at the demographics and the trends within the market which Apple iTunes operate within. This part of the PESTLE analysis will outline a few key trends which detail the market place Apple iTunes operate within. * 16-24 year olds are more likely to favour downloading music.(Mintel 2009) * Over 45s are less likely to download, due to being concerned about quality and equipment and compatibility issues, this is linked to the understanding of technical development, also unsure what is legal and what is not. (Mintel 2009) * The amount of Internet usage is a massive influence on consumers views. (Mintel 2009) The above trends allow Apple iTunes to target certain sectors of the market place, they would look to continue to target their products to the 16-24 market place, but would look to develop a bigger customer group within the over 45s by possibly educating these customers on how iTunes works. Next is Technological, technology is changing constantly at an unprecedented rate and has created many opportunities which Apple iTunes have adopted. The broadband revolution has meant a facility has been created for consumers to access music at a reduced price compared to standard hard copy media. Also continued innovation by Apple for new products, such as the lasts iPhone 3GS has meant more people are using the iTunes service, fastest, most powerful iPhone yet the 3GS (Blake 2009) The Music industry has radically changed in the last couple of years due to technology, thanks to the increasing penetration of broadband, which has made it increasingly convenient for music lovers to buy via the web, this has the effect of promoting digital downloads. Environmental is the fifth factor of the PESTEL framework this looks at the how the performance of Apple iTunes effects the environment which they operate within. Apple is aware of the environmental factors within the industry and is trying to offset the damages they cause, We account for everything, including out products. Apple reports environmental impact comprehensively, we do this by focusing on our products what when we design them, what happens when we make them and what happens when you take them home and use them. (Apple Environment 2010) Apple seems to be very aware about that negative impacts of production and of consumers using their products, they are aware of the need for themselves to be socially responsible. Finally legal, this is a massive aspect for a firm such as Apple iTunes as there are many legal aspects to how they operate within the market place. Also it is important they are aware of the illegal actions potential customers carry out within the market. Illegal downloads is continuing to grow despite the many actions carried out across the industry, The issue of illegal downloading remains a problem that is set to persist. Although various efforts are being made by those in the sector to minimise the problem there is no easy solution. (Mintel 2007) Below are two key findings for the UK market which Apple iTunes need to be aware of as it shows that UK consumers are attracted to the prospect of illegal downloads. * Consumers favour illegal downloads due to their lack of cost. * Heavy downloaders are further encourages to continue by the lack of legislation against file sharing from the authorities. (Mintel 2007) 4.2 Industry Life Cycle The industry life cycle is the supply-side equivalent of the product life cycle; it is made up of four key phases, Introduction (Emergence), Growth, Maturity and Decline. There are two main factors which are fundamental which lead to industry evolution; they are demand growth and the creation and diffusion of knowledge. Demand growth is when the life cycle and the changes with in it are defined primarily by changes in an industries growth rate over time. The second major driving force of the industry life cycle is knowledge. New knowledge in the form of production innovation is responsible for an industrys creation. The dual process of both knowledge creation and knowledge diffusion is to exert a major influence on industry evolution. (Grant 2005) Apple iTunes are positioned on the industry life cycle on the maturity stage, (Appendix 4) they have just entered the maturity stage from experiencing rapid growth to be the market leaders in digital music distribution. They show many of the characteristics of the maturity stage, they are dealing with the mass market having many millions of customers although they need to be aware that potential customers now are begging to become more sensitive to price due to the current economic climate but more so due to the ever increasing competition of price within the market place. The omnipresent iTunes has triumphed over its digital-market competition, providing three-quarters of the online sales in the market. But it isnt the only show in town: there is a huge amount of competition, not just on the service offered but mainly on the price which music is sold for. (Robin 2008) Other characteristics which show that Apple iTunes are in the maturity stage are that they are introducing new produ cts that are continually being innovative by adapting the iTunes service, such as adding additions to the iTunes Store and extra features. 5. Micro Environmental Factors The Micro Environment factors are that what affects an organisations immediate area of operations. It affects the decision making and the overall performance of the business; the factors which it looks at are customers, distribution channels and competitors. (Grant 2005) In this section of the report I will look to adapt the porters five forces model which will then be applied to Apple iTunes, which will allow for analysing the five key forces that shape the industry. 5.1 Porters 5 Forces Porters five forces analysis helps firms to analyse the strength of competitive threats and is particularly useful to Apple iTunes as it allows them to analyse the competitive environment. The model focuses on the competition and the bargaining power in the supply chain suppliers through to customers. The model is made up of five forces they are threat of new entrants, bargaining power of buyers, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of suppliers and the industry competitors. (Masterson 2004) Firstly threat of new entrants this looks at the activities of potential competitors as well as existing competitors within the market place. In 2007 the major record labels began to realise that they had given iTunes too much power over the digital music market and were able to dictate the price they wanted to pay to the major record labels, Apple iTunes was now the biggest firm in the industry with over 80% of the market. As a result, the record companies decided to drop DRM completely and encourage other delivery companies to enter the industry they needed some competition for Apple. (Lynch 2009) DRM free tracks were introduced to create new entrants into the market, which it has succeeded in doing which has meant Apple iTunes now has many major competitors to its dominance. iTunes have the highest market share in the industry at present and due to the increased competition that has developed but they still have not taken away iTunes dominance, new firms who come into the market must be aware that the only way they are going to be successful is if they are innovative. Also to prevent new entrants into the market iTunes has the power to set a price for its downloads at whatever it sees fit due to how successful and respected the Apple brand is, this price may be lower than what new firms into the market may be able to afford which would prevent them from competing in the market. Next is the bargaining power of Apple iTunes suppliers this will look at the relationships developed between the record labels and how these relationships have changed over time. iTunes suppliers are the record labels such as such as Universal, Sony, Warner Music and EMI, in 2009 they believed that they could make more money out of the industry by making iTunes charge more for the tracks which they sell in there iTunes store. Apple were made to charge 99p for their highest price track, the music labels insisted that it would be in Apples interest for future development of the industry as it would mean more revenue to be available to promote new artists and prevent piracy. Apple iTunes caved in to pressure from the record companies and introduced variable pricing yesterday, raising the top price for a song to 99p. (Ahmed 2009) Originally before the record industry decided to offer DRM free tracks, iTunes were the only business in the market and they had complete control over the recor d labels and could charge the prices they wanted. But now due to the increased competition the record labels want to create iTunes now have to listen to their suppliers more, and sometimes take on board what they recommend even if they dont believe it will have a positive impact on their business. Thirdly is the bargaining power of the buyers these are customers who use the Apple iTunes service; this will look at what power the customers have over iTunes. iTunes is the largest service online which offers users the ability to download digital music, but customers within the UK are extremely price sensitive especially in this current economic climate where currently the UK is in recession (BBC Business News 2009) When services such as Amazon are offering users the chance to download identical digital music tracks which are DRM free for 29p compared to iTunes 99p consumers may wish to use Amazons service rather than iTunes. Amazon, the online retailer, cut the price of many of its top-selling music downloads on Monday to 29p as it competes for a larger share of the digital music market. (Ahmed 2009) The next force which the model looks at is the threat of substitutes within the market, the market is full of competitors but the majority are very similar to the service which iTunes offers its customers. The threat of substitutes though is great, due to the industry which iTunes operates within. Technology is ever developing, if a new firm was to enter the market and adapt new technology which no other firm had looked at, they would be an innovative service which may be looked upon by consumers as something different and one which they may want to try and use on a regular basis. It is vitally important that Apple iTunes continues to innovate by introducing new ideas and features to its products so that they continue to be the market leaders. As with Amazon in the Ahmed 2009 article, iTunes were persuaded to increase their prices even though Amazon who are trying to gain a foothold into the market continued to have their prices 70p cheaper per track, which could lead Amazon becoming a substitute to the service which iTunes offers. (Ahmed 2009) Finally the inter rivalry of competitors this looks at various factors such as competitive edge, price wars and the market growth rate etc. The digital music market is highly competitive; the market is growing very rapidly. The main aspect of the market is that every business within the market are selling the same digital music to which iTunes are offering all at different prices, this is due the record labels introducing DRM free tracks to create competition for iTunes within the music download market. iTunes are not the cheapest within the market place but have been able to develop a brand image which has led them to major success, they are the market leaders and continue to innovate new successful products. 6. SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis is a general management tool, which consists of four main factors. Two of which are internal factors which look at the micro environment they are the strengths and weaknesses of Apple iTunes. Whilst the other two factors are external to the business looking at the macro environment they are the opportunities and threats of the industry Apple iTunes operates within and are unable to change. Strength is something that iTunes has or something that it carries out, that is considerably better than its competitors. iTunes is a service which is owned and run by Apple; they are a very successful company who have developed many different products such as computers and in more recent years the leading portable media player the iPod. (Apple 2010) The strength of their brand image and its loyal band of customers has meant that iTunes has been able to build on the success of previous products to ensure that Apple iTunes is a success. Relationships were created with the leading record labels early on in the development of iTunes so that they could become the industry leaders in the market; by 2008 they had 80% of the market. (Lynch 2009) The strengths of iTunes are that it is a service offered by a business which has already had major success in the market place with the leading digital music player the iPod, users who have an iPod automatically use iTunes to put music onto their pl ayer which has meant they have been massively successful. Weaknesses are parts of iTunes that are worse than the competition within the market or aspects of iTunes which they could improve upon. iTunes have been forced by record labels to make the cost of using their service higher than many of its competitors; iTunes highest price for the latest music in the charts is 99p where as the main competitor which is Amazon has their highest track at 79p. Amazon is already in second place in terms of market share for digital music, although it started its service only 18 months ago. (Ahmed 2009) In recent times it is believed that Apple are worried that they may be close to market saturation in the future due to not seeing any increase in the sales of their digital music player the iPod which is the hardware which is directly linked to iTunes. Traders were worried by news that iPod sales were no higher than in the previous year. It is vitally important that Apple continue to innovate new products to continue the dominance of Apple iTunes. (Clark 2 008) Opportunities are developments in the external environment which iTunes could look to adapt into their business to improve the service which they offer to their customers. Technology is ever developing and Apple iTunes continually need to be aware of the developments so they are early adopters and can implement the changes into the services they offer their customers. Recently iTunes has developed new features such as television episodes, video and applications which have been added to the iTunes service. But the next opportunity which they could look to adopt is the potential to read books, magazines and newspapers on say for example the latest iPod. Apple is believed to be looking into this, following the market leaders Sony into this market. There are electronic reading devices in existence already, such as Sonys e-Reader and Amazons Kindle. But, publishers hope the unquestioned design talents of Apple will ensure that its latest product is the vehicle that enables them to transfo rm their business models. After all, the iPod has converted millions to the idea of paying to download songs and, to a degree, has revived the music industry, becoming the worlds largest music retailer in the process. (Burrell 2010) Threats are something that is going on in Apple iTunes external environment which is likely to cause them potential future problems. Apple iTunes have been hit by the increasing problem of illegal downloading, which had the effect of devaluing the music for an entire generation of youth. It is estimated that over 95% of all music downloaded is done via illegal methods, which means the music industry and services such as iTunes lose out on the revenue gained by these potential extra sales. Despite strong growth in digital music sales, the industry body for world music estimated that more than 95% of downloaded music was not paid for. (Mostrous 2010) 7. Future Success for Apple iTunes There are many factors involved when discussing if there is potential for future success for Apple iTunes, the report above has look at the industry/market which Apple iTunes operate within and then used that analysis to look at both the micro and macro environment using various models to analyse the prospect of future success for Apple iTunes. There are many factors involved when discussing if there is potential for future success for Apple iTunes, in January 2009 the BPI predicted that the UK spend over  £600 million on digital music in 2012. (Mintel 2009) This should allow Apple iTunes to see that there is still some potential growth within the market even though Apple are worried that they may be close to saturation within the market, due to the sales of the iPod not increasing from 2008 to 2009. Continually there seems to be growth within the industry from 2004-2009 at a massive rate of 340%, (Appendix 2) this rate increase over that period is not going to be sustainable into the future in the current market place due the increased competition and the increased level of illegal downloading activity. iTunes should be aware of this, but if there are more and more successful artists being introduced into the industry there is still potential for more growth in the market for Apple iTunes. DRM free tracks introduced into the market in 2007 meant that Apple had gone from being the only major player in the market, to an industry which now has hundreds of competitors. This meant consumers had much more choice of where they should purchase there digital music from. The record companies realised that Apple had gained dominance of the music on-line delivery i

A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen Essay -- torvald, nora, christine

In Henrik Ibsen’s dramatic play A Doll’s House there are many characters that have grown to be adults that they either do not wish to be or that they are expected to be. The character breakdown as the play goes from act to act is apparent. From a woman struggling to be the perfect wife and mother to a husband trying to be perfect and surround himself with people that are likewise we see that it is much harder to put on a mask to be something you are not. Nora Helmer is a simple woman. She is the mother to young children as well as an adoring wife to her husband Torvald. Nora is described by her husband as a spendthrift, a little featherhead, and a skylark. (Delbanco & Cheuse) These terms are used in a fashion to say that she is flighty, a dainty woman who shops and flits about with no care in the world. Even her friend Christine Linde tells her that she is immature and childish to the realities of the world. This is actually not a fair statement of Nora. She has already put forth a strong attitude when Torvald was ill. She found a way to get the monies needed to ensure that he got well. She may not have gone about it the legal way but she went to whatever lengths needed to ensure that the man she loved could get well. This was a step outside of the expectations of her. She has always been there to do whatever a man expected of her. Her father expected her to be there to take care of him and the household. Her husband took her in h is home and expected the same of her. She was never able to form her own person as someone else was always there telling her who to be and how to be it. Nora wants to be taken seriously and to learn how to be strong for herself. She realizes that she has been able to get this loan and has been paying i... ...ectations they are not happy but just being. By the end of the play there is some hope for all of them. Works Cited Brunnemer, K. (2009). Sexuality in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. Retrieved 11 23, 2013, from Bloom's Literary Reference Online: http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&WID=97972&SID=5&iPin=BLTHS004&SingleRecord=True. Delbanco, N., & Cheuse, A. (n.d.). Literature Craft and Voice. In H. Ibsen, A Doll's House (pp. 1346-48). Haller, E. (n.d.). Bloom's Literature. Retrieved 11 23, 2013, from Facts on File: http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&WID=97972&SID=5&iPin=ETL0595&SingleRecord=True. Metzger, S. (n.d.). An overview of A Doll's House. Retrieved 11 23, 2013, from Gale Literature Resource Center: http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1420002305&v=2.1&u=txshracd2560&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w&asid=2a621898dc6a06a303d9c6015c7e4bd0

Implications and Benefits Essay

One of the biggest challenges facing small and medium-sized organizations today is the coordination of work among the workers and managers. Many companies have been successful in gathering or statistically evaluating data, but find it hard to convert the findings into positive results. Studies have shown that with globalization, many companies have had problems in motivating or working with ethnic and other culturally different employees. Many organizations have valued diversity to enhance organizational effectiveness and growth, while others still languish from hostile and unhealthy practices. As a general rule, organizations must address the importance of employee participation programs and group based pay incentives. These measures have met with success, and so too have profit and gain sharing programs. High-performance and High-involvement are two business terms related to employees and production. In order to attain perfection, employee performance is mandatory, and the company’s management needed to develop a strong belief and determination among the leadership and worker-class, to accelerate progressive changes and create a difference. Only those with exceptional influence can change the way an organization runs. Management must consider the criticality of a visible and active role taken by them to integrate policies of diversity and inclusion into every aspect of an organization’s operation and culture. Culture affects every employee of the organization, whether it is a man or woman. It’s imperative that any policy decision reach all concerned in the organization; every individual of the organization must feel a part of the scheme of things, for the welfare of the organization. A healthy work environment goes a long way in instigating quality work. At the workplace, it is imperative for the management to introduce an increased and effective mode of cooperation between the workers and managers. One way of looking at it is by creating better leadership styles and flexible work/career patterns. There are many number of business tactics, that can be employed to bring about operational changes to manage talent most effectively. Some tactics, most noticeable among them are: †¢ Identifying role models and establishing mentoring programs †¢ Eliminating all bias-based company policies and procedures †¢ Providing equal opportunities, training and development for all †¢ Conducting workshops for employees to impress upon them the importance of diversity and inclusiveness to increase performance and production Though the above initiatives may sound simple, there is more to it, than meets the eye. The exercise needs the wholehearted support and sustained effort by all employees to make it a success (David Pappie, p. 103, 2006). 1. 1 Thesis Question There have been many studies undertaken to understand the importance of cultural diversity and its acceptance in the process of organizational growth and productivity. In most cases, studies carried out have been successful in identifying the areas which have led to organizational breakdowns and slow progress. Many of these theories have been put to test with varying results. What is it that determines cultural unity, and how can this attribute to an organization’s progress? This paper tries within the limits of its structure to elicit the importance of cultural unity, by taking into consideration, the most important factor; the workforce, to gauge and underline how organizations counter cultural and other variants to become successful. 2. 0 Executive Summary Performance is the cornerstone to success and productivity. Performance comes about through the wholehearted and sincere effort of employees of an organization. This is possible only if the employees are kept happy and cared for. Strategies that favor employee retention, elicit competitive bonus schemes, and creates healthy work environment are pre-requisites for employee performance, culminating in higher production. A company’s best asset is its people, so there is a good reason why the company needs to do what is right for them. A point of contention to performance and productivity is the way one works; the ability to work remotely, where enterprise convergence gains momentum. This can come about only if the people concerned in the program are well trained to perform under least supervision and motivated. For business bosses and their employees, a converged environment makes work location and distance irrelevant. The impetus to work for the benefit of the organization must come from within the individuals concerned. Just as a students finds his/her studies important and strive for excellence, employees must find the inclination to work from within their heart. This can come about with the sustained effort of the management to bring changes that enliven the workplace (Tanuja Randery, p. 107, 2006). Globalization has opened up new vistas for entrepreneurs and other organizations to forge partnerships in third countries and enjoy governmental subsidies and tax benefits, apart from cheap labor and raw materials. When people with cultural difference enter employment in many western countries, the U. S included, they find the work ethics and style different from their own. This could have serious repercussion on co-workers and the organization as a whole. Production could get affected, quality gradually begins to deteriorate, and the organization machinery could go haywire. People from ethnic background find it hard to communicate or follow their organizational strategies or goals and are forced to defend for themselves. Just as in a foreign collaboration or merger where the foreign participant has to adjust to their surroundings and local policies and rules, workers who travel abroad and take up employment in organizations there, have to make the adjustments to fit into their roles to be of asset to that organization. Since the organization stands to gain through good HR policies, it is imperative that the organization welcomes these workers with a helping hand and guard against discrimination or inequality. 3. 0 Literature Review In order to understand the importance of cultural unity among a workforce, one could perhaps study how organizations counter cultural and other variants to become successful. During a merger, or an association, many organizations worked diligently to assimilate the various synergistic features; right from assets and equipment to technology and strategies, discounting the complexity of variant cultures. They barge into an alliance and without a thought; obliterate the long-standing traditions, practices and policies of the merged company, to meld it into a faceless subsidiary. Even in case of an equal alliance, the combined entity loses the erstwhile individualistic charm and appeal as they overlook the people factor. Corroborating this theory is a recent ‘Making Mergers Work’ study by the Society for Human Resource Management, wherein HR professionals listed incompatible cultures as the biggest obstacle to success in mergers and acquisitions. They emphasized that these companies failed to recognize the importance of cultural issues. This caused the merger to lose ground due to the negligence of culture conflict. So, what makes a partnership tick successfully? It’s the people and its culture. The recipe for getting a successful merger off the ground is shifting the spotlight from deal-making to merging-of-cultures. In fact, culture has been attributed to being one of the most important factors in building relationships. How do cultural variations integrate? Every organization has its own unique way of doing things, be it management, employment, or compensation to investment. When two firms seek to merge, customary differences are more than likely to crop up. Structured-entrepreneurial, proactive-reactive, centralised-decentralised, formal-informal or extravagant-economical, each firm has its own firm belief in what is right and what’s wrong. This is where cultural differences emerge. Management has always devised a set of ethics on which the company and its employees perform; this is organizational culture (The Hindu, 2007). Culture change management is a tough volley and can be successful only when employees ascribe to it. However, predisposed workers lose motivation and experience job insecurity. So, leaders should use persuasion, not coercion, to mobilize the apprehensive culturally different workforce. Culture within an organization is equally important in the context of organizational success. Culture is built over years of practice and cannot be changed overnight. The culture that one wraps around people can not alter them as individuals, but will definitely influence their behavior. HRM needs to address the concerns of these workers. HRM policies should support employee grievance and at the same time be pro-employer. Using various HR techniques, HRM should be able to bring these workers to understand the importance of any new development that the organization initiates, and that with the growth of the organization, they grow too. Cultural changes are imperative in this world of globalization. Global competition means performing to global standards. This can be achieved only if the workers; the backbone of an industry, makes a strong effort to absorb these changes. This can be done by proper management of human resource management. HR must play the pivotal role of educator where cultural differences occur among the workforce (Neville Lake, 2002). 3. 1 Advantages and Disadvantages of Cultural Diversity While there are many advantages in embracing the ethical minority in an organization, there are some disadvantages as well. Many organizations embrace a continued commitment to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families, as well as the local community and society at large, says Holme and Watts (2000, p. 4) . Many organizations have targeted their HR policies to involve all employees equally, irrespective of their culture or gender. This helps those inclined to be different to be a part of the organizational strategy and brought into the mainstream to perform as one. With proper training and development, these individuals can become equally effective in their duties and contribute to the growth of their organization. These culturally different workers may need more time to understand their work and find it hard to communicate with their colleagues or superiors to work in unison. This can upset the tempo of production. However, with some support and motivation, these people should be able to learn their responsibilities in no time. What is important is the support and encouragement to perform. It has been found that while white Americans have little or no issues at a relatively middle-age, ethnic people have a large family to support and look after. This means that while the demands of the white Americans are far less, ethnic people find that they have more responsibilities and demands to be met. This is carried to their workplace, where they find that they have to balance their time at work and also at home, creating pressure to perform. Many organizations have responded to these issues or trends with sympathy and found their performance giving competitive advantages over other organizations. Leading academicians, researchers, and businessmen, according to Cox and Blake (1991), found that a well managed, diverse workforce held potential competitive advantages for their organizations .

buy custom Effects of High Price on Foods essay

buy custom Effects of High Price on Foods essay Introduction The importance of food to human beings health is quite unlimited especially healthy foods like vegetables and fruits. In addition to other foods like proteins and carbohydrates vegetables and fruits have a necessary value to human health as they provide vitamin C. These nutrients are vital to the human health as they protect them from several diseases like cancer, eyesight problems, and many more. This paper seeks to establish the main explanations as to why the cost of healthier foods such as fruits and vegetables keep increasing in the market. Prices of goods increase, and this increase occur due to various reasons, and that is what this paper seeks to determine. The firm increase in prices of all commodities has made it harder for people to choose foods that are healthier in the stores. An important aspect in trying to feed a family is ensuring that they have healthy and nutritious foods, and for this reason, the subject of increase in prices of food is a critical subject. People everywhere care about the subject and hence in this paper we are going to identify some of the reasons that lead to the increase of food prices. This paper aims at coming up with the reasons and explanation for the increase of food prices especially the healthy ones like fruits and vegetables. These explanations and reasons will be from various researches done by other concerned parties and recorded in secondary sources such as books. In research, information can be from primary or secondary sources. Primary sources of information involve first hand information obtained using interviews, questionnaires, and observation. Secondary information is from books, electronic database, and magazines among other records. In this paper, most of the information was from books. We now focus on the explanation that various economists and other people have come up as the reason for the increase in the cost of healthy foods. Supply and demand The first reason that most economists and researchers attribute to the increase of food prices especially the healthy ones like fruits and vegetables is their demand. One of the major rules in economics is that prices of commodities will always determine the demand and supply of these goods in the market. Fruits and vegetables are healthy foods whose demand is all through the year. Considering that these foods are seasonal and only grow in different parts of the country once a year, the vendors still need to stock the stores with these foods. This constant demand of fruits and vegetables imposes an economic strain on the on the suppliers. In return, the suppliers reflect these costs on the consumer. In comparison to other foods which are high in calories, fruits and vegetables tend to increase in costs depending on the season. During high season when their production is at its peak the prices will be relatively stable, but, when the season changes the prices go up. Their demand being constant and does not change with the season, the suppliers will increase their prices in order to cover up for the costs of bringing in stock from places where they are in season. This price fluctuation will be reflected in both domestic and international markets. When the fresh fruits and vegetables are not in season their supply decreases. Decrease in supply leads to an increase in prices of the foods. Therefore, supply and demand of fruits and vegetables significantly affects their prices. Climatic issues There have been many significant factors which influence the quantity of fruits and fresh vegetables and global warming is one of them. This has had negative climatic effects that have damaged the production of these foods thereby reducing their supply. Acceleration of prices comes as a result ofthe rising pressure on farm food production. The reduction in yields are due to global warming, which is being damage by contamination of the atmosphere; the quality has reduced by 60 percent according to ADB (2008) the countries yield has declined due to poor climatic conditions. The issue of free of greenhouse gas emission is rising the earths temperature whereby the consequences usually follows on melting glaciers, more precipitation, and fundamentally change in seasons of production. The accelerating pace of climate change, combined with the general public and income growth, threatens food security worldwide. Agriculture, which is in direct connection to the production of fruits and vegetables, is particularly vulnerable to climate change. Higher temperatures reduce the yields of this produce as the temperatures provide a chance for pests and weed proliferation. Differences in precipitation patterns increase the chances of short-run crop shortages and long-run production reduces. Although there will be an increase in some crops in some parts of the world, the overall effects of climate change on expected of agriculture to be negative, threatening global food security. Climate change is also putting pressure on water supplies for agricultural production of vegetables and fruits, changing stream flows, and its availability. Water is becoming difficult to obtain: therefore, expensive global demand for water has tripled in the last few years and limited use ground water supplies in the USA. The impact of climatic change has adversely impact on productivity of vegetables production and causes disruption both in the long term and short term. This impact is evident in the low supply of these foods in areas where the production was quite high. Energy costs Another reason for the increase in the prices of healthy foods is the cost the producers and vendors incur to bring these foods to the market or stores. Healthy foods comprise of fruits and vegetables and these are perishable and seasonal goods. The first cost that one incurs while dealing with foods is the transport cost. The transportation of these fruits and vegetables ends up reflecting in the overall cost. This transportation can be from overseas as these foods are not locally available. Most of the fruits are imports from other countries and transportation will involve means like shipping, air transport, and railway transport. Most of these means of transport are extraordinarily expensive, but, they are the most appropriate ones. For example, the transportation of some fruits from other nations using the shipping means of transport can be expensive as it requires the refrigeration of the goods. These refrigeration equipments are expensive, and the transporters are the ones incu rring the cost. Transport involves the use of fuel in all means that are in use for example, shipping, air travel, road etc. Energy costs affect all level of the food production sector. In contemporary records oil prices, in excess, has increased from $110 per barrel and which has cost throughout the marketing chain. High petroleum prices increase the competitiveness in food production especially in vegetable and fruits production. Post harvest loss Post harvest loss is another significant explanation to the increase in of prices of healthy foods. Post harvest loss refers to the loss of the produce after its harvesting. This happens mostly to agriculture products, and the healthy foods in focus are agricultural products. During harvesting, losses occur in different ways. First the fruits can be harvested when they are already ripe and, therefore, need expert storage before they get to the market. This is normally hard to the farmers as they lack the storage facilities. In turn, they experience several losses of the products and this lose is normally incurred by consumers of the produce. Another harvesting loss occurs when the produce are affected by diseases and pests. Fungi and bacteria are diseases, which cause these losses of fruits and vegetables and so are the virus diseases, common in growing crops. It is characterized by severe presence of holes makes which makes infected, fruit to be unusable. This is often the result of inflammation of fruits and vegetables in the field before harvest. Quality thrashing occurs when the infection affects only the top of the fruits. Also, skin blemishes may reduce the sale cost but do not make the fruit bad, and inedible products. Fungal and bacterial diseases spread by tiny spores, which distribute in the air and earth and via decaying plant material. Infection after consequence can occur at any instance. It is usually the result of harvesting or handling injuries. These post harvest losses expenses are reflected in the selling price of the produce which is normally high. Post harvest loss has been a serious problem which comes because of various reasons, varying from growing conditions to handling at the retail level. Not only are these losses a waste, they sometimes constitute a homogeneous abuse of human efforts, livelihoods, scarce resource such as water, and investments. Fruits and fresh vegetables hold a high proportion of water. Loss of water content after harvesting by fruits and vegetables usually cause shrinkage and loss of appeal for the agricultural products. The rate at which they lose water, fruits mainly depend on leafy vegetables, which prevent water quickly because they have thin skin pores. The rate of loss relates to the difference between the water vapor pressure inside the fruits and vegetables and in the air. But whatever the outcome, to promote food or storage account the cost of water trouncing must be minimal. The most noteworthy feature is the ratio of the outside area of the fruit or vegetable to its volume. Early harvesting of fruits and vegetables normally occurs so as to avoid extra costs on transportation. Transporting fully ripe produce leads to extra costs as it will require considerable storage facilities to keep the harvest fresh and consumable. In addition, transportation of ripe products leads to the production of extremely dangerous chemicals that are harmful to the consumer. Structural change The change in market structure of these foods is yet another reason for the increase of prices. The process of market structure and formation involve processing, handling, and distribution of the produce. These processes have led to the increase prices as the elements of these processes keep fluctuating. This mainly affects spending expense on commodities in the market, and this factor contributes to high price level in USA. For instance, the process of manufacturing keeps changing because of the constant change in technology. The manufacturing equipments keep on improving, and this equally reflects on the manufacturing cost. The increase in manufacturing cost in turn leads to the increase of prices of these commodities. Conclusion In conclusion, it is evident that the increase in the cost of healthy foods like fruits and fresh vegetables is as a result of several reasons. Among these reasons are the change in the market structure of the products, the demand and supply, climatic conditions, and energy costs. Together all these reasons lead to the high cost of healthy foods that consumers have to incur. There is no escaping these costs as health of families is of considerable importance to the American citizens, and no one is ready to risk their families. Most Americans citizens will prefer incurring high expenses of food than incurring the medical expenses. Buy custom Effects of High Price on Foods essay

Ultra Sound essays

Ultra Sound essays We looked at the mass-spring system and determined the spring constant by two different methods. We took measurements of T at 25 oscillations at 6 different masses. We graphed X vs. Mass (added) in grams. We determined the spring constant by using the formula K=1/slope x 9.8m/s. The graph was in agreement with Hookes Law because it was a straight line. We then squared T and graphed T vs. Mass (added) in grams, and determined the spring constant using 4II/ K=Slope. We also calculated the mass of the spring which was calculated to be 1/3 of the mass of the spring. 100g 61.5cm 26.09sec 1.0436sec 1.089sec 150g 68.0cm 28.99sec 1.1596sec 1.345sec 200g 74.5cm 31.66sec 1.2664sec 1.604sec 250g 81.0cm 34.07sec 1.3628sec 1.857sec 100g 61.5cm 26.01sec 1.0404sec 1.082sec 150g 68.0cm 28.97sec 1.1588sec 1.3428sec 200g 74.5cm 29.61sec 1.2644sec 1.5987sec 250g 81.0cm 32.61sec 1.3044sec 1.7014sec 50g 55.5cm 22.70sec .908sec .8245sec 100g 61.5cm 26.09sec 1.0436sec 1.089sec 150g 68.0cm 28.97sec 1.156sec 1.336sec 200g 74.5cm 31.61sec 1.2644sec 1.599sec 250g 81.0cm 33.97sec 1.3588sec 1.846sec We used two methods to obtain spring constants. We have also determined the effective mass. We used the static method where a force was exerted on the spring by hanging weight on it. We graphed the x (cm) ...

Small assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Small assignment - Essay Example At the end of the ongoing renovation and expansion process, which will be over within a week, I assure you we will have better services. We have tried our level best not to cause many inconveniences to you and decided that we can finish the installation of new equipment within 24 hours. I hope all the valued customers of ONELAB will understand the necessity of this closure and expect and request your cooperation. If you have any queries, please feel free to contact us either by mail or through phone As part of our expansion and renovation plans, we are all set to install some of the most modern equipment which is needed to increase our service capabilities. These machineries are quite new in the market and we believe that you need some training on this equipment before the reopening of the lab after the 24-hour closure, which will begin from tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. onwards. The training session on this equipment will be conducted tomorrow in order to avoid any time delay to the customers and I ask all our employees to report for training tomorrow at 6 a.m. even though the lab will remain closed for customers. As part of our expansion and renovation processes, we are all set to install some of the most modern equipment which is needed to increase our service capabilities. As a result we are forced to implement a 24-hour close down of our lab from 6 am tomorrow (10/9/09) to 6 am the day after tomorrow (11/9/09) and no deliveries or receipts will be executed during this period. I expect a big increase in the volume of our business after the renovation and expansion process which will definitely be beneficial to you as well. I request your cooperation and valued services in the future also. As part of our expansion and renovation plans, we are all set to install some of the most modern equipments which needed to increase our service

Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 10

Assignment - Essay Example Historical research design, on the hand, entails trailing the development of a given idea and making conclusions out of such data. In causal designs, a relationship is hypothesized between two variables. In such a circumstance, there must be a one dependent variable and one or more independent variables (Turksen 2006, p. 143). The nature of such a relationship is essential for making given conclusions. For instance, a researcher may ask if one wants to explore the perceptions about a given social phenomenon and how such perceptions link to other outlooks. Besides, the researcher may ask if one wants to use a distinct field method for studying a given group and use another method for studying another subset of a population. Brannen defines research design as a context of inquiry. In this sense, she means a research design determines the process and structure of investigation. It is essential to highlight the logic of the study that drives the inquiry process. In this sense, the researcher should clearly define whether one wants an inductive system or a deductive system (Tolk 2013, p. 113). However, it is essential to note that mixed methods may still involve both of the logics. For instance, survey research may involve both deductive and inductive logics. In qualitative designs, the research tests ideas and generate new ones. She also argues that this phase involves framing researchable questions. These are not actual research questions but questions that will guide the kind of investigation a researcher chooses (Siraj-Blatchford 2010, p. 467). In a project, researchers may ask different types of questions. In the end, the hybrid nature of the questions influences the choice of a method or the choice o f a set of methods. Ercikan and Roth emphasize on the dichotomy of qualitative and quantitative research designs. They argue that this is a primordial basis for constructing any given research. Polarization usually occurs by terming quantitative research as