Three Miles North Of Marianna

Three miles north of Marina, Florida Caverns State park offers more outdoor recreational opportunities than any other place I know of in Florida. What other spot do you know that has hiking, biking, camping, picnicking, horseback riding, cannoning, kayaking on rapids, boating, fishing birdwatchers, golfing, spring hunting, and, of course, spelunking? It is the caverns that give the state park its name. Created during the Depression as a ICC project, the 1,300-acre park is honeycombed with caves large and small.This urn-Florida- like geological feature is the result of Florist's limestone base bumping the ail end of the uplift that becomes the Appalachians. And while the caves here do not match Mammoth Cave or Carlsbad Caverns, they nonetheless have an impressive array of stalagmites, stalactites, columns, flowstone, and other formations created over thousands Of years by the steady drip Of water. One large cave may be visited on guided tours. The tour takes about 25 minutes, and the cavern is a constant temperature of 59 degrees.Native Americans once used the caves for shelter and storage, and their history is told in the park's informative museum. The rest of the caves are off limits or even gated to protect fragile formations and colonies of endangered gray bats. These shy insect-eating creatures are easily disturbed, but warmly welcomed by campers for the tons of mosquitoes they eat. Bats and insects are not the only residents in the park, which is a safe haven for alligators, deer, and beaver as well as home for a rich variety of birds, fish, and other wildlife.Some have claimed sightings of the ivory-billed woodpecker in the area, although such are not confirmed and most believe this largest of all woodpeckers is now extinct. But if the ivory-billed survived anywhere, it might be in these rich floodplains. Gigantic beech, magnolia, sweet gum, and oak trees shade the lowland areas, and the understood flowers all year long with everything from columbine, nat ive azalea, and sage to leafless, bottlers, and the lovely January-blooming topmasts lily.The river floodplain trail is the best way to see the many faces of the area. In 30 minutes, you will go through natural tunnels, climb boulders, see virgin forest and some of the largest trees in the state, and be able to peek into several caves. The horse trails may also be hiked and loop along spring runs and through deep forest. Riders must provide their own horses. The Chipolata River bisects the park from north to south and is joined within it by two spring runs.In the middle of the park, the river dips below ground for more than 1,000 yards before reappearing. A century ago, a channel was cut across the natural bridge so logs could be floated downstream. The ditch is narrow, fast, obstructed, and not recommended for the inexperienced paddled. Fed by rainwater and springs, the Chipolata can be very clear and is an easy paddle stream or down. Alligators bask in the few sunny spots, discour aging river swimming. Even so, there is a great spring group about a mile upstream of the boat ramp.Called Bezel, the main spring has a clear shallow run from the east and leads to a lovely spring pool that strongly invites a dip, even a skinny dip when no one is around. Three more springs line the banks just below and above Bezel, and the park is a popular pull-out for overnight and weekend cancers. The official swimming area is yet another spring called Blue Hole. The spring forms three pools, one of which has a nice beach and dive littoral. The water in the main spring is a deep, milky blue and its 68 degrees are very refreshing on a hot summer day.The Florida Caverns Golf Course is adjacent to the park and is a separate concession. Park fees are $3. 25 per car, and there are additional, if reasonable, charges for cavern tours, canoe rentals, camping, horseback riding, and golfing. The cavern tours are very popular, so call ahead if you plan a weekend visit. Development is increa sing around the park, but once inside you can explore the glories of natural Florida in greater variety than just about anaphora.

Community Levels Of Physical Activity Health And Social Care Essay

NHS Western Cheshire Primary Care Trust ( PCT ) is the administration that commissions wellness services for the population of Western Cheshire ensuring that services run into local demands. The trust leads the local NHS ( infirmaries, general practicians, tooth doctors, oculists and community staff ) and works in partnership with other administrations, such as local governments and both public and voluntary sector administrations, to better the wellness and well-being of occupants ( 3 ) . Within the PCT the Public Health Department is headed by the Director of Public Health, a joint assignment between the PCT and the local authorization. The section ‘s function within the PCT is to enable and back up the PCT and its spouses to better the wellness of the population and cut down wellness inequalities that exist in Western Cheshire. The section has a duty for wellness protection, instruction and betterment in the part, including proviso for immunization and showing services and exigency planning for epidemics, e.g. swine grippe. The section is responsible for development and bringing of wellness schemes, based upon local demands, to implement both national and regional policy. Within the section the Specialist Health Improvement Team has a duty for the commissioning and bringing of wellness instruction and betterment services, e.g. smoking surcease and weight direction, based upon national, regional and local policies, schemes and needs appraisals. For the intent of this paper Western Cheshire is assumed to hold a population of 150,000 with a mix of societal category, cultural and age groups mirroring the national norm. This paper proposes a two twelvemonth evidence-based scheme to increase degrees of exercising in the population. There are five attacks to wellness publicity ; Medical or Preventive ; Behaviour Change ; Educational ; Empowerment ; and Social Change, and, it might be said that, for wellness publicity to be genuinely effectual it should use aspects of each of these attacks ( 6 ) . Although possibly one or two attacks would look to be most suited to specific schemes or intercessions, for illustration behaviors alteration might be an appropriate attack for increasing degrees of physical activity but, in truth, will probably be doomed to failure without at least some part from most, if non all, other attacks. Therefore this scheme proposes a holistic methodological analysis, including actions embracing all five of th ese attacks.Evidence BasePhysical inaction is a important, independent hazard factor for a scope of chronic wellness conditions impacting society today ( 7 ) and there is a compelling instance for implanting the publicity of physical activity in the NHS to procure the future wellness of the state ( 8 ) . In fact it has been said that if a drug or intervention was developed that had the possible to forestall as many wellness conditions as physical activity ( see fig. 1 ) it would be proclaimed a ‘miracle remedy ‘ or ‘wonder drug ‘ ( 7 ) . But physical inaction besides has far-reaching deductions for the wider populace sector, such as societal attention. For illustration: of grownups aged over 65, 12 % are unable to walk outside on their ain, and 9 % can non pull off stepss unaided ( 2 ) Figure 1. The impact of physical activity on many chronic wellness conditions Evidence shows that an active life style: has a significant impact on the hazard of major non-communicable disease, including coronary bosom disease, high blood pressure and some malignant neoplastic diseases ( 2 ) can cut down the hazard of shot, and modify cardiovascular disease hazard factors such as high blood force per unit area and high cholesterin ( 2 ) protects against malignant neoplastic diseases of the colon, chest ( post-maturity ) and endometrium ( 5 ) reduces the hazard of and helps pull off musculo-skeletal wellness conditions, including osteoporosis and degenerative arthritis ( 2 ) reduces the hazard of depression and promotes many other positive mental wellness benefits, including cut downing anxiousness ; bettering self-pride ; and assist cut down physiological reactions to emphasize ( 2 ) has been found to be as effectual in the intervention of mental sick wellness as anti-depressant drugs and psychotherapeutics ( 9, 10 ) supports weight direction – ensuing in modest weight loss of around 0.5-1kg per month ( 2 ) by the age of 70, 25 % of adult females and 7 % of work forces have deficient leg strength to acquire out of a chair without utilizing their weaponries ( 2 ) . Physical activity is portion of the solution to back uping the publicity of independent life in older grownups, thereby cut downing the cost of societal attention. Fallss are a prima cause of inadvertent decease of older people and fractured hips, as a consequence of falls, cost the NHS and societal services ?1.8 billion each twelvemonth in England ( 11 ) . Physical activity, peculiarly preparation to better strength, balance and coordination, can be extremely effectual in cut downing the incidence of falls ( 2 ) . Regular exercising has besides been shown to protect against the oncoming of depressive symptoms and anxiousness ( 12 ) . In mid-life and older grownups, physical activity can decelerate or forestall age-related cognitive diminution, and is associated with a lower hazard of developing dementedness ( 13 ) . Despite the multiple wellness additions associated with a physically active life style, merely 40 % of grownup work forces and 28 % of big adult females meet the Chief Medical Officers ( CMO ) recommendations for wellness ( 14 ) , nevertheless, the existent challenge is that 75 % of work forces and 67 % of adult females believe that they are active plenty ( 15 ) . There is a acknowledgment across the NHS that active life styles are now an intrinsic portion of twenty-first century health care and that advancing active life styles is a simple reply to many of the wellness challenges confronting our state today ( 8 ) . The load of sick wellness from inaction is clear and the statistics farther highlight the potency for important decreases in morbidity and mortality, which could be achieved if we consistently and actively promote engagement in physical activity through the NHS ( 8 ) . Equally good as holding the potency to better the wellness of the state, advancing physical activity could besides salvage the NHS money, cut downing the load of chronic disease on the ague sector and public services ( 8 ) . Using Primary Care to advance physical activity can assist the NHS move towards lower costs, more efficient and effectual services in primary attention and cut down the demand for, and costs of, acute attention ( 7 ) . Investing in the bar docket by implanting the publicity of physical activity in NHS services has the ability to significantly cut down the fiscal load of inaction on the economic system. Allender et Al. ( 16 ) estimated that for merely five conditions, post-menopausal chest malignant neoplastic disease, lower GI malignant neoplastic disease, cerebrovascular disease, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, in one twelvemonth entirely, the load of physical inaction: caused over 35,000 deceases ; caused 3.1 % of morbidity and mortality in the UK added over ?1.8 billion to the direct wellness cost load on the NHS. For a pattern population of 10,000 the cost of these five conditions attributable to physical inaction norms ?50,000 per twelvemonth ( 17 ) . Adding indirect costs to the wider economic system, such as working yearss lost due to sickness and premature mortality, produces a entire measure associating to physical inaction that may be every bit high as ?8.3 billion every twelvemonth ( 17 ) .SchemeThe long term purpose of wellness publicity is to cut down morbidity and premature mortality ( 18 ) , to accomplish this intercessions are likely to be targeted towards whole populations or high hazard groups, with three degrees of bar ; Primary, aimed at forestalling the oncoming of disease ; Secondary, aimed at forestalling the patterned advance of disease ; and Tertiary, aimed at cut downing farther disablement or helping rehabilitation ( 18 ) . A cardinal purpose of this scheme is to aim intercessions at pre-school and school age kids, promoting them to be active in line with current recommendations. This will hold two effects ; foremost, by promoting kids to be more active, will be good in cut downing the prevalence of inaction related conditions in the hereafter ; and secondly, will assist to develop a civilization of taking regular physical activity. It has been shown that sedentary behaviors track from adolescence into maturity ( 19 ) and, although grounds is limited, it is believed that active kids are more likely to stay active into maturity ( 20 ) , besides when kids are taught appropriate wellness behaviors early, these are more likely to go accustomed and go on into maturity ( 21 ) . To accomplish this we must work closely with kids ‘s Centres, to guarantee that active drama forms a regular portion of their activities, and schools to guarantee that regular physical activity is incorporated into their course o f study, including activities which are non traditionally seen as school athleticss, which will besides promote the ‘Not Sporty ‘ kid to take part, activities such as Dance and Cheerleading, for illustration, have been shown to increase engagement in school based activity ( 22 ) . It is good that the National authorities have reviewed their support for the School Sports Partnership programme, which has done much to promote and advance activity in schools across the part, and we will go on to buttonhole, both locally and nationally, through Public Health England, for continued support for this programme and other programmes which will better entree to feature and activities within our schools. Many kids and immature people say that they would prefer to walk or rhythm to school ( 23 ) , and we will work with Local Education Authorities ( LEA ) and Local Governments to assist and back up schools to develop and advance active conveyance programs for both staff and students, including walking coachs, peculiarly for primary school students, which have been shown to be effectual in increasing degrees of physical activity in primary school kids ( 24 ) . But holding active conveyance programs is non sufficient to guarantee increased activity among staff and students, we besides need to guarantee the handiness of safe paths to schools, unafraid storage for rhythms and accoutrements etc. within schools and the support of parents to promote their kids to utilize active conveyance methods to acquire to and from school. To this terminal we will work with and buttonhole the Local Authority to guarantee that active conveyance is the easier pick for people to do and the LEA to guarantee s chools have the resources to supply secure storage installations. Persons diagnosed with many medical conditions may profit from increasing the sum of physical activity they do in order to forestall the patterned advance of their status. Working closely with GP ‘s these persons will be referred into activities which will assist forestall or cut down the patterned advance of their status. In many instances a first measure will be to supply information, particular to their status, about the principle for going more active and the hazards associated with non making so. As many of these people are likely to populate in countries of want ( 25, 26 ) the accent will be on advancing no-cost/low-cost activities, such as walking and cycling, which have been shown to be an appropriate method of advancing physical activity ( 1 ) . Walk is besides a suited activity for older people, every bit good as the physical benefits of improved or maintained musculus strength, joint mobility and proprioception, which can cut down falls in older grownups ( 2 ) , walk ing, peculiarly in a group, such as on a wellness walk, besides offers benefits which contribute to the societal and psychological wellbeing of persons ( 27 ) . We already have a web of wellness walks across the part, through the ‘Walking for Health ‘ programme and a figure of local groups presently provide a scope of cycling activities, including adaptative cycling, community rhythm drives and rhythm tuition. These activities will supply the back bone of our scheme but we need to guarantee they are accessible to people that need them. We will confer with with patient and support groups to guarantee that activities provided are activities of pick and are at a clip and topographic point where they can be accessed by the mark population. Many people with bing medical conditions require entree to specialised exercising proviso, aimed at cut downing farther disablement or helping rehabilitation ( 18 ) . We will look to use our bing exercising referral programme, working with qualified physical therapists and exercising professionals, from both the populace and private sectors, guaranting that patients are guided into suited activities and supported in their attempts to go more active. Activities will necessitate to be suited for Phase IV cardiac rehabilitation and/or rehabilitation from musculoskeletal hurt, among other conditions. Many of these activities already exist, through the public, private and voluntary sectors, and we will go on to work closely with suppliers to guarantee activities are suited for the referral programme, i.e. run by suitably qualified teachers and hazard assessed. Harmonizing to the 2006 Health Survey for England ( 14 ) one in four people said they would be far more active if they were advised to be so by a wellness professional. Therefore, based on the recommendations of NICE counsel ( 1 ) we will work closely with GP patterns to supply brief intercessions, based upon the â€Å" Lets Get Moving † ( LGM ) programme, for patients to assist promote them to be more physically active. This programme has been tried and tested in a figure of GP patterns in London and has been found to supply a cost effectual scheme for increasing population degrees of physical activity ( 4 ) . However, such work will be dependant on the suppliers of the brief intercession being able to signpost patients onto suited activities that they would wish to, or are willing to seek. The Change 4 Life web site has an activity hunt tool which is appropriate for this intent, although a elaborate function exercising will be required before manus, to guarantee as broad a s cope of local activities is included in the database and that information is current and correct. Although instruction entirely is improbable to hold a positive consequence on wellness behaviors, coupled with other attacks can take to the desired results. Evidence shows that old media runs to advance physical activity have been successful in raising consciousness and cognition, but non of increasing activity degrees ( 28, 29 ) , nevertheless, instruction is likely to play a cardinal function in the initial phases of many wellness publicity programmes ( 30 ) . Using societal selling techniques has been shown to be an effectual method of making difficult to make groups ( 31 ) , but instruction runs should be based upon positive messages, such as improved functional capacity or improved sleep forms, for illustration, instead than negative messages or panic tactics, which have been shown to be uneffective in arousing wellness behavior alteration ( 32 ) . The Change 4 Life programme is a national run, launched in 2009, which aims to assist persons and households to â€Å" eat good, travel more and unrecorded thirster † . We will seek to construct on the work that this programme has done, and continues to make, in advancing the benefits of an active life style. In add-on we will include physical activity information and the Change 4 Life activity hunt tool on the PCT web site and will promote our spouses, local authorization every bit good as other public, private and voluntary sector suppliers to make the same. Many administrations, such as the British Heart Foundation and Cancer UK, for illustration, bring forth a broad scope of literature on the benefits of physical activity in relation to specific wellness conditions and there is no purpose to re-invent the wheel. We do, nevertheless need to do certain that this information is made more widely available. We will therefore work closely with the local authorization libraries service, GP ‘s, tooth doctors, pharmaceuticss and supermarkets etc. to guarantee that these stuffs are available in the topographic points that people attend. We will besides set up a figure of awareness raising events across the part, supplying information and advice for the populace. These events will be specifically targeted in countries of greatest demand, i.e. countries of high want or countries where there is grounds of low consumption of physical activity, and will be held in topographic points where people congregate, i.e. supermarkets, station office, ca fe or public house for illustration. We will besides transport out media runs in partnership with local suppliers to advance specific activities at times of increased national involvement, associating into the 2012 Olympic Legacy programme, for illustration, or to bind in with other promotional events and national runs, such as National Walk 4 Life Day or National Older Person ‘s Day. Although there is limited grounds of wellness benefits of community engagement, it is suggested that persons have a better opportunity of accomplishing their ends if they participate with other people who are affected by, or portion, the same, or similar, fortunes ( 33 ) . There is good grounds to demo that authorization has the possible to bring forth improved wellness impacts, peculiarly when aiming specific community groups, such as adult females and people from deprived communities ( 34 ) . At the bosom of authorization is the construct that people can be equipped with the cognition, assurance and accomplishments to do a difference in their communities ( 35 ) . Involving members of the populace in back uping others within their ain communities to do positive wellness alterations in their lives is based on a sound apprehension of the value of life experience and community support systems that can be within vicinities ( 36, 37 ) . We will enroll people from different strands of the community and specific mark groups to go community Healthy Activity Champions. These persons will have preparation, support and counsel enabling them to transport out voluntary activities in their ain communities. However, engagement in physical activity within communities, particularly those in disadvantaged countries, is likely to be mostly dependent on the handiness and propinquity of installations and safe environments ( 38 ) . Having easy entree to safe community countries, such as resort areas or playing Fieldss, and doing local vicinities safe for out-of-door activity has a major consequence on bettering activity wonts, peculiarly among deprived populations, who by and large report lower degrees of physical activity ( 38 ) . Therefore we will work with bing community groups, particularly those in disadvantaged countries, to assist them convey about the alterations they want to see in their communities, assisting to pull support for local undertakings etc. In this we will wor k as a facilitator, non taking but back uping the community, supplying counsel and advice, as needed or requested, to enable them to accomplish their ain results, instead than those placed upon them by outside bureaus. Although, over recent old ages, there have been several authorities policies, schemes and studies either entirely aimed at, or at least integrating physical activity counsel and policy to some grade ( 7, 8, 17 ) , even the latest public wellness white paper ( 39 ) includes mention to the consequence physical activity can hold on the wellness of the state. We will go on to buttonhole, both locally, regionally and nationally, through the new Public Health England construction, for a wider consideration of physical activity in all authorities policies and schemes. We see a peculiar accent of this attack in buttonholing local authorities around the cardinal countries of local conveyance policy, to do active conveyance the easier pick, for both wellness and environmental sustainability. We will work closely with be aftering sections to guarantee that new developments incorporate programs to include safe countries for out-of-door activities and to travel off from the â€Å" No Ball Games † civilization that has developed in this state towards a civilization where we promote and encourage regular activity for all people, from cradle to sculpt.CostingFigure 2. Premises made in the preparation of declarative costing. Based on the NICE counsel ( 1 ) and the LGM feasibleness survey ( 4 ) , the undermentioned premises underlie this declarative costing. aˆ? Workforce cost premises: PCT Staff – ?25 per hr. ( Assume 20 proceedingss per patient ) aˆ? Training ; 6 PCT Staff for 3 hours ( module 1 ) – ?450.00 commissioning external preparation to present Module 2 preparation to 6 ( soap. 12 ) PCT staff – approx. ?2,500 ongoing pattern support – approx. ?200 per GP Practice per twelvemonth. aˆ? Premises ; Appraisal and brief intercession takes 15 to 20 proceedingss. Support activity following brief intercession and follow-up costs, ?5 per patient project intercession. The mean QALY gained per referral is 0.17 ( 1 ) ; ensuing from approx. 6 % of patients referred for interview accomplishing an addition in the figure of moderate activity Sessionss. Much of the work outlined by this scheme is already taking topographic point, although more attempt is needed to guarantee the success of this scheme. They key cost involved with this scheme will be for the puting up of the LGM programme and the rating procedure and declarative costs for this are given here. Areas where the PCT can anticipate to incur direct costs for puting up LGM are detailed in the programme commissioning usher ( 8 ) . Although, at this phase, elaborate costing has non been carried out for this programme, the Department of Health has provided an analysis of declarative costs ( 8 ) . However it should be noted that this economic analysis is intended to be declarative merely and will change harmonizing to the bringing methodological analysis chosen and the figure and features of the pati ents targeted ( see fig. 2 for premises made ) .Indicative set up costsCost of staff preparation: ?3,000 Selling and Promotion: ?1,000 Staff costs involved with execution: ?5,000Entire estimated set up costs: ?9,000Indicative operating costs ( based upon 500 patients per pattern per twelvemonth ) Practice staff enrolling patients, finishing GPPAQ and mentioning for brief intercession ( Assuming ?5 per patient ) ?2,500 Brief intercession carried out by PCT staff ( Assuming 20 infinitesimal audience and ?25 per hr staff cost ) ?4,167Assuming 80 % of patients undertake the intercession ( 400 patients )Cost of support activity following brief intercession and followup ( based on ?5.00 per patient ) ?2,000Entire cost per pattern for 1 twelvemonth ?8667On this footing, with 15 patterns, each averaging 10,000 patients, covering the PCT country the entire jutting one-year costs are: – Year one ( including set-up costs ) ?139,005 Year two ( including 5 % cost addition ) ?136,505Entire cost for two old ages ?275,510The cost of rating for this scheme has yet to be finalised, nevertheless counsel suggests that around 10 % of the programme cost should be allocated to the rating procedure. Therefore leting between ?25,000 and ?30,000 would be appropriate for this scheme, giving a entire programme cost of around ?300,000. Based on NICE counsel ( 1 ) the estimated cost per QALY saved is ?295, good below the suggested threshold of ?30,000 per QALY ( 8 ) .EvaluationMeasuring wellness publicity is non straightforward because it normally involves changing activities, long term aims and several spouses ( 18 ) . Health publicity argues for a holistic appraising attack, embracing qualitative research methodological analysiss, taking history of the changing contextual characteristics of many programmes ( 18 ) . The RE-AIM ( range, effectivity, acceptance, execution, care ) model ( 40 ) was developed to heighten the impact of wellness publicity intercessions by measuring the dimensions considered most relevant to real-world execution, such as the capacity to make underserved populations and to be adopted within diverse scenes ( 41 ) . The theoretical account was intended to steer planning and rating of evidence-based intercessions ( 42, 43 ) that address the different degrees of the socio-ecological theoretical account, such as those that target single wellness behavior alteration by increasing intrapersonal, organizational, and community resource support ( 44 ) ( see figure 3 for typical research inquiries ) . It has been used to measure a scope of wellness behavior alteration programmes, including physical activity, dietetic behavior, and smoke ( 45-47 ) . It is hence believed that this will be an ideal rating model for this scheme. Figure 3. RE-AIM Dimensions and Template Questions for Evaluating Health Education and Health Behaviour ResearchRE-AIM DimensionQuestionsRange( Individual Level )What per centum of potentially eligible participants a ) were excluded, B ) took portion and degree Celsius ) how representative were they?Efficacy or Effectiveness( Individual Level )What impact did the intercession have on a ) all participants who began the plan ; b ) on procedure intermediate and primary results ; and c ) on both positive and negative ( unintended ) , outcomes including quality of life?Adoption( Puting Level )What per centum of scenes and intercession agents within these scenes ( e.g. , schools/educators, medical offices/physicians ) a ) were excluded, B ) participated and degree Celsiuss ) how representative were they?Execution( Setting/agent Level )To what extent were the assorted intercession constituents delivered as intended ( in the protocol ) , particularly when conducted by different ( non-researc h ) staff members in applied scenes?Care( Individual Level )What were the long-run effects ( lower limit of 6-12 months following intercession ) ? B ) What was the abrasion rate ; were drop-outs representative ; and how did abrasion impact decisions about effectivity?Care( Puting Level )a ) To what extent were different intercession constituents continued or institutionalised? B ) How was the original plan modified? Beginning: www.re-aim.org It is import that rating of programmes, such as this, is built in from the beginning so that all involved know and acknowledge the end products and results that they are working toward ( 43 ) . We are presently working closely with local academic establishments to develop this rating procedure based upon the RE-AIM model.DecisionIt is widely accepted that physical inaction is a major subscriber to the load of ill-health that we face nationally today and that advancing and promoting an active life style is a simple, yet effectual, manner of cut downing this load for future coevalss. A behaviour alteration attack is likely to be most appropriate to increase population degrees of physical activity, and hence this is the chief attack used in this scheme. However, it must be recognised that a one size fits all scheme is improbable to be successful, hence, we have proposed a holistic attack to advancing active life styles. It should besides be recognised that many of the wellness results from schemes such as this are long term and are non likely to be realised within the life-time of the scheme. Therefore a robust rating model must be employed from the beginning so that advancement can be measured against programme end products, which grounds has shown to be effectual in accomplishing the anticipate wellness results. The RE-AIM model has been successfully used in assorted scenes, against a scope of behaviour alteration enterprises, including physical activity, hence it is ideal to be used for this scheme. Although this scheme is aimed at bettering the wellness of the population of Western Cheshire through increased activity degrees, if it is to be successful it will necessitate a conjunct attempt from the whole Public Health Department, from the Director of Public Health down, to guarantee that the scheme is accepted by all spouse administrations, both locally and nationally, peculiarly local and national authorities, to guarantee that physical activity is embedded in all policy, non merely regarded as a wellness or sport/community issue.Part 2.Behaviour ChangeThe behavior alteration attack is popular in wellness publicity because it places wellness as the belongings of the person and assumes that people can do existent betterments to their wellness by taking to do appropriate life styles alterations ( 18 ) . Although behaviour alteration programmes tend to be an expert led, exceed down attack ( 18 ) , this scheme proposes a client led, bottom up attack. The programme is based on the healthcare professional supplying a brief intercession with persons, identified as person who would profit from increased activity. The procedure of behavior alteration is simply facilitated by the healthcare professional, through the proviso of appropriate information and advice particular to the person in the initial phase of the procedure. Then steering and back uping them, utilizing motivational interviewing techniques, instead than taking, through the behaviour alteration procedure. Critical to the bringing of these brief intercessions is the manner they are implemented. Nice counsel on behavior alteration intercessions delivered to persons recommends that practicians select intercessions that will actuate and back up patients to believe about the effects of their current behavior, see the positive effects of altering and program for alteration in little stairss ( 48 ) . NICE Public Health Guidance ( 1 ) recommends ; â€Å" Primary attention practicians should take the chance, whenever possible, to place inactive grownups and rede them to take for 30 proceedingss of moderate activity on 5 yearss of the hebdomad ( or more ) . They should utilize their opinion to find when this would be inappropriate ( for illustration, because of medical conditions or personal fortunes ) . They should utilize a validated tool, such as the Department of Health ‘s general practician physical activity questionnaire ( GPPAQ ) , to place inactive persons. When supplying physical activity advice, primary attention practicians should take into history the person ‘s demands, penchants and fortunes. They should hold ends with them. They should besides supply written information about the benefits of activity and the local chances to be active. They should follow them up at appropriate intervals over a 3 to 6 month period. † Brief intercessions have become the intercession of pick for many wellness publicity runs ( 18 ) and are by and large based upon the transtheoretical, or phases of alteration, theoretical account of behavioral alteration and, on occasion, the theory of self-government ( 49 ) . The transtheoretical theoretical account was foremost proposed by Prochaska and DiClemente in 1982 ( 50 ) , taking history of concepts from several theories from the field of psychological science, such as the theory of reasoned action ( 51 ) , and theory of planned behavior ( 52 ) . Sniehotta suggests that while these theories advanced apprehension of motive with respect to behaviour alteration they made small part to the scientific discipline of behavior alteration because they did non include a agencies for altering behavior or did non account for non-motivational behavior alteration techniques ( 53 ) . The construct of phases of alteration emerged during research into the procedures that persons use to alte r their troubled behavior ( 50 ) but the theoretical account has since been successfully used for many wellness behaviors change intercessions, including smoke ( 54, 55 ) , intoxicant ( 56, 57 ) , dietetic ( 58 ) , every bit good as physical activity ( 49 ) . A recent reappraisal indicated that motivational interviewing, based upon a ‘stages of alteration ‘ theoretical account, efficaciously helps clients to positively alter their behavior and exceeded results of advice merely intercessions in 80 % of the surveies included in the reappraisal ( 59 ) . The writers of the reappraisal farther suggest that, although some alterations may non be clinically important, it was of import to maintain in head that the procedure is based upon doing the patients cognizant of the potency for behavior alteration ensuing in improved wellness results and that the little alterations made within the period of survey may besides be of long term involvement if they mark the beginning of a long term procedure of alteration for the person ( 59 ) . The Lets Get Moving attack is a behaviour alteration intercession that has been designed to supply a systematic attack to placing and back uping grownups who are non run intoing the current recommendations for physical activity to go more active ( 8 ) . The attack is based upon NICE Public Health Guidance ( 1 ) , which endorses the usage of brief intercessions for physical activity publicity in primary attention as being both clinically and be effectual in the long term. The programme draws upon motivational questioning techniques to foreground the wellness benefits of physical activity, working through cardinal behaviors alteration phases and reasoning with a clear physical activity end, which is set by the person, and the designation of suited local chances to be active, including exercising referral, if appropriate ( 8 ) . Motivational interviewing is a patient centred attack, which fits in with the current authorities mantra â€Å" No determination about me, without me † . The procedure aims to arouse and beef up an persons intrinsic motive to alter lifestyle behaviors ( 8 ) and has been used by a assortment of health care professionals, across a scope of primary attention scenes, to present improved wellness results ( 60 ) . The active constituents of motivational interviewing are increasing preparedness to alter, utilizing empathetic listening techniques, increasing self-efficacy and increasing the sensed disagreement between existent and ideal behavior ( 61 ) . A recent reappraisal has shown that motivational interviewing in primary attention can hold a positive consequence on a scope of wellness behaviors, including diet and physical activity ( 62 ) . The construct of motivational questioning evolved from the experience of handling alcohol addiction, and was foremost described by Miller in 1983 ( 63 ) . This basic experience was developed into a coherent theory, and a elaborate description of the clinical process was provided by Miller and Rollnick ( 64 ) , who defined motivational interviewing as a ‘directive, client centred counselling manner for arousing behaviour alteration by assisting clients to research and decide ambivalency ‘ . The schemes of motivational interviewing are more persuasive than coercive, more supportive than argumentative, and the overall end is to increase the client ‘s intrinsic motive so that alteration arises from within instead than being imposed from without ( 65 ) . The motivational interviewing manner is a collaborative method utilizing distinguishable rules and techniques, while utilizing client centred techniques to construct trust and cut down opposition, the supplier focuses di rectively on increasing preparedness for alteration ( 61 ) . Reappraisals of physical activity intercessions have identified the scene of general pattern as a potentially effectual scene for population degree of physical activity publicity schemes ( 66, 67 ) . A written prescription is a familiar manner for patients to have advice from their GP, normally in the signifier of medicine ( 68 ) , and research has shown that supplying patients with a written prescription to take more exercising has been effectual, at least in the short term ( 6 to 10 hebdomads ) ( 69-71 ) . However grounds suggests that long term attachment to exert programmes may necessitate multiple contacts with the wellness professional and that GP ‘s, in peculiar, have expressed concern about deficiency of clip, assurance or skill to present separately tailored exercising advice ( 68 ) . It is suggested that one manner of get the better ofing these barriers is for other allied wellness professionals to supply the brief intercession following designation of suited campaign ers by the GP or pattern nurse ( 66, 69, 72 ) utilizing a validated tool, such as GPPAQ, to measure current activity degrees ( 1 ) . This is the attack proposed in this scheme, using allied wellness workers, such as wellness trainers, for illustration, appropriately trained to present the initial brief intercession and motivational interview audiences, following on from the referral by the healthcare professional, either at the GP pattern or in a separate location. Promoting physical activity in primary attention is recognised as an of import and potentially effectual attack for increasing population degrees of physical activity ( 1, 73, 74 ) . With assorted attacks being tried over recent old ages, including giving advice or guidance ( 75, 76 ) , supplying written resources ( advice brochures etc. ) ( 71 ) and exercise referral programmes ( 1, 77 ) . There is an increasing sum of grounds for the impact of wellness professionals promoting physical activity within primary attention ( 78 ) . A recent Australian survey suggests that merely three to five proceedingss of brief advice from a General Practitioner, supported with appropriate written stuffs, could take to an addition in the proportion of patients run intoing recommended degrees of physical activity 24 hebdomads after the intercession ( 68 ) . Similarly a survey on the effects of three brief intercession and reding attacks conducted by pattern nurses on patients with hazard factors assoc iating to cardiovascular disease besides showed a important addition in reported activity degrees four months after the intercession ( 75 ) . In 2009 the Department for Health launched the ‘Be Active, Be Healthy ‘ policy which proposed the phased airing of the ‘Lets Get Traveling ‘ programme, and the new authorities public wellness white paper ( 39 ) endorses the programme within the new public wellness construction.DecisionBehaviour alteration intercessions are by and large seen as one of the most appropriate attack to increasing population degrees of physical activity and, among these, brief intercessions appear to be a popular pick among wellness publicity staff. Evidence suggests that the add-on of motivational interview techniques to the intercession has served to increase the effectivity of these intercessions in a assortment of wellness publicity scenes. The usage of the ‘Lets Get Traveling ‘ protocol for increasing activity degrees has bee n tried and tested and found to be both clinically and be effectual in a primary attention scene and is hence seen to be an appropriate attack to utilize for this scheme. This attack was endorsed by the old Labour authorities and this support has been re-iterated by the current Lib Dem/Conservative alliance authorities in the latest public wellness white paper and back uping paperss.

DNA Extraction Essay

Much can be learned from studying an organisms DNA. The first step to doing this is extracting DNA from cells. In this experiment, you will isolate DNA from the cells of fruit. Materials (1) 10 mL Graduated Cylinder(2) 100 mL Beakers15 cm Cheesecloth1 Resealable Bag1 Rubber Band (Large. Contains latex pleasewear gloves when handling if you have a latex allergy).Standing Test TubeWooden Stir StickFresh, Soft Fruit (e.g., Grapes, Strawberries, Banana, etc.) ScissorsDNA Extraction SolutionIce Cold EthanolYou Must ProvideContains sodium chloride, detergent and waterFor ice cold ethanol, store in the freezer 60 minutes before use. Procedure If you have not done so, prepare the ethanol by placing it in a freezer for approximately 60 minutes. Put pieces of a soft fruit into a plastic zipper bag and mash with your fist. The amount of food should be equal to the size of approximately five grapes. Use the 10 mL graduated cylinder to measure 10 mL of the DNA Extraction Solution. Transfer the solution from the cylinder to the bag with the fruit it in. Seal the bag completely. Mix well by kneading the bag for two minutes. Create a filter by placing the center of the cheesecloth over the mouth of the standing test tube, pushing it into the tube about two inches, and securing the cheesecloth with a rubber band around the top of the test tube. Cut a hole in the corner of the bag and filter your extraction by pouring it into the cheesecloth. You will need to keep the filtered solution which passes through the cheese cloth into the standing test tube. Rinse the 10 mL graduated cylinder, and measure five mL of ice-cold ethanol. Then, while holding the standing test tube at a 45 angle, slowly transfer the ethanol into the standing test tube with the filtered solution. The color has been enhanced by dying the fruit with a substance that glows under black light.DNA will precipitate (come out of solution) after the ethanol has been added to the solution. Let the test tube sit undisturbed for 2 – 5 minutes. You should begin to see air bubbles form at the boundary line between the ethanol and the filtered fruit solution. Bubbles will form near the top, and you will eventually see the DNA float to the top of the ethanol. Gently insert the stir stick into the test tube. Slowly raise and lower the tip several times to spool and collect the DNA. If there is an insufficient  amount of DNA available, it may not float to the top of the solution in a form that can be easily spooled or removed from the tube. However, the DNA will still be visible as white/clear clusters by gently stirring the solution and pushing the clusters around the top. Post-Lab Questions What is the texture and consistency of the DNA DNA is viscous and greasy. Why did we use a sa lt in the extraction solution High salt makes DNA less soluble in water. In order to dissolve, the water needs to interact with the DNA. Since DNA is quite large, it needs to interact with lots of water for this purpose. When you add salt, the water preferentially interacts with the salt (its small, and can move around in solution easier than the DNA can). This makes it so there is less water available to interact with the DNA and it becomes less soluble. Is the DNA soluble in the aqueous solution or alcohol DNA is less soluble in an alcohol such as isopropanol than it is in water. This is because alcohols are non-polar, whereas water is polar. The polar water molecule is much better at distributing the negative charge on DNA, causing it to remain in solution. However, since alcohol is non-polar, the negatively charged molecules of DNA tend to group together, forming clumps, which precipitate out of the alcohol solution. What else might be in the ethanol/aqueous interface How could you eliminate this When you precipitate the solution with cold ethanol 70 you would have a mix of DNA, RNA and some soluble salts. You should be able to centrifuge again so the DNA/RNA forms a pellet and drain the liquid out. Which DNA bases pair with each other How many hydrogen bonds are shared by each pair How is information to make proteins passed on through generations Watch the following Virtual Lab demonstrating DNA Extraction. In this experiment, how do the Lysis Solution and the Salt Solution vary by function Identify one step which was included in the Virtual Lab which was not required in the hands-on experiment. Then, identify one step which was included in the hands-on experiment, but not the virtual lab.

What Were The Political, Economic, And Social Circumstances That Led Essay

What Were The Political, Economic, And Social Circumstances That Led To The Holocaust - Essay Example However, the Jews were not the only victims of Nazism. It is estimated that as many as 15 million civilians were killed by the Nazi regime, including millions of Slavs and 'asiatics', 200,000 Gypsies and members of various other groups. Furthermore, thousands of people, including Germans of African descent, were forcibly sterilized.1 The word holocaust originally derived from the Greek word holokauston, meaning "a completely (holos) burnt (kaustos) sacrificial offering", or "a burnt sacrifice offered to God". In Greek and Roman pagan rites, gods of the earth and underworld received dark animals, which were offered by night and burnt in full. Holocaust was later used to refer to a sacrifice Jews were required to make by the Torah.2 Initially, the Nazis used killing squads, the Einsatzgruppen to conduct huge open-air killings, in some instances murdering as many as 33,000 people or more in a single day, as in the case of Babi Yar. However, by 1942, the Nazi leadership decided to implement the Final Solution, the genocide of all Jews in Europe, and increase the pace of the Holocaust. While concentration camps and labor camps to contain political enemies had existed since soon after the Nazis came to power in 1933, the Nazi leadership built six extermination camps, including Treblinka and Auschwitz, specifically to kill Jews. Millions of Jews who had been confined to diseased and massively overcrowded Ghettos were transported to the "Death-camps" where they were either gassed or shot, usually immediately after they disembarked from trains.3 As the war started, massive massacres of Jews took place, and, by December 1941, Hitler decided to completely exterminate European Jews. In January 1942, during the Wannsee conference, several Nazi leaders discussed the details of the "Final Solution of the Jewish question" (Endlsung der Judenfrage). Dr. Josef Bhler urged Reinhard Heydrich to proceed with the Final Solution in the General Government. They began to purposely deport Jewish from the ghettos and all occupied territories to the seven camps designated as Vernichtungslager, or extermination camps: Auschwitz, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Maly Trostenets, Sobibr and Treblinka II. Sebastian Haffner published the analysis in 1978 that Hitler from December 1941 accepted the failure of his goal to dominate Europe forever on his declaration of war against the United States, but that his withdrawal and imminent calm thereafter was sustained by the attainment of Hitler's second goal-the annihilation of the Jews.4 The execution of the Final Solution resulted in the most deadly phase of the Holocaust. However, mass killings of over one million Jews had already begun before the plans of the Final Solution were fully implemented in 1942, but it was only with the decision to eradicate the entire Jewish population that the extermination camps were built and industrialized mass slaughter of Jews began in earnest. This decision to systematically kill the Jews of Europe was made by the time of, or at the Wannsee conference, which took place in Berlin, in the Wannsee Villa on January 20, 1942.5 In addition to the Jews, the Roma and Sinti were also targets of the Holocaust which resulted in about 220,000 deaths in the Holocaust (some estimates are as high as 800,000), between a quarter and a half of the European population. Other groups deemed "undesirable", especially Poles, Soviet military prisoners of war including Russians and other Slavs, the mentally or physically disabled, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Communists and political dissidents and criminals, were also persecuted and murdered.

EC202 SLP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

EC202 SLP - Essay Example If a country has a high GDP, it means it is healthy and has low unemployment, higher wages and hence higher spending power. Hence, Novartis would be more profitable in countries with higher GDPs where it can sell its products at a higher price. ii. Balance of Payments: Since Novartis is in a highly regulated industry (pharmaceuticals) Balance of Payments indicator becomes very important macro-economic indicator for Novartis. If a country is in fiscal deficit, it is likely that the government will induce a spending cut on its healthcare budget, and thereby the government would push Novartis to lower its drugs’ prices. iii. Interest Rates: Novartis being a multi-national pharmaceutical company engages in a number of foreign exchange transactions/flows across the globe. Hence, differences in interest rates would affect the relative worth of currencies in relation to one another (esp. forex changes between euro, CHF and USD). 2. What do these indicators suggest about the current o r future condition of your organization? With regards to the current economic crisis in the US, the macro-economic factors would have a negative effect on the condition of Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. The US Congress recently passed a $38 billion spending cut bill (Reuters) that is anticipated to cut budgets of various government run healthcare and social programs.

Business Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 34

Business Ethics - Essay Example d of addition; that is why companies should make sure that their consumers understand that they might end up being addicted to the product (Orleans, 1993, 81). Fourthly, smoking may surely become a whole in a budget, so companies who promote this product should warn about possible financial consequences when a person will have to spend a certain sum of money each month to harm one’s organism (Sloan, 2004, 51). Finally, the reality of smoking is not as glamorous or exciting as it is being portrayed. So, tobacco companies should not deceive people by providing them with different pictures that do not reflect the reality at all (Wallander, 1995, 143). Ð ¡apitalism often relies on shared ownership which means that a considerable number of people might hold shared and by combining their voice they might shape decision making process in a way they want (Kruse, 2010, 41). In addition to that, capitalism often points out that making ethical decisions may be quite beneficial in long term perspective, especially when company accepts its social responsibility and tries to maintain sustainable production (Young, 2003, 194). What is more important is that capitalism puts great emphasis on the notion of free market, which urges companies to make sure that their decisions will ensure their competitive advantage over competitors (Buchholz, 2012, 28). As for the connection between capitalism and tobacco, I think that the former might view the latter as a popular commodity which is likely to bring a considerable amount of profits, regardless of the harm that it will do with regard to the person who consumes or addicted to it, and encourage peo ple to buy it. Keeping in mind the above mentioned, one is able to argue that it is quite possible to combine the interests of a company with personal interest. Thus, on the one hand, any organization wants to be successful, so profit might be recognized as one of the primary goals of it (Jayachandran, 2004, 71). Nevertheless, a company is

Racism and Harassment in American Animated Sitcoms Essay

Racism and Harassment in American Animated Sitcoms - Essay Example In the late 90s, two animated sitcoms were launched which based their humor on criticizing U.S. cultures and current events, usually on politics and black comedy. Much of the AMESA related satire started after the 9/11 incident in 2001, wherein the representations of the aforementioned adopted a negative and racist tone (207). This kind of representation was based on the genealogy of â€Å"Orientalism† and â€Å"Islamophobia† that positions people, places, and ideology conceptualized as Arab, Middle Eastern, South Asian and even of Muslim to be inferior with the â€Å"tripartite relationship of Whiteness, Christianity, and U.S. Nationalism† also referred to as the â€Å"White Racial Frame† (207). Popular animated television sitcoms in the U.S. adopt its own unique approaches on â€Å"hyper-irony and manic-satire† (228). South Park is a U.S. animated television series which is created, written and voiced by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (Hughey 229). â €Å"It satirizes many aspects of U.S. ... to produce comedy, biting social and political commentary, and counter-hegemony (208), thus making it an important study point in understanding the relationship between satirical humor and social relationships and interaction, the â€Å"forms of irony that involves system of domination and resistance, such as racism and nationalism†(208), and lastly, on the reaffirmation and normalization of social relations through popular media (208). There is great influence in media representations. According to the American Psychological Association, the absence of sufficient materials that provide information of the views of a certain group would result in a blind acceptance of the television representation of the group (214). A psychologist from UCLA suggests that a vast effect of the media on the perception by children of a minority group is highly influenced by the way it is shown in the television (214). An example of a long term effect this kind of shows has is the occurrence of wor kplace bullying (Fox 439). According to Suzy Fox (439), bullying â€Å"is an umbrella concept for these various conceptualizations of ill-treatment and hostile behavior toward people at work, ranging from most subtle, even unconscious incivilities to the most blatant, intentional emotional abuse.† This also includes single incidents and especially those of escalating patterns of behavior (439). Recent studies identified two types of bullying, general bullying and racial/ethnic bullying. In general bullying, behaviors happen to anyone with no reference to its race or ethnicity while racial/ethnic bullying occurs with reference to race and ethnicity (439). In addition, another aspect of bullying is also introduced which is the particular dynamic of abusive supervision, also known as supervisory

The films Juno and American Beauty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The films Juno and American Beauty - Essay Example The girl Juno here is a 16 year old female, who gets pregnant by her classmate Paulie and both plans to abort the baby. Juno is a girl with carefree attitude and does not care about what other people think about her. Juno in her tender age is ignorant about pregnancy and issue related to it and this quote confirms it. Juno MacGuff: I don't know, I drank like, ten gallons of Sunny D... I'm telling you I'm pregnant and you're acting shockingly caviler. Leah: Is this for real? Later by the influence of her friend she changes her mind and plans with Paulie to give the baby for adoption for this she gets the support from her parents. Juno with her friend Leah finds a couple to adopt the baby and the film later shows the Juno’s experience with the pregnancy and the emotional struggle associated with it. Long before the birth of the baby, Juno also confesses her love for Paulie. Also Paulie accepts the love for Juno and soon after she delivers a baby boy. In the meanwhile, the couple who about to adopt the baby faces a marriage breakdown. In the end of the movie, Vanessa (Single mother) who is supposed to adopt the baby accepts the baby and Juno and Paulie are shown to be passionately in love. The Movie American Beauty This movie American beauty explains the life of Lester who is writer in a magazine who dislikes his job. His wife Carolyn is a rude character, and their daughter Jane despises her parents. â€Å"Carolyn Burnham: Are you trying to look unattractive? Jane Burnham: Yes. Carolyn Burnham: Well, congratulations. You've succeeded admirably†. These dialoged shows the hostile relationship held by the mother and the daughter. Lester has a neighbor who is a colonel accompanied by his less social wife and a drug addicted son Ricky. The Lester’s daughter Jane is in love with Ricky and wants to extend her relation with him. Lester on the other hand is deep down inside depressed and wants a person to share his feelings. Meanwhile he gets in touch with Jane’s friend Angela and gets infatuated with her. Lester begins to experience sexual fantasies about Angela wherein red roses are surrounded by Him. On the other side, Carolyn his having an affair with her business counterpart Buddy. Later Lester finds out about his wife’s extra -marital affair but reacts indifferently. Jane in the later part of the movie gets involved with Ricky and Lester too gets friendly with Angela. In between all this Lester gets marijuana from Ricky and uses it and tries to sexually encounter Angela and finds that she is virgin and backs out. The father of Ricky accidently sees Lester nudely exercising and his son watching it, and concludes they r gay mates. Colonel rushes to Lester home and shoot him to death. Comparison between Juno and American Beauty The movie Juno and American beauty is both centered on teenagers and their romantic life and sexual activities. The movie is basically about the culture of teenagers in American and how th ey lead an unorganized and indisciplined life as this quoted depicts it. â€Å"Angela Hayes: Jane, he's a freak! Jane Burnham: Then so am I! And we'll always be freaks and we'll never be like other people and you'll never be a freak because you're just too... perfect! â€Å"Both these movies show to the viewers that the sexual life of American teenagers is active at an early stage. The movies also display the marriage failure happening in American society and how fragile relationship is. According to (Sarris) â€Å"In American Beauty ,Kevin Spacey plays Lester Burnham, a man in his mid-40s going through an intense midlife crisis; he's grown cynical and is convinced that he has no reason to go on†Both the movies also show the emotional struggle undergone by teenage and adults of America. The movie Juno has an anti –

ECOM20001 Information System Management (information system of master) Essay

ECOM20001 Information System Management (information system of master) - Essay Example They are very mandatory and essential for the business development as it helps in the components of wise business decision making as well as prudent. It also helps in providing transparent information flow of business policies, guidelines, practices, standards, and certain procedures for reasonable business operations. Information Management System is used by the management in different managerial corporate levels. Safe and sound Information Management System also assists the company in attaining proper and well planned internal controls, audit coverage, safeguards, and operating procedures. There are four groups of Information Management System in which the entire system is divided; these groups are related to Human Resources, Financial Department, Accounting, and Marketing (Allen & Hamilton & Baker 14). This assessment research assignment is correlated with the Information System Management Course and is designed in such a way through which the stimulated thinking of the classroom students would be analyzed and evaluated with the help of a case study. The company chosen for case study assessment is the Information Technology giant company Dell Corporation. In this case study, Dell's customer-centric business model will be analyzed. Apart from that, an overall analysis and evaluation will be carried out regarding Dell's customer-centric business scope, which would help in knowing that how Dell Corporation makes use of its Information System in order to develop and organize a demand-pull value chain, and how does it affect the relationship of Dell Corporation with its suppliers and customers. Section #2 (Covey & Merrill 103) The modern world of today is all about modernization and innovations in the technology field which is growing and grabbing a competitive edge in the global marketplace. Every technology oriented organization is trying their best to make their unique and strong position among their competitors in the technology sector so that they could flourish and market their products with unique and different features which cannot be overcome by any other competitor. For this objective, many multinational organizations and well known reputable companies are developing their research and development department, so that they could stand differently from others. Dell Inc. is one of the most leading and successful multinational technology oriented organization which has accomplish and conquer a very reputable position in the technology world market. Dell Inc. is basically involved in the designing, development, manufacturing, marketing, technical supporting and selling of personal computers and several other computer related products. The main headquarters of Dell Inc. is situated Round Rock, Texas and engages more than 88,000 employees around the globe. This technology oriented organization started grabbing the business growth since during 1980s and 1990s and since then, Dell Inc. has attained the position of being one of the largest technology corporations in the world. Originally, Dell Inc. was founded in the year 1984 by named Michael Dell who was the

Research the negatives of Charter schools in LAUSD school system Paper

The negatives of Charter schools in LAUSD school system - Research Paper Example It is located in board district 1, local district 3, South Burnside Avenue, at 5100 Wilshire BLVD, in Los Angeles, CA. it serves approximately 300 students in grade 6-8. Charter schools have brought about criticism in education system especially in Los Angeles. The race of schools to provide quality education and maintain a position at the top has increased the support for charter schools in Los Angeles (Jack Buckley 3). The current struggle seen between LAUSD school board and union over charter schools represents the thirst for quality and top position. The quality of schools in Los Angeles is very low. They do o respond to the educational needs of the Los Angeles community. This observation clearly shows that something has to be done to bring a desired change. Despite the fact, that t it is clear that schools in Los Angeles need radical change, charter schools are not the answer for the required change (Jack Buckley 3). Charter schools have been criticized for not meeting the requi rements of the change required to solve the problem of low quality education in Los Angeles. Critics state that charter schools provide the best in terms of educational performance but still ignore important aspects of the society. The problem about charter schools started at the same time that charter schools began (Whitney 194). ... For instance, in a report compiled by UCLA civil rights project in 2003, Gary Orfield noted that people had an early concern with regard to the ability of charter schools to represent the minority (Whitney 95). They were concerned that charter schools would admit white students as they would escape diverse public schools. Others noted that charter schools would compromise public schools further to offer poor education to those who would not afford to pay for charter schools. In addition, this would result to discrimination of students based on the schools they occupy and consequently their social class in society (Whitney 195). Other people criticized charter schools stating that they are more business oriented than education oriented because they get their funding from a variety of sources that includes private investment. Private firms are allowed to fund Charter schools and can get profits when these schools perform. The schools are managed for profit. However, when charter school s fail to realize its target private investors leave for other business viable places. This means that the schools are closed thereby depriving students a right to continuous education (Jack Buckley 43). Therefore, some argued that the schools would promote profit-making ideals as opposed to educating children. Others argued that the profit would assist those schools achieve success. The government as well as private investors fund charter schools. They are funded through the federal categorical funding. They are opposed by teacher unions, antiracial groups and activists, private researchers and parents and students who favor public school system(Jack Buckley 43). According to Grading the Chartering Organizations, 2003, most states had a few resources for oversight

Public opinion on health care reform in the United States Research Paper

Public opinion on health care reform in the United States - Research Paper Example There have been many efforts to impose some kind of health care reform in the United States, and the aim of this essay is to examine the public opinion of the most recent effort by current President, Barack Obama, to change the way the system works in the US. The hypothesis is that most people asked, using a short survey written on the Qualtrics system, would have a favorable opinion of the current reforms suggested, particularly in regards to the reform of the private health insurance market and aiding those with long-term chronic conditions in qualifying for affordable health insurance policies. This topic is particularly important because healthcare is something that is required by every individual at some point in their lives, and thus this issue affects everyone in the United States. It is also particularly timely because of the current economic recession (Blendon and Benson, â€Å"Public Opinion, the Deep Recession†, 2010), meaning that health insurance premiums are out of reach for more people than ever. This is part of the reason why we have hypothesized that the public opinion will be generally positive concerning this issue. Existing research on the topic has suggested that people are of generally mixed views about the reforms. We can see from evidence provided by Zis, Jacobs and Shapiro (1996) that showed public opinion on healthcare before the reforms were suggested that is particularly difficult to find a common ground between politicians and the public on this issue. More recent research suggests that public opinion on the specifics of the healthcare system as proposed by and passed by Obama are mixed (Blendon and Benson, â€Å"Public Opinion at the Time†, 2010). This is also shown in evidence from Gelman, Lee and Ghitza (2010). This article goes on to state that the majority of reform opposition comes from those within a higher income bracket and those over 65. This has led to the formation of the third hypothesis being tested by th is questionnaire. This research proposes that it will in fact be those over the age of 40 that will be more opposed to the healthcare reforms, although the age responses will be grouped to allow us to see if this statement will back up Gelman, Lee and Ghitza (2010). The first hypothesis will be testing the current thought in research that people have mixed views on the topic of healthcare reform. Existing research has also shown that people are in agreement with some of the pieces of the healthcare reform, and it is as a whole that it causes controversy (Brodie et al., 2010). This research covered the topic from a more historical perspective and additionally used information from those leaving the polling stations. This meant that people were more likely to be volatile in the opinions they expressed. The theory put forward by this research is that people are generally happy with certain aspects of the reform, and the questionnaire will question the opinion of people on the specific topic of extending Medicaid coverage to test this theory. Finally, there has been a lot of research on whether the healthcare reforms benefit certain ethnic groups and as such they show a more positive response to the laws, for example the work by Tesler and Sears (2010). This has been widely debated and as such is not a gap in the research and will not be included in the hypotheses. The three testable hypotheses are, then: 1. Individuals questioned will generally express positive views (as indicated by the

Short Case Essay Example for Free

Short Case Essay At your company, a bottler of natural spring water, the advertising department has recently launched a campaign that emphasizes the purity of your product. The industry is highly competitive, and your organization has been badly hurt by a lengthy strike of unionized employees. The strike seriously disrupted production and distribution, and it caused your company to lose significant revenues and market share. Now that the strike is over, your company will have to struggle to recoup lost customers and will have to pay for the increased wages and benefits called for in the new union contract. The company’s financial situation is precarious to say the least. You and the entire senior management team have high hopes for the new ad campaign, and initial consumer response has been positive. You are shocked, then, when your head of operations reports to you that an angry worker has sabotaged one of your bottling plants. The worker introduced a chemical into one of the machines, which in turn contaminated 120,000 bottles of the spring water. Fortunately, the chemical is present in extremely minute amounts—no consumer could possibly suffer harm unless he or she drank in excess of 10 gallons of the water per day over a long period of time. Since the machine has already been sterilized, any risk of long term exposure has been virtually eliminated. But, of course, the claims made by your new ad campaign could not be more false. List all of the stakeholders involved in this situation. Do any stakeholder groups have more to gain or lose than others? Develop a strategy for dealing with the contamination. How much does a company’s financial situation determine how ethical dilemmas are handled? In this situation the list of stakeholders would be everyone in the company. If the company is not able to make money then the company is at stake and this stakeholders are everyone that is employed, this includes myself as the owner of the company to the labor employees that have a newly negotiated labor contract. I do not believe that anyone group has more or less to loose; instinctively, I would think the lower wage workers would have more to loose, but is actually not true, because its all relative. The strategy I would use to deal with this situation is to stay honest an true to the product the company sells and to the employees. First, I would write a detailed letter to everyone explaining the situation. I would explain the position of the company before this incident and the potential implications of this situation. The company’s financial situation has a lot to deal with how this situation. Which is why I feel it is important to be transparent. My plan would be to dispose of the contaminated supply along with any equipment that would contaminate future products. I would work the manager or director of infection control to make sure the contaminated product is appropriately disposed of and to come up with a plan that would insure this does not happen again. One all is said and done, I would relay all relevant information to all the employees of the organization. Further, I would l relay a newly created policy of what how employees will how act in this manner will be dealt with.

MIS Related Issues

MIS Related Issues ASOS.com MIS RELATED ISSUES à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Despite the spectacular dot-com bust a few years ago, the Internet has markedly changed the way we do business. (Reynolds, 2004, 78) Conducting business in the digital economy refers to the use of Web-based systems, on the Internet and other electronic networks, to accomplish some form of e-commerce. Networked computing is helping some companies excel and is helping others simply to survive. Generally, the collection of computing systems used by an organization is defined as Information Technology (IT). In the developed countries, almost all medium and large organizations use information technologies, including e-commerce, to support their operations. IT, in its narrow definition, refers to the technological side of an Information System (IS); it includes the hardware, software, databases, networks, etc. An IS collects, processes, stores, analyzes, and disseminates information for a specific purpose. It processes the inputs (data, instructions) by using IT and produces outputs (reports, calculations). It includes people, procedures, facilities and it operates within an environment. MIS refers to the management of ISs and it raises a lot of concerns, such as global, e-commerce, software system choices, ethical, social and operation strategy issues. (Turban et al, 2001) The aim of this paper is to examine five selected MIS topics and analyze specifically one or two of the occurring issues of each topic; then, connect these issues to the ASOS.com enterprise. The paper begins with a brief observation of the background of ASOS.com. Initially, the selected topics and issues, derived from relevant literature, will be described. Next, a discussion of whether each issue is a problem for ASOS.com or not is presented. Furthermore, a reflective paragraph follows. The paper ends with the conclusion section and the references. ASOS.com Asos.com, is the UKs largest online-only fashion and beauty store, attracting over one million visitors a week. Its name stands for à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"As Seen On Screen and it was chosen to show the brands intention, to supply the public with outfits similar to the styles of celebrities. Asos.com targets 16 to 34 year olds; it offers womens fashion, menswear, accessories, jewelry and beauty products. It provides potential customers browsing its content, with a number of unique features. For example, individual catwalk model videos of most clothing items on the site, and a fashion blog, which is frequently updated with articles relating to celebrity and entertainment. Asos.com is greatly admired for its large variety of fashion and beauty goods and for the speed at which it keeps up with the latest fashion trends. (http://www.asos.com/) Asos.coms headquarters are located in Camden Town, in North London. The company was launched by Nick Robertson in 2000. Since then, the online company has seen significant growth. Over Christmas season of 2008, it reported a 100% increase in sales and for the financial year ending 31 March 2009, it reported a revenue of  £165,395,000. Asos.com is being run by a board of three directors and two non-executive directors. It is a PLC, quoted on the AIM (Alternative Investment Market) part of the London Stock Exchange. AIM is not as strict in its rules as the main market; it therefore, helps smaller companies to raise capital through the sale of shares. Asos.com chose to use the web channel, since researches have shown that online sales have been increasing faster than any other sector. It has targeted young people, for these represent around 60% of online shoppers. To attract them, it offers a diverse range of brands and products. Above all, it offers a pleasurable shopping experience, by ensuring that the website provides much more than a customer would expect from a shop. The site, also, provides more choices, competitive prices, new styles and, above all, convenience. While growing, Asos.com has developed a more complex structure. It has worked hard to keep up with changes in technology. The website is being kept up-to-date by constantly adding new products and product lines. Moreover, Asos.com uses other communication channels to drive growth. These include a monthly magazine of 116 pages and an e-mail newsletter that is being sent to 1.8 million users each week. In addition, it distributes PR pieces in other publications and encourages word-of-mouth recommendation. (http://www.asos.com/) GLOBAL MIS/RISKS Designing websites for a global audience The designing of successful web-sites that present information about products and services is a relatively recent occupation, which introduced new issues and challenges that designers were called to face. It is well-known that some web-sites seem to be more efficient than others. They are more often visited and more purchases occur. Very little is reported in the literature on web design and the evaluation of the factors that formulate a successful web-site. However, many studies have been made, in order to empirically test the features, often mentioned by trade journals and vendors, as being critical to design a successful web site. The roles of a web-site are many and important; some of them are: marketing research, marketing tool, public relation machine and means of payment. Web sites are basically an interface between the costumer and the firm. The web sites are being designed in order to facilitate organizations, to carry out business activities by using Internet technology. On their web sites, each organization promotes and sells its products or services, provides catalogs, technical support and obtains useful feedback from its consumers. (Udo and Marquis, 2001/2) According to Udo and Marquis, there are eight factors that contribute to the design of an effective web site: * Download Time (response time) * Navigation * Graphics Usage * Interactivity * Cohesion * Consistency * Use of Frames * Amount of Advertisements (Udo and Marquis, 2001/2) According to Tilson, R. principles like simplicity, satisfaction (feedback) and versatility (flexibility) are also very important in designing e-commerce sites. In fact, Tilson describes eight factors, with which the designer achieves the following: * Simplicity: doesnt compromise usability for function. * Support: user is in control with proactive assistance. * Obviousness: makes objects and their controls visible and intuitive. * Encouragement: makes actions predictable and reversible. * Satisfaction (feedback): creates a feeling of progress and achievement. * Accessibility: makes all objects accessible at all times. * Versatility (flexibility): supports alternate interaction techniques. * Personalization: allows users to customize. (Tilson et al, 1998) Asos.com has very successfully designed its website for a global audience. As already mentioned, the website offers to potential customers a large variety of unique features, such as catwalk videos, a fashion blog, a diverse range of brands and products, a pleasurable shopping experience, competitive prices, new styles and convenience, in order to attract more users and set itself apart from other similar websites. The company tries to keep up with changes in technology by frequently updating the website, which is also kept up-to-date by constantly adding new products and product lines, according to the latest fashion trends. Its global success has been recognized through many awards such as: % Sep 2002: E-commerce awards à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Highly commended % Feb 2005: More Magazine Fashion Awards à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Most Addictive Online Shopping % Oct 2008: Aim Awards à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Company of the Year % Nov 2008: Company High Street Awards à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Best Online Shopping % Mar 2009: Cosmopolitan Online Fashion Awards à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Best Online Retailer (http://www.asos.com/) E-COMMERCE AND ITS ISSUES à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Electronic commerce is taking off both in terms of the number of users shopping, as well as, the total amount of people, who are spending via Internet based transactionsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ . (Tilson et al, 1998) E-commerce is gaining importance rapidly, in todays business environment. The practice of e-commerce has been in existence since 1965 and has attracted the interest of many pundits. Most companies accepted and adopted the e-commerce technology faster than any other technology in the history of mankind. The reason is that the benefits are plenty; by creating a web site they can be seen all around the world, reach out to new customers, have lower transaction costs, meet their customers expectations and needs, provide new services and products and therefore, remain competitive. (Khan, 2008) E-commerce presents enormous opportunities for both consumers and businesses in the world. The self-service enabled by it, allows consumers to conduct a wide-range of activities. They can access thousands of online sites and purchase anything, from groceries to books, cars, credit-cards and loans. As Mark Hurst stated: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Its ease of use, its ease of use. Why doesnt the industry get that?à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (Andrews, 1998) Legal and Ethical issues in E-Business Internet technology has posed new challenges for the protection of individual privacy. Computer information, regarding Internet users, is generated every day through credit card purchases, telephone calls, magazine subscriptions, video rentals, mail-order purchases, banking records and local/state/federal government records. If this information is put together and minded properly, it could reveal a users credit information, driving habits, tastes, associations, political interests and much more. It is possible to record many online activities, including which websites a user has visited, which newsgroups or files he has accessed and what items he has purchased over the Web. Some organizations use this information to better target their offerings. Others monitor the Internet usage of their employees to see how they are using company network resources. A new data analysis technology called NORA (non-obvious-relationship-awareness) offers even more powerful profiling capabilities to the government and the private sector. NORA can take information about people from sources like employment applications, telephone records, customer listings and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"wanted lists, and correlate relationships to find obscure hidden connections that might help identify criminals or terrorists. Cookies are another noteworthy issue. Cookies are tiny files deposited on a computer hard drive, when a user visits certain websites. Cookies identify the visitors Web-browser software and track visits to the website. When the visitor returns to the site, the website software will search the visitors computer, find the cookie and know what that person has done in the past. Then the site can customize its contents for each visitors interests. There are several more ethical/legal concerns occurring from the use of IT. For example, another issue is the protection of intellectual property such as software, digital books, digital music, or digitized video. It is extremely difficult to protect intellectual property, when it can so easily be copied and distributed. In addition, there is the matter of the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"spam messages and the computer theft/fraud (stealing personal credit card information). (Laudon and Laudon, 2005) Asos.com guarantees privacy and security over credit card purchases for the website visitors. There have been strong movements from the political view to protect the Web users privacy and security. Additionally, the online industry has preferred self-regulation to privacy legislation for protecting consumers. In 1998, the online industry formed the Online Privacy Alliance to encourage self-regulation to develop a set of privacy guidelines for its members. The group promotes the use of online seals, like TRUSTe, certifying websites adhering to certain privacy principles. There has also been created an additional industry association called Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) to develop its own privacy policies to help consumers opt out of advertising network programs and provide consumers redress from abuses. On top of the legislation, new technologies are available to protect user privacy during interactions with websites. Many of these tools are used for encrypting e-mail, making surfing and e-mail activities appear anonymous, preventing client computers from accepting cookies etc. Asos.com plans to use such activities in the short-run, to ensure its visitors privacy. (Laudon and Laudon, 2005) SOFTWARE SYSTEM CHOICES To buy off-the-shelf packages or develop from scratch The acquisition of new software and hardware can bring dramatic applications that will change an organization. Managers must be prepared to make risky acquisitions that will have a significant impact on the firm. There has been some movement towards outsourcing and strategic alliances to reduce the time required to develop vital applications. Buying instead of making is one strategy to bring change more quickly in the firm. However, the purchase decision is one that usually warrants advice from systems professionals. Software can be bought from a large number of companies. Manufacturers of large computers often sell proprietary software for them, especially operating systems. Companies like Computer Associates sell a great deal of software for large-scale computers. The main attraction of buying of-the-shelf packages is to avoid having to develop a custom system. Custom programming is expensive and time-consuming; therefore, when a package is available, it should be considered. The major advantage of using a package is cost savings. The package developer expects to sell a number of packages to recover the investment in developing it. The cost is thus amortized over a number of users. The cost to the developer though is usually higher than the development of a single application would be, since the package must be general enough to be used by a number of customers. This increased generality makes the package larger, more complex and often less efficient to operate than an application specifically developed for a single application. (Henry and Lucas, 2000) The à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"make or buy decision is always a difficult one for management. The availability of new technologies in the marketplace and a movement by firms to get back to their core competencies, have led many companies to select the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"buy option. Because of the high cost and long time required to develop software, most managers look first at whether they can buy existing software and modify it, if necessary, to avoid programming an application from scratch. (Henry and Lucas, 2000) (Henry and Lucas, 2000) Asos.coms managers had to face all these difficulties in order to make a decision of whether to develop their own custom system or buy existing software and modify it, according to their needs. They could have depended upon outsourcing to develop and operate their applications, or choose to retain part of their IT functions and to partially outsource some activities, which I believe would be the best decision for the company. Unfortunately, there isnt much information in the Asos.com website of how the organizations software systems were developed. ETHICS / SOCIAL ISSUES Information ethics relates to standards of right and wrong in information processing practices. Organizations must deal with ethical issues relating to their employees, customers and suppliers. Ethical issues are of high importance, for they have the power to damage the image of an organization and to destroy the morale of the employees. Ethics is a complicated area, since ethical issues are not cut-and-tried; they vary between people, cultures and countries. What may be regarded as ethical by one person may be regarded as unethical by another. (Turban et al, 2001) Displacement of employees with Information Technology IT offers many benefits to the organizations. A key benefit of IT is for example, the reengineering of work; it provides operations with many benefits such as elimination of production waste and reduction of operating costs. On the other hand, redesigning business processes could cause millions of employees to lose their jobs. As Rifkin (1993) said: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"We will create a society run by a small high-tech elite of corporate professionals [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] in a nation of the permanently unemployed. (Laudon and Laudon, 2005) Some argue that relieving bright, educated workers from reengineered jobs will result in their replacement to better jobs in fast-growth industries. However this does not apply to unskilled, blue-collar workers and less well-educated, old managers. Consequently, IT has created new ethical dilemmas, in which one set of interests is pitted against another. For example, many of the large telephone companies in the USA are using IT to reduce the sizes of their workforces. Voice recognition software reduces the need for human operators by enabling computers to recognize a customers responses to a series of computerized questions. Competing values at work are, therefore, developed and groups are lined on either side of a debate. Companies argue that displacing employees with IT is ethical, since they have the right to use ISs to increase their productivity and reduce the size of their workforce, in order to lower expenses and remain in business. The employees that are being displaced argue that their employers have responsibilities against their welfare and that their displacement with IT is unethical. (Laudon and Laudon, 2005) Asos.com, as an online corporation, occupies much less personnel than traditional fashion and beauty industries. The company hires high-educated, IT experts to run the operating software and keep the companys website updated with the most innovative features. Displacement of employees with IT is not an issue for Asos.com, although, the latest movement of businesses moving into the digital economy, could be an issue for less and less workers are needed. STRATEGY AND IS / INITIATIVES à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Competitive Advantage is at the core of a firms success or failure. (Turban et al, 2001) Ensure continued, powerful Competitive Advantage Computer-based ISs have been enhancing competitiveness and creating strategic advantage for several decades. A competitive strategy is defined as a broad-based formula for how a business is going to compete, what its goals should be and what plans or policies will be required to carry out those goals. Through its competitive strategy, an organization seeks a competitive advantage in an industry. A Competitive Advantage represents an advantage over competitors in some measure such as cost, quality, or speed. A strategic IS can assist an organization to gain a competitive advantage through contribution to its strategic goals and the ability to considerably increase performance and productivity. (Turban et al, 2001) M. Porters competitive forces model is the most popular framework for analyzing competitiveness. It is used to develop strategies for organizations, with the purpose of increasing their competitive edge. Porters model identifies five major forces that could endanger an organizations position in a given industry. These forces are: 1. The threat of entry of new competitors 2. The bargaining power of suppliers 3. The bargaining power of customers 4. The threat of substitute products or services 5. The rivalry among existing firms in the industry (Turban et al, 2001) Asos.com is an online-only corporation; this fact alone provides the company with a strong competitive advantage over its (traditional-clothing-stores) competitors. Asos.com possesses a competitive advantage, mainly, in a matter of cost/expenses, since it doesnt own stores and doesnt occupy vendors and other kinds of staff (cleaning staff, security, etc.) For Asos.com, Internet technologies offer very powerful tools that can increase success through traditional sources of competitive advantage. For example, apart from low cost, Asos.com has an excellent customer service and superior supply chain management. Low costs contribute to more advantages such as competitive prices and supreme quality for the companys products. Consider and Decide IT Strategy: be a leader, a follower or an experimenter Strategic management refers to the conduct of drafting, implementing and evaluating cross-functional decisions that will enable an organization to achieve its long-term objectives. IT contributes to strategic management in many ways. For example, it can contribute through innovative applications, competitive weapons, changes in processes, links with business partners, cost reductions, relationships with suppliers and customers, new products and competitive intelligence. Porters model identifies the forces that influence competitive advantage in the marketplace. Managers are interested in the development of a strategy that aims to establish a profitable and sustainable position against these five forces. To accomplish this, a company needs to develop a strategy of performing activities differently from a competitor. There are many different strategies that managers can choose, according to which copes best with their operation. Some of them are the following: Cost Leadership Strategy: Produce products at the lowest cost in the industry. A firm achieves cost-leadership in its industry by thrifty buying practices, efficient business processes, forcing up the prices paid by competitors and helping customers/suppliers reduce their costs. Differentiation Strategy: Offer different products, services, or product features. By offering different-better products companies can charge higher prices, sell more, or both. Niche Strategy: Select a narrow-scope segment (niche market) and be the best in quality, speed or cost in that market. Innovation Strategy: Introduce new products and services, put new features in existing ones, or develop new ways to produce them. There are many other strategies such as Growth, Alliance, Operational Effectiveness, Time Strategy, etc. (Turban et al, 2001) Asos.com has tried to implement Niche strategies. It has chosen a relatively small market segment (it targets consumers aged 16 to 34) in the clothing/fashion and beauty industry and it has tried to be the best in cost, quality, and speed of the deliveries (same day delivery service through the use of MetaPack delivery management software and CitySprints SameDay Courier solution). Given that it is an online enterprise, and it can therefore keep expenses low, it demonstrates very competitive prices and a very wide range of products and brands. It also maintains high standards of quality for its products. (http://www.asos.com/) REFLECTIVE PARAGRAPH I believe that the main lesson learnt here is that the use of IT has many benefits, but also many drawbacks. IT and the use of information systems can bring rapid change to organizations, enhance productivity and reduce costs. A firm established on the World Wide Web has countless advantages, which is why most medium and large organizations and even small ones create a website. In contrast, numerous concerns derive from the exploit of IT. Global, software system choices, e-commerce, strategy and IS initiatives, and ethical, social and political, are only some of the subjects that raise a great deal of issues. However, there are many options to be considered for the use of IT and most of the matters can be resolved. CONCLUSION To conclude, a brief observation of the background of ASOS.com has been given. The five selected MIS topics have been examined and the occurring issues have been analyzed. Moreover, a discussion of whether each described issue is a problem or not for ASOS.com has been presented. Finally, my reflective thoughts have been outlined, in the reflective paragraph. Last of all, mentioning that in the 21st century we find ourselves living in the age of computerization, is essential. There is plenty room for future development of IT and IS. Information and Communication Technologies for Development, for example, refers to the application of Information and Communication Technologies within the field of socioeconomic development or international development and its concept is intimately associated with applications in the developing nations. It is concerned with the direct application of IT approaches to poverty reduction. Information and communication technologies can be applied either in a direct (their use directly benefits the disadvantaged population) or in an indirect sense (facilitates the improvement of general socio-economic conditions). In many indigent regions of the world, legislative and political measures are required to facilitate or enable application of information and communication technologies. References Andrews, W. (1998) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“At Far Too Many Sites à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Buyer Be Lost Appliesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ , Internet World, Vol. 98, Issue 6 Henry, C. and Lucas, Jr. (2000) Information Technology for Management, McGraw-Hill, 7th edition, Ch. 15-17 Khan, K. M. (2008) Managing Web Service Quality: Measuring Outcomes and Effectiveness, Information Science Reference, Ch. 1,3 Laudon, K. and Laudon, J. (2005) Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm, Prentice Hall, 9th edition, Ch. 5 Reynolds, Janice (2004) The Complete E-commerce Book: Design, Build and Maintain a Successful Web-Based Business, CMP, 2nd edition, p.76-79 Tilson, R., Dong, J., Martins, S. and Kieke, E. (1998) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Factors and Principles Affecting the Usability of Four E-commerce Sites, Proc. Of the 4th Conference on Human Factors and the Web Turban, E., McLean, E., Wetherbe, J. (2001) Information Technology for Management: Transforming Business in the Digital Economy, Wiley, 3rd edition, Ch. 1, 2 Udo, Godwin J. and Marquis, Gerald P. (2001/2), à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Factors Affecting E-commerce Web Site Effectiveness, Journal of Computer Information Systems, Vol. 42, Issue 2, 10-17 The ASOS.com web-site: http://www.asos.com/