Disasters and Emergencies Earthquakes and Floods

Question: Discuss about theDisasters and Emergenciesfor Earthquakes and Floods. Answer: Introduction A disaster refers to a situation which occurs and results to disruptions of the normal activities, hence causing damage to the affected people. On the other hand, an emergency occurs as a result of a disaster. It is a state where by normalcy is disrupted to avert or take care of an on already existing disaster. Recently the world is faced with numerous disasters and hazards that are posing threats to human life, and countrys development(Quaranntel, 2008). This paper will address the causes of emergency and disaster situations and identify resources and strategies that could be utilized to reduce and manage the risks associated with these conditions. Causes of Disasters and Emergency Disasters are caused by either natural causes or human factors. Natural factors are beyond human control. Examples of natural factors which are disastrous are earthquakes, floods, hurricanes among others. Examples of natural disasters that have struck the world are the tsunami that struck Japan on March 2011 and spread through the Pacific and the Katrina hurricanes that caused the most damage in the US. The Boxing Day earthquake in Sumatra, Indonesia which resulted in strong water waves (tsunami) that left more than 230,000 people dead, and destroyed millions of properties and people livelihoods in 10 countries. A natural disaster is beyond human control, and in most cases, its very hard to control, since there may be no signs of the disaster striking(Blaikie, 2003). On the other hand, there are other disasters which are caused by human activities, for instances fires, which can result from oil spillage. Also, there are disasters resulting from environmental degradation. For example, droughts and famine which result to the death of many. Environmental degradation has as well greatly contributed to climatic changes, and as a result, most countries are already feeling the impacts of global warming, which are causing health and ecological disasters as was witnessed in 2003 in the European heat wave which killed thousands of people (Wilson, 2010). Emergencies are as a result of primary effects of disasters. Its in an attempt to avert the disaster from more damage. Either after it has already stricken or before it even strikes in case it shows signs of occurring. A primary disaster, for instance, is an emergency medical attention to several people injured during a mudslide or earthquakes or even from the fire. Secondary emergencies, on the other hand, are not directly linked to the disaster though they result from the extreme effects of disasters. For instance, a mudslide that can lead to breakage of sewers and hence disease outbreak which calls for emergency actions(Schepher-Pines, 2005). Framework and Plans for Emergency and Disaster Reduction As a result of the numerous changes taking place worldwide, many nations have resolved to form a framework for addressing the disasters and the arising emergencies. Since the year 2004when a great tsunami struck Asia, the nations realized the need to have effective strategies in place in case a disaster occurs, especially with the unpredictable nature of disasters. As a result, there is increased international cooperation because disasters know no borders. Countries have partnered to form multilateral and bilateral firm partnership as a strategy to reduce risks caused by emergencies as well as by the natural or human-related disasters. Many global countries have resolved into integrating the disaster reduction initiatives with their MDGs. There has also been a rise in the setting up of regional platforms to address the challenge of disasters and emergencies both at regional and at the international levels(McEntire, 2000). Countries have resolved into holistic strategies of dealing with the disaster challenges. There is, for instance, the Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015), formed in the year 2015, by the World Conference on Disaster Reduction. The framework aimed at strengthening the global goals of development and the disasters and risk reduction strategies. The framework has three main strategic goals; Integrating the disaster prevention plans with the overall sustainable development plans and policies. Systematically incorporate the risk reduction strategies to the implementing of disasters and emergency preparedness recovery programs as well as with the necessary responses. Develop and strengthen the institutions, available mechanisms, and the global capacities to create resilience towards hazards and disasters. Additionally, there is also the Gleneagles 2005 summit, which is a strategy in which the countries who are members of the G-8 commit themselves to offer all possible support to countries prone to disasters. There are also driven by the desire and motive of sharing information and knowledge regarding hazards and risk management, giving warnings to areas which are susceptible to disasters. The G-8 countries work hand in hand with the World Bank and the UN, as well as with all the other willing development banks and the developing nations, to help address the issue of risk management. The Hyogo Framework for Action and the G-8 are existing platforms with a driving, and of reducing occurrences of emergencies, they encourage bilateral and multilateral partnership, also advocate for regional countries community-based preparedness and efficient, responsive plans in efforts to mobilize the community to have effective responses to disasters(Dynes, 1994). Additionally, still on disasters reduc tion efforts, the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) is undergoing numerous to act as a strategic tool for implementing the Hyogo Framework for Action to be used by all the stakeholders, both the UN and non-UN contributors and through an efficient building of infrastructure and housing stocks. Its not possible. The Kyoto Protocol Climate Conference held in 1997 came up with plans for reducing risks caused by climatic changes resulting from industrial activities in developed countries. The countries developed an overall framework for cutting greenhouse gases emissions. The US promised to stabilize its emissions while the European Union promised a 15% decrease. During the conference, the agreed framework would help reduce greenhouse gas emissions(Aldrich Meyer, 2015). Strategies to Reduce the Risk of Emergency Situations and Disasters Disaster management should be treated as a holistic process involving all the sectors of development. It calls for an active planning and broad investments, failure to which significant losses will be incurred if a disaster hits a country. Some disasters are manageable hence there should be a collective measure by the regions which are susceptible to certain disasters. Below are some strategies that countries can put in place to help reduce the risk of disasters and emergency occurrences. Country level advocacy on risk reduction; the World Bank has a set up natural disaster hotspots known as the Global Risk Analysis, which will help identify the disasters susceptible regions and countries. This will help the countries being in prepared for the kind of disasters that can strike their region. If countries are aware of the imminent risks, they will be in a better position to put in place effective risk avoidance measures hence the occurrence of the disaster may be prevented or the impacts minimized. The World Bank in collaboration with other international bodies has come up with the several tools which help in risk management. What the countries should do is they should get the risk management tools and distribute them across their Ministries of Planning, Finance and Disaster Management; this will increase their level of preparedness towards disasters(Neumayer, 2007). Country-level hazard risks and poverty assessment; to ensure that poverty implementation strategies are sustainable the government should consider incorporating hazard risk assessment and reduction strategies of the region. Hazard risk assessment policies incorporate the hazard mapping, protecting economic and social developments as well as activities from danger through incentivization alleviate poverty without managing risks, since no matter the developments a disaster can bring them down in a day(Neumayer, 2007). Countries should make use of existing poverty elimination strategies to measure the levels of risks and disasters vulnerability. Identification of poverty causes can help identify the specific disasters that recurrently affect the prone areas, and this will ease the risk reduction process as they are already known which disaster to deal with. Sectorial risk management strategy; the impacts of a disaster impact negatively on all sectors. This, therefore, means that to overcome risks and disasters, countries should ensure they have specific strategies for all the sectors; this will help reduce the overall damage and losses incurred when a disaster strikes. These strategies include; Human resource development; to successfully overcome risks its important to educate the general public of the various disasters that exists, especially the human-related disasters, many human-related disasters occurs as a result of lack of knowledge of the dangers that their activities can lead into. For example, great fires have been caused by oil spillages; this means that the government should come up with strategies for educating the citizen about disasters. Also, the public should be informed about the disasters that the country is vulnerable to, enlightening them on precautionary measures as well as the best reactions they should turn to in case of emergence of the strike. Its important to alert people on how they should react to fire, floods, earthquakes and other disasters in case they strike. This strategy can help reduce losses and reduce the chances of risk occurrences. Risk management should be introduced in the learning institutions(Maskrey, 2009). Medical education and safety of health facilities; to take care of emergencies in case disasters occur calls for proper strategy inception in the medical sector. Medical practitioners, for example, should be trained on how to handle mass casualties. Managing the vast number of causalities also means that three should go through preparedness to be able to accommodate a large number of disaster victims. It, therefore, means that all the national government should strategically ensure that their medical facilities can handle large masses of casualties in case of a disaster. The Government should as well consider restructuring the health facilities infrastructure to suit the needs of disaster victim if a disaster occurs. This will also help reduce secondary effects of emergency in case an outbreak occurs. The facilities should be strategically built in a way that outbreaks are not easily spread within the hospital premises(Mileti, 1992). Public management capacities and administration enhancement; the Federal government as well as the local civil services like the municipal council play critical role in the creation and implementation of risk reduction strategies. Countries should, therefore, come up with disaster and risk refresher training programs towards the federal officers and the civil service. This will help increase their preparedness to disasters as well as provide them with knowledge of how to prevent risks from occurring. Informing them of the countries vulnerabilities to risks and disasters is also an important strategy of risk reduction and management. The national training policy of every country should strategize on achieving this as part of the public management and administration enactment strategy.The government must priotize provision of adequate capacities in the public management training as there will be an increase in disasters with the increase in population, the higher rates of urbanization, increased environmental degradation, climatic changes among others (Korstanje, 2011). Strengthening decentralization; three local communities and the local governments are responsible for handling emergencies brought up by impending risks and disasters. Their disaster management capabilities significantly affect the extents of damages caused by the risks(Korstanje M. E., 2001). To prevent risks from resulting into disasters, the government should come up with risk adoption and development strategies during the initial planning of the socioeconomic programs of development. Local governments should be given the capacities needed to empower the people on matters of disaster vulnerabilities, and on the various ways of reducing the occurrence of risks(Paul, 2003). Capacity enhancement to the vulnerable groups; when a disaster strikes vulnerable groups is affected most. These calls for a need to ensure risks are reduced on them by all means, the governments and the international group should collectively develop strategies acts as risk mitigation tools to enable the poor, as well as the vulnerable groups, reduce the risk occurrence. There should also be appropriate strategies to assist the post-disaster communities to get back to their lives and offer a quick response to the disasters to reduce the risk of secondary emergencies occurrences. For example, if an area is affected by floods the government should have appropriate strategies put in place to avoid disease outbreaks(Bankoff, 2004,). Strengthening the hydro-meteorological services; there are several disasters which arise as result of climatic and non-climatic hazards. The government should ensure to put in place appropriate strategies to learn of the possible disasters and provide a relevant warning to the people. For example, if mass rainfall is expected which might result to flooding the government should provide a warning to the people living in sloppy and flat areas which may suffer the consequences of the floods(Susanna M. Hoffman, 2002). This will lead to increased levels of preparedness among the people. This, therefore, calls for setting up of climatic risk management strategies which should long term. Vulnerable regions should work in collaboration with the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development (ESSD) and country teams to develop a framework that will help the country mainstream adaptation means to climate variability and climatic changes(Alexander, 2002). In conclusion, it's evident that many disasters are facing the world today, it, therefore, calls for a common measure to prevent the occurrence of disasters since some are manageable, and reduce risks of those that are not. The international and regional bodies have come up with frameworks and planned to help face these challenges. If these disasters and risks are to be effectively managed, the strategies employed must be collective. At the international level countries in the same region must collectively strategize on how to manage and reduce risks. Also within the country, the government must involve all parties to fight this epidemic together. No one developmental sector can fight disasters on its own. Strategies to help reduce risks and disaster occurrences have also been identified, and its worth noting the list is not exhaustive of all possible strategies. References Aldrich, D. P., Meyer, M. A. (2015). "Social Capital and Community Resilience. American Behavioral Scientis, 254-269. Alexander, D. (2002). Principles of Emergency planning and Management,. Oxford: Principles of Emergency planning and Management, . Bankoff, G. G. (2004,). Mapping Vulnerability: Disasters, Development and People,. Routledge, : ISBN 978-1853839641. Blaikie, P. C. (2003). At Risk Natural hazards, people's vulnerability and disasters, . Wiltshire: Routledge. Dynes, R. (1994). Community Emergency Planning: False Assumptions and Inappropriate Analogies. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, 141-158. Korstanje, M. (2011). "The Scientific Sensationalism: short commentaries along with scientific risk perception". E Journalist, 10. Korstanje, M. E. (2001). "Swine Flu in Buenos Aires: Beyond the Principle of Resilience. International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, 5973. Maskrey, A. (2009). Disaster Mitigation: A Community-Based Approach. OXFORD: Oxfam. McEntire, D. (2000). Sustainability or invunerable development? Proposals for the Current shift in Paradigms. Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 58-61. Mileti, D. a. (1992). The causal sequence of Risk communication in the Parkfield Earthquake Prediction experiment. Risk Analysis, 393-400. Neumayer, E. a. (2007). 'The gendered nature of natural disastersL the impact of catastrophic events on the gender gap in making disaster risk reduction gender-sensitive: policy and practical guidelines life expectancy 1981-2002'. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 551-566. Paul, B. K. ( 2003). Public Response to Tornado Warnings: a comparative Study of the May 04, 2003 Tornadoes in Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee. Quick Response Research Report, no 165, Natural Hazard Cent. Oxford: University of Colorado. Quaranntel, E. (2008). "Where We Have Been and Where We Might Go", What is a Disaster?: A dozen Perspecrives on the Question,. London: Routledge. Schepher-Pines, L. (2005). Katrina: the disaster and its doubles. Athropology today, 6. Susanna M. Hoffman, S. M.-S. (2002). Catastrophe and Culture: The Anthropology of Disaster. School of American Research Press, , 12. Wilson, H. (2010). "Divine Sovereignty and the Global Climate Change debate". Essays in Philosophy, 1-7.

What is Spam Anyway Essay Example For Students

What is Spam Anyway? Essay Ive found when people discuss spam they really have no idea what they aretalking about. There are as many different definitions of spam as there arepeople. In point of fact, this factor alone (not being able to define whatspam is and what it consists of) makes it virtually impossible to control. In order to control spam, a useful definition is necessary. Why? Simple. Inorder to control something, you must know what you are controlling. Whenyou understand the basic facts, then you can take whatever course of actionis necessary. Until you achieve that understanding, you will be shootingblindly at an undefined target. This makes it very difficult to actually doanything useful. So on that note, what kind of definitions for spam work and dont work?Commonly spam is defined as unsolicited email. Unfortunately, thisdefinition by itself is NOT spam and means absolutely nothing. Whats wrongwith it? This definition does not help you solve the problem, and thus isincorrect. If this definition was true, then to prevent spam you would haveto somehow contact a person to ask them if you could send them an email. We will write a custom essay on What is Spam Anyway? specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now For example, I dont generally call someone on the phone and ask them foran email message. That would be silly. In fact, by definition most email isunsolicited; I dont, for example, expect my wife or a friend to ask me ifits okay to send me a message. Sometimes spam is defined as emails that are from unknown sources. Hmm. This really doesnt work well either. Ill get emails from my website frompeople I dont know these are not spam. Also, sometimes my friends willpass my email address to their friends, who send me email. These are alsonot spam, even though they were from an unknown source and wereunsolicited. How about just plain annoying emails? That seems to be the definition thatmost people have in mind when they mention spam. If the email is annoyingin some manner, and especially if it was unsolicited, it is spam. Thisdefinition probably gets a little closer to the heart of the matter, but itreally doesnt define spam well. What about unsolicited bulk email? This definition gets a little bit closerbut it still doesnt really define spam well. I mean I give my emailaddress to my bank and I really didnt ask them to send me emails (althoughI didnt ask them not to as well). Yet I would not call this spam as I dobusiness with the bank. Their emails might be annoying, but since I have abusiness relationship with the bank I expect them to communicate with meoccasionally. Okay, so what is spam?I like to think of spam as unethical mass email. By this I mean emailswhich violate the netiquette standards of the majority of users of theinternet. Note that by this definition, an individual email sent to a person is notspam. A commercial email, however, is another matter. Even a singlecommercial email might be unethical if it does not follow the rules below. Ethical emails are targeted well towards their audience. Unethical emailsare mass mailings sent out blindly to a large number of people. These are emails that are sent to thousands, tens of thousands, evenmillions of people, hoping against hope that a few dozen will be stupid orgreedy enough to respond. These emails are untargeted and will not pertainto the majority of the recipients. Since the majority of the people readingthe message (usually upwards of 99%) will simply delete it immediately,this makes the mailing unethical. .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f , .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f .postImageUrl , .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f , .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f:hover , .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f:visited , .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f:active { border:0!important; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f:active , .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Homeless Assistance EssayEthical email messages include valid email header information. Thisinformation properly identifies the sender of the message. In addition, allof the other header data in the message is correct. Spam messages often have forged or invalid email headers. This means it isdifficult (if not virtually impossible) to trace the source of the emailbased upon the header information within the email message. Since thesender of the message cannot be identified the message is unethical. Inthis case, even a single email message would count as spam. Ethical mailings include a method for opting out which actually works. If you run a newsletter or do any kind of mass mailing, you must include atleast one method of removal in the email message itself. This removalmethod (and more than one is preferable) MUST WORK. Some things which Ioften see in opt-out schemes which ARE NOT VALID include the following: . Any email message which states that the reader must go to a web site,log in and then modify his email preferences is UNETHICAL. Thisrequires too much information from the user and forces him to do toomuch work. . If the email message includes an unsubscribe link (or other means)which does not work, then it is UNETHICAL. . Messages which validly allow for opt-out but then say you will beremoved in a week or some other long period of time are UNETHICAL. These are computers people, and there is no reason to include theselong delays. Remove the person immediately. Ethical mass mailings are double-opt-in. This means after a person signs upfor the mailing list, he receives a confirmation message. He must eitherreply to this message or click a link to activate the mailings to him. Anyother form of opt-in is UNETHICAL as it allows people to be subscribed byothers or by accident. Ethical mailings do not include webbugs, set cookies or perform any kind ofinvoluntary tracking. Email messages are often opened up by the recipient before he knowsanything about the message. This means if you are doing any kind oftracking, the person has no way to stop it, short of blocking the receiptof the message entirely. This lack of a choice on the part of the recipientmakes this kind of tracking UNETHICAL. The only time this would be ethicalis if it was clearly stated when the user signed up for the mailing. Inthat instance, this behavior is known and this makes it ethical. Note thatwhile the web site privacy policy should state this fact, it must also bestated clearly on the page where the person actually signs up for themailing. Ethical mailers do not use email harvesters. Using special robots to gatheremail addresses from web sites is UNETHICAL. These email addresses aregenerally included on web sites to allow individuals to communicate withindividuals. Rarely is the intention to join a mass mailing listdistributed on CD. ALL USES OF EMAIL HARVESTING IS UNETHICAL. Ethical mailers do not take advantage of open relays or use other spammertricks. If you are legitimate, then there is no need to attempt to hideyour whereabouts or cover your tracks. Using a relay without permission orsending millions of emails through an unprotected formmail script is simplybad manners. Get the idea? Spamming is NOT sending someone one or more email messageswithout their express permission. Spamming is simply ignoring the rights ofothers (your audience, system administrators and even the users of theinternet as a whole). Thats all it is.

Reflections on Sensitive Patient Care essays

Reflections on Sensitive Patient Care essays This assignment is a reflective account of events that that took place on a shift while I was at work as a health care assistant at my workplace. It is an establishment that has enrollment of thirteen pupils, and they are also boarding at their home near the school. I will call the child X to maintain confidentiality. I was on shift and it was lunch time and there was short shortage so I was assigned to assist with lunch and feeding. I was introduced to child X who I had not looked after the therapeutic relationship which is the care giver and care receiver relationship, there is the therapeutic rapport to establish from a sense of trust and a mutual understanding exists between the two that build in a special link of the relationship according to Harkeruder and Hagan (2004). Peplau cited in Harkreader and Hagan (2004) notes that a good contact in a therapeutic relationship builds trust as well as would the patients self- esteem which could lead to personal growth for the patient. Re usch (1961) mentions that the purpose of therapeutic communication, is to improve the patients ability to function. So in-order to establish a therapeutic patient-nurse interaction a nurse must show a caring, sincerity, empathy and trustworthiness. This paragraph will discuss my feelings as the events took place. Before I started feeding her I introduced myself, I tried to build a good rapport with her as I did not want her to feel strange as she was not familiar with me. Child A was on a soft diet as she had difficulty with swallowing. I asked her permission to feed her. She looked at me and looked like a blur, I this situation, I showed emphatic listening as I put myself in her shoes. According to Wold (2004) emphatic listening is about the willingness to understand the other person not just judging the persons fact. I touched her shoulder, kept asking and raised my tone a bit because I was afraid that she was not hearing what I w...

Preondactylus - Facts and Figures

Preondactylus - Facts and Figures Name: Preondactylus (Greek for Preone finger, after the region in Italy where it was discovered); pronounced PRE-on-DACK-till-us Habitat: Shores of southern Europe Historical Period: Late Triassic (215-200 million years ago) Size and Weight: Wingspan of one to two feet and less than a pound Diet: Probably fish Distinguishing Characteristics: Long beak and tail; relatively small size About Preondactylus Gross-out alert: paleontologists have identified two fossils of Preondactylus, one normal and the other not so normal, and both hailing from Italys portion of the Alpian mountain chain. The normal fossil is an imprint of a nearly complete specimen, lacking only part of the head, encased in a 200-million-year-old slab of limestone. The not-so-normal fossil is a wadded-up ball of bones, as if a Preondactylus individual had been gobbled up a prehistoric trash compactor. As far as paleontologists can tell, this ball is what is known as a fish pellet: the unfortunate Preondactylus had been eaten whole by a prehistoric fish, which then vomited out the indigestible bits, including the bones! Now that that unpleasant detail is out of the way, what kind of creature was Preondactylus? Paleontologists have identified this long-tailed, narrow-beaked reptile as one of the most basal (i.e., earliest and least-evolved) pterosaurs in the fossil record, dating to late Triassic southern Europe. Preondactylus was closely related to other early pterosaurs like Rhamphorhynchus and Dorygnathus (hence its classification as a rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur, as opposed to the pterodactyloid pterosaurs of the later Mesozoic Era), and it probably made its living by plucking small fish out of the water (which would explain how that unfortunate individual wound up getting eaten by a fish itself).

Counter Trade Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Counter Trade - Assignment Example Switch trading as a countertrade assists global financial operations in instances where a company in a given state is short of obligations thereby hindering from making a purchase. Therefore, the company in need of the obligations would do a switch by buying the obligations from another company for it to be able to make a purchase as was observed by Contractor and Lorange (2002). Countertrade is also applied as a global financial operation in the form of a counter purchase. Contractor and Lorange (2002) argue that a counter purchase assists in transferring goods and services from an organization in one country to another in a different country, that promises to make a future purchase of goods from the same company. This form of countertrade enables the company that does not have the products needed to get them from another company that has the same products. This helps the first company to assure its continuity and, therefore, to avoid closure. Countertrade is one way in which techno logy can be exchanged between countries in the form of buybacks according to Contractor and Lorange (2002). A buyback also enables a company to acquire plants, equipments, and receive training easily through countertrade, thereby fostering growth in financial operations. Countertrade is one of the best ways of managing risks. This is because a company that is in need of products and services but is short of hard currency may still manage to acquire products and services through countertrade. This eliminates the dangers that may face the company such as closure. Countertrade is also another way of managing currency risks such as those due to non-convertibility of and fluctuation in currency value. Since countertrade does not involve currency, the business is never affected by the fluctuation in currency or non-convertibility (Trent, 2007). In conclusion, countertrade is one of the

My business part 2 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

My business part 2 - Research Paper Example A business should also plan its overall capacity in order to avoid instances of over or under production. This will ensure that it produces an amount that exactly satisfies the customers’ demands. Statistics employed to measure the quality characteristic in the business Quality in the business is majorly measured by the performance of the business (Venkatraman & Ramanujam, 805). A business is said to have a high quality characteristic when it attracts a large number of customers as compared to its competitors. This is because when the business attracts a large number of customers, then it will imply that the print business is offering quality services. On the other hand, quality of operations will also be determined by the usage of resources and materials. When materials are not economically managed, then the quality characteristic of the business will be assessed as poor (Venkatraman & Ramanujam, 810). Materials need to be handled carefully in order to reduce the costs of ope ration while maximizing the benefits. Effective communication also determines the quality characteristic of the business. This is because when the employees and the management communicate effectively, then it will imply that the flow of work in my print business will be effective too (Naidu, Babu & Rajendra, 30). ... In my print business, one of the key concepts that I will need to address in order to ensure effective capacity is the human factor. Employees need to be well trained, highly skilled and well experienced in order to ensure that they perform their jobs effectively to meet the potential output. Operational factors are also concepts that will determine the effective capacity of the firm (Stevenson, 19). This will involve factors such as inventory management, scheduling of activities, and meeting purchasing requirements effectively. These are factors that will ensure that the firm does not hold excess stocks in the business. This is because; excess stocks result from poor capacity planning and normally lead to excess capacity (Stevenson, 20). Facility factors such as location factors also affect the business considerably. Therefore, when choosing the location of my print business i will have to consider the transport costs. If the area is far from the market, then it will imply that the transport costs will be very high and delivery might delay at times thus, affecting the capacity planning of the business. In addition, I will also consider the labour supply in the area, and effective supply of resources such as water and electricity. Aggregate plan to maintain a competitive advantage To maintain a competitive advantage in the market, the business will have to market its products and services effectively in order to increase awareness and attract more customers. Secondly, the plan will involve proper determination of the prices to be charged. This is because; the business will only be highly competitive when its prices are more competitive compared to the market prices (Naidu,

Utilitarianism - Morality Essay Example for Free

Utilitarianism Morality Essay The use of utilitarianism when making moral decisions leads to an injustice society, evaluate this claim. The use of utilitarianism is a controversial subject for many people, some believe by using it, it can bring happiness to the majority of society, others say by using utilitarianism it can take away peoples own judgment making our society unjust. Strengths of Bentham’s theory begin with the fact that utilitarianism offers a relatively straightforward method for deciding the morally right course of action for any particular situation we may find ourselves in. Utilitarianism treats everyone the same, no one gets special treatment due to their emotional or social attachments, and Bentham wanted us to strive for happiness, his principle of utility states the greatest happiness for the greatest amount of people. In order to make sure we follow this statement Bentham devised the hedonic calculus as a way of measuring happiness; this name was chosen based on its Greek meaning of pleasure. For many people happiness is an important aspect of decision making as it is their main aim in life, the Hedonic calculus assists us in our moral decision making because it covers all the aspects of happiness for not one but all, the outcome is not bias and takes everyone’s feelings into account, by having happiness as a basis behind how we make decisions it allows us to adopt a flexible relativistic approach to each situation, aiming for the greatest happiness for the greatest number is discourages selfishness which then leads to a better society due to everyone being fair and reasonable. Mel Thompson agreed with Bentham, he said that Act utilitarianism appears to be simple to follow, just aim to achieve the greatest happiness for the greatest number†. The positive and negative consequences of our actions can be measured. This gives us an objective, independent way of deciding on what is right and wrong. Utilitarianism doesn’t rely on specific beliefs about God; this is helpful to all religious people and the growing number of atheists in our society. Utilitarianism is straight forward and based on the principle of minimising pain and maximising pleasure and happiness, it does not take into account religion, meaning the outcome may be more fair, some religious people have prejudices towards certain minorities meaning that women or homosexuals may be victimised, people who are religious may choose to do something because the bible says it, for example the slave trade was in the bible, but if they had used the hedonic calculus instead of the bible then it wouldn’t of happened, furthermore is would of lead to a just society, another example would be if someone was racist and was about to make a decision about a black person using their mind then the outcome would be unjust, but if they used the hedonic calculus it would lead to justice because the hedonic calculus does not take personal views into account. There are also many weaknesses to Bentham’s theory starting with the idea that some things are unpredictable and we should not base our ethical choices on something that may or may not happen. Utilitarianism has a different strategy when it comes to justice, our normal idea of justice would relate to everyone being treated fairly, utilitarianism allows some people to be sacrificed for the greater good, some people would argue that this in unfair and leads to an unjust society. One of the main weaknesses of Benthams version of Utilitarianism is that there is the potential to justify any act. This is because Benthams version is based, yes on the consequences of an action, but on the pleasure gained from an action. For example, if seven men were walking down an alley and stabbed a girl to death, then according to Benthams device The Hedonic Calculus the amount of the mens pleasure would completely outweigh the amount of the womans pain, and would therefore make the action of killing the women morally right. If you get rid of rules and allow people to choose to act in the greater good, they will actually act selfishly, and then try to justify their actions by claiming they were in the greater good, this would also lead to an unjust society because people would and argue that they were trying to follow the hedonic calculus. Imagine someone killed one healthy person and gave their organs to save 5 others. The balance of happiness over harm supports doing this according to the hedonic calculus, but we know that it is not right, Another argument against utilitarianism would be the idea of happiness and how it differs depending on the individual, happiness is not the same for everyone, one person’s happiness could be meaningless to another, this flaws utilitarianism due to the idea that it predicts that everyone’s idea of happiness is the same. Utilitarianism ignores the motives of actions, so long as the end is good, sexually this could mean that immoral means could be taken to obtain pleasure, so long as the pleasure outweighs any pain. In conclusion all the information shows that utilitarianism can help many people in the situations they may face throughout their life, but altogether does lead to injustice with in society, this is because utilitarianism assumes you can know the definite answer to every decision you make, this would be impossible for any human to achieve, the information leads to a conclusion that can justify evil acts, for example, if eight prison guards find a sense of happiness from beating the prisoners, then their acts of evil will be overlooked if someone was basing their decision on the hedonic calculus because in theory the happiness of the guards will out way the prisoners.