Bladerunner †Humanity and Nature Essay

The central theme of Bladerunner is the relationship between humanity and nature. More specifically it has a purpose in showing how science can negatively influence this fragile relationship. Set in Los Angeles of 2019 we see the decadence of western society into an inhumane harsh impersonal, technology-dominated realm. The inhabitants who fight for their daily survival are in desperate want for nature, contact with which is denied to them by the unrestricted scientific progress and the consequent exploitation of the natural world conducted for the sole purpose of profit. Humanity is also losing touch with it’s own nature. The compassion, the empathy, the love and the emotion are all rare or absent. This ailing relationship between humanity and nature is conveyed through the means of scene setting, dialogue, plot, camera techniques and other film features. All these elements of cinematography synthesise to create an effective portrayal of the unifying theme. In Bladerunner the most prominent element of cinematography is mise en scene. It generates a context for the film and therefore makes the plot and themes acceptable. To set an appropriate scene different variables need to be controlled. These variables include location, props, lighting and colour. In general the location of the plot is in the vast urban canyons of 2019 LA. The imposing dark buildings, the dirty fog, perpetual rain and the crowded dark streets devoid of vegetation make up the backdrop of most scenes. All this is filmed in dark lighting, which complements the effect produced by the fog in obscuring the living details. From this the responder acknowledges the deterioration of society, the harsh conditions that the humans are subjected to and the way the human spirit itself is progressively destroyed under such conditions. Filming such a location at night provides the director with the opportunity to use chiaroscuro (a technique of strong contrast) to further convey the dominance of technology over humanity. For example in outdoor scenes the garish flickering neons are obtrusively visible but they fail to illuminate the obscure, dark, fogged surroundings, including the multitudes of faceless people. The prominent visibility of artificial things over human presence together with the qualities of the location indicates the degradation of human life under the rule of science. The clothing worn by characters is an important choice made as part of setting the scene. Most of the street people wear hooded dark clothing covering their whole body. This is possibly to protect them from the rain but it also hides their faces and their eyes from the camera and from us, creating an impersonal atmosphere in conjunction with the harshness of the surroundings. We get a feeling that everyone hides from everyone else and human interpersonal interaction is limited to the bare necessity. Sometimes the style of clothing worn by characters tells us something about the characters themselves. For example the trenchcoat style garments worn by Deckard are a throwback to the ? 20s and ? 30s detective genre in film, and the responder instantly sees Deckard as such. There are times when the clothing worn gives us an insight into the themes of the film. When we first see meet Racheal (and we think she is a human), her outfit with geometric â€Å"power dressing† shape, the black hues and the perfect hair create an impression of power and efficiency, qualities that are valued in androids. The next time we meet her we see her in a fur coat and underneath, a soft white blouse. Then when she lets her hair down the transformation is complete. By now we know that she is a replicant and for a replicant to be so human is ironic when the ? real’ humans don’t show such qualities. This irony elucidates the deteriorated nature of humanity very effectively. The film is not only able to show the way humanity has lost contact with nature but also how much they appreciate and want it back in their society. The unicorn dream-scene conveys this effectively. The soft back lighting, the low tonal contrast, the colour and the lush vegetation create a setting that is very different to the usual scenes. It is contrasted with real world to further reinforce the lack of nature in society. The short length of the scene, and the fact that the scene is only Deckard’s dream, conveys the elusiveness of nature and shows us that humans still ? dream’ of having the presence of nature back in their world-weary lives. Another method used by the cinematographers to show the want for nature is through the presence of artificial animals. While the artificiality of the animals shows the destruction of nature the way humans still keep them as pets conveys their yearning to bring back nature. The decay of human spirit is also shown through the dialogue. In Bladerunner the scarcity of the dialogue itself potrays the lack of human interaction and consequently the lack of empathy or emotion. Characters only speak when it is necessary for their own survival and comfort but not for the sake of emotional involvement. However, the replicant slaves, who supposedly feel no emotion, interact more sensitively with each other. This irony again has the effect of showing the dehumanisation suffered by this society. The absence of nature and the way society deals with this is revealed through the way they refer to nature. For example at Tyrell’s office Decker asks Racheal if the owl is artificial, to which she replies â€Å"of course it is. † A similar conversation that occurs later between Salome (Zhora) and Decker about artificial snakes, further reinforcing the sad truth. Another common literary language feature that is used in Bladerunner is symbolism. The film is filled with visual symbolic codes. The unicorn, a mythical creature, which, according to myth, is a fragile and elusive being of beauty known for its rarity. In the film it symbolises the rarity of nature and it’s beauty and fragility. There are other symbols that signify the elusive presence of nature in human life. One is the unnaturally weak and indistinct sun. The sun is the source of all life on earth and nature’s sustaining energy. The weakened presence of the sun is possibly due to the fog but the importance lies not in the cause of the weakness. The dim sun is an indication that nature is being destroyed or is already destroyed. Another symbol is the motif of the human eye. Close to the beginning of the film we are presented with an ECU of Holden’s eye reflecting bursts of flame. The fiery human spirit. The motif carries on throughout the film, the close up of eyes during the Voigt-Kampff tests, Mr Chew’s eye shop, the glowing eyes of the owl and the gruesome death of Tyrell. In many cases we encounter human figures whose eyes are hidden. The important example is Tyrell whose eyes are hidden by the thick glasses, but this is also true for the â€Å"little people† or the street people. If the eyes symbolise the human spirit then it is also true that the concealment of the eyes represent the destruction of this spirit. The characters and the way they respond to events in the plot is the most significant way through which the creators of the film express their concerns about the relationship between humanity and nature. It is through the characters and the way they are influenced by the society in which they live that the audience are able to receive the majority of information about that society. To make up a character the director (Ridley Scott) has to synthesis the acting, the physical qualities of the actors, the costume, the lighting and the camera work. Harrison Ford plays Deckard; a Detective who is forced to put up in insensitive wall around him so as to carry out his job properly, but with the help of Racheal and Batty his soul comes through. The seriousness, the no-nonsense speech and the mechanical execution of his tasks all contribute to this image of a tough guy cop. It is also sad to see that he is forces hide his emotions and sentiments for the sake of survival in this harsh world. By the end of the film we sense that if Batty and Racheal had not saved him his spirit would have been lost under the pressure. Rutger Hauer has possibly the most appropriate natural qualities to play Roy Batty (robot? ). The ? Aryan look’, a western cultural assumption of superiority and the Swedish accent with the concise overtones which is particularly effective in a quiet voice make him the perfect super/sub-human replicant. To enhance the effect the hair is died white, his body and face is always lit up to prominence, and almost always the image is shot from underneath making him look surrealistically handsome and at the same time imposing. However the way he responds to the events in the plot show that he has more ? humanity’ in him that the people who consider themselves human. The most memorable instance is they way he moaned for the death of Pris. He is not ashamed to return to the most basic instinct of openly showing emotion. This beautiful scene along with other such human responses from a replicant serves to convey the suppression of human nature in the society. Rachael is played by Sean Young as the replicant who doesn’t know she is an android. The character’s function is similar to that of Batty. To show the deterioration of everything ? human’ in the world of 2019. Her transformation itself carries the message. When she thought she was a human her conduct was much like a robot; the emotionless soulless state of mind everyone is in. But once she begins to realise that she is replicant her appearance becomes increasingly ? human’. This humanisation is portrayed through the use of costumes, the use of varying light and the use of ECU. Tyrell is the other character who has an important function in conveying the themes. Genuinely lacking emotions or empathy, his main objective is the profit margin. He is part of the corporate dictatorship that has suppressed the spirit of the people and destroyed the natural world. His character is the total antitheses of Batty. The overconfidence in his intelligence, the impersonal way in which he addresses other characters, the opulent surrounding in which he lives show him as powerful tyrant. The irony is that he holds the status of God when he is not even fit to be a human. Thus through the development of characters and their response to the events of the plot, Ridley Scott and the actors communicate the way relationship between humanity and nature has evolved (deteriorated) into the world of 2019 LA. In effect all the techniques mentioned above portray a society of individuals who are weary of the world they live in. They are rejects who lead a pitiful existence in a wasteland called earth because they are not fit enough to go the out-world colonies. Suppressing their own natural instincts for the sake of physically surviving they really the walking dead. Scientific progress conducted not for the best interests of humanity but for the best interests of business has effectively brought about the progressive degradation of society. By exploiting and destroying the natural world human can no more find solace or beauty so as to recuperate their weary minds and rekindle their dying spirits. In summary the techniques that are unique to film such as camera, lighting, costuming, colour and location works in conjunction with common literary techniques such as visual symbolism, irony and characterisation to effectively convey the relationship between humanity and nature.

English, the Official Language in the U. S.

The researcher stated that English is now the official language in the United States. There are documents that discuss the importance of an official language in America, which supports this statement. In this research there are further details about English as the Official Language in the U. S. and how language can unite people in society, it can be universal as a language, and it also shows that it has the tendency be a challenge, for other cultures to learn as a second language. There should be a way for everyone to co-exist and to function as one nation under God in America. Language is the substance for people to communicate with one another and to co-exist freely. It can be quite difficult to communicate with people from other cultures that do not speak the English language, but the founding fathers set an example to blend English speakers with non-English speakers casually. In the Oxford Handbook on Language and Law by Peter Tiersma, stated, the founding fathers were almost all native speakers of English (Tiersma, P. ) European Languages in Early America (pg. 6). But, at that time, they had not yet deemed English as the official language in the United States. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) comments on prior period efforts on English-only laws that reduced the privileges of non-English speakers, which usually made existence intricate for huge groups of non-English speaking populations. One example cited in Dade County, Florida, where, after a 1980 English-only law was passed, Spanish signs on public transportation were removed. Mount, S. (2010). There were many native speakers from many different countries, who came to the U. S. , and even though most of the founding fathers were native speakers of English, during the early American times, there was no need to consider English as the official language. During this day and age, the government, corporate world, media, and the entertaining industry use English as the customary language for communication. This does not exclude other cultures from using their native languages, but if the y want to communicate with society, they may need to learn English as a second language that they may be able to cope. According to research the U. S. English tongue is a nationalized, independent, non-profit populace assembly, whose assignment is to safeguard the role of the English verbal communication in the United States and erect it to be the representative dialect of the administration, consequently encouraging immigrants to study English (U. S. English). There was a large number of immigrates that came to this country within a ten year span, who spoke the Spanish language and millions came from Asia and Central America. There have been several attempts to make English the official language, although none of the bills were passed in Congress. Recipients of Official English policies, as they are limited and to the point, dispute that English have been the prevailing speech for the superior element of this century and ought to be made the official language in array to make things easier for government processes. In other language contact research, Bond et al. (2006) demonstrated the influence of Russian on Latvian vowels, and Guion (2003) the interaction of Quichua and Spanish on the vowels of bilinguals. In some research on vowels, Bullock and her social group discovered that French spoken in Frenchville, PA, most of the vowels reviewed proved a continuous course of action of meeting through the English vowel structure (Bullock, Dalola, & Gerfen, 2006; Bullock & Gerfen, 2004a, 2004b, 2005. Also see Hualde, 2004 for a response to Bullock & Gerfen). Sometimes it may be a challenge for other cultures to learn English as a second language. Recently English became the official language in the United States. Twenty-seven states have enacted laws proclaiming English their official language,† (Macmillan, C. Michael, Tatalovich, Raymond), American Review of Canadian Studies, 02722011, Summer2003, Vol. 33, Issue 2. For other states such as California and Georgia, Official English statutes that are more restrictive, i. e. , mandating that all state employees conduct official business solely in English as well as doing away with bilingual state forms is being considered (Torres 1996. ) Eng lish-only proposers like U. S. English oppose that English-only laws commonly have exceptions for community safety and health requirements. They note that the English-only laws aid the government in saving money by allowing publication of certified papers in one language, saving money by not having to translate and on printing costs, and that English-only laws support the education of the English language by non-English speakers. One example is of Canada, who has two official languages, which is English and French. The government of Canadian has addressed this issue, documenting in 1996 – 1997; there was a sum of 260 million Canadian dollars that was spent on bilingual services. According to U. S. English, the so named states currently have authorized language laws in their books: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming. A few of them date back as many as a few decades, i. e. , Louisiana (1811) and Nebraska (1920), though most official verbal communication statutes were approved since the 1970's. The most recent attempts to endorse English as the administrative language has become more of the immigration from Spanish-speakers and people from the East (such as China and Vietnam) has brought an flood of foreigners to the U. S. According to the 1990 Census, 13. 8 percent of U. S. people speak some language other than the English language at home. There is a 2. 9 percent, or 6. 7 million of the people that did not speak any English what so ever, or they just could not speak it all that well. The ACLU, who is affiliated with and are in a group has opposed to establishing a nationwide authorized tongue, published a paper about reasons that such a shift ought to be challenged. It starts by acknowledging the exertion by John Adams, in the year of 1780, to institute an administrative academy that would be devoted to English, a move that was cast off at that time as undemocratic. The ACLU notes prior attempts on the English-only laws that limited the rights of non-English communicators or which in general made life complicated for a large group of non-English talking populations. This example is cited in Dade County, Florida, in a place that after a 1980 law was passed for English-only, Spanish signs on public transportation were removed Mount, S. (2010). It is the belief of the ACLU that the law for English-only has the ability to violate the protection of the U. S. Constitution of its due process (more so in courts where the service for translation would not be offered) also equality in protection (for example, where the English-only ballots would be utilized instead of the bilingual ones, when they were made available in the past). In conclusion, it has been determined that English is the official language of the United States. English has been valuable for the government to make it easier to communicate the processes to the people. The research shows that making English the official language has been very beneficial to the government. It helped the government by the English-only laws that did aid the government in saving money by allowing publication of certified documents in one tongue. It saved money by not having to translate and it saved money on the printing costs. Also, the English-only laws support the education of the English language by non-English speakers who in turn finance education through learning English. Though in the early American days, it was a challenge to pass the law to make English the official language, it stood the test of time and has proven to be the language that America would choose to be its representative as the language for the United States. All may not agree that it is necessary for English to be the official language in the U. S. because of the great numbers of non-English speakers that has immigrated here. Nevertheless, it has been decided, that America has an official language that will aid the government in many ways, and English has been established to do America that honor in aiding the government and the communities. References American Psychological Association (http://www. apa. org/) Czubaj, C. (1995). English as a second language–are educators doing a disservice to students? Education, 116(1), 109. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Greenhouse, L. (1996). Supreme Court to Review Law Making State Employees Speak English. New York Times News Service. Available: http://www. latino. com/news/0325sup. html Hellegaard, J. (1996). Official-English Laws Boost Discrimination, Says UF Law Professor. Macmillan, C. , & Tatalovich, R. (2003). Judicial Activism vs. Restraint: The Role of the Highest Courts if Official Language Policy in Canada and the United States. American Review of Canadian Studies, 33(2), 239. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Major, R.. (2010). First language attrition in foreign accent perception. The International Journal of Bilingualism, 14(2), 163-183,275. Retrieved March 7, 2011, from Research Library. (Document ID: 2072928711). Mount, S. (2010). Constitutional topic: due process. Retrieved February 23, 2011 from http://www. usconstitution. net/consttop_duep. html â€Å"The Constitution of the United States,† Article 1, Section 8, Clause 5. â€Å"The Constitution of the United States,† Amendment 5. http://www. us-english. org/

Commercial Law

ABDUL RASHID ABDUL MAJID v ISLAND GOLF PROPERTIES SDN BHD [1989] 3 MLJ 376 ISSUE In this case, the issues is whether the board was entitled to levy and collect fees known as development fees from members? PRINCIPLES The defendants owned, managed and operate a social golf club. Membership of the club is of the following types which are honorary membership, ordinary membership, ordinary transferable membership, subscribing membership, institutional corporate membership, expatriate transferable membership, ordinary social membership, term membership and visiting membership. Under the Rule 3 of the club’s rules provided, inter alia, that the club was a proprietary club, of which the defendants were the proprietors with a board of directors responsible for the policies, management and operation of the club. Rule 5 of the rules provided, inter alia, that all members shall not, by reason of his membership, be under any financial liability except for payment of his annual subscription and any other sums due under or levied under the rules and by laws to the defendants. The plaintiff is an ordinary transferable membership. The plaintiff applied to become a member of the club by submitting the necessary application form and duly executed a declaration contained therein which states, inter alia, that he accepted and agreed that the board of the defendants had sole responsible for the policies, management and operation of the club with the power to increase entrance fees and subscription and to levy and additional charges to meet expenditure and it also has the sole right to amend, vary, add to or formulate such rules, terms and conditions of the club including the withdrawal or addition of benefits and privileges of members as if may in its absolute discretion deem necessary. 1|Page The board sought to levy and collects the development fees pursuant to its power under the rules. Rule 33 of the club’s rules provided, inter alia, that the board shall be the sole authority for the interpretation of the rules and by laws made there under and that the decision of the board shall be final and binding on all members. The principle that is under Section 2 (a) of the Contracts Act 1950, a proposal is made when one person signifies to another his willingness to do or to abstain from doing anything with a view to obtaining the assent of that other to such act or abstinence. Moreover, the proposal is invitation to treat which an invitation to make offer, negotiate or deal and has no legal consequence and cannot be accepted to bring a contract into existence. The communication of a proposal is complete when it comes to the knowledge of the person to whom it made which under Section 4(1) of the Contracts Act 1950. This means that an offer or proposal is effective once it is communicating to the offeree by the offeree. Besides that, under Section 10 of the Contracts Act 1950 is already mention that all agreement are contract if they are made by the free consent of parties competent to contract, for a lawful consideration and with a lawful object and are not hereby expressly declared to be void. The situation is similar in the case of Bomanji Ardeshir Wadia & Ors v Secretary of State AIR (1929) PC 34 wherein it the decision of the Privy Council was said nothing is better settled than that when parties have entered into a formal contract that contract must be construed according to its own terms and be explained or interpreted by the antecedent communing which led up to it. Another related case is Baker v Jones & Ors (1954) 2 All ER Lynskey J said that the contract is contained in, or to be implied from the rules. The courts must consider such a contract as they would consider any other contract. Although parties to a contract may in general, make any contract they like, there are certain limitations imposed by public policy and one of those limitations may be that parties cannot, by contract, oust the ordinary courts from jurisdiction. 2|Page JUDGEMENT The court held that declaring that the defendants’ board was not entitled to levy and collects the fees because the plaintiff’s application for membership was merely a preliminary step. The offer for membership came from the defendants after they had considered the plaintiff’s application. The contract between the plaintiff accepted the offer by making the payment of the entrance fees and the first subscription. Therefore, the declaration in the application forms as not part of the contract. It is just an antecedent communication. The only contract between the plaintiff and the defendants was the rules of the club. The authority to levy fees must clearly be given by the rules of the club and there was no such authority under the rules. Rule 33 clearly made the board the sole authority for the interpretation of the rules and as it purported to oust the court from their jurisdiction the rule was contrary to public policy and therefore void. 3|Page CONCLUSION The conclusion for this case is the board was not entitled to levy and collect fees known as development fees from members. For the interpretation of the rules, this is contrary to public policy and therefore void. Thus, a declaration of intention or an invitation to treat, so, all fees collected as development fees are repaid to the plaintiff and costs to be paid by the defendants. Otherwise, the offer must be communicated to the offeree which under Section 9 of the Contract Act 1950 is the exercise of power by the offeree indicating his assent to the transaction in response to the offer. The communication of an offer or a proposal is deemed to have been made by any act or omission of the party proposing by which he intends to communicate the proposal or which has the effect of communicating it. Therefore, the declaration in the application form was not part of the contract unless the plaintiff make pay sum of the fees which binding the rules of the club. It is normal for parties in the course of preliminary negotiation to make statements to each other but not all statement can be taken as an offer that can be accepted to bring about a contract. 4|Page

Acute Respiratory Distress Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Acute Respiratory Distress Case Study - Essay Example area and that usually HPS occurs in a shed or cabin closed for some time but which is improperly cleaned (â€Å"Facts about Hantaviruses,† 2011; â€Å"Hantavirus,† 2011). This enclosed area usually contains rodent excreta, which when inhaled by a human would cause HPS (Siegel, 2011). The virus, specifically known as Sin Nombre Virus or SNV, has a rodent host – which is usually the deer mouse, the white-footed mouse, the cotton rat and the rice rat (Siegel, 2011; â€Å"Facts about Hantaviruses,† CDC, 2011). It is the excreta from these rodents, usually in the form of urine, saliva or feces, that contains the virus (Siegel, 2011). When the charge nurse said, â€Å"I knew there was a good reason not to clean my house,† she was referring to the improper way of cleaning the cabin where the young male patient most likely acquired HPS. It was partly the fault of the girlfriend, who considered herself a â€Å"neat freak† and who was â€Å"constantly cleaning and disinfecting.† Little did she know that there was probably rat excreta in the cabin which was inhaled by her boyfriend right after she cleaned it improperly. According to Siegel (2011), â€Å"peridomestic activities associated with HPS were cleaning food storage areas or outbuildings† and this was probably what the girlfriend always did. However, since the proper way of cleaning up rodent excreta is by NOT sweeping or vacuuming and since the girlfriend probably did exactly this, then it caused the virus-infested excreta particles to go into the air and reach the boyfriend’s lungs by inhalation (â€Å"Facts about Hantaviru ses, CDC, 2011). However, the question remains on whether the disease is found only in the Southwest or what factors exactly determine the places where the SNV might be present. Based on past data, the disease has actually spread to the neighboring states like South Dakota and North Dakota. In fact, only after two months from the attack in the Southwest in May 1993, there were cases found in Nevada,

Nursing High School Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Nursing High School - Case Study Example As for this patient, or for any patient for that matter, it is vital that the past medical history of the patient should be asked as to the diagnosis, date of onset, duration and medical management. The chief complaint was present, however, it still lacked in some aspects such as the onset of the complaint, duration and precipitating and relieving factors (though in this scenario, one relieving factor was given for the SOB). Lloyd & Craig (2007) noted that the medication history of the patient is "crucially important" and should not only consider the current medications but include as well past medications. For this patient, history of smoking or for any smokers in the household should be asked because of his cardiovascular risk. For physical examinations, important body systems which should be checked should include the cardiovascular system, respiratory system and the muscular system, particularly the lower extremity muscle and joints. The cardiovascular system should be checked because of the presence of the lower extremity swelling (dependent edema), sudden weight gain and breathlessness. The respiratory system should also be checked because of the complaint of SOB. The specific examination findings from the scenario should be documented on the objective part of the SOAP notes.

Saudi Aramco Procurement Process Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Saudi Aramco Procurement Process - Essay Example The millennium is characterized with information technology as instrument for world wide business expansion, networking and in engaging with business partners for sustainable operations. Information technology also improved communication processes and hastened responses to corporate needs and systematized all operations. For some institutions and companies, this optimized virtual mechanism for complex procedures by thoroughly mainstreaming transactional contract relations. This means that through technology, corporation evolved into certain level of structural sophistication in centralizing internal mechanism and resolving once complex manual procedures, including assertiveness in the interaction of business decision processes. All this are made possible through the development of systematized digitized system of information technology. This essay will attempt to explicate and illustrate how information technology improved procedural procurement engendered organizational readiness in terms of corporate financial and technological resources as well as of its capacity to respond to external pressure due to competition with trading. Transactional relations of contact and procurement are now even done using the internet. It will also attempt to analyze if hard system model befits Saudi Aramco Company’s procurement procedures. Procurement Procedure is a process on how a contract is obtained. It is a mechanism to control the nature, object, expectations, and delivery of outcome based on agreements. It is a universal mechanisms adopted by companies and institutions that are operating in large scale, or in a multi-enterprise level with expensive capital investments but is constantly confronted with concerns on production technologies adaptation, volatile markets and pervasive regulation (Estache & Atsushi (2008). This situation is true with oil and gas extractive industries where there are standards and control mechanism that should be adopted to systematize its operations. This is considered as complexity management. Managing Information System There is a systematic approach used in managing information systems. This approach is technology-focused, process-sensitive, quantitative and qualitative in application and methodical in analysis, procedures, tools and techniques (Dumitrascu, 2006). This is evident in computerized system designed by infotech experts like Cisco. It helped in knowledge management and in systematizing transactions by increasing it company’s corporate virtual realities, although these require persons equipped with knowledge to ensure that the system will be effectively interactive. This means that the person must be knowledgeable too in maximizing digitized information in documentation as well as in technical system optimization to protect it from overload and techie backlog. Complexity management treats all hard structured and soft unstructured problems. Its system is rational, scientific and logical and itâ₠¬â„¢s developed with the assumption that the world is clear out there and can be customized based on our needs (Dumitrascu, 2006). Complexity management can be done using varied diagrams. This can be Spray Diagram, Systems Maps, Influence Diagrams, Multiple-cause diagrams, Sign graphs, and Control Model Diagram. These are explicated as follows: a. Influence Diagram— also known as relevance  analysis or a decision network illustrated graphical and mathematical representation in decision-making. It was developed in 1970s and is now adopted widely and becoming an alternative to  decision tree which typically suffers from  exponential growth  in number of branches with each variable modeled (Detwarasiti and Shachter, 2005 ; Holtzman,1989). ID is practicable for team decision analysis because it allows incomplete sharing of information among team members to be modeled and solved explicitly. The semantic of

Ansoff Matrix for the Most Renowned Shipping Company in the World Case Study

Ansoff Matrix for the Most Renowned Shipping Company in the World - Case Study Example Various experts have provided different definitions of strategy and strategic management. Firstly, Alfred D. Chandler and   according to him â€Å"Strategy is the determination of the basic long term goals and objectives of an enterprise and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals.†Ã‚  Secondly, Ansoff and McDonnell have defined strategic management as â€Å"A systematic approach for managing strategic change which consists of the positioning of the firm through strategy and capability planning and real-time strategic response through issue management.† (Cole, 2003) Strategic management is very important to identify various options that can be used as effective strategy in the process of achieving overall business objectives. There are several tools and models that are used by business organizations in order to identify various strategic options. This report deals with the identification of potential str ategic options in the context of Norden, in order to find out these options a strategic tool such as Ansoff matrix critical analysis and implementation of a theory is used. Moreover, a recommendation which is regarding the technology-driven change in the business of the organization includes the possibilities of such strategic changes driven by new technology.Dampskibsselskabet Norden, one of the oldest shipping companies in the world, was established in the year 1871. It is an independent shipping company that has its presence in different parts of the world. The company headquarter is located in Denmark. Apart from Denmark, Norden has its offices in Shanghai, Singapore, Annapolis, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro. The company mainly deals with tankers and dry cargo and is one of the largest organizations in the dry cargo industry. Moreover, it is one of the biggest operators of Panamax and Handymax bulk carriers. Recently the company has entered the segment of Post-Panamax. In addition to dry cargo, the company is present in the tanker segment and has almost 36 tanker vessels (DS- Norden, n.d.). There are three business departments of the operational activities of Norden which are tanker department, dry cargo, and technical department. Technical department operations are in the technical management of crewing, fleet, inspections and purchase, safety and environment.

Relationship management as a means of developing competitive edge Assignment

Relationship management as a means of developing competitive edge - Assignment Example This research will begin with the concept of relationship management and an overview of the organization which is used as an example for the implementation of this marketing concept. The area of research for this paper is the concept of relationship marketing and its application in the business scenario. Relationship marketing (RM) is defined as â€Å"the process of identifying and establishing, maintaining, enhancing, and when necessary terminating relationships with customers and another stakeholder, at a profit, so that the objective of all parties involved are met, where this is done by a mutual giving and fulfillment of promises†. The company being considered is called New Star Company and it was a pop music club before it merged with another company after which it became a fan club. After the merger, New Star Company still kept the members of its pop-music club with the intention that they would bring in new members into the fans club. They need to gain a foothold in the Chinese market and are looking into business strategies which will enable them to attract new members to their fans club, yet at the same time be able to retain their existing base of members. Relationship Management is about attracting, maintaining and enhancing the relationships between an organization and its customers. This marketing strategy came about as a result of the effects of low growth rate and deregulation which made it necessary for an organization to determine how they could maintain their existing customer base instead of developing new ones.... d are looking into business strategies which will enable them to attract new members to their fans club, yet at the same time be able to retain their existing base of members. In this research we will examine how relationship management can work as an effective business stra0tegy for the company to gain new members. Review of Relationship Management Relationship Management is about attracting, maintaining and enhancing the relationships between an organization and its customers. This marketing strategy came about as a result of the effects of low growth rate and deregulation which made it necessary for organization to determine how they could maintain their existing customer base instead of developing new ones. Relationship marketing involves using satisfied customers as a way for attracting n0ew customers. This means using the element of customer loyalty to gain strength in a new market, which calls for interaction between an organization and its customers, wherein it is necessary for both parties to share the same philosophy to successfully interact. The power of relationship marketing is seen in its unique feature of trying to establish a long-term and mutually beneficial relationship between an organization and its customer. In order to do this, relationship marketing focuses on gaining as much knowledge as possible on customer preferences and implementing these preferences into product and service design. "Relationship marketing is a long term orientation, all marketing activities directed toward establishing, developing, and maintaining successful relational exchanges". Kolter (2000) Difference between relationship marketing and transactional marketing In we need to understand how relationship marketing can benefit an organization we need to see how

Competitive brand management plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Competitive brand management plan - Assignment Example The brand activation at this occasion will allow the Co operative healthy brand to build strong relationship with the consumers by helping them to form New Year’s resolution regarding healthy eating and lifestyle. This will also make it easy for the Co operative healthy brand to develop direct associations in the mind of the customers between healthy eating and the Co operative healthy brand. Background Situation: There has been drastic increase in the overall obesity rate all over the globe. In the region of UK around quarter of the adult population are classified as obese (NHS, 2012). This in turn has increased the health concerns among the people. The consumers are shifting towards healthier lifestyle and are giving preference to the healthy and balanced food items as shown in the image below: (Kimmell, 2009) There has been growing shift in the overall consumer purchase behaviour as consumers are giving preference to the foods and drinks which are providing more health bene fits as shown in the image below: (Datamonitor, 2009) This increasing preference for the healthy food items has provided opportunity to the health retailers and supermarkets to provide the customers with different health foods. This in turn has given rise to different own health brands. Co operative food healthy brand is also competing in this category and is trying to increase the market penetration and improve the overall brand image. Brand Positioning: Brand positioning is used in order to present and describe the competitive advantage of a particular brand against other competitors in the industry. This means that brand positioning presents how the brand will compete with the competitors in effective and efficient manner. It is important to keep in consideration different elements and factors in order to come up with effective and long lasting brand positioning (Kapferer, 2008). Goals and Objectives: The goal of the co operative healthy brand is to become the most preferred heal thy brand in the region by increasing overall awareness of its healthy products and encouraging the consumers to shift towards healthy life style and eating. For achieving this goal certain brand objectives have to be fulfilled, which are as follow: The co operative healthy brand should increase the interaction with consumers in order to improve the overall brand awareness and image The co operative healthy brand should provide customers with more value and benefits The co operative food have to provide more promotion and shelf space to its own healthy brands The co operative food healthy brand should improve the overall brand experience of the customers Brand Inventory: It is important for the brand to maintain and manage attractive and easy to access brand inventory in order to increase the brand interaction and awareness. The brand inventory can include brand colour, the logo, tag line, and even the physical location (Keller, 2008). The Co operative food and healthy brand use gre en and other fresh colours

Neural Network Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Neural Network - Essay Example Last line means to say that if the letters are placed in some tilted position, then also algorithm must tackle this problem. Pattern Recognition or Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a pipelined process consisting of several stages in proper sequence. They are shown in figure 2. Each character is represented as a combination of pixels. All pixels together make a huge feature vector. Total number of pixels is equal to wh where w is the number of pixel in width side and h is the pixels present in height. Figure 3 depicts the way pixel forms one particular character. xi is the fraction of ink in pixel i. Classifier must be adaptive (generalize) in nature so that it can be able to recognize patterns encountering first time. A typical character image is 6464 pixels large and for each such pixel 256 grey values are required making feature space large. For training a recognizer hence, requires huge amount of data to fill this vast space. In order to reduce the dimension space Principal Component Analysis is mostly used which transforms into lower dimension space (Yeung & Ruzzu, 2001). OCR also should make a distinguishing between ‘O’ and ‘6’. Figure 4 shows one case example. If t/b comes smaller that means letter is ‘O’ otherwise ‘6’. A good algorithm must define the tolerance level (T) adequately. Other examples of such cases are letter ‘q’ and digit ‘9’. First identify the maximum rotation number whether it is 1, 2, 3, 4 or 6. Then check any mirror is present or not (m). Is there any indecomposable glide reflection (g)? And finally whether there is any rotation axis on the mirror present or not. Other than this Genetic Algorithm also works as PR. Selection of patterns play an important role in PR process as it determines the accuracy of algorithm, its learning time, and the necessary number of samples. Best selection of feature plays important

FMC Aberdeen Organizational Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

FMC Aberdeen Organizational Behavior - Essay Example The major issue in the structure of Green River hampering growth and affecting profitability is its authoritative management, bureaucratic culture and non-sharing of information, views and needs of the company by the employees between themselves and the management. But there is a system of hierarchy, which makes the views and ideas to produce a chain reaction, but the speed with which the reaction was occurring was not enough for the growth of the company. Hence an effective communication enabling system of structure and culture should be adopted by the management to make green river stand on the lines of Aberdeen. The crucial success factors are enthusiasm, emotional attachment with the company's growth prospects, career enhancement opportunities and performance based incentive appraisal system of and for the employees. First the employees must be assembled into groups and teams which make communication between different departments possible. This is necessary because when the finance department is ignorant of R&D's needs, it will be a suicidal aspect for the company in the long term, for the hampering in R&D work will effect the company's efficiency negatively. Similarly when purchase department is havin... This can be made possible making teams with employees from different departments and directly reporting to the Managers about the changes and needs of and in the company. These implementations will affect the profitability, ability and efficiency of the company positively provided they work in an environment that is conducive. The personal prejudices should not influence the appraisal process. The appraisal process may regard to the needs of R&D, purchase, and marketing. When the needs of customers and clients were not genuinely communicated to R&D wing - it never matters how high the personnel of that department may excel the company will never be able to deliver according to the needs of its customers. When the purchase department does not communicate with other departments the needs and necessities of those are not addressed properly and it in turn hampers the performance of employees and profitability of the Company. When the employees playing crucial role in the marketing department are more interested in technical matters the marketing done by the company will be just an artifact but never delivers. But in the Green River the teams and groups, which are a symbolic representation of modern corporate culture, which reduces the authoritativeness by improving conduciveness, responsibility and accountability, cannot be implemented overnight. The causes may be many. The ignorance and reluctance of employees and management to the new system, the employees placed in wrong places with regard of their interests, the absence of performance appraisal system which can make employee too mechanical regarding his work. These problems should be addressed in a phased manner. As a first step management

World history Essay Example for Free

World history Essay World history, global history or transnational history (not to be confused with diplomatic or international history) is a field of historical study that emerged as a distinct academic field in the 1980s. It examines history from a global perspective. It is not to be confused with comparative history, which, like world history, deals with the history of multiple cultures and nations, but does not do so on a global scale. World History looks for common patterns that emerge across all cultures. World historians use a thematic approach, with two major focal points: integration (how processes of world history have drawn people of the world together) and difference (how patterns of world history reveal the diversity of the human experience). History (from Greek á ¼ ±ÃÆ'Ï„Î ¿Ã ÃŽ ¯ÃŽ ± historia, meaning inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation It is the study of the past, specifically how it relates to humans. It is an umbrella term that relates to past events as well as the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about these events. The term includes cosmic, geologic, and organic history, but is often generically implied to mean human history. Scholars who write about history are called historians. Events occurring prior to written record are considered prehistory. History can also refer to the academic discipline which uses a narrative to examine and analyse a sequence of past events, and objectively determine the patterns of cause and effect that determine them. Historians sometimes debate the nature of history and its usefulness by discussing the study of the discipline as an end in itself and as a way of providing perspective on the problems of the present.

Is There A Timeless Wisdom To Neorealism Politics Essay

Is There A Timeless Wisdom To Neorealism Politics Essay Neo-realism is the starting point of international politics analysis and the basis of construction for the variant posterior theories. However, nowadays the emergence of new challenges against the neorealist thought lead to the partial marginalisation of the theory. This essay attempts to demonstrate that neo-realisms wisdom, is diachronic and its main arguments can be proved over the time, considering the past and contemporary international system. To prove my argument, I will mainly focus on the theoretical analysis given by the two most significant representatives of neo-realism, Waltz and Mearsheimer. Firstly, I will examine neorealisms fundamental assumptions regarding its interpretation of structure, power and alternations of war and peace, with a parallel evaluation of them. Throughout this process I will mention relevant examples taken from the past and recent history. Secondly, I will discuss the controversial criticisms made against the theory with a coincidently judgment o f them. Finally, in the conclusion I will argue that instead of the recent decline, neo-realisms depictions continue to be and always will remain a timeless wisdom for evaluating the International Relations. Neo-realisms worldview about structures and alternations of war Neo-realist theory comes to the front of politics debates before the beginning of Second Cold War, as a reaction to the new challenges of globalisation, as a resurrection of states role over the system and to restate the significance of bipolarity and systemic constraints in international politics (Burchill 2009: 87). To begin with, we should consider the neo-realist main theoretical arguments to form a clear view about the continuity of the theory until the present. Waltz was the first who dedicated the autonomy of international politics, as a separate field, apart from domestic politics, in his attempt to introduce the scientific rigour to the study of politics (Waltz 1990: 27-28; Burchill 2009: 88). Waltz suggests that the system is formed by structural and unit levels (Waltz 1990: 29). Therefore, he makes a distinction between external and internal factors that affect the international system (Waltz 1990: 27-28) and he proposed the so-called systemic theory as a key to explain the behaviour of the states in the international system (Keohane 1986: 13). Waltzs theory can be valuable for predictions (Burchill 2009: 89). According to him, there is a defined structural continuity over the time situated in the anarchical condition of the international system (J.G. Ruggie 1986: 134). The variety of the units structures, secures a disproportion in their policy outcomes. Hence, similarities in political structures between states sound similarities in their political effects (Waltz 1986: 81). Internationally, the anarchy is the superior law that rules the universe and produces the perpetual willing of survival and power between them (Waltz 1986: 70-97). Though states are characterised by variety domestically, their foreign policy has an exceptional analogy: international political systems stand in relations of coordinationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦No one is entitled to command and none is required to obey (Waltz 1986: 81). States concede an existence of some systemic constraints (commanded by the situation of anarchy) between them, which determinatively affect the relations and impose the game of diplomacy and survival. States reconcile their interests and goals looking to their neighbours (Burchill 2009: 90; Waltz 1986: 70-97). As a result, the structure of the international system is defined by the position each state possess in the whole world ordering (Waltz 1986: 72). Waltz analyzes his ambitious political structure concept reliant on three necessary calculations, in his attempt to distinguish the domestic politics from the international (J.G. Ruggie 1986: 134). The ordering principle of anarchy In international politics, the existence of anarchy indirectly demands from its members to take part in a process of a continuous competition, an informal battle. The international system is formed by self-regarded autonomous units. There is no centralised authority upon them to ensure their integrity, so each unit has the right to fashion its foreign policy and fight for its survival. Waltz states, that the balancing of power must be the ultimate aim of all states (Waltz 1986: 81-93, 99-115; J.G Ruggie 1986: 134-135; Mearsheimer, 2007: 72-75; Burchill 2009: 91-92) At the same time, from the side of offensive realists, Mearsheimer, an equally significant representative of the neo-realism theory, further argues that states are always preparing to confront gainfully a future possible attack or even to gain the opportunity to be a powerful hegemony. Thus, there is no other path except for the pursuit of power in a self-help world. (Mearsheimer 2007: 72-75). Each country sets its own aims and goals which are always depend upon their capabilities. There is no night-watchman who can command powerful states such as United States, so they continue to have the priority among the others. (Mearsheimer 2007: 72-75; Waltz 1986: 81-93, 99-115). Even an international organization such as the United Nations has no influence upon its most powerful members. Indicative is the case of the war against Iraq. Even though the Security Council did not approve the war, the US disregarded the decision and invaded Iraq (Mearsheimer 2006: 699; Weiss Kalbacher, 2008: 332). Furthermore in Europe regional institutions such as NATO and European Union do not have the ability to enforce their member states to go against their strategic interests (Mearsheimer 2006: 699-700). The intentions and the character of a state This assumption allows for the fact that no one state always acts exclusively to ensure its survivalà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦States are free individuals who often make decisions under the heavy pressure of events (Waltz, 1986: 85). Simplifying this statement, neo-realism argues that we cant just trust that a culture or a democratic regime or the peaceful history or a status-quo character of a country or ideology can guarantee the deterrence of a war. The intentions of a country are not always certain (Waltz, 1986: 87-92, 99). Viewing the past, many traditionally peaceful states have changed their pure intentions into aggressive war strategies. This becomes worse if we account that every state has the military capability to do this. This is evident in the United States policy. Does any from the above reasons dissuaded Americans from declaring war against Iraq? The answer is no. This necessity imposed by the anarchy, began an endless game of power between the states. This competition actually is inevitable because no one can predict and be sure about the further intentions of a state. Of course the interests of statesmen are not always predictable as well. In the case of Germany for example, if the world knew from the beginning that Hitlers ambitious plans, was to make his country an empire and a great power all over the world, I am sure that a big number of countries would have changed their foreign policy radically (Mearsheimer 2007: 72-75; Waltz 1986: 81-93, 99-115). And Mearsheimers point completes the meaning: In anarchic systemà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦states that want to survive have little choice but to assume the worst about the intentions of other states and to compete for power with them. This is the tragedy of great power politics (Mearsheimer 2007: 75). The distribution of capabilities among the states The distribution of capabilities among the states also helps to define the structure of the international system. As Waltz argues, states are differently placed by their power. The units of the anarchic system distinguished by their greater or lesser capabilities for performing similar tasks (Waltz, 1986: 92-93). Although states seek to ensure their survival in the political order, they dont have equal capabilities (Waltz, 1986: 101). A states capability of possessing military power for instance, can strike the fear in its competitors and the necessity of having an equally powerful military force. Consequently, neo-realists divide the states as great and small powers according to their place in the global system. (Burchill, 2009: 92) A vivid illustration is the United States. As Mearsheimer states, no country in Western Hemisphere would dare to strike the USA, because it is so powerful relative to its neighbours (Mearsheimer, 2007: 74; Waltz, 1986: 92-93, 99-115). We can illustrate the diachronic value of neo-realism, by looking at the past behaviour of certain states. On the twentieth century Imperial Germany, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan have all tried to establish their hegemony by conducting great wars, but they failed (Mearsheimer, 2007: 77). In addition, Mearsheimer interestingly examines the case of China, which is parallel with Germanys past behaviour. While USA had established its regional hegemony in the twentieth century, the gradual growth of Chinas power over Asia frustrated United States and Chinas neighbours. How the world will react on Chinas challenge? Will China balance its power with the other great powers or will it assert the hegemony as a new Germany? Surely, the great powers will not just stand by and watch to their concrete position in the world being lost and consequently they will try to chain Chinas increased development. So, no one is to guarantee that Chinas rise will be peaceful (Mearsheimer 2007: 82-86). Chang es like this in power distribution may cause a future war (Mearsheimer 2007: 78). A growing power always light the suspicions of the dominant powers and the dominant state knowing its days at the pinnacle of power are numbered, has strong incentives to launch a preventive war against the challenger to halt its rise (Mearsheimer 2007: 82). Germany for instance, seeing the threatening rise of the Soviet Union in the 90s launched preventive wars in 1914 and 1939 correspondingly, to maintain its power in Europe. Furthermore, nowadays we can see Chinas rise as a similar case, since as I have already mentioned before, its significant growth keeps United States and its neighbours in a constant lookout (Mearsheimer 2007: 78-82). A controversial matter which neo-realism also tries to identify, is how many great powers are enough to rule the world (Mearsheimer 2007: 75). The most significant representatives of neo-realism, Mearsheimer and Waltz, converge in their analysis about the ideal polarity system and on how dangerous the unipolar system is. Both point out that the end of bipolarity between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 90s and the latter unipolarity of United States is the single most dramatic change in contemporary world politics. The theorists who claim that bipolar systems are less war-prone than unipolar, rely on the distribution of capabilities theory (Burchill 2009: 97-98). Waltz proposes that with the end of bipolarity, the distribution of capabilities among states has become lopsided and the growing inequality between states would undermine the peace (Waltz, 2000: 7). As a result of Americas dominance over the world, other states would attempt to balance against it or reach its p ower. Moreover, United States would probably feel militarily secure to impose its domination to other regions and try to reorder their polity, as in the case of Iraq and Afghanistan (Burchill 2009: 80). Critics and challenges against neo-realism The importance of neo-realism has been widely recognized as the primary school that established the international politics as autonomous field in politics (Keohane 1986: 16). However, the theoretical exhibition of neorealists approaches in the 90s was and continues to be the reason of the countless divergences between the critics, who mainly judge Waltzs theories and propose new ways on viewing international relations. Some of them criticized Waltzs theory for its omissions. Ruggie, for example, provides his institutional transformation concept (Keohane 1986: 17), an attempt to prove that Waltzs political concept was substantively mistaken (Ruggie, 1986: 152), because he didnt account structures property relations changes, such as dynamic density variations (Keohane, 1986:17, Walt, 1990: 28). Keohane, also discusses the weakness of Waltzs theory to include further explanatory elements of the internationals system structure, like economic interdependence, international institutions and the information richness (Keohane, 1986: 18). They both believe that Waltzs theory should paid more attention to aspects of world politics that ignores (Keohane 1986: 24). Waltzs response, is that these elements, even though are important, cannot be a part of a states theory because they are matters of practical interest and cannot alone write a theory. In contrast the positional picture of a state should stay the main explanation key for states relations because simply the anarchy rules the whole. States are positioned in a self-help world where there is a perpetual game of survival. Moreover, as Waltz argues, theories are useful for understanding and explaining and are not necessarily guides for application (Waltz 1986: 329-330; Waltz, 1990: 28-29). Therefore, critics of neorealist theory fail to understand that theory is not a statement about everything that is important in international political life, but rather a necessarily slender explanatory construct (Waltz, 1990: 30). Other critics underestimate the conservative character of Waltzs theory. They support that, Waltz presents structures as given political fixtures and the international system as a cyclical pattern (Burchill, 2009: 93-94). As a result, Cox argues, neo-realism legitimizes the status-quo, which favours the great powers and establishes a permanent disability of weak states for positional change (Burchill, 2009: 94). In other words, the prospects for alternative expressions of political community are limited (Linklater 1995: 258-9; Burchill 2009: 99). But Waltz identifies that Coxs accusations are based on the fact that he overstates the states role as units in the international system and thereby make them static (Waltz 1986: 338). Other theoretical perspectives have also emerged as a response to neorealist thought, and challenged neorealist. An example of those theories is liberalism. With childish naivety these theories strongly support the ideas of a big economic community co-operation, pacification and globalisation. In other words, neo-liberalists put the importance of ruling the world peace, not in the military capabilities like neo-realists, but on economic factors. Neo-liberalists argue that the new challenges of globalisation, the technological evolution and the appearance of non-state actors, have established a borderless world where states have now a very low profile (Burchill 2009: 95-97). Doyle suggests that because the unit-members of a liberal democracy have pounded continuously from violence and wars as a product of the anarchic system, now they have reduced their aggressive incentives and they are ready to co-operate with each other in the name of peace (Doyle 1986: 1151-1169). But, these hopes for a peaceful world in terms of economic globalisation and democracy were shattered in the wake of September 11 and neo-realism has made a stunning comeback in the realm of international relations (Mearsheimer 2007: 86). (Besides, I dont believe that Cyprus could ever be as equal as United Kingdom politically or economically nor as able as it to pretend rights on the international foreground. This cant be accomplished because, states are rational actors. The higher amount of power each state has, the higher security will enjoy (Mearsheimer, 2007: 74). ) Furthermore, neo-liberalists havent consider countries such as Africa which are unaffected by globalisation and consequently have little opportunity to take part in this community (Burchill 2009: 95-97). In addition, Krasner claims that, not all the constituent parts of a nation-states sovereignty are equally vulnerable to globalisation and the transnational corporations are not as global as first thought. Despite their popular image, they remain largely anchored at home (Krasner 1999). Burchill concludes that, the distribution of capabilities will always remain the primary key for understanding politics because the economic interdependence of the last century failed to prevent the First World War and some conflicts among this alleged economical community of the world, like the break-up of Yugoslavia. Nuclear weapons and the possession military power will always have the greatest importance in International Relations (Waltz 2000: 4-7; Burchill 2009: 95-97). Waltz further accounts, that a state will never diminish its self-interests for the sake of international order (Burchill, 2009: 93). This will happen because the states constantly looking for opportunities to gain advantage over each other, with the ultimate prize being a hegemony (Mearsheimer, 2007: 77). Conclusion This essay has argued that neorealisms main assumptions could constitute a diachronic guide book for states and statesmen. One claim made about neo-realism, is that neo-realism died with the end of Cold War, because the new challenge of globalisation guarantees the world peace in terms of cooperation, liberalisation and paralyzes the role of states. Another suggests that neo-realism is old-fashioned because now the idea of democracy and the subordination on laws recommendations overflow into the world. However, there are strong evidence that the neo-realists view of politics will always remain a fundamental and essential key to explain world affairs and states behaviours (Burchill, 2009: 86). Firstly, the units function in an anarchic international system. Domestically, the variety of the units still leads to differently potential outcomes and interests. Internationally, states still seek to maximize their power or balancing each other to survive. Secondly, states always fear for possible attacks and therefore try to acquire as much power as possible in order to ensure their security. The inequality of capabilities gives a state the opportunity to be a threat against others or even to assert the hegemony. There is no one above states to safeguard their integrity and so states are never certain if other states intentions are aggressive or defensive. Associatively, the military and security power still remain the main concern for international politics with economic factors coming second. Thirdly, neorealists views on what causes war, seems that are still well-timed. A change in the distribution of capabilities can light the suspicions and launch a preventative war. In terms of polarity, states struggle to gain the label of a great power and thereby to succeed their interests. As a result, even more states have the right and the opportunity to participate in this game of power which it may cause a war. Those reasons, as neo-realism dictates, somehow coerce states to march each other temporally to keep a balanced peace or to cause a likely war. Therefore, though the theoretical line of neo-realism is fashioned on the past, it can also apply to the present and the continuity of the theory can be detected in neorealists approaches over the years. The world remains a dangerous placeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦States still worry about their survival, which means that they have little choice but to pay attention to the balance of power. International politics is still synonymous with power politics, as it has been for all of recorded history (Mearsheimer, 2007: 86).

A Strategic Management In A Global Context Business Essay

A Strategic Management In A Global Context Business Essay Formal Strategic Planning is the process that involves an organisation in the defining of its strategy or direction and making the decisions on how its resources should be allocated in order to achieve this strategy. Formal strategic planning is affected by the macro-environment and this is the highest level layer in the framework, this consists of a wide range of environmental factors that impact to some extent on almost all organisations. The PESTEL framework can be used to identify how future trends in the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environment and Legal environments might affect an organisation. Pestel analysis provides the broad date from which key drivers to change can be identified. By using these key drivers organisations can envision scenarios for the future. Scenarios can be used to help organisations decide if change needs to happen depending on the different ways in which the business environment may change. It is important for managers to analyse these factors in the present and how they are likely to change in the future. By analysing these, managers will be able to draw out implications for the organisation. Pestel factors are sometimes linked together i.e. technological factors can impact on economic factors. It is necessary to identify the key drivers of change these are environmental factors that are likely to have a high impact on the success or failure of the strategy. Key drivers vary by industry i.e. Primark may be concerned by social changes that can change customer tastes and behaviours. The critical issues are the implications that are drawn from the understanding in guiding strategic decisions and choices. The next stage is drawn from the environmental analysis specifically strategic opportunities and threats for the organisation. Having the ability to identify these opportunities and threats is extremely valuable when thinking about strategic choices for the future. Opportunities and threats form one half of the SWOT analysis that shapes a companys formulation. The use of SWOT analysis can help summarise the key issues from the business environment and the strategic capability of an organisation that are most likely to impact on strategy development. Once the key issues have been identified an organisation can then assess if it is capable to deal with the changes taking place within the business environment. If the strategic capability is to be understood the business must remember that it is not absolute but relative to its competitors. SWOT analysis is only useful if it is comparative, that is it examines strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. SWOT analysis should help focus discussion on the future choices and to what extent an organisation is capable of supporting these strategies. SWOT analysis should not be used a substitute for more in-depth analysis. In responding strategically to the environment the goal is to reduce identified threats and take advantages of the best opportunities. Peter Drucker, discussing the importance of business policy and strategic planning in his book the practice of management says we cannot be content with plans for a future that we can foresee. We must prepare for all possible and a good many impossible contingencies. We must have a workable solution for anything that may come up. http://www.alagse.com/strategy/s1.php By taking advantage of the strategic gap (which is an opportunity in the competitive environment that has not been fully exploited by competitors) organisations can manage threats and opportunities. http://turbo.kean.edu/~jmcgill/assess.pdf http://polisci2.ucsd.edu/snunnari/HBR_on_Strategy_23_41.pdf#page=25 Core competencies are a set of linked business processes that deliver superior value to the customer, when these are combined they create strategic value and can lead to competitive advantage. By using Porters five forces analysis which is a framework for organisations to analyse industry and business strategy, they can draw upon the five forces that determine the competitive intensity and therefore attractiveness of a market. Three of Porters five forces refer to competition from external sources and the other two are internal threats. This analysis is just one part of the complete Porter strategic model the others include the value chain (VC) and the generic strategies. http://hbr.org/2008/01/the-five-competitive-forces-that-shape-strategy/ar/1 According to Porter (2008) the job of a strategist is too understand and cope with competition; however managers define competition too narrowly as if it has occurred only among today direct competitors. Competition goes beyond profits to include competitive forces such as customers, suppliers, potential entrants and substitute products; the extended rivalry that results from all five forces defines an industrys structure and shapes the nature of competition within an industry. For example Apple are good at technology and innovation therefore they can take the opportunities that give them competitive advantage and makes them leaders compared to Samsung or Nokia. Porters says there are 5 forces that shape the competition: Threat of new entrants Bargaining power of customers powerful customers usually bargain for better services which involve cost and investment Bargaining power of suppliers may determine the cost of raw materials and other inputs effecting profitability Rivalry among competitors competition influences the pricing and other costs like advertising etc. Threats from substitutes where-ever substantial investments in RD is taking place, the threat of substitutes is large. It also affects profitability. Competitive advantage is the heart of strategy and for the strategy to succeed the organisation should have relevant competitive advantage. We can see an example of this with Toshiba who operate in electrical goods, through a flexible manufacturing system it manufactures different products / varieties of some products on the same assembly lines. At Ohme it assembles nine varieties of computers on the same line and on the adjacent line it assembles 20 varieties of lap top computers. It is able to switch from one product / variety to another instantly at low cost and makes profits on low volume runs too. This flexibility of Toshiba to respond quickly and easily to the fast changing market demand is definitely one of its competitive advantages. Whereas its competitors make profits only through long volume runs of a particular model. However, there are a lot of companies who are choosing not to invest due to the recession; however Lidl and Aldi are taking advantage of supplying cheaper products giving them competitive advantage over say Waitrose. http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Bringing_discipline_to_strategy_1054 Benefits of Strategic Planning Effective strategic planning can positively improve the performance of an organisation and give them the ability to serve more clients, access additional resources or enhance the quality of service/product. It can also offer solutions to major organisational issues or challenges and gives stakeholders of the organisation an opportunity to develop harmonic solutions to long-term issues/challenges that have been affecting the organisation. Furthermore it allows for forward thinking, allowing an organisation the opportunity to pause and revisit the mission and create long-term vision. It allows clear future direction allowing stakeholders to look to the future, plan and respond to changes. Evaluation One of the major drawbacks of formal strategic planning is the uncertain dynamic environment, things change constantly and everything becomes shorter. The recession at the present time is making everything unpredictable and this is not good for strategic planning. According to Mintzberg 1994 strategic planning should be used to devise and implement the competitiveness of each business unit. Scientific management was pioneered by Fredrick Taylor and involved separating thinking from doing and thus creating a new function staffed by specialists. Planning systems were expected to produce the best strategies as well as step by step instructions on how to achieve this, but this never worked well. According to Mintzberg strategic planning is not strategic thinking, the most successful strategies are visions, not plans. When an organisation can differentiate between planning and strategic thinking they can then get back to what the strategy making process should be. Once a manger has the ability to learn from all sources around him, including personal experiences and market research and can integrate this into a vision of the direction that the business can then pursue. Mintzberg suggests that strategic planning is a misconception and rests upon three unsound arguments: that prediction is possible, thats strategists can be detached from the subjects of their strategies, and that the strategy-making process can be formalised. Strategic thinkers can apply lessons learned from Mintzberg (1994) three inherent fallacies of traditional planning: The Fallacy of Prediction is the assumption that we can actually control events through a formalised process that involves people engaged in creative or even routine work and can manage to stay on the predicted course. You need more than hard facts you need the personal touch. People are not objective, they are complex. The Fallacy of Detachment is the assumption we can separate the planning from the doing, if the system does the thinking, then strategies must be detached from the tactics. Formulation from implementation, thinkers from doers. One objective is to make sure senior managers receive relevant information without having to immense themselves in the details. One fact is innovation has never been institutionalised and systems have never been able to reproduce the synthesis created by the entrepreneur or the ordinary strategist and probably never will. The Fallacy of Formulisation suggests that systems could certainly process more information, at least hard information. However they could never internalise it, comprehend it, and put it all together. Such control is more a dream that a reality. Reality tells us that anomalies, the fickle behaviour of humans and the limitations of analysis play a huge factor in the organisational outcomes and to disregard them is risky and could lead to incomplete planning. What are the limitations of strategic planning when things are changing rapidly? http://www.globalfuture.com/planning1.htm The limitations of formal strategic planning can be seen if the future is uncertain and the expectations divert from the plan. There could also be internal resistance to formal strategic planning due to factors including: Information flows, decision making and power relationships could be unsettled Current operating problems may drive out long-term planning efforts There are risks and fears of failure New demands will be placed on managers and staff Conflicts with the organisation are exposed Planning is expensive in time and money Planning is difficult and hard work The completed plan limits choices and activities for the organisation in the future Nicholas ORegan, Abby Ghobadian, (2002) Formal strategic planning: The key to effective business process management?, Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 8 Iss: 5, pp.416 429 http://www.innovation.cc/scholarly-style/fairholm3.pdf

The Supernatural in Shakespeares Macbeth :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Use of the Supernatural in Macbeth      Shakespeare’s Macbeth has many supernatural actions. Although all of supernatural do not have exactly same role in the play, the main purposes of supernatural are to attract the attention from audience [manipulation], to foreshadow future events, to show the characteristics of individual, and to connect the idea with theme. In the play, the supernatural occurs: witchesà ­ appearance throughout the story, the strange behavior of Macbeth after the murderer of King Duncan, the situation of nature in Scotland, appearance of Banquoà ­s ghost and imagination of dagger which was flying in the air. Firstly, the story starts with weird sistersà ­ conversation under strong thunder and lightning. It is very effective way to attract the attention from audience: First Witch says with scary voice, "When shall we three meet again, In thunder, lightning, or in rain ?" (I, i, 1-2) The very first scene is not only attractive, but also there is an important clue for the things to be happened in the future [foreshadowing]. We learn that there is something going to happen with Macbeth à ± Macbeth wins for his life, but he also is going to lose for his life: "There to meet with Macbeth" (I, i, 7) "Fair is foul, and foul is fair." (I, i, 11)The speech of Witches also contains a theme. "When one wins, one must lose" is a possible theme that can be taken from the speech: "When the battle is lost and won" (I, i, 4) The witches continue appearing throughout the story to give us the excitement, hint and theme.    Secondly, Macbeth loses his mind after the killing of King Duncan. Is it attractive ? By considering the situation, it can be said that it is attractive à ± When he reenters into the play after killing of Duncan, he is a completely different man, like a stone. We must be surprised that if Macbeth is standing up with bloody face, bloody swords in his hands and talks something that does not make senses at all: "Why did you bring these daggers from the place ?" (II, ii, 48) It also shows characteristics of Macbeth. Macbeth can easily fall into a confusion that he cannot recognize.    Thirdly, later in the story, Macbeth sees the Ghost of Banquo and the dagger in the air. However, the Ghost and dagger are only visible to Macbeth, and no one else is able to

The Morally Obvious :: Ethics Philosophy Moral Papers

The Morally Obvious I. Obviousness. There is no way to contrive an ethical theory which does not rely in the end upon moral judgments that are subjectively "intuitive" or obvious or "just seen". No matter which of the major approaches to ethical theory one takes, an ultimate reliance upon the individual's intuitive judgment is inevitable. If one supposes that moral valuations are sui generis, irreducible, the deliverances of a moral sense or faculty, then manifestly what one "just feels" or "just sees" to be morally valuable will have to be the final court of appeal. If one supposes that moral values are a special subclass of human likings or preferences, say those things men want overall, in the long run, in the light of man's deepest needs and his sympathetic nature, etc., why then those wants and preferences must themselves be finally known by making their presence felt. The presence of a want, of a satisfaction or fulfillment, of pleasure or pain, is known intuitively and immediately. Finally, if mo ral values are perceived by the eye of reason, as a number of philosophers still urge, so that the wrongness of things is known by the mind in a way similar to its knowing 2 + 2 = 4, this too must be seen as an ultimate reliance upon the intellectually "obvious", or the intuitively known. It appears that whether in ethics or in any field of human opinion we can ask for justifications only so far. Even when a successful justification of an opinion can be given, the very success of that justification involves the "just seeing" of how the justification applies to and supports the opinion. Beyond that, we can always request a proof of the justifying premises or considerations themselves, and if we keep asking for a justification for the justification that has just been given, we will soon reach a point where all that can be said is that the thing just seems obvious, and we can only hope that others will think so too. Notoriously, of course, others often don't. I have said that moral judgments must in the end rest upon an "intuitive" judgment of some sort. The word "intuition" is too useful and too close to what I mean to avoid, but it also has technical connotations I wish to disavow. Philosophers often use "intuition" to mean a way of knowing involving no inference whatever and yielding infallible and incorrigible results.

Dell Inventory Essay

The just-in-time (JIT) inventory method is a method of inventory management. â€Å"The goal of these concepts, contrary to popular belief, is not to reduce inventory, although that’s an appealing side benefit. Instead, JIT (like its imitators) is a continual process aimed at eliminating waste and solving problems throughout the supply chain† (Minahan, 1997, p. 45). Since its inception in 1984, Dell Corporation, Inc. has set itself apart from competitors through innovation and creativity. The company uses the JIT method of inventory management. Many businesses use Dell’s success as a business model. Dell’s sales concept focuses on meeting the needs of its customers and building computers to order, selling them directly to the customer. â€Å"This direct business model eliminates retailers that add unnecessary time and cost, or can diminish Dell’s understanding of customer expectations. The direct model allows the company to build every system to order and offer customers powerful, richly-configured systems at competitive prices† (Dell, 2007, 1). In executing this vision Dell has leveraged effectively its human capital to drive growth and brand loyalty. Dell has been very successful with this model; as a result, the company carries low overhead cost by keeping inventory numbers low. Prior to adopting the JIT method, Dell struggled with managing finances. After implementing JIT, the company saw a vast improvement in inventory turnover and a reduction in the number of days worth of inventory on hand. The company achieved improvement by only placing orders with suppliers when needed. Placing orders JIT eliminates carrying costs associated with managing inventory. Table one reflects the continued reduction, showing 5.7 days of inventory on hand in 2001 and 3.4 days of inventory on hand in 2004 (Morningstar, 2010). Annual inventory turnover increased from 64.3 in 2001 to 107.1 in 2004 (Morningstar, 2010).

The standard of living is the measure of the material well being of the given population

The mo crystaliseary hackneyed of quick is the footfall of the material well being of the condition state. This would include things such as your properties, motors, incomes etc. it covers anything that laughingstock be given a m unrivaledtary revalue and throw aways those that burn down non e.g. happiness or luck. The m superstartary amount of spiritedness-time is measured mainly by the gross domestic product per capita and focuses on incomes this provides a planetary guide to the well -being materia leaningically of the population in question. If the gross domestic product were increa nefariousnessg this would guide that the population is wear out pip, thither is much(prenominal) wealth within the preservation, one whitethorn assume there is fuller commerce and plenty argon spend to a greater effect as more is produced. If people are thought to be ameliorate off one assume this to signify that people are happier still this is not needfully true notwi thstanding as this pukenot be measured it has to be sidelined.Health is opposite important factor which is difficult to expose within monetary terms only there are different statistics which so-and-so be produced e.g. number of doctors per hospital etc when the trite f existent is measure if study over time it result be ad erected for inflation and dealt with in historical terms. There is the issue of the PPP adjustment, which essential be taken to account when study internationally as goods and service woo more and less in other nations depending on their own resources, labour markets, and performance. In Helsinki the disbursal on heating is likely to be much higher(prenominal) than in Andalusia nevertheless this does not indicate a difference in the standard of liveness it is simply misguiding. National gross domestic product intentions hide significant regional variations in output, employment and incomes per head of population.Within from each one region ther e are as well as areas of relative prosperity contrasting with unemployment black-spots and planted social and frugal deprivation. We need to try the balance between consumption and investment. If an economy devotes too more resources to satisfying the briefly run needs & wants of consumers, there may be insufficient resources for investment essential for long-term economic development. Faster economic growth might improve living standards today but lead to an over-exploitation of unprecedented finite economic resources thereby restrain future growth prospects.The principal problems with the GDP method are that it ignored the values of goods and services which are traded but left hand undeclared e.g. diy jobs and the black economy in some countries e.g. Italy the black economy is estimated to be near 35% and poses a smashing difficulty to governments trying to estimate the net income flow. It to a fault fails to take into account the dissemination of wealth e/g/ in Sau di Arabia the GDP is not curiously low but it is all laborious among the hands of the wealthy sheiks and in part there is extreme poverty because there is no trickle effect of the capital end-to-end the society as it is maintained. Furthermore it doesnt forever and a day take into account the improvements in applied science for example 15 years ago a PC for $1000 will now be 10 multiplication worse than one valued at $500 this is not because if plusd living standard but change sin technology. Economic bads can increase the figure of the standard of living, even though the pure tone of spiritedness has decreased.For example traffic jams cause more petrol to be consumed but increase the income and output of a county. Also the milieu can be damaged in this case, but one psyche may hold a higher value for the environment than another. These valuation problems apply to health and defense the output of these does not live a market price but the value is determined by the b e of producing them. The quality of life can also be over o at a lower place valued because say we take protracted holidays output and income may fall but happiness will increase, similarly a crackdown on pollution by abstract the prices of supply and therefore consumption but make our lives intrinsically more happy. some other method of measuring the living standard of an economy could be to examine the consumer durables. Thee can be anything from cars to washing machines to nice houses to computers. It is theorized that the more of these items you own the higher your standard of living would be. E.g. a man with 2 Bentleys and a Rolls Royce matchd to a man with two skodas and a ford fiesta will be assumed to pretend higher standard of living. However sometimes it is difficult to compare some durables for instance TVs just because one is valued at more does it necessarily imply a better quality therefore even those who can afford it may not favour for the nearly costly.Also i f I have seven flats in Norwich or one house in Kensington, which would make me, better off? Consumer durables also exclude savings and services, some people favor to accumulate their wealth as remote to purchase consumer durables therefore it is not at all a undefended indicator of the real standard of living. Compared to the GDP method it is extremely vague and inaccurate, the earlier method is much more staring(a) and examines wealth in terms of hard currency and not goods for this latter method one needs to heavily account for consumer spending trends which can be extremely unpredictable.The ternion and final method is a non-monetary brass of using the human development index. A measure of economic development The merciful Development Report has been published by the United Nations each year since 1990. The hatch contains detailed statistical information on economic and social development indicators for just about every country in the world. Among the hundreds of tabl es and charts we muster up the annual data on the human race Development Index and the Human want Index. Both are simple measures of the extent to which living standards vary across countries. The HDI is constructed as an aggregate index of three components education, income, and life expectancy at birth.The focus of the HDI is on the escape from poverty defined as an HDI below 0.5. Here is a list of some of the social aspects that need to be consideredo The number of patients per doctor a measure of health provision in a countryo infirmary waiting lists for important operationso The number of children per thousand of the population who proceed each year (infant mortality rank)o The average food intake per person (measured by average calorific intake)o The proportion of the population that can put down or write literacy rateso Average educational attainment at different age levelso horror rateso Divorce ratesThese statistics should indicate what proportion of the populatio n is enjoying a minimum standard of living although perceptions of what is undeniable for a basic quality of life vary. The figures could be misleading as in developing nations increases would imply better standards of living and more westernized countries would appear to be worse than they are.In conclusion I judge the HDI is the best method to provide an overall picture of the economy and covers very many social aspects which are key to determine somebodys quality of life. The GDP method is the most reliable statistically and most by dint of but the problems outlined are grumpyly heard to overcome in particular that of the black economy. The consumer durable methods is extremely ineffectual ad indicates of nothing expect consumer spending patterns.

Perinatal Mental Health Midwife

Application for Temporary perinatal wellness accoucheuse There is increasing sentience of perinatal psychogenic wellness as a public health guinea pig. The Government is keen for midwives to and capture their role in public health. Midwives indigence to be adequately prep atomic number 18d to take on a much scramed role in perinatal amiable health if practice improvements atomic number 18 to be made. I am aw are that decease from psychiatric causes has been the leading cause of maternal last for the last few years.Although the most recent underground Enquiry into Maternal and Child health indicated that this is no longer a leading cause, kind health problems beforehand and after accouchement micturate a signifi whoremongert impact on the health of women, family relationships and childrens subsequent development. I believe that midwives rent to be able to detect women with live mental health problems and those at high risk of a skillful mental disease followi ng delivery, in disposition to improve the fearfulness and reserve offered to them through start their refer with motherhood operate.One of the most serious areas where we manipulate ongoing harm is in adult mental health. Recent explore shows that a large correspondence of adult mental health problems can be laid at the door of early childhood. We inquire to consider the liable(predicate) future effects of not breaking the cycle while these people are young. The ACE Study estimates that 54 per cent of current depression and 58 percent of suicide attempts in women can be attributed to adverse childhood live ons, which excessively correlate with later high levels of alcoholic drink and drug consumption.In order to screen systematically and sensitively, and to enable them to refer on curbly, I determine that midwives hold to understand why they are asking incredulitys almost mental health how to encourage women to disclose knightly and current problems what the ri sks of recurrence and relapse are and what run are available in their area of practice. 1Page I feeling very potently that having dapple graduate qualifications and fellowship like my suffer in counselling and different come alonges to psychotherapy are essential attributes for this post.The facts most childbirth and mental illness are startling (reference, Oates M 2001) About wiz in ten women pass on develop postpartum depression after delivery. After psychosis (puerperal) postnatal develop will women 500 in maven Suicide is one of the leading causes of maternal death in the UK. A cleaning woman is 20 times more likely to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital in the two weeks after delivery than at all time in the two years before or after. Despite this, talking about and confronting the turn up of mental illness during pregnancy or the postnatal period quench poses challenges for health business concern professed(prenominal)s.Motherhood is lactating with emotive expectation. This contributes to a large number of cases of perinatal mental illness going undiagnosed. This can hasten serious consequences including poor bonding between flummox and cosset reduced quality of life for the mother, baby and father prolonged disability caused by existent with an untreated serious mental illness and authorization risk to the health and safety of the mother, baby or other family member, either through neglect or harm due to illness.As a midwife with 20 yrs of clinical practice and with some experience as a service user, I was icy in setting up the current blow service and mother been Counselling women and their families at western Middlesex Hospital since June 2009. I also gravel experience of providing supportive psychotherapy to a diverse target of clients with differing pathologies in a primary care and one-on-one setting since 1999. In my Role as midwifery Matters facilitator (2007-2009) South East Strategic Health Authority, I regul arly travelled across the patch, giving presentations to multi professional audiences.I am confident in designing, producing and presenting a 2Page range of presentations, including role play, government agency point, interpersonal bestowshops and formal lecture format. I give experience in writing academic text file (published) and information leaflets, guidelines and information posters. I am a naturally creative person who enjoys implementing evidence ground practice change at a strategic and operational level. I am very frenzied about the probability to be potentially entangled with designing an E-learning package.Whilst working with other undecomposeds in this industry I have gained some knowledge in the process of elearning development. I think that routine prenatal and postnatal care present an excellent luck to screen the mental health of pregnant women and women with a invigorated baby. To do this effectively however, requires working more collaboratively across different professions to meet the needs of our patients. Having the post of a specialist midwife in mental health could allow me to provide focused care to pregnant women with mental illness. This could include co-morbid substance & alcohol misuse problems.I envisage the role as working closely with a perinatal psychiatry squad at W. M. U. H and as an beta point of liaison between the other midwives, particularly safeguarding and case loading midwives, obstetricians, health visitors, child and family sociable services, obstetricians in the hospital, and mental health services. A useful means to achieve partnership working would be for the S. M. M. H to attend the weekly midwifery team meeting. Here, all midwifery community and labour defend teams meet to discuss the caseload and update the prenatal bring forward notes.This provides a valuable opportunity for potential referrals to be discussed, both with the specialist mental health midwife and the perinatal lead psychiatri st/obstetrician. Many women will prefer and only require additional support and advice from a midwife with specialist expertise, rather than larn a psychiatrist. However, some pregnant women will need to see a perinatal psychiatrist for expert advice, for example, if having severe mental illness, or to discuss medications in pregnancy or breastfeeding. 3PageThe referrals could be women with a tale of mental illness during childbirth or preexisting mental illness who are now pregnant. However, quite lots at engagement or routine antenatal checks, midwives whitethorn break up new onset psychological detriment in pregnant women who have no history of mental illness. Women may at first feel more inclined to disclose things to a midwife rather than a psychiatrist or doctor. This may include apprehension or fear centred on the impending delivery itself, increased world-wide anxieties about coping, depression or other psychological symptoms.The matter Institute for Health and Clini cal Excellence guidelines (2007) on antenatal and postnatal mental health have sought to address this, suggesting that at a womans first contact with primary care, at her booking visit and postnatally (usually at four to six-spot weeks and three to four months), healthcare professionals (including midwives, obstetricians, health visitors and general practitioners) should routinely ask the following two cover questions to identify possible depression During the past month, have you often been bothered by feeling down, cast down or hopeless?During the past month, have you often been bothered by having little interest or pleasure in doing things? A third question should be considered if the woman answers yes to either of the initial questions Is this something you feel you need or want help with? As a specialist mental health midwife, I would want to scope the current service and quick undertake a gap analysis to work towards providing equal access to perinatal mental health servic es. I could provide consultation and advice with the knowledge and skills that I already have and from which I accrue whilst labour my MSc in Psychodynamic approaches to Mental Health.I could mayhap investigate the possibility of providing a link to the topical anesthetic mother and baby unit. 4Page In This role I could also act as a useful resource for other ply and support other midwives with their clients. They can be mingled at an early stage in antenatal care and assist with monitoring women who may be developing or at risk of mental illness in childbirth. They can link up between physical and mental healthcare and can work in partnership with pregnant women to develop care plans for their singular needs.Having this post would give me the opportunity to hopefully address the stigma around mental illness and childbirth and improve screening and undercover work of women who need further specialist help at last improving clinical outcomes and quality of life for new mother s and their families and long term financial benefits to the Trust and the N. H. S. A study of supplying of perinatal mental health services has already been undertaken in two position strategic health authorities views and perspectives of the multiprofessional team.Reports and policy recommendations have highlighted the need for early detection, appropriate referral and circumspection. (Rowan1, McCourt 2 & Bick 3 (2010) This study has reported the in-depth views of relevant healthcare professionals on the extent to which perinatal mental health services are meeting policy and practice guidance. Their views highlight that although there have been developments in service provision, gaps carry particularly with respect to appropriate ongoing naming of needs and appropriate follow-up of women. Real challenges for the maternity ervices persist in relation to complex boundary issues that impacts on opportunities to support effective continuity of care and funding issues. Additional ly, examples of good practice may still depend on the initiative and commitment of individual professionals, rather than the support of the organisation, including dedicated resources. Further research is required to ascertain the extent to which resource issues and the amaze to cut NHS healthcare budgets are limiting appropriate service provision for women with perinatal mental health needs. 5Page There is always a need to elicit the views of the women who use the service.I would approach this by Iinking with our existing Maternity Service Liason comittee and carrying out appropriate patient satisfaction surveys and audit. References Felitti V & Anda RF (2008) The relationship of adverse childhood experiences to adult health, wellbeing, friendly function and healthcare in R genus Lanius & E Vermetten (Eds) The Hidden effects of unresolved trauma. 134Epidemic The shock of Early Life Trauma on Health and Disease, Cambridge University Press, Mary Ross-Davie, Sandra Elliott, Anindita Sarkar, Lucinda Green British Journal of tocology 14(6) 330 334 (Jun 2006) National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. 007. antepartum and postnatal mental health clinical management and service guidance. NICE clinical guideline 45. capital of the United Kingdom NICE. Oates M. 2001. Perinatal maternal mental health services. Recommendations for provision of services for childbearing women. London Royal College of Psychiatrists Cathy Rowan1 RM, PGCEA, MA. Christine McCourt2 BA, PhD. Debra Bick3 RM, BA, MedSc, PhD. (2010) rise based MidwiferyVolume 8 (2010) issue 3 Provision of perinatal mental health services in two English strategic health authorities views and perspectives of the multi-professional team.. 6Page