Inside Toyland by Christine L. Williams Essay - 1262 Words

Inside Toyland, written by Christine L. Williams, is a look into toy stores and the race, class, and gender issues. Williams worked about six weeks at two toy stores, Diamond Toys and Toy Warehouse, long enough to be able to detect patterns in store operations and the interactions between the workers and the costumers. She wanted to attempt to describe and analyze the rules that govern giant toy stores. Her main goal was to understand how shopping was socially organized and how it might be transformed to enhance the lives of workers. During the twentieth century, toy stores became bigger and helped suburbanization and deregulation. Specialty toy stores existed but sold mainly to adults, not to children. Men used to be the workers at toy†¦show more content†¦They were unionized. At Diamond Toys they sold â€Å"whiteness†, people see white people as being more educated and Diamond Toys sold themselves as a toy store that had expert workers who were educated at what they did. They catered to the upper-class white women adults who would be buying the toy for the child. Toy Warehouse though, sold to the children. Their ideal customer was the white middle-class mom. They played on their low prices and child friendly atmosphere. At both places, the manager who did the hiring used interpellation, a stereotype view of who should work where in the store and the employees themselves ended up taking on that stereotype and acting in the manner appropriate. If the manager had a certain person in mind for the position, for example, Toy Warehouse employed white women as cashiers; it would leave men out for the job, or the same with race. An example of Interpellation at Toy Warehouse was when an African-America man named Deshay who normally worked as a merchandiser, finding lost UPC’s and setting out the merchandise, was asked to help at the registers but skillfully evaded the job. He said it was because he had too many other jobs to do, that he was not h ired to work the cash register, and that he would file a lawsuit if they forced him to work the register. Deshay saw himself in the stereotypes appropriate for black man that the hierarchy established at ToyShow MoreRelatedInside Toyland1266 Words   |  6 PagesInside Toyland, written by Christine L. Williams, is a look into toy stores and the race, class, and gender issues. Williams worked about six weeks at two toy stores, Diamond Toys and Toy Warehouse, long enough to be able to detect patterns in store operations and the interactions between the workers and the costumers. She wanted to attempt to describe and analyze the rules that govern giant toy stores. Her main goal was to understand how shopping was socially organized and how it might be transformedRead MoreToy Retailing in India7399 Words   |  30 PagesIndia, international toymaker Mattel launched toys for men in November 2005. Priced between Rs 999 and Rs 1,999, the new range features models of premium cars such as F errari Scaglietti and BMW 645 Ci in its On Road collection and Renault and Williams in its F1 Range of Hotwheels Collectibles. Giant toy stores since they do not manufacture their own products, attempt to develop brand loyalty to the stores themselves. The shopping experience itself is now sold to consumers. Retailers want

Essay on The Stigma Attached to HIV and AIDS - 1674 Words

Stigma and seroconversion are a few familiar words that come to mind when dealing with HIV/AIDS. These are a few processes that people go through when they are indentified as being HIV positive. This is when their life on whole comes into contrast. This is so because people often take things like sex for granted and it is because of this some can’t live a healthy lifestyle. Just imagine finding out that you are positive. How will society accept you? What about the stigmatization that one goes through. Can you imagine the physical, mental and emotional torments of the person’s life? Many people are left to walk in shame because of the fact that people usually do little to educate themselves about the virus. Even with the awareness of how†¦show more content†¦Over 65 million people have been infected since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS pandemic over two decades ago, but these statistics are not a true reflection of the actual numbers because many people live un knowingly with the virus. Why are the true numbers not reflected in statistics? There are many reasons that cause the true numbers not to be reflected such as the unwillingness to get tested or even not seeing the need to get tested therefore we see wrong results of statistics. It becomes impossible to get the actual number of Infected people when many people do not get tested. This is because of the ignorance of people. They often think that they are in love with an individual so they get the idea that they can have unprotected sex. The problem that arises is that one may not know how many sexual partners their significant other may have had. This then becomes a risk that can be very detrimental to physical and emotional health. It is very important that sexually active people be enlightened about their status. Knowing that you are H.I.V positive puts your life into a different perspective. It leads people to wonder if they would be accepted in society and ask themse lves; what will people say? This usually causes psychological strain on an individual. The individual would then have to live with the fear of being taunted and ridiculed. A great example ofShow MoreRelatedEssay on Impact of Stigma of HIV-AIDS in the South African Workplace1497 Words   |  6 Pagesstudy is â€Å"Impact of Stigma of HIV/AIDS in the South African workplace.† This falls under a discipline of business management in the financial management degree I am currently doing and one of the key areas of focus within business management is workplace challenges. I believe that HIV/AIDS stigmas are challenges regularly faced in the South African work environment. The purpose of this research review is to gain insight and deeper understanding of what workplace stigma towards HIV/AIDS is in the workplaceRead MoreDeveloping A Health Advocacy Campaign For Hiv Stigma Reduction899 Words   |  4 Pagesa health advocacy campaign for HIV stigma reduction. In our project, we illustrate the significant impact of the stigma towards the population infected with HIV/AIDS and suggest a potential advocacy campaign to reduce the stigma and incidence of this epidemic. Through this project, I learned what a lot of people don’t understand, is that anyone can be affected at anytime if they put themselves in a situation where they could be at risk. People identified as being HIV positive, go through a tremendousRead MoreStigma Of Hiv And Aids918 Words   |  4 PagesWith the recent passing of World AIDS day on December 1st, 2015, which followed Charlie Sheen’s recent disclosure of him being HIV-positive, revealed sad realties about society’ s relations to HIV and AIDS. So it seems opportune that this paper shed some light on the issue of stigma in relation to HIV and AIDS. This paper supports the notions that although stigma around HIV status has come a long way since its inception as an infectious disease in the 1980s, HIV stigma has not yet come to an end. AsRead MoreSexually Transmitted Diseases Are A Type Of Disease1141 Words   |  5 PagesThese different forms of contact can be oral, anal, or vaginal. STDs are seen in different forms such as bumps, rashes, or unseen to the naked eye. Some common STDs are chlamydia, herpes, syphilis, and HIV/AIDS. A person of any gender, race, or age can get an STD but there is different stigma attached to that person depending on their gender. Gender influences people to view the STD and that person who has it differently. This paper is set out to find why gender affects people’s views of STDs and howRead MoreProblem And Extent Of Hiv / Aids1539 Words   |  7 PagesProb lem and Extent of HIV/AIDS Impact in China From the narrative, Dazou merely represents one of the thousands of people who have contracted HIV through paid plasma plasma donation and unhygienic blood banks. The National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People’s Republic of China reports 501,000 reported cases of people living with HIV/AIDS. Although the pervasiveness of HIV may be low compared to China’s 1.3 billion population, certain communities have HIV prevalence rates as highRead MoreWhy Stigma Is A Profound Effect On A Person Affected By Hiv / Aids2052 Words   |  9 Pages This essay will discuss why stigma has a profound effect on a person affected by HIV/AIDS. It will first look at the definitions of stigma and explain the process and types of stigma. It will explain how people with HIV/AIDS can be affected by stigma. It will then look at the key characteristics found in stigma and explain why people with HIV/AIDS are stigmatised. It will further look at how stigma may have affected a perso n with HIV/AIDS in the 1980’s compared to how it may affect a person postRead MoreHow Hipaa Violations Affect the Medical Billing Process1652 Words   |  7 PagesHCR/220 September 23. 2012 How HIPAA Violations Affect The Medical Billing Process HIV and AIDS are two very serious diseases which first came known and reported in the U.S. in 1981. Today it is estimated that 1.7 million people in the U.S. have been infected with HIV since that date 619,000 people have already died from it. The CDC, (Center For Disease Control) estimates that every one in five people living with HIV, are unaware that they even have it. With a serious medical condition such as thisRead MoreIdentify one health condition and discuss the impact on an individual and or wider society1010 Words   |  5 Pagesimpact on an individual and or wider society This essay will focus on the health condition of (HIV) Human immunodeficiency virus and its impact on an individual’s wellbeing. A number of key dictionary definitions will follow. According to the Oxford Dictionaries (2013) Health is defined as â€Å"A person’s medical and physical condition†. HIV is human immunodeficiency virus, a retrovirus which causes Aids. Oxford dictionaries (2013). These definitions refer to the Medical Model of health which focusesRead MoreDiversity, Inclusion, And Equality Within The World1514 Words   |  7 Pagesas their expression of freedom. During this era HIV/AIDS was introduced into the LGBTQ community, and it led to the deaths of many people. HIV/AIDS was often mistaken as a â€Å"gay† disease, as it ran rampant through the community. While the community saw sex as one of their few rights or freedoms to have without intervention there were many sexually active gay men. Without the worry of pregnancy it was rare that protection was used, and thus HIV/AIDS spread quickly through the LGBTQ community. AtRead MoreWhy Hiv / Aids Is A Serious Disease Essa y1169 Words   |  5 PagesWHY HIV/AIDS IS A SERIOUS DISEASE HIV/AIDS is a disease that has more than 34 million people infected worldwide. This disease has 5,700 new infections every day, resulting in 240 more every single hour. This disease has caused 21.8 million deaths before the year 2000 and caused 1.8 million in 2012 alone. The same disease has one in three people in sub-Saharan Africa infected, and has no cure. These aforementioned facts, plus countless others presented are staggering and are compiled by leading organisations

Post Colonial Essay Free Essays

PostColonial Literature Essay 3. With reference of at least two short stories from the course, consider in what ways either Desai, Munro, Galgut and Rushdie’s stories are Postcolonial texts. You may consider issues such as home and homelessness, absences in the text, place, positionality or anything you feel is relevant to your attempt at decoding postcolonial identities. We will write a custom essay sample on Post Colonial Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now Post-colonial literature can be considered as a body of literary writings that reacts to the discourse of colonization. Post-colonial writers focus on issues such as de-colonization and the political and cultural independence of people formerly subjugated to colonial rule. However post-colonial literature cannot be described only by the definition above, many other issues have to be considered in order to fully understand post-colonial texts. In order to understand post-colonial texts, one has to focus on two post-colonial writers: Anita Desai and Damon Galgut. To begin with, Anita Desai is an Indian novelist and short story writer, especially noted for her sensitive portrayal of the inner life of her female characters. Desai prefers the concerns of Westernized, middle-class characters rather than those facing the majority of India. Desai has comments on her work â€Å"My novels are no reflection of Indian society, politics or character. They are my private attempt to seize upon the raw material of life. † â€Å"Diamond Dust†(2000), a second Desai’s short story collection, features a selection of tales set in North America and India, Indian characters and concerns figure in all of them, illuminating Desai’s thematic preoccupation with the psychological effects on multiculturalism. A short story called â€Å"Five Hours to Simla or Faisla† was written by Desai. Shubha Tiwari in â€Å"Critical responses to Anita Desai† argues that â€Å"Five Hours to Simla Or Faisla is one of the most successful stories in this collection because of the clarity of the motives in it. It is a humorous story about the adamant attitude of a Sardarji causing a good deal of tension to the travelers on the way to Simla. † In my opinion, â€Å"Five hours to Simla or Faisla† can be called as a post-colonial text for many reasons. First of all, I think that key character is a crucial thing while talking about post-colonial texts. A key character in this text is really important as short stories tend to be more interesting in characterisation. In this story the key character is the mother’s character as it shows tradition-bound patriarchal culture in India: mother’s responsibility to take care of children and not having a say in the family, being less important than the father / husband. At that stage Desai tries to focus on middle-class women in contemporary India as they attempt to overcome social limitations. Writers’ qualification is also very important in post-colonial texts as it reflects why the author chose to talk about this particular subject in their text. Desai’s qualification is feminine and we can see why mother’s ( the wife’s) character is such an important thing in this short story. Her qualification is also somehow engaged in as to why her daily life is occupied with the complexities of modern Indian culture from a feminine perspective, while highlighting the female Indian predicament of maintaining self-identity as an individual woman. Being an immigrant, Desai sees differences between her culture and Western world. Talking about the mother’s character, she tries to show the limited opportunities for women in Indian society; she tries to find the dissolution of traditional Indian values and Western stereotypes of India. Talking about central characters, we can consider family as central characters in this story as Desai focus on family relationship so much in this text. She talks from a third person perspective â€Å"she†, â€Å"he† and she never mentioned family member names, so she place very long distance between readers and family-unnamed characters makes a little bit difficult to talk about them for readers. Secondly, language/style is also really important in post-colonial texts. Desai’s literary language is not her native language, but English. She uses fluid language and a less flaky, descriptive style. She writes in a very natural way. This text is really interesting in linguistic terms, for example Desai in this text uses words such as kohl which means German politician who served as chancellor of West Germany. We can see here that Desai tries to focus on her real roots as her mother was German. Thirdly, it is worth to talk about identity in this text as identity is a key issue in post-colonial text. Desai use this story to solidify, through criticism and celebration, an emerging national identity, which she has taken on the responsibility of representing. Desai in this text represents post-independence India while she is talking about traffic jam. Traffic jam is like a symbol (symbolism is also an important thing in most post-colonial texts) of the stagnancy of the Indian society: India had never formerly existed and so it a huge issue – national identity crises in India. Traffic jam also symbolizes that members of a postcolonial society have an identity which has been shaped jointly by their own unique cultural and community history, intertwined with that of the colonial power. Desai tries to show cultural and social changes that have swept India since its independence from Britain in 1947. Key passages also play a vital role in post-colonial texts. The text I have chosen is: †She did not need to draw upon her thumb juices for long. The news of the traffic jam on the highway had spread like ripples from a stone thrown. From somewhere, it seemed from nowhere for there was no village bazaar, marketplace or stalls visible in that dusty dereliction, wooden barrows came†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (p. 122) I think that this passage shows that the market place finally appeared in Indian society. Market place at this stage is very important as it represents the centre of the community; it connects community together again after British oppression; it is like a sense of community even in stagnancy; it represents a whole nation again. It is always important to look at the title in post-colonial texts. The â€Å"Five hours to Simla or Faisla† title is no exception. Of course, we first look at Five hours to Simla because it makes sense for us- and the text in general represents it, but when we are looking deeper in the text context we make sure that Faisla is an important part of the title too. Faisla in English means judgment/ verdict, so how it is relative to this text? Traffic jam as I said is a symbol of stagnation of the Indian society. It also represents that Indian people are waiting someone to take control of India; to connect all religions together into one India identity/ into one native India. India was damaged by being colonized, so who will bring this country together? Indian people really need someone to take a verdict/leadership. Opening and ending of the text are essential parts of analysis of the post colonial texts too. Desai ends her text with no great judgment and resolution. Short story writers are tend to leave things open. They can’t really solve the problems, but they can represent the problems from all angles and allows people to judge. Another short story, which I would like to analyze is â€Å"The Lover† from â€Å"In a Strange Room† (2010) written by Damon Galgut, a South African novelist. I will start with a speaking person. The narrator is sometimes referred to in the first person singular, sometimes in the third. All this makes connection and at the same time disconnection in one’s mind, especially because Galgut is free and easy with conventional punctuation. Galgut writing style and punctuation is unusual in a way that he does not use any questions marks. Identity is also very important figure in this text. We can see that identity in this text is a migrant identity- the main character in this text is lost in this world, â€Å"he has not made a home for himself†. By this text, the author means that the character has not found a place in the world that he could call home, he doesn’t feel right, and is trying to find a place where he would feel accepted and content. Therefore he travels to Zimbabwe, without having planned anything â€Å"No particular intention brings him to Zimbabwe, all those years ago. He simply decides one morning to leave and gets on a bus that same night. † He also tries to find this place, that in his imagination he could call home. In the text the narrator says â€Å"Somebody has a map and knows which way to go†, he refers to how other people are different than him in a way that they have planned their routine, and have a place they can call home, whereas he hasn’t got any routes or plans, as he feels lost. In my opinion, him travelling around, symbolizes the fact that he is lost. He is trying to change his surroundings, he is trying to find a community, home, to find someone to love. â€Å"If I was with somebody, he thinks, with somebody I loved, then I could love the place and even the grave too, I would be happy to be there. † He emphasizes the fact that he is desperately trying to find a lover, a person who he would love, and that that person would make the surrounding right for him, that only then he would feel happy in the place. The character feels guilt, because he is trying to find a place that he could call home, and a person that he could call his lover, but fails to do that, and therefore he feels guilty. The title â€Å"The Lover† reflects the whole point of this story. In my opinion, the title refers to that person that the main character is looking for throughout his journey. That person in my opinion is the Irish woman that he meets in the hotel and starts his journey. We are told that the moment when they leave the hotel, him and the Irish woman, is the moment when the â€Å"real journey begins†. Sometimes it happens as you leave your house, sometimes it’s a long way from home. † We are told that even though the main character of the story has travelled for a while, his journey has only begun at that time when he, and his ‘lover’, leave the hotel, to go to Malawi. Even though there is no evidence that the woman is feeling any romantic feelings for him, his jo urney only begins now, and this Irish woman gives him hope, and he thinks that she could be her lover, in my opinion. Class issues are very obvious in this text. The officials at the border of Malawi are described as very ignorant, and incompetent. This is due to the fact that when they were told by the tourists, that they were informed by their embassy that they wouldn’t require a Visa. After that the officials shouted at them, and told them that they were wrong, and sent them back to get the Visa. This shows that the officials aren’t well informed, and also badly mannered. This goes to show that the stereotype that most African’s are very narrow minded is still very much true. They wouldn’t allow foreign people to go through the boarded without a Visa, even though it wasn’t required, but they did allow some South African’s through without a Visa. In conclusion, I believe that in order to understand post-colonial text you may consider issues such as identity, story title, characters, language, style, key passages, home and homelessness, place and etc. References: Anita Desai (2000). Diamond Dust, â€Å"Five Hours to Simla or Faisla†. Damon Galgut (2010). In a Strange Room, â€Å"The Lover†. Hart, Jonathan; Goldie Terrie (1993). â€Å"Post Colonial theory†. In: http://books. google. com/books? id=CTJCiLG9AeoCpg=PA155#v=onepageqf=false Word count: 1,967. 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Risk Identification and Planning free essay sample

Risks can have a classification system. This system classifies risks in relation to their locus of action. That is the organisational level at which the risk will have the most impact. Project Risks: are those risks within the project boundary that could affect the delivery of the business outcome that the project is set up to deliver. In other words, those that could affect the delivery of the project’s objectives. Business Risks: on the other hand are those risks that affect the operation of the business outcome once it has been delivered by the project. Environmental Risks: are those risks that are external to the project environment but which nevertheless can affect the project objectives. For example, the Gulf War had a devastating effect upon gas field projects in Kuwait in 1990. External change risks: are those risks that are beyond the immediate project environment but which could have a major impact. We will write a custom essay sample on Risk Identification and Planning or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Frequently in contractual terms these may include force majeure events. However, external change risks go beyond force majeure, for example because of a shift in Government policy or in its interpretation of a law. The main aims of risk management are to: ?Identify potential risks; Assess the probability and impact of each risk; ?Identify alternative actions that prevent the risk from happening (avoidance), or if it does happen ameliorate the impact (reduction), or provide a strategy for dealing with the accepted consequences of such a risk occurring (acceptance); ? Implement and monitor those actions that are cost effective and necessary to the successful delivery of the project objectives (NB: project objectives not project); ? Provide feedback from experiential learning to improve the risk management of future projects and to inform the training and development of project managers. Risk Management is therefore an integral part of project management not an additional extra. It should be used to drive, inform and support planning. Effective risk management should: †¢Anticipate and influence events before they happen by taking a pro-active approach; †¢Provide knowledge and information about predicted events; †¢Inform and where possible improve the quality of decision making, recognising the preferred hierarchy of risk avoidance, risk reduction, risk control, and risk acceptance; †¢Avoid covert assumptions and false definition of risks; Make the project management process overt and transparent; †¢Assist in the delivery of project objectives in terms of benchmarked quality, time and cost thresholds; †¢Allow the development of scenario planning in the event of the identification of a high impact risk; †¢Provide improved contingency planning; †¢Provide verifiable records of risk planning and risk control. To achieve effective and efficient risk management risk planning is required. The commonest form of risk planning is the Risk Management Plan. Risk Management at various stages in the construction process No investment or even short-term production process can be planned without taking into account the associated risk. In reality every project contains a component of risk which results in the necessity to assess and reduce the associated threats. Of course investors have procedures based on many years of experience allowing for identification and reduction of emerging risk components. Risk Management is a continuous process which should be conducted at every stage of the project; from its emergence until completion and use. It is important to eliminate risks as early as possible, for instance, at the stage of analysis of the project value and cost analysis during the project implementation. The basic task is to identify the problem as well as the significance and benefits associated with the risk management process. This identification can be captured in a Risk Plan. Figure 1: Correlation between the Construction process and Risk Management Figure 1 below presents a correlation between the various levels of risk management and the subsequent stages of the construction process. There are no rigorous divisions between the subsequent stages of the risk management process. It is worth remembering, however, that along with the progress of work, the approach to the problem of risk should be changing which results in the necessity to consult various specialists depending on the specific characteristics of the issue. Risk Identification Risk identification involves determining which risks might affect the project and documenting their characteristics. Participants in risk identification need to be selected on who is best placed to identify risks in a given technical or management area and generally includes the following: †¢Project team; †¢Risk management team; †¢Subject matter experts – for example ground conditions engineers; †¢Customer(s); †¢End users if different from customer; †¢Other project managers; †¢Stakeholders; †¢Outside experts for example public authority representatives. Risk identification is an iterative process; the first pass may be performed by a part of the project team or by the risk management team. The entire project team and primary stakeholders then make a second iteration. To achieve unbiased analysis persons who are not involved in the project should perform a final iteration. Often the simple and effective risk responses can be developed and even implemented as soon as the risks are identified. Risk identification can be undertaken top-down and bottom-up. Top-down identification provides a rapid start to the assessment and commences with an overall view of the programme. It should be cause or ‘risk area’ oriented to give a good coverage. Bottom-up identification involves a systematic comprehensive coverage of the project management and technical deliverables; it looks at the project requirements, plans, specifications, resourcing, contracts, sub-contractor, sub-contract characteristics and project interfaces and interactions. Risk identification requires an understanding of the project’s mission, scope and objectives of the owner, sponsor and/ or stakeholders. Output of other processes should be reviewed to identify possible risks across the project; these may include: †¢Product descriptions; †¢Schedule and cost estimates; Resources plan; †¢Procurement plan; †¢Assumptions; †¢Constraints. In practise Project Managers have widely adopted the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) as an essential tool for most or all of the applications already mentioned. The WBS is the keystone of any project and it has broad application to nearly every aspect of the project through its life-cycle. In general practice the WBS is used for: †¢Systems engineering; †¢Planning and budgeting; †¢Funding; †¢Cost estimating; †¢Scheduling; †¢Measuring performance; †¢Configuration management; †¢Baseline change control; †¢Project control tools development; Testing and commissioning; †¢Integrated logics support. The WBS needs to represent the entire project: everything that is part of the project in terms of products, hardware, software, services, data, facilities management and other elements that completely define the entire scope of work. The WBS should also reflect the methods to be used to plan, control, manage and execute the work. Typical project risks that could be encountered are shown in Figure 2 below. Project Management RiskExamples Customer Customer focus, specification quality, changing requirements. Project management Planning, resourcing, resource capabilities, dependencies, stakeholders, organization / interfaces, communication, constraints, process, transition and services ProcurementPlanning, vendor appraisals, critical lead-times, reliance on single source, component obsolescence, market volatility Commercial Subcontractor agreement, interpretation of Terms and conditions FinancialProfit margin, accurate cost forecasts, payment plan, penalty charges EngineeringFeasibility, technology transfer, complexity, dependencies, resourcing, special standards/ documentation requirements, prototypes, maturity, manufacture, process ManufacturingMake/ buy planning, design, production capacity, new tools/ equipment requirements, test requirements, new manufacturing or test processes, incorporating change during manufacture System design and integrationSystems complexity, interfaces, human factors, software, hardware TechnologyTechnology or technical approach chosen to achieve the project objective Subcontra ctor capabilitiesAbility of contractors or other vendors to perform project objectives, including Project management strategy and ability InterfacesWorking in a multi-project environment, interfacing with existing operational activities and other stakeholders. EnvironmentalEnvironmental laws and compliances, licences and permits Regulatory involvementInvolvement by any regulatory agency such as EA, HSE or by national , state and local governments Political visibilityPolitical significance or visibility to national, state or local governments, specialinterests and the public Number of key project participantsInvolvement by other than a primary owner for the decision making and management ComplexityIssues with design criteria, functional requirements, complex design features, breakthrough technology or existing as-built condition documents Labour skills availability and productivityAdequate resources, speciality resources, rapid labour force build-up experience and commitment, and exposure to environmental extremes Number of locations/ site access/ site ownershipGeographic dispersion, time zone differences, site ownership and access issues Funding/ cost sharingProject duration, involvement / funding by other parties, and stability of monetar y inputs Magnitude / type of contaminationPresence of hazardous or mixed waste Quality requirementsRequirements for precision work or other QA requirements; types of QA methods Site Ground conditions, flood plane, contaminated ground, archaeological finds Public involvementCitizen interest or involvement, rights of way Figure 2: Typical Project Management Risks In looking at the list in Figure 2 it would be fair to assume that projects are increasing in technical complexity. As such this complexity increases the risk of not meeting the success criteria, as established in the concept and planning phase of the project with the client and also related to the three key Project Management variables. Historically, project decision making has been heavily biased toward meeting the cost and schedule goals without the same level of thought to the consequences of the project’s technical objective(s). This has been the legacy of the earned value performance measurement approach to Project Management, which measured success primarily by concentrating on the two elements where a preponderance of the known data could be measured. Tools and Techniques for Risk Identification Remember the acronym SLEEPT: Social; Legal; Economic; Environmental; Political; Technological. This can be used for the disaggregation of Exogenous or Endogenous Risks to assist in identification of risks. There are a number of tools and techniques available for use in risk identification, these are described below: Documentation reviewPerforming a structured review of high level and detailed project plans and assumptions prior project files and other information is generally the initial step taken by project teams. Assumptions analysisEvery project is conceived and developed based on a set of hypotheses, scenarios or assumptions validity. Assumptions analysis is a technique that explores that assumption’s validity. It identifies risks to the project from inaccuracy, inconsistency or incompleteness of assumptions. Diagramming techniquesDiagramming techniques may include cause and effect diagramme (also known as Ishikawa or fishbone diagrams). These are useful for identifying causes of risks. Systems or process flow charts – these show how various elements of a system interrelate and the mechanism of causation. ChecklistsChecklists for risk identification can be developed based on historical information and knowledge that has been accumulated from previous similar projects and from other sources of information. One advantage is that risk identification is quick and simple. One disadvantage is that it is impossible to build an exhaustive checklist of risks, and the user may be effectively limited to the categories in the list. Care should be taken to explore items that do not appear on a standard checklist to see if they seem relevant to the specific project. The checklist should itemise all types of possible risks to the project. It is important to review the checklist as a formal step of every project-closing procedure to improve the list of potential risks and the description of risks for subsequent projects. Checklists are seldom exhaustive but can help to ensure that the most common key areas of project risk are considered. They are particularly useful as â€Å"prompts† to facilitate brainstorming. NB: A sample checklist provided at the end of this section. Information- gathering techniques Examples of information gathering techniques used in risk identification can include: †¢Brainstorming – this is probably the most frequently used risk identification technique. The goal is to obtain a comprehensive lists of risks that can be addressed later  in the qualitative and quantitative risk analysis processes. The project team usually brainstorms, although a multidisciplinary set of experts can also use this technique. Under the leadership of a facilitator, these people generate ideas about project risk. Sources of risk are identified in broad scope and posted for all to examine during the meeting. As with all brainstorming the key thing at this point is to capture everything. Consideration of which risks to accept or to manage, comes later. †¢The Delphi technique which is a way to reach a consensus of experts on a subject such as project risk. Project risk experts are identified but participate anonymously. A facilitator uses a questionnaire to solicit ideas about the important project risks. The responses are submitted and are then circulated to the experts for further comment. Consensus on the main project risks may be reached in a few rounds of this process. The Delphi technique helps to reduce bias in the data and keeps any person from having undue influence on the outcome. †¢Interviewing. Risks can be identified by interviews of experienced Project Managers or subject-matter experts. The person responsible for risk identification identifies the appropriate individuals, briefs them on the project and provides information such as the WBS and list of assumptions. The interviewees identify risks to the project based on the experience, project information and other sources that they find useful. †¢SWOT analysis covering Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats ensures examination of the project from each of the SWOT perspectives to increase the breath of the risks considered. Learning from experienceMake use of near neighbour comparisons of similar projects, locations, suppliers, customer etc Figure 3: Tools and Techniques for Risk Identification In identifying projects risk that may affect a project these can be organized into risk categories and should reflect common sources of risk for the industry or application area. Categories include: †¢Technical, quality or performance risks – such as reliance on unproven or complex technology, unrealistic performance goals, changes to the technology used or the industry standards during the project; †¢Project management risks – such as poor allocation of time and resources, inadequate quality of the project plan, poor use of Project Management disciplines; †¢Organizational risks – such as costs, time and scope objectives that are internally inconsistent, lack of prioritization of projects, inadequacy or interruption of funding and resource conflicts with other projects in the organization; †¢External risks – such as changing legal or regulatory environment, labour issues, changing owner priorities, country risk and weather. Force majeure risks such as earthquakes, floods, civil unrest generally require disaster recovery actions rather than risk management. Having used a number of tools and techniques to identify the risks for a project it is important that the risk statement is correctly phrased and it is recommended that this should follow the Condition- Cause- Consequence approach, for example: There is a risk that lack of support will cause the project to stall resulting in team being deployed on other work. There is a risk that our customer will be unable to specify the internal fit-out requirements in a timely fashion caused by their lack of experience in procuring this type of equipment resulting in delayed payment, project overrun, and delayed initiation of support contracts. There is a risk that the client will wish to bring forward the completion date for the project and cause us to execute the work by additional shift working or more resources resulting in an overall cost increase from that contractually agreed. Risk Planning Risk planning is the process of deciding how to approach and plan for the risk management activities of a project. This is important to ensure that the level, type and visibility of risk management are commensurate with both the risk and importance of the project to the organization. Figure 4: Elements of Risk Management Planning The inputs to the Risk Management Planning phase of the project are shown in Figure 4 and are described below: †¢The Organization’s risk management policies. Some organizations may have predefined approaches to risk analysis and responses that have to be tailored to a particular project; †¢Predefined roles and responsibilities and authority levels for decision-making will influence planning; †¢Stakeholder risk tolerances. Different organizations and different individuals have different risk tolerances. These may be expressed in policy statements or revealed in actions; †¢Template for the organization’s risk management plan. Some organizations have developed templates (or a pro-forma standard) for use by the project team. The organization will continuously improve the template, based on its application and usefulness in the project; †¢Work breakdown structure (WBS) for the project. The main tool for the Risk management Planning is the Planning meetings, at which the project team develop the risk management plan. Attendees usually include the Project Manager, the project team leaders, anyone in the organization with responsibility to manage the risk planning and execution activities, key stakeholders, and others as and when needed. They can make use of the risk management templates and other inputs as appropriate. The primary output for the meeting is an agreed management approach to risks that the project will face and which is described in a formal risk management plan that details how risk identification, qualitative and quantitative analysis, response planning, monitoring and control will be undertaken during the project life-cycle. The risk management plan does not address responses to individual risks – this is accomplished in the risk response plan. As such the risk management plan may: †¢Include a methodology to define the approaches, tools and data sources that may be used to perform risk management of the project. Different types of assessments may be appropriate depending upon the stage of the project, the amount of information available and the flexibility remaining in risk management; †¢Detail the roles and responsibilities and define the lead, support and risk management team membership for each type of action in the risk management plan. Risk management teams organized outside of the project may be able to perform more independent, unbiased risk analysis of the project than those from the direct project team; †¢Establish a budget for risk management for the project; Define how often the risk management process will be performed throughout the project life-cycle. Results should be developed early enough to affect decisions, indeed these decisions should be periodically reviewed during the project execution. Typically a Project manager will review the risks on a monthly basis; sometimes this review is more frequent; †¢Detail the Scoring and Implementation methods appropriate for the type and timing of the qualitative and quantitative risk analysis being performed. It is good practise for the methods and scoring to be determined in advance to ensure consistency; †¢Describe the threshold criteria for risks that will be acted upon, by whom, and in what manner. The project sponsor and customer may have different thresholds and the acceptable threshold forms the target against which the project team can measure the effectiveness of the risk response plan execution; †¢Describe the content and format of the risk response plan and how the results of the risk management processes will be documented, analyzed and communicated to the project team, internal and external stakeholders, sponsors and others. Many organizations employ a graded approach to risk management which may have a number of criteria for determining the application of the graded approach such as financial value, complexity, visibility, risk, strategic risk etc. This could lead to a clearer definition of the application of the graded approach – â€Å"the risk–based graded approach. The risk analysis provides a formalised and documented method or technique to determine the graded approach. Without a more formalised risk analysis process all interested parties have the opportunity to identify and assess the impact of a wide variety of potentially adverse risks on the project’s technical objectives. Cost and schedule adjustments can then be incorporated to present a more realistically achievable estimate of the resources necessary to attain project success. The resultant baseline becomes a much more powerful tool in managing the project and its expectations. Indeed, without this analysis, the confidence in completing the project to its success criteria must be necessarily low. It is important to document the risk management process so that all parties are aware of the implementation and review process and a typical Risk Management Plan is shown as Figure 5. TitleDetails IntroductionProject / Product Overview: †¢Summary of requirement. †¢Critical success factors. †¢Project Life-cycle. Control of PlanOverview: †¢Review and reissue frequency. Scope and ObjectivesScope of work: †¢Scope, complexity and scale of project. Initial assessment of difficulty, scale, precedence, impact of failure. Objectives: †¢Deliverables: eg risk register, report, mitigation plans, reporting requirements for project team, main contractor and sub-contractor(s). Identification StrategyIdentification: †¢Describe the identification process: how the risks are identified eg brainstorming, checklists etc. The discipline of describing risks. †¢How ownership is established and recorded eg Risk Register. †¢How new risks are identifies and mitigated risks retired. †¢When risks are identified and at what level. Allocation: †¢Describe the process to assign and apportion risk to other stakeholders eg sub-contractors, Partners, other areas of the organization. Assessment StrategyAnalysis (qualitative): †¢Describe the method used to establish post mitigation criticality scores from probability and impact assessments. Evaluation(quantitative): †¢Describe the approach to be taken to evaluate collective cost, project and performance exposures. Response strategy: Describe how performance, cost and effectiveness benefits will be calculated to determine courses of action (option selection). †¢Describe how pre-emptive risk action will be fully integrated into the overall project programme. †¢Describe how corrective fallback plans will be incorporated into the overall project programme. †¢Describe how risks are to be mitigated, transfer, sharing and acceptance. †¢Describe fallback measures to recover in the event of risk occurrence. †¢Identify how associated costs and effectiveness of action will be established and recorded. †¢Identify how contingency will be released to support effective mitigation action on the occurrence of risk Process ManagementRisk Management process: †¢Process objectives. Outline process description, clearly identifying the supporting audits and reviews including contract risk reviews and technical risk reviews. Contingency Management: †¢Describe the principles and methods for determining the correct overall level of project contingency. †¢Allocating technical and managerial contingencies and movements between the two. †¢Authorising pre-emptive mitigation spend. †¢Authorising the release of contingency funds to support corrective risk mitigation. †¢Authorising risk retirements. Risk Management tools: †¢Identifying the tools and methods being used to support the risk assessment, support requirements and maintenance responsibilities. Risk Register control: Describe the process for maintaining the register, indicate how items are to be entered, updated and deleted. †¢How associated mitigation / promotion actions/ plans / programmes and events will be recorded and reviewed. †¢Detail where the Register will be kept and how it will be accessed and by whom. Risk Reporting: †¢Describe the reports to be generated from the process including details of: what reports will be generated; what the reporting cycle will be; and at what level eg Top 20 risks †¢Describe the process for identification of new risks, deletion and retirement of old risks. OrganisationProject responsibilities: †¢Identify clearly the role, authority and responsibility with respect to  risk and mitigation actions of the Project Manager/ Director, Risk Manager, Risk Owner, Risk Actionee, Project Team members. †¢Provide a list of people who will have responsibility for regular review of the risks, detailing their roles. †¢Provide a summary o f internal and external parties involvement with the risk management process eg customer, sub-contractor, suppliers, user, government agencies. Functional responsibilities: †¢Define the main functional interfaces (customer/ supplier) between the various project groups or areas. †¢Identify how risk and associated contingency will be allocated to the functional areas and managed across the organizational interfaces. ProgrammeMobilisation programme.

Virtual Reality Versus Augmented Reality

5 Examples of Misplaced Modifiers

5 Examples of Misplaced Modifiers 5 Examples of Misplaced Modifiers 5 Examples of Misplaced Modifiers By Mark Nichol You’ve heard that timing is everything. In writing, however, placement takes first place when it comes to conveying meaning. Consider these examples. 1. â€Å"So far, the book has only come out in Italian.† It has only come out in Italian? It hasn’t done anything else in that language? No, it is only in Italian that it has come out. This revision says so clearly: â€Å"So far, the book has come out only in Italian.† (The placement of only within a sentence is the most common type of misplaced modifier. It’s forgivable in spoken English, but in writing, it’s best put in its place.) 2. â€Å"Then you’ll be able to survive just about anything that life throws at you with confidence and style.† What, exactly, does life throw at you with confidence and style? Nothing. It’s you, not your life, that exhibits these traits: â€Å"Then you’ll be able to survive, with confidence and style, just about anything that life throws at you.† 3. â€Å"She broke ground as the first woman to run for president of the United States in 1872.† This sentence implies that the subject was the first woman to register as a presidential candidate that year. But the meaning is that in that particular year, she became the first such candidate in history. This revision communicates that point: â€Å"In 1872, she broke ground as the first woman to run for president of the United States.† 4. â€Å"She got a job with an organization that developed policy for youth and children while she was a political science major.† The impression one gets from this sentence is that the organization carried out its mission only during the duration of the subject’s time at the university. But what it means to say is that she obtained her job with an organization that pursued that objective independently of her tenure, and that she was a student when she did so, as conveyed here: â€Å"While she was a political science major, she got a job with an organization that developed policy for youth and children.† 5. â€Å"Smith recently presented a paper at a conference titled ‘Averting Bloodshed: The Benefits of Community-Based Mediation Services.’† To what does the title refer the paper, or the conference? The proximity of conference to the title implies that the event was so named, but this revision reveals the truth: â€Å"Smith, at a recent conference, presented a paper titled ‘Averting Bloodshed: The Benefits of Community-Based Mediation Services.’† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Bare or Bear With Me?Grammar Quiz #21: Restrictive and Nonrestrictive ClausesHow Many Sentences in a Paragraph?

Williams Syndrome in Psychology Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Williams Syndrome in Psychology - Research Paper Example Yet, another similar condition can be compared with Down Syndrome, the Williams Syndrome--also known as William-Beuren Syndrome. Rare in characteristic, this type of syndrome was first recognized in the early 1960’s, where four young samples had been identified with such conditions, as all had presented â€Å"supravalvar aortic stenosis...mental retardation† and similar facial features. By such discovery, the said disorder had been named in honor of one of its founder, Dr. Williams--a cardiologist (Bellugi, Wang, & Jernigan, 1994, p. 3). Other than these initial diagnostic parameters, Williams syndrome is also characterized by hypercalcemia of unknown origin, accompanied by distinct cognitive and behavioral profile (Khan, Calureriu, Huang, & Robin, 2011). At this point, such concepts seemed to be more focused on the pathophysiological context of the said condition, disregarding the psychological elements of William syndrome. In appeal, this group is said to be hypersoci able, where they are into over-friendliness, as they appear to lack the adaptive behavior of covertly following the unwritten social rules common in most societal structures (Udwin, Davies, Howlin, & Stinton, 2007). With such social trait, one can assume that the interpersonal skills generated by individuals with William syndrome are adequate for daily public associations, yet, a number of literatures presented otherwise. The overtly sociable attitude by groups with William Syndrome may be acceptable in society, but their psychological status may not be as stable as most believed. This paper seeks to establish the paradoxical traits that individuals with Williams Syndrome seemed to have; present common psychological features and find patterns among such psychological manifestations. Biological Origins and Clinical Features The etiologic origins and pathological process seemed to be pointed back to genetic deficits. Generally thought of as a neurodevelopmental condition, most experts identified the â€Å"deletion of ~25–30 genes...(which span) about 1.5 megabases in the q11.23 region of chromosome 7† as the exact cause of the William Syndrome (Deutsch, Rosse, & Schartz, 2007, p. 903). Genetic in function, such dysfunction in the genetic level can significantly cause a series of physiological changes upon human anatomic development, especially in organ tissues of the heart. As this is genetic in origin, the defective genetic material is said to have a hereditary feature, where there can be a 50% chance that individuals might pass this DNA product to the next generation. Although random in pattern, studies showed that 1 infant in every 80,000 births can have this syndrome--a highly rare occurrence (â€Å"William Syndrome,† 2011). Like most genetic disorders, people with such condition can easily be distinguished due to their common appearance, where their faces may have an elfin quality, with prominent forehead and eyes, ample cheeks, expansi ve mouth, small nose, and broad earlobes (Semel & Rosner, 2003). In line with this, overall presentation of the condition can be divided into four sections: â€Å"cognitive development, language, auditory function, and visuospatial function† (Khan, Calureriu, Huang, & Robin, 2011). In context, cognition and language functions are quite delayed for their age, with highly sensitive hearing capabilities to auditory stimuli, and a disassociation between what is seen and its normative interpretations. As such, environmental adaptation of these groups is delayed, compared to their normal counterparts. Aside from these clinical symptoms, those with William Syndrome are also plagued with a number of medical disorders, which may range from clinically serious cardiac

DB2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

DB2 - Essay Example The walls of this building are light colored. This building was constructed to replace the temple of the goddess Athena (Boardman, 1996). The look and feel of the building represent the religious and mythical feeling typical to Greek Art. The The Roman Arch of Constantine is in fact a symbol of victory for the Romans. Constantine won the battle of Milvian bridge in 312 CE and this building was constructed as a triumphal arch of Romans. It is one of the latest existing arches which fall in this category (Henderson and Beard, 2001). Both of these pieces of art are objective and represent a great achievement or cultural attitude of the time of construction. The Arch is a typical rectangular building which has sharp edges. The Greek Temple building is also rectangular but it is more aesthetically pleasing. The first building represents a very important religious aspect of Greeks. The Greeks believed in goddess of Athena and to make her happy, they replaced the earlier temple with this ne wer and grander one. It represents the closeness of Greeks with their gods and mythology. The artists who have worked on this piece of art have tried to convey the religious aspects of Greek life and have done that successfully. The second building is a symbol of victory (Henderson and Beard, 2001). It has the specific toughness. The look of this building can be easily related to a grand military victory.

Slave Life in the Americas Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Slave Life in the Americas - Research Proposal Example Slavery in America was a legal practice in North America before formation of the United States in 1776. The practice existed more than a century. The prosperity achieved by the United States through the help of the unpaid labor of African Americans indirectly fueled in the industrial revolution and subsequent economic strength of the country.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"That wealth created tremendous political power for slave holders and their representatives. African slaves brought with them their many cultures, languages, and values, which helped to shape America and its unique culture. Enduring a brutally oppressive system, African slaves developed a deep commitment to liberty and became a living testament to the powerful ideal of freedom† (The Study of Slavery and Freedom in American History n.d.). Research Statement: Until a few years ago, end of slavery in United States was thought to be an initiative from the US part without any fight on the part of the African slaves. According to a hist orian, â€Å"African Americans were the only people in the history of the world...that ever became free without any effort of their own." But, reality was something else. The African slaves had to fight hard to set them free from forced acquisition as well as to resist enslavement. They opted for various strategies to achieve their goal: freedom and equality. Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this study is to find out how the African American slaves had struggled for their quest of equality. The enslaved Africans had faced many adverse circumstances, but yet stranded firm portraying deep courage to finally participate fully in all aspects of American life. The study will investigate how the enslaved African’s struggled to overcome the immense odds. Research Questions: How slavery did it get so deeply rooted in America? How the African American slaves had struggled for their quest of equality and freedom? How slavery in America ended? Literature Review: Describing about sl avery trade, the African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship says, â€Å"During the course of the slave trade, millions of Africans became involuntary immigrants to the New World. Some African captives resisted enslavement by fleeing from slave forts on the West African coast. Others mutinied on board slave trading vessels, or cast themselves into the ocean. In the New World there were those who ran away from their owners, ran away among the Indians, formed maroon societies, revolted, feigned sickness, or participated in work slowdowns. Some sought and succeeded in gaining liberty through various legal means such as "good service" to their masters, self-purchase, or military service. Still others seemingly acquiesced and learned to survive in servitude† (Slavery – The Peculiar Institution n.d.). Slave trading was granted to be a very lucrative business. But, European as well as American traders of human and their politician and businessman supporters did not anyway intend to â€Å"motivate the captives and their descendants to fight for full citizenship in the United States of America† (Slavery – The Peculiar Institution n.d.). But, as time passed, these slaves fought their fight for equal rights. â€Å"When Thomas Jefferson penned the words, ‘All men are created equal,’ he could not possibly have envisioned how literally his own slaves and others would take his words. African Americans repeatedly questioned how their owners could consider themselves noble in their own fight for independence from

Why african people are reluctant to attend counselling

Why african people are reluctant to attend counselling The research aimed to identify why individuals coming from an African background are reluctant to attend counselling services. This line of research was examined through individuals attitudes and knowledge of native and British Africans living in the United Kingdom. Data was collected using a Likert scale questionnaire consisting of thirty-five of which ten statements being tested for participants knowledge and twenty-five being tested for participants attitudes. Overall eighty participants (forty male and forty female) ranging from the age of eighteen to thirty years had participated in the experiment.   The data collected were subjected to a 22 unrelated two-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) between participants as participants can only be one or the other. The independent variable consisted of two conditions being participants gender and whether their background was native or British Africans and a dependant variable being the overall scores. Overall findings had shown that there was no significance difference between participants gender and origin in relation to individuals knowledge (F(1,76) = .965, p= 0.329) and attitude   (F(1,76) = .166, p= .685). The results did not seem to support previous research which many had suggested that African men will have a negative view on counselling. The research did however, raises interesting questions for future studies, and had allowed for a second experiment being designed for native Africans over the age of forty for further understanding of the new development. The overall results had saw native African men to more knowledge in counselling as women showed a positive attitude towards this second experiment made it clearer in understanding that different generation are carrying different views on counselling. Introduction Throughout time the African community prides itself on traditional morals and values in which can determine how they begin to perceive their surroundings. This notion can become problematic in many areas of an individuals well-being. As mental illness is common in Africans it raises the question on how they are able to put their beliefs aside and accept help.     According to Mind (2010) black people were more likely to be detained under the section 136 of the Mental Health Act (1983), section 136 allows individuals who are believed to be suffering from mental illness be placed under safety.   As more and more Africans begin to immigrate to the United Kingdom, it brings to light on the services that are available in ensuring that the needs of black Africans are met.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As an individual coming from an African background and having family who have immigrated to the United Kingdom form a Ghana, by seeing in firsthand how the views of counselling is perceive amongst the African community enables for this study to elaborate and understand the common problems which hinders Africans living in the United Kingdom from accessing counselling services. By looking into British and native African attitudes and knowledge towards counselling can play a part in the understanding to why African individuals fear help seeking services. The research will also examine the cultural differences between the western system and how it can have an effect n the African culture, as it is seen to be a barrier between how Africans approach counselling services as counselling purport to confront the social and emotional barriers placed within many societies, as well as ease the distress such social and emotional issues.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) (2009) states that in order for a client to come to terms with unconstructive situations one must be able to see things from a different perspective, which then enables change and choice. By acknowledging the early work of the Humanistic approach founded by Carl Rogers (1902-1987), marked an important development in the area of counselling as Rogers had set out to look into the individual as a whole and had outlined the concept of self-actualisation. This explanation saw psychological growth as it was portrayed that the sense of satisfaction with life was an essential human motive. However, Rogers wanted to understand an individuals response to certain situations and had devised the client-centred or person centred counselling. This approach gives the understanding that individuals have the skills to reach their full potential, however this may become blocked due to life experiences individuals face. Rogers approach see s the role of a counsellor being able to aid clients in accepting who they are as an individual, as by providing positive points to the client helps in the individual valuing themselves as a whole. The Gestalt Therapy considered by Fritz Perls (1940), another school under the humanistic had also similar ideas to Rogers approach. Gestalt therapy had focused on the experiences of an individuals thoughts, emotional and behaviour. The main approach was to make the individual become more aware of who they are, as by the promotion of here and now saw the improvement in removing certain obstacles. Gestalt approach was influenced by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) psychoanalytic theory, the understanding of emotions saw through the perceptive of human beings. The work of Sigmund Freud was first established through the understanding on the functioning of the human mind, the notion led to his own principles and techniques being known as psychoanalysis. The idea brought in many techniques such as free association which helped to reveal the unconscious beliefs and desires, and therefore was able to make the unconscious mind conscious; this had therefore enabled the patient to reveal their inner problems. By comparing the major approaches into counselling and psychotherapy, these theories helped to build a foundation into the outcome of positive and modern counselling techniques which is still used for clients with mental health and personal issues.  Ã‚  Ã‚   The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) (2009) defines counselling as a private and confidential setting which explores the difficulty, distress or loss of direction and purpose that the client is facing, as the role of a counsellor should be able to encourage to look at different aspects of their life. The process of counselling has long been at the centre of understanding how human beings are able to adapt to difficulties and life changing situations. In order for clients to benefit from the help-seeking services, the essential information is needs to be highlighted and made available to individuals. As with the ongoing growth of counselling services emerging within society, counselling has faced a multitude of challenges throughout the years which have determined the outcome of different types of approaches being used for its clients. The lack of Africans not attending counselling services has brought to light the issue of trust that the client may have upon the counsellor as this can result in whether clients are able to seek help or not. Many studies have recognised the key issues that have become problematic in understanding the cycle of why many cultures are reluctant to approach counselling services, which will be addressed within this study. However, as majority of these studies address the issues faced within Africans American clients, the lack of recognition within the UK has led to this study being conducted, the views of British and native Africans may differ from the views of others around the world in relation to counselling. This leads to this piece of research focu sing on the knowledge and attitudes of counselling services within British and native Africans living in the United Kingdom. Literature Review In this review of literature based on counselling and ethnic minority engagement, the author will explore some of the reasons why black African individuals may resist engaging with counselling services. The Department of Health and Human Services (2001) highlighted the social stigma faced within many ethnic communities living in the UK. The term stigma was first seen by sociologist Erving Goffman (1968) as someone who possesses an undesired characteristic and who is therefore disqualified from full social acceptance. The understanding that Africans are faced with stigmation has been considered to be core explanation into why black individuals tend to be unable to seek the professional help-seeking services. The statement by the Department of Health and Human Services brought to light that many Africans avoid seeking help because of the fear of being seen as unstable by other members of the African community. Many Africans would rather handle their own business, than seek the necessar y help needed to overcome their own personal complex situations. In addition to the concern on stigmatisation, it has been argued that western models of counselling are culturally inappropriate for ethnic minority clients. For example, the European Guidance and Counselling Research (2008) has shown that clients from ethnic minority groups are least likely to make use of counselling services. As the statement recognises the lack of Africans interacting with counselling services provided many researchers such as Ridley, (1995), Lago Thompson (1996) and Sue Sue, (1999) looked into a possible reasons why this may be. These references have argued that mainstream approaches are white, middle class activities that operate with many distinctive values and assumptions, and had coined the phrase ethnocentric activity.   This term was centred on the one sided views and principles of the white middle class individuals which has led to the separation with other cultures in the UK.   Many cultures may view the Western system as unsuitable, as the needs of other ethnic minorities may not to be taken into consideration.    As more and more researchers begin to realise the ongoing problem in the way counselling services operate, Sue and Sue (1996) had considered an approach known as the Multicultural Counselling and Therapy (MCT) challenged the theory that only one technique of approach is assignable to every client. Sue and Sue developed the theory of Multicultural Counselling and Therapy, as a model which seeks to resolve the increased imbalance with different cultures by acknowledging and valuing different cultures which are being presented as well as promoting a method designed to enhance the present approaches. Pederson (1994) had also proposed a broad definition of multicultural counselling as ethnographic variables which looked into ethnicity, religion, age, and gender, as well as status variables such as social, educational and economic factors. Pedersons proposal argued that multiculturalism takes note on how similar and different individuals can be towards others, as Pederson understood that a n individuals differences did not matter in relation to counselling. However, according to Ivey (1997) who views multicultural counselling from a different perspective sees this term as a meta theoretical approach, this had outlined the techniques which exist within the cultural context. It stresses the connection between family and culture affecting the way in which individuals view the world. In addition, Ivey, Sue and Pederson had outlined the importance in working towards developing wider knowledge on the different approaches practitioners needs to adapt to and change to ensure the requirements are meet for its clients, as multicultural counselling brings in a new approach designed to ensure that all individuals from ethnic backgrounds are met. The concept of multicultural counselling brings in the research conducted by Sue and Sue (2003) who had looked into the lack of counsellors from particular ethnic backgrounds. Sue and Sue came to the understanding that the term counselling is considered as a white endeavor being controlled by White middle-class value system. Bimrose (1996) saw a clear pattern emerging and understood that individuals from ethnic groups were the least likely to request and persevere with counselling which concluded that individuals who had attended a counselling service were unlikely to return. In relation to this understanding, a study which had looked into the past and present views of counselling devised by Paul. M. Smith (1947) made clear for the need of black individuals having black counsellors, as black counsellors had the key in understanding the black heritage. As a result, the effect of Smith idea made aware of the lack of recognition and how it can have an effect on individuals well-being. The relationship between African men and women in relation to counselling has attracted considerable amount of attention in recent years. In an attempt to go beyond the negative views and assumptions about how men and women use counselling services by examining the problem enables for a wider understanding.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is seen that a males identity plays an important role in relation to their masculinity as the constant idea of proving their manhood is seen to be earned. Society has long perceived men as emotionless as this term determines their masculinity. Balswick (1982) defines this as male inexpressiveness it was founded by Balswick that males tend to find it hard to express verbal fee lings because they are programmed not to do so. However, Skovolt (1978) relates Balswick understanding of male inexpressiveness to restrictive emotionality. Skovolt had founded that as men appear to have difficulty expressing their feelings and giving up on emotional control, can however plays a part in internal illness, as if men are able to recognise and become aware of their illness can lead to the reduction of mental illness and therefore begin to live a healthy life style. As the increase pressure from society expects men to follow the behaviours in which Skovolt and Balswick both describe, this has led to suggest that the traditional role of men may not be able to change. Studies into gender concerning counselling has seen a remarkable increase in men from black and minority backgrounds having a high resistance to receive counselling (Mind 2010). With the general growth of Africans avoiding the attendance of counselling services Cheatham, Shelton, Ray, (1987); Sher, (1979), Smith (2002) looked into the gender differences that the African community may face as previous research had focused solely on the services of counselling African men. The study allowed for African American men to freely express their own personal fears in counselling and overall found that men use counselling services less often than women. It was recognised that men will only do so if it was recommended by a third-party.   However, Coker (2002) suggested African American women are reluctant to seek formal counselling, opting for more traditional sources of support such as family, friends, and spiritual outlets and had often viewed the use of formal counselling as a sign of cul tural or personal deficiency. Many African women tend to provide their own personal counselling support as within everyday situations and surroundings African women are able to seek help from individuals close to them, as within these environments the importance of cultural principles help with their coping strategies. Wallace (1978) saw that many African women can go through what is called superwomen syndrome this theory outlines the little focus on their own personal mental health state. As a result of this syndrome many African women are prone to depression and other stress related sickness. The focus of this approach saw African women as being able to manage their own personal issues without the assistance of others. The syndrome has become another restriction on why women are not able to seek help, as once again the notion that men will be seen as weak is also seen in women. This shows that the pattern of stigma across both African men and women with respect to counselling has imparted upon on their personal health and reluctant to express their emotions. A study conducted by Komiya, Good, and Sherrod (1998) had shown that Africans who are told to express their emotions become reluctant to seek counselling, findings had also suggested that females had a more open attitude towards seeking couns elling than male respondents. Some researchers also focuses on differential access to counselling services, based on the intersection of gender and race. For example, Coker (2003) had found that African American women continue to use counselling services less than their white female counterparts, but when presented with severe challenges they tend to seek counselling more than their African American male counterparts. Judora J. Spangenberg (2003) had looked into person- centred counselling services and post apartheid South Africa had discovered the differences faced in the South African black and white community, this had seen a distinct difference in client and counsellor had indicated the lack of black counsellors in present South Africa as an increase in instances where black individuals are the client and have a white counsellor.   Apparently, some would describe the available counselling services as irrelevant for black South Africans (Dawes, 1986; Swartz, 1996; Turton, 1986) had regarded that many of these theories are based on Western culture which many question their usefulness towards black individuals. Pack-Brown, (1999) founded that white counsellors are expected to form the majority of counselling practitioners, currently and as well as in the future. While there are clearly some problems with the lack of black counsellors as the black South African make up 76.1% of the population (Schonegevel, Watson, Stead, 1998). It is also important to emphasise the need for cross-cultural counselling which draws upon experiences which has helped in the formation of cultural identity. Failure to highlighting and recognise the needs of Black Africans being counselled by white counsellors can hinder the progress of black clients. By looking into countries which are predominantly black and comparing it to western countries, brings to light the vast amount of difference in the approaches in which both are able to accept. Many African countries base their health on their faith as according to Wheeler, Ampadu, Wangari, (2002) who had suggested that religion and spirituality are deeply rooted in the African culture. Africans tend to rely on those who share the same faith or who have a greater social position as they are seen as more knowledgeable and wiser and therefore were allowed to criticise an individuals well-being. Within African communities an individuals religion and faith is seen to help them in finding a sense of self. Chatters, Taylor, Lincoln, (1999) indicate that religion and spirituality are very important to them. Having their religion and spirituality questioned on how to handle their own mental state may be a reason for the reluctance as to Africans not attending help-seeking services can bring some understanding into the common problem. Studies into religion in relation to counselling lead to the fact that Africans tend to rely on the strength and direction of their spirituality and by involving counselling strategies gives the idea of weakness, as combining both counselling and religion can be seen as unacceptable when addressing problems within Africans. Young, Griffith and Williams (2003) found that Africans who have a faulty relationship with a spiritual being could be regarded as the cause of someones mental illness. This statement brings forward the notion as to why Africans may not accept that they have a mental illness and therefore may feel that they are mentally stable. Counselling within developed countries focuses on the different problem areas faced within society, which can range from bereavement to eating disorders. Western cultures are considered to have a greater understanding of how to address client problems. Approaches which identify a clients social, biological, emotional and psychical state have been helpful in enabling individuals to become aware of counselling services. By the understanding and the positive effect which countries such as the United Kingdom help to promote counselling services are able to make society feel at ease in approaching and speaking to a counsellor. The BACP has discovered that Celebrities lead the way in promoting counselling and psychotherapy a report which was conducted by the BACP wanted to look into the progress of the therapy received in Britain and had seen that 83 per cent of British adults either have or would consider having counselling and psychotherapy. As a result of famous celebrities being able t o be open up to their own personal experiences with mental illness has enabled others to do the same. The media and its role in promoting counselling has seen such adverts called playing cards based in South African created by Herdbuoy McCann (2007) aimed to make aware the different counselling agencies that are available to the African community. As well as public advertisements, many African countries are aided by the work of volunteers from other countries as many see that talking to their own people can help with coming to term with mental health issues. However, by addressing the socio-economic issues faced, individuals who were born in the United Kingdom and have an Africa background may been seen as having an advantage to those who were born in Africa but moved UK as they have a led in adapting to society. Within the African communities financial issues is seen as a factor into why Africans are less likely to attend counselling, as within less developed countries it is unders tandable that by not having the relevant faculties would equal to a disadvantage in wellbeing of native Africans, and can result in whether the problem within Africans not seeking help may come down to financial issues.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  While there are clearly some problems with addressing counselling issues, the links between how western countries and African countries deal with counselling has remained at the centre of how much work is needed in the improvement of the system.

Genetically Modified Crops Essay -- GMOs Genetically Modified Foods

Genetically Modified Crops Genetically modified crops (GM crops) climb to the top on the hotly debated issues list of society. In 1996, no GM crops were cultivated on a commercial scale in the United States. In 2002, 75% of soya, 71% of cotton, and 34% of all maize grown in America is GM ("Grim Reaper" 1). Many issues surround this controversial topic such as safety, ethics, and foreign relations. Many of these concerns are well stressed in mass media, but sometimes biased views are the only ones presented. Safety with human health and the effects on the environment appear to be the strongest and most discussed subject matter. While issues of concern accompany the usage of GM crops, argument can be made to justify their production. HISTORY What many people do not know is that genetic modification has been going on since the founder of Genetics, Gregor Mendel, cross- bred his pea plants for different affects. Many of the flowers sold and bought in our society are mutations and mixing of genes. "The corn we eat today is the result of decades of · self-pollination followed by cross-pollination to produce vigorous hybrid plants" ("History" 3). For well over a century, playing with genes has given humans a more cost and space efficient means of mass-producing plants, whether that is corn, potatoes, strawberries or flowers. The National Research Council met in 1989 to discuss some concerns over field testing of GM organisms (GMOs). A report from the National Academy of Science said, "Crops modified by genetic engineering should pose risks that are no different from those of cops modified by classical genetic methods" (Hokanson 1). These classical methods range from Mendel's cross-breeding to wi... ...gy Products being Developed" Council for Agricultural Science and Technology December 2, 1999 "Public 'Misled' On GE Risk" Knowledge Centre par. 8; Feb 25, 2001: "Risks and Concerns" Center for Life Sciences and Dept. of Soil and Crop Sciences Colorado State University Par. 12; August 19, 2002 Robinson, Clare. "GM Issues: An Introduction to the Scientific Issues of GM" John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK 2000: Stokstad, Erik. "A Little Pollen Goes a Long Way" Science Now July 1, 2002: 1-2. "What's Wrong with Genetic Engineering?" Organic Consumers Association Par.1;

Company Analysis Johnson And Johnson Essay

Internationalization Overview It was the joint efforts of three brothers, Robert Wood Johnson, Edward Wood Johnson and Edward Mead Johnson that lead to the inception of Johnson & Johnson in 1886 at New Brunswick, New Jersey. Even today the company strongly follows the Credo, which was formulated by its founder Robert Wood Johnson as philosophy that guides their business. It is a multinational firm established in 60 countries with over 275 companies over the world and is mainly diversified in three different fields namely Consumer Healthcare, Medical Devices & Diagnostics and Pharmaceuticals. Johnson & Johnson has an asset of $131.19 billion. (jnj.com) With all the companies that it owns, it comprises as the largest and the most diverse medical devices and Diagnostics Company, the sixth largest consumer health company, sixth largest pharmaceuticals company, and the sixth largest biologics company. The company has been driven by innovation from their inception. One of their first products was a first aid kit for treating small injuries, which could be used by anyone. The use of child care products was introduced by them in 1894, which is highly successful till date. It was in the year 1924 that Johnson & Johnson started their internationalization, expanding their operations to the United Kingdom. This was extremely successful expansion and it added a great boost to the company’s growth. This carved a path for further expansion internationally into British colonies like South Africa in 1930 and Australia in 1931 and neighbouring country of Mexico in 1930.With the Robert Wood Johnson II taking the leadership of the company he changed the company’s Global strategy and made the company as a decentralized family of companies. Their operations were further expanded into Argentina and Brazil in 1937 flowed by the formation of Ortho Research Laboratories Inc. and Ethicon Inc. in New Jersey. In 1957 they established their operations in India, the first expansion into Asia. In the 1959 there were many acquisitions by the company, McNeil Laboratories in Fort Washington, United States, Cilag AG in Switzerland followed by acquisition of Janssen Pharmaceutica in 1961, it was considered one of the most innovative firm then. (jnj.com) In the late 70’s and 80’s Johnson & Johnson enters into new health care markets such as diabetes management, vision care and mechanical closure of wounds. This created the possibilities for more expansion, and they entered into China and Egypt. The late 90’s was followed by a series of acquisitions; some of them were Centocor, Cordis Corporation, Kodak’s Clinical Diagnostics and Neutrogena Corporation. The expansion into Eastern European market and Russia was a major move. In 2002 they acquired Tibotec-Virco, a firm which helps patients with non curable diseases such as Tuberculosis and AIDS. A major acquisition was Pfizer Consumer Healthcare in 2006. The main goal for them was to follow their Credo, which has been immensely successful. The internationalization strategy was to adapt to changing global markets and basically decentralize their operations. This was what mate them Strengthen their Global Presence. Most of their international expansion was through large acquisitions of established firms. Their steady growth shows how they have captured markets all over the world. They use mainly use adaptation strategy, hence they are focused on the particular target market and have different methods of operations in  different markets. Network Analysis With over 275 companies under one roof Johnson & Johnson group of companies is one of the largest in the world. The Data sets provided gives us a clear idea of how the network is connected from the parent to its subsidiaries. The main objective is to identify how the main subsidiaries are connected to the parent. (Fig. 1) Subsidiaries The above figure depicts the layout of how the main subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson are connected. Generally nodes with higher centrality measures cannot be considered as main subsidiary, hence a series of analysis is done on the identified subsidiaries using network analysis techniques. The main subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson are different in each scope of their diversified areas. The Consumer Health Segment is under Johnson & Johnson brand name and they are established in more than 60 countries and are having individual ties with each country and they have their own presence by themselves without any strategic tie ups. However, the administration and finance department seem to have many ties with subgroups within the organization as well as external sources. The Pharmaceutical segment is also one of the largest networks, with Janssen Pharmaceutica which is their main subsidiary. As a main subsidiary, they operate with a number of companies under this banner. Cilag which is also a big company is under the Janssen Pharmaceuticals. Crucell which is a firm developing vaccine is also under the Janssen group. Galapagos which is a joint venture between Crucell and Tibotec deals with the research and development in pharmaceutical industry and is a major contributor to the innovations achieved by Janssen Pharmaceutical. The Medical Devices & Diagnostics segment is the largest and the most diverse  segment in the world. Johnson & Johnson have one of the biggest companies in terms or Research and development under this segment. Some of their subsidiaries are Animas Corporation, Cordis Corporation, Depuy Synthes companies of Johnson & Johnson, Ethicon, Ethicon Endo Surgery, Janssen Diagnostics, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, mentor and Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics. Most of these are directly connected to the parent firm, but they also seem to have feeble ties within themselves. The comparison of different centrality measures such as Degree, Betweenness, Eigenvector, Closeness and other analysis such as Density, K-cores, Structural Holes, and subgroup division Algorithms like Girvan-Newman, Fractions will help us identify how the parent subsidiary network is formed. Density The complete network Density or the Average Matrix Value is 0.003 for the given data set. The Standard Deviation of the Density is 0.058 and the average weighted degree is 1.278 Centrality Measures Degree (Fig. 2) Degree Centrality The above figure shows the degree of each node with respect to its size, the highest degree is Johnson & Johnson with 119 ties, followed by Indaver with 30 ties Indaver BV with 18ties, Cilag Holdings AG with 17 ties, Johnson & Johnson management limited with 16 ties, Johnson & Johnson International Finance with 15, Synthes Holdings AG with 14 and Crucell N.V. with 12. Indaver has higher degrees than the subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, though it is not its subsidiary. Janssen pharmaceutical is one of the share holder with Indaver, which provides them with waste management solutions, they have helped them to cut CO2 emission by 270 tonnes annually (Indaver Sustainability Report, 2013).The main subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson have  also higher degree centrality. The labelled nodes were identified to have the higher degree. Eigen vector (Fig 3) Eigenvector Centrality Eigen vector centrality is measured with respect to the connectivity of nodes with higher degrees. This is effective in helping to identify firms with more social importance or higher level firms such as management and operations level. The key observations from this centrality are that all the nodes they represent the Main subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson, have higher eigenvector values, as they had connectivity to nodes with higher degrees, Cilag, Depuy Synthes, Crucell, Janssen Pahrmaceutica, Ethicon, Apsis, all of them have higher eigenvectors as they are the main subsidiaries and are connected with nodes with higher degree. Betweenness (Fig 4) Betweeness Betweeneess represents the nodes that are involved in linking major nodes to lesser connected nodes, thereby making a strong coordination within a network. This identifies the nodes of the network that are bridges between the stronger and the weaker connected nodes. The analysis from fig 4. implies that companies such as Adimmune Corporation, Taiwan Biotech, Indaver, Galapagos , Janssen Pahrmaceutica, Crucell , have very high betweenness and are majorly involved in coordination of work between firms. Closeness (Fig 5) Closeness The closeness determines how close the next node is to the main node, hence  the nodes at the periphery of the network are more closer to the next node inside the network. The nodes with lesser closeness are more harder to be reached for any communication. Fig. 5 shows the different closeness of each node. Nodes of higher degree were not really close to each subset of nodes. Nodes with higher betweenness had proportional farness, which mean they had very low closeness. The lower closeness nodes were mostly the major subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson. Network Cohesiveness K- Core Analysis The K-core analysis identifies nodes of a network that are more connected to other nodes in other parts of the network. The analysis provided us with three k values 1, 2 and 3. This is helpful to identify the core network which is more important than the other nodes. (Fig 6) K-Core Analysis In the above figure the nodes in re have a k value of 1. These nodes are mainly in the periphery of the network and are lesser connected to the main network, the sub nodes connected to them have degree 1. (Fig 7) K-Core Analysis with k value 2 These nodes in fig. 2 have a k value of 2, these are mainly the nodes which bridge the main core to the other network. The labelled nodes are the subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson which are in the sub-core. (Fig 8) K-Core Analysis with k value 3 The above figure show the core network of the organization, these nodes are more connected the main node that the others with their connected nodes having higher degrees than others. Hence the labelled nodes are the major  nodes that are involved in the functioning of the organization. The observations of the k-core analysis are that the subsidiary such as Cilag, Ethicon, OMJ pharmaceuticals, Depuy, forms the major core of the organization. The main core also consists of investor management firm, which helps the organisation fund innovations that are much needed for the growth of the company. Turnbull Investment Company plays an important role in handling investments of Johnson & Johnson. Sub Group Analysis Girvan-Newman Algorithm This algorithm helps in sorting out different community of structures within a network that forms a cohesive sub group. The main objective is to identify different subgroups in a large network by removing important nodes and leaving only the sub group intact. Fig. 9 clearly shows the division of subgroups that having different colour. Indaver , Adimmune Corporation, Prime Oil Service Corporation, Taiwan Biotech Co. Ltd., these are external companies that have ties ups or technology sharing with Johnson & Johnson. Other Subgroups that are divided are subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson, some of them are Janssen Pharmaceutica, Synthes Inc., Crucell N.V., Johnson & Johnson Holding Gmbh, Johnson & Johnson Financial Services Company, Johnson And Johnson Management Limited. These firms form the major subgroup in the network. (Fig 9) Girvan Newman Algorithm Factions The Factions sub grouping is another method to find the subgroups within a network. Here again we are able to input the number of groups to be divided.  An estimate of 38 clusters could give an idea of how many major subgroups that existed in the network. Fig 10 shows the outcome of the factions sub grouping. (Fig 10) Factions From the analysis and the network datasets, the parent Network is Identifies as Johnson & Johnson, and some of the major subsidiaries are Janssen Pharmaceutica, Cilag, Depuy Synthes, Animas Corporation, Apsis, Mcneil Products, Crucell, Ethicon, Ethicon Endo surgery, Cordis Corporation, Mentor. Implications of the network structure on the innovation activity Johnson & Johnson has been a firm driven by innovation since its inception. As the outcomes of innovation influences the lives of many people Johnson & Johnson has managed to reach its products 175 countries. From the network structure it is evident that subsidiary firms are maintained with independent operations and the operations of the firms is decentralized. Pharmaceutical companies owned by them are independent by themselves for any innovations involved. They don’t seem to have influence on the other subsidiary firms. Firms such as Apsis, Ethicon, Ethicon Endo, Depuy, Synthes, have innovation activity of their own and are developing their own products, and do not reply upon other firms which are owned by Johnson & Johnson. These firms that deal with Medical Devices and Diagnostics are specific upon their product line and are bound to deliver their targets. Almost all the firms in this segment have Research and Development facilities of their own and do not rely on other investments from external sources. Many joint ventures within its network of subsidiaries have been beneficial for Johnson & Johnson, like Depuy Synthes, the collaboration between them has given birth to subsidiaries like Depuy Spine, Depuy Mitek, Depuy Orthopaedics, and Depuy Products. This shows the strength of Johnson & Johnson as the largest and the most diverse organization in the world. The Pharmaceutical segment which is under Janssen Pharmaceutica, has some firms like, Crucell, Cilga, and McNeill. These companies carry out innovations on their own as well. But they tend to have a collaborated structure within them and they are bound to share technologies with external firms outside their network, In order to share risks and benefits. Crucell have a technology sharing strategy with Adimmune Corporation. Whereas Janssen Pharmecutica are dependent on Indaver for waste management solutions. There are many benefits of collaborations and technology sharing. Johnson & Johnson is a firm with high collaborations within their firms, different companies within their firms have self sustainable resources to develop alliances with other firms, this allows them to grow to a higher potential than the parental firm. This has been the major reason for the vast expansion of Johnson & Johnson into many markets. Scope for further improvement in Innovation As there is no end for innovation the firms has been actively involved in various innovation programs that currently changing the trends in the world. One of the simplest innovations that changed the world was the Band-Aid. It just changed the way people have been treating wounds. The list of innovated products by Johnson & Johnson is vast. They are a firm which are totally depended upon innovation. Technology sharing within the companies within the firm must be initiated within all firms to enhance the ties within partnering firms. As on date they are the Sixth largest Consumer healthcare company, Their Target must be to become the number one company in the world. Only inventing more products will help them reach their target. Setting up more Research and Development programmes in underdeveloped countries will help in opening up new ventures for the firm, as well as then targeted area. Then development of vaccines for new virus that have been identified can be implemented. Viruses such as HIV, Ebola, Swine Flu, and Bird Flu are on the  rise, Johnson & Johnson must capitalize these opportunities and innovate new vaccines for cure. Hence the pharmaceutical companies must take combined efforts to make the firm strengthen its capacity. Diabetes is believed to be increasing in the younger population, hence controlling drugs and prevention methods or early diagnostics can be innovated. Setting up Innovation center in local market will help in bringing up more innovations into the firm, as only local people will understand the need of the local market. This could help them to leapfrog their position as to become the number one Consumer Healthcare Company. References Books: Borgatti, S., Everett, M. and Johnson, J. (2013). Analyzing social networks. Los Angeles [i.e. Thousand Oaks, Calif.]: SAGE Publications. Websites: Adimmune.com.tw, (2015). [online] Available at: http://www.adimmune.com.tw/eng/goods.php?catId=5 [Accessed 5 Mar. 2015]. antwerpes + partner, w. (2015). Fields of Activity – Cilag AG. [online] Cilag.ch. Available at: http://www.cilag.ch/en/about-us/fields-of-activity/ [Accessed 5 Mar. 2015]. antwerpes + partner, w. (2015). History – Cilag AG. [online] Cilag.ch. Available at: http://www.cilag.ch/en/about-us/history/ [Accessed 5 Mar. 2015]. antwerpes + partner, w. (2015). Portrait – Cilag AG. [online] Cilag.ch. Available at: http://www.cilag.ch/en/about-us/portrait/ [Accessed 5 Mar. 2015]. Cordis.com, (2015). Global Home | Cordis | cordis. [online] Available at: http://www.cordis.com/ [Accessed 5 Mar. 2015]. Credo. (2015). [online] Available at: http://www.jnj.com/sites/default/files/pdf/jnj_ourcredo_english_us_8.5x11_cmyk.pdf [Accessed 5 Mar. 2015]. Crucell.com, (2015). Crucell’s history. [online] Available at: http://crucell.com/history [Accessed 5 Mar. 20 15].