A study of anatomy and physiology of movement of upper limb

The procedure in lifting the hand to drink water is a complex one which involves a huge amount of technology inter-transfer between the brain and the eventual skeletal muscle.There is initiation of the movement at the brain which is transmitted via specialized white fibre tracts to the hip flexors via the intermediate spinal cord, involving a very complex mechanism at the cellular levelThe initiation of the   process is at the motor cortex (Ms I) of the brain. The primary motor area is located at the precentral gyrus of the frontal lobe. The area controlling the motion of the lower limbs lies towards the superior surface of the brain. Within this area lies the cell body of the primary neuron. These neurons are known as upper motor neurons (UMN).These UMNs receive modulating impulse from the inputs from the cerebellum and the basal ganglia via the extrapyramidal pathways. These tracts modulate the gross movement initiated at the frontal cortex. In turn these areas are modulated by a fferent signals from ascending spino cerebellar, and spino-thalamic pathways.   The signal initiated at the nucleus of the cell body is transmitted electronically via the axon of the myelinated neuron via the mode of salutatory conduction.The myelin sheath which surrounds the axon of nerves that involve fast transport, breaks at intermediate regions known as Nodes of Ranvier. The electrical impulse moves in   a jumping manner at these nodes nerve transmission as a neural impulse, generated by the formation of a nerve action potential. Like all excitable tissue, nerves maintain a resting membrane potential that is the difference of voltage across the membrane of the neuron. In neurons this value is   – 70 mV.This voltage difference is maintained by the Na/K pump on the membranes. This impulse generated at the axon hillock is transmitted via the depolarizing phase which allows sodium ions ingress into cells via opening of the Na channels. This entry of Na in one portion a llows activation of other Na channels, causing depolarization of the adjacent region of the neuron. Subsequently repolarization occurs via the opening of K channels, which restores the membrane potential.Thus this process continues which allows the transmission of impulse. Many such nerves together descend as the descending cortico spinal tract in the pyramidal system, which travels through the midbrain into the spinal cord, decussating at the level of midbrain( 90% of the fibres decussating and forming the lateral spinothalamic tract) and again at the level of spinal cord ( the other 10%, forming the anterior spinothalamic tract) .It is the former which is responsible for the upper limb movements. The cortico-spinal tract travels in the anterior horn cell of the spinal cord till the brachial plexus where they synapse with the spinal ventral root neuron (lower motor neuron). A single post-synaptic neuron receives signals from many neurons. At the axon terminal, the propagation of im pulses leads to release of neurotransmitters, which are stored in specialized vesicles.The released Ach diffuses into the synaptic cleft and binds with receptors on the post synaptic membrane to produce excitatory post synaptic potentials. This leads to generation and propagation of impulse in nerves which are destined to innervate the neuro-muscular junction. At the neuro-muscular junction, Ach is released, which diffuses into the synovial cleft and binds to receptors in the motor end plate, and triggers a muscle action potential.The released Ach is destroyed by the acetylcholinestrase. At the level of the sarcolemma of the muscles, the muscle AP travels along T-tubules, opening Ca release channels in the sarcoplasmic reticulum. Ca binds to troponin-tropomysin complex, which releases the myosin heads, these then bind to the actin thin filaments, and draws them closer to the M line. Meanwhile bringing the Z disc closer.This leads to muscle fibre contraction. This is a self propagati ng sequence eventually leading to the contraction muscles involved in the movement. Each nerve fibre innervates many musle fibres ( about 150). This is the motor unit.The greater the number of motor units recruited by the nerve action potential, the greater the force of contraction of the muscles. In the spinal cord, nerve impulse travels along the brachial plexus (C5 – T1) to innervate the Pectoralis major (Arm adduction and flexion – reaching out to hold the glass), Flexor digitorum superficialis and profundii of all fingers, the interossei and the lumbricals of all digits, opponens pollicis, flexor pollicis brevis , adducor pollicis and abductor pollicis brevis ( gripping of the glass by the fingers flexion at metacarpophalangeal.Proximal interphalangeal and the distal interphalangeal joint of the fingers; the carpometqcarpal joint, metacarpophalangeal and the interphalangeal joint of the thumb); then contraction of the biceps brachii ( elbow flexion) and the supina tor ( supination at the elbow joint); finally the contraction of the triceps muscle ( elbow extension, to put the glass back).This excitatory impulse is also associated with the production of inhibitory action potential ( hyperpolarizing impulse) in the antagonists (eg triceps during elbow flexion, and biceps during elbow extension)   

Legal Considerations in the Business Environment Essay

While there are many legal factors to consider as XYZ Construction (XYZ) transforms from a private to a publicly owned company and expands operations globally, this paper will focus on the employment and labor laws, along with legal considerations that influence company operations. It is important to keep in mind that XYZ uses a mix of manning methodologies throughout the company; a full time staff as the core of the company, while maximizing the use of contracted labor in the execution of projects. Employment Law Employment law is a broad category of law that encompasses all areas regarding employee/employer relationships except for the negotiation process and collective bargaining, which is covered by the narrower focused category of labor law. Employment laws consist of thousands of federal and state statutes, regulations, and judicial decisions that are designed to govern the rights and duties of employers and workers. The US Department of Labor (USDOL) reports that there are 180 federal laws alone managed by 28 different agencies within the department. (United States Department of Labor [USDOL], 2014) Employment laws are focused on providing a safe and fair work place for employees and employers, alike, and have their origins in the constitution. They were founded based on public outcry against oppressive practices during the industrial revolution. The first laws founded in the 1920s were focused on fair wages, compensation for injuries, a standard work week, and on eliminating child labor. In the 1960s and 70s, statutes focused on anti-discrimination and unsafe work environments. Current issues involve employee health care, equal pay for men and women and the current debate on raising the federal minimum wage. There were also several issues addressed by the US Supreme Court of great importance to employment law including workplace discrimination and retaliation (Brill et al, 2013). The predominance of employment law disputes fall into two categories: wage and hour violations and discrimination in the workplace. Federal law provides for baseline rules regarding wage and hour standards, to include a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour and 40 hours as the standard work week. Many states have passed laws that establish a higher minimum wage, which is within their constitutional right. In these situations, XYZ is compelled to pay the higher minimum wage of that state. There is an emerging effort across the United States to raise the federal minimum wage to $9.50 per hour. In some  cases, this will place the federal wage higher than some states, meaning XYZ would have to pay the federal wage as it would trump the state legislation. It is prudent for XYZ to negotiate appropriate compensation on multiyear contracts as this new legislation works through the process. The standard work week, on the other hand, is prevalent across the United States and any worker that exceeds this threshold is entitled to overtime pay compensation. These rules exist to control the work environment for employees and mandates that time and a half be paid on every hour exceeding 40 within a given work week. The law also stipulates that XYZ will maintain basic payroll records and post notices to the workers regarding changes in the work environment. As XYZ experiences delays within projects, the pressure to push the work crews to make up these delays grows. While working overtime to meet customer requirements and project timelines are acceptable, supervisors must ensure adherence to the various employment laws; not doing so could lead to unfair labor practice disputes and costly legal battles (Brill et al, 2013). Another area that is a basis of employment law disputes is discrimination in the workplace. Prohibiting discrimination based on ethnicity, religious beliefs, gender, age, or disability was established with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and refined with subsequent legislation throughout the years. The Supreme Court handed down two significant decisions in 2013 that clarify evidentiary standards for discrimination claims, both are viewed as beneficial to the employer. First, the courts ruled that retaliation with discrimination as a motivating factor was not sufficient. The plaintiff must prove that discrimination was the basis for the retaliation, making the burden of proof much greater (Brill et al, 2013). Second, the courts clarified the definition of a supervisor under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. They ruled that the title of â€Å"supervisor† is limited to those who have authority to take a tangible employment action, meaning â€Å"a significant change in employment status, such as hiring, firing, failing to promote, reassignment with significantly different responsibilities, or a decision causing a significant change in benefits.† (Brill et al, 2013, p.4). Having the authority to direct daily work was not sufficient to link the supervisor to the company in regard to damages or actions tied to a law suit or dispute. However, the company is still liable for discriminatory actions of non-supervisory employees,  especially if it was notified and failed to take action to stop the behavior. This is significant considering that the majority of XYZ’s work force is contracted labor. As such it is imperative that XYZ maintain viable and proactive policies focused on preventing workplace discrimination and include a review of these policies prior to initiating any employment agreement. Labor Law Conducting business in a union environment provides for another layer of complexity to company operations. XYZ’s leadership must be aware of and understand the basics of labor law and the collective agreements negotiated with the unions representing the workforce. Failure to operate within the parameters of the agreement will result in an unfair labor practice dispute, which affects the profit margins of the shareholders. Labor law, also governed by federal law, state law and judicial decisions, provides statutes that mediate the relationship between workers, employers, unions, and the government with the goal of equalizing the bargaining power between employers and employee (Legal Information Institute [LII], 2014). Collective labor laws focus on the rights of employees to unionize, collectively bargain, arbitrate, and strike, while individual labor law focuses on employment contracts between employers and employees (Caraway, 2009). Collective bargaining consists of negotiations between an employer and a group of employees, typically represented by a union, to determine the conditions of employment and results in a collective agreement. The main body of law governing collective bargaining is the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which was passed in 1935 (â€Å"Executive Concepts†, 2011). It explicitly grants employees the right to collectively bargain and join trade unions. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is the entity that hears disputes between employers and employees that falls under the purview of the NLRA. The General Council, established by the NLRA, independently investigates and prosecutes cases against violators of the act before the NLRB (LII, 2014). Another aspect of labor law is the act of arbitration, a method of dispute resolution, which is commonly used as an alternative to litigation. A third party arbiter is designated and has binding decision authority for the dispute. While the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) is not applicable to employment contracts, the Uniform Arbitration Act of 1956 was  adopted by 49 states making arbitration enforceable under state and federal law (LII, 2014). There were two key decisions rendered by the Supreme Court that impact labor law, specifically arbitration clauses and class action waivers in contracts (Brill et al, 2013). The Court held that the FAA directive to arbitrate and the arbitration clauses written into employment contracts take precedence over federal requirements to prosecute disputes through the courts. Additionally, this decision strengthens the ability to enforce class waivers written into contracts. While this appears detrimental to employers, the Court balanced this decision with language further defining the rules surrounding class waivers. The court ruled that a class dispute (one brought by more than one plaintiff) can be settled if the primary plaintiff reaches settlement (Brill et al, 2013). In essence, if an XYZ employee files a dispute that is then applied to a class of employees, but a settlement is reached with the initial plaintiff, then the class action is terminated. Effectively, the Supreme Court ruling strengthens the company’s position in regard to employment contracts and protects the company from overzealous claims. As such, arbitration agreements written into XYZ employment contracts should be carefully worded in order to take full advantage of the Court’s decision. Laws specific to the construction industry Several Department of Labor agencies administer programs that are specifically related to the construction industry. Specifically, the Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA), the Wage and Hour Division, and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance all have specified areas of emphasis that regulate XYZ’s primary line of business. OSHA administers all the occupational safety and health standards for the industry. Given the risk to employees across XYZ’s work sites, OSHA regulations are critical to maintain and pose a significant element of cost to the company. While it is prudent to conduct cost-benefit analysis on enacting safety and health policies, sacrificing employee welfare for the bottom line is a dangerous endeavor and can result in unfair labor practices or criminal charges in the extreme. As XYZ competes and wins government construction contracts, there are several statutes that dictate certain conditions for doing business with the federal government that are administered by the USDOL Wage and Hour  Division and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance. The Davis-Bacon Act requires that companies pay the prevailing wages and benefits of the region. Wage rates and other labor standards for employees are set by the McNamara-O-Hara Service Contract Act. The Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act requires materials and supply contractors to pay minimum wages and meet other labor standards. Executive Order 11246 requires equal employment opportunity by all construction contractor firms. Lastly, the Copeland Act’s anti-kickback section precludes any persuasion of an employee to sacrifice any part of their required compensation (USDOL, 2014). These dictated standards all affect the cost of projects and, if not accounted for in the bid and estimation process, will detrimentally impact the profit margins of the company as federal construction contracts are executed. Legal Considerations As XYZ begins the global expansion, it is important to realize that US labor laws are not binding in other countries in regard to foreign workers; the host country laws are in play (â€Å"Executive Concepts†, 2011, p.938). However, Congress expressly extended three US labor laws to expatriates working abroad for US firms. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), and Title VII all extend extraterritorially (Nie, 2012). While XYZ’s staff is well versed in US employment and labor law, foreign labor law is country dependent and it is prudent to conduct targeted research on the specific country’s legal environment considered for expansion. The International Labor Organization (ILO) has drafted 182 conventions and 190 recommendations in their effort to standardize labor practices globally. Enforcement of these efforts is a country responsibility, and as such, there are still large gaps in adoption and application of the various standards (â€Å"Executive Concepts†, 2011). While it is enticing to reduce expenses by sacrificing some of the more costly US labor law practices while abroad, this practice could damage the company’s sterling reputation negatively affecting all future business ventures. As countries in Asia make the transition to democratic states, the door has been opened for improvements in collective and individual labor law, resulting in the creation of unions and the strengthening of workers’ rights. However, unions in developing counties depend upon government  support and, as such, are politically focused keeping the gap between internationally acceptable collective labor practices and reality relatively large (Caraway, 2009). Across Asia, individual labor rights are in a better position. There is a direct correlation between the wealth of a country and the enforced rights of its workers (Caraway, 2009). The most notable impact of this situation is the prevailing wage in each country and the impact on XYZ’s financial position on projects. Using the field support offices at the forward locations to gather this information is crucial to accurate project estimation and contract bidding. As the company transitions from privately owned to publicly held, there are considerations to keep in mind. First, corporate governance will adjust to account for a larger base of stockholders. There is risk that the focus of the company will also shift to a more stockholder centric view, discounting the requirements of the stakeholders (the employees) (Ecchia et al, 2012). This has the potential to lead to the creation of unfair labor practices as priority shifts from maintaining collective agreements to maintaining larger profit margins for the stockholders. Second, shareholders with large equities could pressure the company to offload portions of the workforce or reduce the employee’s benefits in order to improve profitability (Ecchia et al, 2012). As the union leadership monitors corporate business practices, this could lead to a revolt in the workforce and create an environment ripe for a strike thereby shutting down operations until resolved. Any financial gains made by the reduction would be lost to stagnated operations, and as such should be managed carefully. Conclusion Conducting business in the 21st Century is comparable to traversing the proverbial minefield. Legal missteps can cause insurmountable fines and legal fees as a company struggles to maintain good business practices. Understanding employment and labor law is paramount to maintaining a strong and viable company through transformation and expansion that produces profits for its shareholders. References Banks, K. (2011). Trade, Labor and International Governance: An Inquiry into the Potential Effectiveness of the New International Labor Law. Berkeley Journal Of Employment & Labor Law, 32(1), 45-142. Business Source Complete, Accession Number: 67233021 Barnum, Darold T. (1971) From Private to Public Relations in Urban Transit. Industrial & Labor Relations Review. 25(1), 95-115. Business Source Complete, Accession Number: 4459252. Brill, Edward A., Fant, Laura M., and Baddish, Noa M. (2013) U.S. Supreme Court Wrap-Up: Hot Topics in Labor and Employment Law. Employee Relations Law Journal. 39(3), 3-8. Business Source Complete, Accession Numbe:r 91640070 Caraway, Tara L. (2009). Labor Rights in East Asia: Progress or Regress?. Journal of East Asian Studies, 9(2), 153-186. ProQuest Research Library, Accession Number: 43381256 Ecchia, Giulio, Gelter, Martin, and Pasotti, Piero. (2012) Corporate Governance, Corporate and Employment Law, and the Costs of Expropriation. Review of Law & Economics. 8(2), 457-486. DOI: 10.1515/1555-5879.1357 Katten, Betsy. (2013) U.S. Supreme Court to Address Labor and Employment Matters in 2013-2014 Term. Employee Relations Law Journal. 39(3), 48-51. Business Source Complete, Accession Number: 91640075 Legal Information Institute. Cornell University Law School. Retrieved from: http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/employment Nie, Carrie. (2012). Extraterritorial Application of U.S. Employment Laws: Clearing the Murky Conflicting Foreign Laws Defense. International Lawyer, 46(4), 1027-1043, OmniFile, Accession Number: 90233860 Northcentral University (2011). SKS 7000-Executive Concepts in Business Strategy. Custom edition. Retrieved from: http://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/ United States Department of Labor. (2014) Retrieved from: http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/lawsprog.htm

PhD Program Essay

It is with distinct privilege that I seek to provide the committee of this University my application for a post-graduate PhD degree in Exercise Kinesiology. Equipped with the necessary skills and competence, I wish to impart the necessary information relevant in my application. In the end, it is my desire to showcase my relevant education and experience which had given me the opportunity to meet the necessary criteria for acceptance. The constant motivation and aim to improve has always been my constant objectives in seeking higher education. Acquiring the relevant concepts and theories can be an essential as I seek to balance the interplay between the real environment and the views presented in textbooks. Moreover, the experience can also serve as an avenue for teaching in my relevant profession. Having the sufficient training and schooling can permit a solid leverage over the things being given to students. Looking back at my educational background, I achieved my Associates of Arts degree in Santa Fe Community College, Gainesville on May 2005. By 2007, I finished my Bachelor of Science in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology at University of Georgia, Athens. Currently, I am due to graduate on December 2008 with an Education Master of Science in Exercise Physiology at the University of Miami. All these things have been significant in what I am right now. With regards to my work experience, I had been employed by Don Shulas Hotel in Miami as an exercise specialist/wellness coordinator. In here, I was given the responsibility of handling clients in various fitness levels. Moreover, I began creating strength plans for golf players in the hotel. It is with these encounters that I was able to apply the things I had learned in my education while at the same time obtain the necessary experience to be competitive in my realm. Also, recognizing the importance of reaching out to other people, I had also been a participant of a volunteer program last 2006. I became engrossed at Terwilliger Elementary School wherein I taught students with mental disabilities of basic motor skills. The fulfillment and satisfaction of seeing these kids learn has always been beneficial in my personal drive to teach. Similarly, it developed my interpersonal skill in handling different kinds of people. This I see is another crucial factor to be successful in my field. I also understand that the PhD program requires a research topic that will guide me throughout the program. Due to this, my interest shall focus on the effect of resistance training on diseased population such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. I seek to provide to the expansion of literature by showcasing my study towards my colleagues. It has always been my overall goal to investigate relationships and provide added insight to my profession. But I still feel the dire need to be guided by professors who will impart their time and effort to lead me towards increased competency and growth. That is why, if given the opportunity, I would like to be under the tutelage of Dr. Borsa, Dr. Haas, and Dr. Hausenblass. With their help, I can maximize my potentials and at the same time pave the way for learning for students. In the end, I hope the committee shall consider my application. Your approval can be very beneficial not only to my personal goals but at the same time to individuals who share the same interests that I have. It is only through our hard work and determination can we achieve the changes that we desire.

Grant Proposal Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Grant - Research Proposal Example stand that democracy is one of the main factors that have made countries such as United States, Britain, France, Japan, etc to be highly industrialized. This is because democracy is able to promote accountability in the governance system of a state. This in turn will minimize corruption, as well as encourage the administrators of a state to work hard, for the purposes of satisfying the various needs of the population. Furthermore, a democratic country has political stability, and the justice system serves every member of the society equally. This research is also interested in this concept of democratization, mainly because of the effects that face countries which are not democratic. For instance, in the year 2007, Kenya was able to experience deadly post election violence because of the undemocratic nature of its leaders (Iraki, 212). The elections were conducted, and because of serious breaches of election laws, President Kibaki won, amid opposition from his competitors. Kenya is not the only country to experience violence because of undemocratic behavior. Other countries include Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe, etc (Kilonzo, 247). Democracy is therefore an important element that countries have to practice in cas e they need to promote political stability, as well as economic development. This paper seeks to analyze democracy and democratic consolidation in Zimbabwe and Kenya. Zimbabwe is a country found in Southern Africa, and it is under the leadership of President Robert Mugabe, who took power in 1987 (Derman and Randi, 37). There are two main political parties in Zimbabwe, ZANU PF, led by President Mugabe and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that is led by Morgan Tsvangirai. Robert Mugabe has always been accused of undemocratic practices; initiating policies that would make him cling to power (Derman and Randi, 37). For example, in the 2008 elections of Zimbabwe, there were a variety of irregularities, and this led to the declaration of

Parking a car Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Parking a car - Essay Example ger is not interested in you; he is only interested in the arrival and departure of your car in the parking lot and the fees that you pay for the service. Americans knew that this serious problem parking was going to tax their brains. With the introduction of automobiles, the fundamentals of travel styles changed and it had severe impact on the American landscape. Cars caused congestion; they restricted the right-of-way from the pedestrians and caused big traffic congestions in small towns and metropolitan cities. Cars in motion caused problems; cars at rest caused more problems! The space required for parking is staggering but often underestimated. 6. Show important films on the related issues, useful quotations and case studies that will inspire the students involved in learning. The contents should make a learner a better learner, and the teacher, even a better teacher. Getting a learner’s license is the first step of the ladder to become an expert car driver. An individual shaping to become well-versed at the wheels needs to understand parking as modern convenience, what it means to parking at curbside, commercial parking lots and municipal parking lots etc. The advantages and disadvantages of such facilities, cost-wise! The subject of parking is not studied in isolation now. The notion that a car purchased will be parked somehow, somewhere, is no more acceptable. Now the human ecology is dedicated to automobile use. Everyone knows that by owning a car, you are twice-blessed! For, an equal amount of space is needed for maneuvering it in and out. And cars in regular use need two spaces. One at the residence and one at the destination away from home—the workplace! When a trip terminates, you need parking. In America, automobiles have become the essential part of living—like electricity, gas and running water. One’s social and cultural life like visiting the church, visiting government offices, trips to health consultant—everywhere the mode of

Dred Scott Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Dred Scott - Research Paper Example who were forcibly taken from their homeland, transported under extremely harsh conditions and made to work under even worse conditions in the various rice, cotton and tobacco plantations spread all over the southern parts of America. These slaves once sold to their white owners, lost their freedom for ever. Often they were treated brutally by these owners resulting in deaths for many of these unfortunate black people. Such accounts of tortures and brutalities on the black slaves are well documented in the very famous book â€Å"Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl† by Harriet Jacob. â€Å"Uncle Toms cabin† by Harriet Beecher Stowe also deals with similar issues. Dred Scott is one such black African slave who fought a war against the legal and social system of nineteenth century America to get his freedom. Free slave was a concept almost unheard of in the pre-civil war America. At that time the slaves were the personal property of their owners and were treated as such. Dred Scott was another such slave born in the year 1799 in Virginia and was owned by the family of a white southern named Peter Blow. In 1830 when this family shifted base to St. Louis, Missouri they took Dred along with them and later sold him off to one Dr. John Emerson who was in the service with the army of the United States. Here there is some confusion as to who the real Dred Scott was. From old records it has been found that before his death, Peter Blow had one female and five male slaves. However after his death his estate inventory recorded only four male slaves. So it can be assumed that Blow before his death in 1832 had sold one of his male slaves. In 1833, records show that there was another sale of a male slave named Sam from the Blow family for 500$ to clear their outstanding credits and dues. When Dr. Eme rson came to Fort Armstrong in Illinois in 1833 with him was a slave who had previously been with the Blow family. The name of this slave was Dred Scott. There is much debate amongst

Blackhole Exploit Kit Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Blackhole Exploit Kit - Research Paper Example It can deliver various malware depending on the operating system and geographical location of the victim or depend on the time of day or other criteria that the attacker has identified (Howard, 2012). Often, a user would visit a compromised though legitimate website that had been outfitted with an external or iframe reference that point to the Blackhole exploit site. Because of this invisible call, malware and exploits would be delivered silently while the user is browsing on a legitimate but compromised website. The victim would not be redirected forcibly as there would be no external sign and the user is likely to remain on the legitimate website and it is likely that he or she would be unaware that malware is loading in the background (International Business, 2012). In order to have a better understanding of this topic, this paper will discuss in more details what Blackhole exploit kits are and how they work. In recent times, the Blackhole exploit kit has gained wide adoption and it is one of the most common exploit frameworks that are used for delivery of web-based malware (Ouchn, 2012). This type of crimeware Web application was developed by a Russian hacker known as HodLum to take advantage of exploits that are unpatched to hack computers through malicious scripts that are planted on legitimate but compromised websites. The first Blackhole exploit kit appeared in the market in August 2010 (Howard, 2012). Since then, there have been newer releases, as well as a free version of the kit. The Blackhole exploit kits are based on a MySQL and PHP backend and incorporate support for exploiting the most vulnerable and widely used security flaws with the purpose of providing hackers with the highest successful exploitation probability (Rajaraman, 2011). Typically, these kits target the Windows operating system version, as well as applications that have been installed on Windows platform. The most famous Blackhole exploit kit attack was in April 2011 that targeted t he website of the United States Postal service’s Rapid Information Bulletin Board System (RIBBS) (Wisniewski, 2012). There are various versions of the Blackhole exploit kit including v1.2.2, which was released in February of the year 2012, and it is the most recent version and v1.0.0 version, which was released in late 2010 and was the first version (Ouchn, 2012). The Blackhole exploit kit is made up of various PHP scripts series that are designed to run on a website or a web server. These scripts are protected using the commercial ionCube encoder presumably to prevent other miscreants against stealing their code and therefore hindering analysis (International Business, 2012). The Blackhole exploit kit has general characteristics that enable them to deliver exploits through compromised websites. These characteristics include configuration options for the usual parameters such as redirect URLs, file paths, query string parameters, passwords, and usernames.

Thomas Nagel's Moral Luck Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Thomas Nagel's Moral Luck - Assignment Example This makes a person’s action and judgement as the key elements of life. According to Nagel, good will represents an inner feeling exhibited by the people in their daily interaction systems (Nagel 1). Without the good will, the wished-for end of anyone is prone to be unsuccessful. Presumably, the good will enhances a wider-range of friendly relationships and the achieving of the end drives in life. The bad will, on the other hand, becomes a bit complicated in the determination of the people’s peaceful co-existence and their destinies (Nagel 1). The bad will is normally inclined towards evil deeds. The evil deeds do not have a place in most societies. This, therefore, makes bad deeds be grouped under sanctions, which are punishable by the societal laws. The bad wills are against the norms of several social groups. People whose mindsets revolve around the bad will judgements and actions, in most cases, are normally viewed as the social misfits (Nagel 2). This, according to Nagel, is because the bad will paves way for a poor moral responsibility, which does not bring morally acceptable resolutions to many in the long-run (Nagel 1). Nagel further argues that moral judgement and actions are the key elements where the most problems normally emanate from (Nagel 3). A problem experienced at an individual level normally affects behaviours positively. At the societal level, the problem experienced by one person will form a stable pattern thus affecting the completely social organization. Nagel believes that judgement differs from the evaluation of something good or bad morally (Nagel 3). The functional and dysfunctional elements of a moral judgement greatly differ. This is because what is morally upright or functional for one person may be morally unstable or dysfunctional for another, in the determination of their luck. Control measures, which include both the positive and the negative sanctions, should be used for the conformity and compliance in the moral judgement of the individuals. This is because the moral judgement revolves around ignorance and the involuntary movements both in the external and the internal behavioural aspects exhibited by the individuals. Not every action or moral judgement should rely on the goodwill or the bad will moral behaviours in order to find the social or behavioural changes solutions in the end luck. Moral judgement, according to Kant, has got the external influences either positively or negatively thus making the environment a key determinant of the individuals bad will or good will moral judgments (Nagel 3). The moral luck is not paradoxical. This is justified by Nagel in his book. This behavioural aspect can be compared to the theory of knowledge in philosophy. In the theory of knowledge, there are various natural occurrences emerging just like the moral luck in people’s behaviour hence making them hard and challenging to understand (Nagel 6). Our beliefs, therefore, become the basis upon w hich these factors emerging from an individual’s behaviour can be understood. This, on the other hand, is because of the lack of the external social control mechanisms and the impracticality of encompassing these emerging issues without being at the mercy of others who are on the leading and influences our already questionable knowledge on the moral luck, judgments, actions and goodwill and bad will. The ways in which the natural objects subjects individuals to moral luck include through the constitutive luck, which emanates from the personality. The other classification of luck includes one’s situations. The different situations and problems the individuals undergo calls for the different measures in their moral luck determination (Nagel 6)). Lastly, there are effects and causes of action and

Global Markets Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Global Markets - Assignment Example tional culture ,its prime emphasis in its overall mission and the anti trust troubles of Microsoft in established markets as the reason for its move to new international markets ; the paper goes on to examine the concept of globalization and the reaction to economic policies pursued in last decade in order to further the process of globalization and lessons for Microsoft initiative in Russia from such reaction to globalization policies of last decade. Finally the paper suggests how a Microsoft R&D initiative in the form of an FDI may turn to be successful international marketing effort in Russia. Microsoft -A corporate profile and Organizational culture "Microsoft is the global leader in software, services and solutions. It was founded in 1975 by William H. Gates III, better known as Bill Gates. In the fiscal year ending 30 June 2006, Microsoft employed 71,553 people and had net revenues of $44.28 billion. Microsoft operates from 9.9 million sq. ft. of office space all over the world. With headquarters in Redmond, WA, USA, it has subsidiaries in 104 countries and operation centers in Dublin, Ireland; Humacao, Puerto Rico, USA; Reno, Nevada, USA and Singapore". (Profile, 2006)Microsoft's history is full of important milestones. Some of the important dates in Microsoft's history can be listed as follows: on 25 June 1981 Microsoft was incorporated ; on 12 August 1981, IBM introduced its personal computer with Microsoft's 16-bit operating system, MS-DOS 1.0 ; on 13 March 1986: Microsoft's stock went public ;on 22 May 1990 Microsoft launched Windows 3.0; on 25 June 1998 Microsoft launched Windows 98;on 22 June 2000: Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer outline Microsoft's .NET strategy for Web services ; on 31 May 31, 2001: Microsoft launched Office XP ;... The paper begins with looking at Microsoft corporate profile, organizational culture ,its prime emphasis in its overall mission and the anti trust troubles of Microsoft in established markets as the reason for its move to new international markets ; the paper goes on to examine the concept of globalization and the reaction to economic policies pursued in last decade in order to further the process of globalization and lessons for Microsoft initiative in Russia from such reaction to globalization policies of last decade. Finally the paper suggests how a Microsoft R&D initiative in the form of an FDI may turn to be successful international marketing effort in Russia. This essay makes a conclusion that Microsoft would do well to remember that Russians possess excellent technical education, understanding of networks and, programming knowledge. It would be an ideal human resource strategy to recruit out of such a talented pool which even had tenacity to hack US software in 1980 so as to make Russian programmes work. As of today Russia has many skilled people but only a few jobs for them. Such unemployed talent is involved in social evils like hacking for earning money and name. Moreover hacking operates in gangs, groups and clubs which are well organized and have basis in social communal system of organization. Such groups have often been persecuted for global level hacking. Microsoft should ideally convert its policy of community work for Russian reality to wean away such talent. Russians have strong desire for Internet access, but find it to be an expensive affair.

The Short-Term Significance Of The Anglo-Saxon Invasions Coursework

The Short-Term Significance Of The Anglo-Saxon Invasions - Coursework Example The invasion of England was a result of fighting between the British and the Anglo Saxons until around AD 500 at the Battle of Mount Badon which started as a result of a mutiny by Anglo Saxon mercenaries within the Roman army between 450 and 500. However, Gildas in his De Excidio Brittannie acclaims the resistance to Ambrosius Aurelianus who finally won the Battle of Mount Badon, which steamed the migration of the Anglo Saxons and their dominance of England as the Britons exhausted themselves with internal disputes, wars and general unrest. Discussion A most recent account based on a skeptical review of the archeological evidence by Hines notes that, while there was a general sequence of the transition from Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England, it cannot be dated to the exact dates as historians would desire. This is due to very little evidence in the form of Anglo Saxon artifacts that could be dated back to the 5th century. Anglo Saxon influence hence became more visible during the 2nd half of the 5th century resulting in the definition of the coming of the Anglo Saxons from the point which they achieved significant influence rather than their first arrival, c450 hence is just a date as any. The significances of the Anglo Saxon invasion in Britain can hence be analyzed in terms of the social, political, economic, cultural and economic impacts. As one of the short term social impacts of this invasion and final migration, the Anglo Saxons were assimilated into the Celtic culture and their social setting, especially in the central and southern parts of Britain. This contributed to the final creation of the Anglo Saxon England which basically led to the extensive use of the old English language. The language arose as a social need among the three different communities of the Anglo Saxons to communicate among each other (Gerrard, CA217. Celt was the language of the military and the higher in society who in any given society are usually few in number and the fall of the Romano British rule saw the fall in the number of Latin speakers, hence leaving the majority and the rest of the society to be speakers of old English whose growth in population increased the number of old-English speaker. The Anglo Saxon invasion of England is mainly known to have started by the invitation of Anglo Saxon mercenaries of 100 men on three ships by the Romans to help them in the war against the Picts and the Irish, and also others who came to their own accord. Their most known form of military advancement was on foot sores but during the aftermath of their invasion of Britain, and their expansion of their territory, they switched their military strategy to charging on horsebacks which can also be attributed to the expansion of their kingdom which meant large tracts of land to be covered, which logically could not be done on foot. In the early Anglo Saxon settlement in Britain, buildings were of simple construction, only using masonry in the foundation only but the rest was strictly using timber with thatch roofing. This form of architecture of the Anglo Saxon was because of not wanting to settle within the old roman cities. With the Roman settlement among the Anglo Saxons also saw a distinctive contrast in the form of construction of houses and in the overall architecture in totality (White, CA 211). The Roman settlement led to the building of monumental forms of architecture which can be attributed to Christianity since the churches of this age were to be built in a particular form of architecture. Christianity as a religion was formally introduced to the Anglo

Contract Law Part 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Contract Law Part 1 - Essay Example Initially, it was not given much recognition by the courts. It was left to Lord Denning to assess its significance and reintroduce it in Central London Property Trust Ltd v High Trees House Ltd. In this case the plaintiffs had leased out a number of apartments to the defendants. Thereupon, the World War had commenced. Consequently, the occupancy of these apartments reduced drastically. The defendants requested the plaintiffs and obtained a reduction in the lease amount. Afterwards, the World War came to an end and all the apartments were occupied. At this juncture, the plaintiffs demanded the originally agreed upon lease amount, for the period when the World War had been in progress. Lord Denning ruled that this was inequitable, because this would require the defendants to pay the full amount even though the apartments had been vacant2. Therefore, the plaintiffs were made subject to a promissory estoppel. It was held by the Court of Appeal in Williams v Roffey that where a party to an existing contract later agrees to pay an extra bonus in order to ensure that the other party performs his obligations under the contract, then that agreement is binding if the party agreeing to pay the bonus has thereby obtained some new practical advantage or has avoided a disadvantage. It was also held that executing an existing contractual obligation constitutes valid consideration, because it prevents the breaching of a contract with a third party3. Moreover, in CTN Cash and Carry Ltd v. Gallaher Ltd, it was decided that the practical benefit accruing to the promisor must be treated as consideration for extra payment4. In Central London Property Trust Ltd V. High Trees House Ltd, rent was reduced during World War II, as per the new agreement. After, the war was over, the landlord attempted to invoke the original contract, in order to obtain higher rent. The tenants invoked the principle of estoppel against the landlord and prevented him from enhancing the rent. In

Consumers Markets and Culture Essay Example for Free

Consumers Markets and Culture Essay Compare and contrast the changing experiences of consumers from the year 1900 until present day. How do the theories of Marx, Durkheim and Weber help to explain the changing consumer experience and the emergence of contemporary consumer society? â€Å"Until the eighteenth century the word consumption meant waste† (Williams, 1976) As consumers our experience of consumption today is exponentially different from that at the turn of the twentieth century in the recently urbanised and industrialised modern nation. Consumer culture is traditionally described in terms of the arrival of mass consumption as a counterpart to mass production as a result of the Fordist system (Miles, S). Choice is one of the biggest factors of the changing experience for consumers, during the 1950’s after the austerity years the now aging baby boomers were part of large scale changes to consumption patterns. For example as women began to enter the work place leaving less time to run the home, products were being developed to ease the burden of housework, washing machines, fridges and vacuum cleaners were among these products; the ever-growing use of hire purchase to enable consumers to afford these luxury products, combined with Fordist methods of mass production reducing the manufacturing cost of the products allowed the economy to grow strong once again. As television grew in popularity advertising was increasingly utilised by businesses to sell their products creating a far more impersonal environment while shopping for products. From this time the standard of living has been increasing up until present day (The Economist, 2008) with the aspirations of society increasing further still. Marx presents his theories as a materialist understanding of society, explaining capitalism as an unequal system based on the exploitation of the lower class (Abercrombie N et al, 2006), a system based on surplus value being extracted, the capitalist’s entire aim is to maximise the gap between value produced and value paid for (Slater D, 1997). Which a hundred years  ago meant using Fordist methods of production to bring down costs and reducing the skill required of workers which in turn reduced the compensation needed for workers. The Fordist method of production first seen around 1911 (Cohen and Kennedy, 2007), Alienated workers from the act of production. In his theory of Alienation Marx describes human essence as being realised through labour (Abercrombie et al, 2006) and working as an alien activity that offers no intrinsic satisfaction as the worker has no control over what is produced; this loss of ownership and loss of control over the workers own life due to managem ent organising and enforcing the labour. Where during the early twentieth our working classes were exploited and Alienated, now capitalists in the quest towards decreasing wages and widening the gap between value produced and value paid for are increasing looking to less economically developed countries where costs of production, epically workers are much lower. The counties known as BRIC economic group (Brazil, Russia, India and China). By indiscriminately consuming as a society, this encourages the expansion of exploitation of foreign working classes. Bauman proposes post-industrial societies are governed by ‘aesthetics of consumption’ rather than ‘ethics of production’ (Cohen Kennedy, 2007). Organisations such as Apple, Nike and similarly Primark are guilty of this system, the former two retailing premium priced products produced at the lowest cost possible cost, by attaching symbolic meaning to the products. Primark produces clothes at the lowest cost possible which are retailed for the lowest cost possible; consumers buy into this system with no feelings of guilt, as these products allow consumers to display possessions acting as social glue possibly due in part to the increasing Alienation of workers as society is increasingly detached from production with the service based economy we ‘enjoy’ today. Durkheim’s concept of Anomie is similar to Alienation, discussing Anomic suicide due to people no knowing how they fit in with society where possessions are used as social glue allowing consumers to display their beliefs and social groups. It is harder to relate Marx’s definitions of the class system as the proximity to production is becoming increasingly distant for most of society. â€Å"Every capitalist is trying to decrease the wages and consumption of their own workers and entice everyone else’s workers to consume to their limit and  beyond.† (Slater, D 1997) Marxism, as other modern economic theories believe, that the production and consumption of products is intrinsically connected, in the sense that incomes from production and consumer buying power are two sides of the same coin.’ (Slater, D 1997). This theory is particularly relevant now due to the current economic climate. As the recession began in 2008 many workers lost their jobs or suffered significant cuts in wages this resulted in a widespread reduction in consumer spending as a result society ended up a cycle of ever decreasing demand where the government had to intervene to stimulate spending. Of the stimulus the VAT reduction had an impact by reducing the cost of products, to reduce ever growing back up of cars as they still needed to be produced to keep the workers in employment the car scrapage scheme was introduced temporarily (Lloyds, 2009). In this scheme two thousand pounds was offered if a old car was scrapped in exchange for a new car. Capitalists driven to mass production, not by greed but conditions of capitalism (Edwards T, 2000), if not competing, competitors will capture markets through lower prices. This practice discussed by Marx leads to situations like the above were supply far exceeds demand. A good example of over production can be found by searching for any random product on a supplier listings website, Alibaba.com have over 64,979 different belt buckles available. Durkheim predicted that modern industrial societies would over-emphasise the importance of individuality which would erode social stability and solidarity (Schmidt, R 2010), consumers are sold their own individuality through advertising campaigns a few examples are: Dell’s ‘Yours is here’, My Yahoo. Products are increasingly customisable, mobile phone cases are a hugely popular consumer item. ‘Durkheim argues that people can only be happy when their wants are proportionate to their means. Left to themselves, human desires are boundless together with necessarily limited recourses, creates great unhappiness or ultimately suicide’ (Abercrombie et al 2006). Society controls the problem of unattainable goals by restricting desires through values aimed at permitting only goals which have some chance of attainment. The X-Factor is currently the most popular television program (Plunkett, J 2010) as dreams of mostly unattainable goals are being realised for a lucky number of consumers. This  is a stark contrast to the 1940’s where society was based around family values, working together to repair Britain where jobs were expected for life. Anomie describes the situation when this framework breaks down, goals again outrun means and suicide rate rises (Abercrombie et al 2006). Weber predicted that society would experience unprecedented inner loneliness of the single individual (Cohen Kennedy, 2007), this is a very accurate description of the contemporary experien ce, more than ever consumers are looking to the symbolic meaning of products to identify with their desired social groups and status. Social media is an interesting way to examine the inner loneliness experienced, taking facebook where consumers might have several hundred ‘friends’ who are merely acquaintances, with few solid friendships, while there is pressure to appear to have acquired huge numbers of ‘friends’ on social networks. To explore further into the loneliness of individuals, one in three households now have just one member compared with one in five in the 1970’s (BBC, 2004) this is known as the ‘meal for one’ society, more than half the meals eaten in the UK are now eaten alone. Traditional family unit is also becoming less common, with predictions indicating that in 2011 more than sixty percent of marriages will end in divorce (BBC, 2004). Weber discuses formal rationalisation of society as it becomes more industrialised and that this rationality is inevitable, the greater calculability required for rationalisation has affected greatly the consumer experie nce (Cohen Kennedy, 2007), consumers save for the wealthy classes, have an impersonal consumption experience. Self service check outs are a perfect example of this, once a shop keeper in the local store, would ring through and bag up your products now in the national and often multinational store, consumers ring through and bag up their own shopping. The systematic measured approach to contemporary life has created a predictable almost emotionless society, the consumption of university is a relevant example to the author, students are recognised by their identification number only, few if any university staff will know student’s names, no individuality between the students leaving students to display their personality and attachments through the conspicuous consumption of goods with symbolic meaning. Whereas the baby boomers will remember university involving debates with friendly tutors, with little care about appearances. This system creates greater efficiency, economic growth and  control of nature, the ‘iron cage’ describes this situation. However it does lead society towards the theories of Anomie and Alienation by Durkheim and Marx respectively. Calculability becomes an organising principle in the overall personality where ever more of our behaviour is informed by consistent logical expectations of human beings and of the environment. Spontaneity and surprise are experienced less and less in society, with calculability everything becomes increasingly predictable, unexpected events are planned for and avoided through policies and rules. The commoditisation of adventure is a good example of the disenchantment of society, Disneyland and all it represents takes the excitement out of spontaneity due to the ‘iron cage’ of functionalism and rationality. Weber sees class defined by income, (Cohen Kennedy, 2007) explaining that classes form around market positions, amongst people who share similar life chances which is relevant to the differences seen in society today from that at 1900, social mobility much more fluid with government actively perusing policies pulling people up the class system. The theories of Marx, Durkheim and Weber are relevant to society today; Weber the youngest of the theorists has accurate concepts relating to the bureaucracy experienced in the post-industrial age which explain well the changing experiences of consumers. Durkheim’s theories on Anomie in relation to individualism and the breakdown of society while religions stability isn’t the answer are partially interesting in explaining how society consumes conspicuously, using products as social glue to find a place in society. Marx’s idea on Alienation of workers, as Anomie explains aspects of the consumer mindset today. The globalisation of business taking the class struggle Marx discuses around the world. The current economic climate demonstrates that capitalism has failings even if the least of these is disconnecting individuals from a more intrinsic and meaningful existences within society. â€Å"Capitalism simultaneously produces more goods and less effective demand to pay for them.† (Slater, D 1997) References Abercrombie, N (2006) Penguin Reference: Dictionary of Sociology. 5th Ed Pengin, London. P 235| Abercrombie, N (2006) Penguin Reference: Dictionary of Sociology. 5th Ed Pengin, London. P 360| Abercrombie, N et al (2006) Penguin Reference: Dictionary of Sociology. 5th Ed Pengin, London. P 14| Abercrombie, N et al (2006) Penguin Reference: Dictionary of Sociology. 5th Ed Pengin, London. P 18| Alibaba.com (2010) Search for Belt Buckles [Accessed on 19/11/2010] Available at: http://www.alibaba.com/Belt-Buckles_pid3391301| BBC News (2004) Portrait of the ‘meal for one’ society [Accessed on: 25/11/10] Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3445091.stm| Buttler, C (2007) The Industrial Revolution. Flow of History.com [Accessed on: 22/11/10] Available at: http://www.flowofhistory.com/units/eme/17/FC0121| Cohen, R and Kennedy, P (2007) Global Sociology 2nd Ed. Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire. P 300| Cohen, R and Kennedy, P (2007) Global Sociology 2nd Ed. Palgrave Macmill an, Hampshire. P 81| Cohen, R and Kennedy, P (2007) Global Sociology 2nd Ed. Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire. P 94| Desmond, J (2003) Consuming Behaviour. Palgrave, Hampshire| Edwards, T (2000) Contradictions of Consumption: Concepts, practices and politics in consumer society. Open University Press, Buckingham| Lloyds.com (2009) Unsold cars face storage exposures [Accessed on: s19/11/2010] Available at: http://www.lloyds.com/News-and-Insight/News-and-Features/Market-news/Specialist-2009/Unsold_cars_face_storage_exposures| Miles, S (1998) Consumerism – as a way of life. London, Sage.| Plunkett, J (2010) Gardian.co.uk: X Factor steals the show with 13.6m viewers. [Accessed on 29/11/2010] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/nov/29/x-factor-tv-ratings| Schmidt, R (2010) Functionalism and Consumption Lecture Notes. I know sorry, I just really liked the sentence.| Sekora, J (1977) Luxuary: The concept in western though. Eden to Smollet, Balimore. As quoted by Slater, D (1997) Consumer Culture and Modernity. Cambridge, Polity Press. P 176| Slater, D (1997) Consumer Culture and Modernity. Cambridge, Polity Press. P 175| Slater, D (1997) Consumer Culture and Modernity. Cambridge, Polity Press. P 176| Slater, D (1997) Consumer Culture and Modernity. Cambridge, Polity Press. P 181| Slater, D (1997) Consumer Culture and Modernity. Cambridge,

Corrective And Preventive Action In Quality Management Information Technology Essay

Corrective And Preventive Action In Quality Management Information Technology Essay CAPA is an important Quality tool in the pharmaceutical industry. CAPA is defined as the corrective action and the preventive action. A corrective action is a change implemented to address a weakness identified in a management system whereas the preventive action is The action to eliminate the cause of a potential nonconformity or other undesirable potential situation. Management plays a key role in the successful implementation of the CAPA system for achieving the high quality pharmaceutical products. It helps the management to identify the problem that arises in the system and helps the administration to come up with the innovative ideas to improve the quality of the product.This Document discusses the Obstacles for achieving the integrated CAPA compliance, quality system CAPA procedure, Flow chart for implementing the CAPA system, phases of the CAPA system, benefits of the CAPA system .. In this stage of the CAPA process there must be the problem that has been identified, defined and documented. The documentation should completely explain about how the information has been gathered and it also should have the proof for the existing problem. In the appraisal stage the quality personnel member of the CAPA case will need to determine the impact of the quality on the companys overall quality management system which include cost, function, safety, quality etc.. The determination regarding impact should include the risk to the customers as well as risk to the employers. Once the impact and the risks are identified then the seriousness is determined. Based upon the companies long term experience the companies will associate the varying degree of the seriousness based upon which the necessary corrective and preventive actions will be taken. DISCOVERY:- Phase-3 discovery phase commences only when the remedial action does not solve the problem during phase-2 or when a long term action is required then the phase-3 action commences. Discovery phase is also called as the investigation phase and before the investigation commences specific goals are set in a manner such that these goals are accomplished before the phase-6.For accomplishing these goals specific strategy is developed which includes specific strategy for determining the contributing and root cause of the problem. It also include all specific circumstances related to the problem which include training, software, external factors, procedures, personnel, materials and equipment. EXAMINATION:- During the examination phase rooting out of the problem takes place after determining the possible and probable causes of the problem and data has been collected to refute these problems. The data that has been collected during this stage has been organized and documented .The sources for the examination phase can be from the testing results and review of the records, processes, service information, design control, operations which helps in determining the root cause of the problem. All the information is collected, organized and documented in readable form. ACTION AND IMPELMENTATION:- During this phase the REAL LIFE of the CAPA takes place. In this stage the investigator has to determine the root cause of the problem and he or she has to develop the methodology that prevents the problem to occur further. All the incidents in this stage are documented and for the successful implementation of this stage a successful CAPA SOFTWARE has been introduced which not only save the time and money but also keeps the records for the long term usage for tracking how the problem has been resolved. OBSTACLES FOR ACHEVING INTEGRATED CAPA COMPLIANCE:- CAPA management is an important part of the regulatory requirement which helps in reducing the liability, increases the customer satisfaction, helps in the reduction of the financial losses and strengthens the companys reputation. To achieve the maximum benefits from the CAPA, it must be an integral part of the enterprise compliance and quality management system(ECQM) which helps in the collection of the data on the existing problem, investigators will analyze the potential data, digs out the root cause of the problem, addresses the issues and follows the procedures to avoid the similar problem in the future and documents the entire process. CAPA can be effective only when it is an integral part of the companys culture. However they were many obstacles which prevents for achieving a truly integrated quality management system. Among those are the 1-DISPARATE SYSTEMS:- CAPA compliance is included in companys standard operating procedures however it is difficult to achieve the process with systems that most companies have. They are different programs that dont interface with each other, homegrown systems that dont have universal recognition, delaying the resolution of the quality issues and clouding the compliance picture. 2-LAX DOCUMENTATION:- Companies should require the centralized control without which the documentation chain required by the regulatory agencies is frequently broken. Companies should document their CAPA procedures without which the FDA will not know the CAPA requirements have been fulfilled. 3-COMMUNICATION BARRIERS BETWEEN CULTURES AND SPECILATIES:- Employees working in the company dont speak the same language, literally. In addition the terms that an engineer uses to describe a quality system may be different from that marketing manager or the compliance officer. 4-LACK OF TRAINING:- Majority of the employees that are working in the compliance issues are not well trained.so the Employees who are working in the quality management do not know, understand and take the responsibility as their role as the quality management. 5-DISCONNECT AMONG BUSINESS UNITS:- CAPA management is frequently seen as a job for the quality management but not as a concern in which production, RD, marketing or other departments which should be involved. 6-NON COLLECTION OF TRENDING DATA OR DATA NOT READILY AVAILABLE TO APPROPRIATE PERSONNEL:- Without the integrated ECQM, most departments keep the records on their own systems without which the company management cannot see the Companies compliance picture. Without this vision, the management cannot predict and prevent possible deficiency to meet the CAPA regulations. 7-SEEKING A QUICK FIX VERSUS SEEKING TO CORRECT THE ROOT CAUSE:- Companies generally focus on the product and the material issues rather than reaching below the surface to identify and address quality concerns. It results on focusing on product problems rather than on the systemic issues which prevents them to correct a root problem. However getting to the root cause is main aim of the CAPA. TRUE CAPA implementation is to identify and correct the problem by putting practices to prevent the future issues which require the integration and flow of information freely among companies various departments and locations. Five steps for success of CAPA system:- 1. Companies should implement an effective quality management system for tracking and logging the events utilizing centralized software system which helps in determining the root cause and implement an effective CAPA system. Moreover it also helps in the reduction on the boundaries between various departments. 2. Companies should implement an effective comprehensive investigation and root cause analysis which helps in developing the effective corrective and preventive action. 3. Accountability is maintained through notification and escalation procedures by utilizing the automated and the on the demand reporting. Communication helps in the resolution of the events in the timely manner whereas notification helps the management know where exactly the record is in and who is working on it. Notifications are approved to key personnel via record origination, record assignment, task completion and record approval. An escalation procedure helps in ensuring the key personnel about the dates approach and priority management responsible tool to the particular parties. 4. Easy accessibility of the Records, Notification and reports helps all the key personnel in the immediate response of the resolution process. Web based system also helps in to log in into QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM from any location which helps in quick response. 5. Effective checks are conducted to measure how well the CAPA plan worked Post implementation. A well-defined planning is essential for the elimination of the recurring events. This system helps in creating and assigning the effectiveness of the check records for each CAPA plan. If the issue is resolved, a review is conducted in the final stage. Phases of CAPA system:- CAPA system plays an important role in the quality management system. CAPA consists of the four important phases.. Phase-1: Planning Planning for the Measurement, Analysis and Improvement Process Establish the Data Sources and the Criteria Phase2: Measurement and Analysis Customer survey Service Report Process Control Complaints Supplier performance Return Product Supplier Performance Quality Audit Measurement and Analysis Phase-3 Improvement Identify the Action Identify the Root Cause Investigate Verification Of identified Action Implement Action Determine Effectiveness of Implemented Action Reporting to Management Management Review Phase 4 Input Management Sample CAPA Process Flow Factory Distributor Customer Data Corrective Action Request CRA Remediation Action RMA CAPA Completed No Action Needed CAPA Needed Root cause analysis and Corrective Action TASK Effective No YES CLOSE Requirements of Corrective and Preventive action (21 CFR 820, Subpart J) (1) For the corrective and preventive action, manufacturer should create and maintain the procedure and this procedure include some requirements for:- a) Service record complaints, Audit report of quality, records of quality, and operations of work, quality data sources to justify the obtainable and possible cause of original product. For detection of returning quality problems, this type of statistical methodology should be employed b) For the product, processes, and the system of quality, consider the cause of non-fulfillment of requirement. c) For the reappearance of unusual product and problem related to quality, recognize the corrective and preventive action. d) To decide the recognized corrective and preventive action is successful and has no adverse effect on finished devices; validate that corrective and preventive action. e) For correct and prevent recognized problem of quality it is necessary to implementing and recording the changes in method and procedure. f) Decide that information which are related to the problem of quality which is circulated and directly responsible to give surety such product quality for avoid of such problem. g) For review of Management, submit the corrective and preventive action and information of recognized problem of quality. (2) All actions necessary under this section, and their results should be documented Benefits and futures of CAPA (Fig -1- Benefits and Future of CAPA) 1.COST EFFECTIVE:-Many organizations do not implement a robust CAPA process because of its high cost.so CAPA is tracked by simple spreadsheets and home grown database which do not require full CAPA requirements. Where as Ready CAPA provides an application to meet quality management at an affordable price. 2. COMPLETE VALIDATION PACKAGE:-It is the part of the READY CAPA which ensures that the application is ready to use in days versus weeks 3. WORK FLOW APPROACH:-READY-CAPA enables to know that issues are tracked completely to resolution. CAPA helps in deciding the issues related to the problem and helps in solving and easily documented. It also helps in deciding the progress of the CAPA. 4.REGULATORY COMPLIANCE:-The procedures and policies followed by the companies must meet the regulatory compliance which includes the identification of the interphase system, constructed and tested the documents and policies and procedures. 5.CLOSED LOOP CAPA PROCESS:-It is implemented by the Ready CAPA electronic work flow. This helps in identifying the issues ,investigating the cause, action planning for the corrective and preventive action, implementing the actions, verifying the quality assurance approval, monitoring the periodic challenge option and closing 6. Closed loop CAPA helps to reduce the loss of data. 7. Closed loop CAPA management helps in providing the controlled environment. 8. CAPA helps in increasing the product quality by reducing the product cost and cycle time. Conclusion:- Now a days Quality has become an important issue in the pharmaceutical Industry. CAPA plays an important role in achieving the high quality of the pharmaceutical products. Many pharmaceutical companies are implementing the CAPA system which helps in reduction of the cost as well as improve the quality of the product. For the successful implementation of the CAPA, there should be a well-trained knowledgeable operator. The main aim of the CAPA is to identify the Root Cause of the problem and provide a solution to the problem that does not occur repetitively. Manufacturers when implementing the corrective and preventive actions must comply with the ISO standards for achieving the high quality. Management plays a key role in the successful implementation of the CAPA in the company for achieving the high quality of the product. Thus this document provides the guidance for the successful implementation of the CAPA.

The Reverse Product Cycle Model Of Service

The Reverse Product Cycle Model Of Service In this essay, I will be evaluate the effectiveness of reverse product life cycle as a theory of innovations in service and to find out if there is alternative model that does a better job in this. To answer the question, I will first look at some of the major characteristics of services and how they compare to that of manufactured goods; I will then look at the three different approaches of service innovation theories. Next, I will look at what a normal product life cycle looks like, how it can be used to explain innovations in manufactured goods. After that, I will look at the different stages of reverse product cycle and evaluate it effectiveness with the help of examples. I will also look at some of its limitations and questions raised by other authors. Finally I will look at the four dimension model of service innovation to find out if it is a better alternative than that of the reverse product cycle. Goods and services are often mentioned in the same sentence, while there are many similarities between the two, they are actually very different. Services are something that is intangible offered or sold to customers; it is not something that can be contact physically. When people purchase a good, they actually own the product after paying for it. But this is not the case in services. Good examples of services are public transports, mail deliveries, insurances, retail banking, and broadband internet. Here we can see, these are products that cannot be owned even if you pay for it. The differences between goods and services are so huge and obvious; it is not surprised to see the innovation processes of the two are hugely different too. Innovations in manufactured goods are often related to innovations in technologies. When it comes to research and development, manufacturing companies focus on improving the technologies and performances of their products. However innovation in services mainly focuses on improving the design of the services instead of the technological aspects. Tekes, a Finnish website defined service innovation as the following : Service innovation is a new or significantly improved service concept that is taken into practice. It can be for example a new customer interaction channel, a distribution system or a technological concept or a combination of them. A service innovation always includes replicable elements that can be identified and systematically reproduced in other cases or environments. The replicable element can be the service outcome or the service process as such or a part of them. A service innovation benefits both the service producer and customers and it improves its developers competitive edge (Tekes) Although innovation in manufactured are much more well known than innovations in services, there were a number of models, theories or frameworks which was produced over the years in order to help and explain the nature of services innovations. These theories and models can be fitted into three different approaches. They are service-orientated approaches, integrative approaches and technologist approaches. In this essay, we will focus on Richard Barras reverse product cycle which falls into the technologist category, it is important to note that the technologist approach is the most common approach out of the three, it focuses mainly on bringing in new equipments and technical systems into service firms and industries. Reverse product cycle was introduced in one of Barras articles named towards a theory of innovation in services which was published in the Research Policy journal in April 1986. Barra realized at the time the importance of services industries in the economies and that most of the economic theories of innovation focuses exclusively on manufacturing goods. Because of this, Barra decided to develop a theoretical model that explain innovation process in services industries. (Gallouj. F 1998) Before we explain how the reverse product life cycle can be used to explain innovation in services, we need to first understand how the normal product life cycle operates. Product life cycle can be separated into four different stages: they are 1) the take-off or introduction stage, 2) the growth stage, 3) the maturity stage and finally 4) the decline stage. (QuickMBA) During the introduction stage, the companys main objective is to promote the product therefore potential customers become aware of the existence of the new products. The product at this stage is new to the public, and its performance is often superior compare to alternatives. The price at this stage is usually high in order to cover the production costs, and the volume of output is often low. The competitive edge at this stage lies in the performances of the product. The nature of the innovation process here is product innovation (QuickMBA) The growth stage, during this stage, customers are well aware of the existence of the product and a number of competitors has emerged, these competitors will offer products with similar performances and merits. the main goals for firm at this phase is to increases or maintain market shares. The price at this stage is often lower than that of previous stage and the volume of output increases also. In order to gain a competitive advantage over its rivals, a firm will focuses on improving the quality of the product which can be done by adding additional features. The nature of the innovation process here is radical. (QuickMBA) Maturity stage, during this stage even more competitors has emerged. The market starting to become saturated. The price of the product will further decrease as there are more competitions around, and the level of output greatly increases. The nature of the innovation process at this stage is incremental. The competitive focus here is to reduce production costs which leads to lower price and increasing output as much as possible therefore selling more units which leads to higher profits. (QuickMBA) Decline stage, this stage is reached when the market is totally saturated and the products technology become established. There are always the threats from newer and more advanced technologies here. When a new technology emerged, the whole cycle begins all over again, with the old technology declined and new technology introduced. (QuickMBA) In his article, Barras argued that the product life cycle as a whole is not driven by one single force. He suggested that early on in the cycle, technology push driving force is predominant where as later on in the cycles where the nature of the innovations are incremental, the predominant force is usually demand pull force generated by users. (Barras. R 1986) Now we understand how product life cycle can be used to explain the process of innovation in manufactured goods, we will now look at the reverse product life cycle which is concerned with innovations in services. Reverse product life cycle works in a complete opposite direction compared to the normal product cycle. The first stage of the cycle involves incremental innovations which aim to increase the efficiency of existing services. The second stage of the cycle is concerned with radical innovations where innovations are focused on improving the quality of existing services. The third and final stage of the reverse product cycle is focus on developing a totally brand new service that is significantly different compared to other services in the industries. (Barras. R 1986) To have a better understanding of the reverse product cycle, we will look at a few examples that were illustrated in Barras articles. The examples we will look at are local governments, insurance companies and accounting companies which are all in the services industries. During the first stage of the cycle in the 1970, companies were applying mainframe computer technology in services organisations. The purpose of the application is to improve efficiency as well as cutting down the demand for labour in services sector. The application of computer technology was employed by insurance company to computerised records of policies. It also provides computer audit techniques as well as internal time recording for accounting companies. Finally it was used by local governments to computerise personnel records and payroll. The applications of mainframes computers had greatly increase the efficiency in these three sectors, it has cut down the demand for labour by a considerable amount. The nature of innovation is incremental and the type of investment is considered to be in the capital deepening nature. The full effects of the mainframes computer became fully conscious to companies by 1979 which lead to the reverse cycle entering the next stage. (Barras. R 1986 ) In the second stage which was round the 1980s, companies began applying mini and micro computer technology in the services industries. Local government used the technology to computerize house waiting list. Insurance companies began to provide online quotations in branch offices. And accountancy used the technology to computerized accounting management and book-keeping services. The mini and micro computer technology is radical rather than incremental; it improves the effectiveness of the services instead of just the efficiency. Unlike the previous stage, the type of investment is considered to be capital widening investment and it has no impact on the demand of labour. (Barras. R 1986) In the third stage of the reverse product cycle, the focus is not on improving the quality of the services anymore; instead it is about creating totally new services. At this stage, companies concentrates on developing a new service that is different and better to other services in the industries. By doing this, companies can create a completely new market. Back to our examples, networking technology was developed in the 1990s and was employed by insurance companies, accounting companies and local governments. This networking technology provides users a full online insurance and investment services. For accounting companies, the networking technology allows companies to offer a completely automatic audit and accounts services. For the local governments, viewdata system became available to the local residents to get public information services. Like previous stage, the investement type here is again considered to be capital widening, however the nature of the innovation is no longer j ust a process, instead it focuses on product. It is important to point out that this stage has a positive impact on labour, increasing the demand of labour and level of employments. (Barras. R 1986) Once the new technology is established and adopted by public, just like the normal product life cycle, the reverse cycle will start all over again and start at stage one again where innovation nature would be incremental and focuses on improving the efficiency of the new product. (Barras. R 1986) Now that we understand how the reverse product cycle operates, it is important for us to examine its validity in explaining innovation is services. In an article named Innovation in reverse: services and the reverse product cycle which was published in the European Journal of Innovation Management in 1998, the author, Professor Faiz Gallouj pointed out the limitations of the model in the third stage. Gallouj argued that the model sees innovations as products. But in services, the product is in fact a process, therefore it is difficult for a process to be explained in a model that was originally designed to explain a product. (Gallouj. F 1998) Gallouj pointed out that Barras model are drawn from case studies that focus only on information and telecommunications technologies in vanguard services sector. And because of this, Gallouj raised two questions in his article. The first being if the model is valid for all vanguard services? And the second question is if the model is valid in explaining technologies other than information and telecommunications? (Gallouj. F 1998) There are evidences to show that the reverse product cycle does not apply to all vanguard services. The first example is legal consultancy in France which is clearly a type of services. An empirical study carried out by Gallouj suggested that legal consultancy in France does not appeared to show a reverse product life cycle. This is because consultancy is not open to technological information and it doesnt handle codified information. Having said that, there are signs of innovations in this activity, but the nature of innovations doesnt fall into the ones in the reverse product cycle. (Gallouj. F 1998) The second example is notary, microcomputers and fax machines were introduced to these services but these innovations are only incremental, there are no signs of radical and product innovations. (Gallouj. F 1998) These two examples have shown that the reverse product cycle isnt really valid for all vanguard services. Barras model is only valid in explaining vanguard services that are greatly influenced by technological evolution. (Gallouj. F 1998) We will now look at the second question raised by Gallouj, whether the reverse product cycle model can be applied to technologies other than information and telecommunications? (Gallouj. F 1998) Again to answer this question, we will look at two examples that were discussed in Galloujs paper. The first example is containerized transport, it was an incremental innovations in the beginning improving efficiency of transports which falls nicely into the first stage of the cycle. In the second stage, the sizes of the containers are made identical and unloading cranes was introduced. These changes greatly improves the effectiveness of the services, the services quality was greatly enhanced. In recent years, the tracking technology has been introduced to this service making it possible to know the exact details of the container at all time, these details includes its ownership, its origins and its destinations. This technology improves the services so much that it can considered being a brand new service. Therefore we can see the innovations in containerized transports over the years fit the reverse product cycle quite nicely. (Gallouj. F 1998) The second example Gallouj discussed is the fast food services in America. He suggested that cooking and refrigeration technologies are incremental innovations whereas computerized menu ordering is radical innovations process as it increases the quality of the services by a considerable amount. (Gallouj. F 1998) From these two examples, we can see the reverse product cycle can be applied on other services other than information and telecommunication. So is the reverse product cycle a good model to explain innovations in services? Should we continue to use it in the future? The model is useful in explaining innovation process when the innovation is technological related, however not all innovations are technological; therefore the model is only useful in explaining some areas of services innovation. Having said that, the model still provides tremendous amounts of insights on how some innovations process are carried out, therefore it should still be used in the future. So are there any other models that are more promising than the reverse product cycle by Barras? As mentioned earlier, one of the shortcomings of Barras model is that it only focuses on innovations that are considered to be technological. Therefore it would be useful to look at Den Hertogs four dimensional model of service innovations which explain four different areas of innovations. The four dimensions are 1) service concept 2) client interface 3) service delivery system and 4) technological options. The above diagram is taken from the international journal of innovation management page 495 New service concept is when a new idea is introduced in a particular market. The new idea only has to be new in the market in question; it can be an existing in other markets. Call centre service is a good example of this dimension. (Hertog. D 2000) New client interface is the interface design between the service provider and the customers. The communication channels between service providers and customers can be innovation itself. A good example of this dimension is electronic data interchange (EDI) (Hertog. D 2000) Service delivery system is similar to dimension two, but it is actual arrangement that is planned internally by the service provider in order to make sure their employees to do their job correctly. A good example of this dimension would be how amazon delivery ebooks using 3g technology onto consumers kindle reader (Hertog. D 2000) Technological option is the final dimension, although innovation doesnt have to be technological, many innovations have technological elements. IT is the most common form of innovations, a good example would be parcel tracking services provided by royal mail. (Hertog. D 2000) Hertog suggested that any given service innovations will have a combinations of the dimensions mentioned above. In fact, quite frequently they become interdependent with each other. Often times when a new service product is introduced in the market, it will need a new client interface design so communication between service provider is clear, also new delivery system should be planned too in order for the staff to delivery the service properly. (Hertog. D 2000) For example Royal mail introducing the tracking technologies of parcels will need a brand new interface (website) for consumers to be able to use the services; they will also need staff to deal with issues with the tracking system that might occur (delivery system) The four dimension model is an excellent framework illustrating how services innovation can be operated; looking at more than one dimension of innovations at a time allows the model to be applied to most services innovation. And because of this, the four dimension model should be superior to the reverse product cycle when explaining innovations in services. Having said that the Barras model still offered considerable amount of insights, therefore it should not be discarded. In this report, we have learnt how the normal product life cycle can be used to explain innovation in manufacturing goods, what are the key features in each stage. We have also learnt how innovation in services worked in an opposite manner by looking at the reverse product cycle, and understood the models limitations by applying it to different examples of services. We also seen what the four dimensions of innovations are and how they can be used as an alternative theory to explain innovation in services and finally we have understood the effectiveness of this model and how it compares to the reverse product cycle.

Computer Science Terms Essay -- Definitions

Computer Science Terms: Composite structure: the size of a typical software system implies that it must be broken down into manageable pieces of this Composition: the process of building a system using simpler parts or components Abstraction: the process of ignoring details irrelevant to the problem at hand and emphasizing essential ones. To abstract is to disregard certain differentiating details Data: the info the program deals with Functionality: what the program does with the data, the responsibility of the object to do Object: the most abstract description of a basic component of an object oriented system Values: a fundamental piece of info that can be manipulated by the program Types: a set of related values along with the operations that can be preformed with them Object: fundamental abstractions from which systems are built Classes: a set of objects having the same features and properties State of an object: the set of data maintained by an object at any given time Reference values: a value that denotes an object Data descriptions: properties of the object (name, date, etc) Associated value: a property an object has at any given time Variable: a portion of memory reserved to hold a single value Instance variables: a variable that is a permanent part of an object: memory space for the variable is allocated when the object is created Immutable: an object that's state cannot be changed Mutable: and object that's state can be changed *An object is characterized by the features it offers* 1. Query: a request for data 2. Command: a request to change state Float & Double: sets of real rational numbers (i.e. 170000 or 1.4e12) Char: set of values representing Unicode ... ... Chapter 6: *Black box testing = functional testing Test design generally begins with an analysis of  · The functional specifications of the system  · The ways in which the system will be used Test case is defined by:  · A statement of case objectives  · The data set for the case  · The expected results Functional testing: testing to determine that the system as a whole meets the customer's specifications. The system is treated as a "black box" whose behavior can be observed, but whose internal structure is unknown. *white box testing= unit testing Unit testing: incremental testing of classes as they are implemented in order to ensure that they function properly. Testing can be "white box testing" where the tests are developed based on the unit's implementation, or "gray box testing" where tests are developed based solely on a method's specification Computer Science Terms Essay -- Definitions Computer Science Terms: Composite structure: the size of a typical software system implies that it must be broken down into manageable pieces of this Composition: the process of building a system using simpler parts or components Abstraction: the process of ignoring details irrelevant to the problem at hand and emphasizing essential ones. To abstract is to disregard certain differentiating details Data: the info the program deals with Functionality: what the program does with the data, the responsibility of the object to do Object: the most abstract description of a basic component of an object oriented system Values: a fundamental piece of info that can be manipulated by the program Types: a set of related values along with the operations that can be preformed with them Object: fundamental abstractions from which systems are built Classes: a set of objects having the same features and properties State of an object: the set of data maintained by an object at any given time Reference values: a value that denotes an object Data descriptions: properties of the object (name, date, etc) Associated value: a property an object has at any given time Variable: a portion of memory reserved to hold a single value Instance variables: a variable that is a permanent part of an object: memory space for the variable is allocated when the object is created Immutable: an object that's state cannot be changed Mutable: and object that's state can be changed *An object is characterized by the features it offers* 1. Query: a request for data 2. Command: a request to change state Float & Double: sets of real rational numbers (i.e. 170000 or 1.4e12) Char: set of values representing Unicode ... ... Chapter 6: *Black box testing = functional testing Test design generally begins with an analysis of  · The functional specifications of the system  · The ways in which the system will be used Test case is defined by:  · A statement of case objectives  · The data set for the case  · The expected results Functional testing: testing to determine that the system as a whole meets the customer's specifications. The system is treated as a "black box" whose behavior can be observed, but whose internal structure is unknown. *white box testing= unit testing Unit testing: incremental testing of classes as they are implemented in order to ensure that they function properly. Testing can be "white box testing" where the tests are developed based on the unit's implementation, or "gray box testing" where tests are developed based solely on a method's specification