What is NATO for Essay Example

What is NATO for Essay The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is some 1949 alliance involving 26 North America and Europe nations. It objectives are to protect the se4curity and freedom of member states though military and political means.NATO is the principal security association within Europe. The alliance helps shield allies have modernized their shared strategic theory, upheld NATO’s amalgamated military organization, and carry on conducting mutual military scheduling, exercises and training. The allies have generated fresh fora and policies for boosting dialogue with previously communist nations of eastern and central Europe. Most importantly, NATO has had a major contribution in the enforcement of UN Security Council deliberations within what was once called Yugoslavia (Kaplan, 2004, 22).NATO has some significant function in controlling and containing militarized disputes within eastern and central Europe. It even strives to evade such conflicts by vigorously encouraging stability in wh at was once the Soviet community.NATO aided in stabilizing Western Europe, the states of which were formerly usually bitter enemies. Through solving the dilemma regarding security as well as offering some institutional system for building of shared security strategies,   the alliance has had a contribution in rendering utilization of forceful modes as regards the relationships of the nations within such a region almost inconceivable (Duffeld, 1995).NATO persists in the enhancement of member country security with regard to external hazards through a number of methods. Firstly, NATO upholds the tactical balance within Europe by counterbalancing the lingering danger emanating from the Russian military strength. Secondly, is assists to tackle emerging fresh dangers, encompassing the intricate dangers that could result from the disputes among and within the nations of eastern and central Europe. Thirdly, it obstructs such dangers from occurring by working towards nurturing stability wi thin what was once the soviet community (Churchill, 2006). Western European countries strive to uphold some counterbalance to former Soviet Union’s residual armed forces power, particularly the nuclear ability of Russia.Another post-cold war function of NATO is shielding of member states from an assortment of freshly emerging dangers. More focus has been directed to potential perils emanating out of Middle East and North Africa, partly due to the proliferation of expertise for developing missiles as well as weapons of mass destruction within such areas. The most prominent among fresh external dangers are however, territorial, ethnic as well as national disputes among and within the eastern and central European nations. These disputes are able to produce many immigrants or as well overflow into neighboring nations’ territories, NATO member states included. In the most extreme of cases, outside nations could sense the compulsion to get involved, thus stoking broadening o f enmity, as happened at the start of World War II.Despite the fact that NATO has not been able to terminate such conflicts so far, the alliance assists in tackling the issues emanating from the disputes through a number of modes. Firstly, NATO shield member nations from probable overflow of armed forces hostilities. Although none of NATO member nations has ever received serious threats in such a way, the alliance’s extensive experience in arranging member nation defenses ensures NATO is adequately ready to handle such emergencies (Sandler, Hartley, 1999, 16).NATO as well assists other nations to avoid being inducted into such conflicts. NATO’s existence assures member nations located near such a zone that they will receive assistance in tackling nearby conflicts in the event that such conflicts shoot up and overflow, thus minimizing the motivation to unilaterally get involved. Instead, the presence of NATO assists in ensuring that military participation of western nat ions in these disputes, if at all it happens, is consensual and collective. The likelihood of some quick, coordinated response from NATO could deter other nations from interfering (http://www.nato.int/docu/speech/2003/s031103a.htm).NATO in 1992 reached a consensus to avail NATO property in the support of peacekeeping actions sanctioned by the United Nations (UN) Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). At the beginning of 1994, NATO as well endorsed the construction of some mechanism named Combined Joint Task Forces (C JTF) which would allow member coalitions (coalitions of the willing) to utilize shared alliance possessions for particular actions outside the accord zone.Most spectacularly, NATO has acquired vital experience in what was once Yugoslavia. NATO personnel have imposed the Adriatic maritime barricade as well as a no-fly region over Bosnia. NATO as well offered defensive air authority for United Nations ground forces. They utilized the warning of air ambus hes to secure seclusion regions for serious arms around the united nations-selected safe Gorazde zone and Sarajevo.Pursuant to the disintegration of socialism, numerous former soviet community nations have embarked on aggressive economic and political reforms. Europe has substantial stakes in such efforts because failure may result to mass migrations, Domestic strife, armed disputes and direct dangers to surrounding NATO member states as well.NATO encourages stability within the previous soviet community through 2 ways. Firstly, the alliance directly nurtures political restructuring success within the area. Starting in 1990, the alliance has initiated a broad spectrum of institutions and programs for consultation regarding security concerns, most conspicuously the Partnership for Peace (PfP) and the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC). NATO may utilize such initiatives to aid the young regimes to restructure their security structures, planning procedures and policies (Greenwoo d, 1993). Such fresh arrangements may particularly strengthen democratic management of the military as well as reverence for civilian power through inducting eastern and central European heads to western civil-military associations’ models.Secondly, the alliance boosts eastern and central European security though reassuring such nations that they will be assisted in case they receive outside threats. This helps such states to abandon possibly destabilizing activities as well as to follow their aggressive domestic restructuring agendas with more confidence. Starting from 1990, NATO’S North Atlantic Council has constantly issued candid oral statements of awareness as happened during 1991’s soviet coup dà ©tat attempt. The NACC permits states in the former Soviet Union to state their issues as well as discuss varied issues regularly as they engage their counterparts in NATO as identical partners. The freshly approved PfP provides every member official dialogue wit h NATO, in the vent that such a member perceives some direct danger to their security, as well as solid military liaisons with NATO member states through contribution to several military operations and activities (http://www.nato.int/docu/speech/2003/s031103a.htm).Since its formative years, NATO has significantly worked towards normalizing relationships among member states.Extremely important among NATO’s intra-alliance roles is reassurance. NATO’s existence assures member states that they should not fear each other.The alliance minimizes the likelihood of disputes among western European member states in 3 ways including: increasing stability; tying the US to Europe so as to guarantee the upholding of the equilibrium of authority within the area; and inhibiting re-nationalization of such nation’s security strategies.A significant likely cause of conflict between nations is misunderstanding and misperception among nations. Without reliable and detailed data, poli cy makers could overstate the offensive armed capacities of other nations or misconstrue foreign objectives, usually regarding them as being more antagonistic that they are in the actual sense. They as well are inclined to overlooking the safety issues their own activities could arouse abroad (Kaplan, 2004, 41). Therefore, international relationships are usually characterized by mistrust and suspicion.NATO assists in avoiding the mergence of such damaging dynamics; it instead encourages mutual self-assurance though facilitating elevated intra-alliance honesty. Contribution to NATO’s force strategizing procedure requires member states to share detailed data regarding their armed forces, defense financial statements as well as future strategies. Owing to this institutionalized transparency, member states only hide a few secret from their counterparts, and they possess minimal motivations to do likewise.NATO also nurtures reassurance for member states through undertaking integra tion of members’ security strategies. To different but normally significant extents, Nations formulate as well as implement their defense strategies jointly as members of NATO as opposed to on exclusively state basis. Such security strategy denationalization neutralizes the usual competition and enmity for military supremacy that could otherwise happen amongst the key European big shots, it also assists to prevent any usage of armed forces posturing to attain political clout in Europe (Churchill, 2006).   In case re-nationalization happens, this could result to issues regarding internal inequities within Western Europe as well as arouse fresh competition, conflict and mistrust.NATO encourages security strategy denationalization in a number of ways. NATO’S consultative arms, force scheduling procedures as well as integrated armed systems assist to develop a shared identity amongst member states. Frequent and comprehensive dialogue results to an elevated level of commo n understanding. Cooperative force scheduling assists reshape member states armed forces posture in order to reflect NATO-wide, as opposed to, national concerns. Also, assignments to NATO’s military associations and civilian officialdoms socialize military personnel and state officials into some shared NATO customs.Additionally contribution to NATO’s combined military system fosters minimized military independence among member states, particularly within central Europe; because it permits members relinquish or at the minimum deemphasize several components vital for an autonomous military capacity. Numerous European nations, For instance, rely heavily upon the alliance’s multinational space early caution force as well as its combined air protection structures.   Small as well as big nations have given up their capability to undertake particular missions, like the sweeping of mines and air surveillance, with the intention of husbanding security resources, after having known that counterpart allies could undertake such missions (Duffeld, 1995). International integration develops a measure of shared control through increasing the extent of joint contribution to operational and organization planning. Therefore, the persistent existence of the multinational military system imposes restraints upon the capability of numerous member states to utilize their armed personnel for purely state objectives, at any rate on the short-to-medium period, as well as assures members regarding the shared objective of their armed might.   Without NATO, the likelihood of one nation’s forces raising alarm within another nation would be greater(http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/UKgovernment/TheUKandtheworld/DG_073420).NATO member states regard maintenance of the alliance to be mutually advantageous to them, since it carries on the performance of a number of essential security roles, both internal and external, including incorporation of Canada and the United States into European defense matters. NATO has as well adapted impressively to the dynamic European defense environment, positive example being the experience in Bosnia.   Whereas the joint defense of NATO territory is the core function of the NATO alliance, the fresh NATO, through widening its key role to incorporate peacekeeping and crisis handling as well as encouraging cooperation and partnership, including some strategic association with Moscow, has emerged to be the backbone of some European joint defense regime (Sandler, Hartley, 1999, 67).

‘Little Old Lady’ Essay Example

‘Little Old Lady’ Essay Example ‘Little Old Lady’ Paper ‘Little Old Lady’ Paper young people respected old people at that time . Arnold Wesker wanted to show people how society was in the 1980 and how it changed so he wrote a play about how people’s views and values were . The stage directions and the dialogue show that it is everyday situation because the way people are talking to each other. Tracey says â€Å"capital of New Zealand† to Sam. Sam says â€Å"you’re getting really difficult, aren’t you? Then little old lady says â€Å"you don’t know the capital of new Zealand? This shows that it is just normal day because the way there are talking is normal and also they are playing a game and that’s normal. Also the place that is happing is in a train and this shows that it’s a normal day and people are acting normal. The setting of the play is good because it shows that it is a normal day and it’s a good place to show people how people are treated in the 1980s and how things are different now than before. The lighting goes on the person to show that he / she is speaking and it is good because u will know who is speaking. The sound that is used in the play shows that it is a normal day. â€Å"Sound of an underground train hurtling through its tube†. This shows that it’s a normal everyday situation. The way the characters are acting shows that it is an ordinary day for example what they are talking about. The stage direction shows what is going to happen and how people are reacting to the situation. There is something that is not everyday situation and that is the smoke sign. The characters in the play are Tracy and Sam, they are both friends, little old lady, Harassed women, unpleasant man and Jason. The characters are divided into 2 groups and that is unpleasant man on his own, because he doesn’t want to listen to any one,’ he wants to do whatever he wants and that is to smoke in the train but the other people on the train are telling him that he shouldn’t smoke . He doesn’t listen and those people that are trying to tell him that is not allowed are little old lady, Sam, Tracy, Jason, Harassed women. First the little old lady argues with unpleasant man then the rest try to help the little old lady and that’s how the characters are divided, the unpleasant man against everyone else. The actions of the characters shows tension and conflict is when the little old lady argues with the Unpleasant man shows tension in the play because it makes the play worth while drama and this is shown in the play when the unpleasant man says â€Å" And you think yourself lucky you’re an old women â€Å". He says this to the little old lady, the little old lady says something back to get attention, she says â€Å"NO, you think yourself lucky I’m an old women â€Å". This shows that the man is trying to threaten the little old lady and this builds tension. The stage direction builds tension because it tells you what is happening and also what the characters are doing and saying. â€Å"The silence is long. Unease grows†. This shows that the stage direction also builds up tension when it is quiet. The writer is effective when he tries to build tension when it is quiet because it makes the play more interesting to read and the audience won’t get bored because the play is getting good and people like when something that is boring at first and then turns out to be good, makes the reader want to read more. The authors notes at the start are explaining that this play is strictly not about race and is all based on the issue of no smoking in the underground. The author became worried about the play because in those days the race tension was really high, and thought that the director would face difficulty choosing characters for this play . He did have difficulty choosing characters for the play because if he had picked a black student to take part in the play then people will see the play as racist and in 1980 society used to judge people because of there race. â€Å"If a black student plays the anti-social character it is interpreted as a statement about race not as a fact of life†. This shows that in the 1980 society judged people because of their race. For example if there where to watch a play about real life situation and a black student is taken part then they would see the play as racist not about life situation . I think it doesn’t have an effect on the way the play is read and performed because at the start of the play the author tells you that the play is not going to be about race, it’s going to be about life situation. The reader will know what the play is going to be about and they won’t have any problems reading it and they will have some ideas about how the play is going to be performed. I think when the characters ague or fight and the no smoking sign makes the play interesting for people to watch because in the begging of the play it was boring because it didn’t have any action but if it did then it would have been interesting for people to watch but it was good because at the start it didn’t have any action , it was all quiet and you would know that something is going to happen and that why the audience would carry on watching it because the play is going to be good but if it wasn’t then nobody would watch it , they wouldn’t find it interesting . Wesker puts a no smoking sign in the train because so people will know that something is going to happen and it did, in the play the little old lady argues with the unpleasant man because he was smoking and in the train you are not allowed and the little old lady was trying to tell the man that smoking is not allowed but he didn’t listen to her, he just ignored her. This shows that in the 1980 people didn’t respect old people at that time but children did respect old people.

The pros and cons of applying affirmative actions Essay

The pros and cons of applying affirmative actions - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that affirmative action is often regarded as a policy concern towards discriminatory factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and sexual orientation. The present research has identified that the initial affirmative action was enacted in the United States under Executive Order 10925 by President John F. Kennedy on 6th March 1961. Furthermore, in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson executed the enactment of Executive Order 11246 focusing on the equal distribution of employment opportunities among various social classes and genders. The author has rightly presented that it was during the Second World War that discrimination amid the socio-economic context had emerged as a serious concern which led to the rising significance of equal rights, humanitarian approaches and various other social norms which aimed at facilitating proper distribution of resources in the community. Through this enactment, the application of Affirmative Action wa s aimed at mitigating unethical discriminatory practices in the fields of education, business and employment among others and thereby imbibing ethical concerns as well as justness within the society. This paper illustrates that since its initial application in 1961, the purpose of enacting the affirmative action had been to serve every religion and cast with equal opportunity in order to facilitate proper education and employment throughout the socio-economic context.... Accounting both the Pros and Cons of Applying Affirmative Actions From a generalized perspective, the affirmative action can be observed to guide a society towards equal distribution of wealth and development opportunities. Therefore, it is quite obvious that such policy concerns will motivate growth and thereby prove to be quite advantageous for the society. In this context, the benefits can be recognized as affirmative action tends to compensate minority interests, serve as a booster to social diversity and exposure platform to varied fields. By compensating minority interests in terms of education and employability, affirmative action facilities equal opportunities to various social classes, especially to those groups who are observed to avail limited exposure to national and global prospects owing to their restricted power and involvement in the society. Correspondingly, by serving as a booster to social diversity, affirmative action benefits as the community interests in terms o f equal distribution of salary and wages irrespective of the gender, race, ethnicity or any other discriminatory factor, precise and universal employment as well as educational norms which further facilitates the exposure of the society not only in the national but also in the international context. To be summarized, the most significant benefit of affirmative action can be identified as its role towards augmenting sustainable social growth (Holzer, and David, â€Å"Affirmative Action: What Do We Know†). Conversely, affirmative action can also be identified to impose crucial disadvantages towards societal development in the long-run. For instance, from a global perspective, affirmative action has often been accused to give rise to reverse

No title Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

No title - Article Example Apart from the basic client information, using the cards enable an organization to obtain other derivable information about the client geography, which is essential in making the policy decisions. My concentration is Entrepreneurship, and application of Big Data in the field of entrepreneurship is in the analysis of Big Data to aid in decision-making process. Another application of Big Data analysis that would help me in my concentration is building a corporate culture in an organization that I will work for. From the key business processes to major decisions, the organizations have become more data driven and apply insights from the very analytics. In this connection, the organizations do not merely rely on the employee’s subjective feeling about various aspects of operations, but incorporate the data analytics to inform decisions. This helps in develop in the work force, an evidence-based culture. Furthermore, Big Data analysis is instrumental in an organization in terms of the provision of insights into the security, privacy and the administration issues. These aspects of a business organization can be analyzed and responded to using the Big Data. The company-wide big data platforms provide solutions to challenges of the business big data. For instance, past trends of the customer purchases, provided by the Big Data are also useful in discerning the tastes and preferences of the customers in various places and making investment decisions to satisfy such needs. The investment decision pertaining to the products to avail to which section of the global or regional clients would be much effective if the Big Data informs such decisions. Finally, big data analysis in engineering will help me infusion of cognitive intelligence with the generational apps. Innovation, creativity and the entrepreneurial spirit is highly boosted especially in the area of

The Electronic Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Electronic Media - Essay Example Let me explain you the theme of my content first. These eight heroines are performed on the stage through dance, music and instruments. 1. Abhisarika: She is a beautiful damsel secretly meets her lover at night. 2. Vasaksajja: This damsel has been dressed up beautifully and going to her husband for union. 3. Virahotkanthita: This damsel is distressed by her separation with her husband or lover. 4. Swadhinpatika: The damsel, who has given herself completely both physically and mentally to her husband or her lover. 5. Kalahantarita: Kalaha means quarrel or fight. This lady has quarrelled with her husband and separated from her husband. 6. Khandita: This lady has had a quarrel with her husband but still living with him. 7. Vipralabdha: This heroine is the lady who is deceived by her husband. She comes to know that he has spent his night with another lady. She is hurt and humiliated by the adultery. 8. Proshitpatika: Her husband has left her for some work. He promised to return on a part icular day and yet he has not come. So she is concerned and sad. It is a very beautiful concept for writing a script. Basically this is the script suitable for stage performance. Prior to internet, if I had to bring it before the audience, I would have written the script in the form of a play, a dance belle. Theatre was one of the major means to reach a large audience before electronic media. Theatre has a prolong history of thousands of years. Even before the advent of print media, theatre was the major source of reaching to the people. The content in the theme can be written in the form of dialogues and lyrics. It would create a good effect on the audience. The writer has a wide scope for creative writing. The program needs to be accompanied with traditional musical instruments and Indian classical music. Prior to print media, paintings or sculptors were also the media of communication. The producer used to share his content with his audience through painting and sculptors in anci ent time. The painters in those days used to convey the theme through their paintings. Here are the paintings of three of the eight Heroines according to their moods: Abhisarika Vasaksajja Virahotkanthita Distribution through print media: After the advent of print media, it became easy to reach the audience through articles and illustration. With the help of a good artist, the producer can make his content more effective with fantastic illustration of each heroine. In print media the theme of Ashtanayika (Eight Heroines) can be reached to the audience through articles accompanied by fantastic illustrations. Part 2: Distribution of Content through Electronic Media Manipulation of the Content for Radio: The distribution process became more complex and comprehensive after the advent of electronic media. Electronic media contain Radio, television and other New Media. Being a producer, if I want to reach to the large number of people, I have to redesign the same content to make it suitab le for radio. When we consider the same content for electronic media, we have to adapt the content according to the need of electronic media. Radio is regarded as a blind medium. The content, which

Public Health And Health Promotion

Public Health And Health Promotion In this research paper I discussed the role of Public Relations in communicating health and delivering healthy messages to the public or community. It is more or less the same working with other ministries but Ministry of Health (MOH) are more focused on educating and promoting healthy lifestyle. There are five strategic SMART objectives that as a PR need to be focused and improved on:- Strategic Objective: Establish Strengthen Health in All Policies (HiAP) Strategic Objective: Develop Effective, Quality And Innovative Health Promotion Programmes to reduce Obesity, Unhealthy Diet, Physical Inactivity And Tobacco Use Strategic Objective: Enhance Inter-Sectoral Collaboration And Partnership Strategic Objective: Develop Health Promotion Skills Competencies Strategic Objective: Strengthen Health Promotion Centre Infrastructure and resources The challenges and constraints of Health Promotion Centre (HPC) are to be discussed further more in this research paper. As a conclusion of this paper, I also includes the benefits and expected outcomes for the strategies. Role of Public Relation in Health Communication in Brunei Darussalam INTRODUCTION Brunei Darussalam is a moderate Islamic country with multi ethnic racial where understanding diversity management and cultural values may increase the productivity of an organisation and also create harmonization among the three main races in Brunei; Malay, Chinese and Indian (Brunei Tourism website, 2010). Diversity management is unique in Brunei Darussalam through symmetrical approaches to public relations. Understanding cultural diversity and multiculturalism is very important to articulate a sensitive and multi aspect approach to excellent public relations, especially in rapidly developing country like Brunei Darussalam. There is need for professional aid to understand the dominant religious such as Islam, and minority of Christianity and Hinduism as they want to invest to the country. In fact cultural diversity seen as universal concept, as every country has a different religious and tribal groups. Globalisation has given new meaning that should be practiced according to various ethnic groups with different religion and backgrounds. Public Relation is about maintaining a good relationship between an organization and public through communications in order to pursue its goals and objectives. The role of public relations can influence the main structure of an organization have practiced. The main responsibility for public relations is to gain publicity from the public using media releases such as newspaper, magazines and sometimes appears as spokesperson for that company or organization. The other responsibility for public relations is to find solutions for supplementary problems as well as a decision makers and policy formation. There are theoretical approaches in public relations. Theories applied in different ways because different theories, different assumptions due to different backgrounds such as culture and influence. According to Grunig and Hunt (1984) the best theory of public relation is the four model which explain the development of public relations. The first model is press agency. This is the easiest way to spread propaganda in other to get public attention for their events or products. It is a one way flow of info. Second model is Public information which runs by the government to inform the public on behalf of the organization about its development. Third model is the two ways asymmetric which by all means the power in organization and not to public. Forth model is two ways symmetric where the organizations events or products get feedback from the public. Nevertheless Grunig and White(1984) agreed that public relation is best described in asymmetric ways rather than symmetric ways. Somecritics of symmetrical worldview- both practitioners and theorists- claimed that the approach is unrealistic or idealistic. They argue that organizations hire public relations people as advocates to advance their interests and not as do-gooders who give in to outsiders with an agenda different from that of the organization. In short organizations would not hire a public relations person which not practices asymmetrically. (Grunig and White 1992:46) LEtang(1996) also argues that symmetry in public relations is inconsistent. He argued: There isà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦a problem in the attempt which some make to maintain the idea of symmetry alongside the role of public relations as advocate. Surely symmetry and advocacy are in opposition. The only way round this tension is to argue that public relations ensure that all world views are held, i.e that the playing field is level. Whether this sort of pandering to the liberal conscience and justifiable is a matter for debate: a debate which has yet to take place within public relations. (LEtang 1996:96-97) The theories then divided into two parts; Rhetorical Theory and Critical Theory. Rhetorical theory is a convincing dialogue about public relations role. It is suggested as dialogue relationship which allows deliberation of written text or language use and their ethics. According to Heath, Rhetoric is symmetrical because each idea placed in the marketplace or public policy arena stands on its own merit. (Heath 2001:49) Critical theory is the power which influences communication. It is about social critiques, political and corporate structures as well as institutional. The theory tries to search for social changes-postmodernism which includes political, cultural, social and economic views. According to Holtzh` ausen, she revisits the concept of the public relation practitioner as keeper of the corporate conscience. She argues that the responsibility for keeping organization abreast of postmodern thinking importantly resides in public relations department. She stated that: Postmodern theories urge public relations practitioners to acknowledgeable the political nature of their activities and to be aware of the power relations inherent in everyday practice. Public relations is about to change or resistance to change, these political acts are manifest in the everyday use of organizational language and symbolism and are influenced by the organizations cultural and social environment. This redefines the boundary spanning role. Instead of claiming objectivity, practitioners are forced to choose which side they are on. (Holtzhausen 2000:110) Public relations required skillful practitioners. Certain skills that needed in these areas are strong analytical skills and communication skills in other to catch the attention of public. Great interpersonal skills, self confidence, self and priority management skills, knowledgeable in financial industry and update with current issues will complete the criteria to be a Public relation practitioners. Integrity and commitment to ethical practice, equity and diversity will also help to gain public attention and expectations on the benefits from the products or events that we are promoting. In communicating health messages to the public is very hard because, we need to do survey about the community at first rather than approaching them directly. Most medical officers do not have the skills or knowledge on how to approach the community creatively. This is when Public Relations practitioners came forward to help them communicating with the public from explaining medical matter great in de tails and too wordy transformed into simple and creative which is easy to understand by the public. WHAT IS PUBLIC HEALTH AND HEALTH PROMOTION? Public Health is a science of protecting and improving the health of communities through education, promotion of healthy lifestyles and research for disease and injury prevention (www.whatispublichealth.org). Public health or societal health refers to the link between health and the way a society structured which includes the basic infrastructure necessary or health- shelter, peace, food and income; and the degree of integration or division within society( Naidoo J. Willis J, 2000,p.7). Not only that, in public health it also includes Environmental Health referring to the physical environment in which people live. Health promotion was defined in the Ottawa charter (WHO 1986) as being centrally concernedwith empowering people to take greater control over their health and thus includesa range of strategies to strengthen communities, develop supportive environments and inform and educate about health issues.Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (WHO 1986) can be defined into 5 action areas, namely: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Building healthy public policies à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Creating supportive environments à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Strengthening community action à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Developing personal skills à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Reorienting health services towards prevention 1.2 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PUBLIC HEALTH, HEALTH PROMOTION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS. Public Health and Health promotion professions embody and tolerate conflicting ideas of why and how health should and could be approved. The meaning of public health and health promotion are contested and open to misunderstandings such as the explaining the methods for reducing health and promoting well being and fundamentally in the motivation for such interventions. Whereas Public Relations is a person who represent the agency as a spokesperson or a guide on how to communicate health messages to the public or target audience by implementing tactics and strategies as well as evaluating the success of the program. RESEARCH 2.1 HEALTH PROMOTION CENTRE (HPC). Health Promotion Centre (HPC) is a centre that serves the needs of public by providing health information, camps and other recreational developmental activities for the public. HPC also supports and encourages the growth and development of healthy lifestyles among the community through their health messages, gallery, workshop, youth camps and health screening. The roles of HPC:- Educational role: Impart Knowledge and increase awareness of public on various aspects of health Change agent: facilitate behaviour change amongst clients/target groups through the empowerment (knowledge and skills) and advocacy. Instill value: inculcate the practice of healthy lifestyle in the population and also caring attitude towards health among children and youth. Attraction site: a place to visit for a family outing and for tourists. Its main objective is to develop and focus on national health promotion programmes in the country and to ensure that health promotion and chronic disease prevention activities are carried out systematically and effectively. The vision is to realize Ministry of Health (MOH) vision 2035  ´Together Towards a Healthy Nation. The mission statement is Empowering People towards Healthy Living through Effective Health Promotion. (Personal Interview with Senior Medical Officer, 2010) 2.2 ROLES OF PUBLIC RELATIONS AND MEDIA AT HPC The role of Public Relations practitioner in this centre is to communicate health messages or practicing health communication. Health communication is a notion of awareness raising and education about risk and protective factors linked to chronic conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The use of mass and multimedia and other technological innovations to disseminate useful health information to the public, increase awareness of specific aspects of individual and collective health as well as importance of health in development (WHO, 1996). Health promoters need communication skills and strategies to inform, educate, enable, mediate, advocate, persuade, negotiate and facilitate. In order to have this health promoters need a range of functional communication skills in their professional toolkit (Murphy B, 2006). Functional communication skill sets tend to be anchored now, while strategic communication is more future focused. It also a process of hitting right target with the right level of information that suits and resonates with the market as well as engaging the participants in a process so that it is shared activity rather than one-way sharing information. In order to strengthen the links within and beyond the health sector, health promoters must develop and practise ways to strategically communicate our ideas in a language that the intended audience can understand and embrace for example using common language that understood by others (Murphy B, 2006). For example the use of Facebook and Twitter. These two social networking are the best way to commuincate and ideas with the intended audience nowadays. Facebook is a social networking site that enables users to share photos and videos. It also has a status update tab where people can post information (Facebook, 2010). Facebook is available for both personal and business use. Businesses can set up a Facebook fan page so Facebook users can become a fan and follow the organisations updates. Faceboo k is efficient for businesses as it enables users to send invitations virtually and those who have been invited can chose to send a RSVP or decline the invitation on the spot. Whereas Twitter is a real-time information network powered by people all around the world, which lets you, share and discover whats happening now.Twitter asks, Whats happening? and spreads the answer across the globe to millions, immediately (Twitter, 2010).Twitter is a social networking site that uses a system similar to the short messages system or SMS, where people can share information from all over the world. The SMS has a 140-character limit, and the messages sent through are called Tweets. Other people can forward these Tweets; this is called Retweets. People who follow other peoples tweets are called Followers. Twitter is not only limited to personal use. Businesses can also sign up to this networking site to start networking with other Twitter users that might be interested in their business. HPC curr ently has a Twitter account . Facebook and Twitter are FREE communication tools which allow two-way interaction between interested parties and the communicator, a beneficial addition to an organisations website which is mostly one-way communication. Fans and followers are made from a pre-qualified audience who have already identified that they are interested in a concept, and therefore are more likely to react to promotions and positive communication. Facebook and Twitter also act as a platform to answer questions and launch promotions instantaneously with nil or limited material cost. Another example of effective way of communicating and sharing information with the audience is via A strong and informative website and regular e-newsletter communication are beneficial assets for any organisation, as they represent a cost-effective, fast method for one-way communication with current and potential members.The target audience is pre-qualified, having made a choice to visit the HPCs website, or sign up for the e-news letter. Health promotion is directed towards improving the health status of individuals and population. During this modern era, it was transmitted by the mass and multimedia which has positive and negative implications for health. Communication underpins virtually all health promotion action. With this in mind, a broad range of functional communication skills need to be developed and practised by those seeking to work in the health promotion field. Good communicators have the ability to convey complex concepts in a language that speaks to the intended audience. They use metaphors and analogies to make sense of the ideas. As health promotion seeks to strengthen its links within and beyond the health sector, we must develop and practise ways to strategically communicate our ideas in a language our audience understands and embraces. Theres a needs to understand the social model of health as well as the determinants of health and their impacts on population. It also includes planning and evaluat ing strategies on approaching a diverse group with multicultural background with respects. Appropriate health promotion strategies are especially effective to combat the current rapid rise of chronic diseases which represents a major challenge to global development. Chronic diseases include heart disease and stroke (cardiovascular disease), cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases which claim 35 million lives every year. Together they are the leading cause of death worldwide and have overtaken the number of deaths due to infectious diseases. This represents 60% of all deaths globally, with 80% of deaths due to NCDs occurring in low- and middle-income countries, and about 16 million deaths involving people under 70 years of age. These diseases also undermine the economic development in many countries leading to a worsening of poverty and illnesses. The global burden of these non-communicable diseases (NCDs) continues to grow. Tackling it is one of the major challenges for development in the 21st century. Unless addressed, the mortality and disease burden from these health problems will continue to increase. WHO estimated that without action, total deaths from chronic diseases will increase by 17% between 2005 and 2015. For those with chronic disease, it can affect every aspects of their life and over time can cause further complications that can further lead to deterioration of their quality of life, participation in activities and even their work performance. There will also be the increasing burden to the costs of health care as well as the psychological and socio-economic impacts to the families and carers. However proven cost-effective strategies exist to prevent and control this growing burden. The causes (risk factors) of chronic diseases are well established and well known, ie, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and tobacco use. These risk factors, which are the same for males and females are largely modifiable. If uncontrolled, they will lead to intermediate risk factors such as raised blood pressure, raised blood sugar levels, abnor mal blood lipids, overweight and obesity. The major modifiable risk factors, in conjunction with the non-modifiable risk factors of age and heredity, explain the majority of new events of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases and some important cancers. The relationship between the major modifiable risk factors and the main chronic diseases is similar in all regions of the world. There are also other risk factors for chronic diseases but they account for a smaller proportion of these diseases. These include harmful alcohol use and some infectious agents that are responsible for cervical and liver cancers. Preventing or delaying illness and death from chronic diseases is possible. At least 80% of all cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes and over 40% of cancers could be avoided through healthy diet, regular physical activity and avoidance of tobacco use. Although death is inevitable, it does not need to be slow, painful or premature. Most chronic diseases cause the sufferers to become progressively ill and debilitated, especially if their illness is not managed correctly. Chronic disease prevention and control helps people to live longer and healthier lives. In addition, due to public health successes, populations are aging and increasingly, people are living with one or more chronic conditions for decades, thus worsening the burden of chronic diseases. This places new, long-term demands on health care systems. Not only are chronic conditions projected to be the leading cause of disability throughout the world by the year 2020 but if not successfully prevented and managed, they w ill become the most expensive problems face by our health care systems. In Brunei Darussalam, the situation of chronic diseases is following the global trend. The Ministry of Health reported in 2009 that cancer is the top leading cause of death with 24.6 deaths per 100,000 population whereas heart disease and diabetes mellitus comes second and third accounting for 23.9 and 18.4 deaths per 100,000 population respectively. In addition, this data is further supported by the preliminary findings of the Ministry of Healths Integrated Health Screening and Health Promotion Programme for Civil Servants which was launched in 2007. Early findings showed that: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ 64.3% of the subjects screened were either overweight or obese à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ 55.2% has high blood cholesterol à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ 14.7% has hypertensio à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ 14.2% has high blood sugar. The above data shows an increase in the proportion of subjects with are overweight or obese when compared to the data obtained by the National Nutritional Status Survey 1997 which showed only 44.5% of the subjects then were either overweight or obese. Therefore, preventive strategies in Brunei Darussalam need to focus on comprehensive, integrated,multi-level, multi-intervention approaches aimed at reducing the negative impact and consequences of chronic non-communicable diseases. Simultaneously, the management of NCDs requires well-coordinated and integrated services at primary, secondary and tertiary levels which focus on curative, preventive, promotive and rehabilitative aspects holistically. Therefore,there are five strategic SMART objectives that as a PR need to be focused and improved on:- Strategic Objective 1: Establish Strengthen Health in All Policies (HiAP) Strategic Objective 2: Develop Effective, Quality And Innovative Health Promotion Programmes to reduce Obesity, Unhealthy Diet, Physical Inactivity And Tobacco Use Strategic Objective 3: Enhance Inter-Sectoral Collaboration And Partnership Strategic Objective 4: Develop Health Promotion Skills Competencies Strategic Objective 5: Strengthen Health Promotion Centre Infrastructure and resources 2.3 CHALLENGES CONSTRAINTS OF THE HEALTH PROMOTION CENTRE (SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS) One of the biggest challenges faced by HPC is the lack of awareness amongst the general and target public as well as lack of media promotions on spreading health messages which includes misunderstanding about the concept of health promotion, competing priority areas, manpower, budget, unconducive environment, behaviour and others. This has proven to be the main hindrance for the centre in reaching their target audience. SWOT Analysis Strengths Financial support from government (MOH) Social network such as facebook and twitter containing information about their organisation. Access to MOH supports, financial and activities. Weaknesses Lack of financial resources to invest in media activities and others Need more sponsorship General public unaware of HPCs existence No official website Private partners Building maintenance Opportunities International presence Government collaboration Increasing the skill set of staff to other field such as communication-media, public relations and etc. Threats Lack of support Lack of workforce Unconducive environment Misunderstanding about the concept of health promotion Competing priority areas Culture. Local evidence has shown that, there is a huge burden of NCDs especially cancer,cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, in Brunei Darussalam. Without definitive action to address these diseases, they will continue to grow exponentially and lead to more people living with poor quality of life and dying prematurely. This, in turn, will have a negative social and economic impact on families, communities and the country as a whole. Being the lead organization that has been entrusted to initiate and coordinate the actions, HPC, from the very start, has several challengesand constraints to deal with. To be able to manage the situation effectively and efficiently, HPC has to convince all relevant stakeholders and partners that only a comprehensive, integrated approach has the best chance of success in the prevention and control of these NCDs. Comprehensive action requires combining population-wide approaches that seek toreduce the risks throughout the entire population with strategies that target individuals at high risk or with established disease and also addressing the social and economic determinants that would affect their health directly or indirectly. The National Health Promotion Blueprint 2011-2015 will be launched on March 2011 aims to use such an approach. Before adopting such a strategy, many factors that will affect the outcome of this approach have to be considered. Some of these factors are: The needs of the target population and individuals as well as the requirements ofthe stakeholders and partners. The resources e.g. human capital, financial, technical, physical and other infrastructure etc, and their management, that are needed for HPC to carry out their tasks effectively. The process of planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating the initiatives and programmes. However to ardently follow the strategic framework, HPC will encounter many challenges and constraints. Strategies need to be developed to overcome or reduce these barriers which may impede the successful implementation of this Action Plan. These include: 1. Misconception about health promotion Health promotion is defined as the process of enabling people to increase controlover and improve their health and is also defined as any combination of educationaland environmental supports for actions and conditions of living conducive to healthwhere these processes have been clearly explained in several key health promotion documents. As such health promotion is not just educational and provision of information. It is a continuing process that involves action at every level of society andnot just a series of ad hoc educational activities. One of the challenges is to change the mindset of all stakeholders to convince them that everyone has an important role to play in promoting health from policy-makers and leaders, in Government, organized medical and health services, non-government and private organizations and communities, to individuals. This role will not only be educational in nature but also supportive and enabling for people to practice healthy lifestyles. HPCs role is to l ead, support, facilitate and empower communities and individuals to practise healthy living but it cannot do it alone. All stakeholders have a shared responsibility for health. Hence for HPC to fulfill its role effectively, it must be given a clear mandate and extent of authority from the rele- vant authorities to expediently carry out its designated functions in health promotion in general and particularly in the execution of this strategy. 2. Low priority towards the role of health promotion in the management of NCDs Traditionally organized medical and health services have implemented a range of services to tackle NCDs e.g. Hospital- or clinic-based nutritional programmes, tobacco control programmes etc. However due to diverse needs and priorities, most of the resources for these interventions are directed towards attending to acute problems and urgent needs of patients with NCDs. Less priority is given to the incorporation of preventive health care into the overall management of these patients. As pointed out earlier, a collaborative management approach, with preventivecomponents in the care of the patients with NCDs that involves the patients, their families and health care partners, is more cost-effective than the traditional approach and achieves better health outcomes.Therefore, one of HPCs functions here is to help facilitate the routine incorporation of preventive and promotive care into curative services especially in the management of chronic diseases. This strategic framework includes the reorientation of the health care services for a more holistic approach in the effective prevention and management of chronic conditions. It calls for a partnership among patients and families, health care teams and community supporters. This approach will work best if each patient is informed, motivated and prepared to manage their health and able to work with the other partners. This partnership should be influenced and supported by the Ministry of Health and other health organizations, the broader community and the policy environment to ensure a sustainable positive health outcome. 3. Lack of skilled manpower There is a lack of human capital in HPC, both in numbers and skills. This willundoubtedly impact the performance of HPC with its many roles and functions to fulfill. Besides the current health professionals to carry out the day-to-day operations of HPC, there is a dire need for more specialized personnel who have the professional and technical skills and expertise to enable HPC to perform its many functions including overseeing and coordinating health promotion programmes and activities in general and in particular, initiatives identified. These personnel include: I. Public Health Professionals and / or Allied Health Professionals who are trained in Health Promotion, Programme Management, Epidemiology, Biostatistics including Research Methodology and other similar fields. Such human capital are needed to ensure a more effective and efficient planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all relevant health promotion programmes and initiatives in the country. They will also form the core group will drive the development of a supportive surveillance system and promote a research culture in HPC as part of its strategies to produce scientific evidence to support and rationalise policies, strategies and approaches relating to healthy lifestyle and particularly, NCD prevention and control II. Sociologists and Psychologists As health promotion, in a large part, deals with individuals and their families and the larger communities, HPC needs personnel who are well trained in the principles of Social Science. Social determinants have a great impact on health in any society including the creation of inequities in health. This type of expertise is essential to assist HPC in advocating and framing evidence-based policies and programmes, across the whole of society, that can influence the social determinants of health and improve health equity. On the other end of the scale is the understanding and influencing of human behavior.Psychologists are needed in the formulation of programmes which directly impacts on human behavior such as healthy eating, increasing physical activity and losing weight. They are critical in motivating individuals to change for better health outcomes. III. Public Relation / Communication / Media personnel To carry out effective health promotion, information must be effectively disseminated through traditional and new media. Social marketing is a recognized strategy to educate the public generally. Personnel who are trained to deal with and communicate with individuals, communities and the media, are definitely an asset to this type of work. IV. IT and technical personnel An important part of HPCs function is the creation, production, dissemination and display of various health-related information using different formats, styles and materials, in an interesting and appealing manner that would capture the attention of the audience. HPC needs innovative, artistic and creative personnel who are skilled in IT and the use of pertinent software. 4. Training and capacity building for HPC staff At present, there are less than 50 staff members who are as

The Annunciation: A Painting by Francisco de Zurbaran :: Essays Papers

The Annunciation: A Painting by Francisco de Zurbaran Works of art can best be appreciated when the elements of design, the principles of design, and the iconography of the work are observed and understood. The Annunciation, a painting by the Spanish artist Francisco de Zurbaran, is a work of art that incorporates both the elements and principles of design. The iconography of the painting is of great importance as well as its aesthetic quality. The ability to create a picture of The Annunciation in one’s mind is a key factor in understanding the analysis of the work. Francisco de Zurbaran approaches the painting with a naturalistic style. The painting features a room in which a woman – like angel is seen at the left kneeling on the ground before the Virgin Mary. The figure of Mary is placed between a chair and a small wooden table draped with a green cloth. Mary disregards an open Bible on the table, as she appears solemn while staring at the floor. Floating above the two main figures in the upper left side of the painting are cherubs resting on a bed of clouds. They happily gaze down at Mary with eyes from Heaven. The Annunciation uses elements of design to create a visually pleasing picture. The visual elements consist of light, color, texture, shape, and line. The use of light is one of the most evident elements in this painting. The source of light is not directly visible in the painting, but appears as a radiant angelic host floating above the two main figures. Light emphasizes the fair skin of the Angel and Mary as they both look down towards a shadowy floor. Light also reflects the open Bible on the table suggesting emphasis on the holiness of Mary. The rest of the room remains eerily dark and dull. Color is used to draw attention to important characters and objects in the painting. The red of Mary’s shirt emphasizes her place as the main figure. A bright, yellow cloud floating above the room symbolizes the joy of the angelic figures. De Zurbaran uses warm colors in the foreground. The room, used as the background for the scene, is painted in dark colors utilizing different hues of gray and brown. An observer can also obtain a sense of texture in this painting.

Analyze the different Operational Management (OM) perspective of Walmart Essay

Analyze the different Operational Management (OM) perspective of Walmart. Identify the following by writing a paper (with paragraphs, including an introductory, body, and concluding section): 1) The organization’s name and main line of business, 2) A specific type of operations process that takes place there (either service or product), 3) Describe the nature of the operations given your newfound understanding of operations management and productivity. 4) You may identify the strategy or global strategy of that organization. Turn in your one to two page paper by the Module due date. Walmart Stores, Inc. or Walmart is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large, discount department stores. It is the world’s largest public corporation by revenue, Founded by Sam Walton in 1962, it was incorporated on October 31, 1969, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. It is the largest private employer in the world and the fourth largest utility or commercial employer. Walmart is the largest grocery retailer in the United States, with an estimated 20% of the retail grocery and consumables business. It also owns and operates the North American company, Sam’s club. The operations that take place in Walmart are specifically related to products. Walmart has a systematic approach to conducting its operations. It is able to understand the issues and problems to be studied, measures of performances to be established and uses scientific and analytical tools to develop effective and efficient solutions to the problems at hand. Irrespective of the nature of organization and the activities it performs every organization needs to incorporate marketing finance and human resources activities to its operations. This operation process is the conversion process. These four forms the basic functions of any organisation.and are mutually interactive.oerations come at the core of every organizational activity and bind the functional areas together. Productivity and efficiency of work is determined by an efficient system of operations. Hence operations forms are very important process of work flow and .corporate level strategies must first be made and then translated into operational strategies. Operation management functions encompass product  design and development, process design, location and layout of facilities, capacity planning, forecasting, production planning and control, supply chain management, maintenance management and continued improvement in operations. The strategy of Walmart is to extend its products to every possible household and make every product available to the common man through its wide network of stores all over the USA.the strategy is also to provide empowerment and work to as many people as it can and make the supply chain management a very safe and profitable process. it gets its groceries from unknown and untapped resources thereby making it a virtual assembly house of varied manufactured products. Project 2 Consider Wal-Mart. Integrate the concepts and operations management principles that you’ve been studying in this module and turn in your one to two page paper addressing the following questions: How project management influence other departments and functions of this organization (i.e., marketing, finance, accounting, human resources, etc.)? What are the difficulties or limitations for implementing PERT and CRM in the organization? Operations are a key functional area in an organization. Irrespective of the activities and the type of business every organization has few important activities to perform. This encompasses operations, marketing, finance and human resources management. Operations pertain to managing the conversion process in an organization. The marketing function is concerned with understanding the requirements of the customers cresting a demand for the products and services and satisfying the customer requirements by delivering the right product and services to the customers at the right time. In order to perform the various activities pertaining to operations and marketing finance is needed for tapping the market for funds and managing the working capital. These activities constitute the finance function. Every organization employs a number of people with varied skills background and work requirements. Managing the workforce and addressing a host of issues related to them is called human resources management.hrence these four form the basic functions of any organization The basic functions of an organization. The four functions have mutual interactions between them. The decisions  taken in each of these functional areas could form an important input in another functional area. Typically, organizations begin their yearly plan with the marketing function of estimating next year’s sales. This input forms the basis for production planning, procurement planning and all these lead to certain estimate of the funds required. This forms an important input for the finance function.wjhile planning has such a sequence of information flows and interactions at the time of executions interactions are even more. The HRM function influences the productive capacity of manpower available in real time the actual production of gods influences the marketing activity to be undertaken and the quantum and timing of funds available from sales. Hence project management influences every department in an organization. It is difficult to implement PERT because it is a product industry and as such Pert is normally suited to a service industry of where there are many projects taking off Walmart being primarily a goods industry does not require PERT. Customer Relationship management is a though study by the organization of the customer behavior and relationship. Walmart’s customer base is so huge that it seems impossible to maintain a CRM of that size. Furthermore the customer is from varied backgrounds and Walmart will not have any use for this. It becomes very expensive to initialize something like this for the size of Walmart. Project 3 At the Hard Rock Cafe, like many organizations, project management is a key planning tool. With Hard Rock’s constant growth in hotels and cafes, remodeling of existing cafes, scheduling for Hard Rock Live concert and event venues, and planning the annual Rockfest, managers rely on project management techniques and software to maintain schedule and budget performance. â€Å"Without Microsoft Project,† says Hard Rock Vice-President Chris Tomasso, â€Å"there is no way to keep so many people on the same page.† Tomasso is in charge of the Rockfest event, which is attended by well over 100,000 enthusiastic fans. The challenge is pulling it off within a tight 9-month planning horizon. As the event approaches, Tomasso devotes greater energy to its activities. For the first 3 months, Tomasso updates his MS Project charts monthly. Then at the 6-month mark, he updates his progress weekly. At the 9- month mark, he checks and corrects his schedule twice a  week. Early in the project management process, Tomasso identifies 10 major tasks (called level 2 activities in a work breakdown structure, or WBS):†  talent booking, ticketing, marketing/PR, online promotion, television, show production, travel, sponsorships, operations, and merchandising. Using a WBS, each of these is further divided into a series of subtasks. The following table identifies 26 of the major activities and subactivities, their immediate predecessors, and time estimates. Tomasso enters all of these into the MS Project software. Tomasso alters the MS Project document and the time line as the project progresses. â€Å"It’s okay to change it as long as you keep on track,† he states. The day of the rock concert itself is not the end of the project planning. â€Å"It’s nothing but surprises. A band not being able to get to the venue because of traffic jams is a surprise, but an ‘anticipated’ surprise. We had a helicopter on stand-by ready to fly the band in,† says Tomasso. On completion of Rockfest in July, Tomasso and his team have a 3-month reprieve before starting the project planning process again. Please turn in a paper of one to two pages (page counting does not include cover and reference list) discussing the following questions, The critical path is A-D-E-F-G-O The project completion time is 34 weeks. 2. Identify some major challenges a project manager faces in events such as this one. To plan thoroughly all aspects of the project, soliciting the active involvement of all functional areas involved, in order to obtain and maintain a realistic plan that satisfies their commitment for performance. To control the organization of manpower needed by the project To control the basic technical definition of the project, ensuring that â€Å"technical† versus â€Å"cost† trade-offs determine the specific areas where optimisation is necessary. To lead the people and organizations assigned to the project at any given point in time. Strong positive leadership must be exercised in order to keep the many disparate elements moving in the same direction in a co-operative. To monitor performance, costs and efficiency of all elements of the project and the project as a whole, exercising judgement and leadership in determining the causes of problems and facilitating solutions To complete the project on schedule and within costs, these being the overall standard by which performance of the project manager is evaluated. Project 4 Global firms like Regal Marine know that the basis for an organization’s existence is the good or service it provides society. Great products are the keys to success. With hundreds of competitors in the boat business, Regal Marine must work to differentiate itself from the flock. Regal continuously introduces innovative, high-quality new boats. Its differentiation strategy is currently reflected in a product line consisting of 22 models. But why must Regal Marine constantly worry about designing new boats? The answer is that every product has a life cycle. Products are born. They live and they die. As Figure 5.1 shows, a product’s life cycle can be divided into four phases: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. Figure 5.2 shows the four life cycle stages and the relationship of product sales, costs, and profit over the life cycle of a product. When Regal is developing a new model boat, it typically has a negative cash flow. If the boat is successful, those losses may be recovered and yield a profit prior to its decline. The life cycle for a successful Regal boat is three to five years. To maintain this stream of innovative new products, Regal constantly seeks design input from customers, dealers, and consultants. Design ideas rapidly find themselves in Regal’s styling studio, where Computer Aided Design (CAD) technology speeds the development process. A Regal design engineer can start with a rough sketch or even just an idea and use the graphic display power of CAD as a drafting board to construct the geometry of the new boat. The CAD system helps the designer determine engineering data such as the strength, dimensions, or weight. It also allows the designer to be sure all parts will fit together. Existing boat designs are always evolving as the company tries to stay stylish and competitive. Moreover, with life cycles so short, a steady stream of new products is required. A few years ago, the new product was the 3-passenger $11,000 Rush, a small, but powerful boat capable of pulling a water-skier. The next year, it was a 20-foot inboard-outboard performance boat with so many innovations that it won prize after prize in the industry. Then it was a redesigned 42-foot Commodore that sleeps six in luxury staterooms. With all these models and innovations, Regal designers  and production personnel are under pressure to respond quickly. By getting key suppliers on board early and urging them to participate at the design stage, Regal improves both innovations and quality while speeding product development. Regal finds that the sooner it brings suppliers on board, the faster it can bring new boats to the market. The first stage in actual production is the creation of the â€Å"plug,† a foam-based carving used to make the molds for fiberglass hulls and decks. Specifications from the CAD system drive the carving process. Once the plug is carved, the permanent molds for each new hull and deck design are formed. Molds take about 4-8 weeks to make and are all handmade. Similar mold s are made for many of the other features in Regal boats–from galley and stateroom components to lavatories and steps. Finished molds can be joined and used to make thousands of boats. Please turn in a paper of one to two pages (page counting does not include cover and reference list) discussing the following questions, 1. How does the concept of product life cycle apply to Regal Marine products? 2. What strategy does Regal use to stay competitive? 3. What kind of benefits are Regal achieving by using CAD technology rather than traditional drafting techniques? Project 4 The product life cycle that applies to regal marine products is new boats every three to five years. To be competitive every boat that is manufactured has four stages .the introduction and the design conceptualization is the most important stage. Once the design has been conceptualized it becomes easy to transfer the design into an acceptable model through the CAD models. Then it is introduced into the market’. The innovations and the new design boats help the market and it grows fast that the entire market is full of the new design boats from regal marines. This is the maturity stage of the boat life cycle. Every boat lover has a new boat design of regal marines and then the stagnation starts and the sales of boat decline gradually at first and then very quickly. this is a sure sign that the life cycle of the new design is coming to an end and obsoletion has set in .if this is not tackled then the firm will be incurring losses on more production. So this is an  indication t hat regal marines have to start looking for another new design to replace the one that in just going out of vogue. Regal marines’ competitive strategy is right from the customers themselves. Every design and thought that goes into making boats comes from the customers themselves. The customer’s suppliers and designers are all together in the studio of the regal marines while designing a new boat of enhancing features of existing models. This allows for regal marines to feel the pulse of the market and also help in setting in trends and innovations. Since every product is manufactured and customized as per customer design and style this helps regal marines to bring in the right edge to the sale and product and allows it to stay competitive. The brand of Boats from regal marines sells because there is always something new to every boat that is introduced in the market. Regal marine’s product development cell has a good combination of suppliers too. It uses the suppliers input in the design stage by urging them to participate in the design drafting process. This helps in speedin g up the initial design process. While competitors lose out on time regal marines is able to capitalize on time. Regal finds that the sooner it brings suppliers on board, the faster it can bring new boats to the market this competitive strategy also allows for competitive pricing with enhanced features. This is the gaining advantage that regal marines have. The traditional drafting method needs precision and perfection and usually takes some days to design. The prototype of the design cannot be seen unless the drawing is fully complete. This is not so in the case of Cad. if a few necessary dimensions are given and the shape chosen the CAD design engineers can bring out hundreds of designs of the prototype and improving upon the concept as the design proceeds. This is the greatest advantage of CAD designing. Improvements can go along simultaneously. This is not only faster but innovative too. The errors that arise out of human calculations and design lengths can be avoided though computer designing. The parts of the design can be fitted redesigned and reengineered based of specifications and new inputs. This allows for innovations and new concepts. The CAD also gives suggestions for new designs which can be improved upon. Styles and engineering models can be used to stay ahead of others. This is the greatest advantage of The CAD over tra ditional patterns of design. The CAD allows regal marine engineers to be constantly under pressure to bring in  innovations in boat design and models. This also has led to improving the efficiency of Regal marine product service lines. Project 5 Consider Wal-Mart. Integrate the concepts and operations management principles that you’ve been studying in this module and turn in your one to two page paper addressing the following questions: 1) How product design is applied in decision-making of that organization? 2) Can you describe a Product Life Cycles in the organization? 3) How different Issues for Product Development are applied in the organization? Project 5 Walmart a premier Grocery store and the largest chain store in the USA has been constantly striving to improve its product design. In the design of a consumer product not only is the manufactured cost of interest, but also the quality of the product delivered and how well the product meets customer expectations is studied. Walmart has been able to sustain this competitive advantage by staying ahead of others in designing delivering products in new fashion Walmart product can be distinguished just by design and packaging. Products sold by Walmart have measurable and non measurable attributes too hence both these have to consider while preparing a design plan for its products. Cost is a very important attribute of product design. a key decision making process is the constitution of cost. Walmart has been tagged as the cost price sop or a friendly shop. Having scored on this advantage Walmart needs to design its product and decide on the most important factor of cost. Many of the decisions regarding cost and quality are made in the preliminary design stage where the design engineers and the cost engineers sit together to make a workable proposition keeping the corporate strategy in mind. Hence these two put together deliver a product that can be afford by a maximum number of people. Since the consumer market is a fast changing one no product design can be kept constant for long. there is great uncertainty regarding this hence this decision of whether to stick to same design or keeping changing the design as per consumer preferences is a decision that has to be taken promptly so that products can have the delivery value. Too much newness and change may also lead to undesirable results sometimes. Where there is a degree of uncertainty in design  performance levels, customer preferences, and even in the goals for the design itself have to change immediately so that the product reaches the shelves with the newness that is anticipated from every Walmart store. The Walmart’s products are fast-moving consumer goods and durables and groceries which have short shelf lives. The product life cycles of products at Walmart are varying from 2 months to 2 years. That is why it is called a FMCG sector. Even before a product has been introduced it become out of fashion and obsolete. Such products life cycle is very short and these products will not be able to bring in that competitive advantage to Walmart. Most of the products that Walmart deals have short PLCs. even before the growth rate starts the decline set in. this call for continuous product improvement and great innovations in product life cycle management. Every product here has a tangible attribute and consumers want that attribute in every new product line. This is a challenge that Walmart has been continually striving for. Walmart’s issues of product development are many and are challenging to the very existence of this chain stores. The issues are generated not only from managing the wide variety of products but continually striving for error generating highest customer satisfaction. The watchword of product development is innovation. The market place is so crowded that unless Walmart caters to this it cannot sustain in the market. It keeps innovation as the watchword every customer need has to be met and new initiatives have to be optimized to meet the needs of the ever changing consumer market. This is critical to the success of any product development agenda. An ideal marketing mix should be approached by the organization so that product development is optimized. This would help in sustaining the advantage of product development issues. Project 6 The Arnold Palmer Hospital (APH) in Orlando, Florida, is one of the busiest and most respected hospitals for the medical treatment of children and women in the U.S. Since its opening on golfing legend Arnold Palmer’s birthday September 10, 1989, more than 1.5 million children and women have passed through its doors. It is the fourth busiest labor and delivery hospital in the U.S. and the largest neonatal intensive care unit in the Southeast. And APH ranks fifth out of 5,000 hospitals nationwide in patient satisfaction.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Part of the reason for APH’s success,† says Executive Director Kathy Swanson, â€Å"is our continuous improvement process. Our goal is 100% patient satisfaction. But getting there means constantly examining and reexamining everything we do, from patient flow, to cleanliness, to layout space, to colors on the walls, to speed of medication delivery from the pharmacy to a patient. Continuous improvement is a huge and never-ending task.† One of the tools the hospital uses consistently is the process flowchart. Staffer Diane Bowles, who carries the â€Å"Clinical Practice Improvement Consultant,† charts scores of processes. Bowles’s flowcharts help study ways to improve the turnaround of a vacated room (especially important in a hospital that has operated at 130% of capacity for years), speed up the admission process, and deliver warm meals warm. Lately, APH has been examining the flow of maternity patients (and their paperwork) from the moment they enter the hospital until they are discharged, hopefully with their healthy baby a day or two later. The flow of maternity patients follows these steps: 1. Enter APH’s Labor & Delivery check-in desk entrance. 2. If the baby is born en route or if birth is imminent, the mother and baby are taken by elevator and registered and admitted directly at bedside. They are then taken to a Labor & Delivery Triage room on the 8th floor for an exam. If there are no complications, the mother and baby go to step 6. 3. If the baby is not yet born, the front desk asks if the mother is preregistered. (Most do preregister at the 28–30-week pregnancy mark). If she is not, she goes to the registration office on the first floor. 4. The pregnant woman is taken to Labor & Delivery Triage on the 8th floor for assessment. If she is ready to deliver, she is taken to a Labor & Delivery (L&D) room on the 2nd floor until the baby is born. If she is not ready, she goes to step 5. 5. Pregnant women not ready to deliver (i.e., no contractions or false alarm) are either sent home to return on a later date and reenter the system at that time, or if contractions are not yet close enough, they are sent to walk around the hospital grounds (to encourage progress) and then return to Labor & Delivery Triage at a prescribed time. 6. When the baby is born, if there are no complications, after 2 hours the mother and baby are transferred to a â€Å"mother-baby care unit† room on floors 3, 4, or 5 for an average of 40–44 hours. 7. If there are complications with the mother, she goes to an operating room and/or intensive care unit. From there, she goes back to a mother–baby care room upon stabilization — or is discharged at another time if not stabilized. Complications for the baby may result in a stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) before transfer to the baby nursery near the mother’s room. If the baby cannot be stabilized for discharge with the mother, the baby is discharged later. 8. Mother and/or baby, when ready, are discharged and taken by wheelchair to the discharge exit for pickup to travel home. Please turn in a paper of one to two pages (page counting does not include cover and reference list) discussing the following questions, 1. As Diane’s new assistant, you need to flowchart this process. Explain how the process might be improved once you have completed the chart. 2. If a mother is scheduled for a Caesarean-section birth (i.e., the baby is removed from the womb surgically), how would this flowchart change? 3. If all mothers were electronically (or manually) preregistered, how would the flowchart change? Redraw the chart to show your changes. 4. Describe in detail a process that the hospital could analyze, besides the ones mentioned in this case. Project 6 Staffer Diane Bowles is the â€Å"Clinical Practice Improvement Consultant,† who charts scores of processes. Her inputs are very important for efficient room processes and admission processes. As Diane’s assistant I would first acquaint myself with the flow of Diana’s flowchart. I would take a few days to study the various inputs and the process flows. Once this is done then I could suggest improvements if any. I feel that there is only place where  there is a scope for improvement. This would also help in getting the rooms vacated on time without the prospect of waiting for rooms to be vacated. I would not initiate any changes because the flow chart of processes has been very successful and critical to the 130% capacity of the operational levels of the hospitals’ only would like to improve upon the levels of floors of the various units. The process as such is maintained very well but the floors on which facilities for labor wards for operations and normal delivery are scattered and in case of any emergency the patient has to be shifted many times up and down. This not only wastes critical time but also man power. I suggest that the seventh and the eight floors be exclusively used as labor wards and operation theaters and the rest of th4 floors be used in any order convenient for doctors’ nurses and other therapists. A mother who is expected to be operated upon needs to jump from process 1 to 7 without any intervening steps. the process 7 would become step 2 as the mother has already registered and ready for the cesarean .then step 6 could be followed the mother and child sent to the ante natal care and then step 8 .in process flow chart for a mother who is to be operated upon. she need not go through any other step as it is not required. Pre-registration should become mandatory fro all expectant mothers. Then the order of the flowchart would change with step 3 becoming step 1 and step 322 and others following each other. There should be no instant admission process .since all mothers are treated only by this hospital doctors pre-registration must become compulsory. That way the no of patients and mothers to be admitted for delivery on any particular day can be assessed and particularly over crowded seasons can be studied and staff arranged for emergencies. A process for a hospital specializing in obstetrics and child birth could be as follows: 1. Expectant mothers to pre register with the hospital either manually of electronically in the 30th week of pregnancy. 2. The registration number to be produced during time of admission with doctor’s diagnosis. 3,. If the mother is due for a cesarean, admission should take place before 6 hours and the mother should be taken to floor 7 for preoperative care and then proceed to step 6 4. If the mother is due for normal delivery and the birth of the child can happen any time, the mother and baby are taken by elevator and registered and admitted directly at bedside. They are then taken to a Labor & Delivery Triage room on the 8th floor for an exam. If there are no  complications, the mother and baby go to step 6. 5. If the mother has still some more time for delivery she is asked to go around the hospital till the contractions start and then goes to step 6. 6. The mother is taken to the labor ward and after successful child birth she goes to the mother and child ward and then to step 7 7. After observation and mother and child found healthy they are discharged and then to step 9 8. if the mother is found healthy and the child is found not fit enough to be discharged the child is taken to the natal care centre and the mother goes to step 9. 9. The mother and baby discharged with dates vie fro the next check up with post natal care dates. . Project 7 Consider Walmart. Integrate the concepts and operations management principles that you’ve been studying in this module and turn in your one to two page paper addressing the following questions : 1) What process strategy (form the four process strategies) is applied in that organization? 2) Where is the headquarter (or distribution center) of the organization? Are there any benefits locating there? If you could choose, where would you choose? Project 7 The process strategy is also called the job shop process. The process focus at Walmart is basically strategized around the low volume low variety type. The goods that are sold in Walmart are a large variety of goods with small quantities on the shelf. If one goes through the Walmart shelves it is noticeable that there are hundreds of varieties of goods of all types and brands but one can never buy in bulk just because Walmart does not stock them in bulk. It is not categorized as a bulk store but a retail chain store. The facilities of each department starting from the procurement to delivery are all specific processes and are organized around specific activities. Every activity is done in a specialized way by the department and process concerned. There is heavy centralization of process leading to  high execution times and perfection in operations. The procurement department is centralized with a specialists working on processes and jobs. The store stocks goods according to the eve r changing demands of the customers so the product range at Walmart is highly flexible. The stores allows for product flexibility. Since majority of the work of disbursement and product stocking is done manually the store incurs heavy cost on distribution. Except for billing and inventory every other activity is manually done. This leads not only to heavy man power requirement but also lot of human errors that cannot be avoided. This makes way for repetitions and sometimes high levels of inefficiencies. Because of the high manual work the sophisticated machines are seldom used and are all put in cold storage. To show that the store is organized around the latest technology the machines have been ordered and put in place but they are neither used nor automated. This calls for idle cost. Another main characteristic of the Walmart chain stores are the varying product flows making planning and scheduling a challenge. It is very difficult to estimate in advance the flow of a product during a week in advance. this calls for either over stocking a product or non availability o f the product hence the floor manager‘s job of stocking the right quantity during the time of demand becomes a challenge. This is the most difficult part of the process flow in Walmart. The work processes are very unique in the sense that one cannot apply any strategy of operations management and organization behavior here. The assembly process is also a challenge for every department of Walmart. The Walmart chain stores are headquartered at Bentonville, Benton County, Arkansas, 72716. The reason for having the headquarters there is quite obvious because it was here that Sam Walton opened the company’s first discount store in 1962.the original store is now a tourist spot. This small town has not only a big store but all offices of Walmart including the corporate office here. There could be no benefits here except having a sentimental value to having the head office near the original store. Since theses are the corporate offices and do not actually carry out operations of sully chain and procurement it does not matter. This headquarters is management office as all other Walmart stores operate on their own through centralized market pool. Hence procurement and distribution is done through the local stores but decisions regarding corporate policies are excused from the headquarters. I would choose the same. References: dedeksoncenter.net/Classweb/MSIS_301/MSIS301_Slides/OperationsMGT_hr8_ppt07.ppt – http://walmartstores.com/ P

Respective culture Essay

‘The Gold Cadillac’ can be seen as quite similar to ‘A Stench Of Kerosene; where the mother appears powerful as Dee has the power to stand up to her husband. This is portrayed after Wilbert has just brought the new car and Dee says: ‘That Mercury wasn’t even a year old’. And when she refuses to ride in the car: ‘ †¦mother refused to ride anywhere’. From Dee’s character we get the impression that she has power not only as a mother but also as a woman. However in Pritam’s story only mothers have the power and only mothers and wives are respected in society because they are believed to be the women’s roles in society. This is shown in ‘A Stench Of Kerosene’ where Manak’s mother is referred to only as Manak’s mother giving us the impression that she is only considered as a mother in society and nothing more. By calling her this she is being robbed of her identity, individuality and in some ways of her freedom. On the other hand in ‘The Gold Cadillac’ it seems that even black women have power which is surprising as when this story is set there were many racist states in America. We get this impression from when the mother is constantly referred to as Dee giving her, her own personal identity and not limiting her to her role as a mother or as a wife like Manak’s second wife who we only know as Manak’s second wife. At the start of the story the father Wilbert is completely against the idea of selling his car. However, by the end of his story he has had a change of heart and decides to sell the car. This is a very surprising change in his attitude, considering his attachment to the car at the start of the story. His decision may be down to fear, which his daughter was put through whilst riding in the golden Cadillac and how much of a risk he realised they were all at after being arrested by the police: ‘driving this car any further south with you girls in the car, it’s just not worth the risk’. This could be seen as similar to ‘A Stench Of Kerosene’ in the sense that Manak’s mother is concerned about what is best for him just like Wilbert and Dee are concerned about what is best for their two daughters. In these short stories both authors show different approaches to the prejudice issues of different cultures. In ‘ The Golden Cadillac’ Taylor shows us this by telling the story through the eyes of an innocent and confused little girl. By doing this Taylor makes the effectiveness of racism all the more clear to the reader. In ‘A Stench Of Kerosene’ Pritam uses a completely different approach. She shows how women are not treated equally through Manak’s treatment of Guleri. She also shows how women are not treated fairly through Manak’s second bride, she is bought by Manak’s mother, Manak does not love her and it is as though she is a piece of property. Also Manak’s mother does not seem to care if she hurts Guleri or the second bride as long as her son benefits from it. Guleri feels betrayed as she was in love with Manak and he took a second bride, which is why she kills herself. In these short stories two very different cultures are displayed. In ‘A Stench Of Kerosene’ we see an Indian matriarchal society where mothers have the most power within their families. We also see that the women who are not married or mothers do not have much power. In ‘ The Gold Cadillac’ we see that the story is set in America where it appears at first that black people have equal rights. However, it is clear that in the south they do not. We also see that mothers have the freedom to challenge the decisions of their husbands and are respected just like all the men. The ways in which the two stories are set are similar. ‘ A Stench Of Kerosene’ is set in India; we get the impression that people get on well in this society. However, as the story progresses we realise the disadvantages faced by women. We are similarly misled in ‘ The Gold Cadillac’ in fact it is not immediately that the family in the story is black until we get further into the story. At first we think that black people are equals in society until the family travels into the south and receives much discrimination. In both of the stories ‘The Gold Cadillac’ and ‘A Stench Of Kerosene’, the authors Mildred Taylor and Amrita Pritam attempt to convey the harsh realities of their respective culture. In Pritam’s story women are not always treated as equals and in this case they are not respected unless they are married or are mothers. In Taylor’s story she is attempting to show us that in America black people have not always been treated as equals. In each case the authors appear to be pitiful of the ways in which women and black people are belittled in society. We as the readers are shown this through the strong imagery, brevity of structure and the narrative impact. Both authors give us meaning and the reader is left with a wider knowledge of how culture informs the way in which people are treated depending on race and gender.

Facts on Mass Shootings in the US

Facts on Mass Shootings in the US On Oct. 1, 2017, the Las Vegas Strip became the site of the deadliest mass shooting in American history. A shooter murdered 59 people and injured 515, bringing the victim total to 574.  If it seems as if the problem of mass shootings in the U.S. is getting worse, thats because it is. Heres a look at the history of mass shootings to explain the historical and contemporary trends. Definition of Mass Shooting   First, its important to define this type of crime. A mass shooting is defined by the FBI as a public attack, distinct from gun crimes that happen within private homes, even when those crimes involve multiple victims, and from drug- or gang-related shootings. Historically, through 2012, a mass shooting also has been considered a shooting in which four or more people were shot. In 2013, a new federal law reduced the figure to three or more. The Frequency of Mass Shootings Increasing Every time a mass shooting occurs, a debate is spurred in the media about whether such shootings are happening more often than they used to. The debate is fueled by a misunderstanding of what mass shootings are. Some criminologists argue that they are not on the rise because they count them among all gun crime, a relatively stable figure year-over-year. However, considering mass shootings as defined by the FBI, the disturbing truth is that they are rising and have increased sharply since 2011. Analyzing data compiled by the Stanford Geospatial Center, sociologists Tristan Bridges and Tara Leigh Tober found that  mass shootings have progressively become more common since the 1960s. Through the late 1980s, there were no more than five mass shooting per year. Through the 1990s and 2000s, the rate fluctuated and occasionally climbed as high as 10 per year. Since 2011, the rate has skyrocketed, climbing first into the teens then peaking at 473 in 2016, with the year 2018 ending at a total of 323 mass shootings in the U.S. Number of Victims Rising Data from the Stanford Geospatial Center, analyzed by Bridges and Tober, shows that the number of victims is rising along with the frequency of mass shootings. The figures for deaths and injuries climbed from below 20 in the early 1980s to spike sporadically through the 1990s to 40 and 50-plus and reach regular shootings of more than 40 victims through the late 2000s and 2010s. Since the late 2000s, there have been 80-plus to 100 deaths and injuries in some mass shootings. Most Weapons Legally Obtained; Many Were Assault Weapons Mother Jones  reports  that of the mass shootings committed since 1982, 75 percent of the weapons used were obtained legally. Among those used,  assault weapons and semi-automatic handguns with high-capacity magazines  were common. Half of the weapons used in these crimes were semi-automatic handguns, while the rest were rifles, revolvers, and shotguns. Data on weapons used, compiled by the FBI, shows that if the failed Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 had been passed, the sale of 48 of these guns for civilian purposes would have been illegal. Uniquely American Problem Another debate that crops up in the media following a mass shooting is whether the U.S. is exceptional for the frequency at which mass shootings occur within its borders. Those who claim that it does not often point to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data which measures mass shootings per capita based on a countrys total population. Looked at this way, the data indicates that the U.S. ranks behind nations including Finland, Norway, and Switzerland. However, this data is based on populations so small and events so infrequent that its statistically invalid. Mathematician Charles Petzold explains on his blog why this is so, from a statistical standpoint, and further explains how the data can be useful. Instead of comparing the U.S. to other OECD nations, which have much smaller populations than the U.S. and most of which have had just one to three mass shootings in recent history, compare the U.S. to all other OECD nations combined. Doing so equalizes the scale of population and allows for a statistically valid comparison. This indicates that the U.S. has a mass shooting rate of 0.121 per million people, while all other OECD countries combined have a rate of just 0.025 per million people (with a combined population three times that of the U.S.). This means that the rate of mass shootings per capita in the U.S. is nearly five times that in all other OECD nations. This disparity is not surprising given that  Americans own nearly half of all civilian guns in the world. Mass Shooters Nearly Always Men Bridges and Tober found that of the mass shootings that have occurred since 1966, nearly all were committed by men. Just five of those incidents- 2.3 percent- involved a lone woman shooter. That means men were the perpetrators in nearly 98 percent of mass shootings. Connection Between Mass Shootings and Domestic Violence Between 2009 and 2015, 57 percent of mass shootings overlapped with domestic violence, in that the victims included a spouse, former spouse, or another family member of the perpetrator, according to an analysis of FBI data conducted by Everytown for Gun Safety. Additionally, nearly 20 percent of attackers had been charged with domestic violence.   Assault Weapons Ban Would Reduce Problem The Federal Assault Weapons Ban was in effect between 1994 and 2004. It outlawed the manufacture for civilian use of some semi-automatic firearms and large capacity magazines. It was prompted into action after 34 children and a teacher were shot in a schoolyard in Stockton, California, with a semi-automatic AK-47 rifle in 1989 and by the shooting of 14 people in 1993 in a San Francisco office building, in which the shooter used semi-automatic handguns equipped with a hellfire trigger, which makes a semi-automatic firearm fire at a rate approaching that of a fully automatic firearm. A study by The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence published in 2004 found that in the five years prior to the bans implementation, assault weapons it outlawed accounted for nearly 5 percent of gun crime. During its period of enactment, that figure fell to 1.6 percent.  Data compiled by the Harvard School of Public Health and presented as a timeline of mass shootings shows that mass shootings have occurred with much greater frequency since the ban was lifted in 2004, and the victim count has risen steeply. Semi-automatic and high-capacity firearms are the weapons of choice for those who perpetrate mass shootings. As  Mother Jones  reports, more than half of all mass shooters possessed high-capacity magazines, assault weapons, or both. According to this data, a third of the weapons used in mass shootings since 1982 would have been outlawed by the failed Assault Weapons Ban of 2013.