CASE STUDY Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Case Study Example The handheld solution was a lot better than the laptop solution because of various reasons. First reason being that the time needed to boot the laptop, login to the VPN and access the information was same as that needed to call CSRs. This meant that salespersons would rather call the CSR than use their laptop. This was not the case with Smartphone, information was accessible in seconds. Second was the portability and simplicity factor of the Smartphone. It was lot easier to carry and simpler to use when compared to laptops. The other types of information, besides inventory, that the salesperson might like to have access to over their BlackBerry phones are customer database, product catalogue, price details, order status information, sales forecasts, sales targets, sales force route planning and navigations, internet, market research, etc. There are numerous security issues that arise when there is mobile access to private corporate information. The company’s confidential information can be now accessed by anybody who can get through the network. Crackers can easily break into networks if there aren’t strict security policies. This information can be used against the company in numerous ways. Apart from access to information various changes can be made to the network that can make a deep impact on the company. Barriers that exist in businesses that hamper the adoption of enterprise 2.0 are traditional business culture and the belief that social networking leads to generation of huge amounts of worthless data. According to traditional business culture the time spent on social networking sites eats from the actual productivity. The best way to make a case for the implementation of Enterprise 2.0 is to highlight the effectiveness in communication among different departments of the company. It makes it even more attractive if the company has an international presence. Also, the wrong notion that Enterprise 2.0 applications

Dance and Daffodils Essay Example for Free

Dance and Daffodils Essay I wandered lonely as a cloud William Wordsworth I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high oer vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees,5 Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay:10 Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay,15 In such a jocund company: I gazedand gazedbut little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood,20 They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils. [pic] Summary The speaker says that, wandering like a cloud floating above hills and valleys, he encountered a field of daffodils beside a lake. The dancing, fluttering flowers stretched endlessly along the shore, and though the waves of the lake danced beside the flowers, the daffodils outdid the water in glee. The speaker says that a poet could not help but be happy in such a joyful company of flowers. He says that he stared and stared, but did not realize what wealth the scene would bring him. For now, whenever he feels vacant or pensive, the memory flashes upon that inward eye / That is the bliss of solitude, and his heart fills with pleasure, and dances with the daffodils. Questions 1.What figure of is found in lines 1 and 7? Which two things are being compared in each case? 2.Quote TWO VERBS from stanza 1 which describe the movement of the daffodils. 3.What mood is created by the words mentioned in questions 2? 4.What is the poet saying about the daffodils when comparing them to the stars in the Milky Way? 5.Which figure of speech is evident in line 12 – â€Å"Tossing their heads in sprightly dance†? 6.What effect do the waves and daffodils have on the poet in stanza 3? 7.Comment on the repetition of the word â€Å"gazed† in line 17. 8.Does the poet use the word â€Å"wealth† literally of figuratively in line 18? Give a reason for your answer. 9.What is the â€Å"inward eye† mentioned in line 21? 10.What effect does the memory of the daffodils have on the poet? Across 2. perfect happiness (stanza 4) 4. valleys (stanza 1) 6. a contraction of the word â€Å"over† (stanza 1) 7. riches (stanza 3) 8. jovial, merry, lighthearted (stanza 3) 9. in a lively and vigorous way (stanza 2) 10. the edge (stanza 2) 12. a brilliant yellow flower (stanza 1) Down 1. to look briefly (stanza 2) 3. state of being alone (stanza 4) 4. not occupied, empty (stanza 4) 5. looking thoughtful (stanza 4) 10. the galaxy in which the earth is located (stanza 2) 11. a large number of items (stanza1)

Earth Abides Essay -- essays research papers

Imagine waking up and looking around, only to realize that while you were asleep ninety percent of the world population had vanished. In the novel Earth Abides, George Stewart creates this scenario and makes it a reality. The novel is centered on the life of Ish, who wakes up only to find he is one of the few left on earth. Having to survive and adapt, Ish is faced with the responsibility of making contact with other survivors of the Great Disaster. In doing so, Ish meets several characters and together they form a tribe to fit the new lifestyle. Ish becomes the leader of the group and the main focus of the story; however, he is not the only important character. Some members of the community immerge and become important figures as well. In the novel Earth Abides, we see a tribe with only a few members, grow and develop into a community with over three hundred members. In a new world and with such hard conditions, The Tribe managed to survive successfully. This task was not easy, considering all the other people in the world who had failed. Many other survivors of the Great Disaster, killed themselves, drank their life away, and did not look for reason to live in a civilized manner. However, The Tribe overcame all of that and aimed itself in the right direction for yet another try at Mother Nature. Their success was mainly based on the fact that the members from the Old Times were able to adjust and adapt. They made use of the resources and in some way put the Great Disaster behind them. These members found their place in The Tribe and built a strong foundation for their children. Of such roles, one of the most important is that of a leader. The leader has to take charge of the group, make heavy decisions, and have knowledge and understanding of the world around him. It is the leaders' duty to prepare his people and make sure that they are able to survive and care for themselves. In the novel, we can see this in the character of Ish. From the moment Ish realized what had happened to the he had the desire to be a leader. When he met the black family in his cross-country trip and thought to himself, "I could be a king here if I remained." Later in the novel Ishs desires for leadership are even more noticeable when The Tribe first comes into contact with Charlie. Ish is the only one who feels hostility towards Charlie and act awkwardly around ... ...bers. Both groups often thought differently because of the different times they grew up in, and Ezra understood both cultures. Ish did not often understand what others were thinking, even the children who were his own. Ezra on the other hand could relate to everybody andcommunicate with The Tribe. The survival of The Tribe was dependent on each of the older generation members in some way. Ish had to lead, Ezra had to communicate and Em gave them all courage. There was also George; the repairman who fixed everything for everybody and made sure peoples homes did not fall apart. Molly, Jean, and Maurine, were all simple folks, but brought to The Tribe ideas. Just like in buildings, the foundation of a community or society is the most important part. All the other layers on top depend on the layer below them. The Tribe could not survive with out having a strong foundation to hold on to and build on top of. The older generation members set this foundation using themselves as examples. In the end, everything the Old generation members taught their children had paid off. The new generation were prepared for the future and were well aware of the world around them, they were survivors.

Does Economic Wealth Lead to Well-Being

Does Economic Wealth Lead To Well-being? In 1974, USC Professor Easterlin put forward that within a country the rich have higher average subjective well-being (SWB) than the poor. Nevertheless, the average SWB is uncorrelated with income between rich countries and poor countries. For example, the Gallup poll of 2012 well-being from Livescience website (2011) shows that Panama has 61% of people who said they are thriving, which had a greater score than the USA. The modern economy based on the opinion that the growth in the economy can lead to SWB increases.Surprisingly, economic growth does not bring more happiness. Therefore, this is the Easterlin Paradox. One explanation is ignoring variables, in the first part of this essay, noneconomic factors such as health, environment or family will be discussed, and these factors will counteract the positives of wealth. Then the second part will account for why economic wealth cannot measure happiness. There is also a certain amount of opinion to support economic wealth give rise to happiness. It will be presented by discussing GDP issues in part three.Well-being does not only depend on economic factors, but it also be influenced by work, environment, health or family relations etc. The Weighted Index of Social Progress sees Sweden, Denmark and Norway on top, while the Happy Planet Index sees Colombia and Costa Rica among the leaders (Measures of Well-being, 2006). And a few South American countries’ SWB is as high as developed countries such as Puerto Rico, or Guatemala. The above cases show that economy is one of the elements in estimating SWB. It is evidence that economic wealth results in the working burden raising dramatically.Working pressure disrupts the staff’s life balance and thousands of work makes staff feel anxious every day. As the economy grows rapidly, the environment is polluted heavily. It is evident that the quality of environment decreasing gives rise to individuals’ SWB fall. Ano ther contributing factor is health which is regarded as the most important aspect by the majority of people. Better health conditions give people confidence as well as well-being. Sometimes, individuals are entangled with family issues, and the negative effects from family cancel out the positive effects from economic income.If a government considers increasing SWB, it should make more in policies that promote good governance, liberties, democracy, trust and public safety (Why Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness, 2011). Personal satisfaction lies in diverse factors, and earning does not play a major role. Section 2 will be devoted to the two explanations why GDP cannot measure the real SWB, especially in developed countries. A United Nations reported that the UK is only the 18th happiest place to live (British people are more miserable than Costa Ricans and Israelis, UN finds, 2012). Firstly, take case of a rabbit eats carrot.A rabbit finds a room filled with a large quantity of carr ots while the rabbit is going to starve to dying. Apparently the rabbit will gobble down the carrots, but the carrots will be become less attractive when the rabbit is almost full. According to the story, in rich countries the SWB rises up to a particular point, but it will never go beyond point. That is the reason why advanced countries (for example, USA, UK, France and Germany) SWB was not ranked in the top position. In reality, money is the carrot. The meaning of 100 dollars is significantly dissimilar between beggars and billionaires.When economy develops to a certain extent, economic factors cannot measure happiness because there are several variables to act on the SWB simultaneously. An amount of factors were introduced at the last paragraph. The second explanation is more psychological. The major determinant of SWB is the relative life condition (comparing with people in the same level) rather than the real life condition. Being more specific, if one individual has better liv ing condition than the other people who live in the same area, the one is more satisfied. This psychological comparison is called keep up with the Joneses.For this reason, the SWB will not change even if economic growth brings about rising incomes. For instance, on the one hand, country people live in the countryside and local residents lead the similar country life. On the other hand, people who live in urban areas lead completely diverse lives. Their social circles usually have a great number of affluent individuals, so the psychological pressure which is caused by the wealth comparison is greater than the happiness of high income. There are also positive views to support economic growth leads to SWB.To be empirical, countries with a lower GDP typically have more problems. Taking an example of Africa, according to the graph of geography of happiness from the Economist website (2010), countries at the bottom (mostly African) had lower score (The rich, the poor and Bulgaria, 2010). Most areas of Africa are rural. Africans now distinctly desire a better life. Although rich countries are clearly happier, the correlation is not perfect (The rich, the poor and Bulgaria, 2010). In the research of assistant professor Stevenson, they take a 0 to 10 life satisfaction scale to survey the work.People who live in the rich countries place themselves around 7 and 8. At the same time, people in the poor countries consider themselves at about 3. As the matter of fact, increasing GDP can raise average satisfaction. For instance, nations with booming GDP imply government can spend more capital on health care, education or environmental protection. It is not apparent that a lager GDP measures citizen’s health, education or intelligence directly, but it does continue to contribute to citizen’s life. This paragraph provides a summary and a discussion of some extensions of this paper.Firstly, basic needs are meet differences in well-being are less frequently due to i ncome, and more frequently due to factors such as social relationships and enjoyment at work (Why money doesn’t buy happiness, 2007), different variables influence SWB jointly. Secondly, two explanations were presented to interpret that GDP cannot measure the real SWB. The saturating point exists in the process of economic development promotes SWB, and then the economic factors will not be crucial. What is more, the psychological comparison is a vital determinant in SWB, though the income rising expressively brings plentiful happiness.Thirdly, GDP can increase national SWB authentically. To individuals, large income raises SWB in the short term. There are a number of separable components of SWB (Diener, 2000). Thus, money does not buy happiness. SWB is difficult to be calculated and can be measured in different ways. Happiness, as the ultimate goal, requires the most encompassing measure (measuring of well-being, 2006). Bibliography 1. Deutsche Bank Research, 2006, Measures o f Well-being. Available from http://www. dbresearch. com/PROD/DBR_INTERNET_EN-PROD/PROD0000000000202587. PDF [Accessed 19 April 2012] 2.Dinener, E. 2000. Subjective Well-being: The Science of Happiness and Proposal for a National Index. American Psychologist, vol. 55, No. 1, 34-43. 3. Livesciene, 2011, Top 19 Happiest Countries (and the 20 saddest). Available from http://www. livescience. com/13790-19-happiest-countries-20-saddest. html [Accessed 16 April 2012] 4. The Daily Beast, 2007, Why Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness. Available from http://www. thedailybeast. com/newsweek/2007/10/14/why-money-doesn-t-buy-happiness. html [Accessed 19 April 2012] 5. The Economist, 2010, Comparing Countries. The rich, the poor and Bulgaria.Money really can buy you happiness. Available from http://www. economist. com/node/17722557. html [Accessed 26 April 2012] 6. The Telegraph, 2012, British people are more miserable than Costa Ricans and Israelis, UN finds. Available from http://www. thetelegr aph. co. uk/lifestyle/9184916/British-people-are-more-miserable-than-Costa-Ricans-and-Isrealis-UN-finds. html [Accessed 4 May 2012] 7. Yale School of management, What Are the Economics of Happiness? Available from http://bpp. wharton. upenn. edu/betseys/press%20reaction/Easterlin%20Paradox/YaleSOMInterview. pdf [Accessed 26 April 2012]

Exploring the Mind of Internet Addicts Essay

Addiction is a commonly used word that is mostly associated with a substance(drug or alcohol) and sometimes thought of as an illness. We often hear the word addiction thrown around in conversations. I’ve often used the word addiction when referring to my love of chocolate, but in this case it’s just an expression of speech. For a long time now, though, a lot of controversy has been going on about adding other activities, other than substance use to the word addiction. In this case excessive use of the Internet, Internet Addiction(IA). Many people are wanting to take addiction to a whole new level, by adding Internet Addiction to the DSM-V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition; in other words the â€Å"psychiatric bible†) but is our need, love, desire, and excessive use of the internet just a compulsion or an addiction? Addiction is when a person is dependent on a behavior or specific substance in order to cope with life. The dependence is so important to the individual that even when it becomes harmful to themselves, their family, work, and other important areas of their life they will persist in using the substance, or engaging in the behavior. Also, â€Å"There are actual changes that occur in the brains of addicts and treatments for addiction must address the biology behind the behavior.† So far addictions have focused on highs that are caused from the use of drugs or other substances that affect the brain’s chemical responses. However it has recently been discovered that a person can receive a similar â€Å"high† from using the Internet. The research for this disorder is scarce and fairly new, but the results leave something to argue about for the supporting side. Overly excessive use of the Internet affects everyone involved with the â€Å"user.† There have been con fessions from individuals who claim to suffer from IAD (Internet Addiction Disorder). A case was, reported in the New York Times, A woman who had been divorced by her husband because of her excessive use of the Internet. Still the woman did not come to her senses and continued to use the internet so much that she forgot to buy food for her children, to take them to doctor appointments, and to buy enough oil to warm her home.(Maria Garcia Duran) Sounds like an addiction, but this still doesn’t fit the whole criteria. Remember you have to experience a chemical effect in the brain when your considering an obsessive need for something to be a diagnose as an addiction. There may be some alternative chemical change in her brain, such as the internet use is causing her to be happy, which means endorphins are being released to the brain. But this article isn’t clear on whether the internet use really makes her happy, or helps her hide from reality which may still leave her with the same mood set, but just in hiding. Most people who think they are addicted may just be suffering from the desire to not want to deal with other problems going on in their lives. Those problems may in fact be a mental disorder like anxiety or depression. It may be a a relationship problem, serious disability or health problem. The internet use is no different than TV use, so you won’t have to â€Å"go out with the boys† for drinks or talking to your spouse. Others who spend to much time online with out any other problems present may just be suffering from compulsive over-use.

How to Edit Your Essay and Create a Perfect Work

How to Edit Your Essay and Create a Perfect Work How to Edit Your Essay and Make Your Writing Laconic Making your paper laconic is crucial, but it requires certain skills. We bet you do not really like reading paragraphs, which do not specify anything particular or really long sentences. Your main objective is to inform your reader about something, so your writing has to be professional enough. However, it is not necessary at all to interrupt the flow of your writing just to check whether you are laconic enough. Editing is to help you make your essay more laconic and precise. Below, you will find some tips on how to make your writing readable and more understandable to your reader. No general words – only specific ones To express specific points, writers use small and dubious words. Your work might seem a bit confusing if you include too many small words. It is possible to reach laconic writing by adding more specific words. For that purpose, it’s recommended to use a thesaurus. For example: The deputy informed people about hassles relating martial law in the country on local TV.- The deputy addressed martial law on local TV. Each word in your sentence has to be questioned In the process of writing, it is recommended to check each of the words to make sure it conveys something essential to your sentence. If some words don’t, just substitute or get rid of them. For example: My professor showed me how to cut useless words from my English essay I wrote in class today. – My professor showed me various techniques of cutting useless words from my essay. Combined sentences Sometimes, it is required to combine two sentences without decreasing their value, in case information doesn’t require a full sentence. Such combined sentences form laconic information. For example: The director’s movies show moral values and the significance of mutual respect between people. She created four movies. – Four movies of this director show moral values and the significance of mutual respect between people. Remove those words which emphasize obvious things Always think of readers when trying to make your essay laconic. If you noticed that some of the phrases or sentences show things obvious to everyone paraphrase or simply get rid of them, otherwise readers will lose interest in your paper. For example: She got my inquiry about LED screens yesterday, and read it with special attention. – She got my inquiry about LED screens yesterday. Remove unnecessary determiners Removing words or phrases, which do not contribute to the entire sentence but define the noun won’t destroy the meaning of your sentence, so you can easily do that. If you are not sure about its necessity, just write down your sentence without it. Does it make sense? Then this phrase is not necessary. If the sentence lost its meaning, then you should leave it. For example: I don’t really like any particular type of activity in this club. – I don’t like any activity in this club. Avoid repeating words Make sure not to mention some words and phrases too often in the text, especially in the same paragraph. If they don’t contribute to the content of your text, they are just not necessary. For example: Our company hired six new employees. These employees worked hard on the weekdays. – Our company hired six new employees who worked hard on the weekdays. No excessive pairs or categories Sometimes, we tend to you the word pairs implying each other, so pay attention to such pairs and avoid them. For example: sad tragedy, surprise, result, etc. some examples of excessive or redundant categories are: large in size, green color, a period in time, etc. Phrases can be transformed into single words and adjectives If possible, transform phrases describing something into single words or adjectives. For example: A student who works hard will always reach his goal. – A hard-working student will always reach his goal. Who, which, that clauses have to be converted to phrases As long as it is possible, transform clauses to single words or phrases. For example: All applicants who are willing to enter our University have to write a perfect essay. – All applicants have to write a perfect essay. Active voice instead of passive voice Try to use the active voice, while such phrases are laconic and precise. For example: This paper was written by John. – John wrote this paper. Avoid abusing expletives at the beginning of your sentences In some situations, such expletives as there+be-verb or it+be-verb are very effective, but not at the very beginning of the sentence. For example: It’s the coach who is supposed to motivate our team. – The coach is supposed to motivate our team. Don’t abuse noun forms of some verbs Whenever possible, use verbs instead of noun forms. Verbs are used to engage the readers and keep their interest. For example: My life is a collection of memories. – I collect memories. Some other don’ts Do not use there is/there are too often. Avoid such words as basically, more, actually, really, very. Don’t use clichà ©s. If you want your paper to be more professional and interesting to your reader, make it laconic. Don’t hesitate to use all the above-mentioned tips to edit your essay.

Anti-Semitism in Political Cartoons essays

Anti-Semitism in Political Cartoons essays An anti-Semitic political cartoon drawn by the English artist, Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) shows Solomon (of the Bible) enjoying himself with two pretty Christian girls. This, as with many other Nazi-driven ideas, contain very ironic subject matter, concerning the events that took place during the Holocaust. This cartoon tells the viewer that Jews have low morals, and that they believe they are superior to other races. The central theme of this particular cartoon is that Jews are crude and that they believe Jews are obliged to commit infamous acts against Christians. I will describe the various ways the viewer might decipher this illustration. Though these ideas will most likely sound strange, the sad fact is that many Nazis were trained to think this way. First of all, because of the anti-Semitic view that Jews are morally corrupt, there must be reason for the brutal murder of them, right? Even though in reality Jews followed the teachings of the Old Testament (which had a very high moral structure), Nazis decided to claim they were vulgar in order to justify their anti-Semitic behavior. Secondly, where did the notion that Jews are obliged to commit infamous acts against Christians come from? Yes, its true that cases do exist where Jews have done wrong towards Christians, but is that not the same vise-versa? When society takes one act of cruelty and stereotypes an entire race based upon that act, it suggests that things like anti-Semitism can be easily accepted. Because cartoons like this one were published in many European publications, the stereotypes set upon the Jews became widespread. These stereotypes enabled the Nazis in strengthening anti-Semitic values in the masses. By creating this otherness, Jews were essentially de-humanized and were easily punished for these horrible things they had been labeled for. Though this cartoon shows that Jews deemed themselves to be raciall...

How Taking Care of Yourself Will Make You Better at Your Job

How Taking Care of Yourself Will Make You Better at Your Job You know that coworker who runs marathons in her spare time and talks about the amazing hot yoga class she attended at 6 a.m.? Admit it, you kinda hate her as you shuffle in, grumpy and 15  minutes late because your alarm didn’t go off and you didn’t even have time for your customary egg and cheese burrito breakfast. How is it possible for one person to have it all together, that healthy life stuff balanced with the everyday demands of work? Believe it or not, it’s possible without changing totally into the guy who manages to answer 45 emails on his morning train while drinking home-brewed kombucha, or the woman who uses the treadmill desk all day without breaking a sweat. (Though if you’re already doing those things, keep on keepin’ on!) It’s about making manageable, easy-to-implement changes to your daily routines. These small changes can add up to big results in your life overall, but taking care of yourself  can really pay dividends i n your professional life as well.Concentrate on Food and FitnessChanging up your diet is one of the most basic things you can do to feel better and put some structure around your self-reboot efforts. Unfortunately, for some of us it’s also one of the most challenging ones. Even the strongest resolve to eat that green salad for lunch can crumble under the reality of free pizza leftover from a meeting. (But†¦ but†¦ it’s free!!) Whatever your barriers to eating better at work, there are some strategies you can adopt to stay satisfied during the day and (hopefully) have it be less of a struggle.Or there’s the convenience factor: the lunch place right down the street will bring your salad to you, for the low low price of $8.95 (plus tip). That adds up, especially if your self-improvement plan also involves a budget. Making an effort to eat better at work is a conscious choice, but one that will be even better when your take-out sandwich savings translate in to a treat yo self reward at some point.1. Eat a protein-packed breakfast.High-protein breakfasts help you start the day on a satisfied and raring-to-go note. If you have a good breakfast, you’re more likely to perform well at work, and less likely to fall prey to that Hershey bar looking enticingly at you from the vending machine as you walk by.2. Snack wisely.Instead of hitting the vending machine for that 10 a.m. or 3 p.m. snackishness, try eating nuts or fruit instead, or a granola bar (not the ones that are dipped in chocolate, sorry).3. Pack a lunch.This way, you know exactly what you’re eating (no sneaky sugar or calories that you don’t expect). Eating Well has some great (and inexpensive- bonus!) recipes that can help you get into the bag lunch routine.And you don’t have to sacrifice the social aspects of eating with coworkers, or the simple joy of getting away from your desk to grab lunch. Packed lunches are portable! You can head to a common are a, or even head outside to get away from your desk. There’s no excuse for sad desk lunches if you don’t want to go down that dark path.Another way to keep yourself sharp and ready for anything is to work in a little exercise with your workday. Sitting at a desk all day is not only a danger to your health (potentially causing headaches, back pains, and other ailments), but it can also be a spirit-crusher. Don’t let inertia weigh you down.Treadmill desks and standing desks are cool, but if they’re not for you (or in your company’s budget), there are plenty of ways you can get moving, even on the most demanding days.You can shake off the desk blues (not to mention some stress while you’re at it) with small exercises you can do at or near your desk.  If you’re not feeling cardio today, or if your work clothes aren’t really made for boxing, there’s always a classic: office yoga. Or if you sit out in Open-Plan Cubicle Land l ike I do, a version of office yoga that won’t freak out your coworkers. And in fact, if you feel self-conscious about the idea of doing your mini-fitness routines in front of coworkers, any of these things can be done in an empty room/out of the way spot.And really, you don’t have to overthink the fitness-at-work thing. Getting up and walking around can help get the blood moving and clear your head. Taking the stairs instead of the elevator is an easy win too. Just take a few minutes every hour to get up and move around.Bottom line: if your body feels below par, your performance at work probably will be too. By making small tweaks to your food and activity level to make yourself feel better overall, you’ll have more energy to devote to your tasks at hand.Build Solid Habits and RoutinesIf you want to start getting the most out of your workday, it’s worth taking a look at all of your daily routines, and how they affect your professional life. We’re a ll creatures of habit, but are all those habits truly useful? Fast Company suggests asking yourself 5  questions to see if your habits are working for you:What’s the value in this routine?Am I more concerned with the routine itself than the results?Can I handle emergencies that upset the routine?Can I handle change?Does this routine stifle my creativity?These questions help you target the value of your daily habits, and identify ones that aren’t really working for you (outside of consistency). Once you have a better understanding of what’s serving you well and where you could improve or make things more efficient, you can start thinking about what comes next.For example: if you leave your house 10 minutes earlier, does that take a stressful edge off your morning once you get into the office? Do you block out enough time to do routine tasks, or do they get lost in the shuffle of your day? Do you spend time writing up the same five or six types of emails, when a copy-and-paste template would make things easier? Again, small wins are the goal; we’re happier and more productive when we don’t feel bogged down by minutiae.Change Your Outlook and Attitude AdjustmentAnd sometimes the solutions for being your best self are living inside your own head. Everything is the worst when we expect it to be the worst. People are more annoying, requests are more ridiculous, and there’s never enough time when we start from a negative-attitude position. You don’t have to become the most relentlessly cheerful person around, but when your happiness starts sliding a bit because work is stressful or things aren’t going the way you’d like, try to take a step back and shake off some of the negative perceptions. It can be as simple as taking the time to thank someone (genuinely) for a job well done, or a favor they’ve done for you. And when things are rough or busy, take a minute to reflect on what went right today.W hat to avoid when revamping your workplace mindset:Gossip/making negative comments about othersBackstabbing/not being up front with peopleSarcasm (that’s a tough one, I know)Swearing (gosh darnit)A positive attitude is one of the qualities that people (notably, bosses) notice when it’s time to promote and reward employees. It’s definitely in your best interest to be that productive, supportive team member.Never Stop LearningOne of the most important things you can do to be your best self is to keep learning, no matter where you are in your career. Everyone has skills they can pick up or improve upon. If there’s a new type of software or process relevant to your job, learn it. If your presentation skills could use a boost, take a public speaking class. This not only builds your resume, but also keeps you busy and engaged.This kind of self-directed self-improvement also shows you’re someone who’s always looking to improve the status quo. Thatà ¢â‚¬â„¢s a quality that’s appealing to the powers that be, and who knows- your next career opportunity could be sitting in that class, or that shiny new skill could be the one that nets you a promotion.What it all comes down to is this: if you want to be more productive at work and on your career path in general, it’s all on you. The changes you make to your daily life to make things more streamlined, or to make yourself feel better- those will translate into being a more proactive and productive employee, and help make more opportunities happen.

Compare and Contrast Research Methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 4

Compare and Contrast Research Methods - Essay Example It is argued that unstructured interviews are best in gathering information on social situations as they allow the interviewer to be natural and thus encourage the interviewee’s participation. Focus group is another approach of collecting qualitative data. This is a carefully planned discussion tailored to obtain perceptions on a specific topic or area of interest. The process of information gathering under this method involves the moderator who controls the debate and initiates discussion topics, the note-taker, and the participants (Boeije, 2010). Focus group has almost the same merits with the interviewing method. It generates results at a relatively fast rate, has a high face validity and allows the moderator (who assumes an almost similar role as the interviewer) to explore unanticipated issues. However, this method has its fair share of demerits; the main ones are that it has less experimental control, requires a well trained interviewer and it maybe difficult setting up the group (Rubin & Babbie, 2010). Participant observation requires that the researcher becomes a part and parcel of the group under observation. This approach requires a lot of patience and may sometimes require months or years of observation. This is because the researcher has to be accepted and become a natural part of the group being observed. It is only by achieving this cohesiveness that one can ascertain gathered data as of natural phenomenon (Delamont & Jones, 2012). If successfully carried out, this method represents the best approach in gathering data on a natural phenomenon as there is absolutely no chance of manipulation or influence. The major disadvantage with this approach is that it may take the researcher a long time to gather data. Additionally, it is at times not possible to record all data as the researcher may loose focus as he assumes the same natural roles as the focus group (Holloway, Wheeler & Holloway, 2010). Ethnography is the study of social interactions, behaviors and perceptions that take place within social groupings. This approach is said to have grown from anthropological studies that focused on small cultural groupings in the early 20th century. Under ethnographical studies, the researcher becomes an active participant and takes extensive notes (DeWalt & DeWalt, 2011). Participant observation, discussed earlier, is considered an approach under ethnographical approaches. This is mainly because it entails a researcher assuming the role of participant as they go on with their duty of data gathering and data recording. Ethnographical approaches allow for gathering richly detailed data and also provide the researcher with a chance to participate in unscheduled events (Thomas, Nelson & Silverman, 2011). The downside of ethnographical approaches is that the researcher may ignore activities that happen out of the public eye and he may also be tempted to rely on information provided by a few key informants. Consequently, reliance on in formants permeates bias as these may not have the objectivity while reporting on the social context. Biographical research is the compilation and analysis of an intensive report detailing an entire life or a part of life, through an in-depth, unstructured

An analysis of the Caravan industry in Hull, United Kingdom Essay

An analysis of the Caravan industry in Hull, United Kingdom - Essay Example Static caravans are used as holiday homes and they are kept stationary in various places. All these options available for holiday venture and thus individuals must make wise decisions depending on their needs. Most of the caravans are used on holiday places. In the United Kingdom, there are various holiday places where caravans are used. The most popular ones are Cleethopper, Skegness, mablethorpe, and hornsea. Caravanning activities are very popular in these places. Most of these places are found in Hull and that is why hull has become very popular with caravanning. Moreover, there are various caravan-manufacturing companies in Hull. The caravan manufacturers in hull include Willerby Holiday Homes Ltd, Burstner Ltd, Corona Caravans Ltd, and Coachman Ltd. Among these manufacturers, the major ones are Willerby Holiday Homes Ltd and Corona Caravans Ltd. The reason for this is the large market share the two companies have in the caravan industry. As showed above, Hull has several caravan manufacturers. Some manufacture static caravans while others manufacture movable caravans. The company that is popular for manufacturing static caravans in Hull is Willerby Holiday Homes Ltd. Corona Caravans Ltd on the other hand is very popular in Hull for manufacturing movable caravans. The models made by different manufacturers vary both in shape and in characteristic. The reason why the companies in this industry try do this is to increase their competitiveness in this volatile market. Productions of caravans that are different from those of other companies convert the competition in this industry to an indirect. This promotes the survival of these companies in the caravan industry. Caravan industry is the greatest employer in the United Kingdom offering more than two percent of the total workforce. The employees employed in this industry undertake various responsibilities from management to

Vicarious Liability and the Close Connection Test Essay

Vicarious Liability and the Close Connection Test - Essay Example In Lister, the close connection test was first enumerated, finding that it was fair and just to find a close connection between the warden's sexual abuse of boys in his care and his duties as a warden. In other words, in this case, it found that the sexual abuse was inextricably woven in the duties of the warden, in that if the warden did not have the duties that he did   - checking up on children at night, alone – then the warden would not have the opportunity to sexually abuse the boys in his care. While this case was landmark, in that it put employers on the hook for intentional torts if the intentional torts arose because the duties of the employee essentially allowed the intentional tort to occur, this rule is not sufficiently bright line to encompass every situation. This principle would come into play in the case of Dubai Aluminum v. Salaam as well.   In the case of Dubai, the question was whether the firm would be liable for tortious acts of a member of the partner ship, as well as acts which would be considered to be equitable wrongs, such as the wrongs which were engaged in by Salaam in this case.   There are elements of agent and principle in this case, because Amhurst in this case would be considered to be an agent of the solicitor firm that he was a partner of.   However, in this case, it was held to be in the ordinary course of business, so both tortious wrongs and dishonest breaches would make the firm vicariously liable, therefore the principle should be on the hook for the agent's acts.... i case, it has long been a tenant for torts that it does not matter if something is expressly forbidden – typically the employer would still be liable for the actions of the employee. This principle was established in 1862 with the case of Limpus v. London General Omnibus Co.2 In the Limpus case, the company expressly told the driver of the omnibus not to race other omnibuses, yet the driver did this, and the omnibus overturned. However, the Limpus case is difficult to square with another case with similar facts, which found that if an employee does something that is not done with the knowledge or consent of the employer, this often means that the employer is not vicariously liable for the resulting negligence, which puts the onus on the injured party. The case is Conway v. George Wimpey & Co. Ltd.3 In the Conway case, the employee picked up the plaintiff, who was also an employee, and got into an accident. Since the employer did not know nor authorize the employee to do this, it was held that the employer was not liable. This seems to be an arbitrary case, in light of the principles set forth in Limpus. New Close Connection Test While the old test states that employers are generally no liable for their employees’ intentional acts, this has been evolving. Consider the case of Lister v. Hesley Hall Ltd.4 This apparently was one of the first times that employers are said to be liable for intentional acts of their employees. In Lister, the close connection test was first enumerated, finding that it was fair and just to find a close connection between the warden's sexual abuse of boys in his care and his duties as a warden. In other words, in this case, it found that the sexual abuse was inextricably woven in the duties of the warden, in that if the warden did not have

Book Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Book Report - Essay Example Of course, all history books such as Bickerstaff’s Lines in the Sand are subjective, one way or the other. Even Bickerstaff openly admits that his book is not objective. He notes that by way of selecting which stories are to be included or excluded in his narrative substantially implies that his book is â€Å"to some extent subjective† (Bickerstaff ix). The inclusion and exclusion or the presence and absence of certain storyline make the storytelling quite personal; personal in the sense that it leads the writer to choose among the many scenes or events that appear connected or relevant to his objective or main outline. Despite the subjectivity of his book, Bickerstaff argues that he writes it, to some degree, in an â€Å"accurate and dispassionate† manner. Moreover, Bickerstaff states that he has attempted to write the book without taking a partisan side to the two contending parties, saying that he has no intention to â€Å"demonize or lionize anyone† (i x). Congressman Tom DeLay is the central character of Bickerstaff’s book. In Bickerstaff’s narration, it appears that Mr. DeLay has played an important role in the realization of Texas redistricting. The organization called Texans for a Republican Majority or TRMPAC was organized mainly by Mr. DeLay; and TRMPAC has become a major force in financially supporting would-be Republican representatives in the Texas House. Mr. DeLay’s TRMPAC primarily aims to achieve a political majority in the legislative body of the State of Texas. In Mr. DeLay’s mind-set, TRMPAC will be successful in its objective if it also supports and pursues a plan in redistricting Texas. In doing so, the political majority by the Republican Party will not be far from possible in attaining such ambition or vision. Back in 2001, however, Mr. DeLay favored a kind of redistricting that is drawn on the â€Å"basis of neutral factors, consisted of compact districts, and preserved communities of interest† (Bickerstaff 287, emphasis mine). Such kind of redistricting is far from partisan in character; the neutrality of this redistricting design makes it possible for the American people, especially the voters, to choose whomever they like. In general, the outcome of the election depends largely on the voting public rather than the political party itself. Bickerstaff argues that Cong. DeLay chose for this redistricting project because of the situation that was more favorable to the Democrats: the Democratic Party was the political majority while the Republican Party was the political minority. There are three fundamental reasons for pursuing redistricting in the Texas House, at least in the eyes of Cong. DeLay. First, since Mr. George W. Bush, who belonged to the Republican Party, overwhelmingly won in the Presidential race in the State of Texas, it is rational that its representatives in Congress â€Å"should do the same† (qtd. in Bickerstaff 85). However, the representatives from the Democratic Party, who dominated the congressional delegation at that time, failed to buy that fallacious argument. Second, redistricting in the State of Texas is an act of â€Å"political fairness† (qtd. in Bickerstaff 85). Mr. DeLay argues that the reason why Republican representatives garnered only a smaller number of seats in the Texas House, despite its greater percentage of vote from Texans, is because of the â€Å"way the lines are drawn† (Bickerstaff 86). What Mr. DeLay refers to â€Å"lines [that] are drawn† is the1991 district lines prominent in Texas. And third, the

Identification Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Identification - Essay Example Most members establish the need to be part of this party as it sought to eradicate job discrimination and racism that had most affected the African American populations. Dixiecrats movement played a historical significance in the United States. Based on this research, it opposed the anti-poll tax legislation and equality in employment and recruitment practices. The movement pledged to uphold white supremacy and uphold segregation. Although the movement have been dismissed as a failed third party, it was significant to the southern economical and political change. Dixiecrats were important White Citizens members along with other massive resistance organizations that were dedicated to uphold segregation that later flourished throughout the southern region from 1950s and 1960s. Since then, the ideological and political lines were drawn between the Republican and Democrat parties as liberals and moderates, which were converted from Republicans to Democrats. The party ensured that justice prevailed in the United States without any presence of racism or discrimination. Betty Friedan The feminine mystique Betty Friedan is widely credited for his nonfiction book The Feminine Mystique. This book was first published in 1963 that addressed the aspects revolving feminism in the United States. In her book, Betty discusses how women were denied their rights in the 1950s and early 1960s. Her book discussed the lives of women as housewives who were unhappy in their marriages. Betty points out that women were discriminated in the society while men were given the rights to rule, make wealth, and dictate in their families. Her book was a wakeup call to the United States that women wanted more than what they were given by the society. The book creates the concept of feminine mystique in that it addressed women as being devoted to being mothers and housewives. In the final chapter of her book, Betty advocates that women should view themselves more than homemakers and mothers. They should find total fulfilment in their lives by finding meaningful task that utilizes their full mental or brain capacity. The historic significance behind this book is that, it created a strong ground for Americans to understand how women were discriminated in the society. The book created great insights that women in the American society should enjoy their lives, abilities, and skills. In so doing, the author believed that this would enhance a positive impact in the American society. Betty Friedan’s book, the Feminine Mystique enhanced a significant change on the 1950s and 60s image of women. It helped many women to realize their potential in the American society. The book enabled the American society to respect women in the society. Many understood that women were more than house wives or mothers. Great Society/War on poverty The war on poverty or Great society was the legislation introduced by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964. The president proposed this legislation to dea l with the high poverty rate that had affected the United States. As part of the war on poverty, President Johnson expanded the government’s function in health care and education. He believed that these were best strategies that would eradicate poverty in the United States. The major society programs were intended to deter poverty by boosting

Book Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Book Report - Essay Example Of course, all history books such as Bickerstaff’s Lines in the Sand are subjective, one way or the other. Even Bickerstaff openly admits that his book is not objective. He notes that by way of selecting which stories are to be included or excluded in his narrative substantially implies that his book is â€Å"to some extent subjective† (Bickerstaff ix). The inclusion and exclusion or the presence and absence of certain storyline make the storytelling quite personal; personal in the sense that it leads the writer to choose among the many scenes or events that appear connected or relevant to his objective or main outline. Despite the subjectivity of his book, Bickerstaff argues that he writes it, to some degree, in an â€Å"accurate and dispassionate† manner. Moreover, Bickerstaff states that he has attempted to write the book without taking a partisan side to the two contending parties, saying that he has no intention to â€Å"demonize or lionize anyone† (i x). Congressman Tom DeLay is the central character of Bickerstaff’s book. In Bickerstaff’s narration, it appears that Mr. DeLay has played an important role in the realization of Texas redistricting. The organization called Texans for a Republican Majority or TRMPAC was organized mainly by Mr. DeLay; and TRMPAC has become a major force in financially supporting would-be Republican representatives in the Texas House. Mr. DeLay’s TRMPAC primarily aims to achieve a political majority in the legislative body of the State of Texas. In Mr. DeLay’s mind-set, TRMPAC will be successful in its objective if it also supports and pursues a plan in redistricting Texas. In doing so, the political majority by the Republican Party will not be far from possible in attaining such ambition or vision. Back in 2001, however, Mr. DeLay favored a kind of redistricting that is drawn on the â€Å"basis of neutral factors, consisted of compact districts, and preserved communities of interest† (Bickerstaff 287, emphasis mine). Such kind of redistricting is far from partisan in character; the neutrality of this redistricting design makes it possible for the American people, especially the voters, to choose whomever they like. In general, the outcome of the election depends largely on the voting public rather than the political party itself. Bickerstaff argues that Cong. DeLay chose for this redistricting project because of the situation that was more favorable to the Democrats: the Democratic Party was the political majority while the Republican Party was the political minority. There are three fundamental reasons for pursuing redistricting in the Texas House, at least in the eyes of Cong. DeLay. First, since Mr. George W. Bush, who belonged to the Republican Party, overwhelmingly won in the Presidential race in the State of Texas, it is rational that its representatives in Congress â€Å"should do the same† (qtd. in Bickerstaff 85). However, the representatives from the Democratic Party, who dominated the congressional delegation at that time, failed to buy that fallacious argument. Second, redistricting in the State of Texas is an act of â€Å"political fairness† (qtd. in Bickerstaff 85). Mr. DeLay argues that the reason why Republican representatives garnered only a smaller number of seats in the Texas House, despite its greater percentage of vote from Texans, is because of the â€Å"way the lines are drawn† (Bickerstaff 86). What Mr. DeLay refers to â€Å"lines [that] are drawn† is the1991 district lines prominent in Texas. And third, the

Individual Strengths and Group Process Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Individual Strengths and Group Process - Essay Example I give a brief description of these techniques as well as the learning’s and improvements that I can get from the same. 1) I have worked as a part of a team of 14 people that was involved in supporting a financial software application in a Fortune 100 company. We are a team that has people from diverse ethnic backgrounds and comprising men and women in almost equal proportions. The team has the responsibility of maintaining a pension funds application and fixing any bugs and issues that are reported from time to time. 2) I lead the maintenance and support team and my experience in people management and leadership abilities are the skills that I bring to the group setting. They have benefited the group in resolving the issues that are associated with team management and group dynamics. The ability to motivate the team and lead from the front by setting an example is one of the key skills that I have brought to the team and this has helped me immensely. I believe that the team has also benefited by my managerial style. 3) I have a tendency to trust my gut feelings more than group consensus. While gut feelings are an asset when taking decisions that involve me, when it comes to taking decisions that involve the group, I believe that the view points of the group must be taken into consideration. The other drawback is that I should listen more and then act. I have a tendency to act impulsively without listening to the other person or the group’s point of view and this has been described as one of my weaknesses by my supervisor. 4) The other members of the group bring their unique and individual view points to the group that brings in the much needed perspective and other side of the debate stance to the issues faced by the group. Because of this, it is easier to balance the both sides and take a measured stance at solving the problems of the group. Further, because of the ethnic mix of the group, there are some added view points to

Gaddafi Essay Example for Free

Gaddafi Essay The person that I chose to represent Machiavellis ideas is Muammar Gaddafi. He is the longest serving head of state in the world next to Queen Elizabeth II. He is known for his controversial political strategy and his very unusual personality. Gaddafi is easily spotted in animal skins and colorful clothing. His name regularly pops up on lists of the worst dressed world leaders. Ronald Regan named him the Mad Dog of the Middle East. Muammar Gaddafis reputation ranges from a popular revolutionary to an international reject. Gaddafi graduated from the University of Libya then continued to pursue a British military education. While in Great Britain he began to devise a plan to overthrow the Libyan monarchy. In 1969, Libyan King Idris was overthrown by a small group of Gaddafis Junior military leaders. A year later, being inspired by Egyptian President Gamal Nasser, he decided to close US and British military bases and expel all Italians and Jews. While trying to enforce Islamic socialism, he banned alcoholic beverages and gambling and failed at trying to unite Libya with other countries. By the mid-1980s, he was widely regarded in the West as the principal financier of international terrorism. He was also accused by the United States of being responsible for direct control of the 1986 Berlin discotheque that killed three people and wounded more than 200, of whom a substantial number were U. S. servicemen. Gaddafis adopted daughter was killed in a bombing of Libya that was retaliation for the U. S. After that two Libyans were accused of placing a bomb on Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded and killed 270 people, Gaddafi refused to give up the suspects to America or Britain. Gaddafi finally admitted responsibility for the attack in 2003 and paid more than $2. 7 billion to the families of the victims, initiating the end of Libyas international isolation. Now in Machiavellis The Qualities ofa Prince the very first paragraph talks about how everything dealing with the government is viewed through a military lens. Machiavelli doesnt believe that the prince is a man who is skilled in many disciplines, but he believes that the prince should own a responsibility to make sure that whatever he governs is stable. Gaddafi took responsibility for Libya by creating his own form of government called Jamahiriya, in which the nation is governed by the masses or local councils and he defended his government by saying, There is no state with a democracy except Libya n the whole planet. Machiavelli also raises the question whether it is better to be loved than to be feared. In the twelfth paragraph he states l say that every prince must desire to be considered merciful and not cruel; nevertheless, he must take care not to misuse this mercy. It is said that Gaddafis examples and thoughts inspire the struggling troubled masses and haunts the ones doin g the trouble. This is why he is loved by people of the world, but feared by the ruling cliques who know that his words and actions expose them for what they are.

Transportation and Distribution Management

Transportation and Distribution Management Transportations and distribution industry plays an important role in bridging the gap between the producer and the consumer. Forms of transportation available include air, water, rail and land. The transport industry is one of the driving forces for economic development. The cost of transportation is a major cost that all firms in this industry would like to reduce (Markowitz, 2011). The economic benefits of reducing transportation cost are notable and are a direct way of improving profits for any firm. According to Hines (2004) the question of how to reduce these cost remain one of the constantly explored by many transportation firms. Each firm desires to develop an effective strategy to reduce the costs. Distributions is important since it ensures production and needs are in balanced thus it is an important part of the economy. Moving products from producers to the consumers regionally, nationally and internationally can account for more than half of the total cost of the products. Therefore, the management of transportation and distribution should focus on the economic aspects (Rodrigue, et al. 2010). Efficiency and effectiveness of the transport system is vital in reducing the costs. Subsequently, management of the operations includes analysis of the costs of everything involved. Operations administration is carried out depending on the nature of the products or services that the organization is dealing in. Discussion and Analysis On 31 November 1981, I and five other partners came together and initiated a privately own a transport company Swift world transport Ltd. The company provides innovative, cost effective and reliable transportation of food products. Swift world transport Ltd specializes in food products shipment and carriage between various states and towns. After realizing that an opportunity exists in coordinating of food products, we launched a strategy to fill the void. Our trucks and carriers deliver food products to one destination and return with another load to another destination. The company desires not only to meet customerà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s expectations but also to exceed it every time. Currently we have over 500 trucks operating around five states. Since transport costs account for a considerable portion of the selling price of food products, we put emphasis on making smart economic decision (Rodrigue, et al. 2010). Swift world transport Ltd. Deals with a wide range of food products. The products range from cereals, soft drinks, biscuits and cookies, baked goods, ready meals and frozen foods. Other products that we transport in smaller quantities include dairy products, honey and seafood. Swift world transport Ltd. Is ISO-certified and will be celebrating 30 years in existence late this year. Though the company began from humble beginnings, it has grown to be one of the market leaders in transportation of food products. It has more than 300 employees and is strategically located with its head office in New York. Swift world transport Ltd upholds integrity and abides by the rules and regulations in the transport industry (Markowitz, 2011). At Swift world transport Ltd we value the customers hence we use the latest technology and equipments in handling the products to meet customerà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s needs of quality. We have refrigeration services to keep perishable products from being spoilt. The ministry of health officials has approved our warehouses as safe for storage of edible products. Our trucks are monitored via satellite hence we have an error free billing system (Rodrigue, et al. 2010). Swift world transport Ltd. Has three main departments. The first department deals with the transport infrastructure. These include the trucks and the sea vessels. The second department includes the food handling facilities such as refrigerators and warehouses. Finally, the last department ensures that there is always adequate supply of the products depending on the demand. Physical distribution involves the transportation of the food products from the various sources to the customers. The manager directing the physical distribution has the responsibility of assessing and controlling the cost of transport. He is also charged with the responsibility of ensuring the most efficient way of storing them. This in some cases may require warehouses hence inventory control. A manager should thus ensure that the right goods arrive at the proper destination in the right condition and to the correct client. As explained by Halldorsson et al. (2003) the goods should be in the right quantity. The transportation strategy adopted by the Swift world transport Ltd swiftly responds to all aspects of our operations with priority on customers and suppliers. The strategy acknowledges customer requirements as an important aspect of all its activities. The supply chain is a involves movement of products from suppliers to the customer. The transportation activities should focus on meeting customer needs. Transportation and shipment must therefore progress according to the timings (Rodrigue, et al. 2010). Customers require that products be delivered at their premises on a particular day and time. This needs to be accomplished in order to provide customer satisfaction. Being able to meet these deadlines has given Swift world transport Ltd a competitive advantage over other firms. The size of our firm also causes our customers to trust in our ability to be reliable. They believe that small firms are not reliable. Comparing performance is important for the firm to know how well our stra tegies are working (Larson, Halldorsson, 2004). In order to remain economically sound, we measure our expenses every now and then in order to have tight control over them. Estimation of general expenses and freight costs assists the company in budgeting. A supply chain is a system that brings organizations, people, information and other resources in bridging the gap by ensuring that goods and services move from supplier to consumers. Supply chains ensure that goods are delivered to the end user. The management of a supply chain involves planning and management of activities ranging from sourcing, procurement and the logistics. At Swift world transport Ltd. coordination and collaboration with the suppliers and customers and other third party service providers is our priority. The company has created a supply chain that integrates all activities with the main responsibility of linking our suppliers and the customers (Rodrigue, et al. 2010). A model of a supply chain begins from receiving the products from producers and suppliers and ends with the delivering to the consumer. Swift world transport Ltd adopted the model whose framework is developed on business processes that are not only cross firm but also cross functional. A team manage s the cross-functional processes with representatives from purchasing, finance, logistics and research and development (Halldorsson, et al. 2003). Since each process interacts with customers and suppliers at some point, customer relations and supplierà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s relations form an important part in the supply chain. The company must make the right decision when moving products from one point to the other. Distributing products faster and cheaply leads to higher profits and more satisfied customers. In order to do this, Swift world transport Ltd stays informed on the current trend within the industry. For illustration, most companies are moving in the southern states because where doing business is more cost effective. The company has been analyzing facts and trying to make a decision whether to move south. In 1990, Swift world transport Ltd. adopted the supply chain management (SCM). This was adopted after realization that most food products require integration of many business processes, from the original supplier to the customer (Halldorsson, et al. 2003). The suppliers provide the company with products, services and important information that boost our business. SCM enables us to exchange information with other stakeholders regarding market fluctuation. After realizing the importance of information, we adapted the SCM to enable us access relevant information. This is made possible since all the companies in the supply chain help optimize the entire chain. The company can therefore plan its distribution activities better hence leading to customer satisfaction. In addition, incorporation of SCM leads to reduction of competition (Hines, 2004). This is because the competition is not from one company to the other but on supply chain and supply chain. The aim of supply chain management is to uphold customer satisfaction by using the available resources efficiently. It seeks to keep the demand and supply at equilibrium. Since many food products are perishable, it pays to liaise with producers to minimize bottlenecks. The products are obtained from farmers and suppliers at the lowest cost (Hines, 2004). Transporting is followed by distribution and finally delivering the products to customer markets. Conclusion One of the main challenges that Swift world transport Ltd faces is the presence of congestion in our road system. The causes of congestion come from higher requirement for mobility, which many times go beyond the facilities that support it. Other causes can be random events like accidents, which normally disrupts the flow of vehicles. Congestion is not only present on the roads, concentration of traffic is observed even on maritime transport. This is so common especially in terms of weight. Traffic concentration is causing many problems at the ports. In the past few decades, international trade has been experiencing higher growth than the global economy resulting in congestion at the ports. Congestion has the effect of delaying products on the road hence causing late Deliveries. Late deliveries in turn lead to loss if business opportunities and dissatisfied customers. Recommendation As a major stakeholder in the transport industry, we have joint hands with other like-minded firms to put pressure on government to build more road network. A transport policy that will provide solutions to congestion problems should be developed. This requires long term planning to build of more roads and ports in order to ease the congestion. States with port facility should apply for grants from the federal government in order to improve their inadequate facilities. These are the solutions to preventing the constant congestion.

Solar Heating Essay -- Solar Sun Energy Essays

Solar Heating It seems self-evident that, as a global society, we must transition eventually from the nonrenewable fossil fuels we currently rely on to renewable sources of energy such as biomass, wind, and particularly solar energy. The latter, though it involves some difficulties, which we will discuss shortly, is especially attractive, I think, because its source is the energy provided by the sun, which is so vast that, according to some, â€Å"if it could be effectively harnessed, two days’ worth of solar energy could provide more power than all known fossil fuel reserves.† (Duke Power) Because I will be getting a house of my own in just a few years, I decided that an interesting topic for study might be solar heating. There are two different kinds of solar heating, so I will briefly discuss them both: Active Solar Heating There are two different kinds of active solar heating systems: air and liquid. In both kinds of Active Solar Heating, flat plate solar energy collectors are installed on the roof or on the ground. Most often, the side that faces the sun has a glass or plastic cover and the inside space is a black absorbing material. Air systems use air to capture, transfer, and store heat produced by the collectors, while the liquid systems use water or an antifreeze solution. From there, fans or pumps deliver the heat to the house. Ultimately, I feel I would opt for the liquid system, because they cost less to operate and ta...

Analysis of My Big Fat Greek Wedding

During the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, there was a lot of positive and negative communication that influenced the main character’s life decisions. The story is about a young woman, named Toula, that is of Greek decent who is fearful of being stuck in the life she is now living. She is a frumpy girl that works in her family’s restaurant because she has not been able to find a Greek man to marry, and because of this, her family claims that she is old and has failed in life. She is allowed to attend college, which in turn, gives her new confidence and she is able to fall in love with a non-Greek man that is named, Ian.During the movie she struggles to get her family to accept him as the man she loves, and she also finally comes to terms with her heritage and cultural identity. At the end of the movie, Ian is accepted into the family, he becomes a baptized Greek, agrees to marry in the Greek Orthodox Church and participate in the Greek culture. Despite the happy ending of the movie, Toula struggled to follow the rules and values of her culture, practiced nonverbal communication with Ian, and received empathy from her mother while Ian had to deal with a language barrier of English and Greek.Toula has a hard time accepting the culture of her family. From the movie, it seems as though the Greek culture is a high context culture. High context cultures have a strong sense of tradition and history, and they do not change much over time. In the beginning of the movie, Toula states that her family expects her to â€Å"marry a Greek boy, make Greek babies, and feed everyone in the family till the day she dies. † Since she has not been married she is stuck working in the family restaurant until she does. She breaks tradition when she starts dating and then marries, Ian, because he is not a â€Å"Greek boy, and not from a Greek family. She also does the unthinkable since she marryed Ian and changes the history and tradition of the culture, as high c ontext cultures do not change over time. It is also a tradition for the Greeks to have big families; Toula explains to Ian that she has twenty-seven first cousins and Ian seems to be very interested in what she is telling him because he only has two cousins. Ian’s family is American and they are the opposite of Toula’s family, they are part of the low context culture, like many other American families.One of the biggest differences is that Toula’s family is loud, big and always together and Ian’s family is small, quite, and only see each other on special occasions. Toula and Ian practiced different forms of nonverbal communication during the movie. Nonverbal communication means messages expressed by nonlinguistic means. Ian and Toula have both used face and eyes as a form of nonverbal communication. When Toula was still working as a waitress in her family restaurant, the dancing Zorba’s, she was caught staring at Ian by Ian and his friend.Her stari ng suggests that she was very interested in Ian and thought that he was handsome but Ian’s friend assumed that she was crazy because of how she was staring at Ian. Toula also caught Ian staring at her in the window of the travel agency that her aunt owns. Ian’s staring at Toula suggested that he was interested in her and thought that she was pretty. Ian used substituting, a form of nonverbal communication, to say hi to Toula in the window of the travel agency by waving and smiling at her. There were no words spoken to each other during this scene.Toula used body orientation to hide from Ian in her family’s restaurant behind the counter as he was leaving. She did this because she may have been embarrassed for getting caught staring at him and she may have also been shy. The same thing also happened in the travel agency when Toula hid behind the water dispenser when Ian turned his back to her to talk with his friend. When he turned back around he could not find he r and he walked off. Before Ian ran into the older lady on the street in front of the travel agency, he was using the gesture of possibly a duck, to get Toula’s attention and to make her laugh.This gesture made her laugh and smile and it was able to help her loosen up and feel a little more comfortable. Ian had to deal with the language barrier a few times in the movie, but there were two scenes that were quite comical. Ian asked Nick, how do you say â€Å"thank you† in Greek and he also asked Angelo, Toula’s cousin, how to say â€Å"everyone let’s go in the house,† and both times he was told something entirely different. This is similar to the â€Å"English-speaking representative of a U. S. soft drink manufacturer naively drew laughs from Mexican customers when she offered free samples of Fresca soda pop.In Mexican slang, the word fresca means ‘lesbian’(Adler). † In both of these cases, Ian and the representative thought they were saying one thing but it meant something else in the other language. Empathy was shown in the movie when Toula was turned down by her father for wanting to go to college for computer classes. When this happened her mother, Maria, showed empathy. Empathy means being able to experience the world form the other person’s point of view. Maria explained to Toula that Toula was just like her when she was her age.Maria stated that she knew how she felt and she would talk to Toula’s father about the computer classes. Maria showed the emotional dimension that helped her to get closer to Toula’s feelings. She also showed genuine concern for the welfare her daughter Toula. I can relate to people being interested in my culture just as Ian was very interested in Toula’s culture because it is different, but unlike Toula, I enjoy my culture and I embrace it. I have found that having a different culture, because most of my family is not from America, as a good thing.E ven though it makes you a little different, it also makes you unique and it adds to your identity as a person. If I were in the situations that Toula was in, I would have done some things different. If I were her, I would have told my parents before anything got serious, because it was shown in the movie that lies only lead to more problems. Telling them early that she found someone non-Greek would have also cause problems but because they wanted her to get married so bad, I think they would have became welcoming sooner.It is important to be proud of your culture and not ashamed because your culture and the people that raise you make you who you are. Also, many facial expressions can be perceived as in ways that you would not want or expect, like Toula getting caught staring at Ian and his friend, thinking that she was a little crazy. So sometimes when communicating nonverbally, it may be best to use words to communicate your actual feelings. ? Works Cited Page(s): 187, Looking Out, Looking In, 13th Edition by Ronald B. Adler, Cengage Learning

Change Management in the Learning Organization Essay

In this paper I intend to discuss change management approaches that support the learning organization philosophy. The learning organization is defined as an organization that acquires knowledge and innovates fast enough to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing environment. Learning organizations (1) create a culture that encourages and supports continuous employee learning, critical thinking, and risk taking with new ideas, (2) allow mistakes, and value employee contributions, (3) learn from experience and experiment, and (4) disseminate the new knowledge throughout the organization for incorporation into day-to-day activities. On the other hand we have a process called change management which is defined as minimizing resistance to organizational change through involvement of key players and stakeholders. At my organization these two go hand in hand and it allows for us as a company to experience constant growth and development of our staff. Our employees are more willing to welco me change when we train them in the process. As businesses moves through the 21st century, they are becoming more dependent upon their managers to be change agents. These companies actually seek managers who can bring success to their organizations. Three of the characteristics we look for in our new managers are they must have the ability to stimulate change, excellent planning capabilities, and ethics. Over the years I have spent in management I have learned that success in  becoming a learning organization relies on a commitment to learning on the part of the organizations I have worked for and the willingness of the individuals involved to be receptive to the change process. As a manager, what we usually can change falls into basically three categories; people, structure, or technology. An efficient manager will make alterations in these areas in an attempt to facilitate change. With people the change involves adjusting attitudes, expectations, perceptions, and probably most importantly behavior. Coaching people to adjust in these areas will help employees within the organization to work together more effectively. Changing structure relates to the job design, specialization, hierarchy and any other structural variables. These usually need to be flexible and non-static in order to be adaptable to change. When dealing with technological change we are looking at modifying work processes and methods along with the introduction of new equipment. To me learning organizations support the change process just as much as change management supports the learning organization philosophy. I say that because every change calls for some sort of learning as the more comprehensive the change the more attention we have to place on learning for the individuals involved in the change. By utilizing the learning organizations philosophies companies including the one I work for are able to magnify the potential of its employees which keeps them growing. References www.businessdictionary.com www.morfconsulting.com Learning in action: a guide to putting the learning organization to work/ David A. Garvin

Difference in Lymphatic Function in Health and Disease State Essay

ABSTRACT High Performance Liquid Chromatography has been used to evolve an analytical procedure for the evaluation of the content of paracetamol in the bulk, dosage forms and in urine, a body fluid. Separation and resolution have been achieved with a combination of methanol and 2.5% acetic acid (15:85) on a reversed-phase column at ambient temperature. Elution was isocratic with UV detection at 257nm. Internal standard calibration method was used for quantitation with caffeine as the internal standard. Mean retention times for paracetamol and caffeine were respectively 2.61  ± 0.13 min and 11.98  ± 0.72 min . The calibration curve was linear over the range 0.1-5.0ÃŽ ¼g/ml. The method was also suitable for the assay of paracetamol-codeine combination drug as well as estimation of the amount of constituents in urine when the wavelength of UV detection was 245 nm with acetanilide as the internal standard. Keywords: Chromatography, isocratic, internal standard, in vivo and in vitro INTRODUCTION Paracetamol (N-(4-hydroxyphenyl) acetamide) tablets are listed among the essential drugs selected for the health care delivery system in Ghana. OH NHCOCH3 Figure 1: Chemical Structure of Paracetamol Paracetamol is very much used for antipyresis and analgesia without prescription. The drug is useful in mild to moderate pain such as headache, myalgia and postpartum pain. It is a very good alternative for mild to moderate pain in patients who cannot take aspirin because of allergy,  haemophilia, history of peptic ulcer and asthma. (Katzung, 1989). As a result of the Ghana government’s policy of generic prescribing, the liberalization of trade and import laws, and the ever-increasing number of pharmaceutical industries, a wide range of paracetamol products appear on the Ghanaian market. According to the Ghana National Drugs Policy, only drugs conforming to nationally accepted and/or internationally recognized quality standards shall be permitted to be procured and distributed in the country (Ghana National Drugs Policy, 1999). Any study therefore designed to monitor and improve the quality evaluation of pharmaceutical products both at the time of registration and post-market is very essential in the policy and technical guidelines of drug regulatory authorities such as the Food and Drugs Board. Such a study also benefits the Ghana Health Service in the sense that procurement staff, prescribers, dispensers and patients have access to high-quality and efficacious drug products. Pharmaceutical industries may also have simpl e analytical procedures for both in-process and finished product evaluations. The HPLC has been used to determine paracetamol in tablets. Franeta et al (2002) used the HPLC for the  19 simultaneous determination of acetylsalicylic acid, paracetamol, caffeine and phenobarbital in tablets on a reversed-phase column using a mixture of acetonitrile and water (25:75 v/v) adjusted to pH 2.5 with phosphoric acid. The Bio Rad 1801 UV-Vis detector was used (207 nm). Ramos-Martos et al (2001) also described a rapid reversed-phase HPLC method with UV detection for the simultaneous determination of acetylsalicylic acid, caffeine, codeine, paracetamol, pyridoxine and thiamine in pharmaceutical preparations using two successive eluants of water for 5 minutes and acetonitrile-water (75: 25 v/v) for 9 minutes, both eluants adjusted to pH 2.1 with phosphoric acid. Codeine was determined at 240 nm whilst the rest were detected at 285 nm. Okine et al (2003) used a mixture of methanol and 0.05M NaH2PO4 (17:83), pH  2.0 with UV detection (273 nm) for eluting ascorbic acid, paracetamol and caffeine combined in a tablet. Apart from the high cost of acetonitrile for routine analysis, the systems were not selective for unchanged paracetamol in urine. It therefore becomes imperative to evolve a system that is cost effective and selective for paracetamol in the bulk powder, dosage forms and biological fluids s uch as blood and urine for easier routine in vitro and in vivo monitoring of drug samples. EXPERIMENTAL Components of the Liquid Chromatograph Pump: Spectra System P100 (Spectra Physics) Detector: Spectra 100 Variable Wavelength Detector (Spectra Physics) Integrator: CR501 Chromatopac (Schimadzu) Sample Injector: Syringe loading sample injector fitted with an external 20 µl loop (Model no. 8125-095) Stationary phase: Spherisorb HPLC column, S10 ODS2 (10cm, 4.6mm) Materials  Pure paracetamol powder (Chemcon GmbH, Germany), Paracetamol tablets (Phyto-Riker Ltd., Ghana), Paracetamol tablets ( PZ Co Ltd., Ghana), Paracetamol tablets (Tylenol Forte, Cilag Ltd., Switzerland), Paracetamol-codeine combination product (Paracod, Phyto-Riker Ltd., Ghana), Paracetamol-codeine combination product (Co-codamol, Alpharma, UK), blank urine sample, deionised water, urine samples with unchanged drug and drug metabolites, methanol (BDH), acetic acid (BDH), potassium dihydrogen phosphate (BDH), caffeine (BDH), salbutamol sulphate (Shubhmets, Mumbai, India), citric acid (Acid India) and phenyl ethanolamine (Blue Bird, Mumbai, India) Method Design Considerations Information on the physico-chemical properties of paracetamol and the other chemicals above were searched. Details considered include solubility properties, chemical structures, acid dissociation constants (pka), level of purity, stability in solution and ultraviolet light absorption pattern in acidic, basic and neutral media with their respective wavelengths of maximum absorption (Moffat, 1986; British Pharmacopoeia, 2000). The substances were found moderately polar. Based on their polarity, reversed-phase HPLC was  considered more applicable because in this mode, a nonpolar stationary phase and a polar mobile phase were utilised so that more polar substances were eluted before the relatively nonpolar. The differences in the physico-chemical properties of paracetamol and the other chemicals aided in selecting an internal standard for the study since they all interacted differently with a chosen combination of mobile phase to give a chromatogram of different separations, resolution s and retention times. Various combinations of methanol/phosphate buffer and methanol/water (pH and ionic strength modified with acetic acid) were tried in order to optimise column capacity factor for separation and resolution. Each concentration of phosphate buffer or water (various pH) was combined with methanol in various proportions, starting with a 50:50 combination and gradually increasing and decreasing the aqueous content while monitoring their respective effects on separation and resolution. All the mobile phase combinations tried could elute both paracetamol in the bulk powder and tablet matrix with reasonable retention, but not all the other chemicals being considered for an internal standard (caffeine, salbutamol, citric acid and phenyl ethanolamine). Some had poor resolution and tailing peaks while others had poor resolution and unduly long retention times. Some of the mobile phase combinations that could conveniently separate and resolve paracetamol in vitro could not separate and resolve blank urine (urine from a healthy person before drug was administered) spiked with a standard solution of paracetamol. Further altering the combination ratio, ionic strength and pH of the mobile phase produced the optimum system that could satisfactorily resolve paracetamol in the bulk powder, tablet matrix, spiked blank urine and unchanged paracetamol and other paracetamol metabolites  excreted in urine. Among the list of chemicals for an internal standard, caffeine was found the best under the optimum chromatographic conditions of the study. The best mobile phase combination was methanol/2.5 % acetic acid (15:85). Elution was isocratic because a single mobile phase combination was used. After other investigations, the best wavelength of maximum absorption for UV detection was 257 nm, absorption unit fraction scale (aufs) for  quantitative detect ion of the analyte at very small concentrations , 0.5, flow rate of mobile phase, 1.5 ml/min and chart recorder speed, 5 mm/min. Preparation of mobile phase The volume of mixtures do not usually equal the sum of the separate volumes making up the mixture as a result of differences in density and other physical factors such as volume expansion and contraction. The mobile phase was therefore prepared by measuring separately the volume of each component and mixing them together. All mobile phases prepared were filtered through a membrane filter before use. Validation of Analytical Method Various parameters can be evaluated for validating any newly developed analytical system. These include linearity, precision, accuracy, sensitivity and comparison to other standard methods. Comparison of new method with standard spectrophotometric method, (BP, 2000) The method was applied to paracetamol products from three pharmaceutical companies. Twenty tablets of each of the experimental paracetamol products were weighed together and finely powdered. A quantity of the powder containing 0.15g of paracetamol (0.1692g of Phyto-Riker Paracetamol, 0.1578g of PZ Paracetamol and 0.2001g of Tylenol Forte) was weighed and quantitatively transferred into a 200ml volumetric flask with 50ml of 0.1M NaOH and then diluted with 100ml of distilled water and shaken mechanically for 15 minutes. Sufficient distilled water was then added to produce 200ml. After filtration, further dilutions were made with distilled water such that the final concentration of paracetamol in solution was 0.00075 %w/v an d the NaOH, 0.01 M. The absorbance of the resulting solution was then taken in triplicate with the Cecil 7020 double beam UV spectrophotometer at a wavelength of 257nm with quartz cuvette of path length 1 cm using 0.01 M NaOH as the blank solvent. New Method For each of the experimental brands, sample preparation was done by crushing 20 tablets. A quantity of the powder equivalent to 0.1g of paracetamol (0.1128g of Phyto-Riker Paracetamol, 0.1052g of PZ Paracetamol and 0.1333g of Tylenol Forte) was weighed and quantitatively transferred into a clean 100ml volumetric flask with 20ml of methanol. It was then mechanically  shaken for 10 minutes. It was diluted to the 100ml mark with deionised water. Insoluble excipients were filtered off through a medium porosity sintered glass filter. A 0.1%w/v aqueous solution of caffeine was also prepared as a stock internal standard solution. A final solution containing 0.00025% paracetamol and 0.001 %w/v caffeine was prepared for the HPLC analysis. Triplicate injections onto the column were successively done for each of the experimental brands. Average peak area ratios (test sample/internal standard) for the various samples were calculated from their chromatograms. The actual concentration of paracetamol in each of the samples analysed was interpolated from a calibration curve using the average peak area ratios. The student’s t-test was used to compare the means of the two methods while the variances were compared with the f-test. Calibration Graph The range of concentrations used was 0.000005%-0.001%w/v. The new HPLC method was used for the determinations. Injections were done in triplicate for each of the concentrations in the above range. A graph of average peak area ratio was plotted against concentration. All the concentrations used gave signals but not all the signals were proportional to concentration. Concentrations that were not detected proportionally defined the limits of detector linearity under the given set of experimental conditions. Before preparing the solutions for the calibration curve, the paracetamol reference powder was identified and characterised according to BP 2000. Determination of inter-day variation of  analytical method The inter-day variation was investigated to assess the likely variations in results from day to day when the new method is used. This involved the HPLC assay of paracetamol of approximately the same concentrations on two different days under same conditions. The results for the two different days were paired and the f-test applied to determine likely significant difference in their variances. Determination of intra-day variation of the analytical method Several assays of paracetamol were done within the same day to determine the repeatability of the new method. Seven sets of solutions of approximately the same concentration (0.0001 %w/v) from the same homogenous stock were prepared and successively analysed with the HPLC. Each set was run three times and the average peak area ratio taken to represent that set. Actual concentrations of solutions were interpolated from the calibration graph. The relative standard deviation of results was calculated to determine the level of repeatability. The concentration of paracetamol solution was so chosen to ensure that readings were taken within the linear region of the calibration curve. Application of analytical procedure to urine, a body fluid After following all pharmacokinetic protocols (Shargel and Andrew, 1993) six healthy male volunteers between the ages of 26 and 32 years were each given 1.0g of paracetamol tablets and had their urine samples collected at specific time intervals for 24 hours. All subjects had the same time points of urine collection after administration of the tablets and these were: 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, 9.0, 12.0, 18.0 and 24.0 hours. The entire volume of urine voided during each sampling interval was pooled together and recorded and the analysis done immediately. Where urine samples had to be kept overnight, quantities were kept tight in sample tubes and frozen. Other applications The new HPLC method was also applied to a combination product containing paracetamol and codeine both for assay and determination of unchanged forms of the two constituents in urine. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Since paracetamol is a compound of moderate polarity as shown by its chemical structure in Figure 1, a reversed-phase column with a polar mobile phase was used. The mobile phase was methanol/2.5% acetic acid (15:85). In reversed-phase separation, compounds were separated based on their hydrophobicity. Retention increased as the solutes decreased in polarity; thus, polar species were eluted first. Hence, eluting time increased by increasing the polarity (water content) of the eluent. The pH of the eluent  as well as the pka of the drug being separated affected the elution profile. Figures 2 (a-c) therefore show different elution profiles and retention times because of the differences in the physicochemical properties of the analytes under review. The retention time of caffeine (11.98  ± 0.72 min) was greater than paracetamol (2.61  ± 0.13 min) because it was greatly retained on the column as evidenced by the tailing nature of the caffeine peak because of its relatively greater h ydrophobicity. The components of the blank urine though poorly resolved, had shorter retention times (< 2.5 min) than paracetamol because they were relatively more polar and interacted better with the polar mobile phase, resulting in decreased retention. The presence of aromatic rings together with auxochromes in the chemical structures of paracetamol and caffeine made UV absorption possible for monitoring the column effluent. As regards the intra-day precision of the new method, the relative standard deviation (RSD) of repeated assay of separate identical samples of concentration 1 µg/ml was 2.17% (Table 1 and 2). According to Dong (2000), only HPLC analysis with modern auto samplers yields RSD of less than 2.0%. Manual sample injections with RSD of 2.17 can therefore not be said to have a poor potential to give reproducible data under the same experimental conditions. Random errors from analysts might as well have contributed to the RSD value being greater than 2.0%. The degree of agreement among the individual observations was indicated by the value of the absolute precision (0.02). This appears small and suggests a good level of agreement between test results. The inter-day precision from Table 3 and 4 was high as there was no statistical difference between the variances of the set of analytical data generated for two different days at a confidence level of 95%. The method therefore was reproducible and could produce data for peer analysis. There was a positive correlation between peak area ratios and the concentrations of analyte (Figure 3). Correlation coefficient (r2) of 0.9998 implies that the scatter presented in Figure 3 was accurate enough for predictable purposes within limits of detector linearity. From Table 5, the range of detector linearity was established as 0.1-5.0  µg/ml. Under the set of experimental conditions, the lowest concentration of paracetamol that was detected but did not necessarily produce a signal that was proportional to concentration was 0.05  µg/ml. However, signal for 0.2  µg/ml paracetamol solution was approximately twice that of 0.1  µg/ml. Since the minimum concentration of paracetamol that started varying proportionally with peak area ratio was 0.1  µg/ml, it was chosen as the limit of quantitation of the method. This observation was in good agreement with what has been reported that in many cases, the limit of quantitation is approximately twice the limit of detection (Seth i, 1993; Olaniyi, 2000). The upper limit of quantitation was also set at 5.0 µg/ml because there was no proportional increase in peak area on increasing paracetamol concentration from 5 to 10  µg/ml. Evidence of correlation between the new method and that of British Pharmacopoeia (2000) for the assay of paracetamol tablets was positive. The F-test at 95% confidence level, showed no significant difference between the variances of both the HPLC and UV methods (Table 6). This means that within certain limits, both methods have comparable precisions. However, the absolute precision of the two methods at the same confidence level indicates that the HPLC method has a better precision. The absolute precision values were respectively 1.90 and 2.12 (Table 7). As regards accuracy, even though the results of both methods complied with BP (2000) limits for content of paracetamol in tablets (Table 8), a significant difference was observed between the means of the two methods when the student’s t-test was applied (Table 6). Assessing the absolute error of the mean for the two methods, the HPLC results (2.3%) was found to be more accurate than the UV (4.3%) (Table 7). Moffat (1986) reported that when a dose of paracetamol tablets is administered orally, close to 5% is excreted unchanged in urine. As found in this study, only a small fraction of the absorbed dose was excreted unchanged for all the paracetamol products. These were 5.3 ±0.9%, 5.3 ±1.2% and 5.0 ±0.7% respectively for Paracetamol CoA, Paracetamol CoB and Paracetamol CoC (Table 9). These values are closely in agreement with what has already been reported, making the new method suitable for the detection and quantitation of paracetamol in urine. CONCLUSIONS Paracetamol in the bulk, dosage form and urine has been analysed accurately and precisely by HPLC with Methanol / 2.5% acetic acid (15: 85) in the reversed-phase mode at a wavelength of 257 nm using caffeine as the internal standard. The method has also been used for the detection and quantitation of codeine and paracetamol in urine as well as codeine-paracetamol combination tablet. The wavelength of detection in this case was 245 nm with acetanilide as the internal standard. REFERENCES British Pharmacopoeia (BP) (2000). Volumes I &II, CD-ROM, The British Pharmacopoeial Commission. Dong, W. M. (2000). Precision in HPLC. In Today’s Chemist at Work (2000), 9 (8): 28-32. Franeta, J. T., Agbaba, D., Eric, S., Pavkov, S., Aleksi, M. and Vladimirov, S. (2002). HPLC assay of acetylsalicylic acid, paracetamol, caffeine and phenobarbital in tablets, Farmaco Sep; 57 (9): 709-13 Ghana National Drugs Policy (1999). Ministry of Health, Ghana. pp 4, 7, 12 and 19 Katzung, G. B. (1989). Basic and Clinical Pharmacology, 4th edition, Appleton and Lange, Norwalk, CT. p 444 Moffat, A. C. (1986). Clarke’s Isolation and Identification of Drugs, 2nd edition, the Pharmaceutical Press, London. pp 420-421, 849-850 Okine, N.N.A., Asiedu, K.S. and Acheampong, J. (2003). RP-LC determination of ascorbic acid, paracetamol and caffeine in multicomponent anti-cold preparation, Journal of Science and Technology, 23 (1): 55 Olaniyi, A. A. (2000). Principles of Drug Quality Assurance and Pharmaceutical Analysis, Monsuro Publishers, Ibadan, Nigeria. Ramos-Martos, N., Aguirre-Gomez, F., Molina-Diaz, A., Capitan-Valley, L. F. (2001). Application of liquid chromatography to the simultaneous determination of acetylsalicylic acid, caffeine, codeine, paracetamol, pyridoxine and thiamine in pharmaceutical preparations. J.A.O.C. Int. May-Jun; 84 (3): 676-83 Sethi, P. D. (1993). Quantitative Analysis of Drugs in Pharmaceutical Formulations, 2nd edition, C.B.S Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi. pp 33-37 Shargel, L., Andrew, B. C. Y. (1993). Applied Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics, 3rd edition, Appleton and Lange, Norwalk, CT. pp 205-209