Blockbuster Video Analysis Essay -- essays research papers

The video rental industry was one of the more growing services retailers in the mid-1990s. However, due to Blockbuster, many rental video companies have failed to compete against this category killer. West Coast Video, Video City, and Hollywood Video, which are among the few and only large competitor’s of Blockbuster in the tri-state area. Many family-owned video rental stores could not compete against Blockbuster’s assortment of videos. Blockbuster opened its first store in 1985 and has grown to become the world’s number one video chain. Blockbuster is open 365 days a year with 9,800 stores worldwide. Customer base has risen above 50 million in the United States as well as several million more worldwide. The Gallup Organization, known for the Gallup Polls, declared that Blockbuster has 100 percent recognition. Most importantly, 70 percent of the population in the United States lives within ten minutes of a Blockbuster store. Category killers, however, usually attract customers from far distances. Because most customers are ten minutes away, small businesses in competition will fail. A recent marketing campaign has been the promotion of DirecTV, a digital satellite service alternative to cable television. Also, an alliance with Radio Shack has been in effect promoting new technologies. To compete against the up rise of online rental services, Blockbuster has been testing online rental services which allow customers to reserve and rent videos from specific stores. The other services retailer is West Coast Video, a Philadelphia-based company that was once a supreme challenger to Blockbuster. West Coast Video was at one point, New Jersey’s largest video rental chain in 1997. That preceding year, the company acquired stores from Palmer Video, Super Video, and Great American Video. It became the fourth largest video chain with close to half of its 568 stores in New Jersey. However, the company has approximately 225 stores to avoid going out of business. This year, West Coast has closed most of its North New Jersey stores, including this analyzed store. The West Coast store has been bought out by Video City, a recent competitor trying to tackle the Northeast market. However, they only operate a small number of stores in the area and specialize in e-commerce. They have no marketing strategies as of yet. The Blockbuster store is located in Nutley, New Jersey, a... ... may become a nuisance to a customer. Overall, Blockbuster, is very appealing, especially the Nutley store. It’s large location is very attractive comparable to East Coast Video location. Blockbuster’s overall domination has 3 Blockbuster locations within ten minutes of each other; the other two are located in North Arlington and Clifton. Another advantage is that Blockbuster members can rent at any location because the stores are all linked together. Movies, however, must be returned to the store where it was originally rented. East Coast Video, on the other hand, has only one other location in Kearny and the stores are not linked. Blockbuster’s strength has been great service, family values, and moderate pricing as opposed to East Coast Video. However, they are a fairly new company. Video City’s strategy is to control the adult film rental category and attract loyalty within these customers. Their website, however, offers only the sale of videos and does not provide information about the company’s history whereas Blockbuster takes pride in their socially responsible efforts. It’s very hard to avoid Blockbuster because of the availability of products, service, and convenience.

The Life-Span Developmental Approach to Counseling Essay -- essays res

The life-span development approach addresses the basic nature versus nurture debate by allowing for both. Just as our physicals selves are determined by both genetics and lifestyle, so are our emotional selves. As a Licensed Professional Counselor, I plan to consider life-span development to specialize in counseling a specific type of person with hopes of becoming well-versed, and therefore more helpful, in the types of experiences that group faces. â€Å"Personality can be better understood if it is examined developmentally† (Santrock, 2006, p. 45). Considering cognitive, biological, and socioemotional development throughout life will provide context, guideposts, and reasonable expectations for counselors. Life-span development theories also provide a useful place to start when offering emotional support as a counselor. Understanding an individual’s previous stages of development and environment can give a counselor and individual a common place from which to start counseling. Most of the developmental theorists discussed in section one of Santrock—Sigmund Freud, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, Konrad Lorenz, and to an extent B. F. Skinner—focused mostly on early or childhood development. Early development, when considered in a life-span context of development, can give an LPC insight in an individual’s personality. Regardless of specialization, a counselor can weigh early behaviors against his or her contemporary observations, giving them a fuller context. â€Å"Actual development requires more [than genetic loading]: an environment† (Santrock, 2006, p. 98). Two cognitive developmental theories support Santrock’s assertion of environmental influence on early development. First, Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory defines how a person behaves as how a person adapts to his or her environment. An individual’s behavior is an adaptive process driven by a biological drive to obtain balance between schemes and the environment (Huitt and Hummel, 2003). This theory states that development is a byproduct linking and relating our experiences to each other, starting with general environmental knowledge, until a person’s cognitive ability is composed of more abstract reasoning. The second cognitive theory emphasizes social and cultural environment. Vygotsky’s theory points to our relationships with others as the definitions of ourselves (Nicholl, 1998, par. 13). Two other theo... ...span development is a multi-faceted approach to counseling. Using these and other theories gives a licensed professional counselor a variety of tools for counseling. I expect these theories to help me determine a specialty in my future practice, relying on the overlap and complexity of working in terms of an entire human life. References?Boeree, C. George. (1997). Erik Erikson: 1902 to 1994. Shippensburg, PA: Shippensburg University. Retrieved 21 June 2005 from http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/erikson.html. Huitt, W. (1997). Socioemotional development. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved 22 June 2005, from http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/affsys/erikson.html. Huitt, W., & Hummel, J. (2003). Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved 21 June 2005 from http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/piaget.html. Nicholl, P .M. (Trish). 1998. Vygotsky. Palmerston North, NZ: Massey University. Retrieved 21 June 2005 from http://www.massey.ac.nz/~alock/virtual/trishvyg.htm. Santrock, John H. (2006) Life-Span Development. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Does Delegation Help or Hurt Nursing?

The first nursing school was established in India in about 250 B.C., and only men were permitted to attend because men were viewed to be more pure than women. If you think of a woman dressed in scrubs with a stethoscope around her neck and a clipboard in her hands, you aren’t alone. An overwhelming majority of nurses in the United States today are women. However, nursing began as a practice reserved for men. It wasn’t until the 1800's that nursing became an organized practice.During the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale and 38 volunteer nurses were sent to the main British camp in Turkey. Nightingale and her staff immediately began to clean the hospital and equipment and reorganized patient care. Nightingale pushed for reform of hospital sanitation methods and invented methods of graphing statistical data. When she returned to Britain, Nightingale aided in the establishment of the Royal Commission on the Health of the Army. As a woman, Nightingale could not be appointed to the Royal Commission, but she composed the Commission’s report. (Travel Nurses of America, 2010) Completed, the report was over 1,000 pages in length and included detailed statistical information.Nightingale’s work led to drastic changes in army medical care, the establishment of an Army Medical School and medical records, and ignited the growth of nursing as an organized profession. For these contributions, Nightingale is widely accepted as the founder of nursing. Ironically, nursing has been taken on as a feminine profession, although as aforementioned, that was not its intention. Nursing are an extremely vital component of health care settings. According to the World Health Organization, nursing is defined as such: â€Å"Nursing encompasses autonomous  and collaborative care of individuals of all ages, families, groups and communities, sick or well and in all settings. It includes the promotion of health, the prevention of illness, and the care of ill, disabl ed and dying people.† (WHO, 2011)Keeping that definition in mind, nurses ensure that patients are being taken care of properly and efficiently. It is obvious that one nurse alone cannot do all the work that a health setting requires. This is where the idea of delegation comes into play. One of the vitals skill required by the Registered Nurse is the skill to assign tasks to subordinates (Saccomanos and Pinto-Zipp, 2011). When tasks are delegated to subordinates, the RN remains accountable (Nursing and Midwifery Council 2008). This concept of work delegation has positive and negative effects.On one hand, it helps the RN (Registered Nurse) do more work in a shorter period of time, yet the downfall is that if the subordinate makes any mistakes, the results could be fatal and would still rest solely on the hands of the RN. Hence, delegation involves â€Å"responsibility, accountability and authority† (Sullivan &ump; Decker 2005, p. 144). This research paper will analyze the role of a RN in relation to delegation.Chapter Two: Nursing and Delegation- Who Does What? This essay will examine the role of the registered nurse in relation to delegation. Areas that will be examined include definitions of delegation, benefits of distributing workloads, management in relation to delegation, nursing process and procedures when delegating, common mishaps of delegation, five rights of delegation, and barriers nurses must break through when to delegating. In conclusion, this paper will hopefully convey the importance of an RN, delegation, and how this effects the quality of care patients receive.Delegation can be a useful tool that cuts costs, or a costly disaster waiting to happen From a management prospective, delegation is the idea of assigning tasks to other employees that a manager is currently undertaking. While delegation can be extremely helpful for speed, the question of efficiency and accuracy come into play. Delegation is seen as a daily routine in clinic al settings which can be traced back even to the Bible. Moses delegated to his Father-in-Law Jethro, asking why would everyone sit around and have you work alone? But what does delegation mean to Nursing? Delegation, as defined by the American Nurses Association, is  the ability to handover responsibility for the performance of a duty from one person to another while being held accountable for the outcome. (ANA, 2005)While effective, delegating another person in a health setting has its risks. Supervision is an essential tool in delegation because it involves direction, evaluation and follow up which must be provided by the RN to those she/he is delegating the task to (Finkelman 2006). However, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (1995) also defines delegation as giving authorization to a capable individual to execute a particular nursing task in a particular situation. According to Lookinland, author of Team Nursing, the Registered Nurse was solely responsible for the care of the patients but due to staff shortage, budgetary constraints and high rate of sicker patients, the need to delegate duties to other Non-Registered personnel arose.(Team Nursing, 2005)Delegation provides a lot of benefits for both the organization and the staff. Cost effectiveness and time savings have been identified as the benefits of delegation as these helps the organization to utilize resources and staff in an appropriate manner (Finkelman 2006). Consequently, Pearce (2006) suggested that delegating repetitive tasks could lead to RN’s time being used efficiently for other tasks. Moreover, when tasks are assigned to others, it leads to the tasks being done in an efficient manner and an increase in productivity (Finkelman 2006).In the same light, Potter et al. (2010) stated with delegating duties to other staff, professional growth can occur as these staff have the opportunity of learning new skills, and having enough time in engaging in other activities. When del egation is used in an effective way, it builds up teams and improves quality care (Finkelman 2006). Chapter Three: Nursing and Delegation- Management Theory.Delegation can be direct (such as verbal instructions e.g. assisting patients with activities of daily living) and indirect which involves activities carried out based on hospital policies (Masters 2009). Nursing management, when referring to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, is a useful organizational framework that can be applied to the various nursing models for assessment of a patient’s strengths, limitations, and need for nursing interventions. (Smeltzer SC, Bare BG, 2004) It is noteworthy to state that in relation to delegation, the registered nurse who delegates task retains accountability and responsibility for such task (ANA 2005).Due to the risks and various factors in a health setting, it is important that a RN keeps in mind that when delegating task to any individual, the task should be well understood and t hat the individual carrying out the task should be knowledgeable, trained and competent enough to carry out the task being delegated (Masters 2009). Accordingly, and when good management is implemented among the nursing staff, when authority is passed from the RN to the delegate during delegation, it is appropriate to inform other members of the organization as they need to be aware of which task has been allocated and to who. It is also imperative for the employee to have access to resources as well as for the RN to allow the employee to take control of the task (Finkelman 2006).Also, in the textbook, Fundamentals of Nursing, Patricia Potter stated that when delegating task, the RN must ensure adequate two way communication. Communication should be clear, brief and complete as effective communication is a key element of delegation (Potter et al. 2010). As a result, good communication allows the unlicensed personnel to ask question and seek clarifications where necessary. The RN sho uld ensure that the unlicensed personnel understands what the delegated task entails and that he/she readily accepts the delegation as well as the responsibility that goes with (Finkelman 2006). Therefore, where the RN feels that when delegating task to unlicensed personnel may be unsafe, or that the person lacks competency or if she/he feels they may not be available to supervise such task, she/he has the right to inform the manager and refuse to delegate the task to any person they deem unfit. (NMC 2008)Furthermore, as indicated by the NMC (2008), no one should be under any form of pressure to either delegate or agree to do a delegated task. Many times nurses have strengths and weaknesses in their profession. It is important to understand or recognize a nurse who is uncomfortable with a task or struggling. Management should also make it clear that staff should communicate to management if they need assistance.Chapter Four: How is Nursing Organized? How is delegation run? In nursin g, there are several categories that an RN can fall into. There are matron nurses, director of nursing, nurse managers and charge nurses. The matron nurse is the head senior nurse and in charge of delegation and subordinate  tasks. If tasks and duties fail to be met, they are held accountable. The director of nursing is also a senior nurse, but tend to report to the CEO of the hospital. They oversee all tasks done by the matron, registered nurses and nurse managers. They are responsible for producing data and ensuring standards are being met.Nurse Managers are responsible for a nursing unit and typically report to the matron. They are given a unit of nurses and delegate tasks and patients to them. And then there is a charge nurse who is the frontline of management for the nurses on a shift. The charge nurse oversees all the RNs. Registered nurses are extremely important in terms of delegation. Registered nurses are above certified nurse’s assistants and licensed nurse pract itioners. It is crucial that an RN supervises and gives feedback on tasks that are performed because this creates an avenue for the subordinate to know where or what went wrong and how it could be improved upon to deliver quality health care. (Pearce 2006)In delegating tasks to an unlicensed personnel, the RN decisions should be based on the delegation process (that is assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation) which will help in reducing the risk associated with delegation (Newmann 2010). The assessment stage looks at if the delegated task is suitable for the delegate. The planning stage involves determining the competence of the individual to carry out the task and ensuring safety measures, implementation deals with the RN observations through supervision and evaluation gives a breakdown of the completion of the task (Neumann 2010). This process as indicated by Neumann (2010) is done to protect the nurse and employers against any legal issues that may arise as well as fo r the safety of the patients.Chapter Five: Nursing Delegation to Unlicensed Persons. Delegated duties to unlicensed personnel must be within their scope of practice for which that person has the training and not tasks that may require having a certificate or license (Zimmerman 2001). Tasks which may be delegated to unlicensed personnel’s include tasks like activities of daily living, taking vital signs, errands and clerical duties (Zimmerman 2001). Other tasks which Zimmerman mentioned should not delegate by the RN to unlicensed personnel include duties such as nursing skills that involve invasive procedures, expert knowledge and professional decisions relating to  patients care.If the RN delegates tasks inappropriately, it could lead to the loss of her/his registration license and issues of liability may need to arise (Finkelman 2006). Before an RN delegates a task to individual or unlicensed personnel, care must be taken into consideration in relation to assessing proper training and level of competency of the individual regardless of how easy the delegated task may appear to be (NCSBN 2005). Unfortunately, the results of a failed task or malpractice do rest on the RN. It is important to delegate to knowledgeable individuals who understand their task fully.Chapter Six: Procedure, Policies, and Error. There are certain errors and mistakes that occur during delegation. The most reported errors include over delegation, under delegation and improper delegation (Feldman et al. 2008). Over delegation arises when time management skills are not properly developed in an individual or where one is not too sure about their own capability to carry out a task (Feldman et al. 2008). Under delegation as stated by Feldman (2008) happens when the RN has no confidence in the subordinate to perform the task which is to be delegated while improper delegation means delegating task outside an individual’s expertise.In order to avoid such common mistakes and being a professional, when delegating task, the RN must be familiar with the five rights of delegation which the NCBSN (1995) identified as right task, right circumstance, right person, right direction and communication, right supervision and evaluation. The right task has to do with deciding if a task should be delegated for a specific patient. The right circumstances looks at the client’s environment, client’s conditions and available resources. The right person takes into account the right individual delegating the right task to the right person to carry out the task on the right patient.The right direction or communication focuses on communication being clear and having a concise description of the task explained including all expectation for having the tasks accomplished. The right supervision deals with monitoring the task, implementation, evaluating task and also providing feedback in relation to the task (ANA 2005). These rights as noted by the NCBSN (2005) assists t he RN to determine a suitable and appropriate method to use during delegation. Delegation is seen as a process which the RN has  to be properly equipped and well educated in (Finkelman 2006). However, delegation can become problematic in relation to shortage of staff, having to do obnoxious task and the inexperience of the subordinates (Curtis and Nicholl 2004).Chapter Seven: Impact on Administration. Administration will then face a barrier such as lack of trust in the subordinates which leads to the attitude of â€Å"doing it all by myself† (Feldman 2008). This can affect effective delegation because when leaders lack trust in their subordinate’s capabilities, they are likely to make mistakes (Feldman, 2008). Similarly, some RNs may feel they are perfectionist and as a result are unlikely to delegate because of the fear of having to deal with any negative outcomes by the subordinates (Curtis and Nicholl 2004). This causes hostility within administration. It is very expensive to have head nurses on the floor, yet if they won’t delegate workload, they must be there.This causes cost to go up, speed to go down, and employee trust to diminish. In relating this to clinical practice, some nurses may not be willing to delegate tasks to student nurses for fear of being held accountable for any mistakes. As stated by the NMC, the RN who decides to delegate is held accountable for such delegation. It causes a lack of trust on the floor from one employee to another. Another barrier as identified by Curtis and Nicholl (2004) occurs when there is shortage of staff or having inexperienced staff members. This leads to staff being overburdened with work load. As suggested by Curtis and Nicholl (2004), when there is shortage of staff, it is imperative for the work load to be lessened until there is an improvement in the availability of staff.Chapter Eight: Impact on Management. Many nurses may feel that tasks that are beneath them can be constituted as a barrier in delegation. As indicated by Feldman (2006) when managers discriminate by delegating tasks which may be unpleasant or boring to certain subordinates and keep the better or interesting tasks for certain people, it leads to subordinates refusal to perform such tasks. For this reason, it is essential to assign task which are interesting and task should be assigned equally and fairly to all individuals concerned taking into account their skills and ability (Kourdi 1999).This impacts management negatively. It causes the head nurses to get away with picking and choosing their tasks while the employees beneath them become frustrated and annoyed. Tasks must be divided up fairly, not just because the head nurse does not want to do them.Conclusion: In conclusion, delegation as discussed in the essay is considered to be an essential aspect of nursing and play an important role for the RN. As Marquis and Hustin (2008) stated, â€Å"delegation is a necessity and not an option†. So it is important that nurses as well as students preparing to become nurses are well trained and equipped in this field. As someone who is going to school in September for Nursing, I am fully aware that delegation is vital. If there is a team effort, then tasks will get done much faster and much more accurate.Delegation is an important nursing skill which requires a systematic plan to ensure optimal patient care (Finkelman 2006). Referring back to Maslow, nursing needs to be organized and delegated appropriately. Delegation is a skill that can be calculated to minimize costs, maximize quality, and ensure effectiveness. More management courses in health care should be given to depict how to delegate properly, not just with nursing, but perhaps with all health care personnel. Since delegation improves with practice, it is important for nurses understand when to delegate and how.Learning these skills will also prepare the nurses in future to delegate task when they qualify and becom e RN’s. In relation to nursing practice, registered nurses should help other nurses by delegating tasks to them that are within their level of competence as well as making sure that all tasks assigned to them are duly supervised and follow up on the delegated task.

Police Dogs

Police Dogs Breah Ratlif Animal Science AY105-02 12-12:50 Cute, fun, loving, cuddly, outgoing; these are only a few words to describe the animals that we have come to know and love as a part of our families. Dogs have been man’s best friend for hundreds of years and were the first animal to be domesticated because they are great as companions, highly intelligent, and were found to be very useful in human’s everyday lives. Even though they made excellent house pets they were highly successful at working side by side humans as well.They are not limited to being just best friends, but they have been found to be protectors and saviors as well, to their owners, others people and even other dogs too. One type of working dogs in particular that needs to be recognized for their tremendous efforts, and hard work is none other than police dogs. There are many dogs that will help humans in time of need. For example there are guide dogs, search-and-rescue dogs, and bomb-or-drug- sn iffing dogs just to name a few. They really dedicate themselves to the jobs that they live to do.But few dogs are asked to go above and beyond to lay their lives on the line to protect and serve as much as police dogs. These dogs are trained to do specific things. The basic description of what police dogs do is to guard their handler, and assist him in numerous tasks, such as finding, intimidating, and holding suspects, or investigate the scene of a crime. Some can even be trained specially for detection work. It is interesting how on one hand they are a loving member of a family, then when it is time to do some police work they can take down and attack humans so easily.In order to lead this type of life style this dog has to have some very important traits that other dogs may not have. They must come from intelligent, strong, dedicated, and aggressive but obedient lines of dogs, and while even the trait to be too aggressive is not very desired the strongest traits that police dogs must have are self-control and obedience. Police dogs are usually members of the working dog breeds. The dogs today come from a long line of purebred working dogs that were bred because of their high intelligence and strength.There are other breeds that have traits that could greatly contribute to police work as well such as hunting dogs or herding dogs because of skills like hunting and tracking for instance. There are several dogs that qualify for police work and are known for their bravery and drive. The German Shepard is the most common and most popular dog for police work. Lab Retrievers, Belgian Malinois, Doberman Pinschers, Akitas, Terriers, Boxers, Spaniels, Bloodhounds, the Bouvier de Flandres, Rottweiler’s, Collies and Dutch Shepherds have been known to also be used for different types of police work.K-9 police work is more than just brute strength and skin prickling growling. Tracking down or smelling for drugs, weapons, evidence, cash, bodies, criminals; holding o n to criminals; and even protection work are all a part basic everyday life. Just the presence of a having a police dog by the officers side can prevent physical harm from being inflicted upon the police officer by the suspect/criminal, ultimately leading to lesser chances of the officer getting harmed in any way.Police dogs today are not bred or employed to be vicious animals towards people in any sense; in all actuality most are trained or supposed to be trained to enjoy their work as hard as that may seem. What happens is it all starts off as fun and games. Chasing and grabbing is introduced to them as games when they are young pups to get them use to it. They usually play these types of games only when the handler or in other words a police officer, gives the right command for them to do so.The goal of the games is not for the dog to actually â€Å"bite† its opponent but more to merely hold on to it for as long as possible till the officer it works with gives the dog the command to let go. This tactic is mostly to insure that the suspect/criminal does not get away until the officer can catch up and take care of him/her their self. This grab is strong and hard. There is always a large possibility that the suspect/criminal can/will be bitten if they attempt to fight off the dog but when thinking about it even the dog â€Å"gripping† onto the suspect will inflict a bite.They would not be able to hold the suspect as well if they did not apply pressure into their grip. Before any dog has to be turned loose, they try to intimidate the person first by giving them a warning that if they start to run, the dog will be released and will chase after them. A barking tactic is also used to scare the person into not running away. Even in a case where the officer and dog seem to have the upper hand, there are many situations where the tables can be completely turned. Both the officer and the dog are trained to work together as a team.They must be able to ful ly trust and understand one another especially when they are placed in extremely dangerous and stressful situations. It is the responsibility of the officer the dog is being handled by to only use the dog when the situation absolutely calls for it. Any other way would be very inappropriate and would be a terrible miss use of the animal. Not being responsible could also put the dog in more of harm’s way which can take a definite turn for the worst. Going into depth of the most popular and common of the police dogs the â€Å"the German shepherd only came into being a little over 100 years ago.A German shepherd enthusiast, fascinated with the intelligence, strength and agility of the country’s native sheep dogs, established the breed, which spread throughout the world when Allied soldiers saw how the Germans used them as messenger, tracker and guard dogs during World War 1. After the war, the name German Shepherd Dog (Deutsher Shaferhund) was dropped in favor of the Alsa tian Wolf Dog (After the Alsace-Lorraine German/French border region), as it was thought that the word â€Å"German† would make the breed unpopular, and Alsatian continued to be used for the breed until the 1970s. Your Best Friend: The Dog, pg. 50. The other types of working dogs that are used a lot more than the rest of the working breeds in police work are the Belgin Malinois (very similar to the German shepherd), the Doberman, Boxer and Rottweiler. One main reason they are under the German shepherd or Belgin Malinois could be because of factors such as tolerance for instance. That can be directed towards weather and other such factors. Based off of observation with their fur coats being shorter they do not do as well in colder climates or seasons and police duties are year round.Still the loyalty, obedience, and ability to react quickly in certain situations, make the Doberman a great breed for police dog training. The brute strength of a Rottweiler, along with their intel ligence and protective nature, makes them popular to some and in case there are no German shepherds around Rottweiler’s are great substitutes for getting the job done. The same goes for the boxer with it being fearless, loyal and strong they are also respected to be a strong guard dog and used in police work.This topic was found to be interesting and unique because dogs are one of the few animals people can really rely on to be there no matter what. Humans can rely on dogs to be more than great companions and friends. They have traits of loyalty, fearlessness, loving, strong, dedicated, and intelligent. The list could go on but more than any pet they will stick by your side till the very end. Dogs were also found to be great at being put to work. Their senses are far better than humans. They have Excellent hearing and smelling. According to facts. randomhistory. om a dog can locate the source of a sound in 1/600 of a second and can hear sounds four times farther away than a h uman can. Also Touch is the first sense the dog develops. The entire body, including the paws, is covered with touch-sensitive nerve endings. Dogs have a wet nose to collect more of the tiny droplets of smelling chemicals in the air. When it comes to their smelling abilities a dogs sense of smell is 50 times for sensitive than a humans. Some dogs can smell dead bodies under water, where termites are hiding, and natural gas buried under 40 feet of dirt.They can even detect cancer that is too small to be detected by a doctor and can find lung cancer by sniffing a person’s breath. It does not hurt that dogs can be trained to do just about anything so this makes them perfect for doing work. A good example of something a police dog can be trained to do is known as â€Å"Aggressive alert† which the most common of the alerts it is taught to them. Aggressive alert is what the dogs do to show indication of an odor or substance that they are trained to detect by vigorously scrat ching and barking at a particular item. Another alert that is taught to police dogs is called â€Å"Passive alert†.The dog will sit when it smells the odor that it is trained to detect. Passive alert is common when it comes to explosive detection canines and narcotic detection canines. I feel that there are many pros and cons to having police dogs on the force. I personally like the fact that we have dogs involved in police work to a certain extent. Where some humans lack the stamina to run and catch up with a suspect that has decided to give an officer the chase, the police dog can make up for what he/she lacks. Dogs are great runners and if exercised properly they can almost run for miles.This makes them great at catching up with suspects to get a good grip on them and hold them until the officer can catch up and give the dog the command to let go. Also by using the dog it allows for the officers to refrain from using bullets if they are not exactly necessary, and unlike a gun, a dog almost never misses. This could lead to saving more lives whether innocent or not. I also think that the dogs really have been one of the best decisions that the police for could have made when it came to looking for better ways to do their job in multiple aspects.This is really in consideration to the dog’s senses being way more sensitive than that of a human. Since we are unable to smell certain things that are not very pungent or in close range to our noses our dogs can definitely smell what we cannot especially particular breeds of dogs that have a better sense of smell than others. There was one particular instance that I can personally say caught my attention. I had an open bag of cookies in my purse and there was a beagle puppy and a boxer puppy in front of me allowing me to pet them.Instantly the beagle puppy could smell the bag of cookies that I had in my purse sitting behind me before the boxer puppy could. It was so amazing to me to see how the dog react ed to the smell of the cookies. From previous knowledge of beagles I know that they are also working dogs and are great for smelling things and hunting things down. Police dogs are notorious for sniffing out drugs among other things. I remember being in high school and middle school and they would have days where they would bring police dogs in to smell the lockers of students to check for drugs.They always made sure students stayed in the class room for safety reasons I’m sure. They are also good for being used in airports where people are constantly coming and going from other states and countries so it is highly important to know what people have on them when boarding or getting off of a plane may catch things that the metal detectors, x-ray like machines and security guards may miss. Their highly sensitive noses can also be used to track down one specific person, leading to a faster take down of suspects as well as finding those who are in need.Some cons of police dogs ar e the actual harm they can cause a person while trying to catch and hold them while they wait for their trainer. They can inflict puncture wounds and if they grip the wrong part of the human body can lead to some pretty serious damage. There may also be case where the dog may attack the wrong person. Even though police dogs are extensively trained and are trusted partners police officers, they still possess canine instincts. A dog gets overexcited or becomes frightened may bite a handler, a suspect or a member of the public that is completely innocent.Police departments cannot make guarantees that these out of hand attacks will not happen, and it is possible for police agencies to be taken to court by the victims and forced to pay compensation for any damages caused by the out of control dog. Depending on how well the dog has been handled it does run the possibility to become aggressive. Another down fall is that police work can be beyond dangerous, and dogs are also susceptible to being injured or even killed while on duty. There have been cases where dogs have been killed by suspects that may have wielded knives and guns.Some people may view this as a disadvantage of using police dogs since the animal does not have a choice in terms of a career and emergency care is not all ways a call away for our canine companions especially at certain hours of the night. Mainly I do believe that having dogs doing police work does good than it does bad. There are more positives to adding dogs to the picture than negatives. Works Cited 1. â€Å"Police Dogs. †, German Shepherd Police Dog Breeds. Izoox, n. d. Web. 05 Oct. 2012. . 2. â€Å"The Dog† Your Best Friend. Pg 50. London: Carlton, 2010.Print. 3. Luca, Catherine Marien-Le. â€Å"Types of Working Dogs. † Types of Working Dogs. The Canine Information Library 2003-2010, n. d. Web. 05 Oct. 2012. . 4. â€Å"SITE NAVIGATION. † History Of Police Service Dogs. N. p. , n. d. Web. 05 Oct. 2012. . 5. à ¢â‚¬Å"WHY EMPLOY A POLICE DOG ? † Police Dogs. N. p. , n. d. Web. 05 Oct. 2012. http://www. worldwidecanine. com/PoliceDogs. htm 6. â€Å"99 Fun Facts About . . . † 99 Fun Facts about Dogs. N. p. , 15 Feb. 2009. Web. 05 Oct. 2012.

Case Study Hard Core Cartel

CASE STUDY: HARD CORE CARTELS Cartel refers to a group of firms producing substitute goods that collude or conspire to increase prices and its own profits, by lowering production and/or sharing markets or customers. Figure 1 below shows examples of recent price fixing cases from various countries. (Figure 1) These industries either have a market structure in which a small number of inter-dependent firms dominating the industry, that of a oligopoly, or are firms that is the only seller of a good or service that does not have a close substitute, characteristics of a monopoly. Oligopoly and/or monopoly arise for four main reasons: government restriction to the entry of more than one firm into a market, an individual firm commands control over a key resource essential to produce a good, there are externalities in supplying the good and economies of scale are so large that one firm has a natural monopoly. A monopoly and/or oligopoly can produce lesser of the goods and charge at a higher price as compared to a competitive market industry producing the same good, due to the need to stay competitive. This usually leads to lower costs, lower prices, and consumer demanded goods. However, due a market structure like that these industries, price conditions are such that competition is likely to lead to higher prices. Furthermore, governments intervene by regulating these industries and externalities, provide public goods, control the use of common resources and reduce income inequality. It is uncommon for monopolies to be fined with the exception, such as Microsoft, for illegal monopolistic practices. However, fines for companies operating in oligopoly markets that abuse market power through collusive agreements are more common. Traditionally, the power cable industries in the European Union have been state-owned monopolies. During the 1990s, countries such as Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom, privatized these industries and imposed price regulation to restrict market power. Power cable industries in Germany are highly competitive market and over the past decades, dramatic changes are observed in the way the government regulated the European economies. Cartel members engaged in market sharing, price setting, bid rigging, coordinated predation and delaying of innovation. Hard core cartels can reduce the economic welfare and consumers' surplus because of the manipulation of market prices and/or quantity of goods. Consumer surplus is the difference between the highest price a consumer is willing to pay for a good and the price the consumer actually pays. (Figure 2) Depicted by Figure 2, consumer surplus is measured by the area below demand curve and above the market price, P1. Therefore, the higher the market price, the smaller the consumer surplus. By increasing price and reducing the quantity produced, the monopolist reduces economic surplus. This reduction in economic surplus is called deadweight loss, which is a result from a market not being in competitive equilibrium. As indicated in the earlier section, cartels arise in market structures characterized by a small number of inter-dependent firms competing against each other. Factoring in this inter-dependence, the firms can enter a collusive agreement to manipulate market prices in a bid to achieve monopoly prices. While this may be the case, high prices may also be an incentive for the cartelists to breach the agreement by undercutting their rival firms and/or increasing production output, to attract consumers. Cartels can have significant adverse effects on global economy. As with the case of Spain’s domestic sugar cartel, the firms had detailed price-fixing and collusive agreements (e. g. import and export) that restricted the supply of sugar, in order to achieve maximum monopoly profits. As a result, for many years, Spanish sugar prices were 5 to 9 per cent higher than the rest of Europe. This illustrates how cartels can manipulate market prices and exploit the buyers of their products. Since sugar is considered a basic staple, this indirectly constitutes to greater economic loss.

Solid Waste Generation

Solid waste generation is an inevitable consequence of production and consumption activities in any economy (Bennagen, M. E., 2002). Dumping of solid wastes in unauthorized places such as roadside, drains, and undeveloped piece of land leads to accumulation of solid wastes in the environment. Agricultural wastes are solid wastes that contribute to the amount of accumulated solid wastes in many parts of the world. The Philippines, which is considered as an agricultural country, contributes a large percentage of agricultural wastes in the world. The country contributes more than 10,000 tons of solid wastes per day (Bennagen, M. E., 2002).  This large amount of accumulated solid wastes contributes to problems such as flooding in urban areas, uncollected garbage, and inadequate disposal sites. The effects of accumulated solid wastes in the environment are becoming one of the major concerns of the country and worldwide.In the field of civil engineering, the effects of solid wastes on the hydration process of concrete have been investigated and the studies provided promising results (Okonkwo, 2012). Attempts have been made by various researchers to convert solid wastes to beneficial applications with high level of success in helping to reduce solid waste. Therefore, identifying analogous material from the waste products and using for beneficial application is an idea worth embracing.Eggshell is an agricultural waste that litters the environment. It is a common waste product in fast food, restaurants, and other food-related business establishments. This waste material was found out to be mainly composed of compounds of calcium. Eggshells are composed of 93.70% calcium carbonate, 4.20% organic matter, 1.30% magnesium carbonate, and 0.80% calcium phosphate (Rabiu A. and Mtallib M., 2009). Eggshell is primarily composed of calcium carbonate, which is the primary raw material in producing cement. This compound, which is naturally occurring and abundantly found in the Earth's crust, can also be found in bones, marbles, stalactites, and stalagmites. On the basis of the common compositional characteristics of cement and eggshells, heating or incineration of eggshells to produce eggshell ash and adding controlled amounts would significantly affect the properties of cement in its application to concrete.

Business Law and Ethics Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business Law and Ethics - Case Study Example According to my opinion, when the managers at the Ford Company knew the danger of the faulty fuel tanks in their newly designed products, then it is very much unethical to do any cost-benefit analysis. It seems that Ford wants to do a cost and benefit analysis in the replacement of many people who are anxious to buy the first Fort Pinto car. In this situation of Ford Pinto Case analysis, the cost and benefit analysis play the same role as we say the rule of profit maximization. The rule of profit maximization says the taking care of profits irrespective of anything else is similar that we may do a cost analysis when we are aware of the fact that there are human lives involved in the situation. The managers should do a detailed analysis on the design and features of the product before taking any final decision. If the product safety may fall short behind the ethical boundary then it will be difficult for the business to cover up the losses in the form of a bad image of the company in the market. The ethical issue in the Ford Pinto case study is the faulty fuel tanks in the newly launched product and the top management is fully aware of the faults. The top most ethical conflict was the rejection of the Incharge of Ford Pinto to adopt any additional cost of giving the safety measures in the product. The most affected stakeholders of this unethical act are the customers who are willing to buy the newly launched Ford Pinto. Including them, many other stakeholders are also affected by this decision of Ford.