The Vision of the Organization and Motivation Assignment - 1

The Vision of the Organization and Motivation - Assignment Example This paper illustrates that to get to an end result, there are basically two ways. The first way is to be pulled to the outcome by being inspired internally and the other way is to be pushed to the outcome either through external or internal motivation. It should be noted that there a massive difference between inspiration and motivation, very little are inspired. It is essential to consider about which of the above two makes for an improved, easier to attain outcome and which one is being used and why is it considered. The ways in which aims can be archived is what the vision tells. The most important step to success whether in personal or business growth is having a clear vision of the end result, it basically brings inspiration. Fears fade away, procrastination vanishes and confronts fall away. Vision should be of paramount importance, at least build a vision of short-term to utilize till the long-term vision turns out to be clearer. To define the visions work must be done in team s, if the end results are clearly stated then it is much easier to decide what steps to be taken. Vision is one of the most widely used terms in the companies. However, the companies do not understand it well because the leaders themselves are not able to understand the proper meaning of a vision. Moreover, the leaders also do not understand the real meaning and the importance of the word â€Å"vision†. However, there are also some strategic leaders who understand the importance of vision really well. This is because the vision helps the company and also guides the employees in moldings the company. Therefore, it is highly essential to clarify the meaning of the word â€Å"vision† to clearly communicate it to the employees. A vision should be based on reality and should be meaningful to an organization. For instance, if you are creating a vision for a PC software organization that has imprinted a small position in the marketplace creating instructional software and has successfully attained 2% share of the computer software marketplace, a vision to go beyond Microsoft and rule the computer software marketplace is not realistic.

Effects of Noise Pollution on Mental Health of Students Essay Example for Free

Effects of Noise Pollution on Mental Health of Students Essay It is interesting that noises emanating from the various types of roadways of today are still among the most important sources of environmental noise, even though the types of noise are not those that existed in Rome, Medieval Europe, or 18th century Philadelphia. Our modern roadways (including road, rail, and air) and the products of modern technology produce increasing levels of unwanted noise of varying types and intensities throughout the day and night that disturb sleep, concentration, and other functions. (Lee Fleming ) This noise affects us without our being consciously aware of it. Unlike our eyes, which we can shut to exclude unwanted visual input, we cannot voluntarily shut our ears to exclude unwanted auditory input. Our hearing mechanisms are always â€Å"on† even when we are asleep. (Babisch 113:A14-15) 3 The noise problems of the past pale in significance when compared with those experienced by modern city dwellers; noise pollution continues to grow in extent, frequency, and severity as a result of population growth, urbanization, and technological developments. For example, within the European Common Market, 65% of the population is exposed to unhealthy levels f transportation noise. (Carlos 318:1686-1689) In New York City, maximum noise levels measured 106 dB on subway platforms and 112 dB inside subway cars. These levels have the potential of exceeding recommended exposure limits given sufficient duration of exposure. (Gershon et al. 83:802-812) In 1991, it was estimated that environmental noise increased by 10% in the decade of the 1980’ s. ( Suter ) The 2000 United States Census found that 30% of Americans complained of noise and 11% found it to be bothersome. Among those who complained, noise was sufficiently bothersome to make nearly 40% want to change their place of residence. (U. S. Census Bureau, Housing and Economic Statistics Division. ) That noise pollution continues to grow in scope, variety, and magnitude is unquestioned; it is only the extent of the growth that remains unknown. In comparison to other pollutants, the control of environmental noise has been hampered by insufficient knowledge about its effects on humans and about dose-response relationships, but this seems to be changing as more research is carried out. However, it is clear that noise pollution is widespread and imposes long-term consequences on health. (Committee on Environmental Health, American Academy of Pediatrics) In 1971, 4 3a World Health Organization (WHO) working group concluded that noise is a major threat to human well-being. That assessment has not changed in the intervening 30-plus years; if anything, the threat has intensified. The various sounds in our environment (excluding all those sounds that arise in the workplace) to which we are exposed can be viewed as being either necessary (desirable) or unnecessary (undesirable). One might consider the sounds produced in and around our homes by garbage disposals, dishwashers, clothes washers and dryers, refrigerators, furnaces, air-conditioners, yard maintenance equipment, and the many other mechanized time and labor saving devices, which we all use and enjoy, as being necessary. We are exposed to the noise of radio, television, and related technologies; children are exposed to a wide variety of noisy toys. (Axelson Jerson 76:574-578) The noise of internal combustion engines (modulated by legally required mufflers), jet engines (modulated by improved design and by altered flight paths), and train horns at grade crossings (modulated by new Federal Quiet Zone rules), might all be considered necessary. There are numerous other such examples of machines or activities that produce sounds that are tolerated because they accompany a desired activity or they serve an important societal purpose, such as the sirens of emergency vehicles. But what about sounds that accompany an undesired activity, that have no societal importance, or that we consider unnecessary? What about the sounds produced by the so-called boom-cars that are roving, pulsating noise factories? What about the uncomfortable sound levels at concerts, in theaters, and public sporting events? What 5 about the noise of slow moving train horns in urbanized areas or the early morning sounds accompanying garbage collection? What about all the noise on our streets to which buses, trolley cars, car horns, car alarms, motorcycles, and un-muffled exhaust systems contribute? What about the risks to children from noisy toys and from personal sound systems? What about the noise of barking dogs, leaf blowers, and recreational vehicles? What about the noise of low flying aircraft? In general, sounds that we deem unwanted or unnecessary are considered to be noise. Our society is beset by noise, which is intrusive, pervasive, and ubiquitous; most important of all, it is unhealthy. Most reasonable people would agree that much of the environmental noise to which we are subjected serves no useful purpose and is therefore undesirable. The variety of noise polluting devices and activities is large and seems to be growing on a daily basis, although there is no consensus about what items are useful and desirable or noise polluting and unnecessary. Domestic tranquility is one of the six guarantees in the United States Constitution, a guarantee that is echoed in some form or other in every state Constitution. In 1972, the Noise Control Act was passed by Congress, declaring, â€Å"†¦it is the policy of the United States to promote an environment for all Americans free from noise that jeopardizes health and welfare. In 1974, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated that nearly 100 million Americans lived in areas where the daily average noise levels exceeded those identified as being safe. (Environmental Protection Agency) However, in 1982, the government abruptly terminated federal funding for the Office of Noise 6 Abatement and Control, the vehicle by which the public was to be protected from the adver se effects of noise. The lack of funds threw total responsibility for noise control to the states, which have had a spotty and generally poor record with respect to noise abatement. Shapiro ) Since the Act itself was not repealed, local and state governments may have been deterred from trying to regulate noise. Furthermore, failure to repeal the Act sent the message that noise was not an important environmental concern. As a result, in the United States, most police departments seem to be unwilling or unable to respond to noise-related problems in a way that provides any measure of genuine or timely control. Yet, in most cities, as noise pollution continues to grow some say as much as 6-fold in the past 15 years so do complaints about noise. Complaints to police and other officials about noise are among the most frequent complaints by residents in urban environments; in 1998, noise was the number one complaint to the Quality of Life Hotline in New York City. In 1996, the Federal Environmental Agency in Germany reported two out of three of its citizens had complained about excessive noise. (Bronzaft 2:1-8) The number of people exposed to unhealthy levels of noise in the United States is unquestionably greater than it was in 1974; the degree of oversight and control is unquestionably less. II. Research Body

The Nature of Perceived Ultimacy in Zen Buddhism Essay -- Philosophy

This paper will explore the question of how to understand the nature of perceived ultimacy in Zen Buddhism. This will be achieved through providing a justification for why this question should be of any interest and then hypothesizing about possible implications of the results. Next, the framework that is to be used in categorizing the core beliefs in Zen will be explained and made clear. After this description is complete the author will proceed to fit Zen Buddhism into this framework and will demonstrate that the Zen religion is no exception to the employed framework. Finally the author will describe the perceived ultimacy of Zen Buddhism. The topic of Zen Buddhism and understanding how it fits into a framework that was designed to describe and compare religions is important because religion has a major impact on the world and to be able to understand and â€Å"explore† what the world has to offer is an important aspect of existence as a human being. Some might wonder why Zen Buddhism is important when it is not a major religion in the United States, but perhaps that is the very reason it is so important to understand Zen Buddhism and to be able to describe it in a way that allows one to make comparisons with more familiar religions in a standardized framework. Zen Buddhism in particular is interesting in the setting of the United States because as Americans we have had little experience with Buddhism. Shunryu Suzuki related in the book Zen Mind, Beginners Mind, that Americans start Buddhism with a very pure mind, a beginners mind, which allows us to understand the Buddha’s teaching as he meant them to be understood (138). Suzuki also states in the book that because of this, hopefully, young Americans have the chance to fi... ...if he and the world were just created from nothingness (Suzuki 67), this too is a change in how humans normally experience the world. Wherever Zen Buddhism fits in exactly between secular and spiritual is hard to tell, and like Suzuki said perhaps Zen is a religion before religion and the appreciation of our original nature as strange as it might sound to us is even described as â€Å"unusual† to Suzuki himself (124). It is clear however that Zen fits into Young’s framework and perhaps with a beginner’s mind one can make use of this and find for themselves the answers to at least part of the questions about their own life. Bibliography Suzuki, Shunryu. Zen Mind, Beginners Mind. New York & Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1982. Young, William A. The World’s Religions Worldviews and Contemporary Issues. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc., 1995.

The Education of Little Tree Movie Review

In the movie, The Education of Little Tree, the young boy learns many of life†s most important lessons. Three of the lessons that I feel are most important are; â€Å"The Way†, how to learn from ones mistakes, and finding your secret place. In the personal evaluation that follows, I will discuss why I feel that these are such important lessons. Little Tree†s grandparents, with some help from Willow John, teach him â€Å"The Way [of the Cherokee]†. I feel that this is one of life†s most important lessons. Not necessarily the Cherokee way, but the way of life in general. This lesson help†s us to understand that things may not always work the way that we would like them to. In my eyes, this is because we do not, and never will, completely be in control of our lives. I believe that their is some power higher than ourselves that is in at least partial control of our lives. I also believe that this higher power, whether it be fate or God, helps guide us to a more complete life. To me life is a lesson in itself. It is all a learning experience to prepare us for the next life. One of my favorite parts of the story is when Little Tree†s grandparents pass on, they say â€Å"It has been good. I†ll see you soon. † They view death as a new beginning, not as an end. Throughout the movie, Little Tree is making mistakes and learning from them. I also think that this is a very important lesson in life. Making mistakes is part of life. Learning from them so that we don†t repeat the same mistakes again can be hard sometimes. This can be applied to the classroom in many ways. If you stay out late the night before a test instead of studying and do poorly on a test, the next time you should consider an alternative. One possibility is to find a way that let†s you go out and have fun, but come home early enough to study the material for the test. I think that the way Little Tree†s grandfather teaches him this lesson by letting him make mistakes instead of preventing them is the same way that a teacher or parents should teach children and students. If your parents or teachers don†t allow you to make mistakes, you will probably be less likely to learn the lesson. Even though they think they are doing a good job by preventing these mistakes from happening, the child or student may behave rebelliously toward this. Finding your secret place can help to teach you about yourself. In this lesson, Little Tree found his secret place was a place to go by himself. Everyone needs a place like this. Somewhere to be alone with your thoughts. In a way it helps you find yourself through self fulfillment. Little Tree learns about what interests him, the mysteries of his cultural background. This can be helpful in ones education. It helps you learn about what you would like to do with your life. It can give you direction. It is also important because no two people are exactly the same. Each person has a different style of learning. A person will get more out of their education if they are taught and learn in the style that applies to them. The lessons referred to in this paper are just a few that I believe are important in a persons education and in life in general. A persons education never stops, we all learn new lessons everyday. It is just ‘The Way† it is.

Personal Reflection and What You Have Learned From Field Experience

We had visit to an orphanage named Rumah Hope which located in Paramount Garden , Petaling Jaya on 2nd March. We entered the premises of the orphanage with a sense of exciting and strange, as more than 50 pairs of mischievous eyes peered at us, and we made our way to the kitchen. The event started with introduction among us . The activities followed with Goy singing two beautiful songs. His voice touched the chord of each one present in the room.It followed with fun games like ‘Ice and Water’ where all the kids as well as the team members had a gala time running around. We created various type of activities for the kids and we could feel the happiness from them. I was the photographer at the moment and of course , I took a lot of photos. By this time, everyone in the room was hungry to the core. The kids were provided with a sumptuous meal of KFC funded by the us.One important detail which could have been missed was the way the kids prayed before commencing their lunch w as a prayer which was led by a small yet sprightly Jason. The visit to the orphanage not only showed us the ugly truth about life, it also gave us something to look within ourselves , that we were blessed in our present circumstances. The experience was harsh, like a slap on the face and yet it the bright smiles on the faces of each and every child on that day did more than just lift their spirits and look at the brighter side of what we had done for the children.

Anthony Ng Architects Limited Essays

Anthony Ng Architects Limited Essays Anthony Ng Architects Limited Essay Anthony Ng Architects Limited Essay ANTHONY NG ARCHITECTS LIMITED: building towards a paperless future 2011 BSM920 Topics in Advanced Strategy Group D 8/6/2011 1. Introduction Since the 1970s, the architectural industry in Hong Kong enjoyed a brilliant growth as a result of real estate and stock market speculation. In 1996, the industry was very profit-oriented and time conscious, and heavy bureaucracy was one of the main characteristics of the market. The role of the government and others institutions such as the HKIA (Hong Kong Institute of Architects) are essential in the Hong Kong architectural industry. Anthony Ng is an architect from Hong Kong who started his own architectural practice in 1991 in Wan Chai. Thanks to his visionary and entrepreneurial leadership qualities, he succeeded in making Anthony Ng a practice able to deliver buildings on time while providing top designs. The firm has been selected for big projects such as the Verbana Heights and most recently the HK$ 12 billion new airport development project in Tung Chung. These big projects created new needs for the company in order to improve its performance. First the number of employees needed to be increased, but with that the management of information and communication also needed to be improved. Indeed, the number of persons involved in the project and so the number of documents needed to be forwarded, distributed and stored was consequent. A technological improvement of the communication system became a necessity; in 1997 Anthony Ng recognised the future potential of using a paperless system which would then improve the circulation of information and knowledge in the company. 2. Towards a paperless architectural practice Internal pressures Inhouse Transaction costs economics Physical storage of documents in the office of Anthony Ng was an important cost for the company. First of all, it was costing time as the tracking of the documents could take a certain amount of time depending on when they had been stored. Secondly, the storage space used for documents was big enough to fit 20 employees, and according on how the number of employees was growing throughout the years, the need for space will soon be a priority. Third, the documents filing required personal filing charges as well. Finally, the communication costs were not insignificant around 40 mails were getting in the office every day, documents needed to be photocopied too, and the communication between Anthony’s Ng employees and with clients were costing time and money. There were for Anthony Ng undeniable in-house transaction costs which needed to be reduced. The paperless strategy imagined by Anthony Ng implied a new document management system, which would then enable the firm to reduce the costs of personal filing. The room used by the central filing storage would disappear and allow the company to increase the number of employees. In the architectural industry and for Anthony Ng, the competitive advantage lie in the creativity and originality of the designs, but the main critical success factor is time. The market is very time conscious as mentioned before. A new document management system would enable Anthony Ng to save time on communication thanks to the use of emails, on documents tracking thanks to the web-browser. By improving their efficiency on the time delivery of project, the practice would avoid minor delays, granting Anthony Ng a competitive advantage, because in 1997 the technology was not widespread yet. External pressures Institutional Based View One of the external pressures was coming from the government which plays a huge role in the architectural industry of Hong Kong. The HKIA also plays a huge role as it is responsible for the governance of the professional conduct of architects by making them adhere to Code of Professional Conduct. These institutional pressures come with rules and norms (certification ISO 9000), so the organisations seek for legitimacy and survival by accommodating to institutional practices (Greenwood et al. 2008). In Anthony Ng case, the bases of the institutionalisation are both a coercive regulation and a cognitive internalization (Scott, 1995). The HKIA is an association which is using rewards and penalties to coerce architects into compliance with the standards they came up with = COERCIVE REGULATION On the other side the government is a national institution which encourage compliance as it is taken for granted as the way things are done (Oliver 1991, Shenkar 2002) = cognitive internalization To respond to these institutional pressures, Anthony Ng decides to use co-option strategies to cope with government pressures. Learning to deal with the Building department was an important aspect of the architectural industry, as it would help avoiding important delays and loss of contracts. Another aspect of the co-option strategies use by Anthony Ng was to adopt corporate social responsibility which is considered as a new institutional logic (Lee, 2008). In addition to standards building and attractive designs, Anthony Ng decided to work on eco friendly projects, which enabled the firm to won the highest honour from the HKIA. 3. Chaos The implementation of a paperless system was a change that would take place in a complex environment. When starting to use this new system Anthony Ng did not know the real outcome of this change, because there could have been many different effects that were largely unknown in advance. When the staff started using the paperless system, the organization could not assure that the change would increase the productivity of the company. Even though the costs of the company would reduce and the information was supposed to flow easily, what if the staff did not adapt to the new technologies or if the clients preferred face to face communication rather than emails? What if there was a problem with the system and the documents could not be sent? Anthony Ng adapted to the new change. This meant that also the agents (staff and clients) had to change their behavoiur and hence the behavior of the company changed as a whole. 4. Evolution The paperless system was an evolution for Anthony Ng. On one hand the nature of the change was incremental. They were already performing computer aided design and sharing peripherals. Moreover the use of internet and browser technology was becoming more usual. So at this point Anthony Ng decided to start planning a Intranet based document viewer and management system. On the other hand the extent of the change was a transformation, as the new system was going to change the way the company used to work, their communication system, their culture. This evolutionary change was necessary. Among the internal and external pressures mentioned before, we can find some pushing factors that motivated the change. One of these factors are the high inventory costs. With the implementation of the new system the physical storage of the documents was not longer be necessary, and this space could now be used for fitting more employees that would be necessary for working in future projects. Not only this personnel for taking care of the management of the physical document would not be necessary. Another factor is that with the new system the documents were going to be stored in an appropriate way. There would not be physical storage of the documents, instead the documents were going to be scanned, distributed and stored in the system and the hardcopy would be given a unique ID that cross-referenced the softcopy in the system. This way the retrieval and tracking of the documents would be much more systematic and efficient than the traditional paper-based filing. The need to share information internally was other of the pushing factors. Accessing Tung Chung, where Anthony Lg’s next project was taking place, was only possible by boat. Communicating with the staff working there and discussing necessary issues with them would be very time consuming. Therefore the intranet that was going to be implemented would enhance communication and make it more efficient. 5. Impact The implementation of the paperless system will have impact in many aspects of the organization. First of all there will be an impact in the communication patterns. From being paper based to online reliance. The possible good impact of this change is the enhancement of information’s delivery both internally externally and speeding up processes. A very probable bad impact would be avoiding face to face communication. There would also be a change in culture, in the way architecture was done. Now with all the electronic systems there was a fear that this could affect the way of working in a negative way, as there might be a lack of attention to details. There could also be a bad impact of resistance for the organization. As they might percieve this new systems as insecure, because they do not know it or maybe just because they preferred the traditional system. What is necessary to be done is to help adaptation with a good change manager, that maintains effective communication and involves employees in the change process. A good communication strategy, training programmes, and reward systems can help employees to adapt easier to the change and to be optimist and committed to it. Finally it should be necessary to improve security and follow the evolution process. 6. Conclusion Anthony Ng used an IT strategy in alignment with its business strategy. Indeed IT is very important in the knowledge based strategy of Anthony Ng. By using Henderson and Venkatraman’s strategic alignment model maps we can determine the relationship between the firm’s strategy and IT. Anthony Ng used technology transformation with the implementation of the new document management system to manage knowledge and communication inside the company. The change management became crucial to implement this new IT strategy because of the new organisational structure, new routines and new control structure that lead to a new paradigm thanks to the sharing of knowledge. References

Women of 1920 essays

Women of 1920 essays Becker, Susan D. and William Bruce Wheeler The New Woman of the 1920s: Image and Reality. Discovering the American Past, A Look at the Evidence. 4th ed. Vol. II. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998. The first part of the evidence (Sources 1 and 2) consists of excerpts from two best sellers: The Sheik and The Plastic Age. Both of these two sources are fiction but still portray the truth of these times in which they were written. In source 1, a young woman by the name of Diana Mayo is about to leave on a month-long journey through the desert. Lady Conway expresses her feelings of disapproval, by saying that Diana is behaving with a recklessness and impropriety that is calculated to cast a slur not only on her own reputation, but also on the prestige of her country. I feel that men and women should be treated equally. I believe that a woman should be able to do what she pleases to do in life. At this time in history, women were not accepted in that way though. Diana encounters a man that is begging her not to leave, but she clearly expresses that she has no love for the man. She says that marriage for a woman means the end of her independence, and that she has never obeye d anyone in her life and she does not intend to ever obey anyone. I do not believe that a woman loses her independence when getting married, unless she chooses to lose it. The second source is about a high school track star, Hugh Carver that is arriving for his freshman year at Sanford, an all-male college. He and some friends get caught up in fraternity life and begin to drink alcohol. One night he and his friend Carl get drunk and decide to go out on to the town, where two prostitutes tempted them. A football player prevents Hugh from going with these women of trash, but Carl goes along with them anyway. Carl and seven others are diagnosed with a venereal disease a few weeks later and then were expelled ...

Thomas Nast, Famous 19th Century Political Cartoonist

Thomas Nast, Famous 19th Century Political Cartoonist Thomas Nast is considered the father of modern political cartoons, and his satirical drawings are often credited with bringing down Boss Tweed, the notoriously corrupt leader of the New York City political machine in the 1870s. Besides his scathing political attacks, Nast is also largely responsible for our modern depiction of Santa Claus. And his work lives on today in political symbolism, as he is responsible for creating the symbol of the donkey to represent Democrats and the elephant to represent Republicans. Political cartoons had existed for decades before Nast began his career, but he elevated  political satire into an extremely  powerful and effective art form. And while Nast’s achievements are legendary, he is often criticized today for an intensely bigoted streak, especially in his depictions of Irish immigrants. As drawn by Nast, Irish arrivals to America’s shores were ape-faced characters, and there’s no obscuring the fact that Nast personally harbored a deep resentment toward Irish Catholics. Early Life of Thomas Nast Thomas Nast was born September 27, 1840, in Landau Germany. His father was a musician in a military band with strong political opinions, and he decided the family would be better off living in America. Arriving in New York City at the age of six, Nast first attended German language schools. Nast began to develop artistic skills in his youth  and aspired to be a painter. At the age of 15 he applied for a job as an illustrator at Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, a very popular publication of the time. An editor told him to sketch a crowd scene, thinking the boy would be discouraged. Instead, Nast did such a remarkable job that he was hired. For the next few years he worked for Leslie’s. He traveled to Europe where he drew illustrations of Giuseppe Garibaldi, and returned to America just in time to sketch events around the first inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, in March 1861. Nast and the Civil War In 1862 Nast joined the staff of Harper’s Weekly, another very popular weekly publication. Nast began to portray Civil War scenes with great realism, using his artwork to consistently project a pro-Union attitude. A devoted follower of the Republican Party and President Lincoln, Nast, during some of the darkest times of the war, portrayed scenes of heroism, fortitude, and support for the soldiers on the home front. In one of his illustrations, â€Å"Santa Claus In Camp,† Nast portrayed the character of St. Nicholas dispensing gifts to Union soldiers. His depiction of Santa was very popular, and for years after the war Nast would draw an annual Santa cartoon. Modern illustrations  of Santa are  largely based on how Nast drew him. Nast is often credited with making serious contributions to the Union war effort. According to legend, Lincoln referred to him as an effective recruiter for the Army. And Nast’s attacks on General George McClellan’s attempt to unseat Lincoln in the election of 1864 was no doubt helpful to Lincoln’s reelection campaign. Following the war, Nast turned his pen against President Andrew Johnson and his policies of reconciliation with the South. Nast Attacked Boss Tweed In the years following the war the Tammany Hall political machine in New York City controlled the city government’s finances. And William M. â€Å"Boss† Tweed, leader of â€Å"The Ring,† became a constant target of Nast’s cartoons. Besides lampooning Tweed, Nast also gleefully attacked Tweed allies including the notorious robber barons, Jay Gould and his flamboyant partner Jim Fisk. Nast’s cartoons were astoundingly effective as they reduced Tweed and his cronies to figures of ridicule. And by portraying their misdeeds in cartoon form, Nast made their crimes, which included bribery, larceny, and extortion, understandable to nearly anyone. There is a legendary story that Tweed said he didn’t mind what the newspapers wrote about him, as he knew many of his constituents wouldn’t fully comprehend complicated news stories. But they could all understand the â€Å"damned pictures† showing him stealing bags of money. After Tweed was convicted and escaped from jail, he fled to Spain. The American consul provided a likeness which helped to find and capture him: a cartoon by Nast. Bigotry and Controversy An enduring criticism of Nast’s cartooning was that it perpetuated and spread ugly ethnic stereotypes. Looking at the cartoons today, there is no doubt that depictions of some groups, particularly Irish Americans, are vicious. Nast seemed to have had a deep distrust of the Irish, and he was certainly not alone in believing that Irish immigrants could never fully assimilate into American society. As an immigrant himself, he was obviously not opposed to all new arrivals in America. Later Life of Thomas Nast In the late 1870s Nast seemed to hit his peak as a cartoonist. He had played a role in taking down Boss Tweed. And his cartoons depicting Democrats as donkeys in 1874 and Republicans as elephants in 1877 would became so popular that we still use the symbols today. By 1880 Nast’s artwork was in decline. New editors at Harper’s Weekly sought to control him editorially. And changes in printing technology, as well as increased competition from more newspapers that could print cartoons, presented challenges. In 1892 Nast launched his own magazine, but it was not successful. He faced financial difficulties when he secured, through the intercession of Theodore Roosevelt, a federal post as a consular official in Ecuador. He arrived in the South American country in July 1902, but contracted yellow fever and died on December 7, 1902, at the age of 62. Nast’s artwork has endured, and he considered one of the great American illustrators of the 19th century.

Counter Terrorism and Security Management Case Study

Counter Terrorism and Security Management - Case Study Example ck, it precipitated the dramatic reorganization at all levels that resulted in the institutionalization of Homeland Security, thus the formation of the DHS (Bullock, Haddow & Cappola, 2012). It has the following three concepts as the foundation for the comprehensive approach to homeland security. They include customs and exchange, resilience and security. The US and its allies later became embroiled in two very significant wars that pitted Afghanistan and Iraq so as to try and dismember the operations of Osama bin Laden and other terrorist organizations. Conflict ensued when the US military invaded Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan to flush the out terrorist groups. This led to the declaration of Global War on terrorism (Khandagh, 2012). This action blocked the air tube to terror bases of Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The significant step made by the DHS is the disruption of an attempt to detonate Flight 253. However the most significant action was the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden in the year 2011 and other established members of his organization. The government of the U.S.A has too much concentration on terrorism, while natural disasters are taking toll on the safety of the public and economic security. Floods, wildfires, and drought impacted the nation in 2011. This necessitated the DHS to strike partnerships with other partners thu s striking a balance between various hazards and searching for commonalities that exist between the hazard mitigation, response preparedness, and adopting an all-hazards approach to homeland security. Since the 9/11 attack, the DHS has made significant progress in how it responds to a wide range of threats from natural disasters to coordinated attacks. It has attained this through: establishment and improvement of unified incident command system; enhancement of emergency communication and improvement of interoperability; building of biological, radiological, and nuclear preparedness and response measures; private sector preparedness

Compare and contrast Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Compare and contrast - Essay Example In Sonny’s Blues, the narrator laments about the darkness and hopelessness in his community, which were traits that existed in his ancestor’s communities and still continue to trouble youth in his generation. Sonny’s brother weeps for the boys of his community because they use heroin and other drugs, yet it seems that they are pushed into drug-taking and selling simply because other prospects for success do not exist. As he rides through the streets of Harlem, he finds history repeating itself through the youth of his time; it is almost as if black people have no hope but to resign to their fate. Likewise, Barton Fink also lives in a world where he can do little to change his circumstances; initially he seemed like a successful playwright, in charge of his world. However, when his agent informs him of an opportunity to transition into film by working in Hollywood, Fink jumps at the opportunity. Little does he know that once he signs the contract, he will be entra pped in the highly demanding, yet unforgiving world of filmmaking. Barton is frustrated when he dances and celebrates about completing his script, only to realize that his boss Lipnick thinks it is too rosy to be any good. The Capital Pictures owner then decides that he will punish Barton by keeping him in the studio even though none of Barton’s films will be produced there. Therefore, the budding writer must honor terms of his contract without necessarily gaining from them materially or professionally, so he is entrapped by the employment system. Writing films is a flaky affair, where writers surrender themselves to the whims of their eccentric employers; most of them may hold a lot of promise but may never realize it when they get into the wrong deal (Dunne 308). If something minor occurs, it is likely that those same individuals will get blamed for it, and everything else that

Communication in the digital economy , Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Communication in the digital economy , - Essay Example It is the management’s ability to build and maintain flourishing association with their target consumers. External factors involve both opportunities and threats which change continuously with the changing environmental factors (accenture.com, 2010). In addition, marketing environment consists of the actors and forces outside marketing that affect marketing management’s ability to build and maintain successful relationships with target customers. The marketing environment offers both opportunities and threats. The environment continues to change rapidly. The marketing environment is composed of Micro-environment and Macro-environment. Micro environment includes actors which are close to the company. These include customer markets, suppliers, advertising mediators, competitors and community. The Macro environment constitutes several other factors which are basically the larger communal forces that influence the micro environment. These forces are: demographic, economic, natural, technological, political and cultural forces. The transformation in the business environment is due to many reasons. Some of them are discussed keeping in view the automobile industry (Jain & R. K. Garg, 2011). 1. Demographic shifts Due to increase in population and urbanization, there has been a steady change in demographic factors. These factors affect market demand and consequently supply as well. With the change in the target market, the company has to maneuver its strategies accordingly. Customers desire newer, superior products at a lower price. The company’s primary target market is young men aged between 20 years and 30 years. These men are most likely having a couple of part-time jobs that put them in a better position to finance the cost of their cars. The main reason for targeting young men in their 20s is that they like to show off flashy cars. 2. Technological development and Innovation It is compulsive for organizations to keep up with the pace of techn ology. These changes in technology affect the mechanism in which the products are made and also the way in which they recruit and eventually their business culture. Invention of Smartphones has increased communication while social media have made it possible to reach target audience in a more convenient and effective way (Root et al., 2012). 3. Changing Global and Economical setup Due to recessions in the economy, there has been a market intervention approach, which has increased the coordination and dependency between public and private sector. Considering the prices of car specifically Prestige Auto-serve has segmented their cars in two categories which are luxury cars and super luxury cars. Both of these categories are focused specifically to the elite class of the society. The company sells prestigious cars including Mercedes, BMW, and Audi. It as well offers a couple of services including servicing cars, driving lessons, insurance services and financial services (Corwin et al., 2012). 4. Increased competition Due to the certain reasons, like increased valuation, customer awareness and competition, companies are required to venture into new markets, adopt new techniques, and formulate innovative strategies to gain that competitive edge which will make them stand out. If new businesses want to emerge as more compatible than it should have innovative ideas

Methodism is described as being born in song; discuss the role of Essay

Methodism is described as being born in song; discuss the role of hymnody in the theology and practice of Methodism - Essay Example Young John was travelling to Georgia as a preacher when a big storm struck the ship, threatening the lives of the travellers. While most of them including John were worried about the prospect, a group of German Moravian Christians sat calmly through the whole period singing devotional songs (Galli et al 2000). In the end the whole party arrived safely in the United States, but it appears that the calm faith of the Moravians, their devotion, and their singing had an impact of John Wesley. This could have been one of the reasons why John brought in the concept of hymnody into the prayers of the Methodist Church. Other authors also share this belief regarding the role of hymnody in Wesley’s and the Methodist Churches’ reliance on songs. The book, ‘A panorama of Christian hymnody’ states that his contact with the German priests also inspired him to learn their language and to translate many of the German hymns into English (Routkey & Richardson 2005). This ferv ent hymn by John Wesley is an indication of his deep rooted belief in the power of songs in prayer. â€Å"O for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemer’s praise, The Glories of my God and King. The Triumphs of His Grace† (Wilkinson 1992). The use of the words ‘a thousand tongues’ and ‘sing’ is indicative of this core belief of the Methodist church as founded by Wesley. As mentioned earlier, the Wesley brothers practiced an evangelical form of preaching and began to use hymn books in their weekly gatherings usually in homes and other areas not belonging to the church (Creamer 1848). There are also reports that this practice along with audience participation came in for extensive criticism from many quarters in England during that time. But his practice of Friday gatherings in order to sing the praise of the Lord began to be noticed and many other communities began

MGMT 483 U5 IP IDP Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

MGMT 483 U5 IP IDP - Research Paper Example The first step in creating IDPs involves a rigorous brainstorming exercise that identifies the level of excellence in one’s current career, and consultation with one’s supervisor for effective guidance. Brainstorming should highlight the areas that exhibit poor performance, and potential ways of improvement. An individual should also consider the available opportunities that if utilized can help in personal development. Such opportunities include, but are not limited to available training and empowerment programs within the workplace. It is critical to highlight opportunities of formal education, such as further education that an individual registers interest in. After brainstorming, one should organize the ideas into goals, according to priorities (Jacobson, 2014). The most critical aspect of the creation of IDPs is the definition of strong goals. They should be specific, measurable, relevant, within an attainable reach, and bound by timelines. For example, one would h ighlight acquiring additional management skills through attending seminars in the next three months. The defined goals should conform to organizational objectives, and should highlight the required competencies, resources and time. An individual should also identify the available options for development, which may range from formal education, experiential learning, lessons from a coach or mentor and participation in group projects (Falcone, 2011). After the creation of an IDP, an individual should present it to the supervisor or mentor for final refining. An effective evaluation framework for assessing the success of the individual in the sectors highlighted should be developed. Evaluation seeks to establish whether IDPs presented any impact on the level of performance of the individual in the career, and other aspects of personal development. The evaluator should assess each aspect highlighted in the IDP, since all

Madeleine Leininger -transcultural nursing theory model Research Paper

Madeleine Leininger -transcultural nursing theory model - Research Paper Example major reason leading her to forming the theory was her clinical specialist caring experience with children who were mildly disturbed and came from varied backgrounds (Allauigan, 2011). Factors like lack of doctor support, inadequate training, work burden and severity of illness of patients lead to elevated stress levels of nurses, which in turn leads to improper care of patients. Positive attitude results from holistic nursing approach, older age, and support, but negativity results from the load of work on the nurse (Kluit & Goosesns, 2011). The research will add to the literature of nursing theories. The research will aim at understanding a direct relationship between high levels of stress at work environment and the elevated negativity of attitude due to the stress. Keeping the theory of Trans-cultural nursing theory, it will also address the correlation that the negativity of attitude from nurses has on the recovery of children. The research will aim at the effects that cultural diversity has on the recovery rate of children, allowing for nurses to cater for those factors to aid in recovery. Allauigan, D. (2011). Theory Development and Historical Background. Leininger’s Theory of Culture Care. Retrieved January 1, 2013. Available at: http://nursingtheories.blogspot.com/2011/07/leiningers-theory-of-culture-care.html Kluit, V.D & Gossesns, (2011). Factors influencing attitudes of nurses in general health care toward patients with comorbid mental illness: an integrative literature review. Issues Ment Health Nurs. 32(8):519-27. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21767254. Abstract Retrieved at January 1, 2013. Sitzman, K., & Eichelberger, L.W., (2012). Madeleine Leininger’s Culture Care: Diversity and Universality Theory. Understanding the Work of Nurse Theorists, A Creative Beginning. Jones and Bartlett Publishers:

MGMT 483 U5 IP IDP Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

MGMT 483 U5 IP IDP - Research Paper Example The first step in creating IDPs involves a rigorous brainstorming exercise that identifies the level of excellence in one’s current career, and consultation with one’s supervisor for effective guidance. Brainstorming should highlight the areas that exhibit poor performance, and potential ways of improvement. An individual should also consider the available opportunities that if utilized can help in personal development. Such opportunities include, but are not limited to available training and empowerment programs within the workplace. It is critical to highlight opportunities of formal education, such as further education that an individual registers interest in. After brainstorming, one should organize the ideas into goals, according to priorities (Jacobson, 2014). The most critical aspect of the creation of IDPs is the definition of strong goals. They should be specific, measurable, relevant, within an attainable reach, and bound by timelines. For example, one would h ighlight acquiring additional management skills through attending seminars in the next three months. The defined goals should conform to organizational objectives, and should highlight the required competencies, resources and time. An individual should also identify the available options for development, which may range from formal education, experiential learning, lessons from a coach or mentor and participation in group projects (Falcone, 2011). After the creation of an IDP, an individual should present it to the supervisor or mentor for final refining. An effective evaluation framework for assessing the success of the individual in the sectors highlighted should be developed. Evaluation seeks to establish whether IDPs presented any impact on the level of performance of the individual in the career, and other aspects of personal development. The evaluator should assess each aspect highlighted in the IDP, since all

PsychologyTransacial Adoption Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

PsychologyTransacial Adoption - Essay Example These figures have grown substantially since those days and are likely to increase in the future. Evidently, such major sociological phenomenon could not but attract the attention of scholarly community. Research has covered the issues of ethnocentric bias, adjustment of adopted children, appearance discomfort, but largely focused on the problem of racial and cultural identity formation. The debate revolving around the question of whether White American parents should adopt children of different racial background was fueled by a position paper issued by the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW). Simon and Alstein (1977) clearly expressed the negative attitude of the Association toward the problem of transracial adoption labeling the placement of African American children - the most widespread group of children waiting for adoption in the U.S. - with the Caucasian families as 'cultural genocide' (p. 202). The NABSW's attitude toward transracial adoption was brilliantly illustrated by the following statement: " Black children should be placed only with Black familie s for adoption. Black children belong, physically, psychologically and culturally in Black families in order they receive the total sense of themselves and develop a sound protection of their future The socialization process for every child begins at birth. Included in the socialization process is the child's cultural heritage which is an important segment of the total process. This must begin at the earliest moment; otherwise [Black] children will not have the background and knowledge which is necessary to survive in a racist society. This is impossible if the child is placed with White parents in a White environment" (Simon & Alstein, 1977: 50) Although the NABSW position expressed three decades ago was made in a seriously different environment characterized by higher degree of interracial tensions some of the key arguments on which it relied did not become outdated. Thus, several relatively recent studies have demonstrated that African American families are likely to have difficulties preparing their children to succeed in the U.S. society characterized by the residuals of racist attitudes toward representatives of the minorities. Racial messages from the authorities, lower expectations at school, and prejudiced attitude from the low-enforcement officers are often listed among the most essential factors of influence in this regard (Bradley, 1998; Robinson & Ginter, 1999; Tatum, 1997). Presently, the views expressed by the scholars and child support organizations regarding the issue of transracial adoption gradually shift toward a more positive stance. Thus, the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) that includes more than 400 Canadian and American child advocacy organizations believes that racial background and ethnicity do play an essential role in socialization of a child: a family of the same racial or ethnic background is preferable for a child in terms of developing a set of effective strategies to cope with the racist attitudes still adopted by many American citizens. However, the NACAC also believes that

The study of design research methodology Essay Example for Free

The study of design research methodology Essay Abstract Studies on design research methodology are infrequent, although there is a consensus that more e ort is needed for improving design research quality. Previous calls for exercising better research methodology have been unsuccessful. As numerous studies reveal, there is no single scienti c methodology that is exercised in science or in any other research practice. Rather, research methodologies are socially constructed. Since some constructions are better than others for di erent purposes, it becomes valuable to study di erent methodologies and their in uence on research practice and results. Proposals for such studies are overed. 1 The state of design research methodology In many disciplines, research methodology is seldom discussed by researchers. Such neglect may result from several attitudes towards research methodology including indi erence or ignorance. Researchers may be indi erent because their research is well received by the community therefore they need not change or worry about it; or researchers may perceive their practice as science and wish to adopt as their methodology what they perceive to be the methodology used by scientists, henceforth referred to as the received scienti c methodology. Roughly, the received scienti c methodology consists  of several steps: (1) observations or preliminary studies, (2) hypothesis formation, (3) hypothesis testing, (4) hypothesis evaluation, and (5) hypothesis acceptance or rejection. It is asserted that results of research discovered by this methodology lead to applied research and subsequently, to practical impact. In contrast to this assertion, it is proclaimed that the goal of this methodology is to advance knowledge for its own sake and not address practical needs nor be responsible for delivering practical results. Most researchers would rarely question this methodology, but since it is impossible to follow or even hard to approximate, researchers who would claim to have adopted it, would not practice it.  Indi erence may be caused by ignorance; often researchers are not familiar with the details  of, and the controversies about, the received scienti c methodology. They are unaware of the alternatives of this methodology that we brie y mention later, their practice, and consequences. In fact, most researchers interpret methodology as a fancy synonym for method, while methodology is (or attempts to approximate) a compatible collection of assumptions and goals underlying methods, the methods, and the way the results of carrying the methods out are interpreted and evaluated. The ability to validate the attainment of research assumptions and goals through the evaluations is a critical factor in making the above collection compatible. The di erence in meanings assigned to the term methodology can be illustrated through an example from structural optimization. One research method of structural design involves the development of optimization procedures and their testings on benchmark problems. Most researchers will call this method \research methodology. However, the assumptions underlying such work (e.g., that optimization is a good model of structural design) and its testing (e.g., that simple benchmark problems are representatives of the complex structural designs performed by designers), or the believe that such research advances practice (e.g., that designers use optimization programs developed in research and that designers practice bene ts from them), are rarely articulated thus  rarely validated. If these issues would be addressed, the conclusions would probably contradict those implicit assumptions. First, independent of any discipline, optimization is a very restricted view of design (even with respect to Simons (1981) restricted view). Second, results obtained on simple benchmark problems do not necessarily transfer to real design problems nor do they re ect performance on other benchmark problems (Haftka and Sobieski, 1992); simple benchmark comparisons provide little understanding of the relative merit of di erent optimization procedures (Burns, 1989). Third, practitioners are very reluctant to use optimization procedures (Adelman, 1992; Haftka and Sobieski, 1992). This reluctance contradicts the implicit or stated research goals of improving structural design practice. Indi erence or ignorance towards research methodology relieve researchers from addressing such contradictions or exercising informed choices between methodologies in their research. Many researchers simply follow the method of their close senior peers without questioning or even knowing the assumptions that underlie it. In most cases, only the method|the actual research activity|is transferred to research apprentices. Thus, driven by social proximity, research assumptions become part of the implicit unarticulated research culture. Infrequently, this state of a airs had called the attention of researchers. In 1987, two representative papers critical of the state of design research practice were published, one by Antonsson (1987) and the other by Dixon (1987). Both papers advocated adopting the scienti c methodology in design research either for improving research quality or for improving design practice. These and other related papers elicit almost no response from the research community. Since their publication, the state of design research methodology has remained virtually unchanged. Such reaction raises at least two questions: what may have caused this response and if this is an expected reaction, is the state of research methodology worth additional discussions? Two plausible answers that originate from two di erent interpretations of Dixon and Antonssons papers justify further discussions. First, Dixon and Antonssons positions may have been interpreted as criticizing the intellectual de ciency of research and demanding from researchers to exercise a methodology di erent from the one they actually use and one that requires additional e ort. In particular, the methodology Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design, 1995, in press  proposed demanded researchers to seriously test their hypotheses. It might have been expected that such requests would be opposed to or, worst, be ignored. Second, researchers who are familiar with current views in the philosophy of science may have treated Dixon or Antonssons positions as being too simpli ed if they interpreted these positions as advocating for the received scienti c view. Since the stated goal of science is creating knowledge for the sake of knowing, but not necessarily knowledge that is relevant to practice, the received scienti c methodology may hinder improving practice by detaching the products of research ( i.e., design theories) from actual practice (Argyris, 1980; Reich, 1992). According to this interpretation and its limitation, previous calls for improving research methodology could not have impacted design practice even if researchers had adopted them. If design practice is indeed a goal of design research, di erent methodologies may be needed to establish a connection between research and practice (Reich et al, 1992; Reich, 1994a; Reich, 1994b). These methodologies can evolve in various ways including studying researchers activities and the way these activities correlate with research progress, thereby identifying the relationships between di erent assumptions, methods, and consequences. I have no intention to select between these two interpretations or to develop others but to explain how to improve research practice without assuming a xed methodology. To start with, we must acknowledge that there are di ering views about scienti c methodology (Kourany, 1987). In addition, we must  acknowledge studies on science and technology demonstrating that scienti c progress is in uenced by social, cultural, and political factors. Researchers in various sciences are increasingly acknowledging that knowledge is socially constructed (Pickering, 1992), and knowledge of design, in particular (Konda et al, 1992; Monarch et al, 1993). Moreover, the social in uence on research practice includes aspects such as: shaping research goals according to available grants or unarticulated interests; publishing papers to receive tenure or to justify traveling to conferences; and fraud (Bell, 1992; Broadbent, 1981). The rst studies on the social dimensions of science analyzed the progress of the \hard sciences such as chemistry or physics (Feyerabend, 1975; Kuhn, 1962). More recently, historical or re ective studies in science and engineering have begun addressing the social aspects underlying research and the need for di erent methodologies if practical impact is sought. These disciplines include: management science (Argyris, 1980), education (Guba, 1990), public policy (Palumbo and Calista, 1990), information systems (Bjerknes et al, 1987), cell biology (Grinnell, 1982), design in general (Broadbent, 1981), structural design (Addis, 1990; Timoshenko, 1953), solid mechanics (Bucciarelli and Dworsky, 1980), and even mathematics (DeMillo et al, 1979). Moreover, the social aspects manifested themselves in unexpected circumstances and in resolving seemingly trivial issues such as the implementation of computer arithmetic (MacKenzie, 1993)|the most basic infrastructure for much engineering design re search and practice. The importance of the aforementioned studies is twofold. First, they reject the received scienti c view as the means for formulating theories and as a means for improving practice. Second, they acknowledge and demonstrate that research methodology is a subject of study and constant improvement, and that gaining insight into the procedures of doing research can improve research itself. Since science is a social enterprise, the study of research methodology is mandatory for providing guidance in the maze of methodologies and in monitoring the quality of research. In order to sustain credibility, researchers must use and demonstrate that the techniques they develop in design research have some relevance to practice. Moreover, since funding  agencies Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design, 1995, in  press researchers to work towards improving design practice (National Research Council, 1991), researchers need to understand what kinds of studies are useful in practice, how are such studies conducted within budget limits, and which factors account for the di usion of studies results into practical engineering. 2 Studying research methodology Researchers may nd it fruitful to study: the objectives or goals of engineering design research; how can these objectives be ful lled through research; how can progress towards research goals be tested; and how can this overall process be improved. Such study will evolve a repository of methods with their assumptions, interpretations, successes and failures. This is the essence of studying engineering design research methodology. This view does not advocate for nor lead to anarchy. Furthermore, the evolving nature of methodology does not empty the usefulness of some principles for evaluating scienti c theories (e.g., such as those acknowledged even by Kuhn, 1987), nor does it mean that methodology is merely an art (Beveridge, 1957) that is not amenable to systematic study. It only acknowledges that the assumptions underlying methodologies and their potential e ectiveness and drawbacks for conducting certain types of research projects must be studied. We now illustrate the study of research methodology by elaborating some issues related to Antonssons six-step methodology (1987, p. 154). Each of the steps raises issues that need further study. These issues are not startling; some are familiar while others are not. Unfortunately, most of them are neglected all too often. (1),(2) Propose/hypothesize that a set of rules for design can elucidate part of the design process and develop those rules. Several questions arise about the actual execution of this activity. What is a good source of such rules? Are (un)successful designs (Petroski, 1989; Suh, 1990), patents previously issued (Arciszewski, 1988) or design textbooks (Aguirre and Wallace, 1990) good sources? Is studying human designers useful (Subrahmanian, 1992)? The answer is obviously a rmative; nevertheless, rarely are these sources consulted. If studying human designers is useful, how do di erent ways of studying a ect the usefulness of the rules hypothesized? Inarguably, such studies bring to bear research methods from psychology and sociology into play in design research. For example, how are designers activities being coded in observational studies? Is the coding scheme tested for reliability by using at lease two coders? Are the results statistically valid? Which criteria may be used for selecting candidate hypotheses for further testing? Can the subjective bias in th is selection be reduced? Note that the above questions raise a related question. Consider trading the quality of the design rules proposed with the resources to nd them. What kind of information is needed for making a sensible trade o and how can this information be collected and organized? (3) Have novice designers learn the rules and apply them. How is the above learning process taking place? Are the designers being taught thus introducing teachers bias? Or do they learn the rules on their own, potentially by solving Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design, 1995, in press  other design problems, thereby excluding the exercise of some measure of control? How are problems selected such that novice designers can solve them yet such that they are relevant to real practice. For that matter, how relevant is any laboratory experiment to real design? This critical question leads researchers in other disciplines as well as in design to use different  methods such as ethnography and participatory research while studying designers. See (Reich et al, 1992; Subrahmanian, 1992; Reich, 1994a) for additional details. Are benchmark problems used by di erent researchers to allow for the replication of results? Is performance on benchmark problems indicative of performance on other problems or on real design? Is it possible to replicate results relevant to real design? Can rules for multidisciplinary design be hypothesized and tested in the same manner? If the common view of science is adopted, this study must be controlled to be valid. One minimal requirement is that another group of designers participate in the study, potentially novice designers that did not study the new design rules. Note, however, that since the rst group of novice designers are trained with the new rules, the second group must receive similar training with default or irrelevant rules. Furthermore, members of the groups must not know which group was trained with the new rules. A better study may also include two groups of expert designers, one that learns the rules and another that learns the default rules. The latter may prov ide better indication about the relative merit of the new design rules with respect to existing design practice. In contrast, if the study follows a di erent methodology such as participatory research (Reich et al, 1992; Whyte, 1991), the nature of the study would change signi cantly into long-term case studies where real design problems are addressed. Exercising common scienti c methods in this methodology may damage research (Blumberg and Pringle, 1983). (4) Measure the design productivity of the rules. How is productivity being measured? Which criteria are included in the measurement: quality of design, time to design, or revenue of manufacturer? Do the measures used adhere to the principles of measurement theory (Roberts, 1979; Reich, 1995), or are they ad hoc and meaningless? Do independent designers than those who created the designs, or do potential customers, participate in this measurement?  Can the quality of design be assessed without manufacturing it and subjecting it to actual use? How relevant will abstract measurements be to practical  design? Is the measurement quantitative or is qualitative information being gathered as well? (5) Evaluate the results to con rm or refute the hypothesis. How is the measured data evaluated? What are the criteria that determine whether a hypothesis was con rmed or refuted? Are these criteria general or context dependent? Note that most philosophers of science including Popper and Kuhn reject the existence of such criteria (Weimer, 1979). Are the criteria correlated with real design? That is, could not researchers nd designers successfully employing design rules that were refuted by researchers? For example, Fritts et al. (1990, p. 478) describe engineers using theories that produce erroneous results with respect to experiments but that have a pragmatic utility of di erentiating between candidate designs. Are hypotheses really refuted or con rmed or are di erent hypotheses found to be useful Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design, 1995, in press  in different contexts? When is it possible to disregard experimental evidence in favor of keeping a hypothesis (Agassi, 1975)? When can experiments be harmful to progress (Truesdell, 1982)? Does a failure of a hypothesis constitute a failure of a research project or can it provide useful information worth reporting? Will archival journals publish such a report? (6) Re ne the hypothesis. The comments on items (1) and (2) apply here. Moreover, How does one diagnose a faulty hypothesis to accommodate empirical testing? When is re nement insu cient to address the failure of a hypothesis and a new \worldview must be adopted? The above expansion of Antonssons proposal re ects the complexity, richness, and necessity of studying research methodology. It illustrates that the design of a research activity is complex and di cult. It hints that  some activities that lead to research successes may fail other research and that some activities may not be compatible with some methodologies. Furthermore, research failure s (OR SUCCESSES) can lead to practical successes (or failures). Therefore, it is critical to identify where methods fail or succeed and in relation to which assumptions. Summary Science does not progress according to a distinctive methodology, nor could engineering design research; especially not if the goal is advancing design practice and not some abstract `understanding. Di erent research scenarios consisting of di erent goals, disciplines, and cultural settings, may call for di erent research methodologies for attaining the stated goals. Research involves design and therefore design researchers must be re ective continuously. This paper illustrated how researchers can be re ective upon their research methodology. If researchers object to such re ection, they risk losing credibility and, more importantly, lose the chance of discovering whether their work is meaningful. Acknowledgments The ideas expressed in this paper bene ted from discussions with Suresh Konda, Sean Levy, Shoulamit Milch-Reich, Ira Monarch, and Eswaran Subrahmanian. This work was done partly while the author was with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC. and the Engineering Design Research Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. References Addis, W. (1990). Structural Engineering: The Nature of Theory and Design, Ellis Horwood, New York NY. Adelman, H. M. (1992). \Experimental validation of the utility of structural optimization. Structural Optimization, 5(1-2):3{11. Agassi, J. (1975). Sciene in Flux, D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht. Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design, 1995, in press  Aguirre, G. J. and Wallace, K. M. (1990). \Evaluation of technical systems at the design stage. In Proceedings of The 1990 International Conference on Engineering Design, ICED-90 (Dubrovnik). Antonsson, E. K. (1987). \Development and testing of hypotheses in engineering design research. ASME Journal of Mechanisms, Transmissions, and Automation in Design, 109:153{154. Arciszewski, T. (1988). \ARIZ 77: An innovative design method. Design Methods and Theories, 22(2):796{ 820. Argyris, C. (1980). Inner Contradictions of Rigorous Research, Academic Press, New York, NY. Bell, R. (1992). Impure Science: Fraud, Compromise, and Political In uence in Scienti c Research, Wiley, New York, NY. Beveridge, W. I. B. (1957). The Art of Scienti c Investigation, Norton, New York, NY, Revised edition. Bjerknes, G., Ehn, P., and Kyng, M., editors (1987). Computers and Democracy: A Scandinavian Challenge, Gower Press, Brook eld, VT. Blumberg, M. and Pringle, C. D. (1983). \How control groups can cause loss of control in action research: The case of Rushton Coal Mine. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 19(4):409{425. Broadbent, G. (1981). \The morality of designing. In Design: Science: Method, Proceedings of The 1980 Design Research Society Conference, pages 309{328, Westbury House, Guilford, England. Bucciarelli, L. L. and Dworsky, N. (1980). Sophie Germain: An Essay in the History of Elasticity, D. Reidel, Dordrecht, Holland. Burns, S. A. (1989). \Graphical representations of design optimization processes. Computer-Aided Design, 21(1):21{24. DeMillo, R. A., Lipton, R. J., and Perlis, A. J. (1979). \Social processes and proofs of theorems and programs. Communication of the ACM, 22:271{280. Dixon, J. R. (1987). \On research methodology towards a scienti c theory of engineering design. Arti cial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing, 1(3):145{157. Feyerabend, P. K. (1975). Against Method, New Left Books, London, UK. Fritts, M., Comstock, E., Lin, W.-C., and Salvasen, N. (1990). \Hydro-numeric design: Performance prediction and impact on hull design. Transactions SNAME, 98:473{493. Grinnell, F. (1982). The Scienti c Attitude, Westview Press, Boulder, CO. Guba, E. G., editor (1990). The Paradigm Dialog, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA. Haftka, R. T. and Sobieski, J. (1992). \Editorial: The case for helping consumers of research. Structural Optimization, 4(2):63{64. Konda, S., Monarch, I., Sargent, P., and Subrahmanian, E. (1992). \Shared memory in design: A unifying theme for research and practice. Research in Engineering Design, 4(1):23{42. Kourany, J. A., editor (1987). Scienti c Knowledge: Basic Issues in the Philosophy of Science, Wadsworth, Belmont, CA. Kuhn, T. S. (1962). The Structure of Scienti c Revolution, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. Kuhn, T. S. (1987). \Objectivity, value judgment, and theory choice. In Kourany, J. A., editor, Scienti c Knowledge: Basic Issues in the Philosophy of Science, pages 197{207, Belmont, CA, Wadsworth. MacKenzie, D. (1993). \Negotiating arithmetic, constructing proof: The sociology of mathematics and information technology. Social Studies of Science, 23(1):37{65. Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design, 1995, in press  Monarch, I. A., Konda, S. L., Levy, S. N., Reich, Y., Subrahmanian, E., and Ulrich, C. (1993). \Shared memory in design: Theory and practice. In Proceedings of the Invitational Workshop on Social Science Research, Technical Systems and Cooperative Work (Paris, France), pages 227{241, Paris, France, Department Sciences Humaines et Sociales, CNRS. National Research Council (1991). Improving Engineering Design: Designing For Competitive Advantage, National Academy Press, Washington, DC. Palumbo, D. J. and Calista, D. J., editors (1990). Implementation and The Policy Process: Opening Up The Black Box, Greenwood Press, New York, NY. Petroski, H. (1989). \Failure as a unifying theme in design. Design Studies, 10(4):214{218. Pickering, A., editor (1992). Science as Practice and Culture, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. Reich, Y., Konda, S., Monarch, I., and Subrahmanian, E. (1992). \Participation and design: An extended view. In Muller, M. J., Kuhn, S., and Meskill, J. A., editors, PDC92: Proceedings of the Participatory Design Conference (Cambridge, MA), pages 63{71, Palo Alto, CA, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. Reich, Y. (1992). \Transcending the theory-practice problem of technology. Technical Report EDRC 12-51-92, Engineering Design Research Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. Reich, Y. 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Perraults Puss in Boots :: Perrault Puss Boots Essays

Perrault's Puss in Boots The myriad characters in every fairy tale each contribute a great deal to the plot structure, their slightest actions bringing forth a favourable or grievous outcome. The overall sense of a story lies almost entirely on what is included in their dialogue and descriptions. In comparing the well known Rapunzel, as told by the brothers Grimm, to a lesser known version Petrosinella, by Giambattista Basile, a reader can distinguish each as unique based on these elements. Further analysis reveals what all characters donate to create each storyline, as well as a pair of equally distinctive endings. The Grimm Rapunzel is remarkably descriptive when compared with the 1637 Basile variation. The Grimm’s introduce a man and wife that have long wished for God to grant them a child, going on to describe the beauty of the neighbour's garden and the wife’s long and intense yearning for the rapunzel. What takes the better part of a page in Rapunzel condenses into three short sentences in Petrosinella, which comes across as far more abrupt. The first character is introduced, sees what she wants next door, and craves it; no other clarification is provided. The opening sentence states that â€Å"there lived a woman named Pascaddozia, who was pregnant.† Already there are three factors not present in the Grimm tale. Firstly, the woman is living alone-there is never mention of a husband. Second, she is named, which is very unusual in any fairy tale because the parent(s) often have a very small role overall and are not so important as to have names. Third, she is with child, and we are given no indication that there were the classic problems of conceiving. These points summon an image of a strong, single mother, more significant in the life of her child than the Grimm’s couple. Rapunzel describes how the man yields to his wife and fetches her some of the herb from the witch’s garden. Pascaddozia, however, steals into the garden several times to indulge her cravings. This bravery shown by the mother again reflects on how different she is from the Grimm wife, a trait that is revealed in her daughter Petrosinella. The witches also differ in each tale. Petrosinella portrays a rather slow-witted antagonist that behaves with more fury. Reacting to the theft in her garden, this one vows revenge if she catches the culprit.

Saving the Ballona Wetlands Essay -- California Nature Environmental E

Before development exploded in California, the state contained about 5 million acres of wetland habitat. Unfortunately, over the years California has been willing to part with 91 percent of its wetlands, Southern California having lost 95 percent. Los Angeles County has only one wetland remaining. This being the Ballona Wetlands located between Marina del Rey and the Westchester bluffs, it was once a major part of California’s natural wetland systems. Before development, Ballona wetlands natural habitat covered 2002 acres. This area, 800 to 1000 acres, referred to as Playa Vista by its owners is made up of salt marsh freshwater marsh and part upland and dune areas. It is considered Los Angeles’ largest ‘wetland ecosystem’. Although degraded over the years it still functions as a normal natural wetland - providing vital services. A major function it provides is that it filters out toxic wastes and pollutants from stormwater runoff before they reach the Santa Monica Bay. It is "a coastal plain, and acts as a flood plain for the surrounding area" (FOBW Information folder 1998: Fact Sheet). Ballona is an integral part of the Pacific flyaway, providing vital feeding and nesting habitat for over 185 species of birds, including some on the federal endangered species list. The southwestern willow flycatcher, an endangered species, was just recently seen by developers in an area cleared for construction. Ballona is no doubt a welcomed refuge to all species, both flora and fauna, from the industrial landscape of Los Angeles. The Friends of Ballona Wetlands have said it is "a spawning ground for commercial and sport fish, and a vital source of nutrients for the entire coastal marine environment" (FOBW Information folder 1998: 20 years of C... ...na Wetlands." http://eco.bio.lmu.edu/www.ballona/fbw.htm. 22 Jan. 98. Friends of Ballona Wetlands Information Folder. "Friends of Ballona Wetlands: 20 years of Commitment," "Fact Sheet," "Mission Statement: Friends of Ballona Wetlands" 1998. Helgeson, Rubell. Commentary. "A Phony War to Save the Ballona Wetlands." Los Angeles Times 6 Dec. 1996: B10. Lynch, Glen. Interview. The Ballona Free Press. [Westchester] May. 1997: 2. Tagawa, Rick. "History of the Ballona Valley." The Ballona Free Press. [Westchester] Nov. 1997: 2. Additional References not cited Ballona Land Trust Mission Statement http://www.life.net/wetlands/bmission.html Effort To Protect Ballona Wetland Moves Forward http://www.house.gov/harman/flapgate.htm Protestors Target Spielberg, ‘Lost World’ http://www.channel2000.com/news/stories/news-970520-202436.html

Health Information Exchange: Benefits and Concerns Essay

Health Information Exchange is the electronic transmission exchange from one health care professional to another. Health Information Exchange allows health care professionals and patients to appropriately access and securely share patient’s medical information electronically. Our industry is been working hard in the process and development of this new process, for the benefit of the patient and healthcare professionals. Some individuals with access to HIE are physicians, nurses, pharmacists, medical assistants, medical biller and coders and so forth. It is important to have an understanding about different health care professionals having access to the patient medical record. HIE benefits include: Provides improvement for quality and safety of patient care by reducing prescription and medical errors. The education and orientation to patients’ involvement in their own health care. Increases efficiency by eliminating unnecessary paperwork. Provides caregivers with clinical decision support tools for more effective care and treatment. Eliminates redundant or unnecessary testing. Improves public health reporting and monitoring. Creates a potential loop for feedback between health-related research and actual practice. Facilitates efficient deployment of emerging technology and health care services. Provides the backbone of technical infrastructure for leverage by national and State-level initiatives. Provides a basic level of interoperability among electronic health records (EHRs) maintained by individual physicians and organizations. Reduces health related costs (The benefits & risks of health information exchange & health information technology. (n.d.). The first step in EHR implementation is to conduct an assessment of your current practice and its goals, needs, and financial and technical readiness. Your practice can design an implementation plan that meets the specific needs of your practice. Eligible health care professionals and eligible hospitals must use certified EHR technology in order to achieve meaningful use and qualify for incentive payments. It is important in an EHR when working in the implementation process to involve, training, mock â€Å"go-live,† and pilot testing for system improvement. (HIE benefits) The final phase of EHR implementation includes successfully attesting to demonstrating meaningful use of EHRs, and reassessing what you have learned from training and everyday use of the system implementation to continue improving workflows that achieve the individual practice’s goals. The process and steps to follow on an HER system, most health care providers are covered entities, and thus, need HIPAA responsibilities for individually identifiable health information. Your leadership especially emphasizing the importance of protecting patient health information is vital to your privacy and security activities. HIPAA requires covered providers to designate an individual for both a privacy and a security officer on their staff and delegate the responsibility of security system in a practice. Documentation shows why and where you have security measures in place, how you created them, and what you do to monitor them. Create a paper or electronic folder for your practice medical records. The Center of Medicare Services advises all providers that attest for the EHR incentive programs to retain all relevant records that support attestation. These records will be essential if you ever are audited for compliance with HIPAA or an EHR incentive program. (Anthony, R. (2013, September 19). Cms and ehealth.) Risk Analysis Plan compares your current security measures to what is legally and  pragmatically required to safeguard patient health information. The risk analysis identifies high priority threats and vulnerabilities on EHR. You or a security risk professional can conduct your practice’s risk analysis, but you either way you will want to know what to expect. Often, basic security measures can be highly effective and affordable. Using your risk analysis results, discuss and develop an action plan to mitigate the identified risks. The plan should have five components: administrative, physical, and technical safeguards; policies and procedures; and organizational standards. (Health information exchange: Is your privacy protected?. (2012, July) Every practice should develop a Risk Management Plan. It is the practice responsibility to develop written and up-to-date policies and procedures about how your practice protects e-PHI. All these records should be retained on all outdated policies and procedures for future audits on your practice. For the security of patient health information (PHI), your workforce must know how to implement your policies, procedures, and security audits. HIPAA requires you as a covered provider to train your workforce on policies and procedures. Also, your staff must receive formal training on breach notification. (Health information exchange: Is your privacy protected? (2012, July) Your patients may be concerned about confidentiality and security of health information on an EHR. Emphasize the benefits of EHRs to them as patients, perhaps using patient education materials available in the Privacy & Security Resources section. Do not register and attest for an EHR Incentive program until you have conducted your security risk analysis (or reassessment) and corrected any deficiencies identified during the risk analysis. Document these changes/corrections. Providers participating in the EHR Incentive Program can be audited. When you attest to meaningful use, it is a legal statement that you have met specific standards, including that you protect ePHI. Work with your EHR vendor(s) to let them know that protecting patient health information and meeting your HIPAA privacy and security responsibilities regarding electronic health in formation in your EHR is one of your major goals. Involve your practice staff and any other partners that you have to help streamline this process. HIPAA privacy regulations Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (â€Å"HIPAA†). The Privacy Rule standards address the use and disclosure of individuals’ health information—called â€Å"protected health information† by organizations subject to the Privacy Rule — called â€Å"covered entities,† as well as standards for individuals’ privacy rights to understand and control how their health information is used. Within HHS, the Office for Civil Rights (â€Å"OCR†) has responsibility for implementing and enforcing the Privacy Rule with respect to voluntary compliance activities and civil money penalties. HITECH The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, was signed into law on February 17, 2009, to promote the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology. Subtitle D of the HITECH Act addresses the privacy and security concerns associated with the electronic transmission of health information, in part, through several provisions that strengthen the civil and criminal enforcement of the HIPAA rules. Standards & Interoperability The work promoting the adoption and uptake of health information technology is the key to ensuring the goals of the HITECH Act. But work being done to ensure that the technical standards and specifications are in place to support this technology is also critical to the development and success of a fully functional nationwide health IT ecosystem. Some of the Risks of HIE include: Identity Theft Although health information benefits from all the security measures developed in other economic areas such as defense and finance, it has the same risks these other areas have experienced. Identity theft can occur with both paper files and electronic files, but a breach of electronic files may affect more records than a breach of paper files. Errors Just like a paper health record, if the health care provider does not enter the correct information, that information remains in the health record until it is corrected. Electronic information can provide checks and balances that  paper health records cannot. Hackers Electronic health care information benefits from the security measure developed by other industries. Health care is the last frontier of information technology, so anti-hacking security measures from other economic areas are already used. However, hackers will continue to try to break security codes just like they do in other electronic systems. Encryption Covered entities must encrypt protected health information when it â€Å"is a reasonable and appropriate safeguard.† When the HIPAA Security Rule was implemented in 2002, encryption was high in cost and challenging to use. The result is that many covered entities still do not encrypt their data. With the enormous amount of personal medical information that will be moving around electronically as HIE gets underway and spreads, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) needs to make encryption a requirement and set standards for its use in all practices. Personal mobile devices Smartphones, tablets and USB drives are ubiquitous. Health care providers often use their own unsecured devices to record and transmit unencrypted work-related health information. The speed with which such devices have been adopted is well ahead of policies that govern their use. According to a number of recent studies, the vulnerability of mobile devices is already playing a significant role in medical data breaches. The cloud That is, remote servers where more and more businesses are moving their data—will be essential in an era of electronic health information exchange, if for no other reason than the staggering quantities of data that digitizing the medical records of the entire U.S. population will create. Health care providers may also want to host their patient portals on cloud-based servers. Patient portals are websites where patients can access their medical records and exchange email with their providers. Cloud services are developing more quickly than laws or regulations can address. As a patient you’re unlikely to know where your medical records actually reside. And you’re forced to rely on the security practices of others to  protect the privacy of your information. The Privacy Rule gives you, with few exceptions, the right to inspect, review, and receive a copy of your medical records and billing records that are held by health plans and health care providers covered by the Privacy Rule. Only you or your personal representative has the right to access your records. A health care provider or health plan may send copies of your records to another provider or health plan as needed for treatment or payment or as authorized by you. However, the Privacy Rule does not require the health care provider or health plan to share information with other providers or plans. You do not have the right to access a provider’s psychotherapy notes. Psychotherapy notes are notes taken by a mental health professional during a conversation with the patient and kept separate from the patient’s medical and billing records. The Privacy Rule also does not permit the provider to make most disclosures of psychotherapy notes about you without your authorization . Because HIE’s primary purpose is to improve the quality of medical care, your health care providers’ priorities are to gain and allow access to a comprehensive record of your medical history. When the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finalizes its â€Å"accounting of disclosures† rule, providers that maintain EHRs will have to account to you for all disclosures of your personal health information that it makes for purposes of treatment, payment, and business operations for three years prior to the date of your request. (Health information exchange brief examines privacy and security concerns. (2012, June 13). Until HHS’ rule is final, you can get an accounting that goes back six years prior to your request, but this DOES NOT include disclosures for treatment, payment, or business operations. Therefore the disclosures you are currently able to get may seem largely incomplete and irrelevant to the purposes for which you want them. You also have access to your own medical records (apart from psychotherapy notes about you), but you must request them directly from your providers. It is not possible to request your records through an HIE. It has to be in person from the practice you are requesting medical records from. However, your doctor should be able to give you—or will soon be able to give you—what’s called a Continuity of Care Record (CCR) after each visit. The CCR is a summary of the most relevant and up-to-date facts about your care and treatment with that provider. A CCR can be helpful for you, and can also  provide a current snapshot of your medical status for the next doctor you visit. A CCR may be transmitted either on paper or electronically. HIE is a tremendous tool to utilize in the healthcare industry. However, different challenges still existing now days. Effective and Affordable Technology is a big issue and the primary problem. HIE required costly network, connections hardware, software and so forth. Some practices including hospitals can’t afford the cost of technology. Providers are trying to save in cost of information transmission and are always looking for inexpensive vendors. Practices are also working on overcoming these obstacles, but are very hard to overcome. HIEs can support care management by making it possible to generate patient reports for use at the point of care. It may also be easier to identify patients who are not following a prescribed care regimen or not meeting its goals, and to measure how well providers are delivering recommended care. This all goes along with the government’s goal of shifting the health care payment model from one of fee for service to payment based on outcomes; that is, not just whether you saw a doctor but whether you benefited from seeing her. The goals of HIE are to improve the quality of care and make delivering it more efficient and cost-effective. Once electronic medical records are available everywhere, for all patients, though, it is inevitable that more people will want access to this data. It is a goldmine for medical research and all kinds of statistical analysis, for example. Conclusion HIE will continue providing planning and implementation within health care organizations. We must comply as HIM professionals providing the best of our knowledge to contribute in this process. Also we need to follow HIPPA policies and procedures in our place of employment and commit ourselves to meet our goal which is providing the best on patient care. The more we work as a team; at the end of the road it will be easier on us to have our job done and accurate at the end of the road. Avoiding errors is also our responsibility as an HIM professionals. Let’s not focus on productivity, which is important, but also let’s put ourselves in the patient’s situation. We are also patient’s and we like to have things done the right way. References Rhodes, H. (2013, August 05). Seven unintended consequences of electronic HIE. Retrieved from http://www.healthit.gov/policy-researchers-implementers/reports HIE benefits. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.healthit.gov/providers-professionals/health-information-exchange/hie-benefits The benefits & risks of health information exchange & health information technology. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nchica.org/GetInvolved/CACHI/HIEbenefits-risks.htm Anthony, R. (2013, September 19). Cms and ehealth. Retrieved from http://www.cms.gov/eHealth/downloads/Webinar_eHealth_September19_CMSeHealthOverview.pdf Health information exchange: Is your privacy protected?. (2012, July). Retrieved from https://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fsC6/CA-medical-HIE Health information exchange brief examines privacy and security concerns. (2012, June 13). Retrieved from https://www.cdt.org/pr_statement/health-information-exchange-brief-examines-privacy-and-security-concerns