The Origins Of The Viking - 2866 Words

The term Viking commonly relinquishes thoughts of ship-born warriors and pillagers known as the Norsemen, or men from the north, who originated in Scandinavia and raided the coasts of Britain, Ireland and mainland Europe as far east as the Volga River in Russia from the late 8th to 11th century. The terminology of the Viking has also been denoted by historians as entire populations of Viking Age Scandinavia and their settlements. Although the Norsemen are infamous for their pillaging and plundering they were also intensely focused on establishing sufficient trade routes throughout Europe and implementing economically sustainable villages with functional currency. Although the barbarian invasions undoubtedly deepened the initial economic crisis and the emergence of the barbarian kingdoms made traveling less safe which accelerated the collapse of long distance trade. At the same time also declining the importance of the cities as cultural and trade centers. The claim that the barbaria n invasions resulted in a long tenured period of general economic and cultural decline can be argued against with sufficient evidence. Considering the economic crisis started much earlier and could not be reversed neither by the reforms of Diocletian nor of Constantine. It was not until after this initial depression that the extensive trade routes of the Norsemen were able to redefine Europe economically and culturally. The established Norse trade network included trading relationshipsShow MoreRelatedThe Origins Of The Viking Era866 Words   |  4 PagesDuring the Viking Era, expansion to the west, as well as the east, introduced a new wave of technology, industrialization and development, and culture to the European world. The Viking’s expeditions to both were quite similar in that advancements stemmed from their adventures east and west. However, expeditions from the eastern Vikings (Sweden) were heavily dependent on the usage and development of economic centers, specifically the Byzantine Empire, powerful and rich in culture, as well as RussiaRead MoreThe Origins Of The Viking Age1174 Words   |  5 PagesOne of the most interesting times in medieval history is the era known as the Viking Age. When these fierce sea-borne raiders rummaged and plundered European sea ports of their valuables and treasures. These Scandinavian inhabitants were known to most of the world as a barbaric group, w hen in reality, there style of attacking had more skill than the world had seen. They struck fear and intimidation into their victims and made the whole European seaboard quake in angst for their arrival. Not onlyRead MoreThe Vikings – The Most Brutal of all Barbarians The Dark Ages were a period of great upheaval,1100 Words   |  5 PagesThe Vikings – The Most Brutal of all Barbarians The Dark Ages were a period of great upheaval, battles, plague and very little cultural growth. This period began with the fall of Rome around 410 and lasted about 650 years. Rome was often referred to as the â€Å"mother land† and her fall created a loss of trade and commerce sending Western Europe into chaos. Lords from all over Europe were fighting to take control. These struggles from within Europe made it easy for outside forces to invade and takeRead MoreChristopher Columbus : The Discovery Of New Land1041 Words   |  5 Pagesundisputable evidence which proves that in fact, the Vikings had first sailed to the Americas. The Vikings were people from the north of Scandinavia, whose origins came from Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Sweden. They were known for being well experienced at sea travel and navigation. The era characterized for their high power and influence, was defined as the Viking Age. That era took place between the years 700s and 1100s. During the Viking Age, they had briefly settled in Italy, Russia, SpainRead MoreThe Impact Of Viking Raids On The British Isles1622 Words   |  7 Pagespredominantly Denmark and Norway, the Vikings began raiding the British Isles in the late 700s (James). The Vikings primarily targeted monasteries, because that is where most of the wealth was concentrated (Loughrey). These raids were very violent, people were killed, and the survivors were sold into slavery (Loughrey). These violent raids earned the Vikings the reputation of barbarians, much like the Mongols a few centuries later in Asia. After some time, once the Vikings exhausted most of the wealt h inRead MoreThe Age of the Vikings Essay1648 Words   |  7 PagesWhen someone mentions the word ‘Viking’, the image that comes to mind is usually not pleasant. Often pictured as bloodthirsty barbarians in horned helmets, the Vikings are one of the most unfairly stereotyped ethnic groups. Although a large part of the Viking lifestyle involved invading and pillaging, they also had a rich culture that included unique gods and goddesses and fascinating traditions. Although often overlooked, the Vikings were some of the most amazing and accomplished people ever toRead MoreOld English Period1121 Words   |  5 PagesThe dialects of Old English are more or less co-terminus with the regional kingdoms. The different Germanic tribes brought their unique dialects which were then continued in England. Thus we have a Northumbrian dialect (Anglian in origin), a Kentish dialect (Jutish in origin), etc. The question as to what degree of cohesion already existed between the Germanic dialects when they were still spoken on the continent is unclear. Scholars of the 19th century favored a theory whereby English and Frisian formedRead MoreCompare the Evidence of a Nordic Presence in the Americas Before the Arrival of Columbus with the Evidence of a West African Presence During That Period.1652 Words   |  7 Pagespresent; there are still debates as to whether or not they actually came to the Americas before Columbus. Some believe that the evidence of the presence of the Nordics is more admissible than that of the West Africans. The Norse (also known as the Vikings) got their name from the language they spoke, ‘Old Norse’. They were originally from Scandinavian countries. It believed that they came to the new world for several reasons such as; the fact that it had a rich supply of salt to preserve their goodsRead MoreThe Origins of Russia Essay1166 Words   |  5 PagesThe Origins of Russia The country of Russia: enormous, expansive, wide-open. The words that describe this Euro-Asian country can be attributed to its origins from its Slavic inhabitants and the takeover by the Varangians. Kievan Russia, as it was called, started its own civilization in the year 862. The problem with the origin of the Russian State is that it is exceedingly complex and many theories are based on circumstantial evidence. A good example of this is the early history of theRead MoreThe Vikings : The Last And Most Dramatic Exodus1690 Words   |  7 Pagesthe northeast coast of England, are unpleasantly surprised by the arrival of violent raiders from the sea. Their misfortune is the first clearly dated event in the saga of the Vikings - the last and most dramatic exodus in the long story of migration from Scandinavia, the original home of the Goths and Vandals. The name Viking is thought to derive from vikingr, a word for pirate in the early Scandinavian languages. It accurately describes the Norsemen who for two centuries raid the coasts of Britain

The Hero’S Quest Is Commonly Divided Into Three Groups

The Hero’s Quest is commonly divided into three groups: the Departure, the Initiation, and the Return. Each group has its own steps that a typical epic poem’s hero would follow on his quest. In the epic poem, Beowulf, the unknown author uses several steps of the Hero’s Quest to make Beowulf seem like a typical epic hero that follows the Hero’s Quest. The first step of the Departure is the Call to Adventure; this is the point in the hero’s life when he is informed that he will have to go on a quest. Beowulf experienced The Call to Adventure when heard of Grendel’s attacks on Heorot, and he felt obligated to aid King Hrothgar because he is his father’s friend. The second step of the Departure is the Refusal of the Call, which is when the†¦show more content†¦The unknown author most likely chose to omit this step to portray Beowulf as a strong character that does what he has to do to complete his quest. There are six steps in the Initiation of the Hero’s Quest. The first step in the Initiation is the Road of Trials, which is a series of tests that the hero must face to begin the transformation. The Road of Trials in Beowulf is his battles with Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon. Beowulf experienced obstacles in each battle, but he still was able to fight his best and kill all three of his enemies. The second step in the Initiation is the Meeting with the Goddess; this is when the hero meets a goddess and experiences love. This did not occur in Beowulf. If a monk was the one who wrote the story down, he might have wanted to leave that part out based off of religious purposes. If the monk did not choose to omit this step, the unknown author might not have included it to show that Beowulf was determined and did not let anything in his way when he had a task. The third step of the Initiation is the Woman as the Temptress, which is when the hero is tempted by a woman. This does not occur in Beowulf, and it was most likely omitted for the same reason as The Meeting with the Goddess. The fourth step in the Initiation is the Atonement with the Father. This step is when the hero must confront whoever holds all the power in his life. The Atonement with the Father is when Beowulf speaks toShow MoreRelatedThe Hero’S Quest. The Hero’S Quest Is Commonly Divide d1248 Words   |  5 Pages The Hero’s Quest The Hero’s Quest is commonly divided into three groups: the Departure, the Initiation, and the Return. Each group has its own steps that a typical epic poem’s hero would follow on his quest. In the epic poem, Beowulf, the unknown author uses several steps of the Hero’s Quest to make Beowulf seem like a typical epic hero that follows the Hero’s Quest. The first step of the Departure is the Call to Adventure; this is the point in the hero’s life when he is informed that he willRead MoreHow Tolkiens Life Influenced His Works3900 Words   |  16 Pagesland, and she is immortal. Beren is told by Thingol that the only way to win his blessing is to retrieve the simaril from the iron crown of Morgoth a task that to Thingol is impossible for a mortal man to accomplish. This is a classic hero’s tale of Beren and his quest to win the hand of the most beautiful creature that ever existed. When Tolkien and Edith passed away Tolkien had her gravestone inscribed with â€Å"Edith Mary Tolkien, Luthien† and his with â€Å"John Roald Reule Tolkien, Beren† (Doughan).

Pathophysiology for Journal of Clinical Pathology-myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about thePathophysiology for Journal of Clinical Pathology. Answer: Summary of an interesting pathology case experienced by a pathologist: The experience of pathologist in their field of practice has revealed that increase in demand for pathology services and the need to improve turnaround time in clinical management poses many challenges in pathology practices. The ordeal for pathologist also increases with the increase in number of biopsies and the need to comply with guidelines for cancer case reporting (Kamel, 2011). Similar challenges was also faced a pathologist when he had to conduct the biopsy of the mass of the tongue of a 53 year old man. The old man came to the clinician with a white patch and mass in the base of his tongue which showed up since the past six months. Suspecting the diagnosis of cancer, the clinician ordered a biopsy test for the patients. The pathologist conducted the biopsy test for the mass. He experienced dilemma in reporting and conveying correct information of result as different groups of clinicians were involved in handling the case. Poor communication between pathologist, oncologist an d surgeons resulted in misinterpretation of results and initiation of appropriate treatment for patients. The pathology report of the biomass of the tongue has revealed that normal histology of the squamous mucosa was replaced with proliferation of the cell. The usual maturation process was replaced with haphazard pattern and large vesicular nuclei. The main conclusion that the pathologist made from the examination of the tongue biomass was diagnosis of differentiated squamous carcinoma of the tongue. However, the diagnosis was not right because the patient suffered from leukoplakia and tissue biopsy normally shows keratin build up, however it is not always an indication of abnormal or cancerous cells. The risk of cancer is high in such patients, but the tongues tissue had not become malignant (Van der Waal, 2015). The critical information of result was mistinterpreted and lack of detail in reporting resulted in great disaster for patient. The pathology report should mainly have three key areas including patient identification, reporting style and content and interpretation. The mistake done by pathologist came in erroneous critical information category as patient diagnosis was misinterpreted (Cree et al., 2017). The reporting should have mentioned about moderate detection and risk of squamous epithelial cells and main diagnosis of leukplakia. However, the reporting about malignant cells resulted in the initiation of treatment for cancer and the patient had to endure many sufferings during the process. Secondly, as group of clinicians were involved in handling the case, poor communication between the team resulted in loss of suffering and morbidity for patient. Lack of importance to quality assurance in pathology testing and review of the diagnosis resulted in adverse outcome for patients. Analysis of the case The analysis of the case gave example about the error in misinterpretation in pathology practice particularly in cancer cases. Although leukoplakia increased the risk of cancer, however the keratin build up was wrongly interpreted as cancerous cells. The review of recent research literature has shown that misinterpretation of squamous intraepithelial lesion in a significant challenges in pathology practice and the research mainly pointed out that high misinterpretation rate is mainly due to the differences in reporting responsibilities and proficiency test grading criteria (Zhao et al., 2016). In the context of the case scenario, it can be said that such mistake by pathologist occurred due to lack of test taking confidence and compliance to quality reporting. The ultimate impact of such incidence was that patient had to go through both emotional and physical suffering as the name of cancer itself is associated with great distress in patients. Hence, the main lesson that can be learnt from the review of case is that the proficiency of the pathologist in the practice needs to be enhanced with greater focus on providing test taking environment to pathologist. Often high demand of pathology service and heavy workload is also the cause of misinterpretation. To curb the misinterpretation rate, continual involvement in Pathologist Laboratory Accreditation Program is necessary so that pathologist develop confidence in pathological testing and they become accustomed to issuing a final diagnosis that directs correct treatment option for patients (Ellis Srigley, 2016. The College of American Pathologist programs is involved in educational efforts to establish best practice to promote efficiency in the pathology field. The accreditation program ensures that the laboratory practice is upto date and maintain gold standard in practice and reporting (Wheeler, 2009). Reference Cree, I. A., Deans, Z., Ligtenberg, M. J., Normanno, N., Edsj, A., Rouleau, E., ... Dequeker, E. (2014). Guidance for laboratories performing molecular pathology for cancer patients.Journal of clinical pathology, jclinpath-2014. Ellis, D. W., Srigley, J. (2016). Does standardised structured reporting contribute to quality in diagnostic pathology? The importance of evidence-based datasets.Virchows Archiv,468(1), 51-59. Kamel, H. M. (2011). Trends and challenges in pathology practice: choices and necessities.Sultan Qaboos University medical journal,11(1), 38. Van der Waal, I., 2015. Oral leukoplakia, the ongoing discussion on definition and terminology.Medicina oral, patologia oral y cirugia bucal,20(6), p.e685. Wheeler, T. M. (2009). The role of CAP in standardisation of pathology practice, including our laboratory accreditation program, predictive markers (HER2, ER, PR) and pathology report standardisation.Pathology,41, 1-2. Zhao, C., Crothers, B. A., Ghofrani, M., Li, Z., Souers, R. J., Hussain, M., ... College of American Pathologists Cytopathology Committee. (2016). Misinterpretation rates of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion in the College of American Pathologists gynecologic PAP education and PAP proficiency test program.Archives of pathology laboratory medicine,140(11), 1221-1224.

The Odessey Essay Example For Students

The Odessey Essay The Odessey is a tale that has changed literature and storytelling. In this tale Odysseus is a Soldier from the battle of Troy trying to get home to his island of Ithaca, where he is king. His wife and son must wait ten years while he is trying to make his way home. In Odysseus’s absence wooer’s, or better known as suitors, learn of his absence and travel to Ithaca to win his wife’s hand in marriage. These men come every day feasting on Odysseus’s food and wine, and give his servant’s orders. His son Telemachus, does his best to keep the suitors from ruining his fathers house but he is only a boy, and doesn’t receive the respect of an adult. Telemachus then has a visit from the god Athena, whom Odysseus is friends with, who advises him to travel to find out about his father. In his travels he hears that Odysseus may still be alive. Meanwhile Odysseus goes through a series of adventures and hardships that prove his wisdom. It is interesting in contrast of the Iliad, even though Achilles was much stronger and a better warrior, Odysseus was portrayed as a greater hero due to his wisdom. He uses this wisdom to escape from the Cyclops. On the Cyclops’s island Odysseus and his men are trapped and eaten as food by a giant with only one eye. Odysseus commands his men to take an olive tree and carve a large stake from it. Then Odysseus gives the Cyclops all of their wine in order to get him drunk. After the Cyclops falls asleep they stab the steak into his one large eye, thus blinding him. Now with the Cyclops blind Odysseus and his men cling to the bottom of sheep to avoid the Cyclops and escape. Even though the cyclops checks everything leaving his cave he doesn’t find the men holding to the bottom of the sheep. We will write a custom essay on The Odessey specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now This tale coincides with the times in Greece. This was a time that art and Philosophy were extremely important and respected by the people. Odysseus was a new type of hero that didn’t win by overpowering his opponents, but by using his mind to outwit them. Manners also seemed to play an important role to Odysseus, as he was learned to be polite and generous to strangers and in the end punished those who weren’t. Odysseus, like most of his fellow soldiers, is a rather arrogant greedy person at the beginning of the poem, and brings much sorrow on himself by his actions. Yet the gods are no better than he is and their punishment of Odysseus and his crew has more to do with the impulses of the Olympians than the sins of the mortals. Athena herself would not help Odysseus while he was sailing, for she did not want to go against her brother, Poseidon’s wishes. Poseidon was upset that he had blinded the Cyclops since that was his son. As the god of the sea he made it as hard as possible for Odysseus to make it home. Poseidon, however, disregards the fact that his son was using Odysseus and his men as food, and would naturally do anything to escape. Book Reports

All ideologies are broad churches Discuss with reference essays

All ideologies are broad churches Discuss with reference essays An ideology can be seen as a rational and complex science of ideas which offers some form of political and cultural schemata for certain social orders, in an attempt to explain how society should work ultimately aiming for the implementation of a form of utopia. Political ideologies are largely concerned with both the allocation and systematic usage of power, and are thus subject to public scrutiny and evolve with changes in modern day society and culture. Different interpretations of these evolutions often lead to the formation of different ideological structures, and similarly, single ideologies which may be seen as a whole are actually comprised of many different substrands which have developed from their counterparts. As a result, it can be said that no ideology is finite, and that ideologies are always going through periodical and progressive changes in correlation with societys. The phrase broad churches refers to this idea, that within a body of political or philosophical t hought, there are a variety of co-existing (and competing) ways of thinking. One example of this is liberalism. Liberalism is viewed as the dominant modern political ideology, embodying a common sense approach to its analysis (Hall 1986). It identifies the individual, aiming to maximise freedoms, and social equality. However, despite similar labels, liberal parties across different nations differ tremendously. Developed in the 17th century, its initial standing was to challenge the dominance of the monarchy and to establish a stable society in which individuals could exercise their own rights. Among the main developments were Lockes social contract theory, identifying the notion of consent and authority and its role in legitimising governmental actions. As society evolved into the industrial revolution in the 18th century, liberalism adopted an economic focus and the notion o...

The Ultimate Guide to the 5-Paragraph Essay

The Ultimate Guide to the 5-Paragraph Essay A five-paragraph essay is a prose composition  that follows a prescribed format of an  introductory paragraph, three  body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph,  and is typically taught during primary English education and applied on standardized testing throughout schooling. Learning to write a high-quality five-paragraph essay  is an essential skill for students in early English classes as it allows them to express certain ideas, claims, or concepts in an organized manner, complete with evidence that supports each of these notions. Later, though, students may decide to stray from the standard five-paragraph format and venture into writing an  exploratory essay  instead. Still, teaching students to organize essays into the five-paragraph format is an easy way to introduce them to writing literary criticism, which will be tested time and again throughout their primary, secondary, and further education. Writing a Good Introduction The introduction is the first paragraph in your essay, and it should accomplish a few specific goals: capture the readers interest, introduce the topic, and make a claim or express an opinion in a thesis statement. Its a good idea to start your essay with a hook (fascinating statement)  to pique the readers interest, though this can also be accomplished by using descriptive words, an anecdote, an intriguing question, or an interesting fact. Students can practice with creative writing prompts to get some ideas for interesting ways to start an essay. The next few sentences should explain your first statement, and prepare the reader for your thesis statement, which is typically the last sentence in the introduction.  Your  thesis sentence  should provide your specific assertion and convey a clear point of view, which is typically divided into three distinct arguments that support this assertation, which will each serve as central themes for the body paragraphs. Writing Body Paragraphs The body of the essay will include  three body paragraphs in a five-paragraph essay format, each limited to one main idea that supports your thesis. To correctly write each of these three body paragraphs, you should state your supporting idea, your topic sentence, then back it up with two or three sentences of evidence. Use examples that validate the claim before concluding the paragraph and using  transition words to lead to the  paragraph that follows - meaning that all of your  body paragraphs should follow the pattern of statement, supporting ideas, transition statement. Words to use as you transition from one paragraph to another include: moreover, in fact, on the whole, furthermore, as a result, simply put, for this reason, similarly, likewise, it follows that, naturally, by comparison, surely, and yet. Writing a Conclusion The final paragraph will summarize your main points and re-assert your main claim (from your thesis sentence). It should point out your main points, but should not repeat specific examples, and should, as always, leave a lasting impression on the reader. The first sentence of the conclusion, therefore, should be used to restate the supporting claims argued in the body paragraphs as they relate to the thesis statement, then the next few sentences should be used to explain how the essays main points can lead outward, perhaps to further thought on the topic. Ending the conclusion with a question, anecdote, or final pondering is a great way to leave a lasting impact. Once you complete the first draft of your essay, its a good idea to re-visit the thesis statement in your first paragraph. Read your essay to see if it flows well, and you might find that the supporting paragraphs are strong, but they dont address the exact focus of your thesis. Simply re-write your thesis sentence to fit your body and summary more exactly, and adjust the conclusion to wrap it all up nicely. Practice Writing a Five-Paragraph Essay Students can use the following steps to write a standard essay on any given topic. First, choose a topic, or ask your students to choose their topic, then allow them to form a basic five-paragraph by following these steps: Decide on your  basic thesis, your idea of a topic to discuss.Decide on three pieces of supporting evidence you will use to prove your thesis.Write an introductory  paragraph, including your thesis and evidence (in order of strength).Write your first body paragraph, starting with restating your thesis and focusing on your first piece of supporting evidence.End your first paragraph with a transitional sentence that leads to the next body paragraph.Write paragraph two of the body focussing on your second piece of evidence. Once again make the connection between your thesis and this piece of evidence.End your second paragraph with a transitional sentence that leads to paragraph number three.Repeat step 6 using your third piece of evidence.Begin your concluding paragraph by restating your thesis. Include the three points youve used to prove your thesis.End with a punch, a question, an anecdote, or an entertaining thought that will stay with the reader. Once a student can master these 10 simple steps, writing a basic five-paragraph essay will be a piece of cake, so long as the student does so correctly and includes enough supporting information in each paragraph that all relate to the same centralized main idea, the thesis of the essay. Limitations of the Five-Paragraph Essay The five-paragraph essay is merely a starting point for students hoping to express their ideas in academic writing; there are some other forms and styles of writing that students should use to express their vocabulary in the written form. According to Tory Youngs Studying English Literature: A Practical Guide: Although school students in the U.S. are examined on their ability to write a  five-paragraph essay, its  raison dà ªtre  is purportedly to give practice in basic writing skills that will lead to future success in more varied forms. Detractors feel, however, that writing to rule in this way is more likely to discourage imaginative writing and thinking than enable it. . . . The five-paragraph essay is less aware of its  audience  and sets out only to present information, an account or a kind of story rather than explicitly to persuade the reader. Students should instead be asked to write other forms, such as journal entries, blog posts, reviews of goods or services, multi-paragraph research papers, and freeform expository writing around a central theme. Although five-paragraph essays are the golden rule when writing for standardized tests, experimentation with expression should be encouraged throughout primary schooling to bolster students abilities to utilize the English language fully.

Classroom of Future Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Classroom of Future - Research Paper Example (Shahril, 2011) The classroom is an important environment that transforms many students’ different fields of proffessionalism.Recent research has proved that there is a relationship between their performance and the classroom facilities. Normally, the classroom facilities affect students’ attendance and academic performance. Therefore, taking care of classroom facilities improve the level of student performance in the classroom. Additionally, the classroom often reflects the correlation between the students and their teachers. (Schneider, 2002) According Shahril (2011), he stated that it is important to understand not only what is coming next but also where classrooms started. Throughout history, classrooms have undergone much of technological changes. The purpose of this paper therefore is to describe those changes and then visualize the future changes of the classroom. The classroom has changed a lot since the past. There are three main periods from the early days that helped build the education system that we currently have. The first colonial period was between the 1600’s to 1700’s. The second period was from the American Revolution to the Civil War which was approximately a 70 year period from 1791-1861. (Anderson, 1962).The Information age came next from mid 1900s to the early 2000s. (Lackney &Tanner, 2006) In the colonial period the classroom were very small and only consisted of a single roomed building most likely with log walls, a dirt floor and wax windows. For chairs they would split a log in half and attach branches to the bottom to create a chair. Educational equipment was very scarce and expensive, most of them were homemade consisting of quill pens and boil down bark to make ink. (Anderson, 1962) Between the American Revolution and the civil war, the classroom transformed and became better since classrooms had blackboards, slates and maps. The furniture and architecture also improved greatly. During

X-Ray Technician Workloads Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

X-Ray Technician Workloads - Research Paper Example As the report stresses there is increasing realisation that for x-ray technicians to be capable of optimum performance that they need post-graduate training as a specialist. However, extended study at university is not always a feasible option for the x-ray operator, due to economic, personal or cultural factors. Also, it is important that the health care provided by practioners meet the needs of the community, and as such, most x-ray technicians find themselves needing to be multi-taskers as practioners. This paper hopes to provide methodological insights in to analysis of the working conditions for x-ray staff. Ideally, this research will contribute to local, state and national standards regarding x-ray technician workloads and training. Also, this paper aims to contribute to the knowledge of the role of the x-ray technician and the workplace factors that impact on their performance. To date, there is a glaring neglect into the study of the x-ray technician workforce. Reliable data is difficult to gather due to the different contexts of work environment, x-ray technician, and patient specific needs. A survey will measure patient satisfaction and x-ray technician workloads at a hospital in the UK. It is hypothesized that on the days of high workloads that the patients will report higher ratings of dissatisfaction. It is also expected that x-ray technicians that are specialists will receive higher ratings from patients with conditions which they specialize in, as compared to those not within their specialty training. A Review of the Literature To date, very little literature exists on the topic of x-ray technician working conditions. General information is readily available, such as the frequency of educational completions or numbers of licenses approved (Patterson et al., 2004). Research into this subject is critical, especially as x-ray technician services are unlikely to be distributed according to community needs. It is a limitation in the understanding of community health care needs when adequate data about the conditions of the workforce of x-ray technicians across time and location remains unknown. Further,

Comparing Hedonistic and Utilitarian Products Essay Example for Free

Comparing Hedonistic and Utilitarian Products Essay Utilitarian Consumption: The consumption of products has tangible benefit for consumer. In western culture, such products are often labeled as practical or necessary. Utilitarian products are purchased and consumed to satisfy consumer’s practical or functional needs. Utilitarian consumer behavior has been described as ergic, task-related and rational. In the marketing literature choice and decision with respect to utilitarian products and informed by the utility maximizing perspective. Thus the consumption of utilitarian products is more instrumental. The motivation initiating the need for a utilitarian product suggests that these products are primarily thought of in terms of their functional performance. Hedonic Consumption: The consumption of products for fun, amusement, fantasy, arousal, sensory stimulation, or enjoyment. Hedonic, pleasure-oriented consumption is motivated by the desire for sensual pleasure and fun. In western culture such products are often labeled as frivolous or decadent. The concept of hedonic consumption recognizes that individuals consume many types of products because of the feelings and images that are associated with the product. The cognitive motives driving the consumption of hedonic products are arguably the need to satisfy symbolic and value-expressive motives such as ego gratification, social acceptance and intellectual. Hedonic products have pleasure potential whereas utilitarian products perform functions in everyday life. Products with pleasure potential provide intangible, symbolic benefits and are likely to hold greater potential for evoking positive emotions in a consumer. Consumer decision making process: Consumers are often faced with these types of choices between hedonic and utilitarian alternatives that are at least partly driven by emotional desires rather than cold cognitive deliberations. Hence, these choices represent an important domain of consumer decision-making. Yet much of the pioneering work in behavioral decision theory has largely focused on the cognitive aspects of decision-making without exploring its emotional dimensions. Consumer decision is driven by functionality, usage and benefits out of various functions of product in the case of utilitarian consumption. But the decision making process is obsessed by symbolism, status, value-expression and social acceptance. For example: the decision of buying bread is driven is by its generic functions and attributes not by brand or image, which are already underlined and understood by every consumer. In case of designer suit the decision is influenced by its brand, image, labels and certain associations like brand ambassador , designer and promoters or co-owner also.

Theme Analysis of Fahrenheit 451 :: Fahrenheit 451 Essays

Theme Analysis of Fahrenheit 451    The theme of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 can be viewed from several different angles.   First and foremost, Bradbury's novel gives an anti-censorship message.   Bradbury understood censorship to be a natural outcropping of an overly tolerant society.   Once one group objects to something someone has written, that book is modified and censorship begins. Soon, another minority group objects to something else in the book, and it is again edited until eventually the book is banned altogether.   In Bradbury's novel, society has evolved to such an extreme that all literature is illegal to possess.   No longer can books be read, not only because they might offend someone, but because books raise questions that often lead to revolutions and even anarchy.   The intellectual thinking that arises from reading books can often be dangerous, and the government doesn't want to put up with this danger.   Yet this philosophy, according to Bradbury, completely ignores the benefits of k nowledge.   Yes, knowledge can cause disharmony, but in many ways, knowledge of the past, which is recorded in books, can prevent man from making similar mistakes in the present and future.    The society envisioned by Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451 is often compared to Huxley's Brave New World.   Though both works definitely have an anti-government theme, this is not the core idea of Bradbury's novel.   As Beatty explains in part one, government control of people's lives was not a conspiracy of dictators or tyrants, but a consensus of everyday people. People are weak-minded; they don't want to think for themselves and solve the troubling problems of the world.   It is far easier to live a life of seclusion and illusion-a life where the television is reality.   Yet more importantly, Fahrenheit 451 is an anti-apathy and anti-dependence and anti-television message.   People in the novel are afraid-afraid of themselves.   They fear the thought of knowing, which leads them to depend of others (government) to think for them.   Since they aren't thinking, they need something to occupy their time.   This is where television comes in.   A whole host of problems arise from television: violence, depression and even suicide.

Consumer Buying Behaviour Essay

1.1 Introduction What do we mean if we are talking about consumer buying behaviour? There are several decision processes and acts of people (consumers) buying  and using products for themselves or their household. These processes might be very interesting for companies and their marketing managers. But what are the reasons why marketers should know about consumer buying behaviour? -Well, there are several reasons: At first it is important to know about the reaction of the buyer to the firm ´s marketing strategy because this has a great influence on the firm ´s success. Another thing is that the firm can create an almost perfect marketing mix to satisfy the customer. The third reason is that it ´s much easier for the marketers, if they know about the buying behaviours, to predict the reaction of consumers on marketing strategies. On the following pages I want to give a short overview about â€Å"Consumer Buying Behaviour† and â€Å"Organisational Markets and Buying Behaviour†. 1.2 Types of Consumer Buying Behaviour Consumers always want to create an assortment of products which satisfies their needs and wants in the present and also in the future. To realise this aim, the consumer has to make a lot of decisions. These purchasing decisions can be classified into three main categories of decisions: Routine Response Behaviour This behaviour happens when the consumer regularly buys cheap products that need very little search and also very little decision effort. In this case the consumer prefers a special brand but he also knows other brands of the same product class to have an alternative to buy if there is something wrong  with his favourite brand. Limited Decision Making This is the case if the consumer buys a product occasionally or if there is a new brand, he doesn ´t know about, in a familiar product category. For this type of decision-making, the consumer needs a moderate amount of time for gathering information and deliberation. Extensive Decision-Making This is the most complex decision-making behaviour. It happens when a purchase includes unfamiliar, expensive or infrequently bought products; for example cars, houses etc. The buyer uses a lot of time for evaluating alternative brands or choices and also for seeking information. A big contrast to the extensive decision-making processes that were mentioned earlier is the behaviour of the impulse buyers. These people do not plan conscious to buy, they have a persistant urge to buy something immediately if they like it. But often these people get in emotional conflicts, they often feel guilty because of their limited finances or something else. 1.3 The Consumer Buying Decision Process As I mentioned earlier, the decision process is a major part of buying behaviour. This decision process can be divided into five stages: Problem Recognition This occurs when the buyer notices that there is a difference between the desired state and the actual conditions. The consumer gets aware that he has to change something to get satisfied. For example, if somebody needs a car to get to work and one day the car stops working. In this situation the person recognises that there is a difference between the desired state (a working car) and the actual condition (a broken car). Information Search After recognising the problem, the buyer searches for information about a new product which can solve his problem and also is able to satisfy his need (this is only the case if the decision process continues). For example, the above-mentioned car owner, after recognising the need for a new car, he may search for information about different brands and types of cars. Here we distinguish two aspects to an information search: In the internal search, buyers check first if they have any information about the  needed product in their memory. If they cannot get enough information from their memory for a decision, they are looking for more information in an external search. In the external search the buyer may focus on communication with friends or relatives, to hear about their experiences with special brands. He also can obtain information from public sources like manufacturers, salespersons or product-test organisations. Evaluation of Alternatives To evaluate the products of which the buyer got information he is looking for criteria to compare the products. These criteria are for example characteristics or features that the buyer wants (or does not want). In the example of our car buyer these features could be if the car has an airbag, electrical window control or air-conditioning system. The buyer also thinks about how important each criterion is; because some features may carry more weight than others. This evaluation of the consumer can be influenced by the marketer by framing the alternatives – that means the manner how the marketer describes the product and its features. Purchase In this stage the consumer chooses the product or brand which he wants to buy. This selection is based on the result of the previous evaluation stage. There is also a set of criterions which must be taken into account: One of the most important criterions is the product availability which may influence which brand is purchased. If the favourite brand is not available at the moment the consumer may choose the brand that is ranked second. Other criterions that also could be important for the consumer are for example the price, delivery, guarantees, maintenance agreements, installation and credit arrangements. Post purchase evaluation After the purchase the buyer begins to check the product if the actual performance meets the expected level. In this stage many of the criteria used in the evaluating alternatives stage are used again. The result is either satisfaction or dissatisfaction. 1.4 Personal factors influencing the buying decision process The purchasing decision can be influenced by a lot of personal factors, which means factors that are unique to only one person. There are three categories of personal factors: Demographic factors Situational factors Level of involvement Demographic factors These factors are individual characteristics such as age, sex, race, ethnic origin, income, family life-cycle, and occupation. Demographic factors influence in which extent a person buys or uses products in a specific product category. For example consumers between 15 and 24 years often prefer to buy household basics because they have to establish their own household. Whereas people aged between 45 and 54 years often spend more money on luxury and leisure products; the reason for this is that these people have more money, because their children have left home. Situational factors Situational factors are the external conditions that exist when a consumer is making a purchase decision. Sometimes a consumer decides to buy something as a result of an unexpected situation. For example, a person may buy hurriedly buy a plane ticket to spend the last days with a dangerously ill relative. But it is also possible that a person terminates the buying decision process because of situational factors. For example, when the consumer decided to buy something and because of external circumstances he does not need it anymore. Level of involvement The level of involvement means the importance and intensity of interest in a product in a particular situation. The buyer ´s level of involvement determines if he or she is interested in seeking information about certain products or brands. Consumers seem to be more involved in the purchase of high-priced goods and of products that are visible to others, such as clothing, furniture, or cars. So the consumers are more interested to gain more information in this product categories. 1.5 Psychological factors influencing the buying decision process In addition to the personal factors there are also psychological factors that can influence the buying decisions. The five psychological influences on consumer behaviour are: Perception Perception is the process of selecting, organising and interpreting information inputs to produce meaning. These information inputs are received through sight, taste, hearing, smell and touch; that means with all of our five senses. Motives A motive is an internal feeling that forces a person to satisfy a need or to achieve a goal. If a person buys something this activity is affected by a set of motives; at this moment some of the motives in the set have priority, but the priority of the motives also can vary from one time to another. It is very important for the marketers to know about the motives of their customers; there is only the problem that most people do not know why they buy a particular product. The solution for this are special kinds of interviews in which the interviewer wants to gain, in an informal atmosphere, information about the consumer ´s motives. But this topic is very complicated, so I would not like to go into this more nearly Ability and knowledge Every person has got different abilities; one ability that is very important for marketers is the individual ´s capacity to learn. Because learning may change a person ´s buying behaviour by gaining new information and experience. For example; when a consumer buys a particular product and he likes it, he is more likely to buy the same product the next time. But if the consumer is not satisfied by the product he will switch to a different brand. Another aspect of an individual ´s ability is knowledge. Knowledge can be divided into two components: familiarity with the product and expertise; together this means the individual ´s ability to use the product. For example; if a consumer does not know about a special kind of product he will not buy it and if he knows about the product but does not know how to use it he also will not buy it. Attitude Attitude refers to knowledge and positive or negative feelings about an object or activity. These objects or acts may be touchable or untouchable, living or non-living. For example people have attitudes towards sex, religion, politics, and music (all untouchable); but also towards cars, football, or pizza. People learn these attitudes through experience and also through relations to other people. Likewise people have attitudes towards companies and their products, so the aim for the companies marketing-strategy should be to give the customer a good feeling about the company an her products. In other words, the company should try to influence the customer ´s attitude. Personality Every person is unique, because of internal traits and behaviours. Marketing managers suspect that there are communities between people ´s traits, and so they are searching for them to find relationships among these similar  characteristics and the buying behaviour. The aim is to find out which kind of consumer prefers which types of brands and products. With this knowledge marketers can try to aim advertising campaigns at general types of personalities. 1.6 Social factors influencing the buying decision process The last kind of factors that can influence the buying decision process are the social factors. The consumer can be influenced by a various number of social factors. The family plays a big role for buying decisions, because there are a lot of different interests. The male head of the household is likely involved in the purchase of products such as alcohol or tobacco. Although female roles have changed, also a lot of women are involved in taking buying decisions related to many household items. Another group that can influence the consumer are reference groups. A group becomes a reference group when a person identifies with it so much that he or she puts very great value on the opinions, habits, and behaviours of the group members. But this could be a very negative reference for an individual, because the values of the group do not have absolutely to be right. Another important factor is the social class in which the individual lives. In every society there are people who belong to higher or lower positions of respect. The different social classes are described as open, because it is possible for everyone can move into and out of them very easily. For grouping people into classes many factors need to be taken into account, such as occupation, education, income, wealth, race, ethnic group, and possessions. Though the number of factors chosen for the ranking can be very various; it depends on the person who is doing the ranking. Social class also determines to some extent the type, quality and quantity of products that a person buys or uses. For example people living in the upper-class prefer luxury automobiles such as BMW or Audi while people ranked in a lower class cannot afford such cars. The last one of the social factors that I want to mention is culture. Culture means everything in our surroundings that is made by human beings. It consists of tangible items, such as food, furniture, buildings, clothing etc, and intangible concepts, such as education, welfare, and laws. But culture also includes the values and different kinds of behaviours of a specific society. Culture influences buying behaviour because everything in our daily life is permeated by it. Culture determines our lifestyle, how we dress, what we eat, or where we travel. So it is another important factor for marketers to know. 1.7 Understanding consumer behaviour It is very important for marketers to understand consumer buying behaviour because that is the only possibility to offer greater satisfaction for the consumer. Although there remains a certain amount of consumer dissatisfaction. The reason for this is that some marketers still are not consumer oriented and do not regard customer satisfaction as a primary objective. Another problem is that the tools for analysing consumer behaviour are not very precise, so it is impossible for marketers to determine what is highly satisfying to buyers. Understanding consumer behaviour is a very important task for marketers. Even though the marketers were not able to gain al the knowledge they need, progress has been made during the last twenty years and is likely to continue in the next twenty. There will not only be refinements in research methods to gain more information, there will also be more pressure for the  companies because of an increasingly competitive business environment, and this will make such information essential for companies. 2 ORGANISATIONAL MARKETS AND BUYING BEHAVIOUR 2.1 Introduction In this chapter I would like to give a short overview about organisational markets and organisational buying decision processes. I want to explain the various kinds of organisational markets, the types of buyers that make up these markets, and much more. Look forward to a new, interesting topic. 2.2 Types of organisational markets The following section describes the four kinds of organisational markets, and the characteristics of the customers that make up these markets. Producer markets Persons and business organisations that buy products with the aim of making profit by using them to produce other products or by using them in their factories are classified as producer markets. These markets include buyers of raw-materials, as well as purchasers of semi-finished and finished items. Though the prerequisite for this is that the consumer uses these materials or items to create new products. A good example for this is a car manufacturer which buys steel and component parts to use directly in the production of cars. Reseller markets Reseller markets consist of intermediaries which means people that buy finished products to resell them with the aim of making profit; examples for  this are wholesalers and retailers. One thing that is important to know is that resellers do not change anything at the physical characteristics of the products they sell. There is only one exception, producers that sell their products directly to the consumer. This is the case when the company produces, for example, high-tech products, which need a lot of explanation and service for the customer. But in all other cases all the products sold to a consumer market are first sold to a reseller. In the normal case it is like this; the wholesaler who carries an immense number of products buys the products from the producer and sells them to the retailer. The retailer carries less products in stock than the wholesaler and sells these products to the final consumer. And the best thing is that every party makes profit (mostly). Government markets Government markets consist of national and local governments. Every year they spend a lot of money for many various products and services to support their internal operations and to provide the public with everything it needs, things like education, water, energy, infrastructure, national defence, etc. It is a little bit difficult for governments to spend the money in the right way because they are accountable for the public money they spend. This is also a problem for the companies which want to sell their products to the state because there is a relatively complex set of buying procedures which are linked with the accountability for the public money and it is understandable that most companies do not want to deal with so much red tape. However there are also marketers that have learned to deal with the complex buying procedures and do not find them to be a stumbling block. And they have good reasons for this because deals with governments can be very lucrative. Institutional markets Institutional markets do not seek to achieve business goals they try to achieve charitable, educational, community or other non-business goals.  Members of institutional markets can be organisations, such as churches, some hospitals, libraries, museums, universities, and charitable organisations. These institutions spend millions of dollars every year to provide goods, services, and ideas to their members. It is very difficult for marketers to sell their goods to the various kinds of institutions because of their different aims; so some marketers use special marketing activities to serve these markets. 2.3 Dimensions of organisational buying After we have looked at the different types of organisational markets I think we should also take a look on the dimensions of organisational buying. Characteristics of organisational transactions In comparison to consumer sales organisational transactions are different in several ways: Organisational buyers order much bigger quantities than individual consumers. That is one consequence linked to the behaviour of suppliers which prefer to sell their products in large quantities. This is the only way for them to make any profit. Another point is that organisational purchases are not negotiated as frequently as consumer sales. Some products that are purchased by organisations might be very expensive, such as machines, or office equipment, and they are used for a number of years. There are also products that are purchased frequently, such as raw materials, or component items, which are used continuously in production. But how I mentioned before the purchased quantities for these goods are much bigger. Also the purchase decisions are not as quick as they are for normal consumers. Because of the expensive products the purchasing decisions are often made by a committee which takes more time than only one individual  needs to take a decision. One thing that is unique to organisational sales is reciprocity. That is an arrangement between to organisations in which they agree to buy from each other. That seems to be very good for those both companies, but most reciprocal agreements threaten competition and that is why most of them are illegal. But nevertheless there are still some cases where such agreements take place. Attributes of organisational buyers If we think about organisational buyers we guess that their purchasing behaviour is different to the behaviour from consumer buyers because they are better informed about the products they want to purchase. However that is not quite right. Organisational buyers also have personal that can be influenced by some of the factors I mentioned earlier, such as psychological, or social factors. Employees are also only people. Primary concerns of organisational buyers Organisational customers are always concerned about buying the right stuff. So they take various factors into account before they make a purchasing decision: Most organisational customers want to offer to their target markets products of good quality. To achieve this aim companies often create a set of expressed characteristics, commonly called specifications. So the organisational buyer can determine if the quality of the different products corresponds to the necessary specifications. Another thing that is very important to organisational customers is service. The services that are provided by suppliers influence directly and indirectly the costs, sales, and profits of the organisational customer. If a marketer wants to have an advantage against his competitors which sell products that are similar to his products, he has to think about the perfect  mix of services that he can provide. I would just like to mention some services that may influence buying decisions: market information, inventory maintenance, on-time delivery, repair services, and credit. The most essential thing for the organisational customer is still the price. If the price is too high the operating costs will also be too high and at long last the product will be too expensive for the final consumer. But when purchasing for example a machine the buyer does not only look at the price, he compares the price with the profit he can gain with this machine, and also compares factors like product quality, and supplier services. Methods of organisational buying No organisational buyer will do his job in the same way like another but most of them use one or more of the following purchase methods: Description: Products are commonly standardised according to certain characteristics, such as shape, weight, size, and colour. With this standards an organisational buyer is able to purchase a product simply by describing quantity, shape etc. This purchase method is common for agricultural products. Inspection: This purchase method is common especially for large industrial equipment, used vehicles, and buildings. These goods have unique characteristics but may vary in their conditions. So the organisational buyer has to base his purchase decision on inspection. Sampling: In this case the buyer takes a sample of the desired product and starts out from the assumption that the sample is presentable for the parent population. Then he checks if the quality of the sample is acceptable. This method only makes sense if the tested product is homogeneous. Negotiation: The buyer describes exactly what kind of product he needs and asks sellers to submit their offer. The buyer may take the most attractive offers and negotiate with those suppliers to see from who he can get the  best conditions. These contracts only make sense for one-time projects. Types of organisational purchases The first type of organisational purchases is the new-task purchase, that means that an organisation makes a purchase of a product that is needed in a new job or to solve a new problem. So it is a product that never have been purchased before. A new-task purchase may require the creation of product specifications, vendor specifications etc. If a new-task purchase is changed the second or third time it is ordered, it turns into a modified re-buy purchase. That means the specifications of the new-task purchase have been changed, or have been modified. If a buyer purchases the same product regularly under approximately the same terms of sale we are talking about a straight re-buy purchase. Mostly this type is used with routine purchase decisions. Demand for industrial products The products sold to organisational customers are also called industrial products, and the demand for those products is called industrial demand. There are four different characteristics for industrial demand: Derived demand: Because organisational customers often buy products that are used directly or indirectly in production of goods that are sold to consumers to satisfy their needs, we can derive the demand for industrial products from the demand for consumer products. That is why it is called derived demand. For example the demand for computer CPUs derives from the consumer ´s demand for personal computers. Inelastic demand: In industry there are a lot of products for which the demand is inelastic. That means that a price increase or decrease will not alter the demand for this product. The reason for this is that a lot of products produced in industry contain a large number of components and so a  price increase or decrease of one of these products will not cause a serious higher or lower per-unit production cost. So the company is not forced to find an alternative product. But if there is a price increase for a component that represents a big part of the product ´s costs the demand may become more elastic because the price increase for the component will also cause an increasing price for the final consumer. Joint demand: Joint demand means when two ore more items are used in combination to produce a product. For example, a company that produces axes needs the same number of axe handles as it does axe blades; these two products are demanded jointly. Demand fluctuations: The demand for industrial products may fluctuate because it derives from consumer demand. A high consumer demand for a particular product may cause that producers buy large quantities of raw materials and components to ensure that they can produce the product for a longer time without any problems. They also may expand their production capacity which requires new machines, more workers, and also more raw materials and component parts. The opposite of this case is a decline in the demand for special consumer goods which causes a demand reduction for industrial products used to produce those goods. The consequence is that industrial customers buy less raw materials and components and stop buying new equipment and machines. There can be even a temporary standstill in the production for these goods. 2.4 Organisational buying decision The buying centre In industry few organisational purchasing decisions are made only by one person; in most cases they are made trough a buying centre. The buying centre consists of people within an organisation who are involved in making organisational purchasing decisions. The members of the buying centre are responsible for evaluating the product ´s performance, selecting suppliers,  negotiating the terms of purchase, and also for developing specifications. Stages of the organisational buying decision process Like consumers, organisations follow a buying decision process which you can see at the figure below. This process is almost similar to the decision process that was explained in sector 1.3 (The consumer buying decision process). Influences on organisational buying There are also some factors that may influence the decision process, they can be divided into four major categories: Environmental: These are factors like laws, regulations, economic conditions, competitive forces technological changes. Organisational: Objectives, purchasing policies, resources, buying centre structure Interpersonal: Cooperation, conflict, power relationships Individual: Age, education level, job status, personality, income 2.5 Concluding remark I hope you enjoyed my short overview about the topics â€Å"Consumer buying behaviour† and â€Å"Organisational markets and buying behaviour†; and I also hope that my explanations were understandable.

The Current “Age of Accountability” Law in Light of Developmental Psychology Current Law Upheld Case Study

In the case study provided, one can see many areas where the development of the child in question can be taken into consideration when looking at the case from a law standpoint. In any case involving children, one must always take into account their environment, their developmental age, and their true age. With each age group, there is a norm for development and each child must be evaluated regarding that norm. In this case, the current law regarding the â€Å"age of accountability† can be upheld through three basic points. These points are the biosocial, the cognitive, and the psychosocial areas of development. Each area plays a huge role in whether or not a child (at the age of six) can be held accountable for such a violent act. In the area of biosocial development, everything from a child’s nutrition to brain development to abuse can affect their perceptions (Berger, 2008). In the case provided, the six year old boy, coming from a single parent household, could very easily suffer developmentally in this area. Historically, single parent households make much less than households where both parents are present. Less income (socioeconomic status decline) could equal less nutritious food to aid in proper development. At the age of the child provided for this case study, he seems to be at the norm for brain development. At this age, even though children can think in rapid succession, they do not process the information to the point of seeing the true consequences. The child is also not completely able to use deductive reasoning when thinking the situation through from beginning to end and vice versa (Berger, 2008). Emotions at this point also play a key role in the development of the child provided. At this age, emotions such as anger (which would commonly be felt after the scuffle on the playground) can grow over a few hours and especially overnight, in a child who has anger or guilt problems anyway. While anger is a normal emotion, some children at this age struggle with the appropriate way to deal with it and lash out, resulting in injury. Taking into consideration the lifestyle of the juvenile in question, abuse and/or neglect could also be a large problem in his dealing with anger issues. While he may see the maltreatment he could be receiving as just basic attention, he is unable to process the true impact of the situation at his age (Berger, 2008). When the child sees anger at home, he is more likely to engage in anger motivated activities outside the home. Cognitive development of the six year old boy must also be taken into consideration when upholding the age of accountability law. Due to the fact that children of this age tend to be very self-centered and have the ability to focus on one idea (regardless of perception), a child with anger issues will see their problem is the whole world and that that one focal point is to stop the angry feeling (Berger, 2008). While to an adult this is irrational thought since the consequences are not planned for, to a child this creates harmony in their world of â€Å"me. Social learning at this age is a huge influence on how they react to their environment. In the case provided, the child is reacting the only way he knows how. Since both his father and grandfather are in the corrections system for gun related charges, it is likely that the child is only modeling the behavior he feels is set forth by those before him (Berger, 2008). While the child does not realize what he is doing at the time, he is an apprentice in thinking in the same way the other male figures have acted in his life. Even though the child has a male influence in his life (his uncle), it does not seem to be constructive as the uncle is likely the one who left the gun out irresponsibly. To uphold the current law, it should also be taken into consideration that a child at this age is merely attempting to make the difference between belief and reality. What a child sees on television and plays in video games can also play a role in their perception of the world as well as their cognitive and psychological development (Berger, 2008). Children before the age of seven have a difficult time realizing the reality and the fantasy within their environment. To them, a violent act is just the means to the end, the consequences are not their concern, and their goal is to end their own suffering regardless of the cost due to their self-centeredness. In the area of psychosocial development, a child should not be held accountable at the age of six due to their emotional status, ability to receive and internalize emotion, and falling victim to their parents’ style of parenting (Berger, 2008). If a child is subjected to authoritarian parenting, they are more likely to be less happy, suffer from depression, and feel guilty about situations in their environment. In the case presented, this could very well be the case for the child as his reason for extreme anger could be internalizing guilt for his father and grandfather being out of his life and in prison. Permissive parenting could also be a cause of developmental issue in a child of this age as they would be lacking of self control and unhappy. Again, the media begins to play a role in the lives of children this age. When a child observes violence and hatred, then they will most likely exude this type of behavior as well if it does not go corrected by a parent (Berger, 2008). When the media is the â€Å"parent† of the child, television used as a babysitter, the only role model they have are the actors on television to mimic and model their behavior. Overall, based on the information provided by Berger in the text, the law regarding whether or not the child in the case from Michigan should be held accountable should be upheld. It can be seen from the information provided above that the child is not developed enough to weigh the consequences of their actions and are most likely victims to their environment. Children cannot control what they are shown and thus at age six should not be accountable for their violent actions when they do not understand what the repercussions of their action could be and do not understand something as complex as taking another life.

Project management 5 Essay

Project management 5 Essay Project management 5 Essay NAME: Samuel Adebayo COURSE: MIS 4433 INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Mike Estep DATE: 3/14/2015 The sinking of the Titanic is now known to be a folk story and a romantic movie and so many people are unaware of what exactly happened that caused the ship to sink that night on April of 1912. So many people claimed that the builders of the Titanic claimed that the ship was ‘unsinkable’ but the actual statement made by the builders was that, the ship was ‘practically unsinkable’ which is pretty close. The Titanic was the largest ship ever built in the world as at the time she was built. She was built to compete with the Lusitania and Mauretania which both held the ‘Blue Riband’ for the fastest Atlantic crossing ships. The Titanic was built to look like her sister ship, â€Å"The Olympic† in so many different ways. They were both built to travel at moderate speeds, carry a lot of people, and to have a lot of space to carry cargo. The upper part of the titanic was also built to look like the Olympic only that, the Titanic’s was enlarged and refined. There were no risks taken in building the engines as the engines were enlarged versions of the propulsion system first used experimentally in Laurentic in 1909. There was also no risk taken in the design of the inside of the ship as it was built to look like that of older white ships only larger. The Titanic’s long thin rudder with its high counter stern was, in fact, a copy of an 18th century steel sail ing ship, a perfect example of the lack of technical development. This design compared with the modern rudder design of the Mauretania or Lusitania, Titanic's was a fraction of the size. Apparently no account was made for advances in scale and little thought given to how a ship 852 feet in length, might turn in an emergency or avoid a collision with an iceberg. This was Titanic's Achilles heel. It was also said that the Titanic wanted to set a record on her maiden trip by arriving the shores of New York ahead of schedule and that speed played an important role in the Titanic which is not actually true. She went through the route the Olympic followed the previous year and she didn’t even have all her boilers on. She was sailing through the longer route in order to avoid the icebergs. An allegation was brought up that claimed that Bruce Ismay, chairman and managing director of

How Conservative Hollywood Became a Liberal Town

How Conservative Hollywood Became a Liberal Town While it may seem as though Hollywood has always been liberal, it hasn’t. Very few people today realize that at one point in the development of American cinema, conservatives ruled the movie-making industry. Santa Monica College Professor Larry Ceplair, co-author of The Inquisition in Hollywood, wrote that during the ‘20s and ‘30s, most studio heads were conservative Republicans who spent millions of dollars to block union and guild organizing. Likewise, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the Moving Picture Machine Operators, and the Screen Actors Guild were all headed by conservatives, as well. Scandals and Censorship In the early 1920s, a series of scandals rocked Hollywood. According to authors Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell, silent film star Mary Pickford divorced her first husband in 1921 so that she could marry the attractive Douglas Fairbanks. Later that year, Roscoe â€Å"Fatty† Arbuckle was accused (but later acquitted) of raping and murdering a young actress during a wild party. In 1922, after director William Desmond Taylor was found murdered, the public learned of his lurid love affairs with some of Hollywood’s best-known actresses. The final straw came in 1923, when Wallace Reid, a ruggedly handsome actor, died of a morphine overdose. In themselves, these incidents were a cause for sensation but taken together, studio bosses worried they would be accused of promoting immorality and self-indulgence. As it was, a number of protest groups had successfully lobbied Washington and the federal government was looking to impose censorship guidelines on the studios. Rather than losing control of their product and face the involvement of the government, the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of American (MPPDA) hired Warren Harding’s Republican postmaster general, Will Hays, to address the problem. The Hays Code In their book, Thompson and Bordwell say Hays appealed to the studios to remove objectionable content from their films and in 1927, he gave them a list of material to avoid, called the â€Å"Don’ts and Be Carefuls† list. It covered most sexual immorality and the depiction of criminal activity. Nevertheless, by the early 1930s, many of the items on Hays’ list were being ignored and with Democrats controlling Washington, it seemed more likely than ever that a censorship law would be implemented. In 1933, Hays pushed the film industry to adopt the Production Code, which explicitly forbids depictions of crime methodology, sexual perversion. Films that abide by the code received a seal of approval. Although the â€Å"Hays Code,† as it came to be known helped the industry avoid stiffer censorship at the national level, it began to erode in the late 40s and early ‘50s. The House Un-American Activities Committee Although it was not considered un-American to sympathize with the Soviets during the 1930s or during World War II, when they were American allies, it was considered un-American when the war was over. In 1947, Hollywood intellectuals who had been sympathetic to the communist cause during those early years found themselves being investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and questioned about their â€Å"communist activities.† Ceplair points out that the conservative Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals provided the committee with names of so-called subversives. Members of the alliance testified before the committee as friendly† witnesses. Other â€Å"friendlies,† such as Jack Warner of Warner Bros. and actors Gary Cooper, Ronald Reagan, and Robert Taylor either fingered others as â€Å"communists† or expressed concern over liberal content in their scripts. After a four-year suspension of the committee ended in 1952, former communists and Soviet sympathizers such as actors Sterling Hayden and Edward G. Robinson kept themselves out of trouble by naming others. Most of the people named were script-writers. Ten of them, who testified as â€Å"unfriendly† witnesses became known as the â€Å"Hollywood Ten† and were blacklisted – effectively ending their careers. Ceplair notes that following the hearings, guilds, and unions purged liberals, radicals, and leftists from their ranks, and over the next 10 years, the outrage slowly began to dissipate. Liberalism Seeps Into Hollywood Due in part to a backlash against abuses perpetrated by the House Un-American Activities Committee, and in part to a landmark Supreme Court ruling in 1952 declaring films to be a form of free speech, Hollywood began to slowly liberalize. By 1962, the Production Code was virtually toothless. The newly formed Motion Picture Association of America implemented a rating system, which still stands today. In 1969, following the release of  Easy Rider, directed by liberal-turned-conservative  Dennis Hopper, counter-culture films began to appear in significant numbers. By the mid-1970s, older directors were retiring, and a new generation of filmmakers was emerging. By the late 1970s, Hollywood was very openly and specifically liberal. After making his last film in 1965, Hollywood director John Ford saw the writing on the wall. â€Å"Hollywood now is run by Wall St. and Madison Ave., who demand ‘Sex and Violence,’† author Tag Gallagher quotes him as writing in his  book,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"This is against my conscience and religion.† Hollywood Today Things are not much different today. In a 1992 letter to the  New York Times, screenwriter and playwright  Jonathan R. Reynolds  lament  that â€Å"†¦ Hollywood today is as fascistic toward conservatives as the 1940s and 50s were  liberals †¦ And that goes for the movies and television shows produced.† It goes beyond Hollywood, too, Reynolds argues. Even the New York theater community is rampant with liberalism. â€Å"Any play that suggests that racism is a two-way street or that socialism is degrading simply wont be produced,† Reynolds writes. â€Å"I defy you to name any plays produced in the last 10 years that intelligently espouse conservative ideas. Make that 20 years.† The lesson Hollywood still has not learned, he says, is that repression of ideas, regardless of political persuasion, â€Å"should not be rampant in the arts.† The enemy is repression itself.

Human Resource Management Employee Selection Processes Research Paper

Human Resource Management Employee Selection Processes - Research Paper Example Methods of selection on the other hand should have some reasonable quality as dictated by the concept of utility. Selected employees should add value to the organization. A method that selects employees who cannot add value to the organization is an ineffective method. Lastly, selection process must adhere to the legal regulations and provisions of employment such as discrimination and equal employment regulations (Ullah, 2010). Organizations selecting employees should ensure that there are no discriminations and equal employment opportunities. Equally suited candidates must be subjected to equal interviews or selection process. One of the easiest and most effective approaches in selecting one of the two equally suited candidates is the thorough analysis and evaluation of experiences and job specifications. There is no doubt that there must be one candidate who is slightly more experienced that the other or has an additional qualification. In the event that they have the same years of experience, academic qualifications, and admirable track or records, the two equally suited candidates should be subjected to various selection processes such as aptitude of panel interview to critically evaluate their uniqueness (Knouse,

Elvis Presleys Rise and Fall, and his contribution to the Rock and Research Paper

Elvis Presleys Rise and Fall, and his contribution to the Rock and Roll Music Industry - Research Paper Example The career of a celebrity is usually accompanied by a cause-and-effect based sequence of ups and downs that are supposed to be connected. But though Elvis Presley’s rise to the peak of popularity in the 1950s’ rock-n-roll music industry can fairly be explained in terms of the dynamics that an artist needs, the causes his downfall remains apparently mysterious and shrouded by some unpredictable events. At the 28th anniversary of his death he was entitled the â€Å"King of Rock n roll† due to his contribution to the rock n roll back in the 1950’s, this celebrity was fated to touch the bottom of popularity. For years Presley’s downfall has engaged the scholars in debates on the question why Presley’s popularity had to face a sharp downfall in the midway of his career forcing him to withdraw himself from the public affair. Though some critics hold the opinion that his rise as well as his subsequent downfall is the natural parts of a celebrityâ₠¬â„¢s life, most of the critics explain Presley’s downfall as a result of his pursuing for cheap popularity. The commonplace of these critics’ arguments is: the path that he chose to reach the peak of his popularity took him down. Obviously his approach was one-way and he reached the point of no-return. Even though at the beginning of his career, Elvis Presley showed a clear disposition of a marvellous musical artist, he began to increasingly depend on cheap popularity, shifting his attention from the quality of performance. A close investigation of his journey to the peak of his career fairly envisages his downfall at the end. It is significant to note that Elvis began his career as an acoustic artist.

Undercover Police Work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Undercover Police Work - Essay Example when unaccountability in such an area may lead to impractical situations, thereby defeating the aim and purpose of such an act being authorized in the first place. As for ethics, secret operations may be criticized on the basis that such they interfere with a person’s right to privacy and goes on tamper and infringe other’s right. This would be apparent in situations where such acts are found to be on erroneous or based on incorrect information. Furthermore, such acts lead to moral uncertainties. As such operations may lead to corruption of the police officer, disciplinary problems and psychological issues. These are clear cut suggestions that ethical problems do arise when undercover police operations take place. Even though it may be argued that facilitative operations and authorized criminality are necessary for upkeep of law, there are clear cut ethical as well as practical issues, some of which might be tackled and borne in mind before supporting such

Automation in insurance underwriting processes

Automation in insurance underwriting processes Abstract Underwriting is one of the important processes in insurance operations. The applicants information, including various kinds of medical information, must be evaluated before the insurance company can decide to accept the application. These activities are usually supported by process automation facility. However, the support of exception handling mechanism and the monitoring of turnaround time in those process automation solutions are usually inadequate. This results in a low efficiency of the underwriting operations or even loss of business opportunities. To address the problem, this paper presents an Alert-enhanced Underwriting System (AUS), which handles the exception events and monitors the turnaround time with the concept of alerts. We further illustrate how Web services facilitate workflow integration and process communications. 1. Introduction Life insurance provides protection against the economic loss caused by the death of the person whose life is insured [1]. Because of its popularity, it is a business where many insurance companies allocate many resources in order to gain more market share. A life insurance policy defines the terms and conditions for the prospective client, particularly the situations under which the insurance company promises to pay a benefit upon death [2]. Since life insurance products can provide a stable cash inflow for an insurance company, there is a trend that insurance companies market various life products, such as investment-linked life products, savings life products and critical illness protection, in order to attract more customers with different needs. Although life insurance business can generate financial benefits to the insurance company, the company still needs to bear financial responsibility to pay the insured under some agreed conditions, e.g., the insured dies during a specified period. The insurance will face the consequence of financial loss if the company accepts prospective clients, who present extremely high risks and when some of these insured persons die soon after policy issuance. High quality processes are necessary to assess the degree of risks associated with each application of life insurance. Underwriting (which is also known as new business) is a process of assessing and classifying the degree of risk represented by a prospective client and making a decision to accept or decline the insured. The world of electronic collaboration is developing rapidly, introducing new technology and new ways of collaboration. The success of collaboration often depends on the ability of a corporation not only to make sure that their applications are dynamic, but also to maintain a high degree of interoperability with collaboration partners. In this paper, we present an Alert-enhanced Underwriting System (AUS) as a collaboration platform for streamlining the workflow of insurance underwriting processes. AUS makes use of an Event-Condition-Action (ECA) collaboration model [13] to manage event handling, process integration, and alert/exception management for the process flow of the underwriting operations. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 discusses some related work and background requirements. Section 3 describes system design and implementation for our AUS. Section 4 concludes our paper with our continue research work that look forwards to possible enhancements. 2. Background and Related Work Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) essentially defined the technology of electronic collaboration in the past. However, EDI is an expensive solution, due to its high cost of network infrastructure and system integration. In addition, security issues of EDI also limited corporations from directly accessing the computing resources of its trading partners, which used firewall-unfriendly protocols. Therefore, developers start to find other technologies which have a low cost, flexible software solution that allows corporations to build new applications in response to changing business needs while adhering to a defined electronic business standard [10]. Recently, numerous vendors have offered solutions to support both XML (eXtensible Markup Language) and EDI formats for collaboration. One of the solutions is the transformation of information between companies: XML-to-EDI. Transformation is critical to an edge integration strategy that brings together B2B collaboration and enterprise application at the boundary of an enterprise in order to enable the back-end connectivity and workflow required to support a complete business process [11]. In the XML world, e-Business XML (ebXML) [12] is a modular suite of specifications which are initiatively designed for electronic interoperability. The strength of the ebXML architecture is that it provides a framework for electronic business collaboration. The architecture enables businesses to work together to specify business process, discover one another, negotiate collaboration agreements, and execute business processes. However, although ebXML implementations are already being announced, the rate of deployment of ebXML is not quickly accelerated. Many companies are taking a wait-and-see approach until ebXML becomes a mainstream in the market. 2.1. Key Processes and Integration Figure 1 illustrates a typical underwriting process, which usually consists of the following four key activities: Performing field underwriting, Reviewing the application for insurance, Gathering additional information to make a sound decision, and Making an underwriting decision on the case [3] However, before a new case is sent to an underwriter for processing, there are other activities involved: Packing application forms and other documents from the agent Initial premium payment through the cashier entry system Data entry of new application in a branch or zone office Scanning documents into images for workflow processing Quality Check (QC) and Indexing on the scanned documents Release of the validated and scanned documents images into workflow engine for further processing In the traditional way of performing the activities 1 to 5 without any automation processes, it incurs high cost in human resource, storage cost, and paper work, together with a high turnaround time. That means it causes the underwriter to spend a long time to handle a new application. This affects the insurance companys reputation and may further induces financial losses or even legal penalties. With the advent of information technology, most of the above activities are linked together to streamline the workflow for processing a new business, starting from receiving documents from an agent, ending at the underwriter getting the case from workflow system and issuing new policy if approved. Some benefits accrued to the business for automating the entire underwriting processes: Improvement of the service quality (such as turnaround time) Reduce of the risk of losing submitted documents during delivery Transfer of applications to the next step of the process immediately Better control of risk management such that some cases (i.e., excess of coverage limit) can only be approved by senior underwriters The key integration of the processes between the agents and the underwriters are as follows. Images and Data Transfer Process This activity is an automated process and does not involve any manual operation unless the sub-system is down or errors / inconsistency occurred during the transfer. The purpose of this process is to transfer the scanned images and indexed data from a branch or zone office to the central office for importing into the workflow system. If the network linkage between a branch or zone office and the central office is a private connection (i.e., leased line), the operation is just a simple transfer of document images into the file server in the central office with an XML file including all the indexed data. If the network connection between both sides is public (i.e., the Internet) and it is not a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection, then the interactions require other security measures as described in later sections. Import Robot and Workflow Engine They are located at the central office of an insurance company. The engine waits for the image files and XML data to be uploaded from the branch or zone office and verify the XML data integrity with the appropriate XML Schema. The imported document images and indexed data are installed into the existing workflow routing engine for case assignment to appropriate underwriters for further case approval. 2.2. Requirements Overview of Stakeholders In automated underwriting processes architecture, a workflow engine (e.g., eistream [9]) is deployed at the central office. This engine can efficiently route job assignments to appropriate underwriters. The processing performed with the workflow engine is usually referred to as post-processing of the workflow. There are many pre-processing activities, which must be completed before those new insurance applications can be imported into the workflow engine for further underwriting. Figure 2 depicts a use case diagram of the underwriting process. The key stakeholders involved are discussed as follows. Agent He/she is an authorized representative to sell insurance products on behalf of an insurance company. The agents have the responsibilities to perform a simple check first by gathering initial information about prospective clients and screening applications who have requested coverage [4]. They have to gather required documents (such as health certificate) from the prospective client in order to speed up the underwriting process. Email access or Internet portal are the prompt means for agents to communicate with an insurance company. Cashier Entry For a new application of life insurance, the prospect client is required to pay the initial premium in the form of cash or check. The amount of premium is also dependent on the payment mode of the proposed policy. The agent has to submit the initial premium with the application. The cashier entry will collect the initial premium and put a premium receipt record in a Premium Collection System. The Cashier Entry also files the application forms and documents for data entry. Data Entry A user in branch/zone office enters the information recorded on the application form, such as the policy owner information, proposed insured information or medical information, etc., into the underwriting front-end input system. Scanning Officer When a scanning officer receives the documents, including application form, from an agent, he/she will try to sort and classify the documents into different document types (such as health certificates, identity proofs), and then scan them into images for auditable backup as well as indexing and quality check (QC). The application form is scanned just for auditable backup because the data has already been entered. Index and QC Officer After the submitted documents have been scanned into images, the index and QC officers (it may involve two individuals) will try to index the fields on several regions of a scanned image and save the indexed data into the database, so that the indexed data can be adhered with the corresponding images and imported into the workflow system. If the index officer discovers that the image quality of scanned document is not good, the document must be rescanned until the image quality of the document is acceptable for indexing. Underwriter An underwriter is assigned with a case (new or pending case) by the workflow engine. The underwriter carries out an assessment process by considering the submitted documentations, medical information, other personal factors like age, driving history, tobacco use, career nature, and financial factors of the potential client, etc. Then, the underwriter will determine whether the application is approved, pended for additional proofs or documentation, counter-offered to the applicant, or rejected. 2.3. Alert and Exception Handling Although most of the activities starting from submitting documents in branch or zone office to the back-end underwriting processes are automated, there are still many events, both business-oriented and technology-oriented, must be handled in order to streamline and speed up the entire underwriting process. Exceptions are events that can drive not only reactions performed by business parties [6], but also information exchanged within an organization, across physical boundaries (e.g., departments located in different geographical areas) or within (e.g., underwriting department and printing service department located in the same building) individual organizational boundary. In order to handle the exceptions and monitor the exception handling process, (especially those important and / or with urgency requirements), Chiu et al. [6] proposed the use of alerts to model and implement this. The key differences between alerts and exceptions are that alerts represents messages sent to a target, usually with time and urgency constraints, and that alerts are monitored and tracked. That means, to handle an exception, an Alert Management System (AMS) sends an alert message to a handler (human or system) and keeps track of the process until the handling job is finished. In this application, the main objective of applying alerts is the concern about the turnaround time in the insurance application process. Some key exceptions and alerts generated by the main stakeholders are listed as follows. Agent Cancellation of an insurance application can trigger an alert to the central office so that the workflow system can change the application status (if it has been imported into workflow engine) into pending status and no more human resource will be wasted on this application. The application will ultimately be cancelled after the cancellation form is scanned and imported into the workflow system. The AMS can therefore make sure that the case is closed within a reasonable time limit. Cashier Entry An alert can be generated when the agent submits an initial premium payment for the new applicant but only part of initial premium has been settled. The alert can notify the central office underwriter to solve the application case if the case has been pended for the reason of insufficient premium. Scanning Officer Exceptions can be generated if the agent submits unknown type of documents or forms. If the workflow automation system does not know how to handle the unknown type documents or forms, then unknown document alert can notify the corresponding agent about this issue and urge him/her to fix this within a certain period. Index and QC Officer A Document Rescan alert can be generated to the scanning officer if the index officer finds the document image quality is too poor to be indexed. A QC officer can also generate a Reindex alert if he/she found that an index officer did not correctly index the fields on document images. QC officer can also trigger Document Rescan alert if he/she found the quality of document image is unacceptable even the index officer has accepted the quality of document image. Underwriter An Insufficient Initial Premium alert can be generated so that the agent can be notified that the initial premium must be settled before the policy can be issued even all the underwriting checks are passed for the case. This situation may occur when the client paid the initial premium with check but the check could not be cleared. On the other hand, exceptions and alerts can be generated by automated processes, such as the following: Images and Data Transfer Process A Transfer exception can be triggered if the transfer process of images and XML data to the central office file server is not completed or failed/aborted at some points (because of the stability of network connection). An alert can then notify the MIS staff in the branch or zone office to investigate the root cause of transfer failure and resume the transfer process as soon as possible. An alert can be triggered after the transfer process of the branch or zone office is completed successfully, so that the import robot resided on the workflow engine can start the data verification process and import the images and data into workflow system. This helps to shorten the total time for processing of new applications and monitor pending cases. Import Robot and Workflow Engine A Data Inconsistency alert is sent to the agent if the import robot checks that the XML data uploaded from the branch or zone office contains inconsistency after validating with XML schema. This alert urges the agent to repeat or fix the images and data upload process. Workflow Engine An Application Pending alert is triggered to the agent who submitted an application for his/her client when the underwriter changes the new application status to pending because additional documentation is required. This alert urges the agent to contact its customer for the relevant documents before he receives an official document request letter from the insurance company, as applicants may need time to present documents, like health certificates or financial statements issued by banks. 2.4. Relationship management requirements Alerts and exceptions are not only dedicated to handling abnormal or unexpected events. These can be used to enhance the relationship between insurance company and potential customers (B2C). For example: Applicants can be notified by email with the progress of its life insurance application. On the other hand, the agent can contact his applicants promptly after he receives an acknowledgement email. Reminder alerts can be sent to the agent in the form of SMS to remind him/her to contact his/her applicant to collect required additional documents to process a pending application. This helps reduce the risk of insurance application being cancelled after an application has been pending for some time. This is because the customer may not know that insurance company requests more additional documents from him in case the agent does not contact him. This also reduces the chance of giving a negative image to the potential customers of poor services. 3. System Design and Implementation In this section, we present the system design and implementation for our AUS, which includes the system architecture, various system components, Web services security, and an example scenario. 3.1. System Architecture Figure 3 shows the overall system architecture for our AUS. We add on top of the existing enterprise information systems four main components in the backend AUS: Web Services Agent, Message Server, Alert Management System (AMS), and Event-Condition-Action (ECA) rules database that defines the actions to be triggered under some predefined conditions. We discuss the functionalities of these components in the following subsections. One of the main problems in the current process automation is the effectiveness of communication among different stakeholders and systems involved in the entire process of underwriting. Based on the above discussions, we design an AUS based on exceptions and alerts as the unifying communication platform within the entire underwriting processes. On this platform, we choose to use Web Services with SOAP protocol for the communication and Message Server (such as Microsoft MSMQ [8]) for the underlying message (exceptions and alerts) processing. The reasons why we choose Web services with SOAP protocol in our platform are as follows: Web services can be invoked over the Internet or intranet, within or outside the firewall. For example, some processes like document scanning or image indexing may be located in the central office or outsourced to other service providers. Less development time is required to deploy Web service features from existing application, especially with the tools and libraries provided. It supports synchronous (RPC) and asynchronous messaging. SOAP has been implemented on many different hardware and software platforms. SOAP can be protected under the Web Service security [7] standard. 3.2. Web Services Agent In our system, Web services technology is chosen to support the communication between the AUS backend systems and other front-end, sub-systems in branches and zone offices, as well as external agents and clients. The Web Services Agent transforms the incoming messages, which are in the form of XML data embedded in SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) [14], into native message formats that can be sent into the queues of the central message server. The Web Services Agent also transforms the alerts and exceptions from the form of native message format into the XML/SOAP format and uses HTTP protocol to send the XML message to the branch/zone offices systems through respective Web services. A sample SOAP messages from a client system is shown in Figure 4. This message describes the indexed data and images to be uploaded to the file server in the insurance headquarter after scanning operations have been performed on the submitted documents in branch and zone offices. Figure 5 shows a response message from the AUS that describes an alert from the Transfer Module in a branch or zone office and notifies the MIS staff to handle the exception. 3.3. Message Server The message server comprises of application queues and system queues and the server manages the received data (i.e., incoming XML/SOAP messages, internal MSMQ messages from other enterprise systems, and alert messages from the AMS and routes the messages to the target (subscribed) parties. For example, when the Transfer Module sends a Web service message to the AUS, the message is put into two waiting queues: one for the Import Robot and another for the AMS (so that the AMS can monitor the progress of the Import Robot). When the Import Robot has verified the integrity of uploaded data and images, it sends a message to inform the AMS of job completion, or a Data Inconsistency alert in case of data inconsistency. These messages triggers events so that the AMS issues new alert/exception messages upon on the conditions in the event repository database to related parties for further actions (as discussed in Section 2.3) based on the ECA rules defined by the administrators. The reasons why we choose the Message Server as a core component in managing data communication are as follows: Most of the message servers support Web service functionality. Message servers support guaranteed message delivery. Asynchronous message communication as well as publish-and-subscribe can be supported. 3.4. Alert Management System (AMS) The main role of the AMS is to manage the alerts. It also captures the events and exceptions (i.e., MSMQ native message format) submitted by other parties. Alerts are generated based on the ECA rules specified in database to the appropriate parties. It further transforms the alerts into a MSMQ message and put it on the waiting queue for Web Services Agent for the delivery. Further details of the mechanism of the AMS, including descriptions of the ECA rules, can be found in our earlier paper [6]. We apply the same AMS module except that we include a message server component to further increase the messaging reliability. 3.5. Example Scenario In this subsection, we use a scenario to illustrate the system flow in our AUS. Figure 6 depicts the process flow for this scenario. First, a Scan Station prepares a XML data file which contains the policy number and other indexed data for the scanned documents. When the XML file is ready, the Transfer Module uploads the XML file and document image files into the central file server. Upon completion, the Transfer Module generates a SOAP message, which details the uploaded data to Web Services Agent in order to notify the Import Robot to verify the integrity of uploaded data and images. After the verification, the Import Robot generates the verification result event and the AMS captures the data uploaded event from the Transfer Module together with the event generated by the Import Robot, and returns the appropriate events back to the Scan Station and Scan Officer based on ECA rules processing. 3.6. Web Service Security Web services integrate applications inside and outside the organization. However, distributed computing always has a challenging set of security issues. Identities and messages are two of the greatest security challenges brought on by Web services. Web services transport potential unknown entities into your organization and messages are transported from one place to another place through an unsecured channel, the Internet. Therefore, actions must be taken to safeguard the information exchanged among the authenticated parties. XML Encryption and XML Signature are used to address the protection of sensitive data and the identification of identity of data sender respectively [15]. Figure 7 shows an unprotected SOAP message that contains payment information for an insurance policy. Figure 8 shows how encrypted messages and signature are put in a SOAP envelop. The element block contains the encrypted form of payment information. The element contains the XML signature for payment data. In general, a shared key must be provided so that receiver of the messages can decrypt the protected data. However, it is a bad idea to include the key in the SOAP message (i.e., the element block) because unauthorized parties could just get the key and decrypt the protected data. AgreementMethod is a protocol for safely communicating a secret key. This key agreement protocol, like the SSL secret key agreement protocol, is used to generate the encryption key along with the key material necessary to repeat the encryption key generation on the recipients side [15]. 4. Discussion and Summary Process automation by integrating existing enterprise information systems with workflow software has proved to increase the staff productivity, thus turns out to generate more business values in terms of more revenue and less expenditure. However, if the process flow within a business workflow from one step to next step is not smoothly executed (e.g., failure of transferring complete XML data to workflow engine and servers but no further resend action is done), then the next step may not be able to proceed until the problem is detected and fixed. This kind of situations significantly wastes human resource and time and should are not expected to occur in automated processes. Therefore, by integrating the AUS with the existing workflow infra-structures can bring the workflow automation into full play because the errors or unexpected events can be detected and relevant parties or processes are notified with alerts to rectify the problems. The following tangible benefits can be achieved with the AUS, mainly through the enhanced monitoring and tracking through the AMS with a service-oriented architecture. For example, the turnaround time taken to rescan documents, which have been identified as poorly scanned, is shortened. If the scanning officer is not notified properly, the poorly scanned document will probably be rescanned after the scanning officer triggers to print out a report on listing those document rescan requests, thus resulting in longer processing time in some cases. This benefit is also applicable to the process of Document Reindex for the index officers. Moreover, the AUS helps maintain data integrity in uploading data into the centralized file server. If the XML data is inconsistent and the import robot still proceeds to import the inconsistent data into workflow engine, it will result in unexpected or serious consequences. The consequences may be a delay in processing applications or even a wrongly underwritten insurance application that could put financial risk to insurance company. On the other hand, more attributes can be added to measure staff performance. Since the alerts generated to officers and agents are monitored by the AMS, the time spent on handling the exceptions and alerts can be calculated based on the time recorded in database. For example, if a scanning officer receives a document rescan alert, then he must rescan the requested documents and relevant records within the document update time. The performance is logged into database and reports for staff can include this kind of attributes to measure the staff performance. So, the workload on investigating problems related to the entire operation flow can be reduced as detailed information about the problems can be found from the exceptions and alerts well managed by the AMS of the AUS. In addition, the following intangible benefit can be achieved with the AUS. Customer satisfaction can be improved. The document processing and flow are smoothly controlled and executed. This can shorten the entire processing time for new case applications and thus result in issuing and sending policy to policy owner within a shorter period of time. This can enhance the insurance companys professional image as well because the short processing time of new insurance application can impress its customers and improve the customers confidence in insurance company. This might led to more business opportunities in the future. This paper has presented an overview of underwriting process in an insurance company and the automated facilities incorporated into the underwriting process to drive the entire underwriting. A Web-service based alert-enhanced underwriting system has been presented in this paper to overcome most of the existing problems of the underwriting process workflow implementation. We expect this approach is suitable to other business processes that involve human approval together with the need for maintaining documents for auditing and legal purposes, such as loan and credit card approval. After finishing the AUS platform prototype, we shall then proceed to study the benefits of adopting the platform in existing workflow infra-structures in the insurance companys perspective through questionnaires to collect user feedback. Although the proposed platform obviously facilitates the handling of most problems or events in the process flow of underwriting, there are still some unexpected events that are hardly to be detected or tracked. Further studies should be carried out on this topic. Future works include the extension of AUS platform to support artificial intelligence in handling the exception events as well as agent-based assistance to internal staff and external users. We are also interested in empirical measurements of the improvement of staff performance and customer satisfaction. References Miriam Orsina, Gene Stone, Insurance Company Operations (2nd Ed), pp.3, LOMA, 1999 Harriett E. Jones, Dani L. Long, Principles of Insurance: Life, Health and Annuities (2nd Ed), pp. 8, LOMA, 1999 Jane Lightcap Brown, Kristen L. Falk, Insurance Administration, (2nd Ed), pp. 22, LOMA, 2002 Jane Lightcap Brown, Kristen L. Falk, Insurance Administration, (2nd Ed), pp. 67, LOMA, 2002 Miriam Orsina, Gene Stone, Insurance Company Operations (2nd Ed), pp.243