The Insights into Technology That are Valuable for Designers

Innovate or evaporate. This is the modern business imperative that has summed up the current competitive trends being experienced in the business world. As Marchal established, in addition to securing the time to market, improve quality and cost, manufacturers are now forced to focus on innovation (1).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Insights into Technology That are Valuable for Designers specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Innovation was universally defined by most scholars as the design that takes markets by storm. These designs are accompanied with leading-age development processes which transform conceptual ideas into reliable, saleable and cost-effective products (Stahl 128). Nonetheless, while referring to design as a business strategy, Karie postulated that many questions arose in (say scientific communities) as a result of the use of business terms such as â€Å"national competitiveness,† â€Å" strategic areas,† â€Å"priorities,† and â€Å"new paradigms†. This was the case simply because these terms had gained great use in scientific statements and as such donors had no option but to rely on them to determine the viability of the projects for funding. In the end of the selection process, the author asserts that only projects that were geared towards enhancing innovation (which in this essay paper I specifically refer to as design) made it the final list for funding. To help achieve the ever-changing user needs in the current competitive environment, Stahl asserted that the advancements in technology have been at the forefront of assisting designers to accomplish innovation. To support this, I state that if I asked the following question to informants, â€Å"can you narrate to me the experiences of technology in your homes or your personal lives?† then I am likely to get abundant responses some of which I document them in the succeeding paragraph :Advertising Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Before the coming of the remote controls, we needed to get up to change the TV stations. Before the invention of the cell phones, we were only accessible at homes or at workplaces with the use of landline. Before the ATM, we had to physically approach tellers to withdraw money. Before the coming of the internet (www), we neither were unable to access up-to-date information nor communicate to remote friends. The above statements point to a single fact. This is that advancements in technologies have helped designers to develop hi-tech devices that target to improve people’s lifestyles. Personal computing, business management application programmes and many more personal devices have as a result made substantial inroads in almost all world societies (Deutsch 4). Goggin justified the above notion when he documented that there were nearly 1 bil lion personal computers and over 3 billion phone subscribers as of the year 2007 (525). In this study, I make a follow-up on the findings above by I arguing that a number of insights into technology have provided valuable assistance to many professionals in their efforts to enhance innovation and improve lifestyles. Since technology is a broad subject area with its scope varying greatly based on the assigned context, the author points out that this essay paper will narrow down to the usefulness of the topic to the professional designers. The following is the analysis and argumentation in support of the paper’s purpose. The insights cover 4 industries of technology namely the computer, TV and mobile phone and motor industry.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Insights into Technology That are Valuable for Designers specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More To start with, the author asserts that the insights in the computer industry have been valuable to designers in various ways. For instance, Balestri and the group established in their research paper that â€Å"the electronic design studio provides tools for analysis of problems and draft designs† (10). This team of scholars went ahead to expound on their findings by giving a real-time example of a program for composing in French (called ‘System D’) that offered in addition to its basic word processor, additional database references for its novice users (who can also be designers in our perspective). Likewise, in computer science, Elliot Soloway’s analytic tools for computer programming have assisted students to easily decompose their initial draft programs. In the field of computer architecture, designers have benefitted from the use of technological innovations mainly in the form of Computer-Aided-Design (CAD). To further on this, the author concluded that an example of a CAD program is the â€Å"Energy Schemin g† that is equipped with tools that quickly analyze draft designs of buildings (Balestri et al., 10). In addition to analyzing, CAD programs can have the abilities to gauge the amounts of energy lost through windows of given sizes. To sum up on the insights of the CAD technological innovations in this paper, the author asserts that their ability to create alternative visual or pictorial representations (in form of trees, outlines, sequences of sentences amongst others) to designed structures are valuable to many designers. This is so because they assist designers to detect errors or flows in the initial drafts and a result initiate and implement corrections accordingly. Figure 1 depicting a Chief Architect’s design of a 3D glass house (created by use of CAD).Advertising Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Source: Chief Architect Homepage The second analysis of how insights into technology have been valuable to designing can be well explained by analyzing the current trends in digital branding. From the onset, the author notes that it is impounded to provide a background of the succeeding statements below. First, the author states that branding was defined by Balakrishnan as â€Å"selecting a consistent brand element mix to identify and distinguish a destination through positive image building† (42). Second, it has been recently adopted as perhaps the most powerful and the best marketing weapon readily available to most contemporary destination planners and marketers. Third, this was supplemented by the unplanned spending of a whooping US$ 1,480 billion on destination branding in the same year (Balakrishnan 84). In a nutshell, until recently, few success stories had existed in the destination branding strategies. Morrison and Anderson averred that this was so because they cont ained a mixture of varying components (commonly referred to as marketing mix). However, the trend has changed today thanks to the important role played by technology in enhancing designing of appropriate business strategies. This has been so because on project based co-operations, designers have been able to manage the translation of business goals and brand stories into sentiments and visuals that touch specific target audiences. The advanced technology has thus facilitated implementation of concept, research, design and strategy. This has been achieved by use of technological tools such as Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), Marketing Platforms and other additional data services. Figure 2 below demonstrates how a designer (Balakrishnan) made use of the advancements in technology to design and depict key factors necessary for branding strategies to achieve success. Source: Balakrishnan 622. Still on the computing insights, the author established strikingly, to enhance learn ing; designers have been approached by educators to maximize on the use of technological innovations such as Moodle web applications. These are applications that enhance design and technology curricular in schools. They are endowed with free and open-source e-learning software platforms which have abundant navigational features. Moving to the insights into the TV industry, the author established that while stating that modern research had failed to acknowledge the technological innovations that had undertaken place in the television industry, Jessica propounded ten facts to defuse the ten myths that had been established by early scholars (9). The ten facts avail abundant evidences that justify the notion that the TV, just like the internet, constituted an important media that had undergone technological transformations to emerge as a key source of information (Jessica 9). In one of the stated facts relating to 1960s, the author argued that the technological innovation in the TV indu stry had seen designers produce comedies dominated by themes of magic, fantasy and witchcraft. Nevertheless, to date, improved technology has seen standard TV sets designed to converge with media like: newspapers, shopping, and entertainment, advertising as well as video rental. This has led to the offering of a variety of uses through the advanced TV designs. The flat screen and LCD sets are examples of the high-tech TV designs that were designed based on the latest technological innovation in the sector. Figure 3 showing an image of the hi-tech designed Samsung LCD TV Source: Samsung Homepage Moving to the insights into the mobile phone industry, the author notably established that a study by Goggin had revealed that â€Å"from its prosaic or boring origin in its predecessor technologies, including wireless telegraphy, the telephone, radio, and the pager, the cell phone has become a much-desired, loving and crafted thing† (525). The author expounded on his findings by post ulating that this was the case because this artifact may be used to observe many entwined, sinuous facets of contemporary design (Goggin 525). Before its current sleek design, the mobile phone design revolved around creation of bulky, expensive and heavy gadget (Karie). To add, the author established that their design remained firmly anchored in engineering, industrial and scientific telecommunication realms. The breakthroughs in the mobile phone industry become noticeable once invention in technology made it possible to design technically lighter and portable devices. This decisive shift in technology that allowed designing of stand-alone portable phones provided the material basis upon which the current standard phone design features are embraced. To add, the author came to find that the breakthrough in mobile phone industry was embraced by the 2 early phone manufacturing companies namely Motorola and Nokia. These 2 giants maximized on the improved technology to design devices wit h new and improved features, new communication architectures, high capabilities as well as high cultural expectations. For instance, their new look devices were designed and incorporated with address books and games (starting with the Nokia Snake Game) amongst others. Furthermore, their devices were also designed to jostle with the wristwatch by being provided with time interfaces as well as additional alert technologies such as alarm clocks. Also, a notable breakthrough involved the invention of changeable mobile phone phases in the late 1990s. This experience enabled users to customize the available devices to suit their specific color preferences. As such, designers ensured that since the gadgets had become integral parts of persons’ everyday lifestyles, then it was necessary that they were designed and decorated to match their surroundings and expectations. Thankfully, succeeding years have seen the ever-changing technology lead to the smartening of the mobile phones. Whi le borrowing from Goggin research, the author established that IBM became the first competing manufacturer to introduce the smart phone (530). This was in the year 1992. Its device was strategically designed to combine versions of the then standard computer programs. However, today, almost all phone manufacturers have embraced the technological innovations in the industry by designing and developing high-tech smart phones that continue to be re-produced regularly in improved versions. Figure 3 below illustrates the latest iphone4, examples of smartened and advanced mobile phones as designed by the leading I-phones manufacturer, Apple. Figure 4 illustrating the latest iphone4s; examples of a smartened and advanced mobile phone designs by the leading smart phone designer Apple Source: Apple Homepage. Again, in the last section of the car industry, the author postulates that technological insights have helped designers to design and manufacture hybrid models that reduce on the carsâ⠂¬â„¢ production and fuel consumption costs (Lowgren and Stolterman 143). Examples of these technological innovations in the industry have been introduced and sustained by Toyota, the leading Japanese car manufacturer and seller. These innovations include the Just in Time (JIT) assembly lines and Lean Practices. The two innovations have helped its designers to reduce on the lifetime of new models by enhancing re-use in the production phases. Figure 5 showing the Lexus LS 600h hybrid sedan, a design product of the JIT and Lean technological innovations. Source: Toyota Home Page In a nutshell, as Balestri and the group established, learning to design is partly a social process (13). Although most scholars argue that novice designers need to learn in important ways by interacting with their peers and mentors, in this study, I establish a different trend. As such, I insist that the insights into technology have proved valuable assets for both the experienced and novice designers. To de fend my finding, I give the example of the electronic design studio which has been known to foster richer interaction amongst the learning community (students and the other faculty members included). It accomplishes this by use of its software and hardware technological interfaces that allow new forms of communication and conversation. This and the many findings in the above sections evidence the fact that insights into technology are valuable assets for modern designers. Works Cited Apple Homepage. â€Å"Iphone4S.† 2011.Web. Balakrishnan, Melodena Stephens. â€Å"Dubai – A Star in the East: A case Study in Strategic Destination Branding.† Journal of Place Management and Development 1.1 (2008): 62-91. Print. Balakrishnan, Melodena Stephens. â€Å"Strategic Branding of Destinations: A framework.† European Journal of Marketing 43.5/6 (2009) : 611-629. Print. Balestri et al. Learning to Design, Designing to Learn: Using Technology to Transform the Curriculum . New York: Taylor Francis, 1992. Print. Chief Architect Homepage. â€Å"Professional 3D Home Design Software.† 2010. Web. Deutsch, Jonathan R. â€Å"The Importance of Technology Design and Usability.† A published Doctoral Thesis, Presented to University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 2008. Web. Goggin, Gerard. Cellphone. Diss. Commonwealth of Australia, n.d. Print. Jessica, Helfand. Television Did It First: Ten Myths about â€Å"New† Media. n.d. Print. Karie, Jerome. â€Å"The Role of Science and Technology in Future Design†. Nobel Prize Homepage, 2000. Web. Lowgren, Jonas and Stolterman Erik. Thoughtful Interaction Design: A Design Perspective on Information Technology. Massachusetts, USA: MIT Press, 2004. Print. Marchal, Thierry. â€Å"The Competitive Edge: Robust Design Innovation with Simulation Driven Product Development.† n.d. Web. Morrison, A.M. and Anderson D.J. Destination Branding. UK: Purdue University Press, 2002. Print. Samsung Homep age. â€Å"Products.† 2011. 2 Nov. 2011. Stahl, Bernd Carsten. Issues and Trends in Technology and Human Interaction. USA UK: Idea Group Inc (IGI), 2007. Print. This essay on The Insights into Technology That are Valuable for Designers was written and submitted by user Kn0x to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Leadership in General Electric

Introduction General Electric (GE) is a large company that operates from the United States. According to Forbes Magazine, it is the second largest company in the world after JPMorgan Chase. Forbes compared the performance of GE with that of other companies in certain aspects like sales, market value and assets.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Leadership in General Electric specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More GE has different segments among them capital finance, energy infrastructure, consumer, technology infrastructure and industrial segments. In order to achieve its goals and remain competitive, GE requires sound leadership because without good leadership, the company would not be able to achieve its business goals. This essay focuses on leadership at GE. Importance of Leadership at GE It is agreeable that the importance of leadership in any organization cannot be overlooked because organizations require colle ctive effort to achieve their goals. Human nature is characterized by confusion and disagreements in the absence of a competent leader. This makes it difficult for organizations to achieve their goals. Since GE is a company that is comprised of many workers who work towards achievement of a common goal, some form of leadership is essential. Although the need for leadership in organizations has been in existence for many years, its importance has increased due to changes in business activities. For instance, production methods have become complicated while specialization has increased. A good and effective leader at GE would be like a dynamo. Such a leader would be responsible for generating energy that would enable workers to achieve organizational goals with ease. The success that GE has achieved so far is largely attributable to good leadership. Dynamic leadership is important because it plays an important role in boosting the morale of employees and ensuring that they achieve org anizational goals (Nelson 4). GE relies on good leadership to encourage workers to increase their performance through continuous efforts. The organization fully understands that forceful or authoritarian means are not suitable methods of achieving organizational success. Good leadership supports authority by creating influence and inspiring workers to take certain actions. It plays an important role in different managerial levels in the organization because without sound leadership, it is impossible for management to perform its functions. While organizational structures play an important role in ensuring that organizations achieve set goals, they do not offer all relationships that are required by workers in an organization. Employees who have common interests are not bound by formal relationships because they aim at achieving organizational goals.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF L earn More As a result, informal relationships effectively regulate and control the behavior of workers. Good leadership ensures that there is cooperation between management and workers. This enhances beneficial collaboration, which is aimed at achieving organizational goals. To achieve successful leadership, leaders should involve their subordinates in all decision making processes. This is because involving them in decision making processes makes them feel that their value in organizations is recognized. However, it is important for leaders to employ necessary powers in order to ensure that implementation of policies that have been designed is effective. Leaders should be able to give clear and understandable instructions to their subordinates in order to ensure that organizational goals are achieved. Impact of Good Leadership at GE Good leadership at GE would impact the organization in different ways. The first way through which good leadership would impact GE is that motivation of workers would be increased. Good leaders have the ability to inspire the people they work with. This is because they have a solid understanding of business activities that an organization performs and things that motivate workers. Good leaders use information about workers to design appropriate messages, meetings and other interactions to ensure that the workers work hard to achieve high results. This type of motivation helps organizations to achieve set goals because messages that are designed take into account workers’ needs (Iqbal 45). The second impact of good leadership at GE is that the organization would experience a decrease in conflicts. Groups that lack effective leaders are characterized by persistent conflicts. Employees engage in constant power struggles as they try to test the competence of leaders that are in charge of different operations. Effective leaders enjoy respect from other employees and this reduces unnecessary conflicts. In addition, good leaders possess excellent interpersonal communication skills, which enable them to resolve organizational conflicts. The third impact of good leadership at GE is that the ability of the organization to retain its employees would be increased. Good leaders communicate transparently and constructively and this enables them to develop trust among their employees.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Leadership in General Electric specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This would give employees at GE a voice and make them feel valued. As a result, the organization would reduce employee turnover since they would be satisfied. Effective leadership is among the most important things that employees consider before they build their loyalty to specific organizations. High employee turnover is harmful to organizations hence it should be avoided through effective leadership. The fourth impact of good leadership at GE is that it would fa cilitate development of talent among employees. Good leaders identify ways of expanding their organizations through talent development. As a result, they strive to nurture employees who have talents in different fields. They evaluate them thoroughly and provide constructive criticism, after which they initiate mentoring programs for those who portray potential for growth. This equips employees with adequate leadership skills, which makes it easy for a smooth organizational transition, when some leaders leave their leadership positions. The fifth impact of good leadership is that GE would achieve better organization of different tasks and activities. A good leader is able to see a big picture of an organization and work hard to ensure that the organization succeeds. This helps him/her to conduct a keen evaluation of how things are done. A good leader notices problems and weaknesses in an organization and comes up with suitable solutions. Good leadership would therefore enable GE to a chieve better organization of different tasks. The Best Leadership Styles at GE There are different leadership styles that GE can use to achieve its objectives. The first type of leadership style that GE should adopt is democratic or participative leadership style. This is a type of leadership style that involves employees in decision making processes. Democratic leaders encourage employees to exercise creativity. Democratic leadership style would be suitable at GE because it would increase job satisfaction among employees since they would take part in decision making processes. In addition, it would make it possible for them to enhance their skills in different areas. Employees feel motivated, when they take full control of their destinies, and this makes them more productive. Although it might take longer to make decisions under democratic leadership style, the results are usually impressive. It is appropriate in team environments because quality is of great importance (Dereli 25) .Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The second type of leadership style that can be applied at GE is Laissez-Faire leadership style. Leaders who adopt this type of leadership give their employees an opportunity to perform their duties on their own without interference. They also allow them to perform their duties with utmost freedom and even determine deadlines. Leaders offer team support only by advising workers. They do not involve themselves in what the workers do. A higher level of success is achieved, when individual workers have adequate experience and skills. The most important reason why this leadership style would be beneficial is that it would create job satisfaction among employees at GE because they enjoy autonomy. This would increase productivity and guarantee achievement of organizational goals. The third leadership style that GE should adopt is task-oriented leadership style. This type of leadership style focuses on ensuring that tasks are completed in good time. Task-oriented leaders clearly define tas ks that should be accomplished, create necessary structures, organize, plan and continuously monitor every task. They also carry out other important tasks like developing and ensuring that performance standards are followed by workers. Task-oriented leadership style would be beneficial because it would ensure that there is effective time management in order to meet set deadlines. The fourth leadership style that GE should adopt is transformational leadership style. This is one of the best leadership styles that organizations should apply in order to achieve their goals. Transformational leaders work towards achievement of the best results through inspiring other workers. This ensures that high productivity is achieved since all workers are fully involved. However, organizations should be careful, when using transformational leadership because sometimes transformational leaders need experts to give them advice. This implies that GE should apply both transformational and transactional leadership styles. Transactional leaders are responsible for ensuring that routine tasks are completed in the right manner while transformational leaders focus on developing initiatives that enhance organizational performance (Leadership Styles 5). The final leadership style that GE should adopt in order to achieve its goals is relationship-oriented leadership style, which is also known as people-oriented leadership style. In this type of leadership style, leaders focus on supporting and organizing workers to help them to perform their tasks effectively. It is participatory in nature and encourages employees to work as teams and apply their creativity. People-oriented leaders handle workers respectfully without discrimination. They are approachable and respond to the needs of all workers in good time. When team members need them, they are always available. This leadership style is suitable because it would enable GE to develop a strong team that workers would like to be part of. Th ey would be ready to engage in activities that are considered risky because their leaders would be available to assist them, when they need assistance. Conclusion Leadership is very important in any organization because without good leaders, organizational goals cannot be achieved. Good leaders build strong teams that play an important role in achieving organizational goals. Since GE is among the world’s largest companies, it should apply suitable leadership styles in order to achieve its goals. This essay has discussed some of the best leadership styles that GE can apply. The essay has also discussed the importance of leadership at GE and the impact of good leadership. Works Cited Dereli, Mahce. Leadership Styles. New York: VDM Publishing, 2010.Print. Iqbal, Talha. The Impact of Leadership Styles on Organizational Effectiveness. New york: GRIN Verlag, 2011.Print. Leadership Styles 2013 Web. https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_84.htm. Nelson, Lauren. The Effect of Good Leadership. 2013. Web. https://bizfluent.com/list-7200020-benefits-good-leadership-.html. This case study on Leadership in General Electric was written and submitted by user Leyla L. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Reflection 1 Essay

Reflection 1 Essay Reflection 1 Essay Reflection 1 London as Art Capital JD Lee Upon arriving at the National Gallery, the main entrance hall facing directly toward the Trafalgar Square was quite modern in its design and also had small staircases to the first room of the gallery, which gave me some sense that the journey of exhibition starts right after the staircases. After the staircases, there was a central hall filled paintings on the both sides and also there were three doors leading people to three different kinds of rooms. This layout of the room with three different directions was not helping create a natural flow of people enjoying the gallery. People were coming in and going out from the all of the three direction which was causing a confusion and discomfort. The lighting for the central hall was little brighter and more golden than the natural light. It definitely had natural light coming in from the open ceiling, but yellowish light was added on to it. The arrangement of the paintings was consistent. The largest paintings were places in the ce nter of the wall and other smaller paintings were hung right next to the largest, surrounding the largest. This arrangement of the paintings looked really balanced and symmetric. After the central hall, I went to the room with a lot of British portraits. The room was covered in reddish and patterned walls. Also, from the center of the room, since the room is in circular shape, I could see the big four portraits around me. I could just stand at the center and

Free Essays on Label Kills

. However, their music is a play between a modernized, blues, and acid rock. One of their songs is called Label Kills. It is written by lead singer Mack Brock. It is told from the first person of a rock star who makes it very apparent that he will do anything to himself to stay desired by the public. â€Å"If it sales, then take anything you want in me. But if it fails, then give me something I can blame.† (Brock, 2002) It seems as though he is willingly to do anything to himself to get paid. The song comes to an end when the crazed celebrity finally has a realization over his foolishness. It is a very well written song. This song gives the images of a man willing to give up anything to stay on top. â€Å"Does this sound good to you, or should I change into something more comfortable?† (Brock, 2002) This mocks the different methods of selling sex as an image to promote the music. He even goes to t... Free Essays on Label Kills Free Essays on Label Kills Label Kills Image is everything. A lot of time is spent on making people look, act, and seem a certain way. There are many celebrities who make money on just their image alone. Movie stars, rap artists, and rock bands have their own certain egos to maintain in order to stay on top. Sunglasses, black leather, and â€Å"bling bling† are just a few material image boosters. Audiences pick which images they like, or want to be like, and in turn, that celebrity gets a paycheck. Most performers go to great lengths to uphold their image. However, where is the line separating themselves from their public appeal? How far do some stars go to stay â€Å"on top.† The song Label Kills, by the Doc Sommers Band, points out the irony in how desperate some stars can become to keep their public image in the spotlight of the paying audiences who follow. The Doc Sommers Band is a contemporary Christian rock group from Columbia, South Carolina. Their lyrics are mainly Christian oriented. They claim to try to let God speak through their words. However, their music is a play between a modernized, blues, and acid rock. One of their songs is called Label Kills. It is written by lead singer Mack Brock. It is told from the first person of a rock star who makes it very apparent that he will do anything to himself to stay desired by the public. â€Å"If it sales, then take anything you want in me. But if it fails, then give me something I can blame.† (Brock, 2002) It seems as though he is willingly to do anything to himself to get paid. The song comes to an end when the crazed celebrity finally has a realization over his foolishness. It is a very well written song. This song gives the images of a man willing to give up anything to stay on top. â€Å"Does this sound good to you, or should I change into something more comfortable?† (Brock, 2002) This mocks the different methods of selling sex as an image to promote the music. He even goes to t...

Vietnam War Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Vietnam War - Research Paper Example will become mired in other foreign affairs quagmires which again will weaken the military, economic strength and its political status within the world community. This same lesson was never learned by the long defunct Roman Empire. A similar outcome looms for America if it continues to replicate the mistake that was Vietnam. A result of justifications emanating from Cold War, anti-communism sentiments, Vietnam became the standard by which American military power limitations can be measured. Following the allied defeat of Japan in 1945, the U.S. became embroiled in a battle over military power and political ideology with the former Soviet Union that was showcased on a world-wide scale for more than four decades, the Cold War. Communism was America’s declared enemy during this era. The U.S. drew a symbolic line in the sand in Southeast Asia after the Soviets built the Berlin Wall and continued in its aspirations to dominate other Eastern European nations. The fiasco that was Viet nam triggered anti-military reactions for the majority of Americans whose subsequent response contributed to the Cold War’s end. Vietnam also forced America to rethink the fundamental purpose of its military power and question the scope of its capability to force it’s will in foreign nations whether, for example, in the deserts of the Middle East or the jungles of Southeast Asia. In addition the U.S. was forced to question its general foreign policy viewpoint and subsequent strategies. (Hogan, 2006) â€Å"U.S. foreign policy, from its abandonment of isolationism at the ending of the 19th century to its status as the sole remaining superpower, has always been centered on the promotion and conservation of its own interests and ‘the advancement of civilization,’ the exercise of power to assert itself beyond the bounds of the American continents in ‘the interest of civilization and of humanity’ and its own selfish interests.† (Olney, 2004) This re-evaluation phase lasted about 40 years, from the mid-1970’s until early 2003. The U.S. enjoined the Cold War period, Vietnam War and invasion of Iraq to ostensibly spread democracy to subjugated peoples of the world (the official explanation) and with great confidence of victory. Both military conflicts offered a comparable paradigm: the capability of the U.S. to utilize its armed forces as a political, social and ideological tool is limited. indisputably, America entered Vietnam with somewhat of a arrogance assuming the North Vietnamese would bow to the powerful American military and that the South Vietnamese would gladly accept and adjust to a western nation style of democratic governance. Former U.S. national Security Advisor under President Nixon and Secretary of State (1973-1977) Henry Kissinger stated America entered Vietnam with a â€Å"brash confidence in the universal applicability of America’s prescriptions.† (Kissinger, 2003) The ironic epilog ue to the U.S. involvement in Vietnam is that America entered into this horrific and bloody and enduring conflict believing it to be the ‘knight in shining armor’ for the South Vietnamese people. Its leaders did this without appreciating that the South Vietnamese were fighting to be free from a North Vietnamese government that symbolized the same colonialist, imperialistic ideology as did the American government. (Ignatieff, 2003) This lack of military success in Vietnam was not because the U.S. lacked fire-power. It was due to a failure to understand the opponent. Although

How do the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation and the Scientific Essay

How do the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation and the Scientific Revolution connect with the history of the Greeks and Roma - Essay Example The texts were written in Latin and the books that were published were only those that had been approved or written by the church. Since the church declared and controlled literary movement, there were no voices thrown upon them. However, upon the period of Renaissance, Europe’s literature revolution began. People started to write books in vernacular language. Through this, common people found the books more accessible even without knowing Latin and criticisms and criticisms on the church and politics began to rise. People begin to argue upon what is true and what is written in the Bible, from which the texts are written and published by the church itself for which, by reason, were thought by the people to be politically biased and thus, not true. One clear example is tackled by Niccolo Machiavelli. In his â€Å"The Prince†, he rejected the common Christian view that the state is an entity under the control of divine power. These brought changes as to exemplifying the v anishing of the control of the church upon literature. Along with the Renaissance, the movement of the Protestant Reformation brought extreme behavioral changes on the Greek and on the Roman cultures and traditions and shaped the whole of Europe’s history. These changes were triggered upon Europe’s views and religion.

Blog Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 13

Blog - Essay Example In response, the Cleveland Indians Baseball Team has responded to the racism critics by backing itself up for having recreated its current logo as a throwback to its Indians blue ‘C’ logo that the team used between the 1915 and 1927. The team has adjusted its logo over time since 1927 until the time it acquired its current logo which is a reconstruction of its original logo. Looking keenly at the Cleveland Indians’ logos since 1928 to present, there is a unique progression that is tied to racism. In 1928, the mascot used by the Cleveland Indians had a whole red painting, with just some few places bearing black color. In 1929-1932, they changed the logo to another mascot with red face and white helmet. In 1933-1938, there was a change of the logo to a mascot with a brown face and a brown and red helmet. Coming to 1938-1945, the mascot logo was changed to bear a red face and a white helmet again. In 1946 to 1950, the logo was changed to the head of a cartoon with a brown face and red and black helmet before they changed the color in 1951-72 to a red face and red and white helmet. This went on with one more change before they finally acquired their current logo which is a red ‘C’ from 2014 to present. All these are criticized to portray

God's Chosen People Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

God's Chosen People - Essay Example ( 2005, p.131) It is true that God chose the whole of man in the beginning of man’s time. Next to Adam and Eve, God chose Noah above all other men for the reason explained by the Scriptures: â€Å"But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord†¦Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.† (Genesis 6: 8-9) God was decided on destroying men and beast, creeping and flying, because of its corruption and filled with violence, when He told Noah what to do in order to escape the first end of the world. After the flood destroyed all living things except those in the Ark, and the flood subsided, â€Å"†¦God blessed Noah and his sons and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.† (Genesis 9:1) When the descendants of Noah did multiply, God scattered people throughout the earth by confounding or differentiating the languages of men and causing them to spread out. Then God favoured Abraham who was very produ ctive –â€Å"very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold† (Genesis 13: 2). He was also a prayerful person who frequently talked to God. So God gave vast lands to Abraham and told Abraham that his descendants will multiply as much as the dust of the earth (Genesis 13: 16). When referring to the phrase God’s chosen people, it should mean those men and women to whom God communicated, cared for, and allowed to survive from generation to generation until the present. Furthermore, their lives became known through written words in stories utilized to teach other people the truth, the difference between right and wrong, and many virtues worth learning and assimilating for better lives. God blessed Abraham, his eldest son Ishmael (Genesis 17: 20 and 21:1-21), and Isaac (Genesis 17: 23), the younger son. But the Scripture says, â€Å"But my covenant will I establish with IsaacThe story of man’s relationship with God continued mostly through the life of Isaac, then his son, Jacob, followed by Joseph. Through Joseph, the family of Jacob was able to find food supply during the seven years of worldwide famine, coming from Egypt which was said to be the only nation with abundant supply. It was because God gave Joseph the power to accurately interpret dreams. Like Abraham, he had the gift of prophecy. With that gift of prophecy, he received authority and power from the Pharaoh and was able to prepare for the famine for 7 years. According to Schoenberg, Shira (2012), two of the tribes of Israel came from Joseph, the northern tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. 300 years after Joseph died, Moses was born in Egypt. By that time, Israelites had been turned into slaves after a change of administration and also because the Egyptians saw that Israelites multiplied their population in Egypt. By the time of the Exodus, Israelites in Egypt were estimated to have reached 2.5 million to 3.5 million according to the Archeological and biblical research of Rudd, Ste ve (2005). It should be recalled that the name Israel was Jacob’s God-given name. Thus, whenever Israelites are mentioned, they are traceable to just one family, the family of Jacob whom God chose to have 12 tribes. Thiel, Bob (2012) traced the 12 Tribes of Israel that started out with the children and grandchildren of Jacob, namely, (1) Reuben whose descendants went to France; (2)

The Vertical Boundaries of The Firm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Vertical Boundaries of The Firm - Essay Example Alternatively, we also have the sensible desire that is thought to be essential in editing such entities, even when the desires to leave best scenes on floor exist for the success of organizations. In the management literature, the tendency is often to err, especially for the previous direction; this phenomenon is what makes the literature very rich for economists (Gamm 34). This paper examines the challenges faced by economic change in the internal organisation of firms, especially the boundaries that exhibited during their life. Empirical and theoretical research into the new international economics traditions gives focus and emphasis to the different kinds of structures for governance existing between the simple anonymous market structures beside the determinants for boundaries and their respective markets. These different kinds of hybrid approaches include joint ventures, long term contracts, holding companies, dual sourcing as well as public enterprises (Gamm 45). Additionally, research into new international economics examines the characteristics exhibited by internal organizations. Vertical integration in firms is among the many potential aspects of vertical governance structures that parties involved in the transaction process may decide from. Additionally, it represents a single component of the wider theories about governance of the contractual relationships as well as the particular theories in the firm Economic theories about vertical integration fall in various categories. One of it is technological determinism, which refers to production technology, which shapes the design of productive units in the firm. Another dimension is that which involves the price theory based on the Marshalian approach as well as structure-conduct performance that has now become old-fashioned and somewhat quaint. This approach tends to swing on single analytical hinges in a competitive system. It is important to note

Pervasive Computiong Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Pervasive Computiong - Research Paper Example This essay declares that the basic theory says that microprocessors can be embedded in everyday objects with the intention that they could be able to communicate information. Basically, these objects communicate with each other to carry out operations in support of the user. In fact, one of the basic goals of pervasive computing is to fade away from human observation; however the applications embedded in electronic devices must be down to business. In other words, they must be able to guess the requirements of the users in an attempt to provide them with anytime, anywhere desired information. In addition, both the terms pervasive and ubiquitous stand for "existing everywhere." This paper stresses that the target of scholars and researchers researching on pervasive computing is to build stylish products that can be used to communicate inconspicuously. Furthermore, these products are connected to the Internet and the data they produce is without problems accessible. There are many advantages of such technology based systems. This research will assess such advantages and will also outline some of the major issues in pervasive computing. This paper will also discuss some of the possible application areas of pervasive computing along with some ethical issues of pervasive computing. The pervasive computing can be implemented in a wide variety of departments, yet some of them still have not been identified. Some of the major applications of pervasive computing can be for healthcare, healthcare, environmental, transport monitoring and a lot of others. I have outlined below some of the main areas for the application of pervasive computing: (Tang; POST) Healthcare: Pervasive computing present’s opportunities for the future healthcare management all through the world, for managing and treating diseases, as well as for patient management. For example, new technology based remote sensors and monitoring technology can allow the healthcare professionals to continuously capture and analyze patients’ physiological data. In this scenario hospital and medical staff could be instantly alerted to some noticed irregularities (Tang; POST). Domiciliary care: Pervasive computing based sensors can be embedded all through the home to examine the association and fluctuations inside the ambient situation (for instance variation in temperature) to aware care-workers to some abnormality. In this scenario, the voice messages or visual displays could as well have the power to replace people to acquire medications, as video telephones could offer personal contact with family, friends and careers (Tang; POST). Intelligent transport systems: Pervasive com put

Edward Snowden: The Most Famous Whistleblower

Edward Snowden: The Most Famous Whistleblower Whistleblowers are some of the most important people to have in a democracy. They provide information that the government doesnt want to get out, while this could be dangerous in the case of Edward Snowden he released information that was valuable to the citizens of the united states. Snowden is not the first person to do something like this and has previously stated he was inspired by Daniel Ellsberg who leaked pentagon papers in the 1970s. Even though hes wanted by the government to some people Snowden is a hero. Edward Snowden who was born in North Carolina but later mover to Massachusetts had dropped out of of high school but was no degenerate. A bad case of mononucleosis kept him out of school for 9 months so instead of falling behind he decided that he would drop out. After dropping out he began studying computers at Anne Arundel Community College which was located in Maryland. His father was quoted saying We always considered Ed the smartest one in the family. and this was clear when Edward scored a 145 on two different IQ tests. He later enlisted into the special forces because he wanted to learn new languages, but never made it out of basic because he either broke both legs or washed out because of shin splints, it depends on who you ask. After this he was a security guard at a college in maryland that had ties to the NSA. After this he landed a job with the C.I.A.(Central Intelligence Agency) but quit after being suspected of attempting to break into classified files. While still with the C.I.A. he was on a mission in Switzerland where he first discovered corruption in the Government. This is where he first wanted to become a whistleblower but with Obama being soon elected he was optimistic about the changes he was going to make. After working for the C.I.A. for some time he moved to a private IT company where he worked as a contractor and would later work in a few offices for the N.S.A. this is where he notices a breach in security and got his hands on the classified information that he would leak. The definition of a hero is someone who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. When he was younger, saw sergeant Frank Ford reveal the information about the war in Iraq he thought of him as a hero for being honest, and letting the people know what was really going on in Iraq. Even though Ford was once Snowdens hero Snowden would make a bigger impact than Ford. Sowden and Ford are not the only whistleblowers who have made themselves public. Manning had leaked hundreds of documents that had to do with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Before any of them Ellsberg had leaked a ton of information in the early seventies. Nixons administration alienated Ellsberg much like Obamas administration has done to Snowden but now Ellsberg is considered a hero. Now Snowden is considered the hero to some people but a lot of people within the government or who listen to the government would disagree. He has inspired many other anonymous leaks from within the U.S. Government. Snowden receives credit for most of these but he has said that many leaks come from another source or other sources. The U.S. government has made it clear that they know about the the copycats when a representative, Adam Schiff who is a member of the House Intelligence Committee claiming that it is a big concern of theirs. Schiff also said The degree that people have been lionizing Snowden, it encourages people to make a name for themselves by leaking which is true. Even Some Government officials have publicly claimed that they went too far. Though many people think the Government was in the wrong for so intensely tracking suspected terrorist it makes sense for the Government to do that because some 9/11 hijackers were tracked but then nothing was done about them. Officials say that this could have put the country in more danger by showing potential terrorist how the government tracks them it allows them to b ypass those methods. Schiff also claimed that the Government should be more careful with who gets access to what by saying Snowden should have never had access in the first place. The Pentagon has approved as many as 3.2 million people access to highly classified information from 2006 to 2011 (CNN). After fleeing the country Snowden got ahold of journalists and offered them an unprecedented scoop(PBS). Even though the two journalists had received the documents it was not until they were on a plane and out of the country when they felt safe to open them and look at the things Snowden had shared. Greenwald, one of the journalists was quoted saying I didnt sleep one second for the next 16 hours because the adrenaline made that impossible. He said that he understood that this would be a story like hed never written before and one that people would talk about for decades. The journalists were given thousands of documents that showed what the Obama administration had been doing to regular citizens who had no criminal records and were not suspected terrorists. They were simply eavesdropping on regular citizens who had not done anything wrong. Some of the eavesdropping was justified but a surprising amount was not. Snowdens leaks shed a serious amount of light on this problem and it le d to a two part series on Frontline that dove into the topic from after 9/11 all the way to when things were leaked by Snowden. This series went even further than Snowden when they had revealed the extent that the government went to to keep these secrets hidden. It was during this time where Snowden had revealed that the worst of the wiretapping and eavesdropping had come from when Bush was president. Snowden still cares about America though saying that he would like to return one day and I told the government Id volunteer for prison, as long as it served the right purpose, he says I care more about the country than what happens to me. But we cant allow the law to become a political weapon or agree to scare people away from standing up for their rights, no matter how good the deal. Im not going to be part of that. (Wired). These statements show his true character and that he really does care about America. Snowden claimed that he had tried to leave clues for the N.S.A. to show him what documents were actually copied and which ones were just looked at. Despite these efforts the N.S.A. had missed the clues and reported that he took over a million documents when in reality he on took a few thousand. Snowden sounded disappointed when speaking on the fact that the government had missed his clues because he had thought that they were obvious. Sponsors from both major political parties c an agree that this has shown that the U.S. government needs to stop their mass surveillance for clear reasons. This was such a big deal that President Obama himself as well as congress have both publicly talked about the issue and the Supreme Court has hinted at making a decision about the governments use of unwarranted surveillance. This was never Snowdens intention he had just wanted to share what the government was doing because he felt that it was unjust. Despite the efforts by the government to make Snowden out to be the bad guy more than half the population agrees with what he did. Many government officials have spoken on this but not in the favor of snowden, N.S.A. director Keith Alexander claimed that the russian government had manipulated him while the secretary of state called him a coward and a traitor.

Utilization And Case Management At A Hospital

Utilization And Case Management At A Hospital Sierra View District Hospitals (SVDH) utilization review (UR) process originates in the Case Management (CM) department. They are responsible for the case review and obtaining social services for those patients in need of services. This paper will describe how this process works and how SVDH compares to another facilitys UR structure. There will also be a discussion about the weaknesses of the SVDH program. Utilization Management at SVDH The CM department is responsible for the UR process at SVDH. This department, which has 13 employees, is staffed as follows: four Case Managers; two licensed clinical social workers; four social services worker; a Department Analyst; and a Wound Care Specialist. An Administrative Director oversees the department. The CM department follows a Utilization Review Plan (Appendix A) which establishes how the CM department will review cases and address potential discrepancies from established best practice guidelines like McKessons InterQual Criteria (McKesson, 2010). The four Case Managers are to conduct concurrent reviews on all Medicare admissions. They evaluate the patient chart and documentation to ensure the correct medical care status of Inpatient or Observation Services is assigned to the patient. If the patient is assigned the correct status then the Case Manager will flag the case for review in three to four days to ensure the status of the patient has not changed to such a degree that either a higher or lower service level is required. If that is the case, the manager will contact the primary care physician and seek an order changing the service level. If the physician does not agree, and the documentation in the case ceases to support the current level of care, the case manager will forw ard the case to the physician advisor for review. If the physician advisor agrees that a new level of care is called for then he/she will contact the physician to seek further clarification as to why the patient needs continued services at the current level. Depending on this conversation, there are four possible outcomes for the patient status. One, the patient status will remain at the current level of care because the initial physician has informed the physician advisor of extenuating circumstances regarding the case. Two, the physician will agree to the conversion of the patient status to either a higher or lower level of care. Three, the physician will not agree with the physician advisor, and the advisor will refer the case for the UR committee for a panel decision, which can overrule the original physician; or Four, the patient can be discharged from the hospital. While Case Managers are working the UR of a patient, the Social Workers are concerned about any after-care the patient may require. The Case Managers and Social Workers work together to come up with a discharge plan beginning on the first day of admission. The Social Workers make sure the patients have all the contact information they may need once discharged, and the Case Managers work to ensure placement of the patient in an extended recovery care facility if needed. SVDHs UR Program Compared to Other Hospitals SVDHs UR program is comparable to that of Jewish Hospital (St. Louis). Prior to 1985, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reimbursed hospitals for services rendered. Due to increasing costs to the Medicare Trust Fund, the Diagnostic Related Group (DRG) system was developed to reimburse hospitals based on what the average cost of a particular surgery. UR programs at both hospitals began to change to meet the new challenges instituted by CMS. Utilization Review became Case Management at SVDH, while Jewish Hospital named their program Case Coordination. The staff members at both facilities became more involved in complete patient care, from admission to post-discharge. SVDH experienced the same growing pains that Jewish Hospital did when Observation Services became a new cost savings service line instituted by CMS. The next challenge arose in 1990, when quality initiatives arose. These initiatives have only increased since that time, with the establishment of Quality Initiative Organizations (QIO). The QIOs review hospital data and report results back to CMS. The goal of these organizations is to locate services that do not meet their (CMS) standards. When found the QIO will deny payment for the services. While Jewish Hospital attempts to complete a 100% review for quality indicators on all cases, either concurrent or retrospective, SVDH chose to focus 100% on Core Measure cases only. While Jewish Hospital might be ensuring that all cases have a minimum standard of quality, SVDH complies with Joint Commission standards by only reviewing the Core Measure cases. Weakness of the Program There is a major weakness in the SVDH Case Management program, and it has been a weakness for some time. SVDH CM is not a 24/7/365 program. The Case Managers work Monday through Friday from eight to five. One Case Manager works from eight until noon on Saturday in the emergency room, but there is no coverage on Sunday. This means that the one Case Manager only reviews the cases that were admitted from Friday at 5:00 PM until 8:00 AM Saturday morning. If she has time she will also pick up any additional cases she can prior to leaving at noon, but there is no guarantee of that happening. The entire CM staff will review any cases not previously reviewed on Monday, if the patient is still in-house, or the case will undergo a retrospective review. This can cause continuing care problems for patients. An example of one of these problems recently occurred when a patient was not reviewed due to no CM personnel on staff on Friday evenings. The patient presented to the Emergency Room on Friday, and was subsequently placed in Observation Services at the hospital, This case was not reviewed by the weekend case manager. On Monday morning, the CM personnel started reviewing the Medicare admissions and saw this patient on the CM list. In reviewing the chart, the patient plainly met Inpatient criteria. The attending physician could not be contacted so the case was referred to the physician advisor, who agreed the patient should have been classified as Inpatient. The status was changed as of Monday morning. CMS guidelines state that a status can only be changed upon the presentation of an order, and at no point can an Observation Services case be converted to an Inpatient status retroactively. The patient needed additional therapeutic services that would be provided in a long term care facil ity, but CMS guidelines state that Medicare will only pay for those services if the patient has had a qualifying Inpatient stay in a hospital for a minimum of three calendar days (Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services, 2009). Since this patients status converted to Inpatient on Monday morning, the time spent in the hospital from Friday until conversion on Monday did not count towards the qualifying stay. The quandary then is to either discharge the patient to the care facility without a qualifying stay, thereby making the patient responsible for the entire cost of the care, or keeping the patient in the hospital for an additional two days in order to meet the qualifying stay requirements. The obvious answer is to keep the patient in order for them to obtain the necessary time to earn the qualifying stay. This, however, places a bed out of circulation that could have been used by another patient, and might incur costs that do not meet reimbursement criteria for the hospital. Had a CM staff member been on duty Friday night, the case could have been caught earlier, and the qualifying stay could have begun on Friday instead of Monday. The major obstacle to hiring more Case Managers is, frankly, the cost of salaries. Any additional overhead costs are scrutinized closely in these times of shrinking reimbursements. Prior to bringing on new staff, in any area, the return on the investment is reviewed for a profitability margin. If a profit margin cannot be realized then the likelihood of incurring that additional expense is small. Other projects that bring a greater profitability margin have taken priority over additional staff in the CM department. Conclusion The CM Department administers SVDHs UR program. The CM Department encompasses several different services, all dedicated to providing total care to the patient while in the hospital and post-discharge. SVDHs program mirrors common practices within the industry. Like Jewish Hospital (St. Louis), CM at SVDH has evolved and changed over the years to meet the new demands placed on it by regulatory agencies. The CM Department constantly works with physicians to ensure patients receive the appropriate level of care based on physician documentation and InterQual guidelines. The major weakness in the CM program at SVDH is that it is not a 24/7/365 department. This flaw sometimes places the continuum of care for the patient at odds with the regulatory guidelines, and SVDH has to forego reimbursement for services in exchange for better overall patient care and patient financial security.

Richmond vs. Virginia :: essays research papers

Richmond vs. New Orleans Recently I was thinking about how I live two different lives. My one life is the main one, where I live in New Orleans, LOISUANNA, and go to a Community College. I have my circle of friends and my girlfriend, but I always feel like something is missing. My other life resides in Richmond, VA. I have no idea how my mom found the place, but she did. I have been going to Richmond since I was very young. I grew up with most of the kids in town and consider those guys my family. There is only one street light in the whole town and nothing, but trees, mountains, rivers, and lakes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I always find myself contrasting my two lives and wishing I could have them both. In New Orleans, where I have lived for four years, I have a lot of friends, but can’t help notice the difference in the way people in Louisiana are compared to Virginia. People in Louisiana are all about their materials. What they have, what kind of car they drive, and how big the wardrobe is. I even find myself competing to look the best and have the fastest ride, but the people in Virginia are not materialistic at all. They don’t have any Burberry purses or 12 pairs of Nike Air Force Ones. All they care about is having fun and going to work.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Richmond also feels like a bubble in comparison to New Orleans. By that I mean Richmond doesn’t have any hardcore drugs, thieves of the night, or crazy police. The town has about 2 police officers and that is more than enough. Since it is a small town everyone knows everybody and when a bad seed pops up, that person is usually exiled from the town. The kids there are so naà ¯ve, because they have really never been to a city, but once ore twice. They don’t see any bad people in the town and they rarely have had any encounters with them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My friends in New Orleans are the complete opposite. Most of them are scam proof and don’t fall for any tricks. They are tough and have had to deal with bad people all their lives. In city-life I find there isn’t as much loyalty to each other as in a small town. Most people in a city are usually looking out for themselves and people they care about and usually nothing else matters.

Essay --

1. How will you find the right caregiver for our family? During the initial assessment, we take detailed notes about your loved one’s hobbies, interests and needs. We then review our caregiver pool to find the person with the matching personality and skills. A member of our team will also be present on the first day of home care for the caregiver introduction and to ensure a smooth start. 2. Do you train your caregivers? Yes, extensively. We start by hiring caregivers who have experience working in senior care, then we provide education on Senior Helpers’ processes, standards and core values. New caregivers complete a 6-hour orientation training that includes topics such as rights of clients, infection control, client care tips and more. All caregivers have access to dozens of training topics about health care and senior care. 3. Do I pay the caregiver directly? No, you should never pay a caregiver directly. One designated family member will receive an invoice every other week, and payment should be remitted directly to our office. 4. What can I expect in a typical day with my caregiver? It depends on the type of service you have requested. It might include grocery shopping and running errands in the morning, preparing and eating lunch, preparing dinner for later, and going for a walk and playing games in the afternoon. We also have many activities available for our caregivers to check out from our Client Resource Library, including mind-stimulating programs for our clients with Alzheimer’s or dementia. 5. Will we have the same caregiver every time? We can’t guarantee your caregiver will always be available, but we’ll make every effort to have the same caregiver for every visit. We may occasionally introduce a new caregiver ... ...commended by their doctor. 12. How quickly can service start? Right away. Golden Oasis is known for our quick-start home care approach, which provides the care you need, when you need it. 13. Do I have to sign a contract or keep services for a specified period of time? We do have a standard service agreement that outlines the services that we will provide, which protects you and us. However, you can cancel our service at any time with at least two weeks notice. 14. Can I make changes to the schedule if I have an appointment? Absolutely! We just ask that you give us as much notice as possible by calling our office. Any cancellations with less than 24 hours notice may be subject to fees. 15. If I have a problem or question, whom should I contact? If you have any concerns or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact our office and speak with a member of our team.

Apple and Lenovo’s Technology Stratagy

The Technology Strategy Comparison of Lenovo and Apple MG 8673 Technology strategy Professor: Oded Nov Xiaofei Li Table of Contents Company Profile 3 Company Vision and Misson 4 SWOT Analysis5 Porter’s Five Forces6 Product market matrix 7 Growth Share Matrix8 Technology operation of Lenovo and Apple9 First Mover/Dominant design 9 Government regulation10 Lock-in and Switching Cost10 Strategy operation of Lenovo and Apple11 Conclusion12 Company Profile Lenovo is a Chinese multinational computer hardware and electronics company.The company was formed in China and incorporated in HK and would grow to be the largest PC company in China. And in 2005 Lenovo acquired the former Personal Computer Division of IBM. Its products include personal computers, tablet computers, mobile phones, workstations, servers, electronic storage devices, IT management software and smart televisions. Today, Lenovo is a US$21 billion personal technology company and the world’s second-largest PC vend or1, it has more than 26,000 employees in more than 60 countries serving customers in more than 160 countries2.Apple is an American multinational corporation, incorporated on 1977. It engaged in designing, manufacturing and marketing mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players. Apple sells a range of iPhone, iPad, Mac and iPod compatible products, including a portfolio of consumer and professional software applications, the iOS and Mac OS X operating systems, iCloud, and a range of accessory, service and support offerings. It also sells and delivers digital content and applications through the iTunes Store, App Store, iBookstore, and Mac App Store.Also Apple is the world's third-largest mobile phone maker after Samsung and Nokia3. As of November 2012, Apple has 394 retail stores in fourteen countries4. It is the largest publicly traded corporation in the world by market capitalization, with an estimated value of US$626 billion as of September 2012. It currently has 72,800 permanent full-time employees and 3,300 temporary full-time employees worldwide5. Lenovo Company’s vision and mission 1. Lenovo has a long-term goal of becoming the leading personal technology company in the world.It aspires to achieve this goal by leading in three key areas: Personal Computers: Lead in PCs and be respected for its product innovation and quality. Convergence: Lead the industry with an ecosystem of devices, services, applications and content for people to seamlessly connect to people and Web content. Culture: Become recognized as one of the best, most trusted and most well-respected companies to work for and do business with. 2 2. Lenovo is building a way of viewing the world and doing business—it introduces the newest products in China and then spread across the globe. Also Case Study will describe why Apple Inc. is a very successful company.Lenovo believes that the new way of expansion from East to West is the way of future 3. Lenovo’s business is built on product innovation, a highly efficient global supply chain and strong strategic execution. The company develops, manufactures and markets reliable, high quality, secure and easy-to-use technology products and services for customers who want technology that does more. Apple Company’s vision and mission 1. Apple believes that they are on the face of the earth to make great products and that's not changing. They are constantly focusing on innovating.They believe that we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products that we make, and participate only in markets where they can make a significant contribution. 6 2. Apple is committed to protecting the environment, health and safety of their employees, customers and the global communities where they operate. They re cognize that by integrating sound environmental, health and safety management practices into all aspects of their business, they can offer technologically innovative products and services while conserving and enhancing recourses for future generations.Apple strives for continuous improvement in the environmental, health and safety management systems and in the environmental quality of their products, processes and services. 7 Lenovo Company SWOT Analysis Strengths | Weaknesses| * Mass and strong relationship with domestic mainland Chinese customer * Mass Manufacturing and low production cost. * Excellent marketing and distribution strategy. * Merge with IMB Personal Computer | * Mundane Outlook * Relative weak Global Brand Perception * Relative weak Online Sales * Not qualifies After-sales Services * Limited knowledge of global market| Opportunities | Threats| Chinese Government Association * Fast growing Personal Computer market * The neighbor hood Indian is becoming the fastest gr owing PC market in the world * Signing of memorandum of understanding with USA * Specialty shops providing one stop platform for distribution| * Appreciation of RMB will increase product price outside of Chinese market * Competition threats from local and international competitor * Price war * International competitors forming alliance with local competitors. * Industry Reaching Maturity| Apple Company SWOT Analysis Strengths | Weaknesses| Large segment of loyal customer called â€Å" Apple fans† * Strong brand image. * Retail Stores provide the experience and eye –catching Apple product * Huge R&D Innovation | * Patent infringement. * Product recalls. * Failure of Mac Mini and Apple TV * The fast speed of changing product generation | Opportunities | Threats| * Strong growth in smartphone and personal computer industry. * Cooperation with other big company like Google coupled to create new innovation * Apple product lock in customer behavior| * Rising popularity of  Google Android. Market competition in PC and smartphone industry. * Dependence on specific suppliers. * The leadership after Steve Jobs| Porter's five forces for the companies industry New entrants, bargaining power of supplier, bargaining power of buyers, Substitute, Rivalry 1. Smartphone market share is basically covered by big cellphone manufacture company e. g. Apple, Lenovo, Samsung, HTC, Nokia, Blackberry. They have huge R;D innovation, large based and loyalty customer, excellent marketing and advertising strategy. The new entrants are limited in this market, and they are rarely to survive. . This case is the same in Tablet and PC industry. This entrants are also hard to get into this market, because the market share are occupied by those big company such as Apple, Lenovo, Netflix, Samsung, IBM, Dell, HP, Sony. 3. Lenovo and Apple make the product outsource to the supplier such Foxconn. But basically suppliers have relatively weak bargaining power with Lenovo and Apple, becau se Apple and Lenovo odder huge numbers of electronical products from the suppliers, they stand in a relative strong side in the bargaining table. 4.Even though the competition in the smartphone, Tablet and PC industry is toughly intense, those markets are fundamentally regulated. When a product is put onto market, the price is fixed. But customers have some bargaining power eg the old generation always cut down price for customer when new generation go in. to market. 5. Smartphone, Tablet and PC products all have substitute. 6. Lenovo and Apple face strong competition and they have so many rivals in each of their product line eg Microsoft, Sony, HTC, Samsung. Product market matrix Product| Present| New|Market| Present| Market Penetration| Product development| | New| MarketDevelopment| Diversification| In product market matrix, Lenovo and Apple product are both in a present market and their product are basically present, so the majority of their product are in the market penetration place. Meanwhile, for some product like when Steve Jobs launch the iPad in 2010, it was a breakthrough in the tablet PC industry. So in some cases some Lenovo and Apple products in some specific time are in the product development place. Growth share matrix Star| Question Mark| Cash Cow| Dog| High Share Low ShareHigh Growth Low Growth Because there is obvious potential growing trend in the smartphone, PC, notebook and tablet industries, meanwhile Lenovo and Apple both have high market share, so in the growth share matrix, they are both STAR companies. Technology Operation Products Comparison| Apple Product| Lenovo Product| PhoneIphone VSLephone| | | NotebookMacbook Pro VSThinkpad| | | Tablet Ipad VSIdeaTab| | | DesktopMacVSIdeaCenter| | | TVApple TVVSLeTV| | | NotebookMacbook Air VSIdeaPad| | | First Mover/Dominant Design For apple product, the first market dominant design is the iPod.Since October 2004, the iPod line has dominated digital music player sales in the United States, wi th over 90% of the market for hard drive-based players and over 70% of the market for all types of players. 8 The second Apple dominant design product is Ipad. When Steve Jobs released the Ipad on April3, 2010, Apple sold more than 15 million first-generation Ipad prior to the launch of the IPad 2—selling more than all other tablet PCs combined since the IPad's release, and reaching 75% of tablet PC sales at the end of 2010. 9 Meanwhile Lenovo is the dominant design in the computers supplier area in Mainland China, with a 28. % share of the Chinese market. It reported annual sales of $14. 9 billion for the fiscal year ending 2008/2009. 10 In October 2012, Lenovo ousts HP became the world's top supplier of personal computers. In the third quarter of 2013, Lenovo shipped 13. 77million units, giving it a 15. 7% share of the global market, compared with HP, which enjoyed a 15. 5% share with 13. 55 million units. 11 * Government regulation As far as now, there is no government reg ulation for Lenovo and Apple because the government thinks this market is relative fair of compete and regulate.Lock In and Switching Cost In lock in customer strategy, Apple is the master, It makes customer realize that once use the apple product, it is extremely hard to find the exit. Apple creates iTunes, App Store, iCloud and OS system to make this strategy into fully used. Simply speaking, you purchase music, movie in iTunes, purchase apps in App Store and restore/backup photos, music, documents, applications in iCloud. When apple launch a new generation iphone, the customer can simply use the iCloud and iTunes to restore everything from their last generation iphone.And when customer creates a reminder in the mac, it will automatically show on their Iphone and Ipad. Since the iCloud only works on Apple product, so this strategy will lock in customer on apple product, and deepen the switching cost if someone wants to change to another company product. Since apple’s inform ation technology products work in system, so switching any single product is costly. Also Lenovo is currently trying to lock in its customer launch the same storage technology called Lenovo Cloud, the user can back up and sync data from multiple Lenovo devices including LePhone, LePad, and LeTV using a 200 GB online storage.This strategy is to tie the Lenovo tablets and devices together and make the customers feel that switching away would cause too much hassle. Strategy Operation Lenovo For Lenovo their operation strategy is consolidate its market in China and expand its market out of China. Lenovo has its headquarter both in Beijing and in United States. They are the leader in China with more than 30 percent market share in PCs, and their product sales in China account for 46 percent of global sales.So with builds on its dominant position in China to grow globally, it plans to have rapid growth in emerging markets and a unique global footprint. In 2012, Lenovo partially moved prod uction of its ThinkPad line of computers to Japan. 12 In October 2012, Lenovo announced that it would start manufacturing computers in Whitsett, North Carolina. 13 In the marketing strategy, based on different levels of consumers, Lenovo developed different prices, by creating differentiated products to meet different consumer groups. And this strategy is Middle and High End Market Positioning.Take Lenovo’s personal computer as example, the market survey shows that its refrigerators mainly focus on middle and high end, Lenovo owns 70% market share in high end products, while the middle end count for 40—50% market share, the market share of low end product is lower than 10%. 14 As for the supermarket channel, Lenovo has designed relatively low prices of mid-level products, while high-end products on the electrical chain and retail sales channels. For the rural market, Lenovo designs and develops products that have relatively simple functions, relatively low prices to me et the need of the students market.Apple For Apple, people would doubt their operation strategy after the past of their hero leader Steve Jobs, who is the pioneer of Apple. But the new leader Cook operates the company quite well. In cook’s first 16 months on the job, Apple has released next-generation iPhones and iPads and seen its stock price rise 43 percent. 15 As is the same with Lenovo, Apple also put a lot of concentration in the Chinese market. With a population of 1. 3 billion, China is the world's largest mobile market and already Apple's second biggest market overall.Apple currently sells its iPhone exclusively through China Unicom with 196 million subscribers. The Apple current CEO Tim Cook visited Mainland China and its supplier Foxcoon In March 2012. And this is the first Apple CEO to visit China, as Apple is ramping up its investment in the world's most populous market. Also for Apple, their operation strategy is to make the greatest, most innovation and most sim ple product in the world, but Apple not only focus on the technology innovation, they focus on the global environment and human right. Apple reports environmental impact comprehensively.They care about the total carbon footprint in the manufacturing and transportation process, also in product use, recycling and facilities. Meanwhile Apple is committed to the highest standards of social responsibility across the worldwide supply chain. They provide safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect, and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes to the supplier such as Foxconn in China. 2 Conclusion To sum up, Lenovo and Apple operate in the same environment. They both focus on the smartphone, desktop, notebook, tablet and future TV industry.Since their backgrounds are different, they operation strategies are different. Lenovo is based on Chinese market and then spread its product around the world. The product has low prices of mid-level products, while high -end products on the electrical chain and retail sales channels. Meanwhile Lenovo plans to further explore its market in Japan and US. In the contrast, Apple has a huge US and global market, their price always lead the market. Right now it plans to further explore its business in China, for it is the world's most popular market.It is sure that Lenovo and Apple will have fierce competition in the future market. Reference 1http://www. marketwatch. com/story/lenovo-passes-dell-to-become-worlds-no-2-pc-maker-2011-10-13 2 http://www. lenovo. com/lenovo/us/en/our_company. html 3http://appleinsider. com/articles/08/10/21/apple_iphone_3g_sales_surpass_rims_blackberry. html 4 http://www. apple. com/retail/storelist/ 5http://www. sec. gov/Archives/edgar/data/320193/000119312512444068/d411355d10k. htm 6http://alvinalexander. com/blog/post/mac-os-x/apple-business-philosophy-mission-statement 7http://www. apple. com/environment/ http://www. apple. com/pr/library/2009/01/21Apple-Reports-First-Qua rter-Results. html 9http://www. economist. com/blogs/dailychart/2011/03/tablet_computers 10http://www. reuters. com/article/2012/02/09/markets-hongkong-stocks-preopen-idUSL4E8D87B720120209 11http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/business-19906119 12http://www. gizmochina. com/2012/08/29/lenovo-moves-thinkpad-production-to-japan/ 13 http://news. lenovo. com/article_display. cfm? article_id=1635 14 http://www. jgbm. org/page/19%20Wang%20Wen%20Cheng%20. pdf 15http://www. workingwider. com/strategic_innovation/apple-business-strategy-2012/

Genocide in Rwanda: International Response

In the course of a hundred days in 1994, over 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu were killed in the Rwandan genocide. It was the fastest, most efficient killing spree of the twentieth century. My thesis is that the international community utterly failed to prevent and stop this atrocity. I will focus on numerous interconnected aspects that led to international inaction and also on the main actors, Belgium, the United Nations Secretariat, the United States and France, that knew that there was genocide underway in Rwanda – therefore, they had a responsibility to prevent and stop the genocide, but lacked political will.This led to inaction at the level of the Security Council (SC), where member states fixated on the ongoing civil war rather than discussing the genocide, which would have required them to act under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948, article 5)1. Finally, it will be shown that this international letdown had dreadful conseque nces for the United Nations Assistance Mission For Rwanda (UNAMIR), which, with neither adequate resources nor mandate, became an eyewitness to the extermination.SUMMARYThe article focuses on the course of the events in the civil war in Rwanda, parallel with the decisions made by the honourable diplomats in the forum for international community, the UN. In 1990, the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) invaded Rwanda from their exile in Uganda, setting off a civil war with the Hutu-dominated Government of Rwanda. The international community did not pay a lot of attention to the systematic discrimination and violation of human rights in the country, since the government was generally quite stable.Three years later, this conflict was seen as a good opportunity for international community (the UN) to reestablish its reputation after a failed intervention in Somalia. They believed that the conflict will be solved successfully, since after almost two years of fighting, the RPF a nd three opposition parties pursued to negotiate a peace agreement. This would become known as the Arusha Accords, signed in August 1993. UNAMIR was sent to Rwanda to help the implementation of the Accords, with Romeo Dallaire as its commander.The UN, at that time, faced escalating costs for peacekeeping operations, so they granted a reduction of force sent there, on request of the US, Belgium and the UK. During the years before the beginning of the genocide, Hutu Power (Hutu extremist, anti-Tutsi movement) began systematically distributing weapons and spreading propaganda about Tutsi via the Radio et Television Libres des Milles Collines (RTLM). The genocide would be systematic, planned, and had nothing to do with ancient warfare or tribal inclinations. By 1994, tensions were high.On January 11th, Commander Dallaire sent a fax to the UN headquarters in New York, warning of a massive slaughter being prepared in Rwanda. Also, the reports from intelligence agents were always present d uring this period, so the representatives of Belgium, France and the US were very well informed about the situation rising. â€Å"In January, an analyst of the US Central Intelligence Agency knew enough to predict that as many as half a million persons might die in case of renewed conflict and, in February, Belgian authorities already feared genocide† (Des Forges 1999, 20). The UN Secretariat is the United Nations’ bureaucratic arm.As such, it passes on vital information to decision-making bodies such as the SC. The Secretariat and the Secretary General, however, have come under considerable criticism for failing to pass on information before and during the Rwandan genocide. Despite ample information about the genocide, staff spoke in terms of a â€Å"civil war† and the need to obtain a ceasefire. As a result, non-permanent members in the SC, who rely on the Secretariat for information, did not come to see the killings as genocide and they misjudged the gravity of the crisis. Instead of strengthening the mission, the SC only made some small changes in the mandate.On April 6 1994, Rwandan President Habyarimana’s plane was shot down and he was killed. Almost immediately, there was a nationwide call to arms from Hutu Power to begin the slaughter of Rwandan Tutsi. Spread over the propaganda radio station, the message was clear: it was time for the Tutsi in Rwanda to be wiped out. As a consequence of either lack of information or lack of political will to intervene, the policymakers described the conflict as â€Å"tribal killings†, â€Å"tribal resentments†, rather than genocide. There was also an inadequate understanding of the conflict.Foreign observers treated the genocide as a collateral damage of war, rather than an ethnic cleanse, which should be attacked directly. Diplomats addressed the problem in the usual way, by promoting dialogue between both sides and tried to maintain the posture of neutrality. If foreign troo ps have been sent, this would have signalled that the interim government was illegitimate in the eyes of the international community. In the mid-April, after two weeks of killings, the SC (mostly on the initiative of Belgium, the US and the UK) withdrew most of the UN troops from UNAMIR – from 2500 to only 270 soldiers.Discussion about the new peacekeeping force continued until mid-May, mostly because of the slowness of bureaucracies, since participating nations tried to get more from the situation and give the least possible. â€Å"What was extraordinary was that such behaviour continued to be acceptable in the context of genocide, by then openly acknowledged by national and international leaders† (Des Forges 1999, 24). International leaders had available means other than armed force, which could influence the conflict but decided not to use them. During the first weeks even simple actions, with almost no expense, could have saved thousands.Major donors of aid to Rwan da did not ever threaten to withhold the financial assistance from a government guilty of genocide. Radio RTLM was communicating orders for the implementation of killings, naming persons to be killed and revealing areas for future attacks through the entire course of genocide. The broadcast stations could have been interrupted without military action. They discussed the idea shortly in the SC, but dropped it soon, because the traditional American commitment to freedom of speech, which was more important than disrupting the voice of genocide.Third cost-free action that could be done was imposing an embargo on arms to Rwanda, which only happened on May 17th, after almost two months of killing. The potential effect of these actions would also be weakened by continued French support of the interim government. Two weeks after the start of the massacres, governments refused to admit Rwandan delegation sent to justify the genocide – with exception of France. The Rwandan representati ves were greeted in Paris at the highest levels and France officials offered help to genocidal government, on a condition to end bad publicity about the slaughter.France also helped to flee some of the perpetrators of the genocide later. When the Rwandan representatives came to the meeting of the SC, most members failed to condemn the slaughter clearly. But there were also actors that did criticize the decisions made by the SC. The Organization of African Unity, government of Tanzania, Human Rights Watch, The International Federation for Human Rights and the International Committee of the Red Cross all stepped up their efforts to demand action from national governments and the UN.When the non-permanent members of the SC began to doubt the interpretations of the crisis as presented by the secretariat, changes started to happen. The ambassador of the Czech Republic organized a meeting with representatives of the Human Rights Watch, where he discussed the problem and informed himself. He said â€Å"The issue of Rwanda is not a national priority for the Czech Republic, but as a human being, I cannot sit here and do nothing† (Des Forges 1999, 494). The ambassador of New Zealand (in that time the president of the SC), threatened to open session for public and that way forced all the states to compromise and draft a statement.The diplomats from Czech Republic, New Zealand, Spain and Argentina took the initiative to insist on the measures to halt the genocide and were persistent in pushing for action in Rwanda (ibidem). 3ANALYSIS In the case of Rwanda, the international response to the crisis consists of various complex factors, mentioned above. A misguided view of African conflicts, the bureaucratic nature of the United Nations and peacekeeping fatigue in general are just some of them.Every state that was in a position to decide differently has its own reasons for being inactive – most of them are influenced by their national interests or maybe even bet ter, a lack of a national interest in that region. Unfortunately for the people of Rwanda, their country did not â€Å"qualify† for a peacekeeping operation that would bring the actual peace. To support my thesis further, I would like to point out some of the matters that seem to present the international community that knew and ignored what was happening and consecutively failed to prevent and stop the genocide.Firstly, there was plenty of intelligence to support the likelihood of the genocide. One sample was the â€Å"Dallaire fax†. Dellaire’s claims were discharged because he was new to operating in Africa and assumingly, not enough experienced in that field. Secondly, during the actual events media coverage in the Western World delivered considerable proof of genocide. In the United States, the Washington Post and New York Times had front page reporting about the events in Kigali for a two week period. The evidence proves that the UN and US officials claim o f non-awareness, was completely baseless.The main actors Belgium, the US and France had sufficient information on what was going on and the quick and effective evacuation of foreign nationals show that they also had the capacity to intervene (Barnett 1997). Another failure amongst the international community was by the hesitant use of the word ‘genocide’ instead they described the ongoing conflict as ‘civil war’ or ‘acts of genocide’, despite evidence to the contrary. Such statements would imply that the United Nations would be legally bound to intervene in accordance with the Genocide Convention of 1948.Another demonstration of international let-down was the departure of the UN troops. Romeo Dallaire sent a request for additional peacekeepers, however, the request was denied by the UN because the United States opposed the notion. To further frustrate the circumstances, the bodies of ten Belgium militias were found which led to withdrawal of al l Belgium peace corps. After this event, General Dallaire was left with 270 peace keepers for the whole country – most of them unarmed and only allowed to shoot in self-defence (Putterbaugh 2010).All in all, this means that Rwanda was really abandoned by the international community. What interest me the most, is that the UN decided to send troops in after the Arusha Accords. It seems that public and the media, had an ill opinion about the UN missions, because of the loss of the US soldiers on the mission in Somalia a year before. So the civil war became a good opportunity to reinstate good name of the UN occurred. They did not do this because of their moral responsibility to protect and safeguard peace; they did it because of their reputation. Doesn’t that cast even a bigger shadow over the institution as a whole?There should be a mechanism introduced, which would help to prevent situations like genocide in Rwanda – when human lives are at risk, this should be a national interest of every country, of every institution or organization. But in the case of Rwanda, there was a complete opposite – when first victims fell, when the potential danger presented itself – they recalled troops back home. Another mechanism is obviously not working in the system of the UN; Dallaire had many opportunities to confiscate the arms, to help the civilians – but he could not because he did not have the required authorization.A lot could have been done if the countries knew more about the situation and the possibilities which could have been seized, without much expenses and force. At the same time, Yugoslavia was falling apart. The US had a big role in that conflict, where it presented itself as a major peacemaker; and Rwanda was not getting the attention it should (Barnett 1997). Another thing that I find appalling is the arms trade that was happening at that time. Belgium, Israel, France, the UK, Netherlands and Egypt were the main distr ibuters of weapons to Rwanda.These were forces that equipped the genocidal government of Rwanda for the killings and they set example of what will happen if small arms and light weapons are sold to a country with ethnic, religious or nationalistic frictions. In modern wars light weapons are responsible for most of the killings of civilians and combatants, since they are used more often than heavy artillery in human rights violations of international law. Yet the international community continues to ignore trade in those weapons, or they even trade themselves.Trade with these arms has helped to undermine peacekeeping efforts and allowed local troops to challenge UN militias (Goose and Smyth 1994). There would be another positive effect of the embargo on trading arms – the international community would expel Rwandan government from their circle, which would stigmatize it. Hutu supporters would not follow a government that would not be legitimate in the international society and could not make business within this society. 4CONCLUSION After one hundred days of unimaginable violence and hatred, the RPF prevailed and declared a ceasefire.RPF tried and created mass graves for almost million bodies spread across the country. An effort to rebuild their country and to appoint a new government was made by both, Hutu and Tutsi leaders. This tragedy could have been prevented. The death of a million people in the Rwandan genocide of 1994 must be viewed as an abysmal failure on the part of the international community to respond to a humanitarian crisis of proportions rarely seen. Therefore, I can confirm my thesis – various and complex factors, explained in this essay, influenced main actors and impaired the functioning of the SC to the point of inaction.They had the means and especially a responsibility to protect civilians, prevent a genocide, but lacked political will, because of their national interests. Did we learn anything from this experience? The slog an â€Å"never again† which was coined immediately in the aftermath of the Holocaust in the twentieth century, still poses challenges to the world community – it was a promise that genocide would be prevented and stopped. But the West abandoned Rwanda and it continues to abandon Dafur, Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria and many other countries.The task of genocide prevention can be accomplished only through the mutual cooperation of countries around the world and one can only hope that an awareness of this will go some way toward preventing unnecessary reluctance to intervene in similar conflicts in the future. 5GLOSSARY OF TERMS GENOCIDE [dn?s?jd] – iztrebljenje skupnosti 1. The deliberate killing of people who belong to a particular racial, political, or cultural group. 2. Deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, religious, political, or ethnic group. 3.â€Å"The Rwandans who organized and executed the genocide must bear full responsibility for it . † 4. Synonym: slaughter; hypernym: kill; hyponym: ethnic genocide. EMBARGO [?mb?rgo] – prepoved uvoza 1. A government order that limits trade in some way. 2. An official ban on trade or other commercial activity with a particular country. 3. â€Å"Imposing an embargo on arms to Rwanda would have been another effective, cost-free way of indicating international condemnation of the interim government, but this measure, first raised in the Security Council at the end of April, was implemented only on May 17.†4. Synonym: prohibition; hypernym: trade barrier; hyponym: arms embargo. PEACEKEEPING [pes-?ke-pi?] – vzdrzevanje miru 1. The preserving of peace. 2. International enforcement and supervision of a truce between hostile states or communities. 3. â€Å"Faced with escalating costs for peacekeeping operations, the UN staff and members wanted not just success, but success at low cost. † 4. Synonym: mediation, pacification; hypernym: operation; hyponym : peacekeeping mission. CEASE-FIRE [?ses-?fi(-?)r] – ustavitev ognja 1. A temporary stopping of fighting.2. An agreement to stop fighting a war for a period of time so that a permanent agreement can be made to end the war. 3. â€Å"Accustomed to dealing with wars, not with genocides, diplomats addressed the familiar part of the problem in the usual way, by promoting a dialogue between the belligerents and seeking a cease-fire. † 4. Synonym: armistice; hypernym: peace; hyponym: long-lasting cease-fire. WARFARE [w?rf?r] – vojno stanje 1. Activity that is done as part of a struggle between competing groups, companies, etc. 2. A lack of agreement or harmony 3.â€Å"A leading columnist for the New York Times even managed to put the new and the old cliches in the same sentence, referring to a â€Å"failed state† and to a â€Å"centuries-old history of tribal warfare. † 4. Synonym: conflict; hypernym: action; hyponym: tribal warfare. Unknown words 1. amm unition [cmjunis?n] the objects (such as bullets and shells) that are shot from weapons – strelivo 2. belligerent [belidz?r?nt] angry and aggressive : feeling or showing readiness to fight – bojevit 3. cadaver [k?deiv?] a dead body – truplo 4. calamitous [k?lc?mit?s] causing great harm or suffering – nesrecen, razdejalen5.  inept [inept] lacking skill or ability – nesmiseln, nespodoben 6. inertia [in:si?] lack of movement or activity especially when movement or activity is wanted or needed – lenivost, lenoba 7. interim [int?rim] intended to last, continue, or serve for a limited time – zacasen 8. paucity [p?:siti] a small amount of something : an amount that is less than what is needed or wanted – malenkost, majhno stevilo 9. purport [p:p?t] the main or general meaning of something – smisel, pomen, smoter10. reconnaissance [rik*?nis?ns] military activity in which soldiers, airplanes, etc.  , are sent to find out info rmation about an enemy – poizvedovanje 11. to balk [b:k] to show unwillingness to accept, do, engage in, or agree to – preprecevati, ovirati 12. to condemn [k?ndem] to say in a strong and definite way that someone or something is bad or wrong – obsoditi 13. to deteriorate [diti?ri?reit] to become worse or of less value – poslabsati se 14. to rebuff [ribf] to refuse (something, such as an offer or suggestion) in a rude way – odbiti, odkloniti 15. to shun [s?n] to avoid (someone or something)DEBATE PREVIEWI will focus our debate on four discussable questions – each one of them related to the international response to the Rwandan genocide.Firstly, in my seminar I presented the role of France as a Rwandan government's number-one supplier of weapons. Does this fact alone make France more culpable for the genocide than the rest of the international community? How should responsibility be allocated for what happened, both inside and outside Rwanda? How has the international community, in particular Belgium, France, the United States, and the UN, faced up to the question of responsibility and blame in the years since the genocide? Secondly, the UN authorized the troops as the â€Å"peace-keepers,† not â€Å"peace-makers.†By UN mandate, UN troops were permitted to use their weapons only in self-defense. If the generals had disobeyed orders and authorized their troops to fire on fighters who were killing masses in front of their eyes, would they have done the right thing? Next, I mentioned that various factors contributed to the inactivity of the international community, such as the disastrous U. S. humanitarian intervention in Somalia in 1993, less than a year before, which ended with the U. S. helicopter shot down and the bodies of U. S. soldiers dragged through the streets of Mogadishu.Does this justify the U. S. and the UN's refusal to intervene? Can we risk our own citizen's lives in order to save foreign and can we risk the reputation of an intergovernmental institution, which possibly could never be restored again in order to help – even if that means that some major countries may not want to cooperate at all in the future? Finally, I will also encourage a debate over possible solutions for halting genocide and violation of human rights – when and how should the governments act, who should contribute the resources etc.