Consider knowledge issues Essay Example for Free

Consider knowledge issues Essay â€Å"That which is accepted as knowledge today is sometimes discarded tomorrow.† Consider knowledge issues raised by this statement in two areas of knowledge. Nowadays, due to for example technological development, every day can bring us a new knowledge. Something that yesterday was unthinkable, today turned into reality. Does that work in the opposite way? Does knowledge from hundreds of years ago is still considered as truth? Does knowledge have a period of validity? I found it very interesting considering the fact that most people believe in everything what famous scientists say. They are learning things, which are written in books or newspapers and they consider it as truth. But how do we know that something is truth? There are various of theories which are created every day and overturned after few days or even hours. While thinking about all knowledge theories, one question is coming to our mind, how do we know that previously accepted knowledge is timeless, and when it is accountable to be inverted as new thinking emerges? On those questions I will try to answer in my essay. To accurately answer the question posed in the task, areas of knowledge to which I am going to relate my work are history and human sciences. Technological development which was mentioned before allowed us to verify whether created theories are true or false. Theories from which we obtains our knowledge are changing constantly. Some of them could be overturned after they were assessed as unreliable. Such assessment can be done due to development which we already obtained. However, technology can also be used to improve the reliability of such knowledge. As an example of such theory I will use biological cell theory. In 1590, Hans and Zacharias Janssen invented a microscope under which in 1665 Robert Hooke firstly discovered cells, the basic units of structure and function of all living organisms. There was not many informations about this new discover. For years, scientists have expanded their knowledge about cells and they are doing it even now. Thanks to technology, now we know almost everything about cells. How they replicate, what they contain inside of them. The theory has been improved so this is still considered as reliable knowledge. Another example of improvement in sources of knowledge could be found in physics. In ancient Greece, Democritus discovered the smallest unit of matter atom. Due to  many various experiments performed till now, theory about atom has changed many times and it is still not over. Scientists are always looking for new informations, therefore they are collecting new knowledge. From this knowledge new theories are created and then, by new technologies those are considered as true or false or improved. Another example of knowledge which was discarded after a long time is psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis is a method of understanding and treatment of human psychology and the theory allows to explain the different social and cultural phenomena. It was begun in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century by the Viennese physician Sigmund Freud. For many years, psychoanalysis was considered as the best method of treatment of mental disorders based on assumptions psychoanalytic theory. It assumes that the primary cause of the symptoms is unconscious memory, which involves strong emotions, resulting in a traumatic situation. Goal of psychoanalysis as a therapeutic method is to restore the consciousness of those memories. Critics of psychoanalysis as a scientific theory argue that it cannot be verified experimentally, so it cannot be classified as science, but only to literature, pseudoscience or para-science. In addition, many authors believe that Freud in many places falsify his observ ations to confirm his theory. Karl Popper took example of psychoanalysis as a theory unfalsifiable, and therefore unscientific. Unfalsifiable of psychoanalysis can be represented by the following example. A person smokes a cigar. Psychoanalysis claims that in this way this person satisfies his oral needs. If this person confirms, it would constitute proof of the veracity of the claims of psychoanalysis. If, however, deny that the reasons for the denial of that to be found in ignorance and denial. Thus, it also confirms the truth of the claims of psychoanalysis. Except Freud, there are many other psychoanalysts. As an example I will use Alfred Adler. Alfred Adler was an Austrian medical doctor and psychotherapist who found school of individual psychology. Different case in point how knowledge can be discarded we can find in case of penicillin. It was the first antibiotic found in 1928 by Alexander Fleming. Firstly, it was considered as the best known to humanity treatment for almost all the diseases. The mechanism of action of penicillin as  antibiotics by blocking the activity of bacterial enzymes. It lend a hand to a lot of people with their diseases and sufferings and it brought a great success to scientists which found it. They even got the Nobel Prize in 1945 for inventing penicillin. However, after a few years when penicillin was on the market, many people started to complain on side effects of penicillin. It turned out that a lot of them are allergic to penicillin and therefore they have huge problems with their health. Some people even had anaphylactic shock after first dose. Moreover, users of penicillin were complaining from fever, chilling, profuse sweating, cyanosis or hypotension. These facts have rejected the recogniti on of penicillin as the best antibiotic and therefore knowledge that penicillin is the best antibiotic was discarded. Nowadays due to technology we have much better kinds of antibiotics. Many of them are antiallergic and therefore may be used by all people suffering from different diseases. Except science, knowledge changes also on historical ground. It mainly refer to revisionist historians. History we learn is changing all the time, as revisionist historians change things so as to fit the truths more likely than it is. As it is known, history is always incomplete. There are many facts about we do not have a clue or we dont know why something happened. Thanks to revisionist historians, old theories are in fact changed into the new ones, which are considered as better and therefore more accurate truth of the world is created. In this case, old theories are not discarded, but evolved to adjust to the flow of time and new informations possessed. Therefore, theories created by earlier generations are accepted but changed in future to fit the truth more likely. This brings us to consensus that even though a few years ago something was considered by historians as truth, today due to technology and revisionist historians it may be considered as totally different. As we can see, nothing stays forever on our planet. Everyday everything changes, new knowledge is discovered and new theories are created. World is constantly evolving and brings us new technology by which we can discover new informations and therefore knowledge. Psychoanalysis, discover of penicillin, cell theory, revisionist historians and discover of atom are all  an examples of how can knowledge change due to the passage of time and technology development. Taking this into consideration, the statement mentioned in the subject That which is accepted as knowledge today is sometimes discarded tomorrow. perfectly represents the idea and speed of development of modern world. Even though today we think that something is true and different theory is unacceptable, in few years or centuries it could be discarded or evolved into the new theory.

Violence in Schools: Causes, Effects and Prevention

Violence in Schools: Causes, Effects and Prevention 1. Introduction School violence is one of the most serious problems nowadays because of detrimental effects on forming human-beings characteristics and future of a nation. This paper, based on secondary research, discusses violence situation in Vietnam, other parts of the world and analyzes the causes as well as gives solutions to tackle this problem. The findings of the research reveal that the happening frequency now is much higher than in the past and serious level also increase. Then, a variety of reasons are mentioned to help the readers comprehend thoroughly. Finally, some typical solutions are given and calls for support from authorities, family and students to reduce this issue gradually. Hopefully, school violence will decrease significantly in the future. Have you ever gone to school with the fear which is not the fear of not doing homework or coming late but that of being injured? You can say no but I can say yes because of the significant increase of school violence nowadays. It has no longer been a national issue but a global problem. In fact, it happened in any levels of education, from primary to university. Especially serious, the number of people killed has raised recently. The statistic given recently by Ministry of Education and Training in Vietnam showed that there were about 1600 school violence situations happened in one school year, 5 circumstances each day on average (Cam n.d.). It rang the alarming bell to government and citizens to address this problem. Therefore, this research paper, with the aim at reducing violence in schools and creating friendly and safe educational environment for students, discusses about three questions of why this issue is becoming more and more serious, what the consequences are and what shou ld be done to solve this problem. 2. Discussion of findings 2.1. Why this issue is becoming more and more serious This issue has increased rapidly in quantity, range, serious level. It happens not only in male but also in female, not only among students but also between students and teachers. Because of its seriousness, violence is school is becoming a significant issue which is mentioned fluently in websites, books, magazines, on television or even is reflected in films. For example, a Vietnamese film which is shown in Tet holiday of 2011 had the name School ghost. This film talked about problems in schools life especially school violence. So there were lots of aggressive scene, even a scene in which female students attacked and ripped other students shirts. The film warned people about the serious problems which still exist in school and called the support to solve them. First of all, we must know exactly what the causes are. Actually, school violence results from many reasons. First of all, family members are the closest relatives to a person so they have significant effects on that person. When living in a family which parents often have rows, the children will feel unpleasant, unhappy or even stressful. It will lead to negative behaviors, especially in teenager age when awareness of them have not improved completely. The younger the children are, the easier are they affected. They tend to repeat the parents behaviors and if they are bad behaviors, the effects are serious obviously. In an article Causes of school violence on an American website www.crf-usa.org , the author indicated that parents are the people who construct and form the characteristic of their children. When parents fail to improve positive behaviors, children may develop negative behaviors patterns. Neglectful or abusive family environments can limit the ability to grow of children such as communication skills, self-esteem, happiness. Secondly, schools or educational environments play a crucial part in form awareness of students. The period of time which you spend in school each day is quite long so you communicate much with your classmates and teachers. You will study and behave well if your classmates are good children. But if your classmates are naughty, you will be involved in their bad activities and become naughty, too. Another case is if your teacher does not teach well and always rail students, you will be stressful obviously and will not have interest in learning. There have been events in which teacher insulted or even fought student, they absolutely harmed both physical and mental status of students. Last but not least, cyber abuse is one of the most important thing affect childrens behaviors. Why violence school has become more popular recently? Since 1990s, Internet, blogging, email grew quickly so the children could approach violent books, videos or games easily. When accessing to the Internet, you can watch lots of violent and bad things without being controlled from family or community. It will make children have wrong behaviors or attitudes toward an issue such as using violence to solve a problem or conflict between classmates. Killing others because of small conflict on a social network, Facebook is a regrettable story between a nine-grade student and a eleven-grade student in Ha Long, Quang Ninh (Hoang 2013). It is a typical example which shows the seriousness of school violence and calls the support from community immediately. 2.2. What are the consequences Consequences which school violence causes are really frightened. It impacts on many aspects. To students themselves, both victims and people who cause will have bad consequences. Victims can be injured slightly or seriously and even lead to death. Moreover, they often have mental injury, feel bored, worried, lonely and depressed. The scare or haunt can make them feel stressful. It lasts for a long time and victims cannot concentrate on studying and do not want to take part in other activities with friends. People who cause violence must be responsible for what they have done. How they are disciplined depends on the serious level of violence they cause, be dismissed from school or even sentenced to prison. Since they are relevant to school violence, their future will not optimistic actually. Furthermore, people who see violent scene also are affected absolutely. They will feel unsafe when studying in an environment like that. If violent actions are not be punished immediately, other students can follow these negative behaviors and it makes the violent situation in schools bec ome more and more serious. To family, it also causes regrettable consequences. When school violence occurs, family members are the people who must to solve problems which it causes. Victims family will have to spend both time and money to take care of their children if they involve in violent situations. Being not cured immediately, the victims can suffer from a lot of problems. Their family will be criticized and receive bad attitudes from social community, friends, etc. The children will be criticized by their parents, too. Stress from critic chat maybe lead to rows between parents and children and ruin familys happiness. If unfortunately a student is killed, it is a pain which cannot be replaced. Try to image that the child whom you spend much labor to bring up, you care about much suddenly passed away, especially the only child in the family. So how sad you are! A lot of violent situations happen in school will create stressful learning atmosphere which does not provide appropriate conditions for students to study. Schier (2008, p.30) stated that school violence destroys the positive learning environment schools are intended to provide. In turn, this affects a students readiness and ability to learn. A lot of students decline to go to school because they are scared to be attacked, insulted. Moreover, violent behaviors of students weaken school discipline, breakdown school rules and school reputation obviously. Because our country open market with globalization trend, effects from other countries are inevitable. Good things of our culture are fading and virtue is ruined gradually. That school violence occurs not only in schools but outside as well causes disorderly issue. If we dont have immediate measures to address this problem, it will spread out rapidly and affect the nations prosperity. 2.3. How to solve this problem Students are the future of a nation so the demand of finding solutions is the priority of both school and authorities. In addition, the support from children and their family also plays a crucial role. Without them, all attempts may never successful. No single discipline alone can prevent violence. A complex problem such as violence must be prevented through a combination of approaches (Barrois 2001). A child is never born as arrogant or timid, it is the atmosphere around him which affects him much. The parents will face the bad consequences happening to their children if they do not give the necessary care and education because they are the closest people to children. On a violence website www.nssc1.org, the author said that parents should check their children as much as possible and discuss about the habits and behaviors their children should develop or adapt to. From an early age, parents should monitor and adjust appropriately if their children act wrongly. School administrations should be strict on regulating rules, students harsh punishments should be avoided especially violent behaviors and teaching solutions should be advised, the way which teachers and students communicate should be enhanced to create a comfortable in studying. Being as a friend of student is also necessary. Arguably, schools and teachers can identify unusual behavior in students. After all, teachers spen d hours each day with students, develop relationships, and can likely talk to kids about whats on their minds ( Anderson 2011). But the most important factor is students awareness themselves, they should know which behavior is good, which is bad to adjust and choose good friend to play with. 3. Conclusion The findings above reveal that school violence in Vietnam and other parts all over the world is more and more serious. It damaged much not only the educational system, cultural beauty but also the future of a country. Sadly, there are many causes of this issue and they cannot be solved soon. However, with the raising of awareness and measures from authorities, we hope that this problem will decrease significantly and students can study well in friendly educational environments.

Psychedelic Drugs (aka Psychedelics) Essay -- essays research papers

Psychedelic Drugs (aka Psychedelics) Introduction: Throughout human history people have sought experiences that somehow transcend every day life. Some sort of wisdom that might progress their knowledge of self and of the world that they live in. For some reason they believed that the tangible world just could not be all there is to life. Some believed in a greater force that controlled them, some believed of invisible beings that influenced their lives, some of an actual other world that paralleled their own. Many of these people also believed that it was possible to catch a glimpse of these forces, beings, or worlds through a variety of means that propel individuals into altered states of consciousness. These techniques include meditation, hypnosis, sleep deprivation, and (what will be discussed here) psychoactive drugs, more specifically psychedelic drugs. Although in the modern world such drugs have developed an almost taboo status, it is impossible to ignore the tales of enlightenment reported by ancient cultures and even those rebels that use such drugs illegally today. While the American government has been one of the main influences on today’s society’s negative attitudes towards psychedelic drugs, they have granted some scientist and psychologists permission to experiment with such agents, and despite the controversy and varying results there seem to be many positive uses of psychedelic agents. These positive uses and the research that has been directed toward these uses will be reviewed in the following, as well as a brief history of psychedelic drugs. History:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Native Americans are probably the people most known for their use of psychedelic drugs. Being a very religious people, their entire society revolved around the spirit world, and some believed that access to this world was possible by eating certain plants that were abundant in their surroundings. In what are now Mexico and the Southwestern United States, tribes familiarized themselves with mescaline, the active ingredient in the peyote cactus. Another drug that was used by tribes in these and many other areas was psilocybin, the active hallucinogenic ingredient of the mushroom Psilocybe mexicana and other psilocybe and conocybe species that grow on the pacific coast of North, South, and Central America. Ritual use of psilocybin and mesca... ... research the government has allowed scientists and psychologists, there have been amazing discoveries of the capacities of these drugs. It has been proven that they are able to extend psychotherapy’s view of the human mind, they are able to promote massive personality changes, and to enhance the learning and problem solving experience. It has even been suggested that psychedelics are able to enhance any aspect of mental functioning.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One must look beyond the stereotypes that psychedelics have earned in the twentieth century, and also modern science, that presupposes that any thing that cannot be explained within its own contexts either does not exist or is but a fanciful idea. However, the realm of psychedelics is uncharted area, and when dealing with such experimental substances, such as these psychedelic agents, one must proceed with caution, as was mentioned earlier the agents are powerful tools and can be used with skill or reckless abandon, and therefore can yield positive responses or deadly consequences. If used with care psychedelics will allow many psychologists and patients to embark on a perhaps endless journey of self-discovery.

Panthers :: essays research papers

Bobby Seale   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bobby Seale was one of the co-founders of the Black Panther Party. He was born on October 22, 1939 in Dallas Texas. By the time Bobby was ten his family moved to Oakland, California where he would have a rough childhood. Seale’s family was very poor so this only added to his dire childhood. Bobby eventually dropped out of high school and at 18 he was indicted into the Air Force. He was immediately sent to Amarillo, Texas to receive training as an aircraft sheet-metal mechanic. He soon graduated from the Technical School Class of Air Force training with honors. After that, he was moved to Rapid City, South Dakota at Ellsworth Air Force Base. Bobby served here for three and a half years and left with the rank of corporal. After he left the Air Force he enrolled at Merrit College in Oakland where he intended to study engineering. Bobby first became interested in 1962 when he first heard Malcolm-X speak. During his enrollment at the University, he joined the Af ro-American Association (AAA) which was an organization formed by young African-Americans in Oakland to try to confront the problems faced by the black community. This was an organization that tried to confront the problem faced by the black community. Seale got interested very quickly and was inspired by such people as Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. du Bois. Another member of the AAA named Huey Newton had very similar beliefs as Bobby. Soon Bobby became one of the many black activists who broke away from the traditional non-violent protests to â€Å"preach a doctrine of militant black empowerment.† Bobby and Huey became very close friends and in 1966 formed the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. Bobby Seale is still alive today and is no longer involved in violent protests. He is running his own web site that tells of his adventures and why he did everything he did in his earlier years. Huey Newton   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Huey Percy Newton was the other major co-founder of the Black Panther Party. Huey was born on February 17, 1942, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the youngest of Armelia and Walter Newton's seven children. When he was three years old he moved to Oakland, California. Huey and his family fled to the hard core side of Oakland because his father was looking for good work that was out of the Louisiana Bayou.

Technology and Modern Age

Sunday for me is the gloomiest part of the week. I always feel I am missing about an hour of sleep and still, somewhere in my sub consciousness. I have to face the dilemma of what to do for the coming hours as well. Being at the transitional state of dream and reality, it would help me to be more creative if the selection of activities is less limited. The option includes the way the Modern Age generate happiness and the Purposeful Leisure. One of the most popular is the way done by the Modern Age since it gives us a wide selection and various inventions to choose from.For people with a gaming instinct, the choice is plentiful. For instance Computer Games develop by every generation have conquer the minds of teenagers. An example is a Warcraft Game made by Icefrog, consisting of different characters possessing skills and can be strengthen by the use of magical things. Computers now are very innovative that its content is advance and unique. It can finish a pile of works in an hour wi thout numerous errors, unlike the past years which requires a lot of effort to have your projects and assignments be done.For a person who’s up for fighting, Arcade Games were made to make them feel as they were the warrior fighting for a prize. Arcade Games are commonly made as survival test; it may be a survival from Zombies, Militaries, Dinosaurs and many more. For lame people who still find time to play, PSP is very suitable, since it is not as big as Computers and Arcade machines. PSP can be downloaded with different games and can be played wherever you are. Another option that might satisfy one’s boredom is PURPOSEFUL LEISURE perhaps not as popular as MODERN AGE way but just as fun to do; this activity does not fall in the â€Å"killing time† category.It does however, command the respect of other activity, it is healthy and known to lower the calories level. Going out to make window shopping is much interesting than spending your money on repeat gaming. Ha ving a youth camp on mountains or just simply playing Local games gives us the simplest and cheapest way of having fun. As I think of the two options, I guess Sunday’s of mine must be spending wisely. I may not like the Purposeful Leisure since it doesn’t have much excitement, but I know that it will make me healthy.I may love the Modern Age since it gives me new challenges but I will still prevent myself from getting addicted to it since it weakens the body’s immune system. On the year 1994, Modern Age has begun, Innovations and various inventions started to create names in public. Science and Technology has made a long way on the society. Even adults are engaged to the technological advancement. Changes are so fast and all of us need to adapt quickly. Using Technologies is very efficient. We don’t have to spend a lot of money and we don’t need to give a lot of power to finish a work.On the other hand, it is not difficult for some of us to be amus ed, even you are at home or on the middle of a vacation trip, you can still find time to relax by just moving your hands and by the focus of your eyes and mind. Despite the numerous values of technology, many oppose scientific process on ethical grounds. The researchers in the field of newly inventions face scrutiny from many advocacy groups because technology is seen as violating one’s fundamental environment principles. The current debate lies on major questions about the relationship between Science and Technology and Purposeful Leisure.What could be its psychological and societal implications to an individual? Since we have the ability to make advancement, we had better think hard about the kind of life we want. Technology has tremendous power to do good if properly used. The issues are complex. The lesson of history is that whatever is possible will be tried somewhere by someone at some time but this is no excuse for sitting back. We need to decide based on principles th at the whole community can support and understand. We individuals have a vital role to play. I would like to give my reaction on the Sample Essay no. entitled Leisure and Modern Age. It stated that the Modern Age has offered humanity various inventions and technology advancement which have made our lives so progressive. Well, I agree with that, as I observe the society, people were allure by the new inventions and creations. Eyes are staring at computer monitors, ears are suited with headphones, and hands are busy pressing buttons and body is moving consistently. The next part is how these things failed to provide humanity with more quality leisure time. Since, we spend our time on improving our gaming skills than making ourselves healthy.We have loss our mind-set that we still need to take concentration on our wellness. Most illness were get due to lack of nutrients, this happened when we engaged our energy in unworthy things. And technology is one of that unworthy things that weak ens our immune system. I can say that it is okay to find Leisure on Technologies, but it is not good to get addicted and forget the real essence of why these inventions were made. Since some of the creations were made to help people become more efficient and not to make people become dependent.Because some people were very dependent to these creations, they occupy their time just to improve on games, failing them to recall about more important things. They forget about wellness which is much needed that having an accomplished work at technologies’influence. â€Å"Use technology, but don’t let Technology use you. † I remember this words said by an American psychology Professor on Youtube. We are now living in a modern age bringing us various ways to make our life much easier than before, less money to spend with and less energy to deal with.Tiring days is not an issue no more, finding time to rest is stress-free. But how good is it to have this kind of lifestyle, where communication is fast as airwaves, where task can be quickly performed in just a short span of time. Does it take the pressure when someone’s in a hurry? What are the effects of Modern Age especially on how we find time to relax? There are several effects of technology in human health, environment, animals, plants and earth. Technology can affect our health in many ways with both short term and long term effects.The extent to which an individual is harmed by technology usually depends on the total exposure to the damaging contents. Short term includes irritation of eyes and sudden stroke of muscles. Long term health effects can include chronic respiratory disease and even damage to brain nerves. Another effect is that both plants and animals are harmed by pollution cause by some creations. All the effects mentioned above pose a warning of danger for all living things. Humans, as the most intelligent species on earth, are encouraged to be more aware on what they’ re doing not just by themselves but also to other creatures.

Activity Based Costing

Probably the most popular proposal to upgrade the traditional cost accounting system is activity-based costing (ABC). The purpose of ABC systems is to focus on the causes behind indirect costs. It is primarily a system of allocation. Activities rather than traditional departments are emphasized in order to isolate the cost drivers, which are the factors most likely to cause or contribute to the incurrence of costs. ABC systems are designed to be complementary with the technological changes in the factories due to enhanced global competition. t refers to the basis for cost accumulation, either direct or indirect, to products or services.The traditional approach to assigning costs to products is to attach those costs that are directly traceable to the product and allocate the indirect costs by a measure of volume, such as direct labor hours, direct labor dollars, or machine hours. According to Anderson and Kaplan (2004), a cardinal principle of ABC is this: if products or services are made to specifications known to add value for the customer, then activities, and hence costs, that can be removed without compromising these specifications are unnecessary and should be removed. Benefits of ABC Systems to CompaniesCompanies can benefit from ABC through the system’s attempt to improve the allocation of indirect costs by identifying the activities that are responsible for the costs. Costs and expenses that cannot be economically traced directly to a cost objective are to be allocated on a rational basis. Costs and expenses that can be directly traced to a revenue-producing division, a single product line, or to any defined cost objective need not be allocated. Traditionally, only direct materials and direct labor were assumed to be directly traceable to separate product lines.That assumption will no longer be followed. Instead, it will be assumed that elements of manufacturing overhead, administrative expenses, and marketing expenses may be economically traced to product lines, or revenue-producing divisions. ABC as a process-based approach represents one capital budgeting strategy for analyzing investment opportunities which allows managers to vary the underlying activity drivers in business processes in order to study the impact of different levels in the process itself.Managers have the potential to learn much more about investment risks when they study the uncertainties in the business processes, rather than the traditional overview approach. This traditional approach has typically focused upon highly aggregated revenue and cost items that are merely the result of business processes. Contemporary organizations normally develop activity-based costing systems to provide more accuracy in assigning indirect and support costs to activities, business processes, products, services, and customers.ABC systems have recognized that organizational resources are needed both for direct production of goods and services and for indirect or support ac tivities (Neely, 2002). The goal of organizations is for the ABC to measure and then price out all the resources used for activities that generate the production off and services for customers. The principal difference between the traditional costing methods and ABC systems is the number and type of cost drivers used.The traditional product costing systems uses allocation bases that may or may not have been cost drivers. Companies may find that direct labor is not a cost driver and may never be a cost driver, especially in highly automated production environments. Therefore, these companies utilize the ABC system because it uses a much larger number and variety of cost drivers than the one or two volume-based cost drivers typical for a traditional cost system. As a result the ABC method increases accuracy. Application and Benefits of ABC in the Pilgrims Manufacturing Inc.Company Activity-based costing system is effective and appropriate for the company because, as Hammer and Champy (1993) state, it facilitates the use of process-based management that represents an evolving management strategy for highly competitive environments, as opposed to the traditional, departmental management focus. Moreover, activity-based costing focuses upon the broader control span of cross-functional processes of how work really gets done in organizations, as opposed to the narrow control span of individual departments of organizations.Business processes have been discussed as a series of activities that are cross-functionally linked to achieve specific organizational objectives. An activity-based costing system should be developed within the company to satisfy some of the weaknesses of the traditional systems of accounting for and controlling costs. It is important to recognize the place of ABC systems in the overall picture of cost management. In traditional cost systems, direct materials and labor are the only costs traced directly to the product.Manufacturing overhead costs, by definition, are not traced, but allocated to the product. They may be traced to an activity or a service department or some other cost objective, but not to the product itself. Administrative, engineering and marketing expenses are not included in production costs even when they can be traced directly to the product. ABC along with other new concepts such as computer-integrated manufacturing and total cost management advocate changes in the traditional system to coincide with technological changes in the production process.Once the factory has been reorganized to provide maximum efficiency and minimum wasted resources, the cost system can be streamlined to serve the needs of managers, not just to satisfy the presentation of data in the financial statements. ABC seeks to identify activities that cause or drive costs. Once these activities are identified, product costs are assigned according to the activities consumed. Typical activities would be storage time, wait time, number of se tups, number of engineering changes, and move time.The traditional cost system usually assumes that the only relevant activities are volume (measured in units of product), direct labor hours, or direct labor dollars. ABC expands these activities and claims better assignment of overhead as a result. WORKS CITED 1. Anderson, S. & Kaplan, R. (2004). Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing. Harvard Business Review, November, pp. 131-138. 2. Hammer, M. & Champy, J. (1993). Reengineering the Corporation. New York, NY: Harper Business. 3. Neely, A. (2002). Business Performance Measurement: Theory and Practice. Cambridge University Press.

Racial and Ethnic Disparity in Healthcare

The population of United States of America is quite diverse as there is substantial numbers of African-American, Hispanic, Native American or Asian/Pacific Islander living here. The numbers of non whites is enormously increasing in the country. In 1900, one in eight American was non white but at present one in four is non white and it is estimated that by the year 2070, each one of two American will be non white. (US Census Bureau 2005) This changing composition of population is making differences in various sectors but the nation is facing an important challenge with respect to the biasness in healthcare.The overall healthcare of the country is impressively improving but this improvement is not being equally shared by all the racial and ethnic groups of nation. Non white population is getting divergent and low level medical treatment and care as compared with the white people and this difference has created healthcare disparities among the minorities. There are several causes behind these growing healthcare disparities among the minorities and several strategies have also been designed in order to cope up with this problem.This paper is proposing to conduct a quantitative research in order to highlight the root causes of healthcare disparities, strategies to overcome this problem and the attitude and role of the nation towards these disparities. The paper provides the background information, statistic data, need, purposes, significance and methodology of research. Introduction Disparity is â€Å"the condition or fact of being unequal, as in age, rank, or degree† and healthcare disparity refers to unsatisfactory situation when patients receive unequal medical treatment and care.When the medical care and treatment become unequal on racial and ethnic grounds, it gives rise to minorities healthcare disparities. Many researches have proved that in United States of America, people belonging to different races are not getting equal healthcare and the healthcar e disparities among the minorities is extensively increasing. The quality of medical care and treatment is different for minorities There are some basic factors responsible for this disparity like â€Å"differences in socioeconomic level i. e.income and education, language barriers, differences in health behaviors of consumers, lack of diversity in the health care workforce, lack of multi-cultural knowledge and actual discrimination and stereotyping by health care providers† (American Hospital Association). The death rate of African, South Asian, Hispania American due to severe diseases is considerably higher then that of white Americans. In order to avoid these disparities authentic researches are required that can highlight the problem areas and then design the strategies for improving the healthcare situation of minorities.A research study is proposed in order to find out the role of healthcare provider in promoting these healthcare disparities. The research will focus on the behaviors of nation especially the healthcare providers and their practice pattern in order to point out their contribution towards amplifying these disparities. It will be a qualitative research; a survey of major healthcare units where the health care providers (doctors and medical staff) and the patients (both White and Non-Whites) will be questioned about the issue.The research will focus on the points that how the people are responding towards the strategies designed for reducing the healthcare disparities among the minority population, how much the working pattern of healthcare provider has changed for minorities, how the white people are changing their attitude for non whites and weather the victims (minority population) are feeling any difference in their treatment and care or not. The data will be access to get the key findings which will be use in order to develop future strategies for preventing and minimizing the minorities healthcare disparities.The research will co ntain an introduction, background information, Statistical Data, Finding of the survey, Analysis and results, discussion, proposed strategies and conclusion. The problems statement or hypothesis for the research will be â€Å"Is our nation doing enough to reduce racial and ethnic disparity in healthcare? † Background Information There is great rise in healthcare discrimination for minorities in United States. Despite the improved national healthcare situation, the minority population is facing more problems regarding their health.Following is the background information about the health condition of African Americans, Hispanics, South Indian and Native Americans, and islanders. The infant mortality rate is going down in America but the African American still have a high infant mortality rate which is almost double than the white Americans. â€Å"Heart disease death rates are more than 40 percent higher for African Americans than for whites. The death rate for all cancers is 3 0 percent higher for African Americans than for whites; for prostate cancer, it is more than double that for whites.African American women have a higher death rate from breast cancer despite having a mammography screening rate that is nearly the same as the rate for white women. The death rate from HIV/AIDS for African Americans is more than seven times that for whites; the rate of homicide is six times that for whites. During 2001-2004, 68% of all women reported with AIDS were African American; among men, just under half (44%) of the new cases of HIV and AIDS were in African Americans. Lupus is three times more common in African American women than in white women.African American women tend to develop symptoms at an earlier age than other women, and have more severe organ problems, especially with their kidneys. † (Health People 2010) The Hispanic population is also facing low level medical care which has resulted in their poor health conditions. Among the new cases of tuberc ulosis registered in America during 1996, almost 20% were Hispanic. The number of Hispanic Americans dieing from diabetes is almost double then the non Hispanics.They also have high blood pressure and obesity rate as compared with non Hispanics. â€Å"Only 18% of Hispanics with high blood pressure have this condition under control, compared with 30% of whites. Type 2 diabetes is being diagnosed more often in Hispanic children and adolescents than in the past. Only 42% of Hispanics aged 65 years or older receive a pneumonia or annual flu shot, compared with 63% of whites. Only 28% receive the pneumonia shot, compared with 61% of whites.Hispanics have the second highest rate of HIV/AIDS diagnoses and account for 18% of all HIV/AIDS cases. In 2004, non-Hispanic black persons were less likely than non-Hispanic white persons to have received a flu shot during the past 12 months (Non-Hispanic black: 32. 9%; Non-Hispanic white: 50. 9%), and were also less likely to have ever received a pn eumococcal vaccination (Non-Hispanic black: 38. 6%; Non-Hispanic white: 60. 9%)†. (CDC, 2007) The American Indians and Alaska natives are also the minority nations having bad health conditions.The diabetes and infant mortality rate is almost double among them as compared with the white Americans. â€Å"The Pima of Arizona have one of the highest rates of diabetes in the world. American Indians and Alaska Natives also have disproportionately high death rates from unintentional injuries and suicide. † (CDC) The health condition of Asians and Pacific Islanders is considered as â€Å"one of the healthiest population groups in the United States† but there are still data that proves that this population is also facing healthcare diversities.For example â€Å"the women of Vietnamese origin suffer from cervical cancer at nearly five times the rate for white women. New cases of hepatitis and tuberculosis also are higher in Asians and Pacific Islanders living in the Unite d States than in whites. Pacific Islanders are more than twice as likely as whites to receive a diagnosis of diabetes. Although the estimated HIV/AIDS rate among Pacific Islanders is the lowest in the United States compared with all other racial and ethnic groups, the rate increased an average of 9% each year during 2001–2004.† (Healthy People 2010) There are many diseases which are very common among the minorities and causing high death rates among them. These diseases include Infant Mortality, Hepatitis, Tuberculosis, Mental Problems, Cancer, Heart Diseases, Diabetes, Immunizations and HIV AIDS. These diseases are effecting the health situation of minorities at large for example, the â€Å"African-American, American Indian, and Puerto Rican infants have higher death rates than white infants. In 2000, the black-to-white ratio in infant mortality was 2. 5 (up from 2. 4 in 1998).African-American women are more than twice as likely to die of cervical cancer as are white women and are more likely to die of breast cancer than are women of any other racial or ethnic group. In 2000, rates of death from diseases of the heart were 29 percent higher among African-American adults than among white adults, and death rates from stroke were 40 percent higher. In 2000, American Indians and Alaska Natives were 2. 6 times more likely to have diagnosed diabetes compared with non-Hispanic Whites, African Americans were 2. 0 times more likely, and Hispanics were 1.9 times more likely. African Americans and Hispanics accounted for 66 percent of adult AIDS cases and 82 percent of pediatric AIDS cases reported in the first half of that year† (NCHS 2002) whereas In 2001, Hispanics and African Americans aged 65 and older were less likely than Non-Hispanic whites to report having received influenza and pneumococcal vaccines (MMWR, 2002) The mental problems of the minorities are also an important point of concern as â€Å"American Indians and Alaska Natives appear t o suffer disproportionately from depression and substance abuse.Minorities have less access to, and availability of, mental health services. Minorities are less likely to receive needed mental health services. Minorities in treatment often receive a poorer quality of mental health care. Minorities are underrepresented in mental health research. † (Mental Health Report 1999) In 2002, 50 percent of those infected with Hepatitis B was Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Black teenagers and young adults become infected with Hepatitis B three to four times more often than those who are white.One recent study has found that black people have a higher incidence of Hepatitis C infection than white people. (Department of Health and Human Services) Of all the TB cases reported from 1991-2001, almost 80 percent were in racial and ethnic minorities. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders accounted for 22 percent of those cases, even though they made up less than four percent of the U. S . population. (NCHSTP Division of TB Elimination) Medical Care and Treatment of MinoritiesThe poor health condition of the minorities is caused by unequal medical treatment and care. The minority people are in great need for better medical facilities because they are suffering from severe diseases at higher rates but there is not proper access of minorities to the healthcare facilities. Some factors are responsible for this issue like â€Å"lack of health insurance, an inadequate number of health care facilities, patient dumping, difficulty in obtaining prescription drugs and an insufficient number of African-American doctors.† (Cara A. Fauci, 1996) There is lack of medical facilities availability to the minority population for example, the â€Å"African Americans are 13 percent less likely to undergo coronary angioplasty and one-third less likely to undergo bypass surgery than are whites, Among preschool children hospitalized for asthma, only 7 percent of black and 2 percen t of Hispanic children, compared with 21 percent of white children, are prescribed routine medications to prevent future asthma-related hospitalizations.The length of time between an abnormal screening mammogram and the follow up diagnostic test to determine whether a woman has breast cancer is more than twice as long in Asian American, black, and Hispanic women as in white women. African Americans with HIV infection are less likely to be on antiretroviral therapy, less likely to receive prophylaxis for Pneumocystis pneumonia, and less likely to be receiving protease inhibitors than other persons with HIV.An HIV infection data coordinating center, now under development, will allow researchers to compare contemporary data on HIV care to examine whether disparities in care among groups are being addressed and to identify any new patterns in treatment that arise. Asian American, Hispanic, and African American residents of nursing homes are all far less likely than white residents to ha ve sensory and communication aids, such as glasses and hearing aids. A new study of nursing home care is developing measures of disparities in this care setting and their relationship to quality of care.† (AHRQ Fact Sheet 2000) Following is the chart that shows the total number of deaths in America during the year 2001 and the ratio of different minorities’ death due to different diseases. The Need to Conduct the Study: The above stated information clearly throws the light on the situation of minorities’ health in United States. The current scenario is not very positive and hopeful for the people living in US, belonging to different races and ethnicity. The situation demands the attention of scholars and social scientists to work for its betterment.Research studies are greatly needed in the field of healthcare disparities of minorities because the results of the researcher will work for formulating strategies that can reduce the disparities and make the situation better. To eliminate the racial and ethnic discrimination in healthcare sectors it is very necessary to have a research support so that there could be a better understanding of healthcare disparities among the government, healthcare providers, insurers, employers, hospital staff, physicians, patients and general public.Several researches have been conducted with the aim to minimize the healthcare disparity. These researches worked out for authentic data and strategic plans but despite all that there is no significant improvement in this field. Now a research is much needed to know the impact of previously taken steps so that the new plans can be designed. There is a great need to know weather those steps and strategies are working or not. It is required to find out the response of public towards the strategies and steps that have been taken in order to create awareness among people about the healthcare disparities of minorities.The change in the working pattern of healthcare provid ers and their behaviors towards the minorities is also need to be found out. All these requirements can be fulfilled by this proposed study as it is intended to focus upon the nation’s role in minimizing minorities’ healthcare disparities. It is also required to measure the differences in the medical treatment given to the people of different races so that a clear picture of the issue could be achieved.The report of the proposed research will also provide authentic data and detailed background information of the issue that will aid in formulating policies for the betterment of the sector. The Purpose and Objective of Research The research study is aimed at improving the healthcare conditions of minorities in United States by expanding the information about the minorities’ healthcare with reference to particular diseases like heart problem, cancer, AIDS and infant mortality etc.It will point out the main diseases and their relative medical care conditions for the minority people. This data will help in the formulation of health policy for the minorities also it will throw the light on the main health problems among minorities that could make them conscious about their health. The study will be directed by the objective of enhancing the understanding of issue at national and governmental level and to underline the negative consequences of the issues so that there could be great awareness about reducing the disparities.Through the study people will be insisted to change their thinking about the minorities and changing their behaviors. The healthcare providers who discriminates the minority people will be accessed and they were asked to analyze their attitude towards minorities. Their personal analysis of their attitude could be helpful in making changes in their way of thinking and as a result there could be betterment in situation for the non white and low income people who are not getting proper medical care from them.The purpose of the stu dy is also to investigate people about their troubles and to point out the major problem areas like language barrier or other so that the monitory population will also get some idea to overcome this discrimination. The survey could be a great opportunity for the minorities to express their thinking and to share their experiences. It will develop a communication link among different people of the society. The principle factors responsible for the disparities among the racial and ethnic groups will also come in front of people, as a result of this study.In short the purpose of the study is to get a better understanding of the minorities healthcare disparities and to find out the ways for the reduction of this disparity. It will be a systematic approach and managed effort for minimizing the minorities healthcare disparities. Significance of the Research The research will focus on the purpose of eliminating the healthcare disparities among minorities. The study will work to collect the data related to the issue from all possible sources then its analysis and interpretation for digging out some points that can help in making situation better.This effort will result in the gathering of complete authentic background information about the issue that will be helpful for the other scholars intended to work in the field. The data will also provide the students of this field a deep and detailed view of the issue. The systematically gathered data about the health condition and medical care will facilitate the policy making people and while formulating the health policy for minorities, it will be significant to know their health condition with respect to several diseases and their treatment.The major problems area will be identified easily. The research is proposed to done in quantities method and the data gathered through the survey from different people will provide a picture about the thinking and interpretation of the issue. The social scientists and psychologists can a lso dig out some solutions from the thinking style of people and they can also work for changing people behaviors and their perception of the issue.Some researches have been done by different organizations that focused on minority healthcare disparities and strategic plan for their reduction. Many of the researches are done under the supervision of credible organizations. A research was conducted by the â€Å"Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality – AHRQ† in the year 2003, under the name of â€Å"National Healthcare Disparities Report†. The National Healthcare Disparities Report is the â€Å"national comprehensive effort to measure differences in access and use of health care services by various populations.The report includes a broad set of performance measures that can serve as baseline views of differences in the use of services. The report presents data on differences in the use of services, access to health care, and impressions of quality for seven cl inical conditions, including cancer, diabetes, end-stage renal disease, heart disease, HIV and AIDS, mental health, and respiratory disease as well as data on maternal and child health, nursing home and home health care, and patient safety.It also examines differences in use of services by priority populations. † (AHRQ) The 2003 report is also available online at http://www. qualitytools. ahrq. gov/disparitiesreport/2003/download/download_report. aspx. Another research â€Å"Racism and Health Care in America: Legal Responses to Racial Disparities in the Allocation of Kidneys† was conducted by Cara A.Fauci in the year 1996 which â€Å"proposes and analyzes various responses to disparities in kidney allocation on the basis of race including public education, organ donation publicity campaigns, presumed consent to donation laws, the creation of criteria for placement on an United Network for Organ Sharing kidney allocation waiting list, alteration of kidney allocation gui delines, and litigation under both the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution and Title VI of the Civil Rights of 1964. † This report is also available online at http://www. bc. edu/bc_org/avp/law/lwsch/journals/bctwj/21_1/02_TXT.htm Another research is done by AHRQ â€Å"Strategies for Improving Minority Healthcare Quality†. The research is focused at developing scientific information for other agencies and organizations on which to base clinical guidelines, performance measures, and other quality improvement tools. Contractor institutions review all relevant scientific literature on assigned clinical care topics and produce evidence reports and technology assessments, conduct research on methodologies and the effectiveness of their implementation, and participate in technical assistance activities (AHRQ Fact Sheet)The Hypothesis or Problem Statement and Introduction of Research The research study will focus on the nation’s awareness about the minorities’ healthcare disparities and will focus on the attitude and thinking ways of general public and healthcare providers. The problems statement or hypothesis for the research will be â€Å"Is our nation doing enough to reduce racial and ethnic disparity in healthcare? The problem statement will be expresses in the questionnaire.A survey will be done among the healthcare providers, white Americans and non white Americans in which they will be asked to express their views about the role of nation for reducing the disparities of health care. It will be evaluated weather there is complete awareness among the people about the issue or not. The strategies designed by different research organizations are successful in changing nation’s way of thinking or not. The general public also has discrimination with each other and do the white people think it is justify carrying on the discrimination with non whites.Method and Introduction of the Research Study The research st udy will be quantitative. It will be a survey which is to be conducted among the healthcare providers and general public. Keeping in view the problem statement, a survey questionnaire would be designed. The questionnaire will consists of more then 5 questions which will be aimed at finding out the people opinions and thinking about the issue. Most of the questions will be multiple choices and in some there would be open field for people to express their views.The main question would be the same; the problem statement with sub questions i. e. â€Å"Is our Nation Doing enough to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparity in Healthcare? † a) The behavior of healthcare providers varies for people of different races and ethnicity or not? b) Is there any impact of strategies planned reducing the minorities’ healthcare disparities? After the making of questionnaire, the universe for the survey would be decided; the number of people to be questioned, their geography, demography, age, sex, profession, race etc.Survey sampling is an important part of research in which it would be decided that what would be the criteria for selecting the people from different groups either they will be picked randomly or every 10th or 20th listed in the telephone directory or other population statistical data catalog. The data gathering could be through telephone, through internet and preferably by meeting them personally. The people can be accessed in the hospitals, clinics, offices or homes.After getting the entire questionnaire filled by the decided number of people, the next step would be finding out the results. Once the results came out they can be analyze in different ways, with respect to race and ethnicity, with respect to age, with respect to gender or with respect to profession or locality. After analyzing the key findings of the results will be use to presenting result summary of the research. The key finding will help in formulating the strategies for the betterment of situation.there would be a discussion on the finding and proposed strategies as well as the impact of previous strategies. A conclusion would windup the research report. Contents of Research Thesis with Proposed References List In the beginning there would be an Abstract and Acknowledgement. The theses will be consisting of main chapters including Introduction, Background information and Statistical Data, Research Methodology, Research Findings or Results of the Study, Discussion, Proposed Strategies, Conclusion and Appendix.The â€Å"Introduction† will throw light on the whole theses. It will contain basic information about the issue, the need and purpose of research study, its significance, and the outcome. The introduction is an important part of the thesis. It should be compact and comprehensive. In the next section â€Å"Back ground Information and Statistical Data† there would be complete factual information about the situation of healthcare disparities related to minorities. There would be history indicating that the problem is not very new but it has deep roots inside history.After history there will be present picture of the issue; the ratio of different racial and ethnic groups in the population of United States and their health condition. The situation of present healthcare of minorities with regard to major diseases and their respective treatment will also be including in the background information. The quality of medical care available for different ethnic and racial groups would be an important point to focus upon. The statistical data will comprise of charts and tables indicating different diseases among minorities and death rates compared with white people.The thirds section â€Å"Research Methodology† will describe the entire method of conducting research. It will include the problem statement, questionnaire, survey sampling, data gathering tools and methods. It will also inform about demography and geography of the peopl e included in the study, the number of people questioned, the number of questions asked, the method of conducting survey either through telephone, internet, post or personal meetings. After the methodology, the next section will be the â€Å"Research findings† or â€Å"Results of the Survey†.In this section there would be included the statistical data that came out from the survey questionnaires. The opinion of people would be included in percentages with respect to their race, age, geography and profession or income group. The results will clarify the study finding and highlight the public opinion. The next section i. e. â€Å"Discussion† will contain the analysis of the findings of the survey. This is the main part of the theses where the result finding will be use to analyze the current situation and the impact of previously formulated strategies.The discussion will throw the light on the current condition of minority healthcare disparities. The discussion wi ll be followed by the â€Å"Proposed Strategies† where there will be suggestions about the steps that could be taken in order to reduce the disparities in minority healthcare and to create better awareness in nation about the problem. In the â€Å"Conclusion† the whole thesis would be windup. It will be the end of research report which will sum up all the information, data, findings, discussion and proposals made within the theses.