Debate Between The Epicureans And The Stoics Term Paper

Debate Between The Epicureans And The Stoics - Term Paper Example The Epicureans were contributed by Epicurus who was a Greek philosopher who lived between 341 BC and 270 BC. Epicurus founded the Garden in Athens in which he and his followers lived and practiced Epicurus’ philosophical ways of life. At the entrance of this place, they hanged a writing stating that Stranger, here you will do well to tarry. Here our highest good is pleasure’1. From this writing among others, the Epicureans are considered hedonists who believe that humanity should fulfill their earthly desires and pleasures and should never try or live according to the will of God in the same way as the Stoics. In other words, they note that humanity should try to live in some sort of happiness and pleasure while they are still on earth or before their death. Notably, the contribution attributed to these two schools of thoughts can be narrowed down to the Aristotelian school of thought that dictates that "the sort of person one is and the lifestyle one adopts will indeed have an immediate bearing on the actions one performs." Nonetheless, the Stoic is more plausible than the Epicureans school of thought. The Epicurean school of thought is divided into two axial lines of desires including natural and unnatural fulfillments. Some of these fulfillments may be considered necessary in life while others are considered unnecessary. Form these distinctions; it is apparent only some of the natural and necessary desires can be fulfilled while the other branch of categories, the unnatural and unnecessary desires are irrelevant and cannot be fulfilled. Nearly all the unnatural and unnecessary class of desires prescribed by Epicureans never exists. This is because only what natural desires are truly necessary and they are what exist. In other words, even the natural and unnecessary desires are never vital to the human life; thus, they must be considered void since they never satisfy human needs but they can only lead to confusion and disturbance of inner self s ufficient or the autarkeia2. Notably, from this classification of desires, it is apparent that their something or desires that are never necessary in human life and living them as means of self-fulfillment will only lead to destabilization of an individual’s inner self sufficiency. These two schools of thoughts also address their concerns on pleasure. Epicureanism classifies sexual intercourse as natural but unnecessary desire. In this case, Epicurus does not spell out total abstinence from sexual pleasures, but he thinks that such pleasure should be sampled carefully so that they are not confused with natural and necessary human desires. Epicurus once stated "Sexual intercourse never helped anyone, and one must be satisfied if it has not harmed3." In other words, he was noting that natural but unnecessary desires should be enjoyed while balancing such acts carefully in clear thinking minds. According Epicurus, for an individual â€Å"To enjoy these unnecessary desires and t o not make of them necessities, to take free pleasure in the unnecessary, this is the highest achievement4." However, this contribution varies Stoics that states that former believes makes make a person more virtuous that they can easily and effective sample natural and unnecessary without them being overwhelmed by these choices. In other words, Stoics contributes the fact that all human desires are governed by some natural forces that humanity must be answerable to; thus, it worth examining and individuals’ experience in order to define his or her next move. Additionally, Stoics argue that pleasure may lead threaten an individual tranquility; thus, it should be avoided at all costs. Additionally, other than pleasure, these two schools o

Employer rights and responsibilities workbook Essay Example for Free

Employer rights and responsibilities workbook Essay 1.1 Equal opportunity: Equal and fair treatment, ensuring that people have equal access to opportunities and that the diversity of the work forces in value. * Equal Pay Act 1970 and its implementation Act 1975: to insure that men and woman would receive the same pay and conditions. * Sex Discrimination Act 1995 and Regulation 2003: to insure that men and woman are treated equally and fairly at workplace. * Disability Discrimination Act 1975: to deal with discrimination against an employee or potential employee because of their disability. 1.2 Employment protection: Outlines the duties, rights and responsibilities of employers and employees. * Employment Act 2002: to give additional rights to the employment. * Employment Rights Act 1996: Where employees are entitled to maternity and paternity leave and termination of employees. * Employment Relations Act 2004: to deal with employee relations and the operation of the statutory recognition for trade unions. 1.3 Health and Safety: Laws that keeps everyone safe and reduce hazard and manage skills, at work. * Health and Safety at work Act 1974: to raise the standard of health and safety for all individuals at work and to ensure the environment is safe and non hazardous to the health of employees. The employer and employee have common responsibility for health and safety. Read more:Â  Statutory Responsibilities and Rights of Employees and Employers Essay Task 2. * Job contract. * HR Department. * Policy and Procedures. * Team leader, NW manager, etc. * Job description (terms and conditions). * Citizen Advisory Bureau. * Unison. * Solicitor. * Employment Tribunal. * Advice agencies. Task 3. * Grievance procedure: Any grievance to the terms and conditions of employment should be discussed with manager. If the matter is not solved then it should be pursued with the grievance policy. * Disciplinary matters: The Trust has a Disciplinary procedure policy in the HR Department and also at the work place. Any breach of the Disciplinary rules will lead to disciplinary action, including dismissal. If the employee is dissatisfied with the formal disciplinary action then the employee has the right to appeal within 21 days of written confirmation of the disciplinary action taken. The aim of the Disciplinary Procedure for all staff of the trust is to ensure uniformity of treatment between one individual and another and between one group of staff and another. To ensure justice for individual employees, to provide protection to the efficiency and smooth running of the trust, work place, etc. This procedure applies to all the staff employed by the trust. * Rehabilitation of offenders Act: The employee is required to disclose to the trust of any caution, conviction, bind-over’s, motoring convictions or police proceedin gs. The employee is also required to apply for CRB. * Confidentiality: An employee has a duty of confidence to patients and a duty to maintain professional ethical standards of confidentiality. Under the Data Protection Act 1998 anyone working with personal information in any form must ensure it remains confidential and that only people who need the information have access to it and that only minimum information necessary is processed. Task 4. Employee number- It is a number assigned to an employee by the employer. Employee name Name of the person who is an employee. Tax code – This is number followed by a letter. It tells the amount of tax to the employer to be deducted from employee. This is based on information given by HMRC. National Insurance Number – It is a personal and unique number of an employee, who keeps it throughout his/her life during/ when applying for employment. Net pay year to date This section shows how much have been paid in the financial year. It shows how much National Insurance and tax have been made. Pay before deductions (gross pay) – The amount of employees wages before deduction of tax, pension and national insurance. The deductions made for income tax – This is a tax on each individuals income paid to the national government to spend on other services such as NHS, Defense, social security and public services. The deductions for a pension – A deduction from the employee wages for his/her retirement and to increase the income for pensioner. The amount you actually receive (after deductions) – It is the totally amount (net) of money the employee will take home after all the deductions have been made. Task 5. Grievance policy: Grievance is a dispute between employer and employee. It is basically any disagreement between them. Regarding to the grievance policy at work: * Employers should have their grievance procedure in writing and make sure that all staff are aware of any policy or procedure. * At early stage, the grievance has to be given a chance to be dealt informally with the immediate line manager. Pursuing the formal routine should be a last resort rather than the first option. * Employees should let the employer know the nature of the grievance and issue on time. * Employers are responsible to arrange any formal meeting without unreasonable delay to investigate and to establish the facts of the case. * Employers should allow the employee to be accompanied at any formal meeting and should permit the employee the right to appeal against any formal decision made. Task 6. Personal information kept by my employer about myself is: Name, Date of birth, bank details, NIC umber, address, telephone number, next of kin, tax code, education and qualification, training and courses attended, CRB check, personal health or any health conditions. Employers need to keep some personal information about their employees, as required by law and some for employer’s purpose, as well as in line with Data Protection Act 2003. Under the Data Act 1998, employees are entitled to have access to their own personal information, in order to verify or correct any inaccuracy. Stored – ESR, Electronic records. Access Network Manager, Manager, HR Department. Task 7. My Role, Responsibilities and job description: I carry out my role and duties with full responsibility that are agreed in my job description in line with the Policy Procedure of the organization, as well as Health and safety. My role, responsibilities and job description include: * Being a Key worker, I need to support Service users to convene, set dates and invite identified individuals to their PCP at least once every 4months. * Support service users to access activities of their choice within and around the local community. * Support service users who wish to go on holiday, to plan and access holidays of their choice. * Ensure all the assessments/paperwork for service users are completed. * Ensure any items purchased by service users or on their behalf are recorded on inventories. * Ensure that service user’s health records are up dated and reflect their current health and outcome of appointment attended. * Attend training courses/meetings to update/maintain knowledge and skills to carry out Support Worker/ key worker role effectively. * Where required work with professionals, in order to dev elop and set up appropriate guidelines for service users. * Support service users to attend health appointments and if possible a Key worker should attend the appoint ment to make sure there is continuity. * Ensure to bring to attention of the Team leader/Network manager of issues related to Service users which affect their health or prevent them from achieving goal/action. General Responsibilities: * To support all service users at home with their daily routine eg personal care, dressing, meals, etc. * To support service users to be as independent as possible by promoting independence in all aspects of their lives. * To offer choice in all aspects of daily living. * To provide a clean and pleasant home environment, in both private area and communal areas. * To provide support to service users to attend their activities and appointments e.g. shopping, family visits, disco, etc. * To administer medication and maintain accurate record of Marr Sheet, financial transactions and record any accidents or incidents which may occur. My role affects the running of the setting by carrying out my duties responsibilities as team member and by working in the best interests of the service users, as I am providing emotional, moral and practical support according to their needs. Task 8. Other health professionals are: * GP/Doctor. * Nurse/ District nurse. * Physiotherapist. * Dentist. * Reflexologist. * Psychologist. * Psychiatrist * Speech and Language therapist. * Care manager. * Social services. * Chiropodist/ podiatrist. * Epilepsy Dr/Nurse. * Opticians. My role is to assist these Health Professionals to carry out their duty/job according to their profession in order to improve the health of service users. These health professionals may provide: * Offer advice, information, diagnosis or treatment related to the service user. * May prescribe medicine/ drugs or may refer to another professional for further tests/opinions. * Advice support worker/key worker to carry out the treatment at home or use the equipment out home eg Flowtron boots. * Advice support worker to carry out the guidelines and report of any changes which may be harmful for service user or treatment not improving the health of the service user. It is my responsibility to work alongside the health professionals to ensure the well being of the service users and to provide them the services they need to be in good health. Task 9. * Team leader. * Network manager. * Operational manager. * Social worker. * Physiotherapist. * Podiatrist. * Nursing e.g. children, adults, mental health. * Reflexologist. * Occupational therapist. * Health care jobs: Ambulance Care assistant. * Speech and language therapist. Task 10. My own professional development plans: Short term: I would like to complete NVQ3. Medium term: To update my mandatory and other trainings according to my employer. Look for any other new things going on in my work sector. Long term: look and find a Diploma/degree which is interesting to me. Then according my knowledge and skills, I would like to apply for that Diploma/degree course in a college or university, where available. Task 11. Issue: Cost cutting. Key points in favor: To save money for the future. Key points against: Lack of resources. Providing poor health care. Low morale among staff. Issue: Privatization of NHS. Key points in favor: To build a better health care sector. To provide better quality of care. Key points against: Good quality of care will be provided to a person who can afford it but not everyone. Employers may not like the strict terms and conditions of the job. Old and vulnerable people may not receive good quality of care as they may not afford it as they are on benefits/pension, etc.

Glass-ceramics: Types, Technology and Application

Glass-ceramics: Types, Technology and Application CHAPTER 1 1. Introduction 1.1 Glass-ceramics Glass-ceramics are fine-grained polycrystalline materials formed when glasses of suitable compositions are heat treated and thus undergo controlled crystallisation to the lower energy, crystalline state. It must be emphasised here that only specific glass compositions are suitable precursors for glass-ceramics due to the fact that some glasses are too stable and difficult to crystallise whereas others result in undesirable microstructures by crystallising too readily in an uncontrollable manner. In addition, it must also be accentuated that in order for a suitable product to be attained, the heat-treatment is critical for the process and a range of generic heat treatment procedures are used which are meticulously developed and modified for a specific glass composition. A glass-ceramic is formed by the heat treatment of glass which results in crystallisation. Crystallisation of glasses is attributed to thermodynamic drives for reducing the Gibbs free energy, and the Amorphous Phase Separation (APS) which favours the crystallisation process by forming a nucleated phase easier than it would in the original glass. When a glass is melted, the liquid formed from the melting might spontaneously separate into two very viscous liquids or phases. By cooling the melt to a temperature below the glass transformation region it will result in the glass being phase separated and this is called liquid-liquid immiscibility. This occurs when both the phases are liquid. Hence a glass can simply be considered as a liquid which undergoes a demixing process when it cools. The immiscibility is either stable or metastable depending on whether the phase seperation occurs above or below the liquidus temperature respectively. The metastable immiscibility is much more inmporta nt and has two processes which then cause phase seperation and hence crystallisation; nucleation and crystal growth and spinodal decomposition. The first APS process has two distinguished stages; Nucleation (whereby the crystals will grow to a detectable size on the nucleus) and Crystal growth. Nucleation can either be homogeneous; where the crystals form spontaneously within the melt or heterogeneous; crystals form at a pre-existing surface such as that due to an impurity, crucible wall etc. Many a time the parent glass composition is specifically chosen to contain species which enhance internal nucleation which in the majority of cases is required. Such species also called nucleating agents can include metallic agents such as Ag, Pt and Pd or non-metallic agents such as TiO ­2, P2O5 and fluorides. The second process is spinodal decomposition which involves a gradual change in composition of the two phases until they reach the immiscibility boundary. As both the processes for APS are different, the glass formed will clearly result in having different morphology to each other. A glass-ceramic is usually not fully crystalline; with the microstructure being 50-95 volume % crystalline with the remainder being residual glass. When the glass undergoes heat treatment, one or more crystalline phases may form. Both the compositions of the crystalline and residual glass are different to the parent glass. In order for glass-ceramics having desirable properties to be developed, it is crucial to control the crystallisation process so that an even distribution of crystals can be formed. This is done by controlling the nucleation and crystal growth rate. The nucleation rate and crystal growth rate is a function of temperature and are accurately measured experimentally (Stookey 1959; McMillan 1979, Holand Beall 2002) The aim of the crystallisation process is to convert the glass into glass-ceramic which have properties superior to the parent glass. The glass-ceramic formed depends on efficient internal nucleation from controlled crystallisation which allows the development of fine, randomly oriented grains without voids, microcracks, or other porosity. This results in the glass-ceramic being much stronger, harder and more chemically stable than the parent glass. Glass-ceramics are characterised in terms of composition and microstructure as their properties depend on both of these. The ability of a glass to be formed as well as its degree of workability depends on the bulk composition which also determines the grouping of crystalline phases which consecutively govern the general physical and chemical characteristics, e.g. hardness, density, acid resistance, etc. As mentioned earlier, nucleating agents are used in order for internal nucleation to occur so that the glass-ceramic produced has desirable properties. Microstructure is the key to most mechanical and optical properties; it can promote or diminish the role of the key crystals in the glass-ceramic. The desirable properties obtained from glass-ceramics are crucial in order for them to have applications in the field of biomaterials. Glass-ceramics are used as biomaterials in two different fields: First, they are used as highly durable materials in restorative dentistry and second, they are applied as bioactive materials for the replacement of hard tissue. Dental restorative materials are materials which restore the natural tooth structure (both in shape and function), exhibit durability in the oral environment, exhibit high strength and are wear resistance. In order for dental restorative materials to restore the natural tooth structure, it is crucial to maintain the vitality of the tooth. . However non-vital teeth may also be treated with restorative materials to reconstruct or preserve the aesthetic and functional properties of the tooth. In order for glass-ceramics to be used for dental applications, they must possess high chemical durability, mechanical strength and toughness and should exhibit properties which mimic the natural tooth microstructure in order for it to be successful as an aesthetic. Glass-ceramics allow all these properties to be united within one material. As mentioned previously, for a glass-ceramic to have the desired properties, the glass is converted into a glass-ceramic via controlled crystallisation to achieve the crystal phase wanted and hence the desired properties it could possibly have. Hence, the glass-ceramic developed allows it to have properties such as low porosity, increased strength, durability, toughness etc which are crucial in the field of dental restorations as it prevents restorative failures which are mainly due to stress and porosity which causes cracks and hence failures. It took many years of research in order to get a material strong enough to be initially used as a dental reconstructive material. However over the past 10-15 years, research has progressed vastly and now glass-ceramics demonstrate good strength, high durability and good aesthetics. The development and processing of glass-ceramics has been focused on particular clinical applications, such as dental inlays, crowns, veneers, bridges and dental posts with abutments. Glass-ceramics are divided into seven types of materials: Mica glass-ceramics Mica apatite glass-ceramics Leucite glass-ceramics Leucite apatite glass-ceramics Lithium Disilicate glass-ceramics Apatite containing glass-ceramics ZrO2-containing glass-ceramics The first commercially usable glass ceramic products for restorative dentistry were composites of mica glass ceramics. Dicor ® and Dicor ® MGC were products based on these. According to the mechanism of controlled volume crystallisation of glasses, tetrasilicic micas, Mg2.5Si4O10F2, showing crystal sizes of 1 to 2 ÃŽ ¼m in the glass ceramic were produced. Dicor ® being amongst them was shaped by means of centrifugal casting methods to produce dental restorations such as dental crowns and inlays. Depending on the different crystal sizes and the corresponding microstructure of the glass ceramic, it was also possible to manufacture glass ceramics for machining applications. [53], Dicor ® MGC being amongst them. This resulted in the characteristic of good machinability in this type of glass-ceramic to be exploited and results concluded that crystals upto only 2 ÃŽ ¼m in length in the material improved mechanical strength over other materials. Mica-apatite glass-ceramics have been produced in the SiO2-Al2O3-Na2O-K2O-MgO-CaO-P2O5-F system. The main crystal phases are phlogopite, (K,Na)Mg3(AlSi3O10)F2  and fluorapatite, Ca5(PO4)3F. The base glass consists of three glass phases: a large droplet-shaped phosphate-rich phase, a small droplet-shaped silicate and a silicate glass matrix. Mica is formed during heat treatment, as in apatite-free glass-ceramics, by in-situ crystallization via the mechanism of volume crystallization. Apatite is formed within the phosphate-rich droplet phase. Astonishingly, every single apatite crystal possesses its own nucleation site in the form of a single phosphate drop. The glass-ceramic is biocompatible and suitable for applications in head and neck surgery as well as in the field of orthopaedics. Leucite glass-ceramics can be formed by applying the advantage of the viscous flow mechanism. IPS Empress ® is of this type of glass-ceramic. The material is processed by using the lost wax technique, whereby a wax pattern of the dental restoration such as an inlay, onlay, veneer or crown is produced and then put in a refractory die material. Then the wax is burnt out to create space to be filled by the glass-ceramic. As the glass-ceramic has a certain volume of glass phase, the principle of viscous flow can be applied and hence the material can be pressed into a mould. Surface crystallisation and surface nucleation mechanisms were controlled in order for this type of glass-ceramic to be formed. [42, 54] Consequently, the manufacturing of inlays and crowns developed due to the application of viscous flow mechanism of glass-ceramics in different shapes. The resulting leucite glass-ceramic restorations transluceny, colour and wear resistance behaviour can then be adjusted to those of natural tooth.[55] Additionally, the leucite glass-ceramic restorations can be produced by machining with CAD/CAM. IPS ProCAD ® and IPS Empress ® CAD are glass ceramics produced via this method. All leucite glass-ceramic restorations are bonded to the tooth structure with a luting material, preferably an adhesive bonding system. The retentive pattern produced on the glass-ceramic surface is particularly advantageous in this respect. It was possible to develop a leucite apatite glass-ceramic derived from the SiO2-Al2O3-Na2O-K2O-CaO-P2O5-F system by combining two different mechanisms, i.e. controlled surface nucleation and controlled bulk nucleation. IPS d.SIGN ® is amongst these. The glass-ceramic was prepared according to the classic method of glass-ceramic formation: melting, casting to prepare a glass frit, controlled nucleation and crystallization. A two-fold reaction mechanism leads to the precipitation of fluoroapatite, Ca5(PO4)3F and leucite, KAlSi2O6 [42]. SEM pictures show the two-phase crystal content of apatite and leucite in this type of glass-ceramic. Fluoroapatite phase takes the form of needle-shaped crystals whereas the oval areas are the leucite crystals. The clinical application of this glass-ceramic has been proven to be suitable for clinical application as veneering material on metal frameworks for single units as well as for large dental bridges involving more than three units. The first glass-ceramic to be developed was by Stookey et al (1959) which contained Lithium disilicate. [37]. Further research into this field allowed for IPS Empress ®2 to be developed. This glass-ceramic was developed in order to extend the range of indications of glass-ceramics from inlay and crowns to three-unit bridges, by offering high strength, high fracture toughness and at the same time, a high degree of translucency. Both the flexural strength and fracture toughness of lithium disilicate glass-ceramics are almost three times of those of leucite glass-ceramics. Lithium disilicate glass-ceramic ingot are utilizied to produce the crown or bridge framework in combination with the viscous flow process. To further improve the aesthetic properties, i.e. translucency and shade match, and to optimally adjust the wear behaviour to that of the natural tooth, the lithium disilicate glass ceramic is veneered with an apatite-containing glass-ceramic using a sintering process. In order to meet the demanding requirements of CAD/CAM applications, a lithium metasilicate glassceramic, IPS e.max ®was developed. This material, which is supplied in a typically blue colour, is adjusted by thermal treatment in order to demonstrate a characteristic tooth colour. The range of IPS e.max ®products also encompasses various apatite-containing glass ceramics that are suitable for both layering material on lithium disilicate glass-ceramic and veneering material on ZrO2 sintered ceramic. The apatite crystal phase of the Ca5(PO4)3F type acts as a component that adjusts the optical properties of the restoration to natural tooth. For this reason, the crystallites are of nanoscale dimension. ZrO2 containing glass-ceramics was the first glass-ceramic developed to be fused to high strength ZrO2 ceramic dental posts. The glass-ceramic contains Li12ZrSi6O15 crystals as the main phase; however different types of crystals are also precipitated in the glassy matrix. ZrO2 has become very interesting not only in the field of medicine but also in dental applications. High-strength and high toughness dental posts, crowns and bridges can be prepared from this material. In order for a dental restorative material to be of clinical success, their most important properties include; high strength, high toughness, abrasion behaviour comparable to natural teeth, translucency, colour, durability) and the processing technologies (moulding, machining, sintering). [56] Furthermore, the material should have good marginal fit with the tooth, biocompatibility, good mechanical properties and low porosity. In addition to the aforementioned properties, the recent requirement for dental restorative materials is for its appearance to be similar to that of a natural tooth. Glass-ceramics have been researched immensely in order to fulfil high standards of function and aesthetics from an early stage. The trend for metal free dental restorations began from the 1970s whereby metal free feldspathic ceramics were reinforced with additional components. Since then, increasing the strength of these materials progressed rapidly by controlling the nucleation and crystallisation of glasses, as discussed earlier. These developments have now led to the introduction of a trend which is focused on achieving exceptional aesthetic results with glass ceramics as metal free dental restorations. Although glass-ceramics exhibit the desired properties for dental restoration, their main drawback is that they are brittle which the main cause of failure is. This is due to either fabrication defects; which are created during production of the glass-ceramic or secondly, surface cracks; which are due to machining or grinding. Therefore when processing the glass-ceramic, care needs to be taken in addition to choosing the suitable method for production for specific compositions of the glass-ceramic in order to improve their mechanical properties. Apart from the use of glass-ceramics for dental restorations, they can also be applied as bioactive materials for the replacement of hard tissue. Bone is a complex living tissue which has an elegant structure at a range of different hierarchical scales. It is basically a composite comprising collagen, calcium phosphate (being in the form of crystallised hydroxyapatite, HA or amorphous calcium phosphate, ACP) and water. Additionally, other organic materials, such as proteins, polysaccharides, and lipids are also present in small quantities. Because bone is susceptible to fracture; there has always been a need, since the earliest time, for the repair of damaged hard tissue. Many years of research has attempted to use biomaterials to replace hard tissue, ranging from using bioinert materials, to bioactive materials such as ‘Bioglass (Hench et al) to ‘Apatite-wollastonite (A-W) glass-ceramics (Kokubo et al) and to calcium phosphate materials. Calcium phosphate based materials have received a great deal of attention in this field due to their similarity with the mineral phase of bone. 1.2 Calcium Phosphate Glasses The application of calcium phosphate material as a bone substitute began by Albee (1920), who reported that a tricalcium phosphate compound used in a bony defect promoted osteogenesis. Many years later, Levitt et al (1969) [65] and Monroe et al (1971) were the first to suggest the use of calcium phosphate ceramics for dental and medical implant materials. Subsequently in 1971, Hench et al developed a calcium phosphate containing glass-ceramic, called Bioglass ® and demonstrated that it chemically bonded with the host bone through a calcium phosphate rich layer. Furthermore the advantageous properties of calcium phosphate ceramics arose when Nery et al (1975) used a calcium phosphate ceramic for implants in surgically produced infrabony defects in dogs. This demonstrated that the calcium phosphate ceramic was nontoxic, biocompatible, and caused no significant haematological changes in the calcium and phosphorus levels. Since then, a great deal of research into calcium phosphate glas s-ceramics has been conducted as potentially bone substitutes in dentistry. Calcium phosphate based ceramics can be characterised accordingly; Hydroxyapatite (HA, Ca5(PO4)3OH) ÃŽ ²-tricalcium phosphate (ÃŽ ²-TCP, ÃŽ ²-Ca3(PO4)2) Biphasic calcium phosphates, BCP; mixture of HA and ÃŽ ²-TCP ÃŽ ²-calcium pyrophosphate (ÃŽ ²-CPP, ÃŽ ²-Ca2P2O7) Fluorapatite (FAP, Ca5(PO4)3F) Calcium phosphate based ceramics and their properties have been characterised according to the proportion of calcium to phosphorus ions in the structure. One of the most widely used synthetic calcium phosphate ceramics is hydroxyapatite, Ca5(PO4)3OH, HA and this is due to its chemical similarities to the inorganic component of hard tissues. HA, has a Ca:P molar ratio of 1.67. It has higher stability in aqueous media than other calcium phosphate ceramics. Tricalcium phosphate (TCP) is a biodegradable bioceramic with the chemical formula, Ca3(PO4)2. TCP dissolves in physiological media and can be replaced by bone during implantation. TCP has four polymorphs, the most common ones being ÃŽ ± and ÃŽ ²-forms, of which ÃŽ ²-TCP has received a lot of attention in the field of bone substitutes. Slight imbalances in the ratio of Ca:P can lead to the appearance of extraneous phases. If the Ca:P ratio is lower than 1.67, then alpha- or beta tricalcium phosphate may be present after processing. If the Ca:P is higher than 1.67, calcium oxide (CaO) may be present along with the HA phase. These extraneous phases may adversely affect the biological response to the implant in-vivo. A TCP with a Ca:P ratio of 1.5 is more rapidly resorbed than HA. Hence, ÃŽ ²-TCP has been involved in recent developments aimed to improving its biological efficiency and its mechanical properties in order for it to be successful as bone substitutes. Mixtures of HA and TCP, known as biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP), have also been investigated as bone substitutes and the higher the TCP content in BCP, the higher the dissolution rate. The crystal structure of HA can accommodate substitutions by various other ions for the Ca2+, PO43− and OH− groups. The ionic substitutions can affect the lattice parameters, crystal morphology, crystallinity, solubility and thermal stability of HA. Anionic substitutions can either occur in the phosphate- or hydroxyl positions. Fluorapatite and chlorapatite are common examples of anionically substituted HA. They display a similar structure to HA, but the F− and Cl− ions substitute for OH−. A lot of research has gone into carbonate substituted HA and it has shown to have increased bioactivity compared to pure HA, which is attributed to the greater solubility of the carbonated substituted HA. Thus, recent work has been in progress in order to optimise the production and sintering behaviour of carbonated substituted HA in order for use in biomedical applications. Materials which are bioactive i.e. the ability to bond to living tissue and enhance bone formation, have the following characteristic compositional features: (i) SiO2 contents smaller than 60 mol%, (ii) high Na2O and CaO content, and (iii) high CaO:P2O5 ratio [80]. Although silica based bioactive materials have shown great clinical success in many dental and orthopaedic applications, its insoluble properties has resulted in it as a potential for a long term device and the long term reaction to silica, both locally and systematically is still unknown. [81] Therefore, silica free, calcium phosphate glasses have attracted much interest due to their chemical and physical properties. They offer a more controlled rate of dissolution compared to silica containing glasses, they are simple, easy to produce, biodegradable, biocompatible, bioresorbable due to their ability to completely dissolve in an aqueous environment and have excellent bioactivity, osteoconductivity as well as not causing a n inflammatory response. Due to their properties, especially due to it being bioresorbable, calcium phosphate glasses have been under investigation for several applications in the dental field, particular as implants. However only certain calcium phosphate compounds are suitable for implantation in the body, compounds with a Ca:P ratio less than 1 are not suitable for biological implantation due to their high solubility. The structural unit of phosphate glasses is a PO4 ­ tetrahedron. The basic phosphate tetrahedra form long chains and rings that create the three-dimensional vitreous network. All oxygens in the glass structure are bridging oxygens (BO), and the non-bridging oxygens (NBO) can be formed by including other species such as CaO and Na2O or MgO. Do to the effects of Ca2+, Na2+ ­ and Mg2+ in the glass structure; they are defined as glass network modifiers, which form the glassy state and are called ‘invert glasses. Hence the structure of phosphate glasses can be described using the Qn terminology, where n represents the number of bridging oxygens that a PO4 tetrahedron has in a P2O5 glass, every tetrahedron can bond at three corners producing layers of oxygen polyhedra which are connected together with Van der Waals bonds. When the PO4 tetrahedron bonds with three bridging oxygens, giving the Q3 species, it is referred to as an ultraphosphate glass, which usually consists of a 2D network. When it bonds to two bridging oxygens, usually in a 3D-network it gives the Q2 species, it is referred to as metaphosphate glass. Further addition gives Q1 species, also called pyrophosphate glass, which bonds only to one bridging oxygen. Finally, the Q0 species do not bond to any bridging oxygen and hence is known as an orthophosphate glass. [14] A large number of calcium phosphate glass compositions have been studied in order to exhibit suitable properties for use in biomedical applications until now, and they can be categorised into four groups: Calcium phosphate glasses containing Potassium Calcium phosphate glasses containing Magnesium Calcium phosphate glasses containing Sodium and Titania Calcium phosphate glasses containing Fluorine and Titania 1) Calcium phosphate glasses containing Potassium: Dias et al (2003) [12] conducted a study and prepared bioresorbable calcium phosphate glass-ceramics between the metaphosphate and pyrophosphate region based on the composition 45CaO-45P2O5-5K ­2 ­O-5MgO (Ca:P = 0.5). XRD results showed that addition of nucleating agents, K2O and MgO forms bioactive: ÃŽ ²-CPP and biodegradable phases: KCa(PO3)3, Ca4P6O19 as well as ÃŽ ²-Ca(PO3)2 which is considered to be non-toxic.[21] DTA results showed two crystallisation peaks, Tp at 627 °C and 739 °C and two melting temperatures, Tm at 773 °C and 896 °C which was thought to be due to the partial melting of the crystalline phases or residual glass matrix. The glass transition temperature, Tg was observed at 534 °C. FTIR results showed functional groups corresponding to metaphosphate and pyrophosphate, (PO3)- and (P2O7)4-. These results are in accordance with functional groups of the crystalline phases identified by XRD: ÃŽ ²-CPP, KCa(PO3)3, Ca4P6O19 and ÃŽ ²-Ca(PO3)2. Results from de gradation studies of these glass-ceramics confirmed that by controlling the overall composition of the O:P in the glass, glass ceramics with high degree of degradability can be obtained. The level of chemical degradation observed for these materials is well-above that reported in literature for bioactive ceramics that are clinically used, namely HA and TCP. It was therefore concluded that the incorporation of K2O in glass ceramics increases the solubility and also these calcium phosphate glass ceramics makes them potentially clinically helpful for promoting the regeneration of soft as well as hard connective tissue by allowing the degradability to be controlled. A study by Knowles et al (2001) [92] investigated the solubility and the effect of K2O in the glass-system based on the general composition: K ­2 ­O-Na2O-CaO-P2O5. The exchange of a mono or divalent ion with another of a similar charge was therefore investigated. The P2O5 and CaO content were fixed, at 45 mol% and the CaO content at 20, 24 or 28 mol% and the ratio of K2O to Na2O was varied from 0 to 25mol %. Results showed, firstly an increase in CaO content caused the solubility to decrease, as expected and confirmed from previous studies. [81,94] Secondly, for all CaO contents there was an increase in solubility, when K2O content was increased. [92] In a recent study by Marikani et al (2008), based on the same general composition, they demonstrated that the addition of K2O caused a decrease in both density (from 2.635 g cm-3 to 2.715 g cm -3 and microhardness measurements (from 257 to 335 HV) and hence weakens the structure. These findings are attributed to the replacement of l ighter cation (Na2O) by a heavier one (K2O). The ionic radius of potassium is larger than the ionic radius of sodium so, the addition of K2O has a larger disrupting effect on the structure and hence weakens the glass-network. The decrease of melting point with the addition of K2O content indicates that K2O increases network disruption by producing non-bridging oxygens. And the low value of Tg indicates that the glass samples are thermally unstable. Additionally, the elastic modulus, decreases when the concentration of K2O is increased, which implies the weakening of the overall bonding strength, as more cross linking is degraded. The increase of the internal friction and the decrease of the thermal expansion coefficient with the addition of the K2O content are due to the formation of non-bridging oxygen ions. The SEM micrographs of the glass samples recorded before immersion in SBF indicates the amorphous nature of the materials and when glasses were immersed in SBF solutions for 10 days, the glass-samples showed bioactivity. Although the addition of K2O to the ternary Na2O-CaO-P2O5 based system offers greater flexibility in terms of tailoring the solubility to suit potential biomedical applications, only little research has been conducted in using K2O in calcium phosphate glasses, probably because it has shown to increase network disruption which was confirmed by decrease in Tm, addition of K2O causes a decrease in density and microhardness measurements, it weakens overall bonding strength confirmed by a decrease in the elastic modulus, causing it to be less rigid as well as producing thermally unstable glasses which was confirmed by the low values of Tg. These mechanical properties are not desirable in the long run and due to it being less rigid, it would not withstand stress in biomedical applications and consequently result in failure. 2) Calcium phosphate glasses containing Magnesium: Research into calcium phosphate glasses which produce biocompatible and bioactive phases has generated a lot of interest. An attempt to induce ÃŽ ²-TCP was undertaken by Zhang et al (2000) on calcium phosphate glass-ceramics in the pyrophosphate region based on the composition 50CaO-40P2O5-7TiO2-1.5MgO-1.5Na2O (Ca:P molar ratio = 0.625). XRD results showed that the ÃŽ ²-TCP phase was not detected and the main crystalline phase precipitated was ÃŽ ²-CPP with smaller amounts of soluble Calcium titanophosphate, CaTi4(PO4)6 CTP, and Sodium titanophosphate, NaTi2(PO4)3. Kasuga et al (1998) reported a similar occurrence in the structure of glass-ceramics which contained TiO2 (wt 3 %). . SEM observations demonstrated light areas which were confirmed by EDS analysis to be ÃŽ ²-CPP, grey areas was thought to correspond to Na- containing phases and dark areas were composed of lower CaO contents compared to the other two areas and contained MgO and Na2O. These results were identical to Kasuga et als study (1999). The undetectable ÃŽ ²-TCP phase was possibly due to the low content of MgO and TiO2 added and the low Ca:P ratio of the glass. Although bioactive and biosoluble phases were precipitated in the glass-ceramic, no continuous apatite layer was formed even after 8 weeks of immersion in SBF solution. A study by Brauer et al (2007) observed the solubility of several phosphate glasses in the system P2O5-CaO-MgO-Na2O-TiO2. The glass compositions ranged from ultraphosphate glasses (with phosphate contents over 50 mol %) to polyphosphate glasses (containing 50 mol% P2O5 or less which are formed by phosphate chains or rings possessing different chain lengths) to invert glasses (pyrophosphate glasses- P2O5 concentrations of around 34 mol %.). Results showed that the phosphate glasses showed a uniform dissolution. No selective alkali leaching, which is known from silica based glasses, was observed. Also that the solubility of the glasses strongly depend on the glass-composition. The higher the phosphate content resulted in an increase in solubility; According to Vogel et al [104], this is due to the polymerisation of the phosphate chains and the Q1 end units being more susceptible to hydration and subsequent hydrolysis than Q2 middle groups. Also it was observed that the higher the conce ntration of Na2O resulted in an increase in solubility too due to the effect Na+ has on the glass structure. Addition of titanium oxide resulted in a decrease in both the solubility and the tendency of the glasses to crystallise by forming cross links between phosphate groups and titanium ions. Invert glasses showed a considerably smaller solubility than polyphosphate glasses and offer an alternative to polyphosphate glasses, since they are more stable to moisture attack. However, decreasing the P2O5 content makes glasses not only more stable to hydrolysis but also restricts the glass forming area. Hence, glasses in the pyrophosphate region show a larger tendency to crystallize than polyphosphate glasses [96]. However invert glasses in the system P2O5-CaO-MgO-Na2O showed that properties such as solubility and crystallization tendency can be controlled by adding small amounts of metal oxides [95]. Results of solubility experiments showed that the glass system investigated enabled adj ustment of solubility with only minor chemical changes. This ability to control the solubility is very promising for medical application where the coordination of implant degradation and bone formation are a key issue. A study by Dias et al (2005) studied the crystallisation of the glass-system: 37P2O5-45CaO-5MgO-13TiO2 (Ca:P=0.6)in the pyrophosphate and orthophosphate region, by using TiO2 as a nucleating agent and MgO as a network modifier. Results showed that they contained four different crystalline phases; two of them, ÃŽ ²-CPP and CTP are reported to be biocompatible and bioactive, respectively [88,97,98]. T

Response to Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson Essay -- English Lite

Response to Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson I believe that, essentially, life consists of a series of choices. A grouping of these choices in one direction or another makes us who we are, and ultimately we have control over our lives. What makes one person different from another is his own set of choices. When going through life’s motions, we develop certain worldviews and ideas and values to live by. We develop an opinion of what makes a person â€Å"great.† In the well-known essay â€Å"Self-Reliance†, Ralph Waldo Emerson provides a beautiful way of approaching these choices, and he reveals a very inspiring set of values centralized around going through life answering only to yourself. I love the way Emerson evaluates the society we live in, and how he radically encourages being misunderstood and nonconformist. Emerson, like myself, exhibits values of saying exactly what you think and living only by what you believe to be the best. If I can successfully shape my life around ideas of self-reliance I can be exactly who I want to be. I look around me and don’t want to conform to society’s standards, I recognize that there is an easy way out, but try my best to remain true to myself by following my heart with pure conviction. Because of my desire to remain true to myself, I closely identify with Emerson in â€Å"Self-Reliance†: â€Å"To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, - that is genius.† Emerson’s views of soc...

Learned Helplessness Essay

Firmin, Hwang, Copella and Clark’s research study focuses on testing the strength of the student against his or her â€Å"learned helplessness.† This phenomenon includes the following: Contingency, which addresses the uncontrollability or stability of the situation, and Cognition refers to the various attributes that individuals display in reaction to their environment. Having prior research studies regarding learned helplessness in motherhood (Kashdan et al. 2000) and boys with ADHD (Milich and Okazaki 1991), Firmin et al. were able to assemble an exam comprised of â€Å"easy† and â€Å"difficult† questions to be administered in the form of an exam to college students. The goal of the study assesses the students’ degree of frustration during test failure and how frustration triggers learned helplessness within the constraints of an exam. To what extent does a failure experience in the early part of a test influence or elicit helplessness within a student? Methodology Participants included students from two psychology classes from a private Midwestern university. The majority of participants are Caucasian and between the ages of 17 and 20. Each individual was administered an exam ensuring anonymity among scores and responses. A research edition of the Shiley Cognitive Scales was utilized in this experiment with a total of 88 questions in three sections: Vocabulary, Abstraction, and Block Patterns. The vocabulary portion included 50 words in which the participant was asked to identify a synonym to an original word. The Abstraction section included 24 self-generated responses that completed the appropriate sequence of words, numbers or letters. The final part of the exam, Block Patterns, asked students to choose the most appropriate pattern to fit the rest. Students were split into two groups: one group with higher SAT/ACT scores than the other. The questions asked in the exam were rated as â€Å"easy† or â€Å"difficult† by determining the success rate of each question (questions that were most often answered correctly in both groups were considered â€Å"easy†). Two tests were created with the same questions but in different orders: Test A began with the most difficult questions and gradually became easier; Test B began with the easiest questions and gradually became more difficult. Data Analysis Data was analyzed on three tiers: number or correct answers on easy items, number or correct answers on difficult items, and total number of correct answers. Results and Conclusions Those who took Test A had fewer correct answers on easy questions than those who took Test B, but more correct answers on the difficult questions, and the overall test. Generally, students who were administers difficult questions before easy questions tended to give up on the easy questions due to frustration, but performance on the difficult questions was not diminished. Because each group was given enough time to complete the exam (all participants finished the last section), Firmin et al. believe the difficulty to easy gradation of Test A created a negative impact on student’s ability to respond correctly.

Motif Project of Non-Fictional Charcters in the Scarlett Let essays

Motif Project of Non-Fictional Charcters in the Scarlett Let essays This rose-bush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive in history; but whether it had merely survived out of the stern old wilderness, so long after the fall of the gigantic pines and oaks that originally overshadowed it, or whether, as there is fair authority for believing, it had sprung up under the footsteps of the sainted Ann Hutchinson as she entered the prison-door, we shall not take upon us to determine. In 1636, Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643) was charged with heresy and banished from the Massachusetts Colony. A woman of learning and great religious conviction, Hutchinson challenged the Puritan clergy and asserted her view of the Covenant of Grace that moral conduct and piety should not be the primary qualifications for visible sanctification. Her preachings were unjustly labeled antinomianism by the Puritans a heresy since the Christian leaders of that day held to a strong Covenant of Works teaching, which dictated the need for outward signs of Gods grace. What began as quibbling over fine points of Christian doctrine ended as a confrontation over the role of authority in the colony. Threatened by meetings she held in her Boston home, the clergy charged Hutchinson with blasphemy. An outspoken female in a male hierarchy, Hutchinson had little hope that many would speak in her defense, and she was being tried by the General Court. After being sentenced, she went with her family to wh at is now Rhode Island. Several years later, she moved to New York, where she and some of her family were massacred by Indians. Ann Hutchinson was a non-fictional character who was used in The Scarlet Letter as a historical vehicle to underscore Hesters unfair, close-minded treatment by Puritan law. Her shameful punishment for refusing to conform was used as a parallel to Prynnes. By referring to Hutchinson as sainted, it was clear tha...

Social Classroom Activities to Build Social Skills

Social Classroom Activities to Build Social Skills Students with disabilities, especially developmental disabilities, suffer from significant deficits in good social skills.  They often cannot initiate interactions, they often dont understand what makes a social transaction appropriate for setting or players, they often dont get enough appropriate practice. Always a Need for Social Skill Development Using these fun activities helps model and promote healthy interactions and teamwork within the classroom. Use the activities found here a regularly to help develop good habits, and youll soon see improvement with students in your classroom who need help developing social skills. These activities, embedded in a self-contained program as part of a daily routine, provide students with lots of opportunities for frequent practice getting used to appropriate interactions. Shaky Day Pick a consistent day of the week (Fridays are great) and the dismissal practice is to have each student shake two students hands and say something personal and nice. For instance, Kim shakes Bens hand and says, Thanks for helping me tidy my desk, or, I really liked the way you played dodgeball at gym. Some teachers use this method as each child leaves the classroom. The teacher shakes the students hand and says something positive. Social Skill of the Week Pick a social skill and use it for the focus of the week. For instance, if your skills of the week is showing responsibility, the word responsibility goes on the board. The teacher introduces the words and talks about what it means to be responsible. Students brainstorm ideas of what it means to be responsible. Throughout the week, students are given opportunities to comment on responsible behavior as they see it. At the end of the day or for bell work, have students talk about what theyve been doing or what they did that showed acting responsibility. Social Skill Weekly Goals Have students set social skill goals for the week. Provide opportunities for students to demonstrate and tell how theyre sticking to their goals. Use this as the exit dismissal key each day. For instance, each child states how they met their goal that day: I cooperated today by working well with Sean on my book report. Negotiation Week Many students requiring additional help with social skills usually need support to negotiate properly. Teach the skill of negotiation by modeling and then reinforcing through some role play situation. Provide opportunities for conflict resolution. Works well if situations arise in class or on the yard. Good Character Submission Box Keep a box with a slot in it. Ask students to put a slip in the box when they observe good character. For instance, John tidied up the coat room without being asked. Students that are reluctant writers will need to have their complement scribed for them. Then the teacher reads the slips from the good character box at the end of the week. Teachers should also participate. Social Circle Time At circle time, have each child say something pleasant about the person next to them as they go around the circle. This can be theme based (cooperative, respectful, generous, positive, responsible, friendly, empathetic etc.) and change every day to stay fresh. Mystery Buddies Put all the student names in a hat. A child draws a student name and they become the students mystery buddy. The mystery buddy then offers compliments, praise and does nice things for the student. The students can then guess their mystery buddy at the end of the week. You can also incorporate the Wanted: Friend worksheet. Welcoming Committee The welcoming committee can consist of 1-3 students who are responsible for welcoming any visitors to the class. If a new student starts, the welcoming committee makes sure they feel welcome and they also help them with the routines and become their buddies. Good Solutions This activity takes some help from other teaching staff members. Have teachers leave you notes of the conflicts that have arisen on the yard or in the classroom. Collect these as often as you can. Then within your own classroom, present the situation that have happened, ask the students to role play it or to come up with positive problem solving solutions and practical advice to avoid repeats of the incidents.

Achieving Goals Advice from NFL players

Achieving Goals Advice from NFL players NFL players and coaches understand that the best results can only be achieved through restless hard work, focus on strategy, teamwork, perseverance and a strong will-to-win spirit. These men know something about motivation and their wise words and lessons can be applied to anyone who needs an inspiration boost in their everyday lives. Youre not born winners or losers, youre born choosers. Shawn Harper, NFL player for Indianapolis Colts This former NFL player has become a real motivational speaker and now he travels around USA speaking to youth and children on different social events. This message is something that is so important but so lacking in modern community. What does it mean, being a chooser? It means that choosing a right trajectory of your life is as important as choosing a trajectory of your next move on the field. Only if you take a while to think and concentrate, the ball will hit the end zone. Be the type of person that you want somebody to be towards you. Be that towards them. And be kind to yourself. Michael Strahan, a former NFL player for New York Giants Indeed, being a successful person is something more than just working hard and performing well. Real goal achievers are goal achievers in every way. Keep your eyes on your aim, but stay a nice person that people would look up to! Be kind to others and accept yourself. This is the only way not to lose a big picture. Chase your dreams and not walk after them. Don’t hope someone gives you an opportunity, create one for yourself. Shannon Sharpe, a former NFL player for the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens Make a plan and work to achieve your goals. It is impossible to get what you want and deserve if you have no idea how you are going to make it. And one more thing - never rely on others when it comes to something really important to you! Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence. Vince Lombardi, a Head Coach of Green Bay Packers (1959-67) Perfection is not attainable because if you keep on moving forward, you cant stop demanding more and more from yourself. And this is the way to catch excellence. You have to believe in your potential and move on to win! Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile. Vince Lombardi Nobody is born with a capacity to be awesome! The greatest NFL coaches in history know that success is the matter of discipline, persistence, great passion, and daring. And luck, of course. Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence. If you are in control, they are in control. Tom Landry, a Head Coach of Dallas Cowboys (1960-88) So inspiration and leadership is something that is worth sharing, because motivated people motivate others. Catch the gleams in the eyes of others and spread the passion yourself. Maybe someone else will also become inspired by just looking into your eyes. A real gleam of passion can destroy your enemies and attract more like-minded people! Believe us, these are super-effective techniques. Just ask the guys above - goals are only achieved with discipline, passion, determination and dedication!

Zara and Ready Meals Case Study Individual Report Essay

Zara and Ready Meals Case Study Individual Report - Essay Example The problem arose mainly because of centralized stock ordering system, which was being practiced by Strutt. There is a change in the stock ordering and delivery system, which sees the losses tremendously reduced, and a significant improvement in customer satisfaction. Before and after Status of Ready Meals Case The initial system is flawed with extensive variations of the orders demanded. Strutt provided a provision all week long order and a final order the day before the intended deliveries. These two orders varied a lot at times even by over 50% and this resulted in an inconvenience to Ready Meals. There were also penalties associated with lateness of delivering the orders by Ready Meals. The Strutt demand of the food was also very uncertain. Ready Meals could not plan itself on what it would deliver more than a day before. This coupled with the fact that Ready Meals had to make small packaging led to an extended lead-time and this in turn led to creation of wastage. Ready Meals se t up stock buffering mechanisms to counter this effect of fluctuation of orders by Strutt. Buffering mechanisms was used in the supply of the sauces. This helped in mainstreaming the supply; however, the sauces have a life span of only five days and the keeping of excess stock led to wastage losses. Another buffer mechanism used by ready Meals to counter the uncertainty in supplying Strutt with food was the buffering of employee working hours. Employees could work for an extra 2 hours without notice and this led to an increased discontentment in the employee fraternity leading to turnovers. Wastage losses were also contributed to by Ready Meals computer system. On reception of provisional orders, Ready Meal would feed this information into their system. When this information was already in the system and the final order comes along, if the final order was less, the computer could not reduce the provisional order to meet the required order. If the final order was more than the provis ional order, the computer could not requisition for the excess rather it requisitioned for the final order in addition to the provisional order. This led to a great variation on the ordered quantity and the produced order. If Ready Meals also failed to deliver a day’s order, the computer would assume that the order was lost and make another order, which it would compensate for, by a lower order the following day. In the new system, a weekly schedule was set on Fridays with fixed daily deliveries for the following week. This was also found to not need changing from week to week apart from gradual seasonal adjustments. Threat of penalties was also removed and Strutt’s shelf life was increased by RM promising to dispatch on the day of production and supply the early rather than late delivery into the depots. Finally, the depot location was specified on the same day rather than 2 days before delivery, thereby enabling the packaging quantities to be in line with store requi rements and, therefore, avoiding depot delays in trans-shipment. This new system removed the variation in the quantities ordered and those delivered thereby reducing wastage for Ready Meals to zero. The uncertainty, which had earlier been created by the two orders placed by Strutt, was also removed. This is

Artificial liver device Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

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Outline theiia.org Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Outline theiia.org - Assignment Example Employers  and Agencies can fill open positions in their respective departments. One can also post job openings searching for resumes, which match the desired criteria posted in the audit career center (Institute of Internal Auditors 13). 1. SERVICES A. Quality Assurance Here, there is a Quality Assurance and Improvement Program (QAIP) which enables evaluation of the internal audit activity's conformance. This program is also responsible for gauging the efficiency and effectiveness of the internal audit activity, identifying improvement opportunities. Internal assessments are constant, where there are in-house assessments of the in-house audit  activities together with periodic self-assessments and/or reviews (Institute of Internal Auditors 14). 1. MEMBERSHIP A. Benefits of Membership This section focuses on members where it stipulates that members are entitled to guidance, training, and services free or specially priced. Most of the important prospects accessible to IIA members are: 1. Advocacy Resourceful guidance is accessible to members for the advocacy of their role with the main stakeholders. The IIA maintains international recognition due to their presence in Washington DC in the advocacy of the profession. ... The IIA is the pioneer in imaginative interior review preparing, with the provision of quality involving opportunities for learning which is well facilitated for its members and customers. With IIA, there is an assurance that as a member you have the learning and abilities essential for the procurement of the most abnormal amount of surety, knowledge, and possible objectivity which adds value to your organization. There is a commitment to the deliverance of the very best in internal audit training, satisfying our notoriety as the worldwide guide in inward review instruction, by the procurement of the best quality esteem in the business (Institute of Internal Auditors 16). 1. Top-quality Training Programs and Facilitators Here, the IIA raises the bar on quality by best practices in adult instructional design when building and updating courses. IIA also incorporates  the strategy and theory behind how adults learn working closely with subject matter experts in the development and mai ntenance of courses ensuring that they are aligned with the IIA's International Professional Practices Framework (IPPF). Another reason for our superiority and the top quality training programs is IIA’s talent facilitators which facilitate the member to undertake meticulous training and peer review, thus becoming experts at encouraging transfer of knowledge by way of discussions, exercises, and activities (Institute of Internal Auditors 17). 1. CERTIFICATION A. CIA certification The IIA has a very comprehensive certification portfolio serving as the key to unlocking opportunities within the internal audit profession; increasing the level of a member’s credibility while adding clout to the resume. This increases your value to your clients and employer

Motivation and Work Design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Motivation and Work Design - Essay Example This paper discusses the motivators’ significance and outline ways by which employers can design job roles to take account of individual motivations. Many motivational theories exist that offer bases for understanding effects of motivational factors and strategies for moderating the effects as well as ways for monitoring effects of the factors. Theory X and theory Y, as McGregor offers, is one of such theories. The theory establishes assumptions on human behavior to develop a framework for understanding people in a work environment and to influence actions and behavior of the people towards desired outcomes. Theory X assumes that people are not willing to conform to expectations and calls for managers and organizations’ control of people for achievement of objectives. It therefore suggests guidelines that can be attained through push factors such as punitive measures for failure to comply. Theory Y however argues for responsible behavior and actions in which people can align themselves to set goals in their organizations and work towards realization of the goals (Saiyadain 2009, p. 167). According to Theory X, people do not like work and this means that external influence is necessary to influence completion of desired works. The theory also assumes that people are less ambitious and do not like responsibilities. Instead, they prefer to work under control. In addition, people lack creativity into completing tasks and generating solutions into problems to support the postulate of necessity of external influence. In recognition of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, Theory X assumes that people are motivated at â€Å"physiological and safety levels† (Saiyadain 2009, p. 167). Intimidation is further necessary on people in order to ensure achievement or objectives. A consideration of Theory Y assumptions however recognizes people’s willingness to work provided that suitable conditions exist. Contrary to external pressure to influencing organizational

The beauty of customer service Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The beauty of customer service - Essay Example In some cases, they will carry out related functions during a sale. The nature of success is determined by the aspect of interaction facilitated by the employee, which is based on modifying their behavior and response in accordance to the various customers that they must deal with. In the case of sales engineering, customer service is quintessential in the role of a firm’s ability to increase sales and revenue. In this case, customer service should be integrated as part of the company structure as a measure of improving the overall system. An experience regarding the customer service can be used to improve a customer’s perspective on a firm. There have been a number of arguments relating to quality and the level of customer satisfaction. It is estimated that the level of customer service has decreased over the years, which can be blamed on the inadequate level of customer support as well as understanding the different levels of management in a corporation. Another factor is the customer service policy(s), which may not suit or satisfy a customer regarding their requirements from a given firm (Turban, 21). In order to address this element, companies are implementing various methods that would allow or improve customer satisfaction. Establishing Customer support is a major strategy being applied to eradicate the declining rate of customer satisfaction. It includes training, upgrading, trouble-shooting, installation, disposal and planning of a product. The strategy is developed to provide the essential components that address customer satisfaction and ensure that the customers or consumers are impressed by the organization. Customer service can be provided by an individual (sales representative), or by an automated system. An example of automated systems is Internet sites. A significant advantage by using an automated system is that it increases the ability to implement a 24-hour service on a daily basis, which

Foreign Policies Japan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Foreign Policies Japan - Essay Example We then conclude that such an investment scenario does exist in Japan and give recommendations for the investment. Japan was a much maligned nation during the World War II (WW2) and prior to that. It was only after the end of WW2 did Japan began to consolidate its economic progress more seriously. Although the bombing at Nagasaki and Hiroshima did bring the WW2 to an end, the economy of Japan was shaken to such an extent that it had to restart from scratch. From the formation of its constitution, in 1947,1 Japan it has made rapid strides in the field of science and technology. With the current scenario on globalization of economy and with many countries opening up, the world economy is poised for a rapid change. Before we embark on the current scenario let us delve into Japan's past to see how Japan became a global power. It is widely assumed that the promulgation of Charter of Oath in 1868 2 provided the impetus for the growth of modern Japan. The then Meiji emperor emerged to be a major unifying factor promoting a series of radical reforms aimed at improving the conditions of Japan. 3 The Meiji rulers emphasized on improving the basic infrastructure of Japan and strengthened their foreign policies with the US and other European countries. These reforms laid the foundation for Japan to emerge a global power in subsequent years. The emergence of WW1 saw Japan b... 4 The interim period between the two World Wars saw Japan go through a major political upheaval and the economy was in shambles. Nevertheless the Japanese export increased despite the Depression in the US. 5 The WW2 saw, once again the emergence of Japan was a major military power. The atomic bombings reduced Japan to shambles and the Japan surrendered to the mighty Allied Forces on 2nd September 1945 on board the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay. 6 "Throughout the postwar period, Japan's economy continued to boom, with results far outstripping expectations. Japan rapidly caught up with the West in foreign trade, gross national product (GNP), and general quality of life. These achievements were underscored by the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games and the Osaka International Exposition (Expo '70) world's fair in 1970." 7 Foreign policy of Japan Major foreign policies were drafted in Japan as early as mid-nineteenth century until the Tokugawa seclusion 8 was breached by the US Navy in 1853-54. This prompted the Japanese to embark on a policy of rising on par with the Western economy. "Beginning with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which ushered in a new, centralized regime, Japan set out to "gather wisdom from all over the world" and embarked on an ambitious program of military, social, political, and economic reforms that transformed it within a generation into a modern nation-state and major world power." 9 In 1952, Japan became a sovereign nation and wanted to pursue economic goals and establish itself as a peace loving nation within the world community. These were the initial foreign policy goals during the early 50's. Gradually, with the passing of the Cold War era, the Japanese concentrated on its economic goals rather than

Motivation and Work Design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Motivation and Work Design - Essay Example This paper discusses the motivators’ significance and outline ways by which employers can design job roles to take account of individual motivations. Many motivational theories exist that offer bases for understanding effects of motivational factors and strategies for moderating the effects as well as ways for monitoring effects of the factors. Theory X and theory Y, as McGregor offers, is one of such theories. The theory establishes assumptions on human behavior to develop a framework for understanding people in a work environment and to influence actions and behavior of the people towards desired outcomes. Theory X assumes that people are not willing to conform to expectations and calls for managers and organizations’ control of people for achievement of objectives. It therefore suggests guidelines that can be attained through push factors such as punitive measures for failure to comply. Theory Y however argues for responsible behavior and actions in which people can align themselves to set goals in their organizations and work towards realization of the goals (Saiyadain 2009, p. 167). According to Theory X, people do not like work and this means that external influence is necessary to influence completion of desired works. The theory also assumes that people are less ambitious and do not like responsibilities. Instead, they prefer to work under control. In addition, people lack creativity into completing tasks and generating solutions into problems to support the postulate of necessity of external influence. In recognition of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, Theory X assumes that people are motivated at â€Å"physiological and safety levels† (Saiyadain 2009, p. 167). Intimidation is further necessary on people in order to ensure achievement or objectives. A consideration of Theory Y assumptions however recognizes people’s willingness to work provided that suitable conditions exist. Contrary to external pressure to influencing organizational

Foreign Policies Japan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Foreign Policies Japan - Essay Example We then conclude that such an investment scenario does exist in Japan and give recommendations for the investment. Japan was a much maligned nation during the World War II (WW2) and prior to that. It was only after the end of WW2 did Japan began to consolidate its economic progress more seriously. Although the bombing at Nagasaki and Hiroshima did bring the WW2 to an end, the economy of Japan was shaken to such an extent that it had to restart from scratch. From the formation of its constitution, in 1947,1 Japan it has made rapid strides in the field of science and technology. With the current scenario on globalization of economy and with many countries opening up, the world economy is poised for a rapid change. Before we embark on the current scenario let us delve into Japan's past to see how Japan became a global power. It is widely assumed that the promulgation of Charter of Oath in 1868 2 provided the impetus for the growth of modern Japan. The then Meiji emperor emerged to be a major unifying factor promoting a series of radical reforms aimed at improving the conditions of Japan. 3 The Meiji rulers emphasized on improving the basic infrastructure of Japan and strengthened their foreign policies with the US and other European countries. These reforms laid the foundation for Japan to emerge a global power in subsequent years. The emergence of WW1 saw Japan b... 4 The interim period between the two World Wars saw Japan go through a major political upheaval and the economy was in shambles. Nevertheless the Japanese export increased despite the Depression in the US. 5 The WW2 saw, once again the emergence of Japan was a major military power. The atomic bombings reduced Japan to shambles and the Japan surrendered to the mighty Allied Forces on 2nd September 1945 on board the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay. 6 "Throughout the postwar period, Japan's economy continued to boom, with results far outstripping expectations. Japan rapidly caught up with the West in foreign trade, gross national product (GNP), and general quality of life. These achievements were underscored by the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games and the Osaka International Exposition (Expo '70) world's fair in 1970." 7 Foreign policy of Japan Major foreign policies were drafted in Japan as early as mid-nineteenth century until the Tokugawa seclusion 8 was breached by the US Navy in 1853-54. This prompted the Japanese to embark on a policy of rising on par with the Western economy. "Beginning with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which ushered in a new, centralized regime, Japan set out to "gather wisdom from all over the world" and embarked on an ambitious program of military, social, political, and economic reforms that transformed it within a generation into a modern nation-state and major world power." 9 In 1952, Japan became a sovereign nation and wanted to pursue economic goals and establish itself as a peace loving nation within the world community. These were the initial foreign policy goals during the early 50's. Gradually, with the passing of the Cold War era, the Japanese concentrated on its economic goals rather than

Introduction to Sport, Fitness and Coaching Essay Example for Free

Introduction to Sport, Fitness and Coaching Essay In this assignment I will be introducing myself and my motivation for enrolling on module E122. Primarily I will be looking at the differences between sport, recreation and physical activity. I will look at how we can define these categories which I will do by looking at examples of each activity and then explaining which category they fall into, as well as demonstrating how these activities can overlap between categories. Furthermore, I will look specifically into one activity analysing the scientific, economic and management changes that have occurred in recent years and the effects these have had. (on what?) My name is George, I am 24 years old and from being a school leaver until February of this year I was a professional footballer. I started at my hometown club of Norwich City FC spending many years of my youth until the age of 17. I have then been very fortunate to spend 8 years working as a professional and having opportunities to play in Spain for five years and Australia for two. With the current financial climate, football has been unable to avoid the global impact and the levels I find myself playing at are a world away from the Premier league and not financially secure or stable. For these reasons, I have undertaken the decision to embark on a career as a coach and want to work at the highest level I possibly can. I have already had some equally good experiences in coaching being selected to coach the Victorian U13 state football team whilst in Australia, as well as establishing my own elite football development center that is still thriving in Melbourne and supporting around 60 players trying to improve their skills and abilities. I hold my FA level 1, 2 and UEFA B license and have recently completed my FA Module 1 and 2. I am really excited to meet everyone and can’t wait to start this course to hopefully improve my knowledge and understanding of the sport and fitness industry to help me further develop myself within my coaching career. I feel there will be some great benefits to my own personal performance and I will also be able to hold further empathy with the players that I am coaching by gaining new skills in nutrition, muscular and aerobic fitness programs. Defining Sport, Recreation and Physical Activity See more: how to write an introduction paragraph for an essay There are many different views on the definition of sport, recreation and physical activity which can conflict, overlap and provoke much debate. As stated by Green, M. (2008, p10) ‘It should be noted at the outset that the task of providing clear definitions for ‘sport, ‘recreation’, ‘physical activity’ and ‘leisure’ is fraught with problems.† I will look at two different activities and demonstrate which category or multiple categories that they best fall under. The first activity I will be analysing is the national sport of Great Britain, Football. Football is extremely popular in Britain and comes in many different forms from one of the top professional leagues in the world (Barclays Premier League) to thousands who participate in informal recreational match play every week, which is solely for enjoyment as well as those who play to achieve a high level of physical activity. The first category football most certainly falls un der is ‘Sport’. We have 4 divisions of full time professional teams. The 92 football clubs are split between two national governing bodies, twenty teams fall under the governing body of the ‘The FA Premier League’ and a further seventy two clubs under the governing body of ‘The Football League’. If we look at a key fact for defining sport by Green, M. (2008, p13) ‘there will be an agreed-upon set of rules which are normally regulated by an organisation such as a national governing body of sport like the Scottish Football Association or England Netball.’ Using this view point it would clarify that football comes into the category of ‘Sport’. If we look at football in a different context, for example; a group of men aged 20-35 who meet once a week when work and family restrictions allow them, for a game that follows some of the rules of football but enables the players to follow other rules far more loosely or not at all i.e. pitch dimensions, offside rule and score keeping, thus eliminating the compet itive element of the Sport. In this form, football then vicissitudes from being within a â€Å"sport† to being within â€Å"recreation† due to the particular difference that the environment has created. This is shown by Green. M (2008, p13) ‘there is no competitive element, people set their own goals and determine what counts as success or failure.’ Football could also always be considered a â€Å"physical activity† as participating in the activity would guarantee to increase the heart rate of the participant. The second activity I am going to look at is skateboarding. Whilst not an overly popular activity in the UK and considered to be participated by a minority of extreme sports enthusiasts, this contrasts largely in the USA where skateboarding has a far bigger culture and is carried out by millions as a social and recreational activity. Most participants will engage in the activity as a hobby or a pass time, there is no formal structure, rules to follow, governing body to adhere to and the main aim is to have fun and relaxation. I still feel however that the activity of skateboarding can fall into the category of Sport. I draw to this conclusion due to the fac t that there are professional athletes who participate in regular events that come under a national and international governing body. The most prestigious of these would be the annual event called the ‘X Games’, which held its inaugural event in the summer of 1995 (Rhode Island), where participants compete to win medals (Bronze, Silver, Gold) and also achieve prize money dependent on their final position in the standings. The event receives huge amounts of media coverage mostly from American TV network ESPN and therefor looking at skateboarding in this context with its general acceptance by the media, TV broadcasters and newspapers as a sporting activity, Green. M (2008, p13), you would have to conclude that skateboarding is also considered a sport as well as a very popular recreational activity. Football, how has it changed; economically, scientifically and its management Football is not only a huge sport but a humongous industry that is constantly evolving and changing. I would like to look at some of the major changes that have occurred in recent years. Football has changed dramatically from its early inception seen back as far as the 1800’s and possible the biggest changes that we have seen is the economics of the game. If we look at one aspects of the football economy, player’s wages, we may possibly see one of the biggest fluctuations. The first generation of hero’s that received any form of remuneration for playing saw salaries of around seven pounds a week. This was however before the First World War so we have to take into consideration the very different financial climate of the time; it is still a universe away from the sums of money players receive in weekly amounts in the present day, with some players receiving in excess of two hundred thousand per week! This has been common for footballers over the past two decades, the most recent changed that is becoming more and more common place is these wages being unpaid, sometimes for months on end until in extreme cases football clubs are liquidated and go ou t of business. This is not just your local village side but most recently Rangers Fc, arguably the largest club in Scotland went out of business and no longer exists. The worst place at present for unpaid wages is the Spanish football leagues, while the national team is the most successful in the history of the illustrious sport, this hides a very serious fact of the financial meltdown that Spanish football clubs are currently experiencing. â€Å"Last year, 20 m Euros were unpaid in salaries to professional players in Spain and this year that figure has already increased by 10% with 22 million of unpaid salaries – to date!† (spain-football, 2011). Possible the biggest changed in recent years that I have even experienced in my career is the scientific influence in the game. Gone are the days of eating what you like, have a squeeze of an orange at half time and a few laps of the pitch for a warm up. Now clubs spend millions on employing extra members of specialist staff, providing players with all dietary requirements and huge amounts of analysis is carried out on players. We are now far more aware of how certain exercises, vitamins and recovery tactics will improve player’s performance and injury prevention. If we look at an extract from an interview with Everton’s sports scientist Dave Bellows (premier league, 2012) â€Å"Most of the Academies have sports scientists now so the players coming through have been brought up with that ethos and mentality, and they accept it and expect it†. The last area I will look at where we have seen significant change is the management perspective of the sport and the area I want to discuss is the stadium management at professional football matches. Football grounds used to be made up mostly of terracing and fans would be squeezes in dangerous amounts into football grounds. Following the Hillsborough disaster (1989), this is still receiving much media attention; the Home Office ran an enquiry conducted by Lord Justice Taylor. Following the Taylor report it was recommended that all top division clubs were to phase out the old terracing and become all-seater stadiums. This has been followed through and is now law in the UK, I offer the following extract to demonstrate the change, (inbreif, 2012) â€Å"Following from the requirement for all top division stadiums becoming all seater millions of pounds has been spent by every top club in both England and Scotland on developing their grounds. All seater stadiums have become far safer and easier to manage as all spectators are each sold a ticket for a specific seat†. In conclusion, I believe that with the evidence found and stated within this assignment, different activities can be part of more than one category and I have demonstrated key points in helping decide which category activities come into in which context. I have also looked at and given examples of how the sport of football has changed in recent years from an economical, scientific and management perspective and backed up my findings with references from various sources.

Link Between CSR and HRM

Link Between CSR and HRM Corporate social responsibility (CSR) prevails in the past four decades. A great number of companies embed CSR principles into their daily business practices. The CSR practices are always subject to debates. Some researchers agree with the benefits of CSR for organizations, whereas others question the nature of CSR and argue that it conflict with business profitability. Definition of CSR has been developed by various researchers; it varies in different context. World Business Council for Sustainable Development (1999 cited in Viljanen and Lahteenmaki, 2009) defined CSR as is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as the local community and society at large. Furthermore, CSR is defined as treating the stakeholders of the firm ethically or in a responsible manner (Hopkins, 2003, p.1, cited in Fenwick and Bierema, 2008). Similarly, in the study by Melynyte and Ruzevicius (2008), CSR was regarded to meet economic, social, environmental and ethical requirements of stakeholders. Moreover, Syed and Kramar (2008) cited the definition of CSR by EU: a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with stakeholders on a voluntary basis. Based on the definition by previous researchers, the author understands CSR from three aspects: 1) Voluntary actions. 2) Concerns of stakeholders, local community and society. 3) The economic, ethical, social and environmental (positive) impacts of business operations. Melynyte and Ruzevicius (2008) summarized CSR activities on the basis of previous research, including ensuring staffs health and safety at work, developing equal rights, providing continuous trainings, being responsible for consumers and customers, decreasing negative impact in environment, generating ecological products and services as well as participating in society activities. In this paper, the author will illustrate two points of views: HRM should be linked to CSR; such a link is still realistic in the current tough economic climate. Both of standpoints are explained on the basis of different perspectives and arguments in previous literature. Part Two: Link between HRM and CSR 2.1 literature debates In this part, four debates are identified, namely, feasibility of such link versus impossibility, classical views versus stakeholder theory, benefits from CSR actions versus CSR without returns, as well as soft HRM versus hard HRM. Winstanley et al (1996) indicated that ethical concerns, such as job insecurity and insufficient regard for the autonomy of staff, should be expressed when criticizing contemporary HRM; it is also important that HR professionals engage with ethical issues. However, some researchers think that the ethical treatment of employees is impossible. Claydon (2000) explained it on the basis of the Marxist perspective on capital and labour relations. He thought that fundamental contradiction exists between capital and labour, so it is impossible to make working conditions more ethical. In addition, Legge (2000)- from the perspective of utilitarianism- indicated that even though it is likely that ethical HRM will be found among the core workers, it is difficult to be found among sub-contracted or agency workers. The study by Friedman (1970 cited in Greenwood, 2002) suggested that business has sole responsibility of making profit for its shareholders and should maximize its profits. He believed that the social responsibility is fundamentally contrary to the principle of free-market economy. This classical view emphasized the sole benefit of shareholders, which was related to ethical egoism; it implies that corporations should pay little attention to building CSR into management system. This classical view was countered by stakeholder theory, which not only presents a conceptual framework of analysis of HRM (Ferrary, 2009), but also offers corporations a new way of thinking organizational responsibilities (Jamali, 2008). The stakeholder theory was defined by Freeman (1984) that managers have a responsibility to attend to all who has a stake in organizations. Similarly, Greenwood and Cieri (2007: 128) indicated managers must act in the interests of stakeholders and management must engage stakeholders in decision-making. Freeman (1984) also gave the definition of stakeholder as any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of organization objectives, consisting of shareholders, employees, customers and suppliers. In addition to traditional interest groups, local communities and environment- regarded as silent stakeholders- should be included (Simmons, 2004 cited in Jamali, 2008). This theory suggested that corporations should turn attention to considerations beyond direct profit maximization, because the needs of shareholders cannot be met without satisfying to some degree the needs of other stakeholders (Jamali, 2008). Since employees are regarded as key stakeholders, corporations must be responsible for staff and take them into consideration to large extent in managerial decision making. It implies that HRM should be linked to CSR. Papasolomou et al (2005) illustrated CSR actions to employees, such as building family-friendly work environment, sharing information with staff, offering equal reward and pay, administering diversity management in terms of selection and promotion, providing training and long-term development to all staff as well as encouraging staff engaging in social activities. Moreover, some researcher (such as Friedman) emphasized that companies should put the profit object first (Woodall and Winstanley, 2000), so CSR actions are minimized. It seems that primacy of the profit motive becomes a primary reason why researchers and managers oppose to connect HRM with CSR or minimize CSR activities. Some researchers questioned whether the company can obtain returns when adopting CSR initiatives (Heugens and Dentchev, 2007). On the contrary, many researchers hold that CSR can offer potential profits and improve long-term corporate profitability. Brammer et al (2007) indicated that it pays off when HRM is linked with CSR, on the ground that CSR is beneficial to the attraction, retention and motivation of employees. Similarly, Bohdanowicz and Zientara (2008) considered that corporations can get payoff in the long run if they treated ethically to employees. In addition, CSR play a critical role in enhancing employees job satisfaction and further organizational comm itment, both of which affect employees performance and workplace behavior (turnover and workplace deviation). Melynyte and Ruzevicius (2008) also hold similar views: the combination of CSR and HRM does indirect positive influence to the organizations financial results through influencing staffs morale, job motivation and loyalty to organizations. Furthermore, in the study by Michie and Sheehan-Quinn (2001 cited in Viljanen and Lahteenmaki, 2009), soft HRM approach, named as high-road HRM, regards employees as resource, which is valuable to continuously develop, and makes efforts to increase employee commitment. On the contrary, hard HRM, called as low-road HRM, is lack of organization promise to job security and pay little attention to the staff training. It seems that soft HRM advocate HRM should be linked to CSR whereas hard HRM do not take CSR into account. However, Legge (1995) indicated that even though some corporations make a display of soft HRM, it is hard in reality. 2.2 HRM should be linked with CSR On the basis of analysis of previous academic debates, the author personally supports that HRM should be linked to CSR. It will be explained from four aspects. Above all, it is possible to integrate HRM with CSR, although some writers explained the impossibility of this kind of integration (as mentioned above, Claydon and Legge). In the study by Vuontisjarvi (2006), sub-themes of CSR, which refer to the integration of CSR and HRM, were identified: training and development, employee involvement, job security, employee health and well-being, equal opportunities, work-life balance and diversity management. Many corporations took on a series of HRM practices which is linked with the principle of CSR. In the case of PSA Peugeot Citroen, which is a famous French car manufacturer, diversity management was adopted. This company not only sought diversity workforce through recruiting a ration of non-French employees and secondary school graduates in the local city, but also ensure the equal treatment of each staff and non-discrimination. In 2003, the company recruited 129 non-French employees (including 45 women), who are in position of engineers and managers, which account for 10% of new staff. In addition, age issue also was taken into consideration. In 2003, 60% of new staff were younger than 30; 13% of new staff were older than 40. Furthermore, all employees had equal rights to be informed what vacancies are available because all the information was publicized on the company intranet. Further measures also include offering apprenticeships to people who were difficult to find job. (Syed an d Kramar, 2008) In addition to PSA Peugeot Citroen, many cases- such as retraining programme offered to staff by Deutsche Bank in the climate of redundancy (Syed and Kramar, 2008)- prove the feasibility of integration of CSR and HRM practices. Secondly, according to stakeholder theory, firms not only meet the requirements of shareholders but also satisfy employees. A series of responsible HRM practices- such as work-life balance (offer female employee childcare support or flexible working time) as well as initiatives mentioned above- meet the requirements of staff. Moreover, in addition to money, employees are also provided the the feeling of meaningfulness and possibility to take responsibility for quality of future generations life (Melynyte and Ruzevicius, 2008). That companies offer chance to staff to join social activities meet the psychological needs of employees. Given these reasons, HRM should be linked with CSR. Thirdly, the issue of business profitability becomes the bones of contention. Some researchers refuse to build CSR into HRM practices because of consideration of the corporation profits. However, a lot of research (as mentioned above) indicates that potential profits can be obtained if companies effectively incorporate CSR rules into HRM practices. In the case of Scandic (Bohdanowicz and Zientara, 2008), a famous hotel in Scandinavia, CSR was embedded into HRM, which is a part of Omtanke programme. Scandic strives for treating equally all staff. For instance, when the company planed to design new working clothes, different nationalities of employees were taken into consideration. As a result, headband, a part of uniform, is not compulsory to wear. Moreover, all staff were congregated to discuss what CSR actions to community should be adopted. Employees were offered opportunities of information sharing as well as rights of participation of decision-making. In addition, with regard to employee health, the hotel propagated the information about cancer to employees in the form of lectures; the company also assisted staff to quit smoke through offering guidance. Scandic showed that the firm indeed cared for its staff by implementing these initiatives (equal treatment, information sharing as well as health of employees). The outcome of this study revealed that these responsible HRM practices were beneficial to enhancement of employees job satisfaction (employees feel that they are cared), thereby affecting work performance and behavior. As a result, employees performance well, namely offering the high quality of service for customers and the turnover has decreased, all of which are regarded as potential profits of corporation. Therefore, CSR principles should be integrated into HRM practices because it benefits for company by improving job satisfaction, enhancing organizational commitment, advancing employees performance and decreasing the turnover. Finally, even if CSR is sometimes described as window-dressing, it actually helps corporations to establish good image and reputation, which is conducive to HRM. The company who takes CSR measures is more attractive to candidates (Greening and Turban, 2000, cited in Brammer et al). In modern times, CSR has become the trend, potential employees, especially new graduates, prefer to work in the corporation which has strong social responsibility and good reputation. Likewise, Bohdanowicz and Zientara (2008) indicated that socially responsible company can more likely attract and retain employees who care about green issues. In addition, since the company which integrates HRM with CSR advertises the equal treatment and non-discrimination during recruitment and promotion, potential staff are more likely to apply for this kind of company. Therefore, CSR help the corporation to have competitive edge over other firms which pay little attention to CSR initiatives during recruitment Furthermore, employees are always proud of working in socially responsible firm which has good reputation, thereby they have more loyalty and commitment to the organization, which makes employees stay longer in this company (Bohdanowicz and Zientara 2008). In the case of Babyfood which is famous for socially and environmentally responsible food company, a good reputation is considered as the primary factor enhancing staffs loyalty and motivation. The research show that although employees satisfaction is not pronounced compared with other food companies, and salaries are even lower than average in this industry, staff are still willing to work in this company due to its good reputation. Babyfoods rate of turnover is 20% lower than food industry average. (Lamberti and Lettieri, 2009) In sum, Since CSR, leading to good image of company, is beneficial to recruitment and retaining of employees, CSR should be embedded into HRM. Additional advantages of integration of HRM and CSR were identified in the study of Melynyte and Ruzevicius (2008): establishing partnership environment, increasing customers satisfaction and trust as well as attracting external investments. All in all, HRM should be linked to CSR because of its feasibility and positive effectiveness. 2.3 Links between HRM and CSR HRM refer to the issues in people management and treatment of employees; many CSR approaches stress the significance of meeting the requirements of employees who are regarded as key stakeholder. Therefore, how to deal with employees becomes a key point when analyzing the link between HRM and CSR. In addition, Syed and Kramar (2008) indicated that the integration of HRM and CSR can be achieved when they get support from employers, investors as well as institutions. Melynyte and Ruzevicius (2008) reviewed previous research about links between HRM and CSR and then summarized three forms of links. 1) CSR functions identical to HRM functions (interdependent link). 2) HRM functions making impact on CSR (SR activities emerging from HRM). 3) CSR functions making direct or indirect impact on HRM (how SR activities make impact on HRM). The first one includes removing child and enforced labor, establishing healthy and safe work environment, safeguard individual rights, offering job security, producing the process of justice, ensuring equal treatment of staff and diversity management, designing reasonable and flexible working hours (e.g. holiday time and work at night) as well as equal pay and welfare benefits. Secondly, HRM functions can influence CSR. Many practices can be identified. a) HR manager can plan and initiate CSR activities, such as mobilizing employees to recycle paper. b) The process of recruitment, selection and dismissal can be judicial and transparent. c) Managers share information with employees and staff participate in decision-making. d) When companies are faced with changes, HR manager still need to take social responsibility into consideration and ensure staff rights. e) Corporations provide continuous training to employees. f) Employers strive for meeting staff needs, such as addressing the issue of work-life balance and providing medical insurance. Finally, CSR functions also influence HRM. For example, while recruiting, CSR activities are advertised in order to attract competent candidates. In addition, social responsibility issues are introduced to staff. Moreover, employees engage in the CSR activities initiated by companies they work in. Furthermore, CSR can be used as an element of the system of appraisal, reward and promotion (Syed and Kramar, 2008). Part three: the link between HRM and CSR in the circumstance of global financial crisis In the current social-economic environment, global financial crisis is ongoing, thereby leads to mass restructuring and redundancies. A number of HR actions are conducted to react to the economic crisis. Many debates about CSR or ethics and HRM emerge. Based on different perspectives in precious research, the author will explain her own view: in the climate of global financial crisis the link between HRM and CSR is still realistic. Mankelow (2008) indicated that responsible HRM are adopted because employees are regarded as key resource to maintain competitive edge in market. The purpose of CSR actions to employees is to improve work efficiency and increase business profitability. It implies that although the importance of CSR is admitted, it after all services for the business profits and is inferior to the significance of corporation benefits. In the current financial crisis, it is no doubt that companies fight with survival firstly and CSR may be neglected. In addition, He suggested that socially responsible activities to staff are subject to certain conditions. It seems that CSR should base on appropriate economic conditions; it is a challenge to connect CSR with HRM in the face of tough economic environment (Mankelow, 2008). Although the link between HRM and CSR is questioned in current environment (can company can afford CSR in global financial crisis? Or CSR should be subject to business benefit, and the current condition does not permit the implementation of CSR), some researchers indicate the possibility that CSR is embedded into HRM in the environment of financial crisis. For example, In the study by Jones et al (2000), good image and reputation, established through CSR actions and other initiatives, can protect corporations from the decline of market in the chaotic economic environment; the stock price of firms with good image fall less than those without good reputation. Schnietz and Epstein (2005) held a similar view. Therefore, CSR is conducive to financial performance even in such tough circumstance. Furthermore, some researchers consider that it is costly to embed CSR principles into HRM practices. For instance, many employers are unwilling to notify downsizing plans in advance, which is a responsible HRM practice, on the ground that the productivity will decrease, employee will lose morale and turnover increase, all of which is costly (Leana and Feldman, 1992, cited in Forde et al, 2009). On the contrary, Hopkins and Hopkins (1999, cited in Forde et al, 2009) suggested that advance notification virtually minimize the costs, because it alleviates the pressure of post-layoff through retraining employees and offering counseling. It implies that some actions comprising CSR principles can be helpful to cost-saving. In current climate of global financial crisis, redundancy and restructuring is inevitable. However, it does not mean that the link between HRM and CSR is unrealistic. Socially responsible restructuring is identified, which embed CSR principles into restructuring. It was defined as the use of one or more approaches to consciously take into account the interest of all the organizations stakeholders- managers, owners/shareholders, workers, as well as the large community (International Labour Organization, 2002, cited in Forde et al, 2009). Since restructuring and redundancies are also parts of HRM functions (Redman and Wilkinson, 2001), socially responsible restructuring can be regarded as special integration of HRM and CSR in special economic circumstance. Forde et al (2009) proposed that- from the perspective of business case- socially responsible restructuring are implemented because it can be beneficial to the competitiveness of company. However, Heller (2009 cited in Forde et al, 2009) argued that with the intensity of global financial crisis and increases of redundancy, fewer corporations take up socially responsible restructuring. In fact, Legislation and labor market policies are enacted and implemented to advance companies to adopt socially responsible restructuring measures. For example, Trade Adjustment Assistance Act is used to promote social accountability when redundancy and layoff increase (Office of the US Trade Representative, 2009, cited in Forde et al, 2009). Therefore, with the support of legislation and government policies, the link between HRM and CSR is realistic even if it is faced with deepening economic crisis. Viljanen and Lahteenmaki (2009) analyzed different HR reactions to global financial crisis from two HRM philosophies: hard and soft. Hard HRM is in pursuit of maximal short-term saving and obtain cost efficiency by direct personnel cuts. On the contrary, soft HRM seek for the maintenance of business in the long run. The HR actions according to this kind of approach include dismiss employees temporarily, implementing pension plans as well as offering support to staff in the face of redundancy (such as outplacement services and retraining). Legge (2005 cited in Forde et al, 2009) concluded that in order to seek for profits, companies are forced to take hard HRM actions, such as direct personnel cuts. Moreover, collapsed market also compels employers to strive for cost-saving by directly cutting headcounts of employees. It seems that HRM actions easily turn hard in the circumstance of global financial crisis. It is indeed a challenging for company not only to strive for survival in tough environment and make the balance of short and long term profits, but also to maintain its good reputation and performance reliable employer. Although these activities appear to be hard in common situation, when they are located in the climate of economic crisis, HRM seems not to be hard. It is possible to integrate CSR with HRM during global financial crisis. (Forde et al, 2009) It is impossible that companies can meet requirements of all stakeholders (including shareholders and employees). In the tough economic environment, what firm can do is to strive for minimizing the loss of benefits of all stakeholders and avoid direct personnel cut (hard HRM). Therefore, CSR can play a potential role in restructuring, on the ground that socially responsible restructuring minimize negative influence of layoffs and redundancy. whilst at present we do not have a viable CSR tool for the successful anticipation and management of corporate change, there are a range of possibilities for connecting restructuring to CSR (Forde et al, 2009). It affirms the viability of the link between HRM and CSR. Indeed, considering that in the environment of financial crisis CSR is beneficial to financial performance, that some actions comprising CSR principles can minimize the costs and that socially responsible restructuring are promoted by legislation and government policies, it is realistic and feasible to integrate HRM with CSR in current economic environment. Three case studies will be illustrated to prove that such link is possible in the face of tough economic environment. In the case study of steel industry in the UK (Corus and ASW), previous to the declaration of layoffs, both Corus and ASW offer high level of training which enhances the employability of employees and help them adapt to changing environment. In addition, ASW held a formal meeting to notify employees in advance that company will lay off staff because of unstable financial situation. During the period of announcement of layoffs, Corus did not put layoff planes into action immediately. Instead, it offered 90-day consultation time. Moreover, in the period of implementation of layoffs, companies establish equitable criteria to choose employees who should be laid off. At Corus plants, workers who were voluntary to leave were hunted prior to the adoption of compulsory redundancy; early retirement schemes were implemented, namely employees, in the age of fifty and above, can retire early with sufficient pension. Furthermore, Corus offer criteria for the selection of redeployment. In addition , many support activities were administered, such as offering information about job opportunities and career advice, providing retraining programme as well as offering counseling. Deutsche Bank also did well in combining CSR with HRM practices in the climate of restructuring. Many HRM actions were devised to help staff whom the bank laid off to find another job. Vocational retraining and job coaching (e.g. advice for job applications) were offered. Staff were redeployed by internal temporary work agency. Both internal (e.g. HR advisers) and external counseling were provided. In addition, the bank also offer part-time working and have outplacement activities (Syed and Kramar, 2008). Another case is Hotel Villa Magna-Park Hyatt. In 2007, the hotel implement redecoration programme which lasted for 14 months rather than lay off employees. The company showed that it truly care for staff by providing chances for employees to participate in all activities (Bohdanowicz and Zientara, 2008). In a sense, the integration of HRM and CSR is realistic by insert CSR principles into redundancy and restructuring, even though it is different from the responsible HRM practices in normal circumstance (such as job security and work-life balance). Part Four: conclusion In this research, the author demonstrated that HRM should be linked to CSR. It was explained with references to academic debates from four aspects. Firstly, such link is feasible on the ground of reality that responsible HRM actions are actually adopted by many companies. Secondly, according to stakeholder theory, corporations should strive for meeting the requirement of all stakeholders (including shareholders and employees). CSR actions can meet the psychological needs of employees. Next, the integration of HRM and CSR can bring about potential profits by improving job satisfaction, enhancing organizational commitment, advancing employees performance and decreasing the turnover. Finally, CSR is conducive to establishment of good reputation of companies, thereby help employers recruit and retain employees. In addition, socially responsible restructuring is regarded as the special links between HRM and CSR in such tough economic climate. The researcher also proposed that such link is still realistic in the current climate of restructuring and redundancies on the ground that it helps companies set up better reputation, which can alleviate the economic loss of firms in collapsed market, that it can be beneficial to cost-saving in the face of redundancy and that it is supported by legislation and government policies. Although restructuring and redundancy are considered as hard HRM actions, such link seems to be soft in current tough climate.