Texting While Driving Essays

Texting While Driving Essays Texting While Driving Essay Texting While Driving Essay Imagine you are driving down the highway and suddenly a car hits the car in front of you. In that car there was one adult, one teenager, and toddler, and a newborn baby. The car that was hit got flipped over multiple times. No one in the car managed to survive that accident. This all happened because the driver decided to pull out their phone and text a simple mies. Texting and driving is a huge problem in the United States. Many laws have been passed to prevent texting and driving. It also causes many deaths and injuries. Many laws have been passed to prevent the danger of texting and driving. As said by Robert A Heinlein, l am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. am part of the generation that had a cell phone long before having a car. As a society, we have become more and more dependent upon the use of cell phones. They have enabled us to stay connected to the world. With smart phones, we can now check the weather, email, and that eBay item we really want to win in a bidding war. When we talk or kook at a cell phone, our attention span becomes very limited. The emotional stress while talking on a cell phone can lead to decreased awareness on what is happening around a person. Personally, I see no difference between talking on a cell phone and watching a television show. Every day, I see many people on cell phones while driving. I see drivers in cars, Subs, and semi trucks all holding a phone up to their ear while making one-handed turns. I think back to when I received my drivers license and how important it was to have my hands on the wheel at ten and two-o- clock. I remember being told by my driving instructor to always be aware of what is happening twelve seconds ahead of me. Looking at all of these cell phone users on the road, I cant imagine they even know what is going on five seconds ahead of them. I have heard that a persons attention span is decreased four times while talking on a cell phone. A decreased attention span of four times is also the same as a person with a blood alcohol level of . 08. Studies have shown that testing and driving is twice as risky as talking on a cell phone. With more and more teenagers acquiring cell hones, up to fifty percent of teens admit to testing while driving. In my personal opinion, we, as a society, should make cell phone use illegal while driving on the road. I have heard about all of the accidents associated with cell phone use and I am bewildered that we havent made any action to address this issue. I love the fact that hands-free devices are an option with new technology coming out; as of recently, we have developed voice activated calling thats now included in newer models of cars. Sure, Michigan has made it illegal to text while driving, but what about talking on a bile device? I cant help but think about all of the times I have been on the highway and have witnessed drivers making lane changes without looking because they had a phone up to their ear. Drivers on cell phones also have an eighteen percent slower reaction time to brake lights. Several states have already banned the use of cell phones while driving. The carelessness needs to stop! We need to reprimand those who are putting others lives at risk on the road. If we cant confront and enforce this issue, the deaths will Just keep on coming. Testing while driving By sparseness

The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami History and Its Aftermath

The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami History and Its Aftermath December 26, 2004, seemed like an ordinary Sunday. Fishermen, shopkeepers, Buddhist nuns, medical doctors, and mullahs - all around the Indian Ocean basin, people went about their morning routines. Western tourists on their Christmas holiday flocked to the beaches of Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia, reveling in the warm tropical sun and the blue waters of the sea. Without warning, at 7:58 am, a fault along the seafloor 250 kilometers (155 miles) southeast of Banda Aceh, in the state of Sumatra, Indonesia, suddenly gave way. A magnitude 9.1 underwater earthquake ripped along 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) of the fault, displacing parts of the seabed upward by 20 meters (66 feet), and opening a new rift 10 meters deep (33 feet). This sudden movement released an unimaginable amount of energy - equivalent to approximately 550 million times the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. When the seafloor shot upward, it caused a series of huge ripples in the Indian Ocean - that is, a tsunami. The people closest to the epicenter had some warning about the unfolding catastrophe - after all, they felt the powerful earthquake. However, tsunamis are uncommon in the Indian Ocean, and people had only about 10 minutes to react. There were no tsunami warnings. Around 8:08 am, the sea suddenly drew back from the earthquake-devastated shores of northern Sumatra. Then, a series of four enormous waves crashed ashore, the highest recorded at 24 meters tall (80 feet). Once the waves hit the shallows, in some places the local geography channeled them into even larger monsters, as much as 30 meters (100 feet) tall. The seawater roared inland, scouring large areas of the Indonesian coastline bare of human structures, and carrying away an estimated 168,000 people to their deaths. An hour later, the waves reached Thailand; still unwarned and unaware of the danger, approximately 8,200 people were caught by the tsunami waters, including 2,500 foreign tourists. The waves overran the low-lying Maldive Islands, killing 108 people there, and then raced on to India and Sri Lanka, where an additional 53,000 perished about two hours after the earthquake. The waves were still 12 meters (40 feet) tall. Finally, the tsunami struck the coast of East Africa some seven hours later. Despite the lapse of time, authorities had no way to warn the people of Somalia, Madagascar, Seychelles, Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa. Energy from the quake in far-off Indonesia carried away approximately 300 to 400 people along Africas Indian Ocean coast, the majority in Somalias Puntland region. The Causation of the Casualties Altogether, an estimated 230,000 to 260,000 people died in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. The quake itself was third-most powerful since 1900, exceeded only by the Great Chilean Earthquake of 1960 (magnitude 9.5), and the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake in Prince William Sound, Alaska (magnitude 9.2); both of those quakes also produced killer tsunamis in the Pacific Ocean basin. The Indian Ocean tsunami was the most deadly in recorded history. Why did so many people die on December 26, 2004? Dense coastal populations combined with a lack of tsunami-warning infrastructure came together to produce this horrific result. Since tsunamis are much more common in the Pacific, that ocean is ringed with tsunami-warning sirens, ready to respond to information from the tsunami-detection buoys arrayed across the area. Although the Indian Ocean is seismically active, it was not wired for tsunami detection in the same way - despite its heavily-populated and low-lying coastal areas. Perhaps the great majority of the 2004 tsunamis victims could not have been saved by buoys and sirens. After all, by far the largest death toll was in Indonesia, where people had just been shaken by the massive quake and had only minutes to find high ground. Yet more than 60,000 people in other countries could have been saved; they would have had at least an hour to move away from the shoreline - if they had had some warning. In the years since 2004, officials have worked hard to install and improve an Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System. Hopefully, this will ensure that the people of the Indian Ocean basin will never again be caught unawares while 100-foot walls of water barrel toward their shores.

They Can Get Inside You Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

They Can Get Inside You - Essay Example From the opening chapter of the book, we see that even though Winston has somehow been able to resist and question the party, he still absorbs its influence. As he sits writes in the diary for the first time, he remembers a recent two minutes hate session. Even though the charade of Goldstein and the hate sessions is so "exaggerated and perverse that a child should have been able to see through it" (Orwell 14), Winston is not entirely immune to the emotion it is intended to evoke. He feels the hatred that he is supposed to feel: "the very next instant he was at one with the people around him, andhis secret loathing of Big Brother changed into adoration". (Orwell 17) His hatred may not be directed at the intended target, but it indicates that Winston, like everyone else, is at the very least susceptible to the party's brainwashing. He feels the hatred, and that is enough: they are inside him. They are inside Julia, too. Julia appears to be a faithful party member, so much so that Winston suspects she is a spy for the Thought Police. Like Winston, she is a secret rebel, but her view of their world is different from Winston's. She is less concerned with ideologies and does not take much interest when Winston theorizes about the nature of the party. Unlike Winston, who dreams of a different world and a different life, Julia accepts the world as it is, and instead of dreaming, rebels in ways that make her life more bearable. Julia is intelligent but does not think deeply on the corruption within the party and what it means. She accepts the history she was taught in school without question, and does not remember that four years ago the country's enemy was a different one. She is bored and falls asleep when Winston reads to her from Goldstein's book. All these things indicate that Julia, despite her rebellious nature, is still influenced by the party. They are inside her, beca use she is "unwilling and unable to think too deeply on any subject whatever", just as she has been taught by the party. (Orwell 220) Winston and Julia both consider themselves intellectually free. They know the party is a lie and they are both against it, though for different reasons. But Julia is wrong when she says the party can't get inside them, and can't influence how they feel. They don't seem to understand how pervasive the party's influence really is, or perhaps they consider it unimportant because their conscious is free even if their subconscious is not. However when they are caught, they both end up losing that freedom of consciousness, and their loyalty to each other. During his stay in the Ministry of Love, Winston is subjected to mental and physical torture for an undefined length of time. O'Brien shows him that the party control the past and the present and shows him that 2 + 2 = 5 if the party says it does. Eventually Winston is allowed to physically recover, but during a dream he becomes aware that the party has not penetrated the deepest part of his mind - he still loves Julia, and hates Big Brother. He has tried to "keep the inner heart inviolate" (Orwell 293) and this has caused him to commit thoughtcrime. He decides that the only solution is to suppress his hatred towards the party and Big Brother so that it cannot escape from his subconscious, but instead O'Brien takes him to Room 101. In

Mislabeled Childe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Mislabeled Childe - Essay Example The special education placement approach was an effective learning approach for Serge. This is because special education has the ability of improving understanding of the English language. Serge has challenges understanding concepts in the English language. Special education will enhance concentration towards improving English language proficiency. The general education learning environment is effective in enhancing the social communication abilities of learners. The social communication skills of Serge will improve if he engages in more team and social discussion. Areas of improvement entail fluency in spoken English, and also improved listening abilities. The teachers should adequately understand the cultural backgrounds of students. The cultural knowledge is very effective in providing superior teaching services. The cultural knowledge enables teachers to provide individualized concentration to the students in the learning process. Students from non-native English speaking societies, require relatively higher levels of concentration in the English language learning. Also, students from humble households require more attention from the teachers. This is through providing additional and specialized lessons in English language, mathematics and

Risk Management Within General Motors Company Essay Example for Free

Risk Management Within General Motors Company Essay This research looks at the General Motors Company and what led to company failure and filing of bankruptcy in 2009. The American automotive industry was poorly managed for years and was almost eliminated when the economy crashed in 2008. Without the help of the U. S. government, General Motors and Chrysler would not have been able to survive. How did GM, as the number one auto manufacturer and seller, go from being at the top to almost ceasing to exist? This kind of financial mess usually takes years of poor decisions and does not happen to a large company overnight. To come to my conclusion I analyzed four books written by people with inside knowledge of the company, as well as magazine articles and a couple of online websites. As a result of my research, I believe that the problems that GM faced stemmed from poor risk management. Rick Wagonner, former CEO, made several poor business decisions that did not take into account any future risks or market changes. A new management team and a fresh perspective were able to turn the company around and put them back at the top of the automotive industry. Risk Management within the General Motors Company General Motors has been in business since 1908 and currently employs 202,000 people in 157 countries world-wide. It is a well-known fact that GM took government bailout money and filed bankruptcy in 2009. How did one of the largest companies in the world fall to needing financial assistance and declaring bankruptcy? One of the largest issues within the company was the lack of risk management practiced by leadership. How did the company then bounce back from declaring bankruptcy to being the auto manufacturer who sold the most cars world-wide in 2011 (Rosevear, 2012)? It is quite a project to overhaul a company, and the end result was more than likely helped by good project management. There were several smaller projects involved in the large project of overhauling the company, including marketing projects, new car model development, forming risk management plans and paying back the government loans to name a few. Problems within the Company The issues that caused GM to lose their money did not happen overnight; years of poor business decisions led them to where the company stood in 2008. Several executives were very short-sighted in their decision making; they failed to set long-range goals and objectives which are important for successful strategic project management. In 1970, GM and the United Auto Workers (UAW) entered a new contract after a sixty seven day strike over wages. The most notable change with the new contract is that it allowed employees to retire after thirty years with the company with a full pension after the age of 57. At the time their full pension was $500 a month, but with inflation and wage increases, this number was much higher more than three decades later. They believed that early retirements would create new jobs for young people entering the workforce. Another strike occurred in 1973. This one resulted in a contract change that employees had the right to retire at any age with full benefits after thirty years working with the company ( Ingrassia, 2010). Men and women were now able to take full retirement at as early as the age of 48. Union members who decided to retire early would also receive extra pension pay until they were able to draw from Social Security. By 2003, GM had over 460,000 retirees and spouses, which outnumbered current employees almost three to one. All of these were collecting pension and healthcare, and the UAW members were still just as well off. The 1970s was the decade that undid GM; it set the stage for the financial hardships that the company would face with the downturn of the economy in future decades (Lutz, 2011). Another large money eater for the Detroit automotive companies was the union job banks, which were created as part of the 1984 labor contract. The goal for the program was to be a temporary option for laid off workers so that they could be retained for new positions when they opened; it was a sense of job security. Naturally, employees first went on unemployment when being laid-off. The UAW contract then required GM to give additional payments that would guarantee an employee 95% of their prior wages for forty eight weeks. Once this time period was over, an employee would enter a job bank. Here they would stay, while being paid, until their old plant reopened or a job became available at a factory within a fifty mile radius. Because nearby positions rarely opened, people would remain in the job banks for years. The requirements for staying in the job bank included volunteer work for company approved rganizations and programs. Or, employees could punch in at their empty building and pass the time by watching television, reading the newspaper, sitting on a computer, or playing Scrabble. The only stipulations were that they had to punch out to use the bathroom or go on their lunch break, and they could not sleep or play cards. Eventually, this program was costing GM an estimated $1 billion a year to compensate their employees who were not even working (Vlasic, 2011). In 2000, Rick Wagoner was promoted to the position of CEO of GM. He immediately instituted several changes throughout the company. He flew to Italy in March of that year to negotiate with Fiat because GM needed their diesel engine technology for their GM Europe divisions. GM obtained 20% of Fiat Automobile by paying Fiat $2. 5 Billion in GM stock (Ingrassia, 2010). In December of the same year, Wagoner announced that GM would be closing their 103 year old Oldsmobile division. This was a wise move since Oldsmobile sales had fallen almost 75% in the fifteen years leading up to this point. Wagoner hired John Devine, the former financial officer of Ford, to be GM’s new CFO, and in August of 2001 he hired Bob Lutz, who had redesigned Chrysler’s product line in the 1990s. To help the economy and sales after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Wagoner offered interest-free financing on every GM vehicle. Naturally, people flocked to the dealership showrooms to take advantage of this deal. Because of this, GM’s factories remained open, and money flowed to parts suppliers, dealerships, and ad agencies. Wagoner received praise from media throughout the country. However, an internal audit in mid-2001 showed that the company was not in as good of shape as the general public was led to believe. The analysis decided that GM had too many brands, too many dealers, too many factories, and too many workers. The report recommended that GM make cutbacks while times were good, but when this was presented to Wagoner he made a poor business decision and ignored the findings. In 2004, National Geographic magazine wrote an article titled â€Å"The End of Cheap Oil. † When Wagoner saw this, he once again ignored the facts. He was under the assumption that profits from SUVs and pickup trucks would continue to be strong- they probably would have if gas had stayed under $2 a gallon like it was in 2003 and 2004. Wagoner made several poor business decisions during his tenure as CEO of GM which led to the company needing help from the outside. In 2005, Jerry York was hired to analyze what was going wrong with the General Motors Company. He gave several ideas to get GM out of the financial crisis that they were in. At the time, GM still had enough cash to turn around the company. York suggested that the company well off Saab and Hummer. He also recommended cutting GM’s annual dividend in half to one dollar a share instead of two (Lutz, 2011). GM also could have cut the pay of their board members, senior executives, and mangers, and could have worked with the UAW to cut the healthcare costs that GM was paying to workers. On January 26, 2006, the board of directors heeded Yorks warnings and cut the dividends in half, cut executive pay, and eliminated several upper level bonuses. They also elected York onto the board. Another gentleman, Steve Girsky, did a six month analysis of the company in 2006. He estimated that out of the 107 vehicles in GM’s lineup that were produced in North America, 71 of them were unprofitable (Vlasic, 2011). Girsky suggested that GM spend their money on fewer but better products, cut production capacity and employees, be accountable for their goals, and acknowledge that GM was in serious trouble. This last suggestion would not be heeded for a couple more years. GM executives were not ready to admit that they were in over their heads. Heading into 2008, GM as a company was optimistic about the upcoming year. Many new vehicles were being produced or were being considered, and the new Chevy Malibu was named North American Car of the Year, GM’s second in a row since the Saturn Aura won in 2007 (Lutz, 2011). The company had quite a bit of debt, but this did not worry the executives. The first quarter of 2008 brought the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, followed by the financial crisis, failures from banks, and many home foreclosures. These episodes took hundreds of billions of dollars out of the U. S. economy instantly. By July, GM was making layoffs, suspending its dividends, and eliminating health benefits for retired managers and executives over the age of sixty five. In the second quarter of 2008, GM reported $15. 5 billion in losses ($181,000 a minute). With the bankruptcy of the Lehman Brothers Holding Firm came a standstill in automotive sales. Lehman Brothers was the fourth largest investment bank in the U. S. at the time, and when the financial giant declared bankruptcy, the public began to fear for their own finances and worry about the financial situation of the whole country. This is also when banks began to implement more strict policies about who they loaned money to and on what terms. The public was afraid to buy cars, and bankers were afraid to give loans. GM approached Ford asking for a merger, but Ford was not interested; they were the only automaker in Detroit that was still treading water. GM then approached Chrysler about a merger, but the deal never took place. By November, just after the presidential election, General Motors and Chrysler both admitted that they would run out of money by the end of the year (Ingrassia, 2010). A business tradition that hurt the company for years was that GM had cars in the U. S and Europe that looked alike on the outside, but shared nothing on the inside- causing high production costs. Several foreign companies such as Toyota, Honda, Volkswagen, and Audis all have only one headquarters, as well as one engineering and design staff; their vehicles are the same across the world no matter where they are purchased. GM expanded overseas before WWII and through the years acquired the auto companies of Vauxhall in the UK, Opel, and Holden in Australia. Having these manufacturing facilities made it possible for GM to product cars in several different countries. For a long time, this factor was an advantage to GM; brands stayed close to their target markets and the cards that Europe demanded were very different from the cars that American desired (Lutz, 2011). Beginning in the 1980’s, several other car brands were quickly being recognized throughout the world. Federal fuel economy regulations came into the picture, which caused the size of U. S. cars to decrease and they began to look like cars throughout the rest of the world. By this point in time, it easily cost $700 million to engineer a new car design; GM found it hard to create a lineup of competitive vehicles within a reasonable amount of money. The company also lacked innovation in their products. The company was moving quickly, but the competition was far ahead of GM in terms of innovation, especially in the area of fuel economy. The General Motors Company had several poor project management habits in place. When Jerry York joined the board of directors, he was firm with Wagoner. He believed that the CEO worked for the board, and the board represented the shareholders, who owned the company. He too believed that GM was a poorly managed company (Vlasic, 2011). The top management was only concerned about making money, and the board of directors was too afraid of failure. There seemed to be very little (or no) risk management; all of the predictions that Rick Wagoner and the company made about future customer demand were based on the assumption that gas prices would stay at one dollar a gallon indefinitely (Vlasic, 2011). The executives and board of directors were also afraid of aggravating the UAW, which led to billions of dollars of wasted money, overpaying workers and paying for employees who were not even working. GM at one time was the largest company in America; they did not know how to effectively minimize their costs when the economy took a nosedive, nor did they conserve resources for the chance that anything bad would happen to the American economy. Responses to Company Problems The first task on the agenda was finding money to keep the company running. The auto industry needed to ask Congress for money, but it was a tricky time because the country was just about to shift presidents. Neither president (Bush or Obama) wanted to deal with the car companies on their tenure. The Big Three combined were asking for $25 billion of government loans. The CEOs flew into D. C. on their private company jets and then proceeded to be humiliated by the politicians. Eventually, GM and Chrysler were given $14 billion in emergency loans. In order for the companies to receive this money, they have to cut their debt by two-thirds by convincing bondholders to take a stock-for-debt swap. The UAW would have to take stock in GM and Chrysler instead of cash for half that the auto companies owed the VEBA (Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association) trusts, and the union would also have to immediately level their wages with those of the Japanese automotive plants that were in America- including their benefits. This last requirement was the breaking point for the UAW; they refused and argued that the UAW had already given enough to the auto companies in the last few years. Instead, within days President Bush gave $17. 4 billion from the $700 bank rescue package to keep the companies running for three months (Ingrassia, 2010). Bush’s requirement was that the companies needed to submit â€Å"viability plans† on February 17th, which would describe what the companies planned to do to return to being profitable. When President Obama took the office, he created the Automotive Task Force to investigate the American automotive industry and to suggest changes to be made. The task force decided that GM was a company that knew how to build great cars but did not have the necessary ability to market them. In early 2009, plans were drawn up to eliminate Saturn, Pontiac, Hummer, and Saab from GM’s lineup, for a future emphasis on Chevrolet and Cadillac). In April of 2009, GM made the announcement that they would exchange $27 billion of unsecured debt for GM stock. This was how they chose to try to drop the 90% of their debt that the Automotive Task Force was requiring, in hopes to avoid bankruptcy. This did not go as planned, as GM stock was at a low price and did not appeal to their investors. Because of this, the last option was for the government to buy the remaining stock. The government gave $30 million and now owned 60% of GM’s stock (Ingrassia, 2010).

William Faulkner: Translating His Life into His Works Essay -- Literar

Humankind through years of evolution has become a glorious race with an inexhaustible capacity to think. Each mind is filled with a profusion of ideas and other abstractions, which are sought to be expressed. Often, people find their medium of expression through art. Jean de La Fontaine, a renowned French fabulist begins his poem, The Hornets and the Bees with the line: â€Å"by the work one knows the workman† (The Hornets). If art is a method of self-expression, the creator, is thus, significant. In essence, art as the reflection of a being is inseparable from the being. To examine a masterpiece, the creator must be investigated, too. In 1917, the United States aided the Triple Entente during the First World War. Faulkner enlisted for the Armed Signal Corps from which he was rejected for his height and frailty (Leary +). Despite his rejection, Faulkner was undeterred. With a British accent, a borrowed England address, and an added â€Å"u† to his name, he went to a recruiting office in New York, and enlisted for the Royal Air Force in Canada. Faulkner was accepted, and was ordered to report for Toronto immediately. Although, his efforts were successful, he set himself up for disappointment, for the war ended in 1918 without him having set foot in any battle. When he returned to Oxford a month later, however, he was outfitted in a British uniform paired with a swagger stick to support his injured legs. Early on, he said his injury was a result from a crash during training. Later, the injury would be of several various other causes (Parini 39-47). Although his lies mortified him for the rest of his life, Fau lkner illustrated how he was inherently a storyteller, and his tales were his masterpieces. Through that incident he showed how concoc... ...y Criticism. Vol. 1. New York: Helvetica Press, 1988. 145. Print. Leary, Lewis. "The County and the Man." William Faulkner of Yoknapatawpha County. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1973. 1-37. Print. Minter, David. William Faulkner: His Life and Work. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1980. 1-90. Print. Parini, Jay. One Matchless Time: A Life of William Faulkner. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2004. 39-47. Print. Shute, Sarah. "Absalom, Absalom!." Literature Online. Cambridge: Proquest Information and Learning Co, 2002. Literature Online. Web. 8 May 2012. . "The Hornets and Bees, The Oak and Reed." Jean de La Fontaine. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2012. .

Chapter 13 Spice Chart the Spread of Chinese Civilization…

PLEASE DONT COPY WORD FROM WORD.!!!!!! Chapter 13: The Spread of Chinese Civilization: Japan, Korea, and Vietnam Social: 1) Japan * Emperor -> aristocracy -> nobles/ warriors -> local leaders-> peasants -> farmers * Male and female barriers * Females can’t rule or get into political businesses no matter how high up you are. * Determing rank solely by birth * Men and women in aristocratic classes are mandatory to have polite behaviors * Social status was everything and love affairs were anxiety * Later on, women lost almost all of their previous rights * Inheritance was only passed down to the oldest son Women were then treated like trash and men view them as defenseless * Women were taught to slay themselves rather than dishonor the family line by getting raped * All classes of Japanese women lost role of celebrant in religious ceremonies and replaced in theatrical performances by men. 2) Korea * Emperor -> government -> nobles/local leaders -> peasants -> slaves * Born due to its original classes 3. Vietnam * Women had more freedoms * Women wore long skirts to black pants * Women had more influences in both family and in societies * Women were dominant force in large urban markets and trading systems Political: ) Japan * Empress Koken; married the Buddhist monk and he became king * Emperor Kammu ; 794 * Heian (Kyoto) ; a new capital city established by emperor Kammu; buddists build monasteries * Later Buddhist monks were abandoned out of the aristocratic and aristocrats almost fully took over in the central government * Japanese monarchy -> Chinese style emperor * Created genuine bureaucracy and peasant conscript armies * Local leaders were to organize militia forces and later control the imperial household * Fujiwara was the aristocratic family in 9th century Taira; competed with Minamoto families and defeated the Gempei Wars * Minamoto; competed with the Taira family * Gempei Wars; waged for five years between the Taira and the Minamoto’s * Ash ikaga Takuaji * Ashikaga Shogunate * Hojo 2) Korea * Koguryo – tribal people of northern Korea * Silla is the independent Korean kingdom southeast * Paekche- defeated by the Silla’s * Resulted in Sinification * Tries to put Chinese style bureaucracy * Paid tribute to China and created peace to add protection. * Yi dynasty 3) Vietnam Confucian bureaucracy established and dominated in aristocracy * Chinese controlled for several centuries * Hanoi – capital city * Nguyen – rival Vietnamese dynasty * Trinh- dynasty that ruled north Vietnam Interactions: 1) Japan * It as Trades with China * Borrow ideologies from China and put into their own culture * Dominated emperor and capital as a whole * Buddhist monks became powerful and became the heads of demanding the monastic orders. * Buddhism from China * Chinese political dominance * Surrounded by the pacific ocean, islands, lots of mountains 2) Korea Took ideas from china culturally and politically * Korean scho lars traveled to China and few went for the Buddhist faith in India * Similar to what Japan had done * Borrowed paper productions, printings, paintings and arts, written language and agricultures * Located in the far east of Asian, right next to China surrounds by the yellow sea mostly 3) Vietnam * Right down below China * Heavily influenced by China just like Japan and Korea. * Confucian ideologies and Buddhism influences too * Ideas from Chinese agriculture technologies Culture: 1) Japan Borrowed ideas from China†¦ such as writings, characters, everyday aspects, language.. etc * Japanese tried to master Confucian’s ways, worship Chinese style temples * Admired Buddhism’s arts * Worshipped â€Å"Kami†; nature spirits * Zen Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto were major beliefs * The way normal aristocratic families live in ~Buildings were of unpainted wood, sliding panels, matted floors, and wooden walkways between every room people lived in. ~Writing verse is the most valued art in courts. ~Poems were written on painted fans and scented papers. Lady Murasaki; one of the most famous female poet * â€Å"Tale of Genji, The† written by Lady Murasaki * Played flutes and stringed instruments * Zen Buddhism stressed on simplicity and discipline that played a critical role 2) Korea * Studied Chinese schools and enrolled in Confucian studies * Made their own language and writing systems by taking ideas of Chinese literatures * Artisan learned to hold metal type in place * Used honey as glue * Practiced mainly Confucianism and Buddhism * Law codes * Arts from China 3) Vietnam * Strong tradition of village autonomy * Symbolizations of bamboo hedges Confucianism * Buddhism * Economic: 1) Japan * New tool * Greater tools to draft animals * New crops†¦soybeans * Produce items like silk, hemp, paper, dyes, and vegetable oils†¦ etc * Military elites and intermediaries traded between Japan and overseas such as China 2) Korea * Sell g oods to Chinese markets * Purchased Chinese scrolls and art works * Tribute systems with China * Tribute became major channel of trade and intercultural exchanges with China and other neighbors 3) Vietnam * Produce lots of rice * Trade with lots of other areas surrounded * Pay tributes to China for protection

Iso 9000, Service Quality and Ergonomics Stanislav Karapetrovic

To cite this document: Stanislav Karapetrovic, (1999),†ISO 9000, service quality and ergonomics†, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 9 Iss: 2 pp. 81 – 89 Permanent link to this document: http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/09604529910257948 Downloaded on: 17-10-2012 References: This document contains references to 27 other documents Citations: This document has been cited by 3 other documents To copy this document: [email  protected] com This document has been downloaded 1952 times since 2005. * Users who downloaded this Article also downloaded: *Rujirutana Mandhachitara, Yaowalak Poolthong, (2011),†A model of customer loyalty and corporate social responsibility†, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 25 Iss: 2 pp. 122 – 133 http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/08876041111119840 Harold W. Webb, Linda A. Webb, (2004),†SiteQual: an integrated measure of Web site quality†, Journal of Enterprise Information Management, Vol. 17 Iss: 6 pp. 430 – 440 ht tp://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/17410390410566724 Rabiul Ahasan, Daniel Imbeau, (2003),†Who belongs to ergonomics? An examination of the human factors community†, Work Study, Vol. 52 Iss: 3 pp. 123 – 128 http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/00438020310471917Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF GAZA For Authors: If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service. Information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www. emeraldinsight. com/authors for more information. About Emerald www. emeraldinsight. com With over forty years' experience, Emerald Group Publishing is a leading independent publisher of global research with impact in business, society, public policy and education.In total, Emerald publishes over 275 journals and more than 130 book series, as well as an extensi ve range of online products and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 3 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. *Related content and download information correct at time of download. Perspectives ISO 9000, service quality and ergonomics Stanislav Karapetrovic 1. Introduction In the last decade or so, we have witnessed an explosion of quality-related standards and regulations.As a result of the continuous quest for better â€Å"quality† of products and services offered to customers, the International Organization for Standardization introduced the ISO 9000 series of quality management and quality assurance standards in 1987. The series currently includes three models for quality assurance (ISO 9001, ISO 9002 and ISO 9003), guidelines for quality management (ISO 9004), and two supporting documents: ISO 9000 Guidelines for Model’s Selection and Use and ISO 8402 Quality Vocabulary (Figure 1). The ISO 9000 standards have been accepted worldwide, with more than 200,000 organizations already registered.The standards present a sound basis for assuring the customer of quality of products and services, as well as the processes that create them. Several other quality-related standards have since emerged, such as the automotive standards QS 9000, environmental management standards ISO 14000, and emerging health and safety international standards (Figura, 1996). The upcoming revision of ISO 9000 standards in the year 2000 (now in the form of a Technical Committee Draft) is expected to further facilitate the use of quality assurance methods the world over.Another commonly used phrase from the 1980s and 1990s has been total quality management (TQM): an integrated approach to the management of quality with special emphasis on delighting customers and improving the wellbeing of all employees in the organization. A number of articles have been written on the relationship between the ISO 9000 series and TQM (Johnson, 1993; Struebing, 1996; Wilson, 1996; Velury, 1996; Corigan, 1994; Sakofsky, 1994; Emmons, 1994), underlying the opinion of quality management professionals that the two are not quite the same.While ISO 9000 series are technical, presenting speci?cations, requirements and guidelines for quality systems, TQM emphasizes teamwork and customer satisfaction. Put another way, TQM is quality management with â€Å"a human touch†. Does this mean that ergonomic aspects of the workplace and customer satisfaction are not emphasized by ISO 9000? Does quality assurance (ISO 9000) emphasize ergonomics and 81 The author Stanislav Karapetrovic is based at the Department of Industrial Engineering, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.Keywords Ergonomics, ISO 9000, Quality assurance, Service quality, Workers Abstract This paper addresses some ergonomic issues in the ISO 9000-based qualit y assurance. Ergonomics – the study of human factors in engineering and design of systems is brie?y touched on. Then, outlines of ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 quality system models are provided, and all 20 requirements of the current ISO 9001:9004 standard are presented in an ergonomic light. Subsequently, human factors in the documentation and implementation of a quality system are illustrated.The relevance of ergonomic studies in the development of service systems is addressed. Finally, a blueprint for an ergonomic assurance system, de?ned as a set of interrelated resources and processes that function in order to achieve objectives related to ergonomic design and use of products and processes, is provided. Managing Service Quality Volume 9  · Number 2  · 1999  · pp. 81–89  © MCB University Press  · 0960-4529 Figure 1 Ergonomics – an essential element of the production and/or service systemRaw Material RESOURCES Ergonomics PROCESS PRODUCT Output Input Ergono mics COST ERGONOMICAL CHARACTERISTICS QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS occupational health and safety? In the present time of globalization of markets and internationalization of best-practice standards, such questions can and should be posed. This paper addresses some of the ergonomic issues in the ISO 9000-based quality assurance. Ergonomics, that is the study of human factors in engineering and design of systems, is brie?y touched on.Then, outlines of ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 quality system models are provided, and all 20 requirements of the current ISO 9001:9004 standard are presented in an ergonomic light. Subsequently, human factors in the documentation and implementation of a quality system are illustrated. The relevance of ergonomic studies in the development of service systems is addressed. Finally, the design of an ergonomic assurance system based on ISO 9000 is discussed. 2. Ergonomics It seems that it takes a disaster, loss of human life, or a health crisis for most of us to realize how important human factors are.Before the Three Mile Island incident, the Chernobil explosion, the Bhopal pesticide leak, plane crashes involving human errors, or ?ndings that millions of people suffer from repetitive stress injuries, it would have been hard to ?nd anyone who knew what ergonomics or human factors engineering are (not including the ergonomists themselves, of course). Today, however, we often hear about â€Å"ergonomicallydesigned computer mouse and keyboard†, 82 â€Å"ergonomic† chairs, pots, pans, door handles, and automatic teller machines (ATM).We now know that ergonomic design of products and processes is bsolutely crucial for effective and ef?cient work. Ergonomics, or human factors engineering, deals with the design for human use, as well as optimizing working and living conditions (Sanders and McCormick, 1993). The ?rst term (ergonomics) is mainly in use in Europe, while the second (human factors engineering) is often heard in North America. Th e following de?nition, modi?ed from Chapanis (1985), is provided: Ergonomics discovers and applies information about human behavior, limitations, abilities and other human characteristics to the design of systems for ef?cient, safe, comfortable and effective human use.Interested readers are referred to a classic in ergonomics, Sanders’ and McCormick’s â€Å"Human factors in engineering and design† (1993), for more information on the history of the science and a detailed study of many applications of ergonomics. Ergonomics, almost by default, is implied in quality assurance. Quality assurance encompasses techniques used to provide con?dence to customers that their requirements for quality are met. Therefore, by de?nition, human factors are involved. Assurances in the quality of products and services are provided to humans, by humans.In fact, ergonomics and quality assurance are so intertwined that it is impossible to say where one starts and the other ends. Sever al articles in ergonomics literature have already discussed the use of quality assurance techniques in human factors engineering (for instance, see Helander and Burri, 1995; Bergquist and Abeysekera, 1996). For an early account on human factors in quality assurance, the reader is referred to Harris and Chaney (1969). Hence, in the following sections, interrelationships between ergonomics and quality assurance will be addressed. 3.Quality Assurance (ISO 9001) and Management (ISO 9004) Of the three available models for quality system registration, ISO 9001 is undoubtedly the most comprehensive and most widely used. The current version (ISO 9001: 1994), includes 20 elements (requirements), to which a quality assurance system of an organization is assessed (Table I). ISO 9001 covers design, development, production, installation and servicing activities. It is aimed at providing con?dence to internal and external customers that their requirements for quality are continuously met.An organ ization’s anagement is the main internal customer, while external customers include consumers of the organization’s products and services, as well as registrars that assess the suitability and effectiveness of the quality system. ISO 9001 is a generic standard, which means that it is universally applicable to both manufacturing and service organizations, i. e. small businesses (Karapetrovic et al. , 1997), health care and education (Willborn and Cheng, 1994). Rather than focusing on speci?c products and services, ISO 9001 addresses quality systems and processes in?uencing the product throughout its lifecycle.A quality system can be de?ned as a set of processes that function harmoniously, using various resources, to achieve quality objectives (Karapetrovic and Willborn, 1998A). It is in the interaction of human, material and information resources, as well as human resources and processes, that the ergonomic aspects of the quality system emerge. Focusing on the underlyin g concept of a system will help us understand the interrelationships between the quality and ergonomic system, and provide a possibility for integration.Apart from ISO 9001, a set of guidelines numbered ISO 9004 is widely used for developing and implementing quality 83 management. The set currently consists of eight documents, ranging from the guidelines on quality management in service organizations to con?guration and project management. For the purpose of discussing an ergonomic system in services, we turn our attention to the second document in the series, namely the ISO 9004-2 (1994) â€Å"Quality management and quality system elements: Guidelines for services†).In essence very similar in scope and structure to ISO 9001, ISO 9004-2 provides guidelines for establishing quality management throughout the service life cycle, starting from establishing the need for a service, through service design, acquisition of resources, service delivery and status, as well as performance analysis and improvement. Differing from ISO 9001, these guidelines directly address interfaces with customers, including â€Å"creating a perception of the appropriate image based on the reality of actions taken to meet customers needs† (ISO 9004-2: 1994).Effective communication with customers, â€Å"listening to them and keeping them informed†, is particularly emphasized. What is also important from an ergonomic standpoint is that the guidelines provide the basis for adequate training of personnel, including motivation, staff development and communication. Although the training mentioned therein mostly involves â€Å"quality system training†, it could be expanded to environmental, health and safety, and ergonomic system training.For different strategies of using the quality system framework for developing other management systems, including environment and ergonomics, the reader is referred to Karapetrovic and Willborn (1998B and 1998C). In addition to ISO 90 04-2, another standard from the ISO 9004 series, namely ISO 9004: Part 1 â€Å"Guidelines for quality management and quality system elements†, addresses some particular ergonomic aspects. This is done in the standard’s 19th element: Product safety. Speci?cally, it is suggested that â€Å"consideration be given to identifying safety aspects of products and processes with the aim of enhancing safety† (ISO 9004-1: 1994).Steps to achieve this can include: †¢ identifying relevant safety standards; †¢ performing design evaluation tests for safety; †¢ analyzing instructions and warnings to the user; Table I Ergonomic issues and implications of ISO 9001 (1994) ISO 9001 element 4. 1 4. 2 4. 3 Management responsibility Quality system Contract review Ergonomic issues Organization ensures that the quality policy is understood at all levels Procedures and work instructions are effectively documented/implemented Customer requirements are adequately de?ned and d ocumentedImplications Quality system documentation should be designed and implemented using ergonomic (human factors engineering) knowledge Ergonomic characteristics of a product, such as environmental conditions, sensory characteristics proper handling and packaging should be determined (see Bergquist and Abeysekera, 1996; Helander and Burri, 1995; Barsky and Dutta, 1997) Products should be ergonomically designed to ensure healthy and safe functioning Quality system documents should be accessible . 4 4. 5 Design control Document control 4. 6 4. 7 4. 8 4. 9 Purchasing Control of customer supplied product Product identi?cation and traceability Process control 4. 10 Inspection and testing 4. 11 Inspection and test equipment 4. 12 Inspection and test status 4. 13 Nonconforming product 4. 14 Corrective and preventive action 4. 15 Handling, storage, †¦, delivery 4. 16 Control of quality records 4. 17 Internal quality audits 4. 18 Training 4. 19 ServicingCrucial characteristics for s afe and proper functioning of the product are identi?ed Appropriate documents are readily available at all locations where essential operations are performed Purchasing documents adequately address speci?ed requirements Adequate procedures for storage and maintenance of the product are in place Product is adequately identi?ed and traceable Suitable equipment and working environment are used Criteria for workmanship is stipulated in the clearest practical manner Records clearly illustrate the results of inspection and testing activities Suitable indicators of calibration status are identi?ed Inspection and test status of the product is identi?ed by suitable means Nonconforming products are adequately identi?ed and segregated Appropriate sources of information are used to detect and eliminate potential/ existing causes of defects Adequate handling, storage, packaging, preservation and delivery of the product is identi?ed and maintained Quality records are adequately identi?ed, indexed , ?led and storedQuality records are easily accessible Quality audits are performed to examine the suitability and effectiveness of the quality system Training needs are identi?ed and adequate training provided Appropriate identi?cation of servicing needs and customer feedback is performed Ergonomic techniques can be used to ensure clear understanding of documents Safe and risk-free storage and maintenance of products is emphasized Identi?cation of products should be performed according to ergonomic guidelines regulations For identi?cation and maintenance of the suitable working environment and hardware, ergonomic analysis and evaluations must be performed Identi?cation of products and equipment should be performed according to ergonomic guidelines and regulations (for example, see Sanders and McCormick, 1993 (part 2), and Harris and Chaney, 1070 (chapters 6-11)Ergonomical analysis of human-information interaction is helpful (for instance, see Sanders and McCormick, 1993 (part 2) Er gonomical design and analysis of handling and packaging of products should be used Ergonomic techniques can be used to ensure clear understanding of documents, and accessibility of records Ergonomic audits/evaluations, identifying areas for possible improvement of human-machineproduct-environment interactions are performed Ergonomic training should be emphasized Ergonomic characteristics of a product, such as environmental conditions, sensory characteristics proper handling and packaging should be determined (see Bergquist and Abeysekera, 1996; Helander and Burri, 1995; Barsky and Dutta, 1997)Statistical tools and techniques are used in ergonomic analysis and evaluations 4. 20 Statistical techniques The need for the application of statistical techniques is identi?ed 84 †¢ developing a means of product traceability to facilitate product recall; †¢ considering development of an emergency plan The following section will address some ergonomic factors in the ISO 9001/9004 qual ity system structure, as well as suggest implementation of this system with ergonomics in mind. 4. Ergonomic considerations of ISO 9001/9004 Quality systems depicted in ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 standards apply to all phases in the life cycle of a service, from initial identi?cation to ?nal satisfaction of customer requirements.The concept of all activities in?uencing the quality of a service throughout its life cycle is often referred to as the â€Å"service quality loop† (ISO 9004-2, 1994). Thus, a service quality system involves three main elements: (1) service; (2) processes along the quality loop; and (3) resources. Likewise, ergonomic considerations within a service quality system include: †¢ Ergonomic design and delivery of service (and/or related products). †¢ Ergonomic design and application of processes. †¢ Analysis of the interaction between human and information/material resources Using Figure 1, it is possible to explain how quality and ergonomics inte rrelate in a quality system. Each product or service made possesses certain characteristics.For example, service quality is a set of characteristics that bear on the service’s ability to satisfy customer requirements. Ergonomic characteristics of products / services provide safe, healthy and ef?cient usage and/or delivery. It is evident that some ergonomic characteristics of a product (or service) are essentially quality characteristics (such as the design of the driver’s seat in a car), and vice-versa. Also, service delivery processes have to satisfy certain requirements that may be ergonomic in nature. For example, the environment in which retail-banking services operate may be altered to provide safety for a bank teller working in it. Finally, ergonomic issues emerge when human, material and informa85 ion resources are combined to create a quality system.The current ISO 9001 quality system has a multitude of elements that are directly applicable to managing ergonomi cs and health/safety. Table I lists all 20 elements of ISO 9001 in the order in which they appear in the standard, illustrates sections and speci?c requirements which pertain to ergonomics, and provides ergonomic implications of the quality system. The implications range from adequate identi?cation of customer ergonomic requirements, ergonomically suitable design of products, services and processes, to identi?cation and maintenance of appropriate working environment and equipment.Such analysis of the ISO 9001 quality system shows that virtually every element of the system includes at least some ergonomic and/or health and safety aspects. This conclusion, however, is not surprising, since ultimately, quality is created by people, and for people. Not only does the content of ISO 9001 relate to human factors (Hansen, 1996), but also its context. A quality system must be adequately documented and implemented in order to operate effectively and ef?ciently. Quality documentation, as a pil lar of the quality system, must be understood and readily available to all persons whose work affects quality, as well as understood by all involved. Ergonomically designed documentation will undoubtedly help people understand their tasks better and improve their performance.New technologies, such as head-up-displays (Geiselman and Osgood, 1995; Karapetrovic, 1995), computer-aided communication (through electronic mail and the Internet) can greatly improve the implementation of a quality system in any organization. Examples include: †¢ Operators using HUDs for display of quality procedures and work instructions. †¢ Paperless ISO 9000 documentation, i. e. documents available on-line using HTML or Java (Clarkin and Dow, 1997). †¢ Wireless electronic mail for reporting and analysis of quality-related problems. The following section addresses the implementation of human factors engineering in services, using ?nancial services as an example, in more detail. 5. Ergonomics a nd services How do ergonomics relate to service quality systems?To answer that question, we can follow the above-mentioned â€Å"service quality loop† from the inception of the need for service, to the evaluation of whether that need has been satis?ed. In designing a â€Å"quality service†, we must ?rst identify the need for it, as well as ?nd out who would actually need such a service. Put another way, we are de?ning the user and his/her needs. For instance, say we want to open a bank branch in a specific location. Do local bank users really need a branch there? What exactly do they need? Perhaps they need investment services, or easy access to cash, or mortgage consultations. Sanders and McCormick (1993) and Bailey (1982) de?ne the identi?cation of user needs through observation, interviews and questionnaires as ergonomic activities that apply here.Psychology-based tools of ergonomics deal in particular with an effective and ef?cient determination of user needs. The service system is subsequently designed on the basis of identi?ed needs. We have determined that local users require access to money from their accounts as well as the possibility of discussing investments. Now, we need to allocate resources to required banking functions. These resources include people (bank employees), hardware (automatic teller machines (ATM), computers) and software. Which particular functions should we assign to people, and which to machines? For instance, for easy access to cash, we would assume that a 24hour ATM would be appropriate.However, what if most of the bank’s clients are seniors, who are still not accustomed to trusting machines in dealing with deposits or withdrawals, or if the bank is located in a place where people prefer customer service and contact with bank tellers rather than machines? Ergonomic studies help us in determining speci?c capabilities of people, hardware and software, and can provide signi?cant assistance in allocating system functions. Then, we can decide whether to completely automate certain functions, or to assign people to perform them, or use both machines and people. For example, a bank may decide to allow withdrawals of less than $1,000 from an ATM. If a customer wants to withdraw more than that, he/she would have to go to a bank teller. 86Once we have decided which resources the bank should have (say three ATMs, four tellers and two investment advisors), we need to perform an analysis of the required processes, activities and tasks. Put another way, we are listing the sequence of activities that need to be conducted in order to accomplish a speci?c function. Flowcharts are particularly helpful here. For instance, we can specify a procedure for cash withdrawals from the bank. This, in ergonomics, is called task description and analysis (Sanders and McCormick, 1993). Whenever we have some interaction between people and hardware or software, such as when a teller needs to input withdrawal informat ion into the database, there are ergonomic implications.For example, in the bank where I normally do my ?nancial transactions, computer monitors and keyboards are placed so low in relation to the counter, that the teller needs to bend down every time he/she inputs the information, virtually disappearing behind the counter. Just imagine how many times the teller needs to bend like that every day, every week, every month. Put another way, in designing the work space for employees, e. g. placing customer service counters and computers in determined locations, allocating space for safety deposit boxes, etc. , we inevitably in?uence the comfort, safety and ef?ciency of people working in such spaces. All these are ergonomic considerations that can in?uence the quality of the product or service.The likely reason why tellers in my bank still have to bend down to reach the computer is that it was probably never de?ned as a problem at all. The existence of an ergonomic program within the bank , with planned ergonomic audits and corrective actions, would certainly identify and rectify such a problem. But how can such a program be introduced with minimum cost and maximum bene?ts? Perhaps the solution is in the integration of the existing quality system with an ergonomic program. The integration of quality and environment management systems came naturally, since standards representing best practices were effectively established at the international level (namely ISO 9000 and ISO 14000).This should also be the case with occupational health and safety (OHS), since national and international OHS standards, dubbed ISO 20000 (Figura, 1996) are already emerging. The following section presents an approach to the development of an ergonomic assurance system on the basis of the quality system. 6. Ergonomics assurance system As was mentioned in Section 3 of this paper, the systems concept can greatly assist us in understanding the interrelationships of many production and management processes, among others, quality and ergonomics. For an excellent account of the relationship between ergonomics and the system design, the interested reader can refer to Sanders and McCormick (1993), Chapter 22. While the pplication of the systems concept to service quality is presented elsewhere (Karapetrovic and Willborn, 1998A), it can be used to propose an ergonomic assurance system. We can de?ne ergonomic assurance as â€Å"all those planned and systematic actions aimed at providing con?dence to customers, management and the general public, that their requirements and needs for ergonomically safe products and processes are met†.An ergonomic assurance system is then a â€Å"set of processes and resources that function harmoniously to achieve objectives related to ergonomic design and implementation of products and processes†.Note: Proposed EAS elements are given in bold letters, while numbers represent sections of the ISO 9004-2 Guidelines 87 Similarly to the ISO 14001:1996 environmental management system, an ergonomic assurance system can include Deming’s plan-dostudy-act (PDSA) continuous improvement circle, with the following elements: †¢ Ergonomic objectives. †¢ Planning and design (ergonomic aspects, targets, determination of system performance speci?cations, ergonomic system design). †¢ Resource acquisition and deployment (allocation of functions to people, hardware and software; task analysis, design of jobs and human-hardware-software interfaces; training). †¢ Operation (ergonomic control, monitoring and measurement).†¢ Corrective/preventive action (ergonomic audits). Improvement (ergonomic evaluations, communication with interested parties. Interested parties may include customers, for ergonomic characteristics of the product/service, and employees, for ergonomics of the workplace). Rather than adding speci?c ergonomic and safety requirements to existing quality standards (Barsky and Dutta (1997) sugg est this), a separate ergonomic system standard can be drafted, and then integrated with existing quality management systems. Using the de?nition and the model of a quality system from Karapetrovic and Willborn (1998C), proposed elements of the ergonomic management system (EMS) can be illustrated as in Figure 2.For example, the executive management of an organization should de?ne an ergonomic policy that is documented and communicated to all employees. Ergonomic aspects of all activities and processes within the organization should be identi?ed and speci?c objectives and targets set. An ergonomic management program should be de?ned and documented, and adequate resources allocated. Operation of the EMS should include a statement of responsibility and authority of people involved, identi?cation of training needs and a provision of adequate ergonomic training, and preparation of adequate EMS documentation. Corrective and preventive action to eliminate existing and potential problems sh ould be undertaken, and ergonomic audits would assist in this effort.Finally, the executive management should review the status of the EMS, includ88 ing its effectiveness, suitability, and conformance to the requirements. 7. Conclusion This paper addressed some of the ergonomic issues in the ISO 9000-based quality assurance for services. Outlines of ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 quality system models were provided, followed by a discussion of the content of the ISO 9001 standard considering ergonomics and human factors. Ergonomic implementation of a quality system was subsequently addressed. Finally, possible development of an â€Å"ergonomic assurance system† on the basis of ISO 9001 and systems theory was presented. Further research into the development of ergonomic assurance systems is suggested.

Ten Tips for Coding Excel VBA Macros

Ten Tips for Coding Excel VBA Macros Ten commonsense suggestions to make coding Excel VBA faster and easier. These tips are based on Excel 2010 (but they work in nearly all versions) and many were inspired by the OReilly book Excel 2010 - The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald. 1 - Always test your macros in a throwaway test spreadsheet, usually a copy of one that its designed to work with. Undo doesnt work with macros, so if you code a macro that folds, spindles, and mutilates your spreadsheet, youre outta luck unless you have followed this tip. 2 - Using shortcut keys can be dangerous because Excel doesn’t warn you if you choose a shortcut key that Excel is already using. If this happens, Excel uses the shortcut key for the macro, not the built-in shortcut key. Think about how surprised your boss will be when he loads your macro and then Ctrl-C adds a random number to half the cells in his spreadsheet. Matthew MacDonald makes this suggestion in Excel 2010 - The Missing Manual. Here are some common key combinations that you should never assign to macro shortcuts because people use them too frequently: CtrlS (Save)CtrlP (Print)CtrlO (Open)CtrlN (New)CtrlX (Exit)CtrlZ (Undo)CtrlY (Redo/Repeat)CtrlC (Copy)CtrlX (Cut)CtrlV (Paste) To avoid problems, always use CtrlShiftletter macro key combinations, because these combinations are much less common than the Ctrlletter shortcut keys. And if you’re in doubt, don’t assign a shortcut key when you create a new, untested macro. 3 - Cant remember Alt-F8 (the default macro shortcut)? Do the names mean nothing to you? Since Excel will make macros in any opened workbook available to every other workbook that’s currently open, the easy way is to build your own macro library with all of your macros in a separate workbook. Open that workbook along with your other spreadsheets. As Matthew puts it, Imagine you’re editing a workbook named SalesReport.xlsx, and you open another workbook named MyMacroCollection.xlsm, which contains a few useful macros. You can use the macros contained in MyMacroCollection.xlsm with SalesReport.xlsx without a hitch. Matthew says this design makes it easy to share and reuse macros across workbooks (and between different people). 4 - And consider adding buttons to link to the macros in the worksheet that contains your macro library. You can arrange the buttons in any functional groupings that make sense to you and add text to the worksheet to explain what they do. Youll never wonder what a cryptically named macro actually does again. 5 - Microsofts new macro security architecture has been improved a lot, but its even more convenient to tell Excel to trust the files in certain folders on your computer (or on other computers). Pick a specific folder on your hard drive as a trusted location. If you open a workbook stored in this location, it’s automatically trusted. 6 - When youre coding a macro, dont try to build cell selection into the macro. Instead, assume that the cells that the macro will use have been pre-selected. Its easy for you to drag the mouse over the cells to select them. Coding a macro that is flexible enough to do the same thing is likely to be full of bugs and hard to program. If you want to program anything, try to figure out how to write validation code to check whether an appropriate selection has been made in the macro instead. 7 - You might think that Excel runs a macro against the workbook that contains the macro code, but this isn’t always true. Excel runs the macro in the active workbook. Thats the workbook that you looked at most recently. As Matthew explains it, If you have two workbooks open and you use the Windows taskbar to switch to the second workbook, and then back to the Visual Basic editor, Excel runs the macro on the second workbook. 8 - Matthew suggests that, For easier macro coding, try to arrange your windows so you can see the Excel window and the Visual Basic editor window at the same time, side-by-side. But Excel wont do it, (Arrange All on the View menu only arranges the Workbooks. Visual Basic is considered a different application window by Excel.) But Windows will. In Vista, close all but the two you want to arrange and right-click the Taskbar; select Show Windows Side by Side. In Windows 7, use the Snap feature. (Search online for Windows 7 features Snap for instructions.) 9 - Matthews top tip: Many programmers find long walks on the beach or guzzling a jug of Mountain Dew a helpful way to clear their heads. And of course, the mother of all VBA tips: 10 - The first thing to try when you cant think of the statements or keywords you need in your program code is to turn on the macro recorder and do a bunch of operations that seem to be similar. Then examine the generated code. It wont always point you to the right thing, but it often does. At a minimum, it will give you a place to start looking. Source MacDonald, Matthew. Excel 2010: The Missing Manual. 1 edition, OReilly Media, July 4, 2010.

Recognize and Use Clauses in English Grammar

Recognize and Use Clauses in English Grammar A clause is the basic building block of a sentence; by definition, it must contain a subject and a verb. Although they appear simple, clauses can function in complex ways in English grammar. A clause can function as a simple sentence, or it may be joined to other clauses with conjunctions to form complex sentences. A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a predicate. It may be either a complete  sentence (also known as an independent or  main clause) or a sentence-like construction within another sentence (called a dependent or subordinate clause). When clauses are joined so that one modifies another, they are called matrix clauses. Independent: Charlie bought a 57 Thunderbird. Dependent: Because he loved classic cars Matrix: Because he loved classic cars, Charlie bought a 57 Thunderbird. Clauses can function in several ways, as outlined below. Adjective Clause This dependent clause (adjective clause) is also known as a relevant clause because it usually contains a relative pronoun or relative adverb. It is used to modify a subject, much as an adjective would, and is also known as a relative clause. Example: This is the ball that Sammy Sosa hit over the left-field wall in the World Series.   Adverbial Clause Another dependent clause, adverbial clauses function like an adverb, indicating time, place, condition, contrast, concession, reason, purpose, or result. Typically, an adverbial clause is set off with a comma and subordinating conjunction. Example: Although Billy loves pasta and bread, hes on a no-carb diet. Comparative Clause These comparative subordinate clauses use adjectives or adverbs such as like or than to draw a comparison. They are also known as proportional clauses. Example: Julieta is a better poker player than I am. Complement Clause Complementary clauses function like adjectives modifying a subject. They usually begin with a subordinating conjunction and modify the subject-verb relationship. Example: I never expected that you would fly to Japan. Concessive Clause A subordinate clause, the concessive clause is  used to contrast or justify the main idea of the sentence. It is typically set off by a subordinating conjunction. Example: Because we were shivering, I turned up the heat. Conditional Clause Conditional clauses  are easy to recognize because they usually begin with the word if. A type of adjectival clause, conditionals express a hypothesis or condition. Example: If we can reach Tulsa, we can stop driving for the night. Coordinate Clause Coordinate  clauses usually begin  with the conjunctions and or but and express relativity or relationship with the subject of the main clause. Example: Sheldon drinks coffee, but Ernestine prefers tea. Noun Clause As the name suggests, noun clauses  are a sort of dependent clause that functions as a noun in relation to the main clause. They are typically offset with that, which, or what. Example: What I believe is irrelevant to the conversation. Reporting Clause The reporting clause is more commonly known as attribution because it identifies who is speaking or the source of what is being said. They always follow the noun or noun clause. Example: Im going to the mall, shouted Jerry from the garage. Verbless Clause This kind of subordinate clause may not seem like one because it lacks a verb. Verbless clauses provide tangential information that informs  but is not directly modifying the main clause. Example: In the interest of brevity, I will keep this speech short.

Health and Life Sciences - 8000 word Dissertation 'To Investigate the Essay

Health and Life Sciences - 8000 word Dissertation 'To Investigate the Spiritual Significance Walking has for Older People' - Essay Example The researcher also had to wade through many previous literatures, online articles, journals, and so on to help support this research. The thesis of this research supports the spiritual significance of walking and it writes thus, â€Å"The proposed research claims that walking as a physical exercise exerts a predominant influence in people and it causes for inculcating spirituality among older people.† This is a secondary research based on a qualitative study for which various diagrams and the view points of physiologists, psychologists and other writers have been included. Another notable thing that the researcher attempts to convey through this dissertation is that the term ‘spirituality’ has undergone changes during the course of time and as such, nowadays we do not entirely connect it to religion, as practiced in ancient times. The post-modern concept of spirituality is different that it now describes spirituality as ‘connectedness to nature’ or ‘connected to environment.’ The proposed study is based on the post-modern concept of spirituality on religious grounds. The researcher has attempted his best to justify the topic through different diagrams and the perceptions of the members of different walking groups. All through the research, the researcher has endeavored to keep the morality of the research. The researcher has assured the participants that all the information collected for the purpose of this research will be kept highly confidential. An official document will be prepared for the researcher. The st udy also ensures that the researcher is aware of his/her right to keep and maintain collected data with its significance. This paper adopts the traditional style of dissertation papers and the study is concluded by stating that walking as a physical exercise exerts a predominant influence in people and it causes for inculcating spirituality among older

Equality for Animals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Equality for Animals - Essay Example In case of animals the mental or psychological aspect do not play much role. This differentiation has not been made because the animal equality is based mainly on physical torment aspect. He author mentions the point â€Å"not have interests because it cannot suffer† but here it is not clear as to what kind of interest he is talking of. The explanation provided in this context is ambiguous because talking of experiments on mice, it is essential in human interests. The author has not talked of conflict of interests or what decision should be taken when there is such a conflict. What interest can a mouse have in reducing human suffering? Similarly a man will have no interest in considering mouse’s suffering. This aspect has not been taken into consideration. 2E. The principle theme of this article is based on the concept of giving equal consideration to animals. The basic argument that Singer has mentioned in support of equal consideration of animals is the â€Å"princip le of equal consideration of interests† (Singer, 1979). This principle indicates that every living being deserves equal treatment irrespective of their kind, size or power. There are several sub-arguments in this article. The first one is that although some animals like those animals with thick skins have the capacity to feel lesser degree of physical pain than human. However, Singer argues that this cannot be the ground of giving unequal consideration to animals. Secondly, animals are used for scientific experiments because they lack the fear of anticipation and also because they are not considered in the same category as humans. Singer argues that since human infants and retarded humans cannot be used for experiments, so animals should also be prohibited from experimenting. Thirdly, Singer argues that people should refrain from eating flesh of animals as this not a necessity. By killing animals for food they right of living is violated to serve the minor interests of humans. Fourthly, animals lack reasoning and so they are less self-conscious than humans. However, Singer argues that degree of self-consciousness cannot undermine the importance of giving equal consideration of interests. The main conclusion of this article is that in spite of all the differences between animals and humans, there should be equal consideration of interests. The main reason for this conclusion is that animals have the capacity to feel pain and suffering and so they should be considered equal to human beings in spite of their low intellectual level. Another reason is that humans have no right to use animals for the purpose of pleasure. 3F. Main concepts: Animals Equal treatment Main Conceptual Question: Should animals be given equal treatment as humans? Animals Equal treatment - have less intellectual power - have capacity to feel pain - do not have the fear of anticipation - are consumed by humans as food - are kept in unfavourable conditions to be converted into food - are used for scientific experiments - eat each other - Darwinian theory gives humans right to kill animals for food - can use tools and communicate like humans - equal consideration of interests - suffering of all beings must be given equal consideration - humans infants and retarded humans are not considered to be of same category like animals - use of animals as food is not a necessity but is more a luxury - people should choose vegetarian way of life in order to maintain the