Using an essay style format, discuss why might banks be considered as

Using an style format, discuss why might banks be considered as the 'key' players in the financial system - Essay Example All of these parts are closes dependent on each other. A good financial system makes sure that all these parts function together to make sure that the money is optimally channeled in an economy. If one part of the financial system is in conflict with the other, or if there is a distortion between the motives of the two parts of a financial system, then there are chances that the financial system will collapse. This is very dangerous for the entire economy, because when one part of financial system collapses, other parts also face the domino effect causing the economy to face serious recession and plummeting demand. Hence, it is imperative for an economy to have a stable financial system if it is to work well. (Mishkin) Financial markets make it possible for people to trade securities. It is a good way of raising capital, transferring risk, liquidity maintenance and trading foreign exchange. The financial markets play an important role in instilling level of confidence in the investors. They know that they can invest now and liquidate in future when they need funds and allow them earn interest on their money. Examples of Financial Markets can be Stock Markets, Money Markets, Forex Markets and IPOs (Lipsey and Chrystal). A good financial system usually contains financial markets as a platform that allows the trading of financial securities and instruments. Similarly, Financial Institutions consist of those organizations that allow channeling of funds and create credit in the economy. In case these are missing in a financial system, then the economy is deprived of multiplier effect and can face serious levels of unemployment and lack of investment motives. Examples of Financial Markets include Banks, Building Societies, Leasing Companies etc. Financial Instruments are securities that are traded in the Financial Markets. These include bonds, stock, money market securities and derivatives. These are again very important

Strategies to Prevent the Spread of Tuberculosis

Strategies to Prevent the Spread of Tuberculosis To address the problem of Tuberculosis (TB) within East London Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. People who have infected sputum can transmit the disease to others. Since it is a notifiable disease accurate figures are available. There are about 7000 cases of TB annually in the UK mostly in the large cities especially London (Health Protection Agency figures). The number of cases has increased by 25% in the last ten years (Department of Health figures). Issues Paucity of evidence will mean some decisions on strategy will encompass consensus decisions. Often it is not one single measure that is effective on its own. Those born abroad or homeless are at disproportionately high risk of getting TB. They must not be seen as being victimised if they are screened in preference to other people. The stigma associated with TB is counter productive to the programme. Potential patients are reluctant to seek investigation. Tannahill’s (1985) three overlapping spheres of health promotion; health education, prevention and health protection, will be incorporated into the programme. Prevention Primary This involves changing the environment, behaviour or both. Immunization is the crux here together with health education. The later involves knowledge, changing attitudes and behaviour (Donaldson, 2003). Secondary This involves early detection of TB and prompt treatment. It is necessary to screen asymptomatic individuals. TB fulfils the WHO screening test requirements (Wilson, 1968). Tertiary Rehabilitation needs to be effective and visible. If the community can see the care and curative treatment the stigma of the illness will lessen and more people come for screening. Programme development Since doctors and nurses do not empower but the community empowers itself (Bright, 1997) it is important that the community has control over the way the programme is set up and run. The issues need to be ranked in order of importance (Ewles, 2003). The programme design is one of health promotion and disease prevention. The Healthcare Commission assesses how well the NHS meets the standards set by the Department of Health document ‘Standards for Better Health’ (2004). These standards include taking into account and implementing nationally agreed guidelines. It is therefore assumed, at least for the purpose of this work, that the NICE guidelines are implemented. The chosen program will be supplementary and complimentary to the implementation of the NICE guidelines. A force field analysis can help to determine the helping and hindering aspects the project is likely to encounter and may be valuable at an early stage in planning the project. It will be beneficial to look at ways of promoting the helping forces and lessening the unfavourable ones. The rationale of the study This is based on the policy on TB. The purpose behind this is that the sooner TB is detected the easier it is to treat and the less the risk of transmission to other people. Aims and objectives These are constructed from areas relevant to the NICE guidelines. There are two aspects to the programme and these are both directly obtained from the objectives of the NICE guidelines (2006). The whole purpose of the NICE guideline is diagnosis and treatment (this is stated in the title of the guideline). Those who may be infectious to others require detection and treatment from the purpose of the own health interests and also in order to lessen the chance of transmission. Treatment needs to be effective. The NICE guideline recognises the advent of drug resistance with failure of treatment and remaining risk of transmission. Following directly on from these two points respectively there are two parts to the objectives of this programme: Diagnosis Each case of sputum positive TB detected will be looked at to see if the diagnosis could have been made sooner. A group will assess the prior opportunities for earlier diagnosis and why those opportunities were missed. For instance was it a problem with the patient, the medical care, administration, resources. Each case will be classed to see if there was an element of sub standard care. Information thus obtained from the cases will be amalgamated to see if there can be any â€Å"lessens learnt† or whether targeting of resources in one particular aspect might help. Treatment This consists of two parts (the cases concerned will be a subset of group one except for those cases diagnosed outside of the area): Incomplete treatment Each case where directly observed treatment was not completed will be looked at to see what factors might have enhanced compliance. Drug resistance Each drug resistant case will be looked at to see whether there were potentially avoidable factors in the development of resistance. Target group, The appropriate target groups for the different parts of the study are: 1. Diagnosis All the sputum positive cases that are diagnosed in the area within the first six months. 2a) Incomplete treatment All the cases who were on directly observed treatment and failed to complete it. They may be being treated somewhere else but if this cannot be confirmed they are classed as failure of treatment. Six months would be the time frame Those complying with and still on their treatment at the six month point would not be classed as failure to give treatment. 2b) Drug resistance All diagnosed cases of drug resistant TB diagnosed within the six months. Since health inequalities are associated with social class (Black report, 1980) and material deprivation (Townsend, 1987) these groups will feature prominently in the cases. A study in London (Story, 2006) found that 321 of 1941 (17%) of cases of TB there were in people who were homeless, drug abusers or ex prisoners. These three factors were independently associated with poor treatment compliance. Of poor treatment compliance 38% of the patients were in one of these groups and 44% of smear positive and drug resistant cases were in one of these groups. Setting and needs assessment An integral aspect of this project involves identifying ways to change behaviour of those at risk of acquiring or having TB. The Health Belief Model (Becker, 1974) explains people will weigh up the benefits and risks of making a change and the Theory of Reasoned Action (Ajzen 1980) adds in the influences of family and friends. To facilitate the change Ewles (2003) recommends; Working with the community Facilitating healthier choices Relating to individuals Dealing with resistance When working with the community advocacy is a useful way of gaining representation from groups, and indeed individuals, whose views are difficult to obtain. Perhaps they do not speak English, perhaps they are homeless or abuse drugs. The advocates may be non-medical but have some things in common with the group they are representing. It is vitally important to make healthier choices more attractive to people. This will encourage them to present for screening, investigation or vaccination. Whilst this may be relatively easy for an ethnic minority community it is particularly challenging for the drug abuser or homeless person. Empathy with the problematic group and really understanding their views, motives and behaviour is inherent in this project. In identifying whether diagnosis could have been made earlier or treatment completed the people involved in investigating aspects of the cases will need to include the groups of people from whom the index case arose. This will involve people from local ethnic groups, prisoners, drug addicts and homeless people. Most importantly of all it will involve the patients themselves. For instance, although much useful information will be gleaned from meetings with the above groups of people to try and evaluate the reasons why a particularly individual did not present themselves for screening or did not respond to a request to be screened or did not have a baby vaccinated it is going to be extremely valuable to discuss with the person concerned what factors led to the diagnosis being made at the time it was rather than earlier. Much valuable insight may be gained from this process or there again it might not. In a programme of this nature it is important to keep an open mind to whether somethi ng is going to work or not hence the importance of building in an appropriate method of evaluation at the design stage of the study. It is too late to add on the choice of statistical analysis once the data has been collected because it might not have been collected in an appropriate way. Resources To be comprehensive the resources will need to include; Primary and secondary care, with consent issues handled at the time of diagnosis and treatment so that only patients willing to participate will be interviewed. A prior plan will need to be formulated in agreement with the ethics committee about what level of investigation can take and mechanisms of anonymising information. Patient confidentiality is of utmost importance. Patients attending genitourinary medicine clinics will often wish to remain anonymous. However this attendance is an opportunity for screening would provide useful information to the programme. If the group set up to look into the issues of potential for earlier diagnosis and treatment failures are from the same local community they may well know the index case. This issue needs to be discussed at community level to find effective ways of making the process anonymous and gaining community confidence. It is difficult to envisage at this stage where the source of funding will come for such a project. Perhaps the best scenario would be to run it at a loss as academic research perhaps involving students for higher degrees and then present the results of a pilot study to then try and gain some central funding to pursue the project on a wider scale. The worst scenario would be that it never becomes more than a research project. Much will depend on its evaluation results and perceived value partly as a result of its marketing. Aagencies, consumers and stake holders The stake holders are those with an interest in the project and seeing how it is run. The stake holders are many and really encompass all groups primary and secondary care, groups outside of healthcare, and community groups. They all need an awareness of the programme. Some will be more directly involved than others and the degree of involvement will alter as the programme progresses. Budget plan, A costing plan and a template are discussed in detail in a Costing report (2006) for implementation of the NICE guidelines. If feedback from this programme results in earlier diagnosis and in more effective treatment there will be less transmission and less drug resistance. Costings are set out in the NICE documentation and so the relevant calculations can be made for cost savings based in estimates of the results of the programme. The costs incurred will be of setting up the relevant community groups and analysing the cases. This will incur staffing costs and administration costs and likely costs for travel and other community member and patient related costs. Policy evaluation It is important to have a comprehensive programme of evaluation the features of which will shortly be outlined. There are three main purposes to the policy evaluation: Can we identify aspects where significantly earlier diagnosis could have been made? If so what are these and what are the resource and practical implications of implementing them? The same question could be asked of avoiding incomplete directly observed treatment and of avoiding drug resistance. If question one is answered in the affirmative can funding be secured for the project? If question one is answered in the affirmative can the actions identified as valuable in that section be set up? If so this would represent effective feedback. How evaluation will be carried out Clinical and statistical significance must be distinguished. The former is arbitrarily chosen as one month for speed of diagnosis. The relevant evaluation will be by qualitative methods of analysis. It will however be useful to compare the percentage where there was an avoidable factor in later diagnosis, treatment failure or development of resistance over a time scale say a number of years to see if the whole systems approach is actually improving with regard to diagnosis or treatment. References/resources Ajzen I Fishbein M 1980 Understanding attitudes and predicting social behaviour. Englewood Cliffs. Prentice Hall. Becker MH 1974 The health belief model and personal health behaviour. New Jersey. Slack. Black Report 1980 Dept of Health and Social Security Inequalities in Health: report of a research working group. London HMSO Bright JS 1997 Health promotion in clinical practice Bailliere Tindall London Costing report. 2006 NICE clinical guideline no. 33 Implementing NICE guidance in England Department of Health Donaldson LJ Donaldson RJ 2003 Essential Public Health 2nd ed Petroc Press Berkshire Ewles L Simnett I 2003 Promoting health, a practical guide. London. Bailliere Tindall. Government’s TB Action plan for England 2005 Health protection Agency www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/tb/menu.htm accessed 4.5.06 NICE guidelines 2006 Clinical guideline 33 Tuberculosis Clinical diagnosis and management of tuberculosis, and measures for its prevention and control. www.nice.org.uk/CG033 accessed 10 May 2006 Standards for better health 2004 Department of health. Stopping Tuberculosis in England Department of Health 2004 Story A Murad S Roberts W et al 2006 Contribution of homelessness, problem drug use and prison to tuberculosis in London. Tannahill A 1985 What is health promotion? Health Education Journal 44:167-8 Townsend P Phillimore P Beattie A 1987 Deprivation and health: inequality and the North. Beckenham. Croom Helm Whitehead M Tones K 1991 Avoiding the pitfalls. London. Health Education Authority. Wilson JMG Jungner G 1968 The principles and practice of screening for disease. Public Health Papers 34 Geneva. WHO.

Geography of Japan Essay -- hokkaido region, potsdam declaration

Japan is known for its contemporary culture and advancement in electronics and engineering. We could also learn from the traditions Japan can offer. From advancement in cars and electronic devices, Japan holds on to ancient arts and traditions that play a role in their daily life. Japan has various climates from tropical in the south to cooler temperatures in the north, and the famous tourist site of the active volcano Mount Fuji. Mount Fiji is the highest mountain in Japan, with a tundra climate the temperature is low and covered with snow causing. The average temperature is always below freezing, excluding the summer. Geography of Japan Japan is a country made up by a chain of thousands of islands on the Pacific Ocean. Japan is located to the east of South and North Korea, China, and Russia. The Sea of Japan separates the Asian continent from the Japanese’s islands. Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku are the largest islands of the country. Japan officially divided into the following eight regions: Hokkaido, Chubu, Shikoku, Tohoku, Kinki/Kansai, Kyushu and Okinawa, Kanto, and Chugoku. The eight regions divide into 47 prefectures, which are similar to the 50 States in America. Eight Regions The Hokkaido region is in the Hokkaido Island, the northernmost of the islands and the second largest. This region mostly known for the beautiful scenery offer by the mountainous terrain, volcanoes and the vast amount of lakes has become the fishing and agricultural most important industries that motivate the Hokkaido region. This region also defers from the rest because of the location and mountain ranges that help maintain the region cooler in the summer and the winters are the coldest of all the Japans regions. Chu... ...4). Japan: Government. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. http://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/japan/government Japan-Traditions,Holidays, and Folklore. (2001). Web. 14 Nov. 2015. http://acad.depauw.edu/~mkfinney/teaching/Com227/culturalportfolios/japan/traditions.htm Japan: Geisha Culture. Discovery.com. (2014). Web. 11 Nov. 2015. http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/other-shows/videos/discovery-atlas-japan-geisha-culture.htm3 Japan National Tourism Organization. Web. 15 Nov. 2015. http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/indepth/cultural/experience/a.html Web-japan.org. Web. 15 Nov. 2015. http://web-japan.org/factsheet/en/pdf/e03_flora.pdf Merriam-Webster.com. (2014). Parliamentary Government Definition. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parliamentary%20government Web-japan.org. Web. 15 Nov. 2015. http://web-japan.org/factsheet/en/pdf/e02_regions.pdf

Media Violence Essay

Television has been considered as part of entertainment of the society. Mass media has been recognized as the giver and provider of the information needed by the public. These two terms have too many influences and greatly affects the lives of the people in the society which make them important elements in this post modern world. From gaining knowledge to entertainment, media has been having the reputation of providing all the information needed by the public. However, the society also points out the mass media as the greatest influence of aggressive behavior of the viewers. Through the movies and television shows that are being released by the media, people learn to conform and adopt the attitudes that are portrayed by the characters. The constant changing society has challenge the culture and values of the people around the world. The popular culture has been very influential making the society conform to the new trends. However, there are some factors in the society that are not changing regardless of the transparency of its effects. In other words, these are the aspects that affect the lives of the people negatively but still considered as adequate because of the acceptance of the mainstream. Media violence is one of the negative elements of the society but still existing despite the evident effects to the people. The Viewers and the Media Violence The behavior of the person shows the kind of television program he or she watches (Science Daily). Apparently, media violence does not affect only those who already understand the language and actions of a certain movie or television show. In fact, even the toddlers are being affected by these aggressive behaviors on screen. The people learn based on what they could see in their environment. Undeniably, mass media is one of the most influential factors that is present in this post modern world. The values that people adapt from their surroundings help in developing their personalities as they grow older. Since media has been the easiest tool in gaining information, it has also become an instrument to learn and adapt the culture of the society. The children that are just starting to learn in the society is being trained and influenced by the behaviors that are being portrayed in movies and television programs. Everyday, a home is being penetrated not only by thousands of advertisers that persuade every member of the family to buy a certain product. In fact, the television serves as the bridge of the people to the fictional world that are perfectly created by the mass media. Thousands of scenes from television shows and advertisements are being portrayed and most of them are adopted influencing the mind and personality of an individual. Countless murders and other acts of violence are shown making the audience feel the danger present outside their homes. The martial arts battle, shootings, knifings, fistfights, and exploding cars are just few of the scenes that can be watched on movies or television shows. These acts of violence are usually done by the heroes and villains who often serve as the role models for the young adults in the society (Freedman 4). The aggressive behaviors that the children often see on screen are committed by the live actors or even animated figures that appear in the best movies as well as the worst. On the other hand, the existence of violence in the society has not created by the media themselves. In fact violence has been in the society even before television was invented, movie houses were constructed, and video games were released. Aggression is a nature of man and it has been present even before the technology enter the scene. The public has been blaming the media for the aggression that their shows cause to the people especially to children; however, the media has been firm on telling that their aggressive shows represent the violence of the society. This issue has been at the heart of debate in the society. The presence of media relies on the elements of the society while the society relies on the information that are being offered by the mass media. Effects of Media Violence As the child becomes older, he or she is being accustomed with the information available in his or her surroundings. The internet, television shows, video games, and advertising are the sources of information of children nowadays (Wintour). The presence of media has undeniably influenced the young adults as they grow up to be mature individuals. The aggressive behaviors that they can see on television, movies, or even video games are being adapted and accepted to their own construction of reality. The child learns to hit his playmate when he gets mad, throw things when he is irritated, and shout when somebody did not pay attention to him. These are all examples of aggressive behaviors which may appear to be simple and normal attitude of a child. Oftentimes, the society fails to notice these simple behaviors as a problem that needs to be solved before it gets worse. The video games that are sold in the market with a goal to teach children to stand diversity has undeniably created an impression that it would enhance the knowledge of the young adults in technology and eliminated the idea that this would trigger the aggressive behavior of the player. The children will play as the main character that is given a task to protect a territory and kill the animated figures that would hinder him to win the game. The concept of this game sets the mind of the young players to fight with the use of guns and knives (O’Hehir) Frequently, learning to behave aggressively is the tested effect of media violence. This effect is also referred to as instigation of aggressive impulses, disinhibition of socialization against aggressive behavior and imitation of violence (Potter, 25). The child may not show an aggressive behavior after watching series of violent shows but the child would definitely think that aggression is acceptable in the society. Moreover, the child may not imitate the actions that were portrayed by the media, but the scenes may create fear to the young minds of the viewers. Since the information on media sources are the most accessible source of knowledge, the viewers may accustomed them and accept them as part of reality. Media violence produces short-term increases by priming existing aggressive scripts and cognitions, increasing physiological arousal, and triggering an automatic tendency to imitate observed behaviors. Media violence produces long-term effects via several types of learning processes leading to the acquisition of lasting (and automatically accessible) aggressive scripts, interpretational schemas, and aggression-supporting beliefs about social behavior, and by reducing individuals’ normal negative emotional responses to violence (Anderson et al. 81). Apparently, mass media gives all the necessary information that the people need in order to function well in the society. The media may represent the events that often occur in the society but those should not also be the basis of the messages that are being conveyed to the audience. The real events are filmed and added with more spices to make the viewers buy what the media has prepared for them. Although aggression is long associated to human, there are still factors in the society that provoke people to behave aggressively. Mass media sells products to the public. These products do not consist only of the consumer goods that the society needs in order to survive. The television programs that are being shown to the public are products of mass media that the society willingly buys. Unquestionably, the media is an influential and powerful tool to make the society a better place; however, mass media sources have been very consistent in telling only the truth to their customers. The element of the society that should help the people to lessen the societal problems become an instrument to pass the negative aspects of the society from generation to generation. However, the people can still select the products carefully. Buying violent products is telling the media to produce more (Edgar 59). The society needs to be wiser in selecting the program that would portray less aggression and help the people to participate more on salient topic in the society rather than the fiction stories that affect negatively to the lives of the viewers. Works Cited Craig A. Anderson, Leonard Berkowitz, Edward Donnerstein, L. Rowell Huesmann, James D. Johnson, Daniel Linz, Neil M. Malamuth, Ellen Wartella. The influence of media violence on youth. Psychological Science in the Public Interest. USA: Association for Psychological Science. 2004. Volume 4 Issue 3 pp. 81-110 Edgar, Kathleen. Everything you need to know about media violence. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2000 Freedman, Jonathan L. Media Violence and Its Effect on Aggression: Assessing the Scientific Evidence. Canada: University of Toronto Press, 2002 O’Hehir, Andrew. The Myth of Media Violence. March 17, 2005. Daily Newsletter. 11 March 2009. Potter, James W. On Media Violence. USA: SAGE, 1999 Rutgers University. â€Å"Media Violence Cited As ‘Critical Risk Factor’ For Aggression. † ScienceDaily 20 November 2008. 11 March 2009 . Wintour, Patrick. 5 September 2007. The Guardian. 11 March 2009

Hca/250 Change and Innovation Paper

Change and Innovation Paper HCA/250 Change and Innovation Change and Innovation In today’s economy we have experienced numerous amounts of change especially within the workplace. Some of these changes consist of new technology, procedures, as well as equipment, which can cause a lot of misunderstandings amongst present employees. According to the scenario given; a major health care organization has decided to use electronic medical records (EMRs). The employees in this organization are resistant to change, specifically changes that have to deal with technology.There are several ways that an employer can resolve situations like these and convert it into a positive that will benefit the facility. Within the workplace it may be difficult for employees to adapt change due to being confined to their usual agenda. Also most may find it highly difficult to manage the adjustment in using electronic medical records (EMRs), because that’s training that present and future employee s would have to complete in order to be certified to use this new technology.Also acknowledge that many of these facilities today rarely offer on-the-job training, which is time that employees have to appoint in order to be up to date with their place of employment which many may not have. Therefore, giving us an understanding why employees would be resistant toward the technical changes within the workplace. Being that I am a recreational manager at my current place of employment I too have to deal with the questions and concerns of current employees who may have an issue with certain changes.Some strategies that I consider helpful is to start by finding out their reason for not wanting to confine to the new changes and hopefully see if there is a reasonable conclusion that can possibly resolve the situation at hand. Also, stating the present reason(s) for the change, Change and Innovation giving the employee an explanation on how it will benefit the facility as well as themselves. After doing so if their still in disagreement I’d still encourage them to perform their duties to their fullest potential.It is not guaranteed that an employer can please all of its workers, but make it to where they at least feel comfortable performing their duties in that particular work environment. So it is good to follow through with the innovation plans, so that employees are aware of their new goals and how to manage their performance for the better good of the company. So why are some employees resistant toward organizational change? There can be multiple reasons for this.Many may disagree with certain changes that are being made, time management may cause conflict to a lot of schedules, due to the fact that many of us do inquire a second job, or it can just be that they may not like the new ideas of change for their own personal reasons. It is understandable that employees may have issues with certain adjustments especially if it’s going to affect other thing s they may have going on. For example, at my place of employment we had recently made the decision to keep our facility open later on the weekends because we realized we make more profit mainly on the weekends.Whereas making such change has affected some of our employees being that some of them work second jobs strictly on the weekends aside from this one, along with others who have children and are not able to find child care that could keep their children until eleven o’clock. So it has created a lot of conflict for some of our employees where we had to come to an agreement on how we could work around their second job schedules and their availability. Having to adjust to certain employees’ availability is where Human Resources can play a role in adapting and managing change.They have the ability to set forth ideas and solutions on how to keep the necessary change in progress Change and Innovation as well as assisting their workers with managing their work schedules a nd extras that may hinder them from fully achieving the necessary changes within the work environment. Giving another example from my place of work, we have recently got the approval to expand our facility so we can add more amenities for our customers’ enjoyment. Therefore, Human Resources have aken it upon themselves to hire flex time workers in order to cover the shifts that our regular workers cannot. However, it all works out for the better good of our facility by increasing the success from the management of innovation and change. Reference 1. http://smallbusiness. chron. com/innovation-change-business 2. http://www. leadership-and-motivation-training. com/strategies-for-managing-change 3. Coulter, M. , DeCenzo, D. , Robbins, S. (2011). Fundamentals of Management: Essential Concepts and Applications. Seventh Edition. Pearson Education. Published: Prentice Hall.