Biology lap report Lab Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Biology lap - Lab Report Example The temperature range was set for 0Â °C to 95Â °C. the rate of reaction was directly proportional to the increase in temperature, but there was a decline after 40Â °C as envisaged in the hypothesis, the enzymes denature with a very high elevation in temperature, concluding that if the temperature is increased beyond the optimal temperature then the enzymatic activities come to a close and enzyme becomes denatured. The study also envisaged that fungal amylase do display the slightly faster hydrolytic action on starch as compared to the human salivary amylase. Starch is the regular component of our daily diet. It is perhaps an extensive carbohydrate in the plant world and is consumed by humans and other herbivores to meet their energy requirements. It is a polymer of glucose which depicts the linkage of ÃŽ ±-1,4 and ÃŽ ±-1,6 glucosidic bonding. It is essential to break this bonding to derive carbon and energy from the starch molecules; this task is performed by group of enzymes called amylases (Lehninger, 2008). There are various organisms which serve as sources of amylase, human saliva and pancreas, other organisms encompass plants fungi and bacteria. The present study includes two group of amylases, human amylase and fungal amylase. Human amylase was obtained from the saliva while the fungal amylase was procured from Aspergillus species which is highly prevalent and generally acquired from soil, putrefying foliage and also present in air. Any reaction needs some initiation energy for its onset; this is also true for biological processes. Hydrolysis of starch also requires some activation energy but due to the presence of biological catalysts, enzyme amylase this activation energy can be reduced and reaction is carried out with ease. Enzymes are extremely specific for substrates, pH, temperature. This is explained with the fact

The Dirty Thirties Essay Example for Free

The Dirty Thirties Essay I have chosen the years of 1930 to 1940 as one of the most significant decades in Canadian history. I believe this because it might have been one of the hardest decades to live in. Reasons being that we had suffered greatly by the 1929 Wall Street stock market crash and the enormous 1928 wheat crop crash Canadians were barely making any money or just not having anywhere to work because the demand was very very low. Food was running out and the average working Canadian was making less than $1000 a year! The Federal Department of Labor had said that familys needed between $1200 and $1500 a year to maintain the minimum standard of decency. It was a very depressing time, most familys had retreated to farms where they could grow their own food and barely sustain a low quality of living. Being that an estimated 33% Canada’s gross income had been coming from exports the whole country was suffering. This caused many workers to be laid off and the ones that hadn’t been, their salarys were cut down to a fraction of what they had been getting before. Tens of thousands of people had been totally dependent on government relief, which was greatly affecting Canada’s infrastructure. The depression slowly came to end when the war had been announced. There was a great demand for men to become soilders and support the war effort. More and more young men had started lining up outside military recruitment facilities, most of them trying to make their first dollars! The depression had taken its toll, and forced lots of men to join the war effort due to the simple fact that this was the only way to make money at the time witch is pretty sad when you come to think about it. But this wasn’t the end of the depression, it had whent on after the 1940s. Ammunition, supplies, equipment, and weapons had grown in great demand. With less and less men being around due to leaving for the service many woman had replaced men in the work field. Later on getting names like â€Å"Rosie the Rivetor. †

Oscar Wilde, The Picture Of Dorian Grey

Oscar Wilde, The Picture Of Dorian Grey Content: I give my personal opinion of the picture of Dorian Grey and how the author Oscar Wilde depicted himself in the novel. This essay reads the novel from several aspects include beauty and art point of view of Wilde, the connection between the novel and the social background and how the author lives his own life in the novel. Key words: aestheticism, Victoria era, corruption, responsibility Oscar Wilde was born in 1854, when the Queen Victoria reigned and Victoria literature style was flowering. Wildes parents were successful Dublin intellectuals and when he was young he was tutored at home, where he became fluent in French and German. He was deeply interested in the rising philosophy of aestheticism when he was at Oxford led by his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin, who had a great influence on his writings later in his life. The prosperity in the Victoria era began to decline in the late 19th century. The hegemony of Great Britain was challenged by the rising Germany and domestic dispute with Ireland. Under the superficial vanity of the British society lies the corruption of the aristocracy. They led a dissolute life and their Vitoria values and beliefs began to vanish. Indulgence and hedonism took the place of a decent and respectable life style they used to live. Oscar Wilde was born to be a spokesman of this era in the field of literature. The picture of Dorian Gray is one and the only novel of his and, in my opinion, is a representative oeuvre of both his life and the declining era. The story starts on a beautiful day with Lord Henry Wotton observing the artist Basil Hallward painting the portrait of a handsome young man named Dorian Gray. Dorian arrives later and meets Wotton. After talked with the libertine lord, Dorian begins to believe that beauty is the only thing that deserves to pursue in all his life. Distraught that his beauty will fade, he wishes that the beautiful and ever-lasting portrait can grow old instead of him, which finally comes true in some way. Later in his life, the portrait keep records of whatever he does and the portrait gets older and uglier once he does something criminal or corrupt. In the end, he thinks the only way to absolve him is to destroy the painting with a knife, which ends his horrible life instead. What is ironic is that his painting becomes what it used to be but Dorian himself dies with an aged and withered face. Acknowledged as the spokesman of the philosophy of aestheticism, Wildes doctrine was Art for arts sake. For Wilde, the purpose of art would guide life if beauty alone were its object. The picture of Dorian Gray reveals the belief that beauty on the surface can only exist in tragedies. As Henry said in the story -in the presence of off behind every beautiful thing there is some tragic things are (The picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde 1891), tragedy if the nature of beauty. Wilde, a pursuer of extreme art and beauty, combined the character of both Dorians and Basils. He once said that: Basil Hallward is what I think I am; Lord Henry is what the world thinks me; Dorian gray is what I would like to be-in other ages perhaps. These three main characters in the story are the spirit of the story. Dorian Gray is a handsome young man who accepts Lord Henrys idea of hedonism. He indulges himself in all kinds of pleasure, moral and immoral. Like Oscar Wilde, Dorian thinks that beauty is the only object of life and that is why he would like to trade his conscience for life-long youth and beauty. Dorian is actually an extremist of aestheticism, a person that Wilde admires. Wilde highlights Dorians pleasure of living a double life and being an example of duplicity. Although Dorian is extremely indulgent, he replies take care, Basil. You go too far when Basil accuses him of making Lord Henrys sisters name a by-word. This indicates that Dorian still cares what he looks like in peoples eyes and his image in the Victorian society. 24 hours after committing a murder, he happily attends a party and feels keenly the terrible pleasure of a double life. Dorian enjoys this double life as an integration of good and evil. I think this kind of life is what Wilde dreams of. Actually Wilde is just like Dorian. His life is a paradox because he is both good and evil, both sophisticated and simple, both honest and hypocritical. Different from other writers, he leads a much more real life than others. Being accused of sodomite (gay person) by his lovers father, he has lots of scandals and was imprisoned for two year. He abandons his wife and children for his male lover again after he is released. But he does not get what he pursues at last. Different from other writers, he belongs to the upper-class instead of the impoverished known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversations. Wilde was one of the best known personalities of his day (On Characters in the Picture of Dorian GrayAn Interpretation of Oscar Wilde 2008). He converts to Roman Catholicism on his deathbed. All those experience are the reflections of his motto I want to live rather than survive. He himself is a living character in his own life story. Wilde gives what he wants and what he respects to this person-Dorian Gray. Another character in this story named Basil Hollward is also a reflection of Wilde himself. Wilde says that Basil Hollward is what he thinks he is. I think that is because Basil Hollward is a complete artist. Attracted by Dorians gorgeous face, he paints the portrait of Dorian which proves to be his finest work. Art is the only pursuit of basil and he does not want to believe that Dorian is evil although he was murdered by him at last. He still thinks that he is beautiful yet incomplete. What he commits is just a flaw in an apparently perfect thing. In my opinion, he knows what happened as the painting changes but he just does not want to believe. Once Basil acknowledges all the evil sides of Dorian, his dream of art was destroyed. Dorian is a work of art to Basil as well as a lover deep in his heart. Whod like to admit his or her lover is evil and corrupted? Wilde once said my life as an artist depends on him. This is because basil, as an artist, possesses all the doctrines of what Wilde think an artist should have. He is a perfect reflection of Wildes witticism: all that I desire to point out is the general principle that life imitates art far more than art imitate life. Disappointed to the society, Wilde gives all the social characteristics to this Lord. He tricks Dorian to become a half-human half-evil spirit with his corrupted lifestyle. What he does in the story is to lead Dorian to be destroyed in his ideology. As he says that the purpose of life is self development and the full realization of the nature of their requirements. His position in the story is best described by basil, as never says anything good but never does anything bad.(Aestheticism in the picture of Dorian grey, 2006) Besides the theme of aestheticism, this masterpiece also reveals the social situation and peoples sense of irresponsible at that time. When Dorian visit to the opium dens of London, according to what Lord Henry asserts crime belongs exclusively to the lower ordersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦I should fancy that crime was to them what art is to us. In Henrys eyes, different social status has different world view and a tainted value must belong to the lower class. What ironic is that Dorian conflates criminal and aesthete. Back in the last stage of the Victoria era, people were crazy about indulgence and corruption but did not want to be responsible for their behavior. This theme is also reflected in the picture of Dorian Grey. In my opinion, Dorian uses his portrait to avoid his responsibility. He also justifies his actions according to the philosophy of the new hedonism. At the end of the novel, he chooses to destroy the painting as a way to confess. All these behavior depicts a spirit which aims to avoid all the commitments and condemnation. Professor John Sutherland once said in his lecture that this writing would have secured Wilde only a minor place in literature, but his status is elevated by his notoriety. I am not totally on board with this statement. Wilde may not be a very successful novelist but he is a successful living human being pursuing what he really wants for all his life. He thinks that it was the artists duty to rebel against precisely sacred orthodoxies. He and his novel are of total success in this sense as a perfect reflection of art and beauty.

Sears Kmart Merger Essay -- essays research papers

Due to slow sales and less traffic at both Sears and Kmart, the two have decided to merge creating one entity named Sears Holdings. Kmart has agreed to buy Sears for $11 Billion. This puts Sears Holdings at the third largest retailer behind Wal-Mart and Home Depot. Although Wal-Mart is a direct competitor with Kmart, Sears Holdings goal is not to compete with Wal-Mart directly, but find areas that have been overlooked by other retailers, and take advantage of the expanded line of products the new company has to offer. Sears has had higher sales than Kmart, so hundreds of Kmart’s will be transformed into Sears stores. As of now, most of Sears 870 stores are only found in malls. The new strategy would be to open Sears stores in current Kmart locations, to offer consumers with a different variety of products than what’s currently available from large retailers like Kmart and Wal-Mart. Sears is known for selling items such as their exclusive line of craftsman tools and Ken more appliances. In the future these Sears exclusives will be found in Kmart stores, and Kmart exclusives such as Martha Stewarts line of housewares will be found in Sears. This merger will bring a wide array of products to a larger group of consumers. Currently consumers looking to buy home appliances like stoves or refrigerators have to go to a mall with a Sears store or a specialty store like Best Buy or Circuit City. Not all consumers live near a mall, so buying from Sears may not be an option. Although bot...

Cougar or Coyote Essay

The trickster is an important archetype in any religion or myth because it provides an outlet for all of the chaotic and destructive emotions and tendencies of a people that are controlled by a larger social construct. It is through a trickster figure that people of a religion or society are able to explore the more untamed side of their nature while additionally presenting them with the consequences of those desires. The trickster is a figure that at once both mocks social morals and at the same time also reinforces those morals by showing the pandemonium and trouble that arises if the people do not follow the rules that are in place. The trickster also allows the people of a religion to express ideas and desires that might not ordinarily be acceptable in their society. In this way the trickster plays a very important and cathartic role in a religion or myth. Penelope, from Homers The Odyssey, is a woman of grit and spirit. Ellen Shull declares in her essay â€Å"Valuing Multiple Critical Approaches: Penelope, Again†¦ and Again† that Penelope is â€Å"the paragon of resilient womanhood† (32). However, a trickster god, like Monkey from Wu Ch’eng-en’s novel Monkey, and a mortal woman like Penelope appear to have nothing in common. Their roles are so different and their apparent purposes are even more so. On the surface it may seem as though Penelope from The Odyssey shares very little resemblance with a trickster god. However, when one takes a closer look the similarities become more obvious. Penelope is at once a powerful figure that adheres to the social norms of her patriarchal society while still rebelliously challenging the acknowledged rules of how a woman should behave. This can be seen as how a trickster like Monkey is used in myth to subvert a society’s own beliefs. Penelope is the other side of the coin of what it means to be a trickster. She is the female version as it were. Penelope may not be male, amoral, animal, or supernatural but she is cunning, childish, inventive, and she also a subversive figure within her patriarchal society. The most obvious source of incompatibility of Penelope being a trickster is that she is female while the trickster is usually a male like Monkey. Now, unless Penelope was even more deceitful than anyone had ever imagined then it is safe to say that she is not a trickster god based on that one quality alone. Leeming states that the trickster is â€Å"always male† (163). Obviously, Penelope is not male which means that she is, according to Leeming, not a trickster god, no exceptions. But if Leeming were to make an exception then Penelope would be one. Penelope is a woman who must work against all the restrictions and suffocating bounds that her society uses to leash women in order to trick the people surrounding her and she does. â€Å"She deceives the suitors and even her own husband† (Mueller, 337). Penelope even has long lasting deceptions that fool people for years. The sexual organs Penelope was born with seem to be of little importance when compared to the massive opposing powers and influences that she if forced to undermine and battle against. The next point of disparity between Penelope and a trickster figure like Monkey is that the trickster is seen as a philandering, unprincipled, hooligan. The trickster is considered to be an ethically neutral figure with a propensity for getting into humorous predicaments. Leeming calls the trickster â€Å"amoral†¦outrageous†¦ [and is] untamed by the larger social conscience†). Monkey is a perfect example of this side of a trickster. Monkey is not exactly immoral he just has his own sense of what the right thing to do is and he is overwhelmingly selfish. Every action and quest he takes at the beginning of his story is motivated by his desire to be immortal and to gain power. Even when Monkey protects his other monkey subjects he does so because he wants to maintain his kingship more than out of a fear for their safety and wellbeing. One could even posit that the monkeys would be better off without him because he brings the wrath of heaven down upon them. Monkey has all these qualities that Leeming states a trickster is comprised of. Penelope, on the other hand, is none of these things. In fact, she is usually remembered for her faithfulness to her husband even though he was gone for twenty years. Penelope â€Å"waits in Ithaca for Odysseus. She looks after his home, his son and his estate. She weeps lonely tears but nothing induces her to betray her husband and to neglect her duties, not even under pressure from the suitors does she contemplate infidelity† (Smit, 393-394). Her unwavering loyalty to her husband and her devotion to the gods are not the sort of characteristics seen in the trickster who typically represents lower or baser instincts and functions. Penelope is a classy lady but again she also has that side to her that rebels at the rules of her culture. Some might even call her a vain tease for keeping her suitors around for so long while never picking one or giving in to their masculine power. Penelope, also, does not fit in the trickster category because she is only human while a trickster is usually an animal. Leeming states that a trickster â€Å"takes animal form† (163). Monkey obviously fits into this category. Not only is he a monkey but he has mystical origins. He was born from a stone. In fact Monkey’s animal form is a point of ire for him because he in Monkey he tries become more and more human-like. He starts wearing clothes and stands upright in an attempt to appear more human. This fight between animal and human characteristics is vital in a trickster figure because that animal quality is in part what allows them to get away with their mischief. Penelope is no dog. Or any animal for that matter. She is in fact a very desirable woman with scores of suitors fighting for her hand in marriage. This does not help her in the trickster category but it does, however, show how her beauty and desirability are in part what allow her to get away with her schemes. Her beauty can even be seen as her animal side because it basically serves the same function that the animal form serves the trickster. An animal form, or in the case of Penelope, her beauty, is a metaphor of who they are and it allows them to be more completely that character and it allows them to do things that would not ordinarily be acceptable within that society. Penelope’s beauty is what allows her to subvert her patriarchal culture because her beauty gives her power over her suitors. She is a woman but she uses that to her advantage. It could also been seen that being a woman in the time of The Odyssey was akin to being an animal because it was such a male dominant culture where woman were little more than chattel or bargaining pieces. Maybe Penelope has more trickster qualities than are first apparent. The last way that Penelope does not fit into the trickster category is that she has no supernatural powers. Leeming â€Å"† (). She has no magical powers which show even further how she is not like a trickster. The trickster is almost always a supernatural figure. This category obviously denotes that a trickster has otherworldly abilities with which to influence outcomes. Penelope works entirely in the realm of her intelligence to bring about the results and tricks that she has concocted. This can make Penelope seem as being more skilled than a god who needs magic to bring about the outcome that he so desires. When compared to Penelope supernatural powers might be viewed as cheating.

British Airways Essay

In 1987, British Airways was privatised, and over the next decade turned from a loss-making nationalised company into â€Å"The World’s Favourite Airline† – a market-leading and very profitable plc. The strategy that transformed the company into a marketing-led and efficient operation was conceived and implemented by Lord King as Chairman, aided by Sir Colin (subsequently Lord) Marshall: two tough businessmen who confronted staff inefficiencies and so improved service effectiveness that BA was rated international business travellers’ favourite airline for several years in the 1990’s. Lord King having retired, Lord Marshall became Chairman and was succeeded as Chief Executive by Bob Ayling, a long-time BA manager. Ayling set in train a strategy to turn BA into a â€Å"global† airline – transcending the â€Å"flag-carrier† status (the role of a nation’s leading airline) it shared with Air France, Lufthansa, Swissair, Alitalia, Iberia – into an airline with no â€Å"national home† operating throughout the world. The dropping of the overtly â€Å"British† heritage and associations was reflected in a changed brand strategy. Away went aeroplane liveries featuring the Union flag, to be replaced by tailfins bearing themed designs from around the world. This was to address the â€Å"global traveller† a savvy (mainly business) customer whose criteria for purchase were service levels, range of destinations, promptness – not price. But the re-branding became a debacle. Customers, staff, alliance partners, shareholders and retailers (travel agents) all liked the British heritage and imagery and rebelled against the turn to an anonymous, characterless new style. Ayling also focused on cost-reduction programmes which antagonised and demotivated BA’s staff – and customers noticed the deterioration in behaviour of staff whose commitment to customer service suddenly plummeted. The upshot was that Ayling was ousted in a boardroom coup in March 2000. During his reign, a loss of 244m in the year to March 31 2000 – the first since privatisation – was recorded and the group’s market value had fallen  by half. A New Face. In May 2000, Rod Eddington joined BA as Chief Executive. He was previously Managing Directory of Cathay Pacific and Executive Chairman of Ansett, an Australian airline. Eddington’s immediate actions were designed to restore profitability to BA’s operations – and to restore the Union Flag to BA’s planes! He set about reducing the fleet, moving to smaller aircraft, cutting clearly unprofitable routes. He also targeted â€Å"high-yield† customers, the traditional mainstay segment for BA. Matching supply with demand was the overall concern, to restore positive cash flow. Strategically, BA’s longtime search for a merger partner was resumed. A link with American Airlines, the first choice partner, was out of the question after US regulatory authorities squashed the idea. A proposed merger with KLM, the Dutch flag carrier, was discussed in some depth, but that foundered on doubts over the long-term financial benefits, and arguments over the relative shares each airline would have in the merged company. Low-Cost Airlines. Meanwhile, the airline industry was undergoing a seismic shift with the rise of low-cost â€Å"no frills† airlines. Ryanair and easyJet had, at first, demonstrated the existence of a new market for cheap airline travel which had not been tapped by traditional airlines. But then they began to expand and to compete for passengers that normally would have gone to BA – even business class customers couldn’t see the reason â€Å"to pay  £100 for breakfast† (the difference in price between BA and easyJet between London and Edinburgh.) BA’s response (under Bob Ayling) was to form GO as a direct response to the no-frills competitor. Operating out of Stansted airport, GO was operated entirely separately from BA, so none of the high-cost culture was inherited. Launched in the face of vociferous opposition from easyJet, GO nevertheless established itself in the market – though at what cost, no-one could guess. Rod Eddington soon decided that his focus on premium customers made GO’s operations inconsistent with that of BA as a whole. GO was sold in May 2001 for  £100m to 3i, a UK venture capital and private equity group. GO was subsequently sold on to easy Jet for 375m. However, the driving of aggressive strategies from budget airlines is still forcing flag-carriers to re-assess their business models. The Outcome. For the year ended March 2001, Eddington’s steps had yielded a quadrupling of operating profits. Market share on key routes had been lost as cuts in fleet and routes bit, but BA believed it had lost customers who paid deeply-discounted fares. BA continued its vigorous pursuit of high-yield passengers. September 11th. So, all seemed to be going well. The brand was being restored, financial performance was improving and the only real problem was lack of progress on forming a partnership with a US carrier, prevented by the regulators. Then came September 11th, and the airline market fell apart. The consequences were swift – passenger numbers fell 28%, US airports were closed for a week, Swissair, Sabena, US Airlines and nearly, Aer Lingus, went bust. Alitalia lost 570m, Lufthansa 400m. Altogether the industry lost 7bn and shed 120,000 jobs – 13,000 at BA – and passenger numbers are still running at 13% below normal on transatlantic routes. In contrast, passenger numbers and financial results at low-cost carriers – easyJet and Ryanair – were rising impressively. Then came Sars, the Iraq war and the continuing sluggishness of the world economy, all deeply damaging to passenger numbers. Strategy at BA was thrown into disarray. Current Strategy. With the travel market is still subject to â€Å"global economic and political uncertainty†, BA has repeated its forecasts for lower revenues. However, the â€Å"fundamentals of this business are stronger than they have been for four or five years† John Rishton, Finance Director, says BA is generating cash, and is conserving that cash. (FT and D.Tel. 6.11.02). The operational imperatives to cope with the turbulent environment are expressed in BA’s â€Å"Future Size and Shape† initiative which is intended to: – Achieve significant cost reductions. Originally targeted at 650m, the cost savings are now expected to save an annualised  £1.1bn over 3 years (FT 19.3.03). Simplified operations and minimal overheads is the aim. – Cut capacity, to match supply of aircraft and flights to the reduced demand. – Cut staffing levels. A further 3,000 job cuts planned for March 2004 have been brought forward to September 2003. – Change BA’s business model. Aware that no-frills competition is not going to go away, but that BA possesses a positive service heritage, BA wants to create an offering that combines the best bits of BA and the no-frills model. Martin George, BA’s director of marketing and commercial development, explains â€Å"our customers like the BA product – convenient airports, high frequency, good level of service – but want it at the right price, and that’s what we’ll give them. It’s about changing our business model to allow us to compete profitably† (Management Today, September 2000). – Rationalise BA’s internal UK and short-haul business – CitiExpress has been formed from the activities of subsidiaries Brymon, BRAL, Manx and BA Regional. To stem heavy losses on this short-haul network, some rationalisation has been done – it has pulled out of Cardiff and Leeds-Bradford airports, and will cut its current fleet from 82 to 50 all-jet planes by end-2005. However, it is expanding operations from Manchester, and from London City airport to Paris and Frankfurt. (FT 18.12.02). It is recognised that BA started to take the bitter medicine of cost cuts and restructuring earlier and in bigger doses than rivals in Europe and North America, and that Rod Eddington has pushed through changes that were long overdue. But is this enough? – can BA wrest back the short haul market from easyJet and Ryanair, while maintaining its position in the longhaul market†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Strike! In July 2003, just at the start of the busy holiday season, BA was hit by an unofficial strike by Heathrow check-in and sales staff who were objecting to a hasty introduction of a swipe-card automatic clocking system. 500 flights were cancelled, affecting 100,000 passengers. The damage to BA’s service reputation was enormous. Both management and union leaders were taken by surprise, and it brought to a head the existence of restrictive practices going back 40 or 50 years which both sides have to confront. Performance. Results for the year ending 31st March 2003 showed a pretax profit of 135 on turnover down 7.8% to  £7.69bn, up from a loss of 335 in the year to March 2002. The results included a charge of 84m for the planned ending of Concorde flights in October, and a fourth-quarter loss (January to March) of 200m. These positive results were entirely down to cost reduction. No  dividend was paid – a consequence of the need to conserve cash. Operating margin at 3.8% is way below Eddington’s target of 10%. (D.Tel, 20.5.03, FT, 21.5.03). In the first quarter of the 2003-04 year, a pretax loss of  £45m was incurred – the effect of the Heathrow strike was put at 30-40m. The business environment. However, Rod Eddington sees the furure business environment as very hard to read, but expects it to get tougher. 2003-04 was meant, according to analysts, to be BA’s year of recovery, but it is not now expected to happen. (DTel, 11.2.03) A critical development is the start of talks between the EU and the USA to dismantle the web of regulations that have controlled the development of international aviation since the mid-1940’s. Eddington, as chairman of the Association of European Airlines, insists that truly global airlines are impossible in the current regulatory environment. â€Å"If it were left to the market, international airlines would undoubtedly follow in the footsteps of other industries and would seek the benefits of scale and scope that are currently denied them. A truly global airline†¦..would be free to operate wherever its customers demanded, free to grow organically or through acquisition and free to charge whatever the market would bear.† These talks are likely to be very long. However, it potentially offers the opportunity for an opening of the two biggest airline markets and lead to substantial consolidation of participants. (FT, 29.9.03). The takeover of KLM, the Dutch flag carrier, by Air France, may be the precursor to the consolidation expected. BA sees no threat from what is now Europe’s largest airline. D.Tel, 1.01.03).

Patient Advocacy Analysis Essay

Introduction A patient advocate may be present for healthcare appointments and alert the healthcare provider about patient compliance issues. He or she may separately assist the healthcare provider and support staff with potential issues and communication challenges. The patient advocate is also responsible for maintaining communication with the patient and healthcare provider to ensure that patients understand the procedures. By reducing fear and increasing patient compliance, this can result in higher successful treatments. Generally, a patient advocacy contract that includes a release of medical information must be placed with each healthcare facility (Ad Hoc Committee on Advocacy, 1969). Some institutions may require a power of attorney for healthcare for a patient advocate to exchange confidential information. The patient advocate may provide medical literature and research services to the patient, family, or healthcare provider. The patient advocate may also assist with family communication on issues arising from illnesses and injuries . This may include further referral for care and support for both patients and families. The patient advocate has a responsibility for awareness of compliance, appropriateness, and coordination of care for the patient, such as oversight for potentially conflicting treatment modalities and medications. The patient advocate can ensure that questions about the appropriateness of treatment are promptly discussed with the patient’s care provider, and that all treatments and concerns are promptly entered into the patient’s healthcare record. The patient advocate is also responsible for reviewing the patient’s healthcare record for correctness and for explaining it to the patient. Another responsibility of the patient advocate is to create and maintain an electronic log for the patient that is available on disk to healthcare providers i This log may be of great benefit in subsequent urgent situations. The patient advocate can also assist in resolving disputes between patients and their healthcare provider, as well as engaging in communications on behalf of the patient in case of employment issues by approaching the employer to achieve a mutually beneficial solution for the employer and the individual employee. Where applicable compliance standards are not met, the patient advocate may conduct liaison with corporate oversight, government agencies, or legal professionals to further negotiate such issues on behalf of the patient and family. It is the duty of a patient advocate to maintain patient privacy according to local and national laws, treating all patient and family information as privileged and protected. This includes ensuring that healthcare providers’ communications are treated as highly confidential and privileged, whether or not those communications are specific to the patient, and that permissions to disclose information are negotiated carefully. It is also the duty of the patient advocate to follow any referrals for medical, financial, legal, administrative or other personnel to assure that the patient is always kept safe and well informed, never abandoned or misled during the process (Carlton, 1984) SWOT Analysis When developing a SWOT analysis for the Patient Advocate Organization, three primary purposes emerged: 1. Inspire continued trust and confidence in the nursing profession among patients, their families, and the American people; 2. Leverage nurses, the single largest health care workforce, together with patients, partners in their care, in accelerating performance improvement; and 3. Stimulate reform through shared perspectives, knowledge, and values among nurses and patients, their families, and consumer stakeholders. A SWOT analysis focuses on internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats. In this instance, these concepts have been applied to a proposed alliance that serves these three proposed purposes. Typically, SWOT analyses are presented in tabular formats and entries are listed in one of four quadrants in the table (i.e., strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats). The SWOT analysis is presented in Table 1. Strengths Purpose 1. Inspire continued trust and confidence. a. Existing nurse workforce is the largest segment of the healthcare workforce b. Living up to nursing’s promise to represent the patient voice c. Expanding consumer recognized success (e.g., number of hospitals, evidence-based link to quality/safety). d. Expanding and maturing evidence-based that establishes nursing-quality-value linkages. e. Operating consumer advocacy groups is a well-known skill for several of the major groups with which we could partner f. Convener organizations have a proven track record in working together (e.g., areas of education, competency development, leadership) Purpose 2. Accelerate performance improvement a. Expanding and maturing evidence-based that establishes nursing-quality-value linkages b. Partnering to expand and accelerate current and future measurement sets (examples follow): b.1. Experience with, and advancement of, measure development and data collection (i.e. NDNQI, AWHONN EDGETM Database, etc) b. 2. Existing national, regional, and state nursing performance measures databases (e.g., NDNQI, CalNOC, Maine and Massachusetts) b.3 Existing national quality measurement and reporting infrastructure (e.g., Compare websites) Purpose 3. Stimulate reform a. Existing nurse leaders with strong organizational skills and credible backgrounds b. Threats by existing nursing and nurse faculty shortages are widely recognized by policy makers and health care stakeholders. c. Patients and nurses, each individually,†¨make strong advocates; together, their combined effectiveness will likely be transformative d. Reviewing the evidence suggests that nurses make effective policy advocates Weaknesses Purpose 1. Inspire continued trust and confidence. a. Existing, numerous professional nursing organizations and specialty groups result in fragmentation and diffusion of the expertise and resources among nursing as a whole. May be confusing/distracting to consumer groups who join an alliance b. Creating a new â€Å"fancy† alliance may not change nursing’s image from that of a profession that â€Å"takes orders.† We may remain unable to gain access to high levels of policy making and policy makers c. Funding source for sustained support is unknown d. Participation would be voluntary (e.g., What incentive†¨would organizations have to provide technical time and support for NPQA?) Purpose 2. Accelerate performance improvement a. Representation of VANOD, CalNOC, MilNOD is lacking in the convener group gathering under the planning grant b. Lacking sufficient nursing-sensitive outcome measures and resulting data to address all patients in all settings across an episode of care limits how comprehensively nursing care quality can be portrayed and might limit partnerships with certain consumer groups c. Developing standard language may be necessary prior to creating additional standard measures (e.g., birth date or date of birth) d. Adding/changing billing codes (e.g., G-codes, E-codes) to document nursing care is not in the realm of influence for nurses or consumers but together we may have more success. Purpose 3. Stimulate reform a. Nursing is not typically a ‘target’ of federal policies because of employee-employer relationship (rather than direct contractors with payers for services) b. Existing consumer and nursing organizations approach policy makers with multiple requests: lack of unity c. Nursing inclusion within existing alliances may be viewed as duplicative Opportunities Purpose 1. Inspire continued trust and confidence a. Build upon nursing social capital with consumers as the most trusted among health care professions b. Identify (empirically, anecdotally) and enhance the value-added of nursing with consumer participation and support c. Improve consumer understanding about the quality of nursing care d. Improve nursing’s knowledge of consumers’ experience of professional nursing Purpose 2. Accelerate performance improvement a. Continue quid pro quo to various alliances (i.e. HQA, KCA, QASC) providing entry into these policy discussions b. Dedicates significant, shared resources to improving quality, safety and value c. NPQA could serve as a neutral reporting entity to achieve economies of scale and scope by moving performance measurement reporting from various nursing organizations to a central source. d. NPQA sets agenda for measure adoption and collection Purpose 3. Stimulate reform a. Disseminate practice-based questions/issues to policy makers and thought leaders to guide funding of research or studies b. Recognize evidence that suggests that nurses, APRNs and consumer groups have opportunities to strengthen their policy voice c. Vision for proactive, toward thinking policy agenda that can push (e.g. What so we want decision makers know about nursing performance?), pull(e.g. What do decision makers already know about nursing performance ?) and/or Partner (e.g. What do decision makers want/need to know about nursing performance ?) Threats Purpose 1. Inspire continued trust and confidence a. Consumer partners may overwhelm nursing. Nursing may be subordinate to consumer leadership. b. Potential to be barraged or criticized by special†¨patient advocacy groups and specialty nursing groups who are not included in membership c. Partnership adds complexity to operational aspects of an alliance such as leadership, governance, membership dues, etc Purpose 2. Accelerate performance improvement a. Current national practice specialty organizations (AORN, AANA, ONS, AWOHNN, AACN, ACNM) have limited resources and will have to decide where to invest (e.g., choices will need to be made that could result in weakening NPQA) b. Data may portray low quality nursing performance with subsequent unintended consequences for nursing c. Established boards of both large nursing organizations and consumer organizations may refuse to support or may change support as leadership and resources fluctuate d. Alliances with whom nursing has a quid pro quo relationships have not universally welcomed nursing participation and have rationed our involvement (e.g., don’t recognize different nursing groups) e. Consumer group(s) may not recognize a need to measure nurse performance in the same manner in which nurses do. Conflict may result (e.g. consumers may think, â€Å"Did the nurse carry out the order?†) Purpose 3. Stimulate reform a. Absence and inattention to nursing issues/strengths in health care reform proposals b. Presence of a strong medical lobby and physician advocacy groups linked with consumers c. Established alliance landscape and inconsistent/ ‘unwelcoming’ nature among existing alliances to nursing d. Lack of awareness by policymakers of the necessity to engage nursing to realize dramatic and sustainable improvements in quality and safety Customer analysis Before implementing this process in South Florida, it is necessary to conduct the market research to check whether this process has market relevance to this area. In other words, it is important to find out whether customers want to use patient advocacy and then analyze if it is available for implementing it in this area via the drives of value. Basically, there are three interdependent drivers of value, including population health, patient experience and total cost per capital, to promote the development of patient advocacy. The data published by U.S. census government shows that the population in Florida is experiencing a huge change during recently year, no matter the change is characteristic by age or race. First, as illustrated in Figure 2, we can see that from 1960 to 2040, the actual and projected census population will rapidly grow from around 50,000 to over 25,000,000 in Florida. There are two main factors causing this phenomenon. On the one hand, there are the baby boomers. This accounts for the natural population increase. While births exceeded deaths during each of the two decades, less than half a million persons were added to Florida’s population each decade due to the natural increase. On average, 118 more Floridians were born than died each day during the decade of the nineties (Census Report, 2000). On the other hand, individuals’ life expectancy is rapidly extended. As populations of modern societies have begun to age, the older age cohorts have become disproportionately represented. Figure 3 show that the age group over 65 and up holds the largest percentage during 2010 to 2030. For example, in the area of Southeast Florida, its population of 6.2 million, is larger than 34 of the 50 states in 2008. About one in every three (31.2%) South Florida resident was born in the state of Florida. Meantime, in South Florida, the elderly are projected to reach almost one million (20.7% of the total) in 2030, up from 14.4% in 2010 (Ogburn, 2010). Compared to the Treasure Coast, the change is becoming more obviously as it is shown in Figure 4. The data described above figures out that even though the population growth slowed down in recent days, South Florida continue s to grow at a speed that is faster than the nation as a whole, with higher rates in the northern region. Apparently, the change population characteristic provides a huge market for the patient advocacy. A demographic trend often overlooked in discussions of healthcare is the changing structure of American families and households. There has been a decline in the proportion of the population that is married and a proportionate increase in the size of the single, divorced, and widowed population. The average household size has declined, and there has been a large increase in the proportion of the population that lives alone. Therefore, more and more households are involved in the health industry to some extent. This means that Floridians’ expectations for acquiring healthcare knowledge and learning about diseases is increasing. This will help them know how to make decisions when they face the healthcare problem and know whether the plan recommended by physicians and nurses are available to them. Secondly, as illustrated in Figure 5, it can be shown that the race/ethnic composition o f Southeast Florida was made up of 37% Hispanic or Latino. In 2000, the non-Hispanic White population represented 47% of the regional total, down from 57% in 1990. In other words, the non-Hispanic White population of Southeast Florida ceased to be the majority sometime in the 1990s, due mostly to the growth of the Hispanic population in Miami-Dade Country (Ogburn, 2010). Hence, it is very important to take the Spanish language into account when patient advocacy is established. Thirty-three percent of the South Florida population is over age 65, so for those elderly who do not know how to speak English, patient advocacy could help them understand what the medical staff tell them about their diseases or how to take those pills. It also helps to reduce the potential abuse error when patient advocacy staffs teach those patients via their own language. Thirdly, as acute illness has declined as the pervasive type of disorder, chronic conditions have emerged as the dominant type of health problem in developed countries. Chronic conditions generally do not contribute directly to mortality, but are often cited as underlying causes of death. They are more likely to interfere with the quality of life, since they often result in some form of disability. Chronic diseases always result in more cost and more time for recovery. Some maybe even cannot be treated. Thus, patients find themselves confused about the advantages and disadvantages of the treatment. Patient advocacy members listen to confused patients and help them collaborate with physicians and insurance companies. Patient advocacy will offer medical assistance, insurance assistance, home health assistance, elder and geriatric assistance and legal assistance. Those types of assistance will help patients with chronic illnesses to understand their healthcare conditions in detail. The Four Ps The four marketing Ps (product, price, place and promotion) are important in developing the entire marketing process for every company or organization. In other words, the heart of a marketing strategy is the development of a response to the marketplace. For every business, all they need to do first is to identify the customers’ needs, and then determine the price customers are willing to pay. Then, they need to identify what place is most convenient for customers to purchase the product or access the service and, finally, they need to promote the product to customers to let them know it is available (Berkowitz, 2011). Hence, when conducting the Four Ps analysis, there are some questions we need to figure out. Those questions are shown on Figure 6.1 (â€Å"4Ps Marketing,† n.d.): Product The important thing to remember when offering the service of patient advocacy to customers is that they have a choice. For example, for health care providers, they can rely on the customer service center in their own organization to deal with patients’ complains; for patients, they might turn to their doctors or friends who have those treatment experience for help when they need. Therefore, patient advocacy organizations should considerable emphasis on developing a list of help service which customers really want. For example, in South Florida, as we also mentioned earlier in this paper, a large proportion of people speak Spanish as their first language, so Spanish speaking can become a selling point and add into the service list in this area; especially in a situation of establishing commutation between a Hispanic or Latino patient and an English-speaking physician. What is more, for those existing services, the organization should also pay attention to the product life cycle as well. For example, with the implementation of Obama Care, the American healthcare system has become a complex system, and it has become increasingly difficult for patients to understand and adapt, so patients’ fears and frustrations have continued to grow since they may get confused by the new policies and become worried about how to get their reimbursements after the treatment. In other words, customers’ requirements change over time. What is important and useful today may be discarded tomorrow. Therefore, marketing should continuously monitor the external environment and other factors to modify the services in order to meet the customer’s need. Price Price focuses on what customers are willing to pay for a service (Berkowitz, 2011). And the customer’s perception of value is an important determinant of the price charged. Customers draw their own mental picture of what a service is worth. So the pricing decision is a major aspect of marketing strategy. In the healthcare industry, the issue of price is less likely to be a concern since pricing was based on predetermined reimbursement formulas. However, in order to sustain and develop and organization, whether public, non-profit organization, private, or for-profit, patient advocacy organizations still need to pay attention on how they establish the price. 1. The Types of Services and Complexity of Service. As customers’ needs are varied, there are perhaps dozens of services health advocates can provide, ranging from explaining treatment options to reviewing hospital bills, from uncovering clinical trials appropriate to customer’s need, to getting their insurance company to pay a claim they think should be covered. Each service should cost differently according to the time it takes to accomplish it. 2. The Background and Expertise of the Employee Just as would be true in any service business, the more credentials an advocate has achieved, the more it will cost. Further, some advocates have developed specific niches to their work that becomes a benefit to customers, who may be worth a higher salary. So obviously, a higher price should be made for these employees in order to sustain the organization. 3. Geographic Location. Just as there are variations in cost for almost anything we buy based on where we live, the same is true for health advocacy services. As shown in Figure A7 (â€Å"Miami Household,† 2011), in Florida, take Miami as an example, households with income under 15,000 reached 25% in 2010, which was twice as many household of the entire United States. Considering the low-income rate in this area, the price should not be too high when providing services. However, the danger of using low price as a marketing tool is that the customer may feel that quality is being compromised. It is important when deciding on price to be fully aware of the brand and its integrity. A further consequence of price reduction is that competitors match prices resulting in no extra demand. This means the profit margin has been reduced without increasing sales. Place All businesses must decide how many other organizations are needed to distribute their product or service, so does the patient advocacy organization (Berkowitz, 2011). In fact, the purpose of getting any intermediary organizations involved is to provide service to customers in a more accessible way. Therefore, not only big general hospital, but also small primary care clinic should be considered when providing services. Besides, â€Å"place’ in the marketing mix, is not just about the physical location or distribution points for services. Especially in the healthcare industry, it encompasses the management of a range of processes involved in bringing patient advocacy to the end consumer. Promotions Promotion is more than just advertising (O’Malley, 2001). The promotions aspect of the marketing mix covers all types of marketing communications such as advertising, personal selling, publicity, and sales promotion. However, advertising is an important part of promotion. Generally, advertising is conducted on TV, radio, cinema, online, poster sites and via the printed press (e.g., newspapers, magazines). Different advertising channels can be used to maximize the effectiveness of advertising. For example, TV advertising makes people aware of a help service and press advertising provides more detail. This may be supported by in clinic or hospital recommendation to get people to try the service. It is imperative that the messages communicated support each other and do not confuse customers. A thorough understanding of what the brand represents is the key to a consistent message. The purpose of most marketing communications is to move the target audience to some type of action. This may include purchasing the service, visiting or calling the organization, and recommending the choice to a friend or purchasing another service that he or she may also need. The key objectives of advertising are to make people aware of the service offered by the organization, which they cannot get from anywhere else, and to feel positive about it and remember it. Therefore, when promoting, messages should gain the customers’ attention and keep their interest. The next stage is to get them to want what is offered. Showing the benefits that they will obtain by taking action is usually sufficient. The right messages must be targeted at the right audience, using the right media. Take South Florida as an example, 33% of the population in this area is over age 65, so it is important to find an advertising channel to reaches this group of people. In this case, Internet advertising may not be such a good idea while newspaper and television may bring more customers to the organiza tion instead. Conclusion After analyzing the market in South Florida, we can easily reach the conclusion that there are great needs to have patient advocacy in South Florida. In fact, patient advocacy is an emerging practice, and it deserves more recognition when developing healthcare business. Whether you are in private practice, serve as a hospital patient advocate or are developing an advocacy program in a managed care company, having a clear marketing plan of patient advocacy in your business region is a key factor to successfully grow your practice in the future. References Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Healthcare costs and financing. Research Activities. 2011. Accessed at heep://www.ahrq.gov/research/jun11/0611RA11.htm. Ad Hoc Committee on Advocacy. (1969). The social worker as advocate: Champion of social victims. Social Work, April, 16–20. Berkowitz, E. N. (2011). Essentials of Health Care Marketing. 3rd Edition. Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC. Carlton, T. O. (1984). Clinical social work in health settings. New York: Springer Publishing Company. Florida Population: Census Summary 1990 and 2000. Make a difference as a patient advocate. Retrieved from: http://allhealthcare.monster.com/benefits/articles/3210-make-a-difference-as-a-patient-advocate?page=2 Miami Household Income Statistics (2011). CLR Search.Retrieved from: http://www.clrsearch.com/Miami-Demographics/FL/Household-Income Ogburn R. F., 2010. Demographics and population growth in southeast Florida. South Florida Regional Planning Council. Retrieved from http://www.sfrpc.com/region/demographics.htm O’Malley, J. F. (2001). Healthcare marketing, sales, and service: An executive companion. Chicago: Health Administration Press, p. 101 4Ps Marketing Mix Example (n.d.). SmartDraw. Retrieved from http://www.smartdraw.com/examples/view/4ps+marketing+mix/