Supply reading

After reading this chapter, you will be able to: I. Identify the major drivers of supply chain performance. 2. Discuss the role of each driver in creating strategic fit between the supply chain strategy and the competitive strategy. 3. Detine the key metrics that track the performance of the supply chain in terms of each driver. In this chapter, we introduce the three logistical drivers-facilities, inventory, and transportation-and the three cross-functional drivers-information, sourcing, and pricing-that determine the performance of any supply chain.We discuss how these drivers are used in the design, planning, and operation of the supply chain. We define several metrics that can be used to gauge the performance of each driver. The strategic fit discussed in Chapter 2 requires that a company's supply chain achieve the balance between responsiveness and efficiency that best supports the company's competitive strategy. https://donemyessay.com/numbers-101-900-spanish-1-lopez/To understand how a compa- ny can improve supply chain performance in terms of responsiveness and efficiency, we must examine the logisti- cal and cross-functional drivers of supply chain performance: facilities, inventory, transportation, information, sourcing, and pricing. These drivers interact with each other to determine the supply chain's performance in terms of responsiveness and efficiency. The goal is to structure the drivers to achieve the desired level of responsiveness at the lowest possible cost. First we define each driver and discuss its impact on the performance of the supply chain. . Facilities are the actual physical locations in the supply chain network where product is stored, assembled, or fabricated. The two major types of facilities are production sites and storage sites. Decisions regarding the role, location, capacity, and flexibility of facilities have a significant impact on the supply chain's performa nce. For instance, an auto parts distributor striving for responsiveness could have many warehousing facilities located close to customers even though this practice reduces efficiency.Alternatively, a high-efficiency distributor would have fewer warehouses to increase efficiency despite the fact that this practice will reduce responsiveness. 2. Inventory encompasses all raw materials, work in process, and finished goods within a supply chain. Changing inventory policies can dramatically alter the supply chain's efficiency and responsiveness. For example, 41 42 Part I †¢ Building a Strategic Framework to Analyze Supply Chains a clothing retailer can make itself more responsive by stocking large amounts of inventory and satisfying customer demand from stock.A large inventory, however, increases the retailer's cost, thereby making it less efficient. Spanish apparel retailer Zara has worked hard to shorten new product and replenishment lead times. As a result, the company is very r esponsive but carries low levels of inventory. Zara thus provides responsiveness at low cost. 3. Transportation entails moving inventory from point to point in the supply chain. Transportation can take the form of many combinations of modes and routes, each with its own performance characteristics. Transportation choices have a large impact on supply chain respon- siveness and efficiency.For example, a mail-order catalog company can use a faster mode of . ‘ transportation such as FedEx to ship products, thus making its supply chain more responsive, but also less efficient given the high costs associated with using FedEx. McMaster-Carr and W. W. Grainger, however, have structured their supply chain to provide next-day service to most of their customers using ground transportation. They are providing a high level of responsiveness at lower cost. 4. Information consists of data and analysis concerning facilities, inventory, transportation, costs, prices, and customers tthroughout the supply chain.Information is potentially the biggest driver of performance in the supply chain because it directly affects each of the other drivers. Information presents management with the oopportunity to make supply chains more responsive and more efficient. For example, with information on. customer demand patterns, a pharmaceuti- cal company can produce and stock drugs in anticipation of customer demand, which makes the supply chain very responsive because customers will find the drugs they need when they need them.This demand information can also make the supply chain more efticient because the phar- maceutical firm is better able to forecast demand and produce only the required amount. Seven- Eleven Japan has used information to increase the responsiveness it provides while also lowering cost. 5. Sourcing is the choice of who will perform a particular supply chain aactivity such as pro- duction, storage, transportation, or the management of information. At the strategic l evel, these decisions determine what functions a firm performs and what functions the firm outsources.Sourcing decisions affect both the responsiveness and efficiency of a supply chain. After Motorola outsourced much of its production to contract manufacturers in China, it saw its effi- ciency improve but its responsiveness suffer because of the long distances. To make up for the drop in responsiveness, Motorola started flying in some of its cell phones from China even though this choice increased transportation cost. Flextronics, an electronics contract manufactur- er, is hoping to offer both responsive and efficient sourcing options to its customers.It is trying to make its production facilities in the United States very responsive while keeping its facilities in low-cost countries efficient. Flextronics hopes to become an effective source for all customers using this combination of facilities. 6. Pricing determines how much a firm will charge for goods and services that it makes available in the supply chain. Pricing affects the behavior of the buyer of the good or service, thus affecting supply chain performance.For example, if a transportation company varies its charges based on the lead time provided by the customers, it is very likely that customers who value effi- ciency will order early and customers who value responsiveness will be willing to wait and order just before they need a product transported. Differential pricing provides reoponsiveness to customers that value it and low cost to customers that do nor value responsiveness as much. Our definition of these drivers attempts to delineate logistics and supply chain manage- ment.Supply chain management includes the use of logistical and cross-functional drivers to increase the supply chain surplus. Cross-functional drivers have become increasingly important in raising the supply chain surplus in recent years. While logistics remains a major part, supply chain management is increasingly becoming foc used on the three cross-functional drivers. It is important to realize that these drivers do not act independently but interact with each other to determine the overall supply chain performance. Good supply chain design and operation Chapter 3 †¢ Supply Chain Drivers and Metrics 43 ecognizes this interaction and makes the appropriate trade-offs to deliver the desired level of responsiveness. Consider, for example, the furniture industry in the United States. Low-cost furni- ture sourced from Asia is available at many discount retailers. The primary goal of this supply chain is to deliver a low price and acceptable quality. Vvariety is typically low and retailers such as Wal-Mart stock inventory of finished goods. The low vvariety and stable replenishment orders allow furniture manufacturers in Asia to focus on efficiency. Given the available inventory, low- cost modes of transportation from Asia are used.In this instance, relatively low-cost inventory at the retailer allows the supply chain to become efficient by lowering transportation and production costs. In contrast, some U. S. furniture makers have chosen to focus on providing vvariety. Given the high vvariety and high prices, keeping inventory of all variants at a retailer would be very expensive. In this case the supply chain has been designed so the retailer carries very little inven- tory. Customers place their orders with the retailer by seeing one variant of the furniture and selecting among the various options.The supply chain is made responsive by using information technology to convey order information effectively, structuring very flexible manufacturing facil- ities to be able to produce in small lots, and using responsive transportation to deliver the furniture to the customer. In this instance, responsive facilities, transportation, and information are used to lower inventory costs. As the rest of this chapter will illustrate, the key to achieving strategic fit across the supply chain is to structure the supply chain drivers appropriately to provide the desired level of responsiveness.

How Should Marianne Berner Respond to the Invitation for Ikea to Have a Representative Appear on the Upcoming Broadcast of the German Video Program?

Numerical Di? erentiation MACM 316 1/9 Numerical Differentiation  ® Suppose we have a list of points x0 < x1 < x2 <  ·  ·  · < xn and corresponding function values f (x 0 ), f (x 1 ), f (x 2 ), . . . , f (x n )  ® A natural question is whether we can use the data above to approximate f ? (x) at some point x ? [x0, xn].  ® The answer is easy provided the points xi are equally spaced so that xi ? xi? 1 = h (constant) and x. The easiest way to motivate derivative formulas is using the definition of derivative f (x + h) ? f (x ) f ? (x) = lim h>0 h which suggests many possible difference formulas: ? (x ) ? f (x + h) ? f (x ) h f (x ) ? f (x ? h) f ? (x ) ? h f (x + h) ? f (x ? h) f ? (x ) ? 2h f (x + 2 h) ? f (x ? 2 h) ? f (x ) ? 4h (forward difference) (backward difference) (centered difference) (wide centered difference)  ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·  ® These formulas are accurate only if h is â€Å"small enough. † October 30, 2008 c Steven Rauch and John Stockie Numerical Di? eren tiation MACM 316 2/9 Example Suppose we’re approximating the derivative of f (x) = 2 sin(3x) using the equally-spaced data x 0. 3000 0. 3250 0. 3500 0. 3750 0. 4000 0. 4250 0. 4500 0. 4750 0. 5000 f (x) 1. 5667 1. 6554 1. 7348 1. 8045 1. 8641 1. 131 1. 9514 1. 9788 1. 9950 The approximations of f ? (0. 4) with h = 0. 1 are: 1. f ? (x) ? f (x+h)? f (x) h f ? (0. 4) ? 1. 9950? 1. 8641 0. 1 = 1. 3090 (40%) 2. f ? (x) ? f (x)? f (x? h) h f ? (0. 4) ? 1. 8641? 1. 5667 0. 1 = 2. 9740 (37%) 3. f ? (x) ? f (x+h)? f (x? h) 2h f ? (0. 4) ? 1. 9950? 1. 5667 0. 2 = 2. 1415 (1. 5%) where the relative errors are computed using the exact value f ? (0. 4) = 6 cos(3 ? 0. 4) = 2. 17414652686004 2. 1 2 y 1. 9 1. 8 1. 7 1. 6 1. 5 0. 25 0. 3 0. 35 0. 4 0. 45 0. 5 0. 55 0. 6 x Figure 1: f (x) = 2 sin(3x) October 30, 2008 c Steven Rauch and John Stockie Numerical Di? rentiation MACM 316 3/9 Example (cont’d) Investigate what happens when h is decreased to 0. 05: x 0. 3000 0. 3250 0. 3500 0. 3 750 0. 4000 0. 4250 0. 4500 0. 4750 0. 5000 f (x) 1. 5667 1. 6554 1. 7348 1. 8045 1. 8641 1. 9131 1. 9514 1. 9788 1. 9950 The approximations of f ? (0. 4) with h = 0. 05 are: 1. f ? (x) ? f (x+h)? f (x) h f ? (0. 4) ? 1. 9514? 1. 8641 0. 05 = 1. 7460 (20%) 2. f ? (x) ? f (x)? f (x? h) h f ? (0. 4) ? 1. 8641? 1. 7348 0. 05 = 2. 5860 (19%) 3. f ? (x) ? f (x+h)? f (x? h) 2h f ? (0. 4) ? 1. 8641? 1. 7348 0. 1 = 2. 1660 (0. 4%) 4. f ? (x) ? f (x+2h)? f (x? 2h) 4h f ? (0. 4) ? . 9950? 1. 5667 0. 2 = 2. 1415 (1. 5%) Notice that: †¢ The forward and backward difference formulas (1 and 2) have similar accuracy. †¢ The centered difference (3) is much more accurate than the one-sided differences. †¢ Decreasing h increases the accuracy of the approximation. Question: Can this be explained? October 30, 2008 c Steven Rauch and John Stockie Numerical Di? erentiation MACM 316 4/9 Error Analysis To analyse the error in ? nite difference formulas, use Taylor series approximations. Examp le 1: Forward difference formula †¢ Write the Taylor polynomial of degree n = 1, with error term: ? (x + h) = f (x ) + f (x ) h + f (c) 2 h2 †¢ Then f (x + h) ? f (x ) h ? = f (x ) + f (c) 2 h = f ? (x ) + O (h) †¢ Decreasing h clearly reduces the error. Example 2: Centered difference formula †¢ Taylor polynomials for f (x + h) and f (x ? h) to O (h4): f (x) 2 f (x) 3 f (4) (x) 4 f (5) (c1 ) 5 f (x + h) = f (x) + f (x) h + h+ h+ h+ h 2 6 4! 5! ? f (x ? h) = f (x) ? f ? (x) h + f (x) 2 h2 ? f (x) 6 h3 + f (4) (x) 4! h4 ? f (5) (c2 ) 5! h5 †¢ Subtract the second equation from the ? rst and divide by 2h: f (x) 2 f (x + h) ? f (x ? h) ? = f (x) + h + O (h4 ) 2h 6 Error in centered formula is smaller (as expected)! October 30, 2008 c Steven Rauch and John Stockie Numerical Di? erentiation MACM 316 5/9 Error Analysis (cont’d) Taylor series can also be used to derive new formulas. Example 3: A second-order one-sided formula †¢ Write the Taylor po lynomials for f (x + h) and f (x + 2h): f (x) 3 f (x) 2 h+ h + O (h4 ) f (x + h) = f (x ) + f (x ) h + 2 6 4f (x) 3 ? 2 f (x + 2 h) = f (x ) + 2f (x ) h + 2 f (x ) h + h + O (h4 ) 3 ? †¢ Form the following linear combination: 4 f (x + h) ? f (x + 2 h) ? 3 f (x ) 2h ? = f (x ) ? f (x) 3 h2 + O (h4 ) Expect this formula to be more accurate than forward/backward differences, and similar to centered formula October 30, 2008 c Steven Rauch and John Stockie Numerical Di? erentiation MACM 316 6/9 Richardson Extrapolation In addition to creating new formulas or reducing h, there is a â€Å"trick† for increasing accuracy:  ® The centered difference formula is missing the odd terms: f ? (x) = f (x+h)? f (x? h) 2h f ? (x) = g0 (h) + O (h2) + O (h4) + O (h6) +  ·  ·  · a  · h2 + + O (h4) + O (h6) +  ·  ·  · (1) Then, write the same difference formula using h : 2 f ? (x) = g0 ( h ) 2 + a  · ( h )2 + O (h4) + O (h6) +  ·  ·  · (2)  ® Eliminate the O (h2) term by taking 4 ? (1) ? (2): 4f ? (x) ? f ? (x) = 4g0 ( h ) ? g0 (h) + 4a  · ( h )2 ? a  · h2 + O (h4 ) + O (h6 ) +  ·  ·  · 2 2  ® Simplify to obtain a formula of higher accuracy: ? f (x) = 4g0 ( h ) ? g0 (h) 2 3 + O (h4) + O (h6 ) +  ·  ·  ·  ® Continue this idea (recursively) to higher orders: 4g0 ( h )? g0 (h) 2 3 + b  · h4 + O (h6 ) +  ·  ·  · = g1 (h) + b  · h4 + O (h6 ) +  ·  ·  · = g1 ( h ) 2 + = 16g1 ( h )? g1 (h) 2 15 + O (h6 ) +  ·  ·  · = g2 (h) + O (h6 ) +  ·  ·  · f ? (x) =  ® In general, gn = October 30, 2008 b 16  · h4 + O (h6 ) +  ·  ·  · 4n gn? 1 ( h )? gn? 1 (h) 2 4n ? 1 Steven Rauch and John Stockie Numerical Di? erentiation MACM 316 7/9 Richardson Extrapolation – Example  ® Consider the data from the earlier example: x 0. 300 0. 325 0. 350 0. 375 0. 400 0. 425 0. 450 0. 475 0. 500 f (x) 1. 5667 1. 6554 1. 7348 1. 8045 1. 8641 1. 9131 1. 9514 1. 9788 1. 9950 g0(h) = f (x+h)? f (x? h) 2h g1(h) = 4g0 ( h )? g0 (h) 2 3 g2(h) = 16g1 ( h )? g1 (h) 2 15  ® Steps in Richardson extrapolation (x = 0. 4 and h = 0. 1) are easy to organize in tabular form: x=0. 4 h=0. 1 h g0 (h) – O (h2 ) g1 (h) – O (h4) g2 (h) – O (h6 ) 2. 1416807698 2. 1741099363 h 2 2. 1660026447 h 4 2. 1721088377 . 1741465220 2. 1741442353  ® Note: Don’t confuse with Newton divided differences!  ® Relative errors (using f ? (0. 4) = 2. 17414652686004): x=0. 4 h=0. 1 g0 (h) h 1. 49 ? 10? 2 g1 (h) g2 (h) 1. 68 ? 10? 5 h 2 h 4 October 30, 2008 3. 74 ? 10? 3 9. 25 ? 10? 4 2. 26 ? 10? 9 1. 05 ? 10? 6 c Steven Rauch and John Stockie Numerical Di? erentiation MACM 316 8/9 Optimal h  ® When applying any ? nite difference formula, †¢ we want h as small as possible so that truncation error is small (Taylor polynomial error term), †¢ we cannot take h too small, otherwise round-off error dominates (subtractive cancellation). There should be an â€Å"optimal h† where truncat ion error and round-off error balance out. Example: Forward difference approximation  ® Evaluate the difference using ? oating point arithmetic: f (x+h)? f (x) h = f (x+h)(1+? 1 )? f (x)(1+? 2 ) , h = fl f (x+h)? f (x) h + where |? i | u = unit roundoff a ·u , h where a is some constant a ·u = f ? (x) + b  · h + h truncation round-off  ® Optimum h occurs roughly when b ·h ? a ·u h =? h ? a ·u b Example: Take f (x) = 2 sin(3x) †¢ Then a ? 4 and b = f (x) 2 = |9 sin(3x)| 9. †¢ Assume single precision arithmetic u = 10? 6: h? †¢ f ? (0. ) = October 30, 2008 4  · 10? 6 9 ? 0. 00066667. f (0. 400667)? f (0. 4) 0. 00066667 ? 2. 16 (0. 65% relative error) c Steven Rauch and John Stockie Numerical Di? erentiation MACM 316 9/9 Below is a representative sketch of the estimates for b ·h †¢ truncation error: a ·u †¢ round-off error: †¢ total error: h b ·h+ a ·u h 20 18 16 total error Total Error (10-3) 14 12 10 truncation error 8 6 round- off error 4 2 0 0 0. 2 0. 4 0. 6 0. 8 1 1. 2 1. 4 1. 6 1. 8 2 h (10-3) Note: Total error has a local minimum near x = 0. 667 ? 10? 3. October 30, 2008 c Steven Rauch and John Stockie

High Budget Deficits Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

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Human Rights - Essay Example The FGM is shown to be common due to deep faith and tradition. It is carried out in the name of promoting chastity, religious responsibility, and makes one ready for marriage (Guerin 1). In the country, the procedure is usually carried out on girls between the age of nine and thirteen years (Guerin 1). However, it is said to be done on girls as young as six years of age. In my opinion, the article demonstrates the worst form of human rights violation that continues to take place uncontrolled in some parts of the world. This is because it is done to minors who are not aware of the consequences. The minors are denied the rights of physical integrity. Moreover, the girls lack right to access good standard of health. This is because uneducated people with no knowledge on a good standard of health do FGM. Such girls are also denied right to life as the procedure sometimes leads to death. Therefore, there should be education on effects of procedure and implementation of laws that outlaws the

Art Of Racing Essay Example for Free

Art Of Racing Essay Denny Swift is a very intellectual human being, especially when it is go time on the asphalt racing strip. He puts his mind into race mode and lets the auto pilot take over and slide through all the corners, especially in the rainy weather that dissipates others. This complex character is a rare human being, not for the reason of being a good racer in the rain. But he takes responsibility, when something happens from a decision whether he’s wrong or right he owns up to it. Either taking the success with triumph or openly accepting the fact of being wrong. When he is wrong he try’s his very hardest to resolve the situation, and fix things rather than putting it off to others or blaming it on someone else. But no matter what in any situation he implies the thoughts of others and taking them into consideration as well for what other characters in the book have to say and how they feel. When Eve was sick she didn’t want him to see, her like that and when Eve demanded Denny to leave he listened, also leaving Enzo by her side and Zoe in the care of Eve’s Parents. The real other half of Denny is his automobile racing career. He is a very experienced and intellectual racer, Denny’s skill on the track are unbelievable especially in the rain. He is able to predict what to do in situations on the track before they happen, turning before sliding, sliding before turning. A quote he says which is â€Å" What we manifest is before us†, meaning by decisions we make affects our future turn out and relates to his racing because he makes a move before its made for him. The part about Denny’s career would be the time he has off the track because it is limited. He has to practise in order to get better, which is more and more time away from his family and his best friend Enzo. His racing can relate to his life, every choice he makes can affect his way of life. Just like every move on the track can affect your outcome at the finish line. To be a very good racer, not only do you need the skills but the will power to push the limits and be better than everyone. Denny executes dangerous maneuvers to be first to cross the finish line first. Denny try’s his very hardest to be the best guy he can be whether it hurts him or not, and couldn’t be or do what he does without the support of his loved ones, Eve, Zoe and Enzo, the most  important people in Denny’s life that he cares most about.

The Classification Of Fruits Marketing Essay

The Classification Of Fruits Marketing Essay The literature review carried out on this research contains information and data from different sources. Since there was very few numbers of literatures available on this topic locally, most of the information was gathered from the internet and through the internationally published journal articles. Some of the information was collected from locally published citations and through local institutions and organizations. The literature review attempts to make some relevant information of fruit processing sector, namely, fruit industry, consumption and trade, fruit processing, type of processes, industry and quality practices in developing countries and quality issues related to fruit processing industry. 2.2 CLASSIFICATION OF FRUITS Fruits can be commonly classified according to the growing region as follows: tropical, subtropical and temperate-zone (Kader and Barret, 1996). The quality of fruit is mainly affected on growing region and most significantly the environmental conditions specific to each region. Listed below are the examples of fruit grown in each region. 2.2.1 Tropical Fruits Major tropical fruits: banana, mango, papaya, pineapple Minor tropical fruits: cashew apple, durian, guava, longan, lychee, mangosteen, passion fruit, rambutan, tamarind, sapota, carambola 2.2.2 Subtropical Fruits Citrus fruits: orange, lime, lemon, grapefruit, pummelo, tangerine, mandarin Non-citrus fruits: avocado, pomegranate, cherimoya, fig, kiwifruit, olive 2.2.3 Temperate-Zone Fruits Small fruits and berries: grape (European and American types), strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, cranberry Pome fruits: Asian pear (nashi), European pear, apple, quince Stone fruits: plum, peach, cherry, apricot, nectarine Fruits are essential in the human diet. They contain compounds of nutritional importance, including vitamins which are not synthesized by the human body. Fruits serve as a rich source of energy, vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Dietary Guidelines encourages consumers to choose fresh, frozen, dried or canned forms of a variety of colours and kinds of fruits. Fruits can be defined as the reproductive organs arising from the development of floral tissues with or without fertilization. 2.3 WORLD PRODUCTION OF TROPICAL FRUITS The availability of detailed information and reliable statistics is very less on tropical fruit production and world trade (Chang, 2007). Therefore, it constitutes a major constraint in the analysis of supply and demand trends of tropical fruits in the world market (Kortbech- Olesen, 1997; Chang, 2007; and FAO, 2008a). Most fruit producing countries do not have proper routinely record or collect data regarding tropical fruits that are basically produced and/or traded in small quantities (Chang, 2007; and FAO, 2008a). Therefore, production and trade data from reporting countries suffer from a lack of uniformity (FAO, 2003). Data on tropical fruit production, commercial applications and trade are difficult to be estimated when analysing the global reports, an attempt has been made in this dissertation report to analyse the global production, supply and demand trends of tropical fruits in the world market. In fact, the analysis gives much importance on the research study with regard to the development of fruit processing industry in our country to foresee the future of the fruit industry. According to the research report published by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources and Development has stated that worldwide fruit species of tropical and subtropical are estimated to be around 3,000. Moreover, they have revealed that 500 out of total fruit species are found in Asia. In South East Asia around 120 major and 275 minor species of tropical and subtropical fruits and nuts are found. The most interesting part of that publication is that around 200 species of fruits are remained undeveloped and underused. According to the report published by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the world tropical fruits production reached 96.8 million tonnes in 2000 excluding banana. This production increased approximately 3.6% annually during the period 2000-2007 to reach 123.7 million tonnes in 2007 (FAO, 2008b). Tropical fruits production in 2004 represented 8.1% of the global world production of fresh fruits and vegetables (FAO, 2007). The annual increase of world production of tropical fruits has been estimated to be 1.7% (FAO, 2003; and Chang, 2007). The projected value of world production of tropical fruits is 139.2 million tonnes by 2014. Banana, mango, pineapple, papaya and avocado are the five major tropical fruit varieties produced and constitute the most important tropical fruit species produced worldwide which account for approximately 75% of the global fresh tropical fruit production (Chang, 2007). Asia consists of major producing region followed by Latin Americ a and the Caribbean and Africa. The world production of tropical fruits from these countries is estimated to be 98% (Ramiro, 2000; FAO, 2003; and Centeno, 2005). 2.4 CONSUMPTION AND TRADE OF TROPICAL FRUITS Approximately, 90% of all tropical fruits produced worldwide are consumed domestically. The remaining 10% of tropical fruits produced is traded as fresh, accounting for 5% or processed tropical fruit products, accounting for 5%. These processed tropical fruit products include dried or dehydrated fruit, frozen fruit, fruit juice, concentrate, pulp and puree which is further referred to as fruit juice and concentrate and canned fruit (Kortbech-Olesen, 1996; FAO, 2003; CBI, 2007a; and Chang, 2007). Although, the proportionally small quantities of tropical fruits traded internationally, the trade value of them is very significant. The total value of trade of fresh and processed tropical fruit products was estimated at 4.0 billion US dollars internationally in 2004 (Chang, 2007). The total international trade value of fresh tropical fruits amount was 4.7 billion US dollars in 2006. Moreover, an additional 1.3 billion US dollars accounted for the processed tropical fruit products. On the o ther hand, the value of international trade of bananas and plantains reached 5.6 billion US dollars in 2006 (Chang, 2008). Pineapple is the most dominating fruit in international trade in fresh and processed tropical fruits, with a significant growth in volume and value (Chang, 2007, 2008). Asia is the leading supplier of processed tropical fruit products. According to the trade data, it shows that Latin America and the Caribbean as the major exporters of fresh tropical fruits (Ramiro, 2000). The European Union (EU) is the largest import markets for both fresh and processed tropical fruits making the United States of America (USA) as the second largest. The both import markets are together accounting for approximately 75% of import of tropical fruits in world production (FAO, 2003; and Chang, 2007). The import of fresh fruits in the EU reached 26.4 million tonnes (8.6%) and 21.0 billion Euro (10.7%) for the concerned tropical fruits. Import volume of fresh tropical fruits in the EU can be cascaded as follows: pineapple-56.3%, mango-14.7%, avocado-13.2% and papaya-2.2%. The total is accounting for approximately 86% of all fresh tropical fruits imported in the EU in the year 2007 (Eurostat, 2005, 2006, 2008). The processed fruit products in the EU increased during the per iod 2003-2007, accounting for 10.5 million tonnes and 10.0 billion Euros in total imports in 2007. Fruit juice and concentrate of about 62.8% accounted for the largest group of processed fruit products in 2007 in terms of volumes and other processed fruit products accounted for: canned of about 24.8%, dried of about 6.8% and frozen of about 5.6% fruit (Eurostat, 2008). From the total import volume of processed tropical fruits in 2003 constituted 15.4% and it increased to 17.1% in 2007. One of the most internationally traded tropical fruit is banana which accounted for about one-fourth of 70.89 million tons in 2004 production sold overseas. The export of remaining tropical fruits is less than 10% of the total production. As the major exporters of banana, Ecuador, Costarica and the Philippines accounted for 85% of all tropical fruit exports. Volume of export grew up from less than 1% in 2002 to nearly 8% in 2004 (FAOSTAT, 2012). United States is the major market for banana, accounting 26% of world total production in 2004 followed by Germany and Japan. Mexico, India and Brazil represented the bulk of mango exports. The total volume exported increased in 2004 by a modest 5% in contrast to an enormous increase of 41% in 2003. The total exported amount of mango by Mexico is about 190 kilotons while the Brazil is about 140 kilotons. USA is the major importer of mangoes accounting for 35% while the EU accounting for 20%. Papaya is major tropical fruit with exports increased by 47% in 2004 compared with the year 2003. The largest exporter of papaya was Mexico accounting for 75 kilotons during the year 2004 followed by Malaysia accounting for 70 kilotons Brazil accounting for 40 kilotons. USA was the major papaya importer that accounted for 50% of the world total papaya production. Import demand for tropical fruits worldwide for the next decade is expected to increase, thus import volume is also projected to expand. The projected increase in exports of tropical fruits by FAO in 2014 indicates an annual increase in export volume by 1.4% for mango, 1.7% for pineapple, 2% for avocado and 5.6% for papaya while the USA, EU and Japan remain the largest import markets for tropical fruits. (Rita M. Fabro, ST Media Service) 2.5 FRUIT PROCESSING Fruits and vegetables are rich sources of many nutritional intakes to human beings and are widely consumed in varying amounts. Although it has been highly advised to have good consumptions of fresh, unprocessed fruit and vegetables it is not always realistic or possible. This may be due to the cost, availability and seasonality. Processing of fruits and vegetables is, therefore, necessary and in many ways desirable. The processed forms of fruits may be complemented the increase of overall consumption as well as enabling regular intake throughout the year instead of fresh produce. Fruits are highly perishable, therefore, they need kind of processing to aid their preservation. Processing (canning, drying, freezing, and preparation of juices, jams, and jellies) increases the shelf life of fruits and vegetables (Cantwell and Suslow, 1999). Processing steps include preparation of the raw material, cleaning, trimming, and peeling followed by dehydrating, canning, or freezing. Fruit process ing extends not only the shelf life but also results in value addition, generation of employments. This also enables vertical integration and diversification. Processing will, further, help to combine different ingredients, removal of inedible parts and carrying out other steps that consumer would do at home. 2.5.1 Fruit Products Canned juices, pulps, fruit drinks, jam, cordials, jelly, dried and dehydrated fruit products are the products that can be considered as direct fruit products in the current consumer market which are available locally as well as globally. Individual quick frozen (IQF) products do not fall in to the direct product category. The IQF products are globally used as substance for baby food manufacturing (cereals), bakery productions and confectionary manufacturing (chocolate). Depending on their applications, dehydrated fruits are also considered as a substance for the derived products as IQF products. 2.5.2 Types of Processes used in fruit processing Within the current trend in behaviours of consumers, it can be seen that the healthy eating and drinking (Datamonitor, 2007; and Hughes, 2008) have shown growing potentials. When aiming at satisfying health-related consumer needs and demands, the number and variety of processed fruits have substantially increased in the recent past. With the recent development in the technology, updated and modernized processing and preservation methods such as heating, drying or dehydration and freezing together with more commercialized varieties of processing techniques continue to serve the consumers with the increased varieties of processed fruit products. These achievements have been gained through new process protocols and products, new heating and freezing techniques, namely, microwave or ohmic heating, cryogenic freezing and radiation treatments. The trend in recent processed fruits is value addition through the increase of taste or flavour while retaining their nutritional value, making a nu mber of varieties of fruit products with longer and more consistent shelf life. The following describes the types of modern processing techniques those are being innovated and used by the developed countries in order to get competitive advantages over the developing countries in the international processed fruit market. xxxx-more neededxxxx 2.6 FRUIT INDUSTRY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES It has been evident that there is high potential growth and trend in fruit processing industry in many of the developing countries (DC) in Asia, Africa and former Soviet countries. The major trends on these DCs can be analysed on focusing the quality oriented aspects where it is a major concerned when exporting processed fruits to the developed countries especially European Union (EU), America and Japan. This will be beneficial to identify and indicate the major issues that are needed to be addressed in quality aspects when such products are exported. The fruit processing industry in the developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region is booming rapidly. This potential is due to the less trade barriers and agreements of global trade and increasing demand of consumers in developed countries. The reason for this boom is not merely for economical factors. This has major concerns regarding healthy, tasty and safe foods. The processed fruit industry is dealt with the challenge of being competitive in the international market where quality oriented aspects are of high concern. Many of the developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region, however, have only a few fruit processing and exporting companies that are practising the modern quality assurance and improvement systems for fruit processing. Therefore, processed fruit products from such countries cannot cope in the international processed fruit market due to the lack of quality assurance and the products those have usually been declared to lower end markets. India accounts for a wide variety of fruits and vegetables production. It is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables production in the world while China ranks the first. It accounts roughly 10 and 15 per cent of fruits and vegetables in global production respectively. According to the report published by National Horticulture Board, during 2009-2010, India produced 71.52 million metric tonnes of fruits and 133.74 million metric tonnes of vegetables (National Horticulture Database in India, 2010). At present, the country processed around 2.2 per cent of fruits and vegetables, even though it is ranked as the second in the world in terms of production. When compared with other countries, the processed fruit and vegetable industry is comparatively low. In Brazil the processed fruit and vegetable industry is 30 per cent, USA 70 per cent and Malaysia 82 per cent. The major fruits cultivated in India are Banana, Mangos, Papaya, Grapes, Apple, Apricots, Orange, Water Melons, Avocados, Guava, Lichi, Sapota. Mango accounts for 40% of the national fruit production and India and one of the leading exporters to the global market. The positive growth in the global market for processed fruits and vegetables products (dried or preserved and dehydrated vegetables and fruits), ready to serve beverages, fruit juices and pulps has led the countrys economy towards new way. The existence of 4000 fruit processing units offers India tremendous export opportunities. During the period of 2010-2011, India has exported fruits and vegetables worth 7 million USD comprised of fruits worth 4.8 million USD and vegetables worth 2.2 million USD (National Horticulture Database in India, 2010). The major importers of Indian fruits and vegetables are UK, UAE, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Pakistan. Even though the share of India in the global market is still nearly 1% only, the tendency towards increasing acceptance of horticulture production is high in the country. The concurrent developments in cold chain infrastructure in the areas of state of the art technology and quality assurance measures have paved the way for this tremendous growth in this sector in India. Moreover, large investment funded by the private sector and public sector has also taken initiatives with Agricultural Processed Food Products Export Development Authority in India (APEDA). With APEDAs assistance, several centres for integrated post harvest handling and perishable cargoes facilities have been established in the country. Also in achieving these growth rates in processed food industry, the programmes like capacity building initiatives at the farmers, processors and exporters levels has also contributed towards this effort. As the Indian food processing industry is still largely based on primary processing accounting for 80% of the value addition, Indian government has set up a separate fully authorised ministry called Ministry of Food Processing Industries for the entire development and promotion of food processing industries within the country. Harvesting of fruits is widely practiced by manual methods due to the abundant supply of surplus agricultural labour. The fruits are mostly harvested by hand or by simple hand tools, Sorting and grading of fruits are done on a very limited scale and that are only based on visual inspection methods. Limited pre-cooling facilities are only available for grapes, strawberries etc. for exporting purposes. Indian farmers suffer from disfavour in growing fruits as it requires high initial investment and long gestation period. The yield of fruits and thereby return to the farmers are highly affected due to the poor quality of seeds and other planting material available . Low educational level together with poor technical training facilities has led the farmers to the reluctance of adaptation to the new technologies and it has always been a problematic area. These factors result in non-uniformity in quality of fruits produced in India. To ramp up the fruits and vegetables processing, the ministry is pumping financial support for setting up new units, modernization and up gradation of existing units in processed fruit industry. The Indian national policy targeted to increase the percentage of food processed in the country to 10% by 2010 and would aim 25% by 2025. When it is taken in to the consideration of Thailand processed fruits market, its major exporting market is the United States, the EU and South-East Asia. Thailand today is accounting for a significant amount for total horticultural exports from the country. This amount is about 50% together with processed vegetables. The most exported processed fruits by Thailand comprise of juiced and canned pineapple, canned banana from which 30% goes to the United States while 90% of fresh banana are from Hong-Kong and China. The United States and EU markets are the most prominent importers of dried and canned mango from Thailand and most fresh mango importers are Asian countries. The other factors that contribute to the growth in processed fruit industry in Thailand are: maintaining of high quality of processes, products and value addition with low cost by the use of modern technology for their processing industries. To face to the competitiveness in the demanding market environment in processed fruit industry, Thailand maintains relatively high standards in processes as well as in facilities. This is of much more importance as the quality aspects of processed fruits are very stringent in countries like European Union, USA, Japan etc. The practice of GMP, HACCP and other modern quality aspects in Thailand is higher compared with other Asian countries so that they gained competitive advantage over other countries to enter into the developed countries processed fruit market. The modern fruit processing industry in Bangladesh covers relatively small volumes of canned fruits, jams, jellies and dehydration of fruits. But the volume of production of jams and jellies are done in large quantities. Mainly the small entrepreneurs at the home or cottage scale level are engaged in this jams and jellies processing. Most of the larger companies have new facilities in fruit processing which operate more hygienically to conform with the good manufacturing practices (GMP) used by most of the food industry. When considering most of the facilities available in fruit processing sector in Bangladesh it seemed that there is a need of upgrading quality aspects, technology, processing techniques and requirement of considerable training on personnel who are engaged in the industry. 2.7 QUALITY PRACTICES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES The developing countries in the world have shown a continuous growth in the fruit processing industry (FAOSTAT, 2009). The processed fruits and vegetables trade in international market is very large with an ever increasing number of different types which are processed and exported. Once the processing of fruits and vegetables was limited to mostly temperate zone climate types, but now the change has widened to include the types of tropical and subtropical species. There are many reasons for this change, but they can be broadly explained as the increase in consumers dietary habits in developed as well as in developing countries that have become more diverse. This is not merely due to the economical reasons of increase of per capita income but for the healthy, tasty and safe food consumption. The industry is facing to the challenges of being competitive in the international market where quality oriented aspects are of high concerns. The other reason for the change is the development an d growth in processing techniques. The processing of tropical and subtropical fruits and vegetables have been improved to an extent where final product is palatable, nutritious and of long and reliable shelf life regardless of whether they are for drying, canning or freezing. Due to continuing demand for processed fruits and vegetables worldwide, many of the developing countries have taken advantages over it and earning valuable foreign exchange from exports of products to profitable markets around the globe. The quality control and inspection in this industry is very important and directed at ensuring that the final products have been processed in a registered establishment that is constructed, equipped and operated in a hygienic and efficient manner. The conformation to the requirements of the export regulations for processed fruits and vegetables and those of the importing country play a vital role with respect to the ingredients, quality grades, defects, packaging materials, sty les, contaminants, additives. Apart from these, the following aspects are also of high concerns when exporting the processed fruits and vegetables. They are: conformance to labelling requirements, drained weight, filling of container. Even though the aspects of quality matters are high in this industry, many of the enterprises engaged in this processed fruit industry are very few those who have equipped with modern quality assurance and improvement systems. Therefore, the developing countries with such kind of shortage in quality assurance systems in place lack their competitive edge in competing with other developed countries in international processed fruit market thus their product have usually been usually directed to lower end markets or in some cases products are abandon. This situation requires immediate attention to improve the quality aspects of the fruit processing industry where the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are in particularly of much importance in developing countries. These SME sector represents a large proportion of the fruit industry in the region. This requirement can be fulfilled by creating awareness among SMEs of modern concepts of quality assurance, good manufacturing practices-GMP and improved concepts such as hazard analysis and critical control point-HACCP and ISO 22000. Much stress is put on implementing such systems in the relevant industry. Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) can be applied in production and harvest while Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) can be especially applied during post-harvest and Quality and Safety Assurance Systems such as HACCP, throughout the entire food chain to avoid hazard and to control them. HACCP is currently recognized as global system for the management of food safety for all companies that are engaged in the processing, production, storage, and distribution of processed foods for the consumption of human beings. But most of the companies engaged in fruit processing industry are confronted with many technical issues, legal, socioeconomic and challenges in the process of adoption of HACCP or ISO 22000. Asian countries like, India, Thailand, Pakistan, Malaysia, Philippine and South American countries like Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, etc are in the continuous process of overcoming the barriers to the widespread adaptation of HACCP, ISO 22000 and other quality assurance systems in processed fruit and vegetable industry as this industry has now become the driving seat of the economy of most of the developing countries. Even though some of the enterprises who have been awarded with above certifications, their applications in practical scenario are questionable in most of the developing countries due to lack of awareness, competence and management support in implementation. Apart from these quality assurance systems, there are other quality systems that can be applied to the processed fruit and vegetable industry. Those quality systems are namely, Total Quality Management (TQM), Six sigma, The Toyota Way etc. In the recent past, quality experts have put forward the approaches, concepts and systems for addressing quality during manufacturing in all aspects. Total Quality Management (TQM), ISO 9000 and ISO 22000 have been set up in large manufacturing and service industries worldwide. Most of the processed fruit and vegetable manufacturing establishments have developed and implemented TQM or ISO 9000 or ISO 22000 series programmes in order to enhance their quality objectives. Details on applications of these quality programmes in the food industry have been reviewed recently (Surak, 1992, Battaglia, 1993; and Golomski, 1993). Since the lack of availability of literature on these quality assurance systems with regard to processed fruit and vegetable industry, their correct applicability in the fruit industry should be further studied. 2.7.1 Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Good manufacturing practices are the written procedures intended to be followed while the processing plant is constructed and when it is in operation to make sure the wholesomeness of foods. These practices are the minimum requirements of processing and sanitary conditions that should be followed in processing plants built on proper requirements. GMP includes the following requirements. They are: Cleanliness and sanitary for personnel involved in Building and facilities used in Equipment and utensils used in Food processing requirements and controls The requirements of cleaning and sanitation can be considered as a procedure involving the cleaning and sanitizing of the processing plant. Food processing and controls highlight the actual manufacturing operations which include cleaning, sorting, grading and packaging that can be applied to both fresh and processed foods. With the correct implementation of GMP will help to reduce the new forms of biological, chemical and physical contamination while eliminating existing contamination. The processing plants and facilities should be constructed as per the U.S. and European standards. These facilities should be used with approved materials and maintained under proper hygienic and sanitary requirements. The following of GMP will make sure that the foods produced in an establishment are healthy and wholesome for the consumption of human beings. The applicability of the GMP in processed fruit and vegetable sector is very useful for their quality assurance system and it establishes better perspectives in consumers minds regarding the products that they consume while keeping competitive in the market due to the proper quality of their products. This will lead to increase the revenue of a company who follows the GMP making more space to further development in GMP. 2.7.2 Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) HACCP is a management tool that was developed in the United States in 1971 in space flight programmes to make sure the safety of foods (Ropkins and Beck, 2000). The technique used for ensuring food safety has become widely accepted in the food industry. Most of the government regulatory agencies, food manufacturers and world organizations such as WHO and FAO are following this tool for food industry and related industries (Perera and De Silva, 1999; Ropkins and Beck, 2000). North America, the European Union, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and many other countries have implemented the HACCP system today. Effective measures for ensuring the safety of foods and food products are the key aspects addressed by HACCP with regard to known hazards. HACCP has now become the basis for controlling and ensuring food safety in food manufacturing processes. It has become part of total quality assurance programs in the food industry and can be incorporated within an ISO 9000 quality system (BSI Q uality Assurance, 1991; Perera and De Silva, 1999; and Ropkins and Beck, 2000). The implementation of an HACCP programme in the fruit industry can lead to the identi ¬Ã‚ cation of known hazards that affect the safety of the  ¬Ã‚ nal product. The objectives of HACCP programme are the eliminating of those identified hazards at the earliest possible stages and at any subsequent stage of the manufacturing or production system (Alli, 1993; Perera and De Silva, 1999). In the fruit industry, there are wide varieties of known hazards. In fresh, frozen or canned fruit, the detriments associated with the product might vary in signi ¬Ã‚ cant amount depending on the types of products. Also, the HACCP is not a stand-alone system where it requires GMP as a pre-requisite to be in place before HACCP is applied. With the successfully implemented HACCP system having a proper monitoring will make sure the effective control of hazards as well as public health risks. This will ultimately lead to improved food safety. As all the known hazards are taken care by HACCP procedures in any production line, it helps to improve product and process efficiency, reduces waste and reduces the need for rework in the production lines. This cuts down on cost, enhance sales performance and improve consumer con ¬Ã‚ dence in the product. The relative significance in quality and safety of processed fruits are directly connected to the level of quality of the incoming fresh fruits which are used in subsequent processing. The incoming fruits must meet certain minimum speci ¬Ã‚ cations to avoid microbial contaminations, impurities and the general appearance which are used in production. It is of much importance that the suppliers follow an HACCP procedure to make sure that all raw materials coming in shall meet the desired speci ¬Ã‚ cations of producers of processed fruits such as canned, frozen and modi ¬Ã‚ ed atmosphere packaged (MAP

Custom Written Term Papers: The Numerous Themes in Othello :: Othello essays

The Numerous Themes in Othello  Ã‚        Ã‚   The Shakespearean tragedy Othello contains a number of themes; their relative importance and priority is debated by literary critics. In this essay let us examine the various themes and determine which are dominant and which subordinate.    A. C. Bradley, in his book of literary criticism, Shakespearean Tragedy, describes the theme of sexual jealousy in Othello:    In the second place, there is no subject more exciting than sexual jealousy rising to the pitch of passion; and there can hardly be any spectacle at once so engrossing and so painful as that of a great nature suffering the torment of this passion, and driven by it to a crime which is also a hideous blunder. [. . .] But jealousy, and especially sexual jealousy, brings with it a sense of shame and humiliation. For this reason it is generally hidden; if we perceive it we ourselves are ashamed and turn our eyes away; and when it is not hidden it commonly stirs contempt as well as pity. Nor is this all. Such jealousy as Othello’s converts human nature into chaos, and liberates the beast in man; and it does this in relation to one of the most intense and also the most ideal of human feelings. (169)    In the essay â€Å"Wit and Witchcraft: an Approach to Othello† Robert B. Heilman discusses the ancient’s instinctive reaction to the love-theme of the play:    Before coming directly to the forming of the love-theme that differentiates Othello from other Shakespeare plays that utilize the same theme, I turn arbitrarily to Iago to inspect a distinguishing mark of his of which the relevance to thematic form in the play will appear a little later. When Iago with unperceived scoffing reminds Roderigo, who is drawn with merciless attraction to the unreachable Desdemona, that love effects an unwonted nobility in men, he states a doctrine which he â€Å"knows† is true but in which he may not â€Å"believe.† Ennoblement by love is a real possibility in men, but Iago has to view it with bitterness and to try to undermine it. (333-34)    The theme of hate is the theme on which the play opens. Lily B. Campbell in Shakespeare’s Tragic Heroes indicates this hate in the opening scene:    It is then on a theme of hate that the play opens. It is a hate of inveterate anger.

Understanding Indigenism: Building A Different Future for Us All :: Essays Papers

Understanding Indigenism: Building A Different Future for Us All â€Å"Defining one’s ‘culture’ is a life long process,† according to Indian rights activist Norman DesCampe of the Grand Portage Chippewa Tribe. â€Å"You have to live it.† Today, the life long process of understanding indigenous cultures is limited by terms of â€Å"cultural survival.† The ability of future generations to define themselves as Inuit or Kayapo is threatened as their natural environments and social integrity is hurt by government negligence: indigenous cultures must be protected under a political structure that allows the people to live as they choose to live, outside of the transformative power of established nation-states, and the assumptions of these powers. Thus, international organizations must actively ensure the rights of impoverished indigenous â€Å"states within states†: The right to â€Å"exchange equitably† (Rose 234) as autonomous states with nation states is the basis for the new politically explosive global phenomenon (Neisen 1) of indigenous sovereignty and cultural autonomy. However, in Western government, â€Å"native peoples are in the way because they are thought to undermine the state- whichever state they find themselves in- because of their struggle to maintain their own ways of life† (Wolfe, â€Å"Tribes†). Because they present economic challenges to land use and resource exploitation, indigenous peoples share sufferings under political oppression, deracination and racism and are, as in the case of Australian Aborigines, the â€Å"poorest of the poor.† Destroyed by a â€Å"rhetoric of hate,† genocide and mass murder are the tools of nation states to control the unwanted obstacles in economic development (Niezen 55). Colonialism transformed the indigenous life of the Yanomami, the Maasai, the Hawai’ians, the Aborigines and hundreds of other indigenous peoples. Industrialization moved humanity beyond the â€Å"world in which people mattered to a world in which they are expendable† (Wolfe). Today, still entrenched in the imperialistic ideology of colonialism by modern forms of globalization, nation states noisily quarrel over the rights to exploit both land and people for economic power without regard to indigenous existence. Non-Hawaiian haoles crudely render false historical interpretations of their â€Å"settler society† as a blessed yoke of â€Å"civilization† to the pitiful â€Å"feudal† Hawaiians (Trask). Some indigenous people attempt to assimilate, as â€Å"for years [one Aboriginal man] had ‘sweetened’ himself up just like tea, trying to make himself and others understood [to invading Western cultures]’† but â€Å"‘nothin g been come back. Just nothing’† (Rose 195). Without political muscle, indigenous people are forced to promote ecologically harmful projects, such as hydroelectric dam proposals, to survive within the paradigm of the Western world.

Critical Analysis of an Incident in a Clinical Setting :: Reflection Upon Nursing Skills

The purpose of this essay is to reflect and critically study an incident from a clinical setting whilst using a model of reflection. This will allow me to analyse and make sense of the incident and draw conclusions relating to personal learning outcomes. The significance of critical analysis and critical incidents will briefly be discussed followed by the process of reflection using the chosen model. The incident will then be described and analysed and the people involved introduced. (The names of the people involved have been changed to protect their privacy) and then I will examine issues raised in light of the recent literature relating to the incident. My essay will include a discussion of communication, interpersonal skills used in the incident, and finally evidence based practice. I will conclude with explaining what I have learned from the experience and how it will change my future actions. In accordance with the 2002 Nursing and Midwifery Council, the clients' details and placement setting has not been disclosed in order to maintain confidentiality. Critical incidents are snapshots of something that happens to a patient, their family or nurse. It may be something positive, or it could be a situation where someone has suffered in some way (Rich & Parker 2001). Reflection and analysis of critical incidents is widely regarded as a valuable learning tool for nurses. The practice requires us to explore our actions and feelings and examine evidence-based literature, thus bridging the gap between theory and practice (Bailey 1995). It also affords us the opportunity of changing our way of thinking or practicing, for when we reflect on an incident we can learn valuable lessons from what did and did not work. In this way we develop self-awareness and skills in critical thinking and problem solving (Rich & Parker 2001). Critical incidents ??? "To be self aware is to be conscious of one's character, including beliefs, values, qualities, strengths and limitation. It is about knowing oneself" (Burnard 1992). I am going to use Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle. This because Gibbs is clear and precise allowing for description, analysis and evaluation of the experience helping the reflective practitioner to make sense of experiences and examine their practice. Taking action is the key; Gibbs prompts to formulate an action plan. This enables the reflective practitioner to look at their practice and see what they would change in the future, how they would develop/improve their practice. Gibbs (1988) consists of six stages to complete one cycle which is able to improve my nursing practice continuously and learning from the experience for better practice in the future.

A character from a book, movie, or television program Essay

â€Å"Then I shall die as one of them!† A line said by one of the most noble of characters in my favourite movies of all time. The Lord of the Rings is a story that is epically written by J.R.R Tolkien. It is a three part book that has been adapted into film with many characters that individually play important roles in the story. Aragorn son of Arathorn had caught my attention from his very first appearance in the trilogy. Aragorn son of Arathorn is the heir of Isildur. He is also known as Elessar by the people of Gondor. By the people around the Shire, he is known as Strider, the dark rider with no name. Aragorn always looks disheveled with his beard and lone ranger clothes. Despite that, he could woo any woman he passes by as he is very handsome and macho. Whenever he cleans himself up, you could see the kingly heir of Isildur that he is. As a child, Aragorn lost his father who was killed brutally by orcs. As a result, he grew up in Rivendell amongst the fair elves as his mother wanted him protected from his dangerous lineage. Many enemies wanted him dead for he was from a line of very powerful kings that had defeated the evil Sauron. Aragorn portrays many kingly characteristics in the movie. He has the characteristics of a very good leader, just as his ancestors did. Though compared to them, he is a better man and a wiser king. In battle, Aragorn plans excellent strategies. He led a war in The Return of the King and won it proudly. Also, Aragorn has nobility that is worth noting. In the name of his people and Frodo Baggins, he would fight till his death and protect them. Aragorn always fought side by side full of pride with his people in war. Aragorn son of Arathorn or more commonly known as Strider by Samwise Gamgee, one of his respected nine companions in the Fellowship of the Ring, is a very interesting character. From the very start of the movie, he stood out from all the other characters. As a result, he had caught so much of my attention that I would eagerly await all of his appearance in every scene of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Why christains believe god is present in our lives.

Catholics believe that God Is present In our lives through rituals. Catholics believe that doing the sign of the cross is a significant way to start a conversation with God by putting yourself In the presence of God. Also by attending mass It Is declaring that they belong to God and want to obey him and when Catholics go to receive transubstantiation Catholics are accepting the suffering that Christ has done for us. Catholics also believe that God is present in our lives through ethics.Catholic ethics come from the 10 commandments, it is important that we know the everlasting laws f God and what they mean such as â€Å"thou shall not steal† means that we shouldn't steal because it is disrespectful and we should respect others property as we wool like done to us. Another moral is â€Å"thou shall not harm† because humans are a creation of God and if we harm others or ourselves we are destroying Gods creation and â€Å"thou shall not bear false witness† means to no t lie about one self of anyone else.All of these ethics come under respect one self and one another. Why Catholics think It Is Important Is that acting morally with the Infinite laws of God, which are so Inspiring to most people that even those who do not know anything of God follow In the path of morality. Catholic believe strongly that God Is present in our lives though practice of individual experience such as baptism. Baptism is significant to the catholic community and faith because to that person getting baptized it represents the start of that person and God's relationship.This individual experience is very similar to conformation, it is similar because conformation In the Catholic Church represents growing up and creating a stronger bond between the person and God. Another individual experience is reconciliation in the Catholic Church, reconciliation is significant in the Catholic Church because â€Å"only God can forgive and cleanse sins away and allowing God to guide that individual through very tough times with making that bond with god and that individual stronger.Catholics believe that God Is present In our lives through rituals. Catholics believe that doing the sign of the cross Is a gallants way to start a conversation with God by putting yourself In the presence of God. Also by attending mass It Is declaring that they belong to God and want to obey him and when Catholics go to receive transubstantiation Catholics are accepting the suffering that Christ has done for us. Catholics also believe that God is present in our lives through ethics.Catholic ethics come from the 10 commandments, it is important that we know the everlasting laws of God and what they mean such as â€Å"thou shall not steal† means that we shouldn't steal because it is disrespectful and we should respect others property as we wool like done to us. Another moral is â€Å"thou hall not harm† because humans are a creation of God and if we harm others or ourselves we are destroying Gods creation and â€Å"thou shall not bear false witness† means to not Ill about one self of anyone else.All of these ethics come under respect one self and one another. Why Catholics think It Is Important Is that acting morally with the Infinite laws of God, which are so Inspiring to most people that even those who do not know anything of God follow in the path of morality. Catholic believe such as baptism. Baptism is significant to the catholic community and faith because o that person getting baptized it represents the start of that person and God's relationship.This individual experience is very similar to conformation, it is similar because conformation in the Catholic Church represents growing up and creating a stronger bond between the person and God. Another individual experience is reconciliation in the Catholic Church, reconciliation is significant in the Catholic Church because â€Å"only God can forgive and cleanse sins away' and allowing God t o guide that individual through very tough times with making that bond with god and that individual stronger.

Canadian Culture Essay

Canada is located in the northern portion of the continent of North America, extending, in general, from the 49th parallel northward to the islands of the Arctic Ocean. Its eastern and western boundaries are the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans respectively. Its land area totals 3,851,809 square miles (9,976,185 square kilometers). The easternmost portion of the country is a riverine and maritime environment, consisting of the provinces of Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick. The central portion of the country, in its southern areas, is primarily boreal forest (the provinces of Ontario and Quebec). This forest region extends across the entire country from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains through to the Atlantic coast, and is dominated by coniferous trees. These variations have had important social and cultural effects. The largest segment of the population resides in the central Carolinian region, which has the richest and most varied agricultural land and, because the Great Lakes waterway system dominates the central portion of the country, is also where most of the major manufacturing is located. The savanna or prairie region is more sparsely populated, with several large urban centers in a network across the region, which is dominated by grain farming, cattle and other livestock production, and more recently, oil and natural gas extraction. The two coastal regions, which have some agricultural production, are best characterized by the dominance of port cities through which import and export goods move. In the northern section of the center of the country, also sparsely populated, resource extraction of minerals and lumber, has predominated. The effect of this concentration of the population, employment, and productive power in the central region of the country has been the concentration of political power in this region, as well as the development over time of intense regional rivalries and disparities in quality of life. Equally important, as employment in the center came to dominate gross national production, immigration has tended to flow into the center. This has created a diverse cultural mix in the central region of the country, while the prairie and the eastern maritime region have stabilized ethnically and culturally. The consequence of these diverse geographies has been the development of a rhetoric of regional cultures: Prairie, Maritime, Central, and because of its special isolation, West Coast. A final differentiation is between urban and rural. Local cultural identity is often marked by expressions of contrasting values in which rural residents characterize themselves as harder working, more honest, and more deeply committed to community cooperation, in contrast to urban dwellers [pic] Canada who are characterized by rural residents as greedy, dishonest, arrogant, and self-interested. Urban dwellers express their own identities as more modern and forward looking, more sophisticated, and more liberal in their overall social values, and perceive rural residents as conservative, overdependent on outmoded traditions, unsophisticated, and simple minded. This distinction is most explicit in Quebec, but also plays a key role in political, social, and cultural contentions in Ontario. Demography . The official population at the last census calculation, in 1996, was 29,672,000, an increase over the previous census in 1991 of about 6 percent in five years. The previous five-year increase was almost 7 percent. There has been a slowing population increase in Canada over the last several decades, fueled in part by a decline in the crude birthrate. This slowing of growth has been offset somewhat by an increase in immigration over the last two decades of the twentieth century, coupled with a slowing of emigration. Statistics Canada, the government Census management organization, is projecting a population increase of as much as 8 percent between 2001 and 2005, mostly through increased immigration. Language Canada is bilingual, with English and French as the official languages. English takes precedence in statutory proceedings outside of Quebec, with English versions of all statutes serving as the final arbiter in disputes over interpretation. As of 1996, the proportion of Canadians reporting English as their mother tongue was just under 60 percent while those reporting French as their mother tongue was slightly less than 24 percent. The percentage of native English speakers had risen over the previous decade, while that of French speakers had declined. At the same time, about 17 percent of all Canadians could speak both official languages, though this is a regionalized phenomenon. In those provinces with the largest number of native French speakers (Quebec and New Brunswick), 38 percent and 33 percent respectively were bilingual, numbers that had been increasing steadily over the previous twenty years. In contrast, Ontario, which accounts for more than 30 percent of the total population of Canada, had an English-French bilingualism rate of about 12 percent. This is in part a result of the immigration patterns over time, which sees the majority of all immigrants gravitating to Ontario, and in part because all official and commercial services in Ontario are conducted in English, even though French is available by law, if not by practice. English-French bilingualism is less important in the everyday lives of those living outside of Quebec and New Brunswick. First Nations language groups make up a significant, if small, portion of the nonofficial bilingual speakers in Canada, a fact with political and cultural importance as First Nations groups assert greater and more compelling claims on political and cultural sovereignty. The three largest First Nations languages in 1996 were Cree, Inuktitut, and Ojibway, though incomplete census data on First Nations peoples continues to plague assessments of the extent and importance of these mother tongues. Immigration and cultures Changing immigration patterns following World War II affected linguistic affiliation. In the period, from 1961 to 1970, for example, only 54 percent of immigrants had a nonofficial language as mother tongue, with more than two-thirds of this group born in Europe. Almost a quarter of them reported Italian, German, or Greek as mother tongue. In contrast, 80 percent of the 1,039,000 immigrants who came to Canada between 1991 and 1996 reported a nonofficial language as mother tongue, with over half from Asia and the Middle East. Chinese was the mother tongue of just under 25 percent, while Arabic, Punjabi, Tagalog, Tamil, and Persian together accounted for about 20 percent. In 1971, the three largest nonofficial mother tongue groups were German, Italian, and Ukrainian, reflecting patterns of non-English and non-French immigration that have remained relatively constant through most of the twentieth century. In the period ending in 1996, this had changed, with the rank order shifting to Chinese, Italian, and German. This is reflected in regional concentrations, with Italians concentrated heavily in Ontario, Germans in both Ontario and the Prairie regions, and Chinese and other Asians most heavily represented in southern Ontario and in British Columbia. A gradual decline in out-migration from Europe, coupled with political changes in China and throughout Asia, leading to increased out-migration from these areas, is changing the ethnic and linguistic makeup of Canada. It should be stressed, however, that these changes are concentrated in two or three key urban centers, while linguistic affiliation elsewhere in the country remains stable. This is likely to change in the early twenty-first century as an aging cohort of European immigrants declines and out-migration from Europe continues to decrease. These shifts will come to have increasingly important cultural effects as immigrants from Asia and, most recently, from certain areas throughout the continent of Africa, come to influence the political and social life of the core urban centers in which they settle. Symbolism. This is an area of considerable dispute in Canada, in large part because of the country’s longstanding history of biculturalism (English and French) and perhaps most importantly because of its proximity to the United States, whose symbolic and rhetorical influence is both unavoidable and openly resisted. Ethnic and cultural diversity in Canada, in which different cultural groups were expected to maintain their distinctiveness rather than subsume it to some larger national culture, which is the historical effect of the English-French biculturalism built into the Canadian confederation, means that national symbols in Canada tend to be either somewhat superficial or regionalized. There are, however, certain symbols that are deployed at both official and unofficial events and functions which are generally shared across the entire country, and can be seen as general cultural symbols, even if their uses may not always be serious. The core values that inform these symbols are cooperation, industriousness, and patience—that is, a kind of national politeness. The Canadian symbolic order is dominated by a concern for order and stability, which marks Canadian identity as something communal rather than individualistic. Canada throughout its history might best be described as a nation of nations. Two European colonial powers dominate the history of Canada and its emergence as a nation: France and Great Britain. In time Britain emerged as the dominant political and cultural force in Canada, but that emergence exemplifies the sense of compromise and cooperation on which Canadian social identity is founded. While Britain, and later English Canada, came to be and remain the most powerful part of the Canadian cultural landscape, this dominance and power exists in a system of joint cultural identity, with French Canada, in Quebec and in other parts of eastern Canada, remaining a singular and distinctive cultural entity in its own right. This complex antagonism, which has been a thread throughout Canada’s emergence as a nation, has also led to a particular kind of nation. Most important, the development of the Canadian nation, however uneven the power of the English and the French, has been characterized by discussion, planning, and compromise. The gradual opening of all of Canada to European control, and its coming together in 1867 as a national entity, was not the result of war or revolution but instead, of negotiation and reconciliation. It was an orderly transition managed almost like a business venture, through which Canada obtained a degree of sovereignty and Great Britain continued to hold Canada’s allegiance as a member of the British Empire. When, in the early 1980s Canada would take the final step towards political independence by adopting its own constitution, it would do so through negotiation as well, and again, the antagonism between English and French Canada, which resulted in the Government of Quebec refusing to sign the constitutional enabling agreement would provide both the drama of the moment, and its fundamental character, one of compromise and collaboration. Leading up to and following the emergence of Canada as an independent political state in 1867, English Canada and English identity dominated the political and cultural landscape. The remaining French presence, in Quebec and throughout the eastern part of the country, while a strong cultural entity in itself, exercised only limited influence and effect at the national level. English symbols, the English language, and the values of loyalty to the English crown prevailed throughout the nation as the core underpinnings of national identity. The dominance of English Canada in terms of national identity, especially in a federal system in which binationalism and biculturalism were enshrined in the founding legislation of the country, exercised a powerful effect on ethnic relations, but that effect was not ethnic homogenization. Instead, the dominance of English Canada served as a major locus of ongoing tension between the two national identities of Canada, a tension which, in he period from the 1960s onward, has come to be expressed in growing French-Canadian nationalism and so far unsuccessful attempts on the part of French Canada to secede from the Canadian confederation. This tension—which is built into the principles of the confederation itself, which recognizes the duality of Canadian national identity— while regularly threatening the unity of the federation, has also had a mollifying effect on ethnic divisions more generally. The main exception to this has been the relationship between the dominant Fren ch-English state and aboriginal peoples. Colonial relations with indigenous ethnic groups worldwide have often been marked by violent conquest. While violence did play a role in these relationships in Canada, more often than not aboriginal peoples simply had their ethnic and cultural identities erased. The use of forced schooling, including the removal of children from their families, for example, sought to annul aboriginal cultural identities Food in Daily Life . The agricultural and ethnic richness of Canada has led to two distinctive characteristics of everyday food consumption. The first is its scale. Canadians are â€Å"big eaters,† with meat portions in particular dominating the Canadian meal. There are generally three regular meals in a given day. Breakfast, often large and important in rural areas, but less so in urban areas, is most often not eaten in a group. Lunch, at midday, is most often a snack in urban areas, but remains a substantial meal in rural centers. Dinner, the final formal meal of the day, is also the meal most likely to be eaten by a residential group as a whole, and it is the largest and the most socially important meal of the day. It is the meal most often used as a social event or to which invitations to nonfamily members are extended, in contrast with lunch which is often, for adults, shared with coworkers. Meat plays a key role in all three of the formal meals, but with increasing importance at breakfast and dinner. Dinner should have some special, and most often, large, meat portion as its key component. Each of these three meals can be, and often are, very substantial. There are general rules concerning appropriate foods for each meal, rules that can be quite complex. For example, pork can figure in each meal, but only particular kinds of pork would be considered appropriate. Pork at breakfast may appear as bacon, or sausage, in small portions. Both of these products are made with the least valuable portion of the pig. At lunch, pork may appear in a sandwich in the form of processed meats, also made from the least valuable portion of the pig. For dinner, pork appears in large and more highly valued forms, such as roasts or hams, which require often elaborate preparation and which are presented to diners in a way that highlights their value and size. The other main feature of Canadian food is diversity. The complex ethnic landscape of Canada and the tendency of ethnic groups to retain a dual cultural orientation have meant that Canadian cuisine is quite diverse in its content, with many ethnic dishes seen as somehow quintessentially Canadian as well. Whether pizza or chow mein, cabbage rolls or plum pudding, Canadian cuisine is best characterized as eclectic rather than consistent in content. There are a small number of food items that are considered distinctively Canadian, such as maple syrup, but overall the Canadian diet is drawn from a panoply of ethnic sources. Food Customs at Ceremonial Occasions. Ceremonial food does not generally differ greatly in content from everyday foods. What distinguishes food in ceremonial settings, such as state dinners, is not the type of food but the amount of food served and the complexity of its presentation and consumption. Ceremonial dinners are often made up of a long list of dishes served in a rigid sequence, eaten with utensils specified for each portion, and presented in often elaborate arrangement either generally, on the table as a whole, or in the particular portions placed on each diner’s plate. The same general consideration applies to meals for more private special occasions, such as those marking important religious holidays such as Christmas. The number of discrete dishes is usually quite large, the preparation of each is often specialized and involved, and portions consumed are more often than not greater than what one would consume under other circumstances. These more private special occasion meals often involve entire extended families sharing in both preparing and eating the meal. There is another special meal worth mentioning, the potluck. Potluck† is derived from the word potlatch, a special occasion of many West Coast First Nations peoples. The potluck involves each guest preparing and bringing a dish to the event, to be shared by all the diners. The key component of this particular kind of meal is food sharing among friends as opposed to food making for family. In general, potluck meals are meals shared by friends or coworkers. They express the symbolic im portance of the meal as a part of the moral geography of social relations among nonkin, but distinguish this meal as an act of food sharing rather than an act of food preparation. That is, the potluck meal expresses a sense of community and kindness, while the family meal expresses a sense of service, duty, and family solidarity. Basic Economy. Canada is a resource rich, but land and people poor, country. While physically vast, there are geographic limitations on where people can live such that most of the population is located around the Great Lakes, and in the Saint Lawrence River Valley. This has meant, however, that the natural resources throughout the country can be exploited more fully. Key to Canada’s basic economy is its role as a resource base, not only for its own manufacturing, but for export as well. Minerals and ore, forestry products, and in particular in the twentieth century, oil and gas, have been the foundation of the Canadian economy since European conquest of the area. Farming is also key to the Canadian economy, although most of Canada’s agricultural production The single largest area of economic growth in Canada since the 1970s has been in the â€Å"service† sector, the part of the economy which provides services rather than goods for sale. r Trade. Canada exports around the world, but its most important export and import trading partner is the United States. The manufacturing and export of large equipment, and in particular farm equipment, is the second largest component of Canadian manufacturing and trade. At the same time, Canada remains a major resource exporter. In particular, Canada exports raw materials such as petro-chemi cals and oil, minerals and ores, and forestry products. Division of Labor. Labor in Canada is unevenly divided between skilled professional, skilled manufacturing, and general unskilled such as service workers. With increased manufacturing efficiency, the skilled manufacturing labor force has declined in size, though not in economic impact, while the general unskilled labor force has increased; at the same time skilled professionals—whether doctors, computer programmers, and other new economy professionals—has also increased. Access to different jobs is determined in part by education and training and in part by social networks.