Cultural communication in France

French people have expectations for people they interact with in their country whether foreign or local. They look to people trying to express themselves in French, because they are proud of their culture and their history with all the roles it has played on the world affairs. They have a brief hand shake done when as greetings for when people and also as bye bye when people are leaving. During discussions people face each other and are close to each other. It is considered rude to chew a gun in public, and to have hands inside the pockets while speaking to people or in public.Political discussions are usually common subjects in discussion which gets interesting since they are heated debates, this is a form of entertainment but people prefer not to talk about how they voted, or are planning to vote. At introductions people prefer to use the first name alone. At work, in schools there lacks the spirit of team work as students are taught on a system which encourages individual goal rea lization. Their dressing is more formal as compared to Americans, but they are not so conservative and they prefer to express their individuality by their way of dressing at work.Dark colored fabrics with patterns are in preference to light colored ones. In their meetings they spend so much time analyzing and little time on aims and steps to take. Meetings done over meals will only commence towards the end of a meal e. g. at dessert. French people are not so consciously punctual. They are a clear line between official matters and those that are private. Privacy is respected; knock and wait for an answer before you enter into a room. Organizations are based on hierarchy and centralization.

Murder: Crime and East West Highway Essay

Nowadays lots of people commit crime, some of them steal, hack information other rape or kidnap but the most awful crime is to murder, society consider murdering the most aggressive act. In most countries people convicted of murder is given a long prison sentence and possibly a life time sentence and in some countries death penalty. In fact, there are many reasons that lead a person to murder which include psychological problems, mental illness, their past and passion First of all, most murders are people with psychological issues that lead them to commit such crimes. ome of them do it just for the pleasure as seeing blood and people suffering makes them happy and people like these are without emotion and sensitivity, this case is considered as a disease called psychopath these criminal are cold-blooded, have no mercy, no feelings toward their victims they are capable to kill without any regrets. One criminal said: â€Å"that if rape were legalized, he wouldn’t do it, but he declared that he would certainly do something else that was just as exciting and forbidden and he identified his self as someone that thirst for excitement and a buildup at the expense of others. No matter what the laws, mores, and customs of a particular society are, he will violate them and leave a trail of injury behind ’’. in addition ted Bundy a psychopath criminal said: â€Å"I just liked to kill, I wanted to kill. † These people make their own decision and are pretty sure about it and do it as it was the right thing to do. Furthermore John Gacy, called his victims: â€Å"worthless little queers and punks,† while the â€Å"Yorkshire Ripper† Peter Sutcliffe brashly declared that he was â€Å"cleaning up the streets† of the human trash. As if their act seems totally fair and killing these is people for the good of the society( Pincus, Jonathan H.  What makes killer kill? N. Y: Norton and company. Inc. , 2001. Web. 11 June 2013. ) In the 19th century psychopath people were considered to be moral insane and with anti social behavior, lack of conscience and emotional vacuity. Dealing with these criminal punishments rarely works with them because they are fearless of the consequences and impulsive by nature. Studies has shown that 60% of psychopathic had lost a parent, thus when he was a child he was deprived of love or nurturing, parents were divorced or absent, inconsistent discipline if the father was very strict and the mother was soft and gentle, the child earns to refuse authority and manipulate his mother. All these issues combined together can lead to psychopath people. In addition to psychopath criminals there are people with bipolar disorder. This issue was used constantly in the court to avoid capital punishment or life time sentence as the criminal claim to suffer from bipolarity and is considered as insane to avoid the consequences of his act. But lately the law refused to consider bipolar people as legally insane. People suffering with bipolarity are people that when committing crime are unconscious about their act, and are known to have 2 different personality, one that fit with the value and norms of the society and act as a normal people but when anger and depression take place, an awful and aggressive personality appear and can lead the person the commit a crime due to shifts in mood, thinking, energy and behavior. However the causes of bipolarity until now aren’t clear enough but it often runs in the family and begins with teenagers. As we notice the causes of bipolarity and psychopath are sometimes due to the child past. The childhood of a kid is very important, the environment where he was raised, how his parents raised him, if he had a proper education all these aspect forms a person personality. In addition people with mental illness such as schizophrenia are people that hear voices in their heads, and hallucination is very common in their cases, this problem can lead to lose conscious and always be afraid especially when hearing voices coming out of their body and seeing unreal objects and people, by the time these people begin to believe unrealistic ideas and lots of other issues such as lack of affect, disorder thoughts †¦living a long time with this problem can confuse these people between the reality and the illusion that they are having leading them to suicide or killing people around them . urthermore some people suffer from what is called anti social personality disorder , usually when they are young these people are considered as shy ,and avoid interaction due to an intense fear of rejection . by growing up these people begin to feel really lonely and depressed and having social anxiety disorder that can lead them to murder . As we mentioned a child past has a major role in building up a person personality, unfortunate lots of children are not given the proper education and grow with lack of social problems that lead them to murder and commit crimes later on such as child abuse and a miserable childhood. Many people were abused when they were children. In fact there are many causes that lead to child abuse such as poverty, marital discord ,domestic violence, social isolation †¦thus in some cases the parents don’t have the right education and skills needed to raise a child , providing bad parental model for future generations . n addition most violated and abused children are likely to have lack of problems such as anxiety , depression , truancy , shame and guilt and all these problems with time can lead to suicide or to a future criminal , a murder with no feelings no regret no emotions this child will engage later on in criminal activity , promiscuity and substance abuse like drugs and alcoho l. ( National Association of School Psychologists. East West Highway: n. p. , 2011. N. page. Web. 11 June 2013) Furthermore the family structure is very important. Children living only with their fathers were more likely to endure the highest incidence rates of physical abuse, emotional and educational neglect, also children that their parents were fighting all the time or separated these aspect influence a lot a young child and affect later on his social life negatively and by time the child growth hate and detest is all he know , seeing his parents fighting all the time lead him to act like that in the society fearless , with vengeance and no proper behavior , always break the rules have no manners and respect the norms and value of his society . These kids with improper education are most likely to become murderers due to their miserable background and how they were treated. According to Diana J. English: â€Å"the stress that comes with poverty may predispose the parents to use corporal punishment that may lead to physical abuse†. However in some cases the family status is pretty well organized, the child is raised in a good family and his parents want the best for him, but unfortunately the child affected by his environment, living in the suburbs with his delinquent friends that pressure on him, and force him to make foolish things, and break the rules like skipping school, steal from the shop especially that children like these are raised in a poor family and a miserable place. In case like these the parents are not to blame they were giving him the right education but it’s his own choice that he made to live this life that he fined it exciting a life where he can do whatever he wants to, break the rules, ignore restraints and begin to lie to his parents and turn again his family, disrespect the norms and value of the society, with wicked and violent teenagers. Many young boys and girls defy their parents begin to lie, and fight always with them . in cases like that the child as the criminal is a dynamic and ironic kid, seeks for the adventure, take risks and always fall in trouble, once forgiven this attitude and acts begin to happen constantly and always demand to be forgiven every time and refused to be punished or follow the rules. No matter how hard his parents try to teach him the proper life style of a teenagers screaming and fighting take place all over the house. Most parents thinks that it could be an unstable stage were the teenager begin to discover his self, goes out, interact with the outside society and begin to have some liberty and make his own choices , hoping that this stage will end and their child will get back to reality and act properly . ut with the peer pressure and the environment where this child is living doesn’t help him too much in fact it makes things worse especially when parents begins to lose hope and try to make the impossible to stop their child of breaking the rules , reduce his pocket money , take his car away †¦ but the child remain unaffected, unmoved as a result he begin to steal the car , steal money and enroll his self in criminal activities with his friends . he past of a child is very important; how the family status was ,if he received a good and proper educ ation or not , where he lived , who were his friend , what problems he had †¦everything is related . Bad parenting and awful childhood can lead to a future criminal. Not to forget traumatized children is also a main cause that can affect children negatively and lead them to involve in criminal activities. Children exposed to crisis events such as acts of violence or death of a friend or family member is an unusual situation to the kid and really affect him. Seeing the kid one of his parents dying in front of him shot by someone, car accident, and even sometime own suicide and in case of acts of violence for example a father that always beat his kids and wife would harm a lot the child personality and causes to an aggressive attitude later on. The severe shock that the child was exposed to lead to lots of crying, confusion, anger, sadness, fear †¦ in some cases those reactions are temporally but if he is left untreated these problems could affect the child negatively in the future and this anger and revenge in the child mind can involves him to murder. Moreover when people with a clean profile and background murder someone, that means crime of passion took place, this type of murder is usually unplanned, happens suddenly. It refers to a crime in which the erpetrator commits an assault or a murder, against someone because of a sudden strong impulse such as a jealous rage or heartbreak rather than as a premeditated crime. For example a man walks into his room and find on his wife and her lover having a relationship, anger and jealousy take place and then the man shoots them both. And sometimes due to ended relationship where one side is heartbroken and cannot accept the idea of his lover separated from him or with anoth er person. As a famous quote say: â€Å"too much love can hurt you â€Å"that’s the case. In addition another type of passion crime is passion of motherhood where a mother kills her husband that is willing to kill his daughter. In some countries women are useless and rejected from the society, and when a girl is born the man disappointed, hoping to have a boy so he can carry on the family business and inherit his property to him later on. The man try the kill his daughter and as a result his wife trying to stop him ended up by killing her husband this type of murder is called passion of a motherhood that is trying to protect her daughter . Furthermore lots of crime rape end up by someone killed in case the women manage to kill the person who was trying to rape her its considered as passion crime of dignity to preserve her rights she was forced to murder. In fact, Texas is known as the highest rate of crime passion, however the juries sympathize most with crimes of passion, they take into consideration that the act of murder was due to a sudden shock, rage and jealousy and if there was no intent or planning killing the victim the charges dropped to man slaughter. To sum up there are many reasons behind murdering, many crimes happen every day, but what are the causes behind these murders? Some criminals commit such crime just for the pleasure and thirst of excitement others do it unconsciously these types of people are considered people with mental illness and lots psychological problems such as psychopath, bipolarity and mental illness however in other cases such as passion the act of killing is spontaneous , unplanned due to jealousy, anger and heartbreak .

Abuse of power in Gullivers travels Essay -- Jonathan Swift, Literary A

Gulliver’s first voyage is to Lilliput. The ship that Gulliver travels on capsizes, and Gulliver finds himself on a strange unknown island. He falls asleep, and upon waking up, Gulliver finds himself surrounded and bound by numerous little people who come to be known as the Lilliputians. Gulliver describes the strange people who bound him as being â€Å"a human Creature not six inches high,† (Swift 17). Despite their small stature, the Lilliputians still abuse their power over Gulliver through tying him up. The Lilliputians bind Gulliver up as such: I lay all this while, as the Reader may believe, in great uneasiness:at length, struggling to get loose, I had the fortune to break the Strings, and wrench out the Pegs that fastened my left Arm to the Ground; for, by lifting it up to my Face, I discover’d the Methods they had taken to bind me; and, at the same time, with a violent Pull, which gave me excessive Pain, I a little loosened the Strings that tied down my Hair on the left Side, so that I was able to turn my Head about two Inches. (18) This passage is significant to the fact that while Gulliver is tremendously larger than the Lilliputians, he just lays where they have tied him up despite the fact that he could easily get out of his ‘constraints’. Lori Sue Goldstein says that, â€Å"In Gulliver's Travels, Swift enables us to see that we ... ... middle of paper ... ...hat people abuse the power that is given to them. The different voyages serve to display different lands with different types of cultures and peoples. In doing so, Gulliver’s Travels demonstrates that regardless of different cultures and societies, people everywhere will abuse the power given to them. Works Cited Ann, Cline Kelly. "GULLIVER AS PET AND PET KEEPER: TALKING ANIMALS IN BOOK 4." ELH 74.2 (2007): 32349. ProQuest. Web. 29 Nov. 2013. Goldstein, Lori Sue. "Swift's Gulliver: A Question of Freedom of Slavery." Order No. 1344697 Florida Atlantic University, 1991. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Web. 29 Nov. 2013. wPDF?accountid=14270 Jacobe, Monica F. "Society Cannot Be Flat: Hierarchy and Power in Gulliver's Travels." Nebula

Discussion Board Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discussion Board - Case Study Example In other words, Cole and Driscoll acknowledge that philosophy alone cannot revolutionize the mindset of a church organization when practice and identifiable roles are lacking. Another interesting similarity involves the impact of roles on leaders especially when they are imparting philosophical objectives upon the followers. Unlike Driscoll’s On Church Leadership that is often guided by religious doctrines and mores, organic contexts are free of dogmas. Therefore, both writers note that religious and secular settings should not hinder the nurturing of new leaders within the church. Alternatively, in organic leadership, according to Cole, mentors and re-energizes the follower by creating new practices and philosophies (Cole, 2009). Driscoll argues that church management is often hindered by lack servant leadership and succession plans by pastors. Interestingly enough, the writers might join hands in streamlining the ministry through recruitment of new followers dedicated to becoming leaders. This is through the empowerment of others as a key step toward enhancing the overall leadership vacuum. It implies that leadership debate by the two writers dem onstrates the shifting demographics determined mostly mentorship programs and strategic servant

Research Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Research Assignment - Essay Example Tell customers: If you want a V-8 rumble, you’ve gotta buy a V-8 that costs more, gets worse gas mileage and hurts the Earth†¦You’re fabricating the car’s sexiness. You’re fabricating performance elements of the car that don’t actually exist. That just feels deceptive to me† (Brauer cited in Harwell). (Migliore) predicts that V6 engines will be more popular compared to the V8 engines for the 2015 Ford F – 150. The article sums up the benefits provided by V6 engines over V8 engines to back up the prediction; â€Å"In the truck business, its historically been about the most horsepower, the most towing power and the most torque† (Scott cited in Migliore). The main difference between V6 and V8 engine is the number of cylinders. V6 has six cylinders whereas V8 has eight cylinders. The number of cylinders in an engine usually affects the engine’s total displacement volume. Smaller engines they are more cost effective. Since they have less cc, they require less gas to run. However, certain comforts are also offered by bigger engines e.g. more power and better performance, but they require more fuel in order to run the car. Generally, V6 engine provides more economical benefit whereas V8 engine provides more power benefits. Which engine comforts the customers more de pends upon the preferences of the customers. If they are looking for saving, they should go for V6 engines. If they are looking for power and performance, then V8 engines is the choice for them. (Att Training Ltd. and Denton) have introduced a blended learning approach to the engineering of cars in their book. Their book covers all technological and theoretical sections needed by students. Together with ATT online resources, this book offers a comprehensive package comprising video footage, activities, and assessment. They say that the comfort of customers is also determined by their need. If they need larger vehicles, V8 engine would provide them with more comfort whereas if they are looking

Becoming a teacher Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Becoming a teacher - Essay Example A teacher always uses a lesson plan for facilitation of student learning, offering a course study referred to as a curriculum. A curriculum according to formal education refers to planned interaction of students and pupils with materials, instructional content, resources and process for the purpose of evaluating the achievement of educational goals. Other definitions used to refer to curriculum include: All the education processes which are deliberated and guided by the education institution, whether it is performed individually or in groups, within or outside the institutional compound. Outlines the values, performances, skills, and attitudes pupils are expected to learn from the process of schooling. It comprises of statements of required pupil outcomes, the planned sequence and descriptions of materials that will be needed and implemented to help students achieve their goals. The total education experience provided by an educational institution. It includes the syllabus, the strat egies and other aspects, like values and norms in an educational environment. The roles of teachers vary among cultures since they engage in provision of education but under different fields. Teachers may therefore provide information in different fields including: arts, civics, literacy, numeracy, life skills and community roles. All these fields are covered in educational institutions where teachers provide information in regards to their areas of specialisation. It is in this case clear that, teachers graduate from their various colleges and universities having specialised in certain fields (Vygotsky, 1978, 48). This is the reason why a teacher is not able to provide education on all the subjects covered in educational institutions. These areas of specialisation that teachers provide information on are referred to as curriculum subjects. They are the units that students and pupils learn in various institutions. For a teacher to be enrolled in a certain educational institution, th ere are various standards that should be met. There are rules and regulations that govern teachers for them to carry out effective teaching making certain that all the pupils and students are well taught and that they get to understand what they are being taught (Piaget, 2001. 65). Every teacher here in the United Kingdom is expected to follow these rules and regulations to the latter. This essay seeks to explain the strategies of teaching and learning that can be implemented in English language. As a teacher i intend to implement learning and teaching strategies that will make my class understand everything in the English unit and do well in their exams at the end of the day. In teaching there are various rules and regulations that should be followed in order to make teaching effective. These standards should be followed and kept by all teaching staff. This gives a clear impression that teachers have to keep certain standards of behaviour in their working areas to make certain that their teaching undertakings are effective enough to students and pupils (Alexander, 2010, 76). Teachers are important individuals in the society because they offer knowledge to pupils and students which mould them for better future. This is an issue which makes them to be viewed as important people because without them, students and pupils cannot acquire knowledge needed in life. In this case, they are considered individuals who take part in hard work especially teachers in the lower levels where the pupils are so

The Nursing Shortage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Nursing Shortage - Essay Example The nursing shortage problem is made worse through poor retention strategies of healthcare institutions. Taken as a whole, nursing professionals expressed better job and career satisfaction than professionals from several of the other fields. Finally, the average age of RN’s is on the rise. Moving on to the action required for easing the pressure on RN’s and preventing the shortage of RN’s in the long run, the authors recommend finding the means to eliminate the poor workplace environment for nurses; take measures to improve the contributions made by nursing to patient safety and quality of care of patients; maintain a long term perspective in all these aspects; take steps to enhance the capacity of nursing education programs; and accept that the nursing work force can change for the better. In conclusion the authors suggest that complacency on the issue of nursing shortage should be avoided, and that nursing professionals can be assured of the recognition of soc iety for their contributions, which would lead to society taking measures for improvement in work related issues of RN’s. ... act on nursing, the changes required, and the transformational leadership that is required for leading the requisite changes in the profession of nursing. Nursing is an embattled profession in the U.S.A. fighting the battle of nursing shortage. Yet, the policy solutions that have been set forth do not provide any positive feeling. In the opinion of the author this may be due to the negative nursing affectivity with which the problems faced by nursing is perceived. What is required is to perceive the requirement for nursing professional as a consequence of the generational changes that are occurring in American society. and the opportunity that it presents for nursing. An opportunity has been presented to nursing, but by living in the past of complaining about the shortage of nurses, and crying for more nurses, nursing is missing the boat. Nursing leadership needs to recognize that there have been changes in the health delivery systems that have enhanced the complexity in the health d elivery system. Consequently nursing has to change accordingly by arming itself with better expertise and competencies. This is the transformation thinking that is required in nursing leadership. The challenge can be met only by thinking out of the box, so that the profession is transformed into one capable of meeting the diverse and complex needs of society. These diverse and complex needs include on one side profit of shareholders and return on investment on one side and cost considerations for the healthcare service users on the other hand. In conclusion the author opines that inculcating humanistic values with a focus on patient well-being is the need in the modern healthcare system. Nursing in collaboration with the medical profession is in a position to balance cost effectiveness with

Food Microbiology Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Food Microbiology - Lab Report Example Results indicate the overall standard in terms of hygiene of food processing and the food chain. The microbial levels permitted for food to be determined safe are regulated by law. The study is carried out in three stages performed as three experiments. In the first experiment, aerobic plate count is done for E.coli count and coliform count on given food item (Roberts, D, 2003, Gilbert et al, 2000). It is evident that coliforms and E.coli are present in human faeces. Their presence in food items can indicate post processing contamination. The aerobic count is used to determine the overall level of microbial contamination of food items and provides an indication for poor processing or post processing techniques especially where the count exceed the legal permitted levels. In the second experiment pre-cooked food is observed for faecal contamination. In the third experiment the quality of milk samples (pasteurized and raw) are checked for the presence of fecal contamination. The Petri dish with colonies between 15 and 300 were selected to be significant in number whereas Petri plates with TMTC (too many to count) were not considered to be significant. Calculation is performed with the formula mentioned. Plates with dilution factor of 10-8 showed no growth and hence it is reported as Discussion: The serial dilutions, or successive dilution of a specimen e.g. 1:10 dilution equals 1 ml of sample plus 9 ml of diluents, a 1:100 dilution equals 1 ml of a 1:10 dilution plus 9 ml of diluents. This is the process to enhance the probability of finding the most probable microorganism even at higher dilution. If the microorganism is present in the highest dilution then this is depicted when inoculated on the medium solidified on Petri

The need for the return of prayer in public schools Research Paper

The need for the return of prayer in public schools - Research Paper Example Corruption in the modern society is the highest and the technology has facilitated the criminals in developing new ways of achieving their malicious intentions. This includes mobile photography and the use of facebook to retrieve people’s personal information and black-mailing them. This has fundamentally been so because of a lack of emphasis on practicing religion and religious studies on both national and international level. Today in most of the schools in the advanced countries, the curriculum has been redesigned in a way that it is to much extent, technology oriented, but has very less to convey on religious grounds. Although there has been a large emphasis on the inclusion of ethical concepts like corporate social responsibility into the business on a global scale, yet concrete results have not yet been obtained given the lack of ethical considerations in the roots of entrepreneurs’ schooling. There is a severe need for the return of prayer in public schools in order to make the students ethically conscious so that they turn into responsible and considerate professionals in their practical life. Prayers were considered a significant part of the American schools’ curriculum until between 1962 and 1963, when the Supreme Court decided to ban prayer in the schools. (Squidoo LLC, 2010). â€Å"On June 25, l962, 39 million students were forbidden to do what they and their predecessors had been doing since the founding of our nation.† (Bergel, 1988, para. 2). Since then, prayer have been altogether eliminated from the public schools in the US. Although this attempt of Supreme Court has met with huge criticism, yet the decision of Supreme Court stayed and the prayers continued to remain banned ever since. As a result of elimination of prayer from the public schools, it is not only the students that have suffered, but also their parents and teachers have not managed to escape the curse. (Squidoo LLC, 2010) quotes

Judith Anne Neelley Essay Example for Free

Judith Anne Neelley Essay Judith Anne Neelley belongs to the growing list of women offenders convicted for heinous crimes. Just 18 years old, she was convicted in 1983 in Alabama for the brutal murder of a young girl and was meted the death penalty. However, contrasting views of whether the death penalty should be implemented and racial bias as well, influenced a former governor of the state to commute her sentence to life imprisonment in 1999 (ProsandCons.us, 2009). Her Crimes Sometime in 1980, she robbed a woman inside a mall at gunpoint (Ramsland, 2007). Two years later, she lured and kidnapped Lisa Ann Millican, 13 years old of Rome, Georgia, who was under the auspices of a home for neglected girls (Ramsland, 2007). She was sexually assaulted, stabbed, injected with drain cleaner, shot to death and her body pushed down a mountain where it was found days later (Ashley, 1999). After this, she persuaded a man and his companion to ride with her and show her around the town because she was new there. She then shot but did not kill the man John Hancock and took her girlfriend Janice Chatman to a motel where she and her husband molested and raped her (O’Shea, 1999). Over-all, she was involved in 15 murders that occurred not only in Georgia but also in Tennessee and Alabama (O’Shea, 1999). She also continually committed minor offenses such as swindling, car theft, petty theft, robbery and minor assaults (Furio, 2001). Social Background Judith Neelley did not attend middle school or high school and she was not known to hold any permanent job, doing odd jobs and also swindling and robbing in order to survive (Wetsch, 2005). As a teenager, she spent time in a youth center, having been abandoned by her parents. There she claimed that she was sexually assaulted (Wetsch, 2005). She was pregnant during her detention for armed robbery and at 15-years old she gave birth to twins (O’Shea, 1999). Her third child was also born in prison just before her trial for the murder of Lisa Millican. There is no mention of her family or childhood in the literature encountered as she was not fond of giving interviews. Marriage and Family Life At a very early age, she married Alvin Neelley who was twice her age, an ex-convict who served time for shooting his first wife. With their common behavior of being violent towards women, Alvin figured as a partner in the crimes she instigated. They referred to themselves as The Nightrider and Lady Sundance (Ramsland, 2007). Following his release from prison for their robbery in 1980, Alvin took a job at a gas station and used his earnings to buy two cars with CB radios installed (Wetsch, 2005). Judith will drive around to look for the next victim and will radio Alvin to join her when the victim is in the car. Their relationship, though sexual in nature, was at times violent and lasted because of this partnership. Â  According to her husband, Judith’s personality was very dominant and she was violent which accounted for her strong influence over him. Alvin Neelley later stated that he went along because his wife had such power over other people and he was left with no choice (Ramsland, 2007). On the other hand, Judith stated during the trial that she took women and young girls to please her husband because he wanted them, that he willingly planned and executed the acts, that he battered her and threatened her children to force her to take part (O’Shea, 1999). However, investigators and the jury eventually agreed that Judith actively participated in the killing sprees as the brains behind the murders (Kelleher Kelleher, 1998). While on predating sprees, she brought her children along. They helped her earn the trust of the people she lured. The toddlers witnessed the sexual molestation and torture of Lisa Millican and the other victims by their mother. This type of parenting, husband and wife relationship and over-all family life deviates from what is typical. Contributing Factors She was not found by the jury to be mentally disturbed or to be an abused wife factors which could help explain her brutal behavior. After her conviction, she appealed to the court but exhausted the appeals process with futility (ProsandCons.us, 2009). Does this person fit the profile of the typical offender for this type of crime? Judith Neelley did not fit the profile of the typical murderer. She was female, white, a young mother, slim and blond. Females were generally regarded as soft, caring or docile and not aggressive or violent (Schurman-Kauflin, 2000). At the time she committed murder, the stereotype of persons who had the capacity to perform such crimes was male and probably black. For this reason, it was not seriously believed at first that she perpetrated the murders (Texas AM International University, 2004). Initially, the burden of accountability for the acts was brought heavily on her husband because he was the male. At the end of the trial, she got the death penalty while her husband got two life terms. Based on current information on criminal behavior however, Judith Anne Neelley fits the profile of a female serial team killer. Because she lacked the strength to subdue victims or carry dead bodies, she raped and killed together with her husband who was also a sexual killer (Kelleher Kelleher, 1998). Only one thing sets her apart from other females in serial team killing she had already attempted to kill a man by shooting him before she even met her husband (Furio, 2001). She was delinquent as a teenager and before age 20, performed her first serial killing. Very sociable, she was able to talk her victims, either when they were alone or with their companions, into going for a ride with her in her car (TAMIU, 2004). She felt herself superior over others and called the authorities about Lisa Millican and where her body could be found, implicating a warden as the one responsible. She was cruel, merciless and delighted in the suffering and death of her victims. During the trial, she played the role of victim in saying that she was a battered wife so that her husband would get the maximum penalty while she will serve time only as an accomplice (TAMIU, 2004). Which crime theory that we have studied comes closest to explaining this offender’s behavior? The strain theory of crime causation comes closest to explaining Judith Neelley’s behavior. The extreme stress from social and economic factors that she experienced as a young girl being abandoned by her family, her poverty and then being sexually molested while in a juvenile center, all contributed in pushing her to commit crime. Unsuccessful in obtaining power from money or education, she killed others to feel powerful. List of References Ashley, D. (1999). Woman Loses Death Row Appeal. Retrieved 9 April 2009 from http://www.equaljustice.ca/cgi-bin/forum.cgi/noframes/read/6290. Furio, J. (2001). Team Killers: A Comparative Study of Collaborative Criminals. New York: Algora. Kelleher, M. and Kelleher, C.L. (1998). Murder Most Rare: The Female Serial Killer. Connecticut: Praeger Publishers. Â  O’Shea, K. (1999). Women and the Death Penalty in the United States: 1900-1998. Connecticut: Praeger Publishers. ProsandCons.us (2009). Conversion of a Killer. Retrieved 9 April 2009 from http://prosandcons.us/?cat=61

Improving Supply Chain Performance Of Blood Services

Improving Supply Chain Performance Of Blood Services Blood Banking services is one of the most important operations worldwide. The blood banking service provides the resources for transfusion needed in every medical intervention, whether in peacetime or during war. This paper observes the process of blood banking supply chain, starting with the upstream suppliers of raw material (blood) and down to the downstream consumers of products (hospitals). In the first part of this paper we present an overview of the supply chain of blood banking, and review the relevant research and literature regarding supply chain management of blood banking. In the second part, we select two areas of the supply chain and select key performance indicators (KPIs) that observe the quality of the supply chain of blood banking, from an aspect of service quality and cost control. We set the current levels of these KPIs with relevant information if it is readily available or by extrapolation from historical data where the current levels are unavailable. In the third part, we propose changes to the supply chain to improve the areas of review. These improvements will be indicated by changes in the selected KPIs. Analysis of supply chain performance Corporate Overview Canadian Blood Services (CBS) is the national non-profit organization created to manage the blood supply throughout Canada outside Quebec. Canadian Blood Services operates 41 permanent collection sites and more than 20,000 donor clinics annually (Canadian Blood Services, 2009; British Columbia Ministry of Health Services, 2002). The main products of CBS are Red Blood Cells, Plasma protein products, Platelets and Plasma for transfusion. In 2008 CBS collected 915,858 units of whole blood from 425,000 donors. CBS services provides blood supply services for a population approximately 26,201,377 (Statistics Canada, 2010). Blood Banking Process Overview of CBS The overall process of blood supply is the following: a given geographic region is serviced by a regional blood center (RBC) and smaller community blood centers (CBCs). These are responsible for providing blood products to hospitals. To achieve this, the Blood Centers must plan donor collection at planned locations. Donors are invited to donate blood to donor clinics. To reach a wider donor population, mobile collection units (specialized vehicles) are sent to sites where there are no fixed donor clinics (Pierskalla, 2004.). Depending on the requirements for blood products, the whole blood are collected into appropriate bags are used when drawing blood. The collected whole blood is sent to a CBC or RBC for processing. There, it is tested for viruses and diseases, and final components are prepared from the whole blood. The components are placed into inventory for shipments to hospitals based on their blood product requirements. CBS operates only 41 permanent collection sites/RBC. The supply of blood products is then distributed to hospital blood centers, without community blood centers. The blood products are highly perishable, with shelf life from 5 to 35 days. If a particular component exceeds its maximum shelf life, it must be destroyed. This process is presented on the following figure. Current target of meeting demand is 95% of hospital demand nine months out of twelve. Literature review (Keal and Hebert, 2010) conclude that blood banks must reorganize their mindset and adopt KPIs on a daily basis. Naturally, financial, operations and executive levels may be interested in a different set of indicators. Blood banks need to perform analysis with a much greater frequency then currently performed to become more elastic to demand and changing environment. As a first step, a blood bank needs to identify which issues it needs to address when implementing KPIs. (Jennings, 1973)- Cooperation between is successful in outdate and shortage management is a good choice. Common inventory policy between blood centers reduce the numnber of outdates and shortages by 72% in a 20 blood center cluster, and by 64% for a 5 blood center cluster. Simple threshold transfer policy reduce the numnber of outdates and shortages by 61% in a 20 blood center cluster, and by 54% for a 5 blood center cluster. This operates on a Outdate / Shortage ratio of 1.0 (equal number of shortages and outdates). Simple treshold transfer is much more efficient in transport logistics and costs, as well as information support systems. (Prastacos, 1984) Blood collection is through organized collections, invited donors and walk in donors. No donor should be returned. This variance in collection environemnt dictates very careful selection of Optimal component processing policies to achieve optimal supply of proposed products. Donors react positively to positive reinforcement (rewards, altruism, health checks). The positive reinforcement is a key conclusion of the research of (Oswalt, 1977). (Hemmelmayr et al., 2009)- Discusses that a Vendor-managed inventory (VMI) control for blood products can be extremely efficient, including scenarios of multiple products. (Jones, 2003) Changes to regulation and public events can cause a significant dip in donations and cause blood product shortages. These can be localized, and impact the different regions differently, thus testing the elasticity of the system. Donors react positively to positive reinforcement (rewards, altruism, health checks).The blood donor pool needs to be further researched, since significant number of potential donors are untapped. (Katsaliaki and Brailsford, 2007) – performs a computer simulation model of the blood banking environment end-to-end and concludes that there are room for changes that will improve the overall system state. These changes include changes in stock planning, management of inventory Key Performance Indicators, KPIÂ ´s, are indicators showing what needs to be done in an internal operative perspective. These KPIÂ ´s focus on the parts of an organisations performance that are the most critical to success, both for present time and future. A good KPI affects a number of critical success factors. It also affects other KPIÂ ´s in a positive manner. Parmenter (2007, page 3) Due to Neely et al (2000), each company has to map their way to success through identifying a number of key factors in the process When implementing KPIs, it is of utmost importance that goal measures for every KPI are defined. Shahin and Mahbod (2007) claim that SMART goal setting is a commonly used set of criteria of how to set goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Sensitive. The service level is the ability for the company to secure delivery to its customers. When calculating the safety stock the service level is used. (Mattsson, 2004, page 160) decrease the holding stock to 4 days, the introduction of two routine deliveries in working hours to better manage orders from the NBS and grouped transport to hospitals, a more insensitive ad-hoc ordering point for RBCs to 35% of the optimal stock level, the reduction of the total crossmatch release period (before and after transfusion) to 1 day, the increase of the transfusion to crossmatch ratio to 70%, either through stricter compliance with the recommended ordering system leading to more accurate orders placed by doctors, or by applyingm ultiple-crossmatchingte chniques, strict adherence of the hospital blood bank when cross-matching units to a FIFO order for units coming from the Centre and LIFO for the unused, returned units from the other wards. In other words, compliance with a FIFO order accordingt o the collection/productiond ate of the unit Analysis of Key Performance Indicators of Procurement The main challenge in the procurement process for blood banks is the supply of the source of all blood products – donors who can vary since donors are volunteers. The supply is further impacted by the list of viruses and diseases that the donations need to be screened for before the products can be used for transfusions (Pierskalla, 2004.). All collected whole blood and blood products are stored in special containers – bags that differ depending on the product they contain. A defective batch of containers delivered from the manufacturer will cause a recall and destruction of an entire batch of collected WBC or entire batches of products. The CBS procurement KPIs that will be investigated are: Percent of RBC shipped vs whole blood collected – This KPI will measure the ratio of of red blood cells shipped to the whole blood collected. From the collected blood, there can be discards due to a variety of reasons (quality control, test results, post-donation information, equipment problems, process non-conformances). This ratio indicates the quality of blood collection and processing. CBS has an average of 79% ratio of this KPI over a 3 year period (Canadian Blood Services, 2009). Number of Blood product recalls per 10,000 collections – This KPI measures the number of blood product recalls once they have been distributed to the hospitals that need to be recalled due to errors, accidents and post-donation information, for every 10,000 blood collections. This ratio is important to since it influences the overall customer satisfaction, and causes costs for the reverse logistics. CBS had the worst recall ratio in 2008, with significant decrease in 2009 (Canadian Blood Services, 2009). Number of Whole blood donors – A very straightforward KPI, which tracks the number of persons that donated whole blood – the upstream suppliers. This KPI needs to be closely followed, since a declining number of donors indicate a very real risk of blood and product shortages since the upstream supply is reducing. CBS historical data for this KPI indicates a varying trend in the past 3 years (Canadian Blood Services, 2009). Number of Units of whole blood collected vs Number of Whole blood donors – This KPI presents the prolificacy of each donor during the year. The average waiting period between donations for a donor is 70 days. This means that at most, a single donor can make 5 donations per year. CBS has this KPI at a very constant 2.17 over the 3 year period (Canadian Blood Services, 2009). Number of blood containers defective per 10,000 units collected- Since the blood procurement process is extremely dependent on the correct and good quality containers –bags. Therefore, a KPI is needed to identify the amount of defective containers, and properly manage the supplier relationship with the suppliers of these containers. CBS has seen the most defective bags are noted in 2008, with a declining trend in 2009. Analysis of Key Performance Indicators of Inventory Management As (Jennings, 1973) concludes, three of the most important measures in inventory management in any blood bank are shortage, outdating and cost. We will review the following KPIs in the CBS model: Number of component indate discards over components produced – The discarded components from inventory within their shelf life are part of the total loss of stock. Recalls for any reasons, as well as defective containers cause indate discards. But indate discards from inventory reduces available inventory, and can impact the carefully planned balance of procurement, stock and distribution. CBS has a trend of reduction of indate discards in stock, which is consistent with the increasing percentage of delivery of products to collected blood units. Number of outdated components to total components in inventory – Since blood products are extremely perishable, there is no opportunity to keep a stock of blood products for any long period of time unless they are cryofrozen (out of scope of this paper). The outdated components are the stock of products that have not been used before their shelf life has passed. This KPI is crucial in tracking the expiry of products (and conversely money) due to poor planning. CBS is reducing the outdated products and bringing it to 2.5% at an annual level. Cost per blood product unit shipped – Since everything is about cost reduction or customer support, this ratio is crucial for cost management. Every step in the blood banking process is very expensive, and the tracking of this KPI is important for top management, as well as the logistics manager. As can be seen in the diagram, this KPI for CBS is showing increasing costs (Canadian Blood Services, 2009; British Columbia Ministry of Health Services, 2002) Percent of Order fill rate, by blood product type – This KPI directly tracks the downstream supply chain service quality. The percent of order fill rate is in essence the achieved service level for each type of product. total blood requests, by type of blood product (red blood cells, platelets etc.). CBS sees a reduction of the service level for order fulfillment in the 3 year period (Canadian Blood Services, 2009). Proposed Changes for Improving Performance After reviewing the KPIs of the two processes of interest, certain trends are identified that need to be analyzed and remedial action be taken. Each of these KPIs will require a logistic effort. Procurement The procurement process of Blood Banking supply chain was observed through 5 KPIs and it was identified that 3 are indicating positive trend. The other 2 KPIs are indicating negative trends that need to be treat: Increasing units of whole blood collected per donor, which indicates reduced motivation of the supply sources. The positive donor motivation should be returned only through positive reinforcement. (Prastacos, 1984; Oswalt, 1977). In logistics terms this would mean more equipment, human resources, marketing material and constant communication with donor relationship teams to provide necessary resources. Number of blood containers defective is widely varying. Most organisations monitor their suppliers to make sure that they continue to give satisfactory service. This is called supplier rating or vendor rating (Waters, 2003) Multiple suppliers and very frequent tracking of this KPI (weekly level) (Keal and Hebert, 2010) so proper remedial action can be taken . FIFO/LIFO Inventory Management The inventory management process of Blood Banking supply chain was observed through 4 KPIs. While 2 KPIs indicate good trends and successful operation, the other 2 indicate serious issues that need to be remedied. The main actions that need to be taken from the investigated KPIs are: Increasing order fill rate. The following diagram presents the overall service level of CBS for order fill rate. It can be concluded that the overall service level (product of service levels of the three products) is steadily declining. The safety stock needs to be increased on all three products to include (Ballou, 2004; Waters, 2003) Trans-Shipment for grouped Stock Centers (Jennings, 1973) and re-use of returned indate products (Katsaliaki and Brailsford, 2007) Vendor Managed Inventory for hospitals (Hemmelmayr et al., 2009) Controlling cost per blood product unit. There is a consistent trend of increasing cost of blood product unit. The cost breakdown in Appendix C shows that the major cost elements are the blood collections and distribution, consisting of 50% of all costs (excluding administration). Since the best positions for cost reduction are at the point of contact between supply chain partners (Waters, 2003), these exact points should be investigated for cost reduction. Conclusion Blood Banking is operating the supply of a key component of life – blood and bood products. It is considered a crucial service for any country, and is even treated as a big business in some countries. The logistical issues of blood banking are many on every level, since blood banking must achieve very fast delivery of products, and any stock-outs may mean loss of human life. This is further Through adoption of KPI tracking throughout the processes of blood banking, a blood service like Canadian Blood Services (CBS) can achieve a very quick reaction time to adverse indications of deficiencies in the process. The procurement process has logistical issues that need to be followed by the logistician in the area of donor treatment, which is an activity that will be performed in coordination with Marketing. A more pressing issue is the management and tracking of quality of blood containers and their suppliers, since a faulty series of containers will cause product recalls, stock-outs and financial losses. The inventory management process as a first priority must focus on achieving an much better overall service level of order fill rate than the current one. The service level needs to be increased by a higher safety stock, but since only increasing the safety stock is costly, a trans-shipment of products between centers need to be performed. Also, this service level can be improved by agreeing on a Vendor Managed Inventory with the hospitals. The other issue is cost of blood product management, through optimizing the process which requires most logistics – blood collections. An optimized process of blood collections which can reduce costs of that process by 10% will show significant improvement of the cost of blood product.