Revenue Policy Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Revenue Policy - Coursework Example Government budgets are usually limited by the amount of revenue obtained from various sources such as taxes among others, thus the need to tie expenditures close to community needs and goals. Aligning revenue policy with community values ensures that revenue is expended on the most urgent needs of the society. It ensures that development activities aimed at achieving the objectives of the community. According to Morgan, Robinson, Strachota & Hough, James (2014), administrators in public office â€Å"should recognize and honor community calls for government response and services† (P. 216). Revenue policy aligned with community values enable the government to focus on the preferences of citizens and focus more on how to provide the community with what the citizens want most (Moryl, 2010). Revenue policy alignment with community values also ensure that appropriate tax policies are implemented, taking different economic backgrounds of citizens (Devas, Blore & Slater, 2012). As such, it is significant to align revenue policy with the values of the society in order to ensure that the preferences of the citizens are met and that the overall development objectives and act ivities to further such objectives are adequately funded. Aligning revenue policy with community values enables the government to focus on the overall welfare of the community. Moryl, R.L. (2010). Alignment of community preferences, Economic Development Goals and Policy: Considering Economic Development Goals, their Expression and Their Execution in Economically Struggling Communities. Retrieved on November 30, 2014 from

Reflection paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 5

Reflection paper - Essay Example Aside from this, there are issues in identifying who is at risk since adolescents are commonly identified in the criteria. The chapter suggests that all youth must be included as long as they manifest the behavioral signs. The common mistakes made in assessing youth-at-risk is placing focus on either cause or effect rather than establishing the relationship between the two factors . Also explored in the chapter are questions on measuring resiliency and its connection to the development of a prevention program. Moreover, a clear distinction of whether crisis prevention or crisis management must be set before initiating a program. In the first place, the manual’s emphasis is more on prevention , rather than management. The chapter is helpful in establishing foundational perspectives, identifying the youth, describing populations, and identifying behavioral and causal characteristics. It is also emphatic in stating that family, school, peer group, society are causal factors for the youth-at-risk. Nevertheless, the chapter supports the idea that through sound prevention programs, the incidence of youth-at-risk can be minimized. The handling of youth-at-risk is a complicated task which is why chapter 1 suggested that the approach must be multi-disciplinary. For one, it was revealed that most schools are not ready to handle youth-at-risk. The school cannot place the burden on the school counselor alone to handle all the problems of youth-at-risk. In fact, the success of Spring High school’s mentoring program that encouraged the student’s to stay in school was an effort from many mentors like classroom teachers ( Murray, 2009 ). The school must develop a sound conceptual framework that involves teachers committed to encouraging students to stay in school despite the difficulties that they encounter. Second, developing a prevention

Herpes Simplex Virus Antiviral Drug Resistance

Herpes Simplex Virus Antiviral Drug Resistance Omer Baskan The increasing drug resistance of the herpes simplex virus Abstract Herpes simplex infections remain very common worldwide, the development of new treatments is of vital importance, particularly for the severely immunocompromised individuals due to the increasing emergence of HSV resistant strains being reported. The standard treatment for HSV still remains highly effective, however there is an ever increasing risk that drug resistant HSV will become more prevalent due to the reliance on a limited group of drugs: acyclovir, foscarnet and cidofovir. This review aims to address the failure of previous studies conducted, which include the focus on treating acyclovir resistant HSV with foscarnet and cidofovir but not aiming to discover new compounds which might be used to treat HSV instead. A valuable source for new treatments is the abundance of natural compounds which exhibit antiviral properties. Several candidates are addressed and discussed in this review. Introduction A large family of DNA viruses commonly known as herpesviridae is largely known for causing diseases in humans as well as animals. The most prevalent forms of the virus family are known as HSV-1, HSV-2, Varicella zoster virus, Epstein-Barr virus and Cytomegalovirus. All five mentioned members of the herpesvirus family (herpesviridae) are known to infect humans (Sandri-Goldin, 2006), in total there 8 herpesviruses which can infect humans, these include human herpesvirus 6 and 7, and finally Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (Carter Saunders, 2013). So far there are more than 130 herpesviruses which can affect a range of animals (Brown Newcomb, 2011). Herpesviruses are latent therefore they can remain in most people undetected, as the virus establishes itself in the ganglia of the peripheral nervous system (Stevens, 1975). It is reported that more than 90% of adults have been infected with the aforementioned species of the virus (Chayavichitsilp et al., 2009). Once an HSV infection occurs it will establish latency and can then multiply in large numbers as it has been reactivated, this then allows for the infection of a new host. In people who have a competent immune system the infection can be both painful and distressing but most importantly it is seldom life threatening. As a result the risks associated with herpes simplex are underestimated by people. However individuals with a HSV infection who also happen to have an impaired immune system can have life threatening symptoms which can result in death (Severson Tyring, 1999). The preferred treatment of choice is the use of acyclovir (Morfin Thouvenot, 2003) but due to its widespread use it has led to the emanation of HSV strains which are resistant to acyclovir (Morfin Thouvenot, 2003). Resistant strains were first reported in 1982 (Sibrack et al., 1982). Therefore, surveys were conducted which showed that there was a recurring low incidence rate of acyclovir resistant strains among i mmunocompetent patients which was 0.6% (Englund et al., 1990). However among patients who have an impaired immune system the acyclovir resistant strains which were recovered showed a frequency ranging from 3 to 6%, this figure then reaches 14% among patients who have received a bone marrow transplant (Englund et al., 1990). This review aims to deal with the features attributed with the emanation of acyclovir resistant HSV as well as the epidemiological features. Whilst addressing the severity of the emerging drug resistance strains of HSV and its impact on immunocompromised patients. This review will also aim to highlight potential natural compounds which are new candidates for the development of new antivirals to combat HSV, as well as many compounds which should have further investigation into its antiviral properties. Epidemiology It is rare for resistance to ACV to occur in immunocompetent patients but there have been reports that described that there is a below 1% occurrence of ACV resistance in the population (Nugier et al., 1992). Most acyclovir resistant HSV isolated from patients with competent immune systems have been detected because of repeatedly having genital herpes. The observed occurrence ranged from 3.5 to 8.6% (Fife et al., 1994). In most cases the course of antivirals remained unchanged, there was only three cases of genital herpes were use of acyclovir was unsuccessful due to HSV being resistant to acyclovir (Mouly et al., 1995). Acyclovir resistant among certain HSV infections is about 5% (Christophers et al., 1998), this is only among immunocompromised patients who are most at risk of contracting an acyclovir resistant HSV. Infections caused by HSV among bone marrow transplant patients shows that patients that have received a bone marrow of either autologous or allogeneic origin have the same risk of developing an HSV infection. Resistance to acyclovir was detected only among allogeneic bone marrow transplant patients, this led to the discovery of the prevalence of resistance reaching 30% in patients who have had an allogeneic bone marrow transplant (Morfin et al., 2004). HSV strains that have been isolated from 3000 patients have been tested and have shown that half of them were immunocompetent whereas the other half had a immunocompromised system (Morfin Thouvenot, 2003). The resistance of acyclovir was 0.3% among immunocompetent and 4% among immunocompromised (Morfin Thouvenot, 2003). Concerning the certain type of immunosuppression present, the resistance has been detected as 2.8% among solid organ transplant patients, 3.5% among HIV infected patients and at 29% for allogeneic transplant patients (Morfin Thouvenot, 2003). These results show that the prevalence of acyclovir resistant HSV was stable in 2003 compared to previous studies published more than 10 years ago. This level of stability is same for both immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients. As suggested by previous studies, resistance to acyclovir is a major concern for allogeneic bone marrow transplant patients. Mechanism of resistance Nucleoside analogues make up the majority of antiherpetic drugs in clinical use (Morfin Thouvenot, 2003). Acyclovir is a guanosine analogue, as is penciclovir. Cidofovir is a phosphonate molecule which is derived from cytidine and foscarnet has a very different structure, as it is analogous to a pyrophosphate. The mechanism of action for acyclovir and penciclovir involve two viral enzymes. These are thymidine kinase which is for the first phosphorylation of the activation step and DNA polymerase, which is used as a target for the triphosphate form. Only two phosphorylations are needed for cidofovir for it to obtain the active diphosphate molecule, with both being performed by cellular kinases. Foscarnet only acts directly on the viral DNA polymerase (Figure 1; De Clercq et al., 2001). There are three mechanisms which are involved in HSV resistance to acyclovir: an alteration of thymidine kinase substance specificity, an alteration of DNA polymerase activity and a loss of thymidine kinase activity (Larder et al., 1983). The viral gene encoding for thymidine kinase can have a mutation occur within them resulting in 95% of acyclovir resistance isolates presenting a thymidine kinase deficient phenotype (Hill et al., 1991). Recovery of thymidine kinase deficient, altered and positive virus in a single isolate can lead to a detection of resistance of susceptible viruses (Nugier et al., 1992). These mutations that can cause resistance, occur spontaneously during viral replication therefore viruses which are resistant can then be selected for antiviral treatment. Functional DNA polymerase is required for viral replication but not for thymidine kinase. Therefore, there is a higher probability of a viable acyclovir resistant virus being caused by a mutation in the thymidine kinase gene, than by a mutation which occurs in the DNA polymerase. Viral pathogenesis of mutant viruses depends on the resistance phenotype. However to DNA polymerase and thymidine kinase altered mutants, thymidine kinase deficient HSV is known to be impaired for pathogenesis in animal models (Morfin Thouvenot, 2003). Therefore they fail to reactivate from a latent form in explanted tissue ganglia (Kosz-Vnenchak et al., 1990). Thymidine kinase activity is not involved in the formation of latent infections but it is required for the virus to reactivate from latency (Efstathiou et al., 1989). After isolation of resistant HSV, the reactivations tend to be associated with the original, thymidine kinase positive and acyclovir sensitive strain (Morfin Thouvenot, 2003). Although, there are few reports checking reactivations due to the acyclovir resistant virus associated with the thymidine kinase altered virus (Kost et al., 1993) or thymidine kinase deficient virus (Morfin et al., 2000). Management of HSV infections with acyclovir resistance In order to manage an HSV infection which is resistant to acyclovir we currently have to use several antiviral drugs. Many of the acyclovir resistant HSV isolates tend to be resistant to penciclovir but this occurs rarely. Some isolates can be resistant to acyclovir but still be susceptible to penciclovir as there have been reported cases; mechanisms of resistance to acyclovir of these particular strains was most likely an altered thymidine kinase protein (Sutton Boyd, 1993) or it could have been that a mutation occurred in the viral DNA polymerase (Suzutani et al., 2003). The thymidine kinase protein allows for acyclovir to become active but only in cells which are infected with HSV (Morfin Thouvenot, 2003). Cidofovir and foscanet act directly on the viral DNA polymerase without the need of activation by viral thymidine kinase. The molecules cidofovir and foscarnet are both active on the HSV which is resistant to acyclovir, this is due to a mutation in the thymidine kinase gene (B lot et al., 2000), however in clinical practice the molecules cidofovir and foscarnet are associated with high levels of toxicity. Managing a acyclovir resistant HSV infection can be further improved by decreasing immunosuppressive treatments for the patient (Collins Oliver, 1986). In vitro detection of resistance In vitro evaluation of HSV susceptibility to antiviral drugs is based on the determination of viral replication inhibition in the presence of increasing concentrations of antiviral drugs. There are three techniques which are available to reveal viral replication: plaque reduction assay which is the reference technique, dye uptake method (Langlois et al., 1986) and DNA hybridisation test (Swierkosz et al., 1987). The dye uptake method and DNA hybridisation test are known to be less time consuming as the reading cytopathic effect is automatable (Morfin Thouvenot, 2003). The concentration of antiviral drugs can be determined by the three techniques mentioned which can lead to viral replication inhibition by 50% (inhibitory concentration 50%, IC50). To discriminate between the resistant strains, IC50 thresholds must be defined for every single virus and antiviral drug set. The values are determined using the mean value obtained for susceptible viruses. These thresholds are arbitrary and the detection of resistance is coming from the evolution of IC50 values of sequential isolates from a patient. There has been a development of several screening techniques using a limited number of viral dilutions and antiviral drug concentrations (Danve et al., 2002). The phenotypic methods all require isolation of viral strains on the cell cultures. This is time consuming and can delay the adaptation of antiviral treatment according to in vitro susceptibility (Danve et al., 2002). Therefore genotypic tests are being developed in order to detect the resistant virus strains at a much shorter time delay (Morfin Thouvenot, 2003). The viral genes which are used to encode thymidine kinase and DNA polymerase are amplified by PCR and the products then produced by PCR can be then sequenced. The main area of concern lies in the fact that many nucleotide substitutions can be found and they must then be identified as the mutations which are responsible for resistance. This interpretation will made easier as more results on mutations detected in the resistant isolates are then collected for future comparison and analysis. Natural products with anti-herpes simplex virus activity A phenolic compound known as Caffeic acid which is shown below, is an effective substance in Plantago major (Figure 2; Bourne et al., 1999). It has been shown to exhibit strong activity against HSV-1 but decreased activity against HSV-2 (Mundinger Efferth, 2008). Reducing the number of hydroxyl groups from the phenolic compound has also shown to reduce activity against HSV-1 (Chiang et al., 2002). Curcumin (Figure 3A) which is shown below is another phenolic compound and is mainly present in the spice turmeric and was found to inhibit genes of HSV-1 by an unknown mechanism (Mundinger Efferth, 2008). It has also been previously shown that curcumin is slightly active against HSV-2 in vitro. An in vivo assay with the use of a mouse model of intravaginal HSV-2 infections showed that curcumin can provide significant protection (Mundinger Efferth, 2008). In a further experiment cineole (Figure 3B), exhibited very similar results to curcumin, whilst eugenol (Figure 3C) provided results in the mouse model which showed the most promise (Mundinger Efferth, 2008). This study was then repeated but this time with the use of guinea pigs to represent the course of HSV-2 infection. The use of guinea pigs allowed for a more accurate representation of the infection that could occur in humans. The results showed that eugenol was again highly effective (Mundinger Efferth, 2008). The use of eugenol resulted in fewer animals developing primary infections. Benencia and Courreges have confirmed the effectiveness of eugenol at preventing virus replication (Benencia Courrà ¨ges, 2000). Therefore, it was suggested that eugenol may damage the envelope proteins of the newly-synthesised virus particles (Serkedjieva Manolova, 1992). In the animal models, it was shown that capsaicin was effective against HSV. Although, it was noxious when it was applied to the mucous membranes and also caused an unpleasant burning sensation. Consequently, civamide (Figure 4) was tested in animal models as it is less noxious. When civamide was administered prior to the virus challenge it was shown to reduce primary infections, it was also to shown to reduce the effect of the infection after the virus challenge (Mundinger Efferth, 2008). Civamide was also shown to reduce the latent infection recurrence but only when it was used as a weekly treatment for suppressive maintenance therapy (Bourne et al., 1999). Propolis has long been seen as a natural product for antiviral treatments. Nine flavonoids were identified from propolis which were tested for their level of effectiveness against HSV (Amoros et al., 1992). From the group of substances which were tested, galangin and kaempferol (Figure 5) were shown to have the highest anti-HSV in vitro activity (Lyu et al., 2005). A monoterpene which is found in several essential oils named isoborneol (Figure 5), was found to exhibit interesting anti-HSV activity which warranted further investigation. The tests showed that isoborneol was quickly able to inactivate HSV with a 30 minute period of exposure, and it was also completely able to inhibit viral replication at very low concentrations. The presence of isoborneol allowed for the glycosylation of certain viral polypeptides to be inhibited, whilst the glycosylation of cellular proteins remained unchanged. Glycosylation was normal in the presence of isoborneol when copies of the viral proteins were introduced into the cellular genome (Armaka et al., 1999). These results seemingly indicate that isoborneol may be a promising new candidate for HSV treatment. Several sulphated polysaccharides have shown to possess anti-HSV activity, and many carrageenans which are mainly found in red seaweed have been shown to be active against HSV infections. In models of intravaginal HSV-2 infection, mice were shown to exhibit significant signs of protection against HSV infections (Bourne et al., 1999; Talarico et al., 2004), and they were also protected from infection in the abdominal cavity when carrageenan was administered after infection (Pujol et al., 2006). Conclusion Infections of HSV have a high occurrence globally therefore the number of infections is not expected to decrease significantly over the next couple of years. Due to the increasing number of immunocompromised patients and prolonged period of standardised treatment this can only exacerbate the problems caused by drug resistant HSV. The increasing use of acyclovir as the immediate antiviral drug of use to treat an HSV infection has increased the fear of the increasing numbers of acyclovir resistant infections, notably in prophylaxis treatments among transplant patients. However, studies that have been conducted have shown that acyclovir resistant HSV is largely a concern for severely immunocompromised patients, such as those patients who have received a bone marrow from an allogeneic origin. When an acyclovir resistant strain of HSV arises it is best to manage the infection with other antiviral drugs which have different mechanisms of action, the most useful two to use would be foscarnet or cidofovir. There is an urgent need for new treatment options to be developed as current treatment options do remain limited. There is the main use of acyclovir and then the subsequent use of foscarnet or cidofovir which is only used if acyclovir resistance is present. This shows that there is a limited amount of effective treatments available. Therefore, new treatments must be made available in order to avoid any future HSV epidemics. The antiviral potential of the natural products indicates that there is still a wide range of compounds which could be useful in the battle against drug resistant HSV, mainly HSV which is resistant to acyclovir; as it is the main major concern moving forward. Therefore, it is highly advised that research in this area continues so that an even larger amount of compounds can be identified in order to combat drug resistant HSV.

deviance Essay -- essays research papers

The difference between a deviant act and a deviant career is different in many ways. For one to start off by talking about a deviant career. A deviant career has phases that the people involved in it go through. The fist of those phases is entering the deviant career the second is being deviant and the third is exiting the deviant career. People involved in a deviant career also goes through "career cycles- entree, upward mobility, peaks, aging, burn out, and getting out". Also "Patterns for deviant careers are more flexible and varied". As for deviant acts there are different types of deviant acts. These acts consist of individual deviant acts, cooperative acts, and then there is a conflict that may occur. The entering a deviant career consist of a person becoming more acquainted with a deviant act usually changes the company that they keep. Changing the company could be any thing from making new friends or hanging out at different places. People often either shift into a deviant career by them selves or with other people. The type of deviant act is different from that of a career. The first type is called individual act. Individual acts are usually done by ones self with out the help of other people. One person usually does the act itself. Individual acts can also be self induced, thing like a person" taking their own life alcoholism" and a person with a compulsive gambling disorder...

Principles of the Sda Health Message Essay

The Seventh Day Adventist religion has certain guidelines and principles on the health of their bodies and minds. The main focus of these principles can be broken into 8 main areas; The blessing of Exercise, The blessing of Water, The blessing of Sunlight, The blessing of Fresh Air, The blessing of Temperate, Drug-free, Stimulant-free Living, The blessing of Rest, The blessing of Nutritious Food and Trust in Divine Power. Each of these areas has separate ideas and guidelines on how to truly nurture your body and mind. Although these principles were introduced a long time ago most of them are still relevant for today’s lifestyles but like most things they do have weaknesses. The blessing of Exercise states that exercise is not merely an option, it is essential to maintaining both physical and mental health. Regular exercise has the benefits of increased energy, stress relief, healthier skin, more self-confidence, effective weight control, reduced depression and the risk of heart disease and cancer. Our bodies are designed to be active yet in today’s society we are moving less. Society’s lazy lifestyle has resulted in a rise in many medical conditions. Some conditions that result from inactivity include: heart disease, stroke, obesity, diabetes, ‘metabolic disorder’, and certain cancers. Proverbs 6:6-13 says â€Å"How long is the lazy man going to lie around? When is he ever going to get up? I’ll just take a short nap, he says; I’ll fold my hands and rest a while. But while he sleeps, poverty will attack him like an armed robber.† This verse is saying that useful activity tends to prosperity while inactivity and laziness tend to adversity. Christ himself set an example of physical activity. For most of his life he was engaged in manual labour and during his ministry he walked the roads of Palestine. Christians partake in exercise to keep their bodies healthy and reach their full potential as a creation of God, to serve him efficiently. In today’s society there are no weaknesses with the idea of exercise, it is still beneficial to our bodies to partake in exercise. Water is a vital fluid which without we would die. The human body is 75% water but it is constantly being lost through exhaling and perspiration. Drinking 6 – 8 glasses of pure water a day will aid in maintaining efficient, happy wellbeing. Water is often linked with purity. We use water to clean our bodies, cleanse our insides and to clean our conscience. Water is also used during Baptism in Christian religions because of its purity. A clean body inside and out and a clean conscience will lead to total health. The principle, The Blessing of Water is based not only on our body’s physical need for water but also the use of water to clean our body, soul, conscience and mind this is a key to full health. So let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, with hearts that have been purified from a guilty conscience and with bodies washed with clean water (Hebrews 10:22 GNT). This quote focuses on the use of water for cleanliness of the physical body and the heart and conscience. Light is essential to life (Gen. 1:3). It powers the process that produces the nutrients that nourish and energize our bodies and that releases the oxygen we must have to live. Sunshine promotes health and healing. Every living thing in our world is dependent on sunlight. There are many proven health benefits one will receive from being exposed to regular sunlight. Some health benefits that sunlight can give us include lowers blood sugar and blood pressure, lowers cholesterol by converting it to vitamin D, increases red and white blood cells in the body, strengthens the immune system, helps calm nerves and increases adrenaline, destroys germs on the skin, increases circulation, helps eliminate pesticides and other chemicals from the body. The sun is an essential part of our life and that has not changed and will never change as we depend on it to live and keep us healthy. Sunlight does need to be in moderation especially in today’s society where skin cancer is very high. The most essential element to sustain life is oxygen. Without it we would die in a few minutes. Fresh air helps the immune system fight disease, rids the body of impurities and helps prevent problems such as fevers, colds and disease. An environment with impure air causes blood to carry less oxygen than is required for optimal function of cells. This tends to make a person less alert and responsive. Adults spend about 8-10 hours indoors at work and children 5-6 hours indoors at school instead of being outdoors in the fresh air. Dust collects on every surface and even as we get rid of it, the dust swirls around and makes its way into our respiratory system. As we cook food, occasionally we burn a meal or two and those fumes get inhaled also. Companies try to sell us products to ‘clean’ the air in our homes, but they add to the indoor air pollution. There is no substitute for fresh air. People living in small towns experience air which is fresher than those living in cities and therefore the benefits are even greater for them. This is because the air in large cities is polluted with smoke from factories and vehicles. More oxygen to the muscles reduces that lactic acid build-up in the muscles which leads to cramping. Ellen White once said â€Å"The stomach, liver, lungs and brain are suffering for want of deep, full inspirations of air which would electrify the blood and impart to it a bright, lively colour, and which alone can keep it pure, and give tone and vigour to every part of the living machinery.†. The only weakness of this idea in today’s society is the amount of air pollution we are faced with. We are not able to gain the full potential of this idea because of this pollution. The Blessing of a Temperate, Drug-free, Stimulant-free Living includes the use of any drugs even caffeine and alcohol as well as things that overstimulate our bodies like most technologies. The wise Christian will abstain from all that is harmful, using in moderation only that which is good. Drugs have saturated our society because they offer stimulation and release from stress and pain. Christians are surrounded with seductive invitations to use drugs. Even many popular, innocent-appearing beverages contain drugs – coffee, tea and colas etc all contain caffeine. Tobacco is another drug that is popular in society but tobacco in any form is a slow poison that has a harmful effect on physical, mental and moral powers. At first it affects are hardly noticeable. It excites and then paralyses the nerve, weakening and clouding the brain. Alcohol is a very popular drug in society today but some people do not understand that it is a drug and the effects it can have on the body. Since God communicates with us only through our minds, it is well to remember that alcohol adversely affects their every function. As the level of alcohol in the system rises, the drinker progresses through loss of coordination, confusion, disorientation, anaesthesia, coma and death. Drinking alcoholic beverages on a regular basis will eventually produce loss of memory, judgement and learning ability. Although the ideas behind this make sense and can improve health, in today’s busy society caffeine would have to be one of the highest used drugs. Proper rest is essential for health of body and mind. Periods of rest provide much needed quietness for communion with God: â€Å"Be still, and know that I am God† (Ps 46:10). God stressed our need for rest by setting aside the seventh day of the week as the day of rest (Ex 20:10). Rest is more than sleeping or ceasing our regular work. It involves the way we spend our leisure time. Weariness is not always caused by stress or by working too hard or too long. Our minds can be wearied by overstimulation though the media, sickness or various personal problems. Recreation is re-creation in the truest sense of the word. It strengthens, builds up and refreshes the mind and body. To life at its best, Christians should only pursue only those forms of recreation and entertainment that strengthen their bond with Christ and improve health. This is a much needed principle in today’s society but again it is unrealistic with such busy lifestyles. The blessing of nutritious foods was given to the first couple by the Creator with the ideal diet. â€Å"I have provided all kinds of grain and all kinds of fruit for you to eat† (Gen 1:29 GN). The diet God planned for us consisted of grains, fruits, nuts and vegetables. This diet offers the right nutritional ingredients to support optimum health. The Bible does not condemn the eating of clean animal products, but in the original diet God gave us did not include any flesh foods and this is why the Seventh Day Adventists try to follow a vegetarian diet. The vegetarian diet is the ideal, but sometimes we cannot always have the ideal. Those who wish to stay in optimum health will eat the best food they can obtain. The Seventh Day Adventist started the company Sanitarium which makes healthy, vegetarian food to help them to obtain the best foods they can. Another weakness of the original diet is that it can reduce the chance of your body to lack in proteins, calcium, vitamin B12, i ron and Zinc. Trusting in God means to rely on Him. You must surrender your will, your ideas, your desires and your future in to Gods hands. It takes a very special relationship to allow you to surrender so much. When we trust in god we look to Him for guidance, we look to Him when things go bad, we look to Him for help and we look at Him for love and strength. All God requires from us is to simply trust in Him. Trust in God can is the only way that we can overcome our fears and weakness. To trust in God we put all confidence into His character, ability and strength. We depend and have faith in Him; we believe He is who He says He is. There are no weakness when trusting in God the only thing that comes when trusting God is the strength to let him into your life and replaces feelings of insecurity and fear with those of love and compassion. We can trust in many things. None, however, offer the protection, the long term security, or benefit that trusting in God offers. Although these health messages are still spoken about and believed in they are not always, in today’s society, followed exactly. It is all well and good to think that these principles are a good idea but it is another thing to follow them. We have the mentality these days that yes something may be a good idea and you may believe in what it means and what it is doing but we still don’t do it. Times have changed and we are not ‘forced’ or expected to do things that people were once ‘scared’ of defying like attending church or following principles of their religion like these health principles. Although these messages are mainly still useful today they need to be put into practice to achieve any results. References Bible: Good News Translation. (1992). Ingleburn, NSW: The Bible society. Chamberlain, M. (1997). Cooranbong first town in Lake Macquarie: 1826-1996. Cooranbong: Michael Chamberlain. Health Systems Check,. (2012) Alcohol and Malnutrition. Health Effects of Alcohol Consumption. Retrieved on 25th May 2012 from http://www.healthchecksystems.com/alcohol.htm Hopp, J. (1984). Light for living part 1. Journal of Adventist Education. 40(4). Retrieved on 26th May 2012 from http://circle.adventist.org/files/jae/en/jae198446041714.pdf Parker, M. (2011). Christian Behaviour. Lecture presented to education students at Avondale College, Cooranbong, NSW. Sun Safety Alliance. (n.d.). The facts about getting too much sun. Skin Cancer. Retrieved 28th May 2012 from http://www.sunsafetyalliance.org/bare_facts.html

Lean Accounting

Essay Question 1 What are the main benefits and challenges of implementing a lean accounting system in a lean manufacturing environment? Do you anticipate interest in lean accounting will grow, the methods will change, or the concepts will fade out and be replaced with another ‘flavor of the month’? How do you perceive lean principles affecting your career? Justify your answers. I. Lean Accounting Lean accounting often refers to more simplified accounting practices that focuses on eliminating waste, reducing production lead time, and producing products on customer demand. But Lean accounting does not stand alone. It is enabled by lean thinking and lean production methods. And lean accounting not only needs lean manufacturing, it also facilitates lean manufacturing. 1 That’s why lean accounting is always related to, but not necessarily have to be associated with lean manufacturing. Here are some specific positive reasons that lean accounting is important. 1. Reduces time, cost, and waste by eliminating wasteful transactions and systems. 2. A better way to understand costs, product costs and value stream costs. 3. Provides information for better lean decision making. 4. Identifies the potential financial benefits of lean manufacturing improvements. 5. Frees up the time for finance people to work on lean improvement. 6. Focuses the business around the value-added activities created for customers. 2 II. Benefits of Implementing a Lean Accounting System in a Lean Manufacturing Environment According to the positive reasons that addressed above, companies can be benefited from implementing a lean accounting system in a lean manufacturing environment in several different ways. 1. Eliminate Waste One of the most important objectives of lean improvement is to eliminate waste from the non-value-added . Chapter 2, â€Å"Maturity Path to Lean Accounting†, Practical Lean Accounting. 2. Chapter 1, â€Å"Why Is Lean Accounting Important? †, Practical Lean Accounting. activities and processes of the company. Companies can save costs, free up capacity and improve product quality through eliminating waste. Generally, most of the reduced waste translate s into available capacity. Then, companies can make good use of the freed up capacity to generate financial benefits. If the reduced waste saves costs, companies can reinvest the saved working capital into the business and make improvements in production. 2. Better Lean Decision Making Lean accounting methods for decision-making revolve around an understanding of the flow of production through the value streams, and the effect of these decisions on the value stream profitability and contribution. Why we need to manage the business through the value streams? It was repeatedly stressed that the primary importance in lean is the focus on the flow of the product from the customer order to its final delivery. 3 We can clearly analyze the performance of the company through three parts on a box score, i. e. , operational performance, capacity usage, financial performance. Then, it’s easy, clear, and quick to make decisions upon the specific information we need. Especially, the advantages are that we can change some of the information to see how they will affect the profitability and margin, like some of the exercise we did with the outsourcing decision, and the financial information is up to date, often to the current week. 4 3. Time Freed up Employees are often categorized into different value streams so that the time of employee has been freed up by lean accounting, meaning that companies produce the same level of product or services with fewer employees. And finance people do not have to spend a lot of time preparing the financial statements, because it’s simpler and straightforward, forecasting and budgeting. Another way to conclude is employees’ work efficiency has been improved. Companies will save money if labor cost is reduced, as labor cost is usually the highest expense in the companies. The freed up time not only saves cost, but also can be devoted to lean improvements to pursue the goal of continuous improvement. In addition, companies can use the available time to cross-train employees and create them more skilled. . Chapter 7, â€Å"Managing by Value Stream†, Practical Lean Accounting. 4. SMA (2) _Lean Accounting, Decision Making, P23. III. Challenges of Implementing a Lean Accounting System in a Lean Manufacturing Environment Although there are more benefits from the implementation of lean accounting, the challenges do exist. There are always two sides to a thing. And we can’t avoid some challe nges during the implementation process. 1. Senior Management Initiative This is the most critical part when implementing lean accounting in a lean manufacturing environment. Lean implementation across the company will not be successful if senior management is not fully committed. The same situation in Who’s Counting? , the company won’t achieve anything if the executives are not fully supportive. And there will be conflicts between different departments, because they are not on the same boat. 2. Short-term Profitability Companies may find out that there is no short-term financial improvement after implementing lean. And this causes comments such as: â€Å"We see wonderful results in operations, but they don’t show up in the financial statements. If lean is so great, why doesn’t it hit the bottom line? †5 So lean accounting faces with the challenge that how to present and convince the executive team with different perspective and make sure they don’t give up transforming into lean in the very beginning formation of lean. 3. Traditional Accounting System Stand in the Way For those companies who have already on the right track, it’s harmful for companies to still use the traditional accounting methods. There is a very common example of this problem. Using the traditional accounting methods do not show the financial benefit of lean manufacturing, especially hen there is a sudden reduction in inventory level which has a negative effect on company’s profitability. IV. Future of Lean Accounting Before this course, I didn’t even hear about lean accounting. But, after learning this new concept via different channels, I personally prefer the idea of lean accounting than traditional accounting. Now, people desperately find ways to make things simpler, and easier to understand and use. So, in my opinion, the future for lean accounting is promising in that it saves time and energy, provides understandable information for all others besides the finance . Chapter 4, â€Å"Financial Benefits of Lean Manufacturing†, Practical Lean Accounting. people, and is value-added. Lean production is a model for the future—it may well become an essential element of a sustainable global strategy. As Henry Ford so aptly noted, â€Å"Customers cannot be expected to pay for waste, nor can a worker be paid very much for producing waste. †6 Lean is all about eliminating waste and creates value for both customers and the companies. But there are some problems when it comes to the time needed to completely transform into lean. Recall this issue from Who’s Counting? , it takes time to implement lean accounting and see the anticipated outcome from it. And a most critical problem is that lean accounting requires proper environment, i. e. , a lean manufacturing environment, to work out. However, everything takes time and has its disadvantages. Maybe some changes will be added to it and make it happen without these problems. In a word, the best future for lean accounting will be figured out through more and more companies joining the implementation of lean accounting and those companies wanting the change. V. Lean Principles Affect the Career The five lean principles, to be simplified, are 1) Customer value; 2) Define the value stream; 3) Create flow; 4) Create pull; 5) Continuous improvement. From my understanding, I think these principles can be concluded by a concept in lean thinking, i. e. , PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act). First of all, there should be a short-term or long-term plan for my career. And the core objective is to create value for the work and the company. Second, implement those plans instead of just thinking; find the root cause to solve problems instead of running away from them; be proactive in work, that is to say, don’t wait others to push me move forward. Third, constantly check whether I am on my way towards the ultimate goal in my career and make changes accordingly. Fourth, be strict with myself. The organization should continuously strive itself to become better and better. So do I. I have to make progress every day in order to adapt to the changing environment. Seeking perfection can be the ultimate goal both in career and in life. 6. SMA _Lean Enterprise, Conclusion, P28. Bibliography [1] Tyler Lacoma, Demand Media, Accounting Differences with Lean vs. Traditional Manufacturing [2] Dan Antony, Demand Media, Benefits of Lean Accounting in a Lean Manufacturing Company [3] Dan Woods, Lean Accounting’s Fat Problem, 07/28/2009 [4] John Cleveland, Benefits of lean in the accounting department, Feb, 2005 [5] Brain Maskell; Bruce Baggaley, Practical Lean Accounting [6] SMA _Lean Enterprise; SMA _Lean Accounting [7] Karen M. Kroll, The Lowdown on Lean Accounting—A new way of looking at the numbers, Journal of Accountancy, July 2004

Enlightment of Education in Pygmalion and Educating Rita Essays

Enlightment of Education in Pygmalion and Educating Rita Essays Enlightment of Education in Pygmalion and Educating Rita Essay Enlightment of Education in Pygmalion and Educating Rita Essay great art has to be educational. | |Pygmalion gave Shaw a platform for many of his concerns. He was passionately interested| | |in the English language and the varieties of ways in which people spoke (and misspoke) | | |it. Shaw longed to simplify and reform English; he once pointed out that the rules of | | |spelling in English are so inconsistent and confusing that the word fish could | | |conceivably be spelled â€Å"ghoti† if the speller used the sound of gh in enough, the sound| | |of o in women, and the sound of ti in the suffix –tion.The text of Pygmalion reflects | | |some of his efforts at simplifying English usage – principally his omission of | | |apostrophes in contractions such as Ive and dont. Pygmalion also allowed Shaw to | | |present ideas about other topics that concerned him - such matters as social equality, | | |male and female roles, and the relationship between what people seem to be and what | | |they really are. Like his other successfu l plays, Pygmalion wins us over with its charm| | |and then startles us out of our preconceptions with its keen intelligence. | | | | |   | | |Conclusion | | |   | | |In this work I tried to make a scientific analysis of Bernard Shaw’s life, literary | | |activity and his contribution to the treasure of world literature and one of his famous| | |works Pygmalion. Shaw was a prolific writer. He was a playwright, a novelist, a critic | | |and a publicist. He made success in the field of realistic drama.He criticized | | |bourgeois moral, robbery, appropriation of the fruits of other common people’s labour, | | |showed injustice of the society. | | |In Pygmalion Shaw masterfully connected two themes equally exciting for him: the | | |problem of social inequality and the problem of the classical English language. Act by | | |act, word by word we understand that the set of behaviour, that is the form and the | | |speech maintenance, manner of judgment and thoughts, habit ual acts and typical | | |reactions of people are adapted for the conditions of their environment.The subjective| | |being and the objective world correspond each other and mutually penetrate into each | | |other. | | |Pygmalion is one of Shaw’s chef-doeuvre and reveals the mastership of the playwright. | | |It was written when the author reached the peak of his creative activity. In this work | | |Shaw touched upon social and economic problems of the British people in the beginning | | |of the industrial 20th  century.Shaw wants to say in this work that education and | | |proper upbringing of people may lead the world to harmony in spiritual and material | | |lives of human beings. That is why one of the main heroes of the work Higgins, the | | |professor of phonetics, says, â€Å"The great secret is not having bad manners or good | | |manners or any other particular sort of manners, but having the same manner for all | | |human souls: in short, behaving as if you were in Heaven, where there are no | | |third-class carriages, and one soul is as good as another. | Plot Summary for Educating Rita  (1983)  More at  IMDbPro  Ã‚ » ad feedback A young wife decides to complete her education and take her exams. She meets a professor who teaches her to value her own insights while still being able to beat the exams. The change in her status causes friction between her and her husband. Written byJohn Vogel Bored with teaching undergraduates English literature, Frank Bryant morosely reflects through a whisky glass on his failed marriage and his attempt at becoming a poet. His world is turned upside down by the arrival of Rita, a hairdresser who has decided to find herself by taking an Open University course.Excited by her freewheeling and acute observations, and lets be honest by Rita herself, Frank also feels a deep sadness as he watches her warm impulsive reactions being replaced by the sort of cold analytical approach he so much loathes in other s tudents and colleagues. Written by  Jeremy Perkins {J-26} Rita crashes into Dr. Frank Bryants life wanting an education, although she has no idea what it is that shes asking. Her brash sincerity earns the respect of the doctor who has previously resigned himself to a life of empty lectures and booze. Ritas character is a breath of fresh air for Bryant and he begins to care about someone, or something for that matter, for the first time since his wife left him. As each begins to wake up to life in their own way, the story comes to a close as an inspiring tale of self discovery and of the power choice that comes through education. Written by  Kristoff