The Importance of Family and Friends in Helping People...

The Importance of Family and Friends in Helping People with Schizophrenia Maintain a Normal Life Schizophrenia, an often-misunderstood disease, is usually interpreted by those not familiar with it as a Multiple Personality Disorder. But this is not true. While a person who is afflicted with schizophrenia, may also suffer from multiple personality disorder, it is not the rule of thumb. Unfortunately, due to the lack of support from family or friends, many schizophrenics go without proper treatment and may wind up homeless. There is nothing that can be measured to diagnose schizophrenia. Other diseases share many of its symptoms. What schizophrenia is or is not, cannot be decided on. However, German psychiatrist, Kurt†¦show more content†¦It is however accompanied by an overwhelming loss of interest and initiative. The sufferer of simple schizophrenia will also usually suffer from withdrawal and will blunt their emotions (Torrey, 1983). The part of the brain is thought to be affected by schizophrenia is the limbic system. It was realized that the limbic system might be the source of the malfunction when it was discovered that all the information and incoming stimuli must pass through the limbic system before being sorted out. Previously thee limbic system was disregarded, and considered simply a remnant of our primitive past. At that time the outer areas, the gray matter of the brain, was studied(Torrey, 1983). Occasionally schizophrenia runs in the family, although it is not well understood how. It is known that close relatives (parents, siblings) of those with schizophrenia, have a 10 % chance of developing symptoms, compared to the 1% chance of the general population (Torrey, 1983). Not much is known about what exactly causes schizophrenia, or which parts of the brain are affected. One guess to the cause of schizophrenia is that neurotransmitter dopamine is involved. Some of the supporting evidence behind this theory is the fact that amphetamines, when given in large doses, causes the brains dopamine levels to rise, this can cause the subject to show schizophrenia like symptoms (Torrey, 1983). There are three different fields of thoughtShow MoreRelatedHistorical Background Of Social And Psychological Therapy Essay1947 Words   |  8 PagesSchizophrenia is a major psychiatric disorder, or cluster of disorders, characterized by psychotic symptoms that alter a person’s perception , thoughts and behavior (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). This paper will discuss briefly the historical background of social and psychological therapy, its aims and principles, the evidence base of the strengths and weaknesses of the therapy. It will also explore which of the eight psychological approaches explicate as the primary causes and effect ofRead MoreBehavioral Cognitive Case Study5709 Words   |  23 PagesCognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Schizophrenia: A Case Study William Bradshaw University of Minnesota Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy: An International Journal, 12, (1) 13-25, 1998 Abstract Cognitive-behavioural treatment (CBT) has rarely been applied as the primary treatment for the multiple, severe and persistent problems that characterize schizophrenia. This case study describes the process of CBT in the long-term outpatient care of a young woman with schizophrenia. The study highlights the adaptationRead MoreChild Protective Service And Mental Health Problems Essay2091 Words   |  9 PagesIntroduction Being able to cope within a family is very important. Family members can cause great strain on each other, especially, when individuals of such family suffer from mental health problems and disability. After reading Andrea’s case study, it is very clear that this family has a lot going on. A mother and father who are both unemployed as mom suffers from anxiety and depression, which have led her to be hospitalized a few times due to attempting suicide and dad who is now 33 years oldRead MoreBipolar Disorder And Its Effects On Children2651 Words   |  11 Pages Literature Review: Bipolar Disorder Bipolar Disorder impacts roughly 5.7 million adults in the United States (DBSA, 2000). This illness causes individuals to experience drastic spikes and shifts in their mood. There are stages where people may feel a sense of isolation or hopelessness, which is often referred to as a â€Å"depressive episode† (NIMH, 2011). The other peak stage those with bipolar disorder may experience is an â€Å"overly joyful or overexcited state† (NIMH, 2011). This elatedRead MoreThe World Health Organization ( 2014 ) Defines Mental Health2688 Words   |  11 Pagescope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community† (para. 1). Mental health refers to an individual’s psychological, emotional and social wellbeing; it has the ability affect people’s perceptions, thought, feelings, actions and capacity to respond to change, stresses and challenges within their lives (Headspace, 20 13, para. 1). It influences how individuals perceive themselves, their resilience, life decisions andRead MoreAbnormal Psychology. Classification and Assessment of Abnormal Behavior20707 Words   |  83 Pages 84) T⠝‘ F⠝‘ One of the most widely used personality tests asks people to interpret what they see in a series of inkblots. (p. 88) T⠝‘ F⠝‘ People in weight-loss programs who carefully monitor what they eat tend to lose less weight than people who are less-reliable monitors. (p. 94) T⠝‘ F⠝‘ Despite advances in technology, physicians today must still perform surgery to study the workings of the brain. (p. 96) T⠝‘ F⠝‘ Cocaine cravings in people addicted to cocaine have been linked to parts of the brain thatRead MoreItalian Culture and Work Ethics6449 Words   |  26 PagesValues and the Italian Family MASSIMO BELLOTTO and ALBERTO ZATTI A B S T R A C T History teaches us that it is through the family that new generations are equipped with ethics and values regarding work. The advent of bourgeois society, with its characteristic openness towards other social classes, appears to have relegated the promotion of working values by families to the background. This study sets out to test the hypothesis according to which the family continues to maintain an important role inRead MoreThe For Helping Others With The End Game Of Jumping9894 Words   |  40 PagesI. Introduction The passion for helping others with the end game of jumping the hurtles presented by mental illness and the ability to live a more meaningful life often leads individuals to pursue the helping professions. While enhancing functionality and overall lives is what clinicians often want for their clients, complications in the profession such as services impacted by burnout in clinicians, bureaucracy and associated limits/barriers to treatment provision, lack of funding for essentialRead MoreThe European Society Of Animal Assisted Therapy7053 Words   |  29 Pagesprofessional well-founded considerations. Therapy dogs undergo extensive training before working with patients (Murphy, Shepard, (2004). There are many different groups of people that have benefited from canine assisted therapy. The following sections will take an in-depth look at a few groups. Canine Assisted Therapy for people with Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer s disease as suggested by the Alzheimer’s Society is the most â€Å"common cause of dementia†. They also suggest the â€Å"word dementia describes a setRead MoreThe European Society Of Animal Assisted Therapy7002 Words   |  29 Pagesprofessional well-founded considerations. Therapy dogs undergo extensive training before working with patients (Murphy, Shepard, (2004). There are many different groups of people that have benefited from canine assisted therapy. The following sections will take an in-depth look at a few groups. Canine Assisted Therapy for people with Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer s disease as suggested by the Alzheimer’s Society is the most â€Å"common cause of dementia†. They also suggest the â€Å"word dementia describes a set

Knowledge Is The Measure Of All Things Essay - 848 Words

Matthew Smith; Phil 125w; Paper 4: Skepticism; 2 October 2015 Is Knowledge Possible? First, Theaetetus arrived at a definition that knowledge is the skills, abilities, and activities that allow people to understand the whole discipline (6). For example, a house builder has knowledge because he has the skills and abilities to build a house. This is not a plausible definition of knowledge. This definition describes what one may have knowledge of. It does not give the exact definition of knowledge. Theaetetus then explained that knowledge is perception (13). In other words, the experiences people have are what give them knowledge. This is very closely related to Protagoras’ definition of man is the measure of all things (14). Theaetetus and Protagoras both claimed man evaluates everything, but people have different interpretations of the perceptions they see. For example, someone might perceive an animal as a duck while someone else perceives that same object as a rabbit. In this case, no one is wrong about the object because both perceptio ns are correct. This is not a plausible definition for knowledge. One object cannot be two different things; it needs to have consistency in order for it to be one object. Theaetetus then described knowledge as true judgment (60). This cannot be because there are a lot of judgments. Whose judgment is the correct judgment? Finally, Theaetetus said knowledge is true judgment with an account (80). Accounts are the understanding of arrangementShow MoreRelatedSample Argumentative Essay Skills vs. Knowledge in Education Jonan Donaldson730 Words   |  3 PagesSkills vs. Knowledge in Education Jonan Donaldson Introduction Main Idea One: The Other Side – Learning Information is needed for tests a) Tests are the best way to compare students b) Tests measure if you understand something c) Not all students can have the same skills, but all can have the same knowledge Main Idea Two: My Side 1 – Education is about understanding a) Knowledge is limited, but imagination encircles the world (creativity) b) Knowledge is what otherRead MoreLearning Organization1344 Words   |  6 Pagesconstantly improving their performance and in order to do this both management and employees must be actively seeking ways in which they can improve performance. Pedler et al (1998). defines a learning organization as one that â€Å"facilitates learning of all its members and continuously transforms itself†. ORGANIZATION CULTURE Edgar Schein defines, â€Å"Culture is the deeper level of basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organization, that operate unconsciously and define in aRead MoreShould the Standardized Test Be the Only Measurement for Students Ability in Learning?1489 Words   |  6 Pagesclass suited their abilities, or to measure their worthiness to enroll to a university. â€Å"A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or standard, manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner â€Å" (Wikipedia, 2010). Standardized test should cover all aspects, including the test writingRead MoreIntelligence Of Intelligence And Intelligence1297 Words   |  6 Pages Ricky Partida Mrs.Behrend Ap seminar 30 November 2015 How is intelligence Effectively Measured in The U.S Intelligence is the ability to adapt to new information and use creativity and prior knowledge to assess problems in life situations. It is general cognitive problem-solving skills and. It is the mental ability involved in reasoning, perceiving relationships and analogies, calculating, and learning quickly. In the past,Earlier it was believed that there was one underlying general factorRead MoreWhy Do A Surgery Or Not?894 Words   |  4 Pagesoccupations in which you feel knowledge about aging would be useful. Describe how people in these areas might use information about processes of aging. Be specific, but brief.† Two occupations in which you should have knowledge of aging would be a doctor and a psychologist. I think that both these job require knowledge of aging because they are used throughout our whole life and different aliments can affect us at different ages in life. A doctor should have knowledge of an older person and theirRead MoreWhat Liquids Does Viscosity Affect The Most?1524 Words   |  7 Pagesdoes viscosity affect the most? I’m going to find out. I’ve always been interested in cooking and how different liquids affect each other and how they react to different things. What liquids are the most viscous and what category do these liquids tend to fall into (cooking, cleaning, etc.)? Viscosity is not normally of knowledge, so what is it? Viscosity shows how much resistance that a liquid has to flow. When liquids have been acted upon by another force, more stresses appear, which commonlyRead MorePersonal Experience: Finding the Height of Flagpole Outside Our School645 Words   |  3 PagesTo find the height, we had to do four things: measure our heights, measure the heights of our shadows, measure the height of the flagpole’s shadow, and use our knowledge about similar triangles to create a ratio so we could figure out the actual height of the flagpole. While there was a lot of room for error, we did the best job we could when measuring, and found ways to avoid obstacles that could have mess up our measurements. We started out with our knowledge of similar triangles since, in essenceRead MoreStandardized Testing Is Taking Up So Much Time1568 Words   |  7 Pagestests in schools to get measure of a student’s knowledge. Education plays a big role in the assessments. Education is the process of gaining knowledge, or different skills and attitudes. The tests are also a way to determine a teacher s work ability. This topic is relevant to us because we are the ones that are taking the assessments, and teachers are the ones that have to help prepare the students for the standardized test. Students take the standardized tests all throughout elementary schoolRead MoreThe Role Of Administrator And The Administration Of The Emergency Department At Virginia Beach General Hospital1273 Words   |  6 Pagesbeing an administrator is a field that can reshape the future state of health care. As a health care administrator there are so many different aspects of healthcare that an individual can be involved in. Administration is the business of healthcare all while trying to run an organization and the providers within. The best way to understand the role of an administrator is through an interview. The interview that was conducted was with a registered nurse that was promoted to the director of the EmergencyRead MoreAssessment And Problem Formulation Of Fice Of Student Life At The Ohio State University1627 Words   |  7 Pagesidea that a student’s level of stress/anxiety due to finances can be caused by a lack of knowledge and unhealthy financial behaviors (Chudry, Foxall Pallister, 2011). The counseling office assumes that if a large percentage of students visiting their office are experiencing these struggles, than it can be generalized to the larger school population. The counseling office wants to address this problem for all students at the university by providing financial education, thereby improving financial

What Are the Risks of an Extended Supply Chain Free Essays

What are the risks of an extended supply chain? In order to remain competitive, a company must offer superior quality goods or services at the lowest prices possible. Supply chain enables a company to reduce the cost while increasing the efficiency. However, there are risks that are associated with such benefits. We will write a custom essay sample on What Are the Risks of an Extended Supply Chain? or any similar topic only for you Order Now These issues should be properly addressed when a company is trying to rely heavily on supply chain management in order to stay competitive within its industry. A company is exposed to risk by sharing confidential information to its vendors. For example, Apple recently reported that arts and specs for both the iPhone 5 and the iPad mini leaked out well before their release dates. Apple accused its vendors for information leak. â€Å"Apple’s security practices are targeted marking sure US employees don’t leak stuff, but everything comes out from China now. † A company is held accountable for its vendors being socially responsible. This includes making sure that vendors do not employ minors. For example, Nestle’s cocoa supplier, Ivory Coast, failed to pass the Fair Labor Association’s inspection because it employed children to process cocoa. Nestle’s held accountable for Ivory Coast’s violation of FLA, it will seriously damage the company’s image as well as its profits. While a proper supply chain management produces cost effective products, there is a setback as it is difficult to quality control products that a vendor produces from oversea. For example, in 2007, Toys R Us vendor Mattel produced 83 products containing lead based paint, which is hazardous to health. Consequently, Toys R Us had to recall 967,000 affected toys from reaching consumers. A natural disaster or political instability of a vendor’s country could affect a company’s operation. For example, Dallas-based Texas Instruments said late Monday that it had suffered substantial damage to its production plant in Miho, Japan and slight damage to its Aizu-wakamatsu plant. Both facilities are located north of Tokyo in the areas most affected by the disaster. The company makes silicon wafers at its Miho plant, which are the thin pieces of silicon glass used to manufacture microchips. In conclusion, for those companies that rely heavily on extended supply chain management to remain lucrative should consider the following strategies to avoid the risks mentioned above. First, a company should have more flexibility. Flexibility, in this context, means that a company should incorporate a vendor-auditing program to make sure that it is meeting your standard. Second, a company should only share non-confidential information to its vendors to prevent them from compromising vital information. Lastly, a company should have multiple vendors to run a project in case one vendor fails to complete the project on timely manner. These are the key preventive strategy to avoid or mitigate the risks of a supply chain management. How to cite What Are the Risks of an Extended Supply Chain?, Essay examples

Suggestive Ideas To Sustain Profitability â€Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Suggestive Ideas To Sustain Profitability? Answer: Introducation Business process outsourcing (BPO) was introduced in the phase when the business world witnessed an escalated rate of competition regarding the market or a brand position, directly demanding an improvement in the service level with a simultaneous decrease in the investment costs involved in the entire business management. This procedure in the business forum activated a new methodology to provide services by exporting business activities via specialized service providers (Sengupta Gupta, 2012). This procedure involved outsourcing of services inclusive of the fields like manufacturing, human resources, finance and accounting involvements, information technology and as an important aspect marketing (Jain Cooper, 2012). Allen, the executive vice president of BPO, Inc, had the responsibility of Employee Benefit Outsourcing (EBO), who needed an audit report regarding the efficiency output of Health and Welfare Service Delivery Process, based on the E-mail received from Sam Regan as a cr itique to the provided services from the organization. This became an issue to be addressed as it pondered the query of whether a proper service is conducted on a regular basis to meet the needs of a client. This report introduces the underlying limitations in the operational management of the system and recommendations that are suggestive to be followed as an 18- month plan to improve the efficiencies in the process, from the analysis of the provided literature review about the audit that had been conducted to increase the profitability of the process. The Health and Welfare Service Delivery Process was responsible for medical, dental, vision and survivor benefit proclaims ranging over 18 Firms constructed for clients all-over. Current Situation: Considering variant options in context of replying the client Sam Regan, it was commendable on Allens end to conduct a meeting addressing specific individuals involving Ethan Ekans, who was the appointed senior vice-president of the operations department, Jerry Small, the assistant director of the quality segment and finally one Six Sigma black belt candidate (Malik Blumenfeld, 2012). This set up was solely dedicated to receive the updates related to the Six Sigma project, which was dealing with the improvement of the efficiency issues of Health Welfare Services, which as pre-mentioned holds the functionality related to the welfare measures of the clients in various fields (Presbitero, Roxas Chadee, 2016). This matter gained its priority the instance Allen observed that the mail copy was also destined to Jim Regit and Larry Wills, the chairperson and president of the BPO. This induced a high-level of concern regarding the operational management activities as the fact emerged that a lthough it had growing revenue of 30% annually still it is persistent to loosing of about $5 to $10 million average an year. With satisfaction that he has assigned the correct person Jerry to conduct the process, he proceeded towards the answers to the queries and the possible mitigations to limitations (Sugumar, D., Kumaran, Raj Xavier, 2013). Analysis of the Current Prevailing Situations: Prior to the analysis of the service provided by the organizational firms, it is necessary to witness and reveal the infrastructure of the BPO, INC and the included services it is responsible to address. The BPO ranges in providing services listing from risk management or insurance brokerage to management consulting. The operation management displayed over 100 countries with 50,000 employees, working in 500 offices (Pereira Anderson, 2012). Various exhibits are presented in the literature review provided, out of which each exhibit focuses on specific agendas and insights features addressed by a BPO. Exhibit 1 imposes the three divisions and the transparency to operations the systems provides. These are likely, firstly, the risk management segment, which helps the organization know about the existing risk profiles and introduces possible solutions for the management of the same and provide the options to minimize the existing vulnerabilities for a sustained growth. Secondly, is the Human Resource segment, designed to provide the services inclusive of human resource outsourcing, Business Process design and consulting all the management issues (Cascio, 2012). Third is the compensation consulting unit, providing services related to efficient compensation and rewarding system. Among the listed services, HRO comprised of Employee benefits outsourcing and the Employee processing outsourcing. The EBO was potentially a growing unit due to the fame it received due to the outsourcing activities and included three prime services as tabulated below in this section of the report. SEGMENTS BENEFITS Defined Benefit Formulated the pension and retirement plans of employee Defined Contribution Administration of retirement plans subjected to employer contributions Health and Welfare Contributed to the services in the dental, vision and survivor benefits fields Table: 1 Revenues amounting to about $40 million from the contribution services were neglected. HRO clients seemed interested in the cost savings linked to the outsourcing procedures. The analysis provides an insight that these services provided were merely accepted as commodity, which resulted in soliciting bids from the contemporaries involved in the category and pitting the service providers against each other. The coupled factor to this was the expectation of high-level services, which made it a crucial task for the BPO companies to sustain the profitability. Operational Problems in the Organization: The HRO process comprising the EBO, related to the health and welfare delivery segment received a critique as per the E-mail copy provided in the literature, thus, this require an analysis to deal with the underlying limitations of the operations involved in the welfare services. The major area to reflect for this segment is to update any company related benefit plans and the information relative to any changes and answering the query of the coverage involved (Kleibert, 2014). To enquire about the limitations involved a brief analysis on the infrastructure is a priority, which provide a descriptive view to the two-level client organization interfacing. At the organizational level, the EBO was responsible to provide a database relative to the employee details; this helped the EBO to determine the eligibility criteria for the employees. At the participant level, EBO provided the service of directly helping the employees on the benefit plans and its related updates or queries. Related t o this very service, there exists an operations responsibility of a set time interval of 6 minutes that remains an internal metric which the service level between the client and the BPO range to a level corresponding to the answering of 80% of calls in almost 20 seconds (Jeston Nelis, 2014). Two prime sub-processes are involved in the health and welfare delivery services, the database updating the employee benefits on a weekly basis while the other sub-process was the participant care focused on providing the direct service to the clients queries. A substantial example the enquiry of a customer was highly dependent on the weekly database entry, which provides the view that these two sub-process are highly co-related as a necessity. This facility in turn benefited the benefit administrator, as they would utilize the participant sub-process to update the employee benefits (Marasigan, 2015). The benefits Administrators (BA) processed a clients week in and week out based on the database entries as is shown in the exhibit 3. On analysis it is witnessed, BAs are personalized in cases as it the tabulated data shows 15 among the 18 clients are dedicated to one BA while three corresponded with other two BAs. The data Jerry collected corresponded to an issue indicating a an operational fact, that updating on an general account took about 80 minutes while this process was conducted within a duration of 20 minutes alongside another recorded duration was of 5 hours. Next operation oriented in this process was contacting with the clients, which according to jerrys suggestion was supposed to take around 10 to 60 minutes in 95% of the allotted cases while a 5% showed a diverse result as the contacting period stretched to 150 to 90 minutes. This is another operational issue that needs to be addressed. The next step involved the auditing of the reports, which took a duration ranging fr om 5 minutes to 5 hours. The BAs are potential to make any changes corresponding to any detected errors in less than 10 minutes while according to Jerrys analysis it, at times ranged to about 85 minutes. Processing of the data from the clients are able to be performed via web, providing the BAs the facility to download the reports. Another step involved was the client eligibility detection via the information available. Jerry while auditing found this process to range from 5 minutes to 5 hours on some of the clients parts (McHenry, 2013). Next in the operation department was to generate reports based on the participant database, which according to Jerry might take about 40 minutes, but the analysis of the situation presents that it ranges from 5 minutes for a client while 2 hours for others. Next step is situated around the importing and executing of the queries in a file, which in accordance to Jerrys analysis should take about 5 minutes but in the real-time situation, it took 1 ho ur or at least 25 minutes. Next to this is the auditing that is analyzed to take an addition of 45 minutes while it took less than 25 minutes in few cases and 3 hours in the others (Christopher Tanwar, 2012). Final step surrounded the uploading of the employee benefits database, which was expected to be within 3 hours but was observed to take about 495 minutes in few cases. This section thus highlights some of the operational issues involved in the processing of the data (Lacity Willcocks, 2013). The next sub process corresponds to the Participant Care relative to which, the exhibit 4 highlights the Customer Service Reps (CSR) in various recorded cases. The calls of 15 out of 18 clients were accepted from 8A.M to 6 P.M while the call-centre remained available for the other three clients until 8 P.M. the call volume is a measure that should be dealt with priority. This section deals with customer issues with the two available choices in a self-care attempt, using either the voice process or the telephone. Corresponding to Exhibit 5, the call volumes can acquire an analysis. CSR services according to Jerrys anticipation and records took 0.75 to 1.5 minutes in logging the calls to the system. One of the major issues to be noted was that 20% cases were difficult for the CSRs to solve without the detailed information about the client. This needed a backup from the BAs which in 40% cases was found to be delayed with a duration of 45 to 60 minutes, while this research can potentiall y be done within 5 to 10 minutes. Once the escalations have been notified by the BAs, it is expected and recorded in cases that CSRs are able to leave a voice message within 30 seconds but errors were witnessed that corresponded to 5 to minutes in 25% of the cases (Borman, 2017). Few other noted issues surfacing this sub processes involved four points, firstly the absence of any located difference between the call timing of the CSRs that they addressed and the ones they made to BAs, in few cases it was detrimental while in others there was a long gap. Secondly, the new calls were more appreciated than the existing ones. BAs stayed limited to the job of updating rather researching for the CSRs. Updating the database is found to be more difficult than researching, reviewing the literature (Guerci Pedrini, 2014). The operational management issues surfaced in the audit process, which are charted in exhibit 6 that reflects, the operational issues noticed have an adverse effect on the profitability growth and the service provided via health and welfare segment. The major challenge surrounded the integration methodology involving sub process of updating the databases (Sugumar et al., 2013). Analysis and Development in Recommendations-Set: Jerry introduced few suggestive measures in correspondence to his presented Exhibits. An analysis on the proposed measures is presented in this section, firstly, the suggestion of a new case manager seems really promising as a potential candidate for the position would be able to interlink the BAs and the CSRs so that the issues are resolved more efficiently. Secondly, the recommendation for an additional training for the CSRs would be helpful for them to manage or sort issues relative to the escalations from the customers helping to gain profitability (Bradley, 2016). The investment was also addressed in these suggestive measures by an introduction of a negotiated pay scale for the case managers. While another suggestion of making the CSRs capable enough to deal with escalations with a low-level of research would be helpful form both ends. Additional 30% revenue should be considered for the benefits and the taxes involved. The title for the model representing the measures is very ap t, high-touch-low-cost model, as these measures will definitely introduce improvements, sustained customer services, and organizational profit scale with the optimized operational management investments (Bronzo et al., 2013). The Suggested 18-Month Action Plan: The recommendation set, which was worth an analysis resulted to hold enough potential to bring about an effective change in the growth and the sustainability of the organization involving the customer care services. The strategizing involved enough effort from Jerry but the most difficult issue here is to implement the innovative and analyzed pointers in the real time situation, which is a matter of correct measures and time-consuming. The descriptive methodology can be implemented through an 18 months action plan (Magno Cassia, 2015). First step towards this action plan would be assigning a correct individual for the designation of a case-manager. This individual should have the leadership qualities that helps a team to flourish. This might consume 1 month of quality interviewing or analysis of potential resumes. The next step to the assignment should correspond to the developing of an active system wherein, the manager is able to mange the existing issues relative to the clients e xpecting a standardized customer service from the organization end. The unresolved matters should be given priority along with the involved evaluations relative to revenue or escalations should be made before making any new commitments. This is estimated to be completed around 3 months of time. The next step is approach towards providing the training to the existing CSRs to manage activity related issues and time management to improve the efficiency level in them. The completion of the training in general should take about 6 months. The next 3 months, should implement the on job training for the CSRs to display the learning. This would help in determining the potential and diligent candidates. Another 3 months should be spent on the advanced training involving the CSRs and the BAs to research on escalations from the clients. This will make both the ends potential enough to solve the issues instantly. The next 2 months should be a practice period to witness the effect of the steps an d procedures introduced; accordingly, the revenue and the pay scales will be detrimental. This implementation plan corresponding to the suggestions is a sure methodology to test the descriptive methods. Conclusion: The meeting conducted with the consent of Allen proved to be helpful as it helped Jerry to introduce the underlying operational limitations that were prevailing, adversely affecting the profitability of the organization. The Exhibits gives a descriptive support to the analysis of the situations. The performance information should be considered before implementation of the suggestive measures. The action plan revolving around the high-touch, low-cost model to initiate an effective change ensuring better customer services from the organization. A weekly assessment would guide the process towards sustainability. References Borman, M. (2017). Applying multiple perspectives to the BPO decision: a case study of call centres in Australia. InOutsourcing and Offshoring Business Services(pp. 413-454). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. Bradley, G. (2016).Benefit Realisation Management: A practical guide to achieving benefits through change. CRC Press. Bronzo, M., de Resende, P. T. V., de Oliveira, M. P. V., McCormack, K. P., de Sousa, P. R., Ferreira, R. L. (2013). Improving performance aligning business analytics with process orientation.International Journal of information management,33(2), 300-307. Cascio, W. F. (2012). Methodological issues in international HR management research.The International Journal of Human Resource Management,23(12), 2532-2545. Christopher, D., Tanwar, A. (2012). Knowledge management in outsourcing environment: people empowering people.IUP Journal of Knowledge Management,10(2), 61. Guerci, M., Pedrini, M. (2014). The consensus between Italian HR and sustainability managers on HR management for sustainability-driven changetowards a strong'HR management system.The International Journal of Human Resource Management,25(13), 1787-1814. Jain, A. K., Cooper, C. L. (2012). Stress and organisational citizenship behaviours in Indian business process outsourcing organisations.IIMB Management Review,24(3), 155-163. Jeston, J., Nelis, J. (2014).Business process management. Routledge. Kleibert, J. M. (2014). Strategic coupling in next wave cities: Local institutional actors and the offshore service sector in the Philippines.Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography,35(2), 245-260. Lacity, M. C., Willcocks, L. P. (2013). Outsourcing business processes for innovation.MIT Sloan management review,54(3), 63. Magno, F., Cassia, F. (2015). Public administrators' engagement in services co-creation: factors that foster and hinder organisational learning about citizens.Total Quality Management Business Excellence,26(11-12), 1161-1172. Malik, A., Blumenfeld, S. (2012). Six Sigma, quality management systems and the development of organisational learning capability: Evidence from four business process outsourcing organisations in India.International Journal of Quality Reliability Management,29(1), 71-91. Marasigan, M. L. C. (2015). 10 How work in the BPO sector affects employability.The Local Impact of Globalization in South and Southeast Asia: Offshore Business Processes in Services Industries,149, 138. McHenry, M. P. (2013). Technical and governance considerations for advanced metering infrastructure/smart meters: Technology, security, uncertainty, costs, benefits, and risks.Energy Policy,59, 834-842. Pereira, V., Anderson, V. (2012). A longitudinal examination of HRM in a human resources offshoring (HRO) organization operating from India.Journal of World Business,47(2), 223-231. Presbitero, A., Roxas, B., Chadee, D. (2016). Looking beyond HRM practices in enhancing employee retention in BPOs: focus on employeeorganisation value fit.The International Journal of Human Resource Management,27(6), 635-652. Sengupta, S., Gupta, A. (2012). Exploring the dimensions of attrition in Indian BPOs.The International Journal of Human Resource Management,23(6), 1259-1288. Sugumar, D., Kumaran, C. M., Raj, P. J., Xavier, S. J. (2013). Addressing health related challenges faced by the business process outsourcing (BPO) employees by stress.African Journal of Business Management,

Theories of Human Development

How to Tell Your Parents You Got F on a Test

How to Tell Your Parents You Got F on a Test Okay, relax, you got an F on the test and now you’re searching online for tips and tricks to telling your parents and coming out alive. First of all, you’re not the first person to fail a test and you won’t be the last. It happens. In this article we’re going to go over the ideal strategy when it comes to dealing with mom and dad. Let’s get started. 1. Don’t Lie: Just Be Honest Yep, there’s no reason to lie. It’s not worth it and in 99.9% of the cases or scenarios we could come up with being honest will work out better for you in the end. Trying to lie and avoid things will only make everything much, much worse. When you tell your parents, just be perfectly honest and keep the initial saying really short. For example, this will do just fine: â€Å"Mom/Dad, I got an F on the test.† Once you say that just keep your mouth shut for a second and let mom or dad digest the information. They might blurt out something like, â€Å"OMG!† or, â€Å"Come on! Why?† but don’t be quiet to reply. Wait at least 3-5 seconds to see if their finished. Gauge their current attitude. Hey, are they having a good or bad day in general? 2. Prepare Your Explanation Beforehand Even though you’re going to be brutally honest, you shouldn’t wing it. The more coherent, logical and thought-out your explanation the more they’ll take you seriously. If you found the class incredibly boring and partied instead, then tell them that without being a child about it. If they interject, that’s fine. There’s no reason to get into an argument. That won’t help. Just calmly make it clear you’re telling them the honest truth and do it with some forethought. 3. Take Their Reaction In-Stride like an Adult Resolve yourself beforehand to take anything they say or do in-stride. Meaning you’re willing to take your lashes. This isn’t the end of the world. It doesn’t mean you’ll be a failure in life. It doesn’t mean that you’re going to have to drop out. It just means you need to make some changes (more on this momentarily). Don’t protest. Don’t try to defend yourself. Agree with everything they say and do without hesitation or resistance. Trust me, it works wonders. If you agree with everything and erase any possibility of argument, they’re far more likely to see things from your perspective instead of theirs. 4. Be Ready to Tell Them What You’re Going to Change When they ask you what you plan to do about it, have something prepared. Don’t be like, â€Å"I dunno /shrugs.† Instead you should show them you already have a plan of action. And mean it! Be sincere! 80% of human communication is unspoken and most parent’s a highly attuned to their own child’s BS. You’re going to study harder and take the course work more seriously. You’ve arranged a meeting with the professor to go over your options. You’ve joined a study group to make sure that you pick up the slack for the rest of the class. You’ve spoken with your advisor and there’s more than enough room to retake the class and still graduate on time. You’ve nailed down what went wrong and you know exactly how to fix it so this doesn’t become a bad habit. You’ve talked to the grant people and are taking the necessary steps to stay eligible. Failing a test can be a pretty substantial eye-opener so let your parent’s see how much wider your eyes are now. 5. Practice Being a Good Listener but be Confident Listen to what they say, but if they’re way off the mark in how they react you need to be confident. If they go off the deep end then you need to take this chance to be independent and call your own shots. This is, after all, your own life and your own education. Listen intently and when you reply, make sure they understand you heard them. But, don’t let mom and dad walk all over you in their quest for the perfect son/daughter. â€Å"I appreciate your advice, but I need you to know I got this.† There’s a big difference with taking your lashings and letting yourself get walked all over just because you made a bad call. College is a time to learn from our mistakes on our own and mom and dad need to understand this. 6. Follow Through Unless you plan on dropping the class, follow through on what you said you would do. If you don’t, then you risk making things 10 times harder should something like this come up again. It’ll be a learning experience that in more ways than one helps to set the tone of your adult life after college. How did you deal with telling your parent’s about the last time you failed a test? How did it go? Share the experience and help others when it’s their time up to bat!

Security Roles Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Security Roles - Research Paper Example Additionally, the head of security has some important duties and responsibilities and they most notably include filtering criminal records of the newly hired employees. Secondly, the leaders have to make hard choices during their jobs because they cannot to afford to trust anyone and it is a common belief that security professionals are paid to remain suspicious of everyone. The need to suspect everyone and everything is a defining attribute of security professionals in both public and private sectors of the society (Spitler, jones, Hawkins, & Dudka, 1987). The private security officials and agencies are bound to perform their duties under Police and public law enforcement as they are blessed with the governmental authority to prosecute any suspect. The role of private security is to minimize any immediate threat and danger to the interests of corporations. In the court of law, however private security officials have the capacity of expert witnesses while; the local police department s are responsible and accountable for conducting detailed crime investigational activities. The heads of corporate security departments have the important duty to neutralize any possibility of offence against the company and they are helped in this cause by technological interventions such as CCTV cameras and walkthrough gates. The idea is to minimize the possibility and probability of fatalities of security professionals specifically. The heads of security departments are also supposed to propose training and development of the staff so that they can perform their roles in a better manner. The private security professionals are nonetheless, believed to have lower level of dedication towards ethical standards in the field because they often suspect an innocent person as a possible threat and therefore, the suits stating that companies are engaged in harassing people, are piling up in developed parts of the world. The main purpose for outsourcing security to corporation is to minimiz e the strain on dollars of the taxpayers. In the past, the public law enforcement agencies were expected to provide security to the interests of corporations. The citizens of advanced nations developed the knowledge and publically challenged the practice. They held on to the point that their tax-revenues should be spent on betterment of public services and they must not be wasted on the protection of private economic interests. As a response to the abovementioned societal change, the companies were allowed to hire security professionals on their own. The security professionals are notorious for having introvert personalities whereas; people use to get annoyed by their tendency to suspect everyone. The public law enforcers have to commit to the higher ethical standards in order to win a conviction in the court of law but the private professionals do not succumb to any civic values and therefore, are infamous for using excessive force on suspects. Furthermore, they are also believed t o illegally detain corporation’s enemies and torture them against their misdeeds. The public imagines private security officials as thugs that are hired in order to do the dirty work of their employers. The governments on the

International Banking &finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

International Banking &finance - Essay Example Robust current account surpluses and renewed non-debt-creating capital flows have reduced east Asia's external vulnerabilities considerably, but they also confront authorities with new policy challenges. (Michael Petis 1994). To meet these challenges, exchange rate policies need to find the right balance between additional reserve accumulation through intervention and further gradual currency appreciations. A case can be made for acquiring some additional international reserves in view of still relatively high ratios of short-term external debt obligations to international reserves. At the same time, the sizable current account surpluses and other indicators of relatively strong external competitiveness, including real effective exchange rate s that are still significantly below pre-crisis levels, suggest that there is still scope for further currency strengthening before possible overvaluation becomes an issue. In this regard, the implications for monetary policy also need to be con sidered. As interest rates have to be kept at relatively low levels to facilitate corporate and financial restructuring, further exchange rate appreciation could provide the tightening in monetary conditions that is required to keep inflationary pressures in check. IMF 2002 According to the study done by the Bank of International Settlements (2006) there are five areas to consider in banking deregulation. The first is the trends in bank credit. Bank credit to the private sector has recently risen in a number of emerging market economies, partly because of stronger demand for loans associated with robust growth and low interest rates, and partly because of greater supply of loans associated with improved bank balance sheets. The second area is the pace of structural change. Banking systems in emerging economies have been transformed by privatisation, consolidation and foreign bank entry. Bank efficiency and performance have improved, apparently in response to a more competitive climate.The third point is the evolution in and management of risks facing banks. Macroeconomic vulnerabilities have declined, reflecting a mix of favourable temporary conditions as well as improved policies (higher foreign reserves, more flexible exchange rates, domestic debt ma rket development and improved fiscal policies). Banks increasingly relied on systematic risk assessment procedures and quantitative risk management techniques, with lending being influenced less by government direction or special bank relationships with borrowers. However, challenges still arose from lack of data on loan histories for estimating default probabilities, and risks related to liquidity and credit risk transfer. On liquidity risk, there is a need to ensure that banks rely on the interbank markets, rather than the central bank for liquidity. Regarding credit risk transfer, notwithstanding significant benefits associated with the growing use of credit risk transfer instruments, their rapid spread might in some cases outpace the capacity of financial institutions to assess and price risks.The fourth area is to prevent systemic banking crises. One indicator of stronger banking systems is that the volatility of output and inflation has fallen in emerging market e

Assess the Different Sources of the Law in England and Wales. To What Assignment

Assess the Different Sources of the Law in England and Wales. To What Extent have External Sources Affected its Development - Assignment Example This paper stresses the decisions of the courts and judges are based on relevant facts and relevant law and they also take support of case law (decisions taken by prior judges in similar situations). Judges base their decisions on precedents, which can be defined as decisions taken by judges based on relevant laws. Precedents can be primarily original in which, the judge takes a new decision based on relevant law and they can be binding in which, the judgment is based on a decision that is already taken on a similar situation previously. If the judgment is taken by superior courts such as House of Lords, Court of Appeal or High court, the lower courts have to abide by the same law. Therefore, precedents are taken into consideration in common law for reaching at a decision similar to some previous one or a new one. Common law deals with innovations and newness in law. But its progress is slow. However, it is quite relevant for solving criminal cases, civil law cases, employment cases and much more. From this paper it is clear that the courts take decisions based on precedents so the decisions taken by Supreme Court can be considered as the basis of common law used in England and Wales. English law is basically formed of common law or case law, which is quite old. Common law was formed as a law followed throughout England and Wales. Because the law depend on precedents, hence, the courts existent in England and Wales are organized in a hierarchy and the cases are properly reported and saved.  

Effects of Prevalence Expectation on Visual Search Behaviour

Effects of Prevalence Expectation on Visual Search Behaviour Page | 1 Introduction The objective of this research is to investigate the effects of prevalence expectation on visual search behaviour and cognitive function in radio-diagnosis of the adult chest radiograph and its impact upon medical expert witness testimony in malpractice litigation. Research into radiological error has consistently demonstrated disparity in radiological performance. Most studies of radiology error report significant rates of intra and inter observer variability. The pertinent question is why do radiologists make mistakes? â€Å"Conventionally, radiologists produce diagnoses on the basis of a combination of their training, experience, and individual judgment. Radiologists perceive and recognise image patterns and associate or infer a diagnosis consistent with those patterns.† [1] Accurate results depend upon the radiologist’s ability to recognise a lesion, ignore irrelevant details, and retrieve pertinent memories in order to accurately interpret an image. The radiologists primary task is to accurately identify a range of anatomical structures and pathological findings on medical images. The diagnostic process in radiology is not well understood. Basically, radiologists perceive and recognise image patterns and then associate or infer a diagnosis consistent with such patterns. Appearances on a radiograph are silhouettes of normal and abnormal anatomy. Each shadow represents a projection of layers of detail on a two dimensional surface from a three-dimensional object. The successful detect ion of the target and the time required to seek it out depends upon a number of external factors Much information needs to be processed by the radiologist during the interpretation of such shadows. The disease pattern, The clinical and demographic information relating to the patient The differential diagnoses pertaining to such a pattern. The experience of the radiologist A general aspect of everyday life is looking for a particular target amongst an assortment of other (distracting) items. Visual Search is one task that is performed routinely from radiological diagnosis to finding a definitive research text in a library. Visual search is an essential element in the cognitive process and is the interaction between the visual system, its target and the reader’s subsequent decision. Each experiment was conducted in a controlled laboratory environment, but were designed to simulate, as near as possible, the clinical arena. Expectation is explored by manipulating the information given to radiologists between general clinical information and very specific clinical information, thereby encouraging each radiologist to formulate an individual expectation of abnormal prevalence in the images presented to them. We then measured any subsequent change in behaviour as the subjects’ biases shifted. It was hypothesised thata radiologist would vary their decisions at the cost of more or less false alarms. This is termed criterion shift. The amount by which a radiologist considers false alarms to achieve a higher rate of detection is termed the bias. Bias represents an approach to lessen the consequences of a missed target. What is visual search? In a visual search task, subjects look for a target item among a number of distracting items. [1] After breaking down an image into its distinct components, the visual system directs attention to unusual areas for further analysis. This act of looking for and selecting an anomalous feature on a radiographic image is termed visual search, and is the task performed by radiologists daily. At a very basic level, there are generally considered two types of visual search termed pre-attentive and attentive. A great deal of research has been conducted regarding the differences between these two types of visual search and the factors that affect performance during each [2, 3]. Pre-attentive search has been given a number of labels including efficient search, parallel search, easy or effortless search [1] and automatic detection [4]. In this type of search, the targets are anticipated to contain features which are processed pre-attentively [5], basically drawing attention to themselves. In this type of search, the target appears immediately to the observer, requiring little search effort. For example when searching for the letter X on a page of letter Os or for a red target in a mass of blue targets. Attentive search also referred to as inefficient search [1] serial search [4] and controlled search [2] refers to a complicated search in which attention must be given to targets much less obvious. These components are influenced respectively by the characteristics of the environment (e.g., saliency of targets and distracters) and learned search strategies. The distinction between these two types of search is consistent with the view that search is driven by both bottom up and top down processes [6] wherein bottom up processes drive attention due to salient features in an environment or target features and top down processes drive attention through the function of search strategies such as the direction of attention to locations of high priority. Experienced radiologists develop a mental global impression of a standard radiograph [7, 8] sometimes called a target template [9] and in some instances use pre-attentive search as the abnormality is almost instantaneously visible. Conversel y they may use the second approach in more difficult cases. Recognising how these factors influence target detection helps to understand real-world search tasks and cognitive psychology. Together, the results can help to show how different influences affect visual search in the performance of real-life search tasks as in medical radiology, and airport baggage security. Fiore et al [10]) define threat detection in an airport screening task as the ability to rapidly recognise targets in the environment and interpret the meaning and importance of these cues. Nodine et al [11] break the radiological interpretation task down into three elements, describing the task as consisting of a search for, the recognition of an abnormality and the decision made regarding the abnormality. Many occupations depend on the speedy and effective execution of a visual search. Surf life savers in Australia are trained to search the ocean for rips, sharks and for swimmers in difficulty. Diamond cutters need to be able to evaluate the cutting potential of a rough diamond and need to be able to look at a diamond crystal and determine whether it will yield a large enough gemstone to make a profit.The quality and price will vary greatly based on the cut quality [12]. Airport baggage security screeners are trained using Threat Image Projection (TIP) technology to detect potential threat items within an X-ray image that may contain harmless clutter. There are various features which might hamper a successful visual search, including item superimposition, different viewpoints, rotation of the item and general image complexity. A number of other demands may also influence search, including psychosocial pressure (a busy airport might provoke a too rapid search), expectation (a threat it em is a rare occurrence), boredom and the number of different targets added to the list of dangerous or suspicious items. Errors in these areas are potentially life-threatening, expensive or both. In the medical arena, diagnosis in cytology and radiology are two areas that are dependent upon visual search. Clinical understanding and proficiency in visual pattern recognition serve as the basis for diagnosis by radiologists and pathologists [13]. Error in Radiology Imaging departments must offer a top quality radiological service with as little risk to the patient as is possible. It is therefore incumbent upon radiology department to address any problematic areas and try to reduce the causes of error. The accuracy of the radiological report is one element of the patient’s care. In radio-diagnosis, errors are either of perception or cognition [14]. Perceptual errors occur when targets (tumours, infection) are not visualised. A cognitive error occurs when an abnormality is seen but the radiologist draws the wrong conclusions due to unsound diagnostic reasoning. Diagnostic errors are classified as either false positive (FP) or false negative (FN). A false positive decision is due to the interpretation of a presumed target as pathological when it is in fact normal. A false-negative is an abnormality that is present but is not perceived. FN errors errors are five times more likely than FP errors [15], whilst perceptual errors are four times more frequent than decision making errors [14]. Radio-diagnosis not an exact science. Approximately 4% of Radiological interpretations contain errors, fortunately, most of these errors are clinically insignificant, or if serious errors are found, they are promptly corrected causing no harm to patients [16]. Identifying and locating items can be challenging especially when one is uncertain of where, or even what, to look for. Difficulties are more likely to occur when observers must locate the target’s position rather than simply detect the target’s presence [17]. Numerous studies have been conducted to understand error in radio-diagnosis. This issue has been recognised for a number of years. In the 1940s, Garland [18] found that 10-20% of chest radiographs of patients with suspected tuberculosis (TB) were read differently by different observers and a study by Quekel et al [19] observed that 19% of lung cancers presenting as a nodule on chest radiographs were missed. Another study [20] identified major diagnostic variation between three experienced radiologists interpreting medical images of patients in an emergency department. In this study the level of diagnostic agreement between the radiologists varied according to the anatomical area examined. Levels of agreement were abdomen (51%), chest (61%) and musculoskeletal (74%). There are a number of influences that affect the perception and diagnosis of chest lesions. Of these influences, prevalence expectation has had very little study. Target prevalence and prevalence expectation Prevalence expectation or bias occurs when expectations about an outcome influences a subject’s behaviour. In radiology this can be a factor during diagnosis. For statistical reasons, laboratory studies of visual search in typically include targets on 50% of all trials and participants often recognise that any given trial has an equal chance of having a target or not. However, real-life searches are seldom so balanced. In airport security, baggage screeners view numerous x-ray images of suitcases, but the incidence of a dangerous item happens infrequently. Consequently, one issue in visual search is exploring how a difference in target prevalence modifies searcher expectation and subsequent detection performance. This issue has been raised in multiple domains, including vigilance studies, radio-diagnostic perception, and cognitive psychology. In routine radiological examinations, the occurrence of abnormalities is generally low. This frequency fluctuates depending on the demographics of the population and the anatomical area being examined. However, in all cases, a mis-diagnosis might result in serious consequences. Research within radiology has therefore attempted to show whether low target prevalence is responsible for diagnostic error. Whilst a number of studies, within the medical and non-medical domains, have investigated whether the number of targets present (prevalence) can affect performance. [21, 22, 23, 24], there has been almost no research undertaken regarding the effect of prevalence expectation.

Gift and Novelty Economics Forecast :: essays research papers

Economic Forecasts The retail consumer market must take into consideration many indicator forecasts that help estimate what the economic market will be like for the future. The following information contains two or more forecasts based on our teams six pre-selected indicators. This team will provide reconciliation between both forecasts and will apply economic theory in deciding which one may be the most relevant to the gift and novelty industry. GDP Information retrieved from the Economist Intelligence Unit Data Services (2005), the GDP (in billions) is expected to be 13034.5 in 2006 and 13766.2 in 2007. However, according to the data retrieved from the Blue Chip economic indicator, the forecasted GDP (in billions) is 12907 for 2006 and 13617 in 2007 (The White House, 2005). Foreign investment is a factor that is increasing the overall GDP. Over a period of time this will eventually bring higher gross domestic investments, resulting in more productive physical capital in the U.S economy. The additional capital will make labor more productive, which provides an increase in GDP and wages. Based on this information, it is thought that the EIU forecast is more correct than the Blue Chip indicator. Unemployment Unemployment is another area that can affect this industry. Data retrieved from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) projects that the unemployment rate in 2006 will be at 5% (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2005). Data derived from the Blue Chip consensus indicator, however, projects the unemployment rate for 2006 will be at 5.2% (The White House, 2005). By taking into consideration many outside indicators, such as the GDP—that show a slow but constant growth, will allow private investment to remain constant. This will encourage private industry to maintain their employment at a constant level. In understanding what this nation faces in the near future, this team recognizes that many of the Baby Boomers will retire, which reinforces the premise that unemployment will eventually stay at or fall below 5 %. Housing Starts Housing starts seems to be one of the most visible in regards to economic growth. Based on the analytical tables provided by National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Steele Analytics, 2005 and 2006, housing starts will decline slightly. NAHB shows that 2005 housing starts (in thousands) at 1,969 decreasing in 2006 to 1,855 (NAHB, 2005). Steele Analytics also shows housing starts (in thousands) for 2005 start at 1,883 with a slight decrease in 2006 to 1,825 (Steele Analytics, 2005). It