Professional Knowledge and Abilities Essay Example for Free

Professional Knowledge and Abilities Essay The AAPT also known as the American of Pharmacy Technicians was founded in 1979. The AAPT is an international non-profit organization that is dedicated to improve the delivery of pharmaceutical services, which includes exchange, development, and dissemination of information. All educational requirements are essential for all pharmacy technicians, due to the exparsions of pharmacy technology. It is important that the value of education continues so the AAPT recognized the importance so they established a continuing education service. â€Å"AAPT CES is the official provider of CE credits for pharmacy technicians. (American Association of Pharmacy Technicians 2009) The contribution that the American Association of Pharmacy Technicians is the continuing education to increase my professional knowledge and abilities. It is required by my state that I have ten CE credits to keep my state certification and I have to have twenty to keep my international certification for me to be able to practice as a pharmacy technician. Continuing these courses it helps me to keep up on the new medications, latest technology, pharmacy laws and policies, and leadership abilities. It is proven that the information that is retained from the continuing education is very important in the operation of pharmacy. Another reason that it is important to continue education because of the constant changes in medication and pharmacy laws. It is believed that the information retained from the CE program can be considered a safety mechanism for everyone such as patients and health care providers is vital for the proper dispense of the medications without doing any harm to the patients, but also giving the best possible way to get and take the medication. In conclusion, for one to obtain professional knowledge and abilities one must go forth in the necessary education courses to be able to obtain what one is looking for. The AAPT is the right place to obtain that knowledge and abilities. Without that additional education then the one person would not be able to obtain the knowledge and abilities that they are seeking for their professional job.

Health and Safety in Construction

Health and Safety in Construction This chapter begins with a general discussion on the concept of safety before examining the modern concern with workplace health and safety, specifically in the construction industry. To better relate to the scope of this study, it will also review the current workplace safety and health situation in the Singapores construction industry. Subsequently, an overview of the safety legislations and policies undertaken in Singapore to improve construction safety will be investigated. Introduction to Safety Although the term safety is very often used in our everyday life, the concept of safety can have various meanings for different people. According to Oxford Dictionaries Online, safety is defined as the condition of being protected from or unlikely to cause danger, risk or injury. Moreover, as safety is commonly viewed from the perspective of specific injury domains, some injury preventive researchers defined safety as the prevention of crime and violence whereas the others described it as a feeling of being out of danger or as a satisfaction of the basic human physiological needs. Hence, due to the multitude of views on the definition of safety, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centres on Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention has developed an international consensus on the conceptual and operational aspects of safety in 1998 (Nilsen et al., 2004). They have defined safety as a state in which hazards and conditions leading to physical, psychological or material harm are controlled in order to preserve the health and well-being of individuals and the community. This definition of safety contains two dimensions, of which one is objective and can be assessed by measuring behavioural and environmental parameters whereas the other is subjective and can be evaluated according to the feeling of being safe (WHO, 1998). In addition, safety is a resultant of a complex process which integrates humans behaviour and interaction with their physical, social, cultural, technological, political, economic and organisational environment. According to Maurice et al. (2001), the optimum level of safety can only be attained with the presence of four conditions that proved beneficial in defining the domain of safety. Table 2.1 indicates the four basic conditions for safety. Table 2.1 Four basic conditions that define the domain for safety Four Conditions for Safety 1)  A climate of social cohesion, peace and equity between groups that protects human rights and freedoms 2)  The respect of the values of individual and their physical, material and psychological integrity 3)  The prevention and control of injuries and other consequences or harm caused by accidents 4)  The provision of effective measures to cope with undesirable traumatic events Source: Maurice et al. (2001) Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Before 1880s, there was little interest in work safety and minimal protection for the safety of workers in their workplaces because legislation, precedent and public opinion were all in favour of the management (Pearson, n.d.). Moreover, workplace accidents were perceived to be cheap and were often disregarded because there were no workers compensation laws that protect the interest of workers. Thus, work-related accidents were common then. However, in the late 1900s, workers safety and health in the workplaces begun to receive increasing attention due to the rapid industrialisation of the United States (U.S.) and the establishment of unions that promote the need for safer working conditions. Hence, the high fatalities and injuries rate then compel the federal government to implement various acts to force the industries to reduce the occurrence of work-related accidents or illnesses so as to improve on the safety standards of their workplaces (Aldrich, 2001). Some initiatives of the federal government include passing of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) in 1970 and the enactment of the workers compensation laws. Therefore, tighter employers liability and the steep increase in the cost of accident due to the compensation laws have initiated the employers interest and concern with work safety (Aldrich, 2001; Alton, n.d.). As a result, significant improvement in the workplace safety and health performance can be observed as fatalities rate in the U.S. declines from 27 deaths per 100,000 workers in 1950 to 3.5 in 2011 respectively (BLS, 2012; Kaufman, 1997). The safety performance in British industry had also improved significantly since the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) in 1974 as the fatalities rate has decreased from 2.9 per 100,000 workers in 1974 to 0.5 in 2011 (HSE, n.d.). Like OSHA, HSWA is the primary piece of legislation covering occupational health and safety in the United Kingdom (UK). Figure 2.1 illustrates the work-related fatalities rate among different countries. Safety in the Construction Industry Safety has always been a major issue in the construction industry. In many developed and developing countries, the construction industry has constantly been ranked as one of the worst industries in terms of the frequency of fatalities and work-related injuries. Unlike the other industries where it mostly consists of a stationary fabrication setting with little changes in working procedures, equipment and labour force, the working environment in the construction industry is generally complex and ever-changing. This is due to the multidisciplinary and multitasked aspects of the parties involved in the project and also the use of sophisticated plants, equipment and construction methods (Teo, Ling, Chong, 2005). Thus, this highly differentiated and unstructured nature of the construction industry makes safety management extremely challenging (Gambatese, Hinze, Haas, 1997; Lingard, 2012; Zhang, Teizer, Lee, Eastman, Venugopal, 2012). Many research and studies over the years have attemp ted to look into improving construction safety using various concepts such as designing for safety (Gangolells, Casals, Forcada, Roca, Fuertes, 2010), HR practices (Lai, 2009; Lai, Liu, Ling, 2011) and BIM technologies (Azhar, Nadeem, Mok, Leung, 2008; Kiviniemi, Sulankivi, Kà ¤hkà ¶nen, Mà ¤kelà ¤, Merivirta, 2011; Qi, 2011; Zhang et al., 2012) For instance, the Britain authorities have long recognised that safety should be addressed from the very start of a project and they are the first to introduce the Construction (Design and Management) Regulation in 1994 and revised in 2007 respectively. This regulation places duties on clients, designers and contractors for consideration of safety issues from design through the demolition stage of a project (Hecker Gambatese, 2003). According to Gibb (2002), this regulation has lead to an increase in the profile of construction safety among designers in several European Union (EU) countries. Additionally, Australia has also introduced the Model WHS Regulation 2011 whereby have to provide a Safe Design Report that specify the hazards relating to the design of the structure to the person carrying out the construction work (Safe Design Australia, 2011). Therefore, good safety planning and management throughout the project life cycle become an essential prerequisite for most construction projects because without a thorough understanding of safety issues on site, undesirable work-related accidents will occur. This will then incur additional costs, unnecessary project delays and in the worst situation, the loss of lives (Lai et al., 2011). Therefore, the next section will attempt to understand the different safety issues on sites by first identifying the various root causes of accidents. Causes of Accidents According to Teo (2009), accidents are unintentional and undesirable events that can cause pain, suffering, damage and injury to the affected person(s) or property, if not a combination of both. While not all work-related accidents will cause physical injuries or damages, the occurrence of any accidents on site will definitely challenge the quality of the construction site operation. Therefore, there is a need to understand the various causes influencing safety performance in the construction industry so as to better develop strategies to tackle this concerning issue. A review of the literature on construction safety reveals that much research efforts have been directed to understand the factors and causes that can influence construction accidents (Abdelhamid Everett, 2000; Hamid, Majid, Singh, 2008; Hughes Ferrett, 2008; Suraji, Duff, Peckitt, 2001). Many types of theories have been developed throughout the decades to understand the accident causation factors. The earliest research can be traced back into the 1930s were Heinrich (1931) had pioneered the accident causation theories by developing the five-domino model of causation. The domino theory had been the foundation work of many other models that were developed by other researchers thereafter. According to Ridley (1976), most of the accidents on site are either caused by unsafe acts, unsafe conditions or frequently a combination of both. An unsafe act refers to a violation of an accepted safety procedures which then permits the occurrence of an accident whereas an unsafe condition refers to a hazardous physical condition or circumstance that are in violation of contemporary safety standards. Table 2.2 present the development of different theories that were developed to understand the accident causation factors. Table 2.2 Development of different models to understand the accident causation factors Types Characteristic of Model Model / Theory Authors Accident Causation Models Understand the various accident causation factors Develop tools for better accident prevention programme Domino Theory Henrich (1932) Multiple Causation Model Petersen (1971) Stairstep Model Adams (1976) ARCTM: Construction Model Abdelhamid Everett (2000) Behaviour Models Studies the tendency of humans to make errors under various situation and environment conditions Accidents are mainly a result of human unsafe characteristic only Accident proneness theory Accident (1983) Goals freedom alertness theory Kerr (1957) Motivation reward satisfaction Petersen (1975) Sociological theory of accidents Dwyer and Raftery (1991) Human Factor Models Holds human error the main cause of accidents Unlike the behaviour model, the responsibility not only fall on human unsafe characteristic alone The responsibility also fall on the design of workplace, which does not take into consideration the limitation of human Ferrel theory Ferrel (1977) Human-error causation model Petersen (1982) McClay model McClay (1989) DeJoy model DeJoy (1990) Source: Abdelhamid and Everett (2000) To tailor to the need of the construction industry in identifying the root cause of accidents, Abdelhamid and Everett (2000) had developed an Accident Root Causes Tracing Model (ARCTM) after further development and synthesis from various existing accident causation models. ARCTM proposed that unsafe conditions can occur before or after the start of an activity and they can either be caused by human-related or nonhuman-related factors. Table 2.3 illustrates the different causes of unsafe conditions that might lead to accidents. Similar to that proposed by Abdelhamid and Everett (2000) and Suraji et al. (2001), Toole (2002) has also tried to identify and attribute the basic root causes of construction accidents to factors such as lack of proper training, poor enforcement of safety, use of unsafe equipment, methods or sequencing, unsafe site conditions and a poor attitude towards safety. The aforementioned are just some of the many studies undertaken by researchers in an attempt to identify the root causes of work-related accidents so as to develop better preventive strategies (Hill, 2003). Even though there has been a significant improvement in the safety performance of the construction industry as compared to the past, more has to be done to further reduce the fatalities and work-related injuries frequency rate. Table 2.3 Main causes of unsafe conditions which can lead to accidents Main Causes of Unsafe Conditions Human Factors Management action or inaction Worker or co-workers unsafe acts Fail to provide proper or adequate personal protective equipment Violate workplace standards Insufficient ventilation Poor housekeeping Poor design Sabotaging equipment Unauthorised operation of equipment Insufficient rest while working Removing safety device Source: Abdelhamid and Everett (2000) Construction Safety in Singapore The construction industry in Singapore has been one of the fastest growing industries since Singapore embarked on her various industrialisation programme in the early 1960s. However, the safety situation in the industry then deteriorated so drastically that the government had to introduce the Factories Act in 1973 to regulate occupational safety and health in Singapore. Since then, Singapores statutory OSH regime was governed by the Factories Act. However, due to the high-profile and fatal accident that took place in Nicoll Highway in 2004, this had called attention to the need for a reform of the current legislative approach to OSH (Teh, 2006; Teo, 2009). This has therefore led to the unveiling of a new Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) framework in 2005 and the introduction of the WSH Act in 2006, which will repeal and replace the former Factories Act. The new WSH Act became the key legal instrument for the WSH framework and it aims to cultivate good safety and health practices among all individuals in their workplaces. Additionally, WSH 2015 Strategy was developed concurrently so as to complement with the new framework. This strategy aims to halve the workplace fatality rate from 4.9 fatalities per 100,000 workers in 2004 to 2.5 by 2015. As a result of the dynamic and changing WSH landscape, a full-fledged industry-led WSH Council was established in 2008 and a new national target was developed by identifying enhancements to the previous WSH 2015 Strategy. This new strategy, named WSH 2018 aims to achieve an even more challenging goal, which is to reduce the fatality rate to less than 1.8 fatalities per 100,000 employed workers by 2018 (WSH2018, 2009). With the introduction of WSH Council, WSH Council (Construction Landscape) Committee was formed and Implementing WSH 2018 for Construction Industry was developed specifically to guide the efforts of the construction industry to achieve better WSH performance. Following these efforts to increase the safety performance in the construction industry, it is noted that there is a remarkable improvement in the safety performance in 2011. According to the WSH Report 2011, construction industry was the only one that saw a drop in fatality numbers as the fatality rate decreased from 8.1 per 100,000 employed persons in 2010 to 5.3 in 2011, as shown in the Figure 2.2 (WSH, 2011). This is a significant improvement as the fatality rate of 5.3 in 2011 is the lowest-ever since 2006. Furthermore, the number of work-related injuries has also fallen by 22% as compared to 2010 (channelnewsasia, 2012). Despite the positive progression in the safety performance, it still remains as a serious concern as fatality rate continued to account for the highest among all industries in Singapore as shown in Table 2.4. Thus, in order to achieve the targeted result set aside for the construction industry as seen in Figure 2.3, all stakeholders will have to commit themselves to work towards a safe and healthy workplace with a vibrant WSH culture and zero injury (WSH2018Construction, 2010). In addition, more efforts have to be put to prevent falling from height because it remains as the major contributor to fatal accidents (see Figure 2.4). Till date, many studies have been conducted to look into improving construction safety in Singapore. For example, Ling, Ofori, and Teo (2004) have constructed a model to predict the safety level of a construction project site. Moreover, Ling and Teo (2006) have studied the intrinsic and external incentives on increasing worksite safety and found out that there are many personal factor that can affect site safety. Safety Policies and Legislation Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is the government regulatory body responsible for the enforcement of workplace safety and health legislations. Throughout the years, MOM, in collaboration with other government agencies and stakeholders have put in extensive efforts in achieving significant and sustained improvement in the WSH performance for the construction industry. In this section, various policies and legislations that have been introduced particularly to improve on the safety performance in the construction industry will be discussed. Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Act In the past, Singapores primary legislation in the construction safety regime was governed by Chapter 104 of the Factories Act and Section 68 and 77 of the Building Operations and Work of Engineering Construction (BOWEC) Regulations (Cheah, 2007). However, due to the spate of high-profile accidents in 2004, MOM saw the need for a fundamental reform of the former safety policies and legislations in order to curb the rising numbers of work-related accidents on site. Hence, as part of the new WSH framework that was introduced in 2006, the Factories Act was repealed and replaced by the Workplace Safety and Health Act on 1 March 2006. As a result, the OSH regulation has evolved from a highly prescriptive (rule-based) system to a more descriptive (performance-based) approach. Unlike the former Factories Act where industry players were expected to comply with a fixed set of safety guidelines, the new WSH Act is focused on three guiding principles reduce risk at source, instil greater ownership of safety and health outcome by industry players, and impose higher penalties for poor safety management. This is a paradigm shift from the former Factories Act because it encourages every industry player to be more proactive rather than reactive to safety issues. Workplace Injury Compensation Act (WICA) The former Workmens Compensation Act has been replaced by the Workplace Injury Compensation Act (WICA), which came into effect on the 1st April 2008. Unlike the former Act which only covers manual and non-manual workers earning $1,600 or less per month, WICA is applicable for all employees regardless of their level of earnings. The enactment of WICA is essential because it safeguards the interest of all employees and employers as the former are now able to claim compensations for work-related injuries promptly without having to prove fault whereas the latter are protected against the fraudulent claims of errant employees (MOM WSHC, 2008). At the same time, this new Act enhances the effectiveness and efficiency of the compensation process and indirectly, influences the employers to pay more attention to workplace safety and health issues. In order for WICA to stay updated with the current market situation, amendments have been to WICA and it will take effect from 1st June 2012. The key objectives of the recent changes are to maintain a fair balance between the pay-outs for the injured employees and the responsibilities that fall on the employers and also, to ensure that the WICA framework remains efficient so that injured employees can receive compensation promptly (MOM, 2012). Some of the major changes include increasing the compensation limits, prohibiting compensation due to work-related fights and work-related exclusion clauses and expanding the scope for compensable diseases. Table 2.5 illustrates the recent amendments to the compensation limits. Safety and Health Management System (SHMS) Safety and Health Management System (SHMS) is a systematic process that is mandatory for all workplaces such as worksite, shipyard and factories in Singapore. It provides a platform for goal setting, performance measurement and clear management commitments and direction in order to manage human and organisational risks (MOM, n.d.-b). SHMS guides the efforts for an effective and proactive implementation of risk control measures to reduce work-related injuries, which will subsequently lead to a long-term reduction in operational costs (Baliyan, 2008). To build up an effective SHMS, it has to adhere to the relevant WSH legislation and guidelines set out for the construction industry, such as the SS 506 Part 1: 2009 Occupational safety and health (OSH) management system and CP 79: 1999 Safety management system for construction worksites. In tandem with the SHMS, audits and reviews must also be carried out periodically on SHMS to ensure its continual performance (MOM, n.d.-a). Table 2.6 s hows the requirements for SHMS audit or review depending on the projects contract sum. To make sure that SHMS is effective and relevant in addressing construction safety, Teo et al. (2005) have developed a model to measure the effectiveness of the SHMS of construction sites in Singapore. Summary of Chapter This chapter has looked into the concept of safety before focusing on workplace health and safety especially in the construction industry. It has also reviewed on the construction situation in Singapore and highlighted the various policies and legislations that are in place to improve the safety performance for the construction industry in Singapore. References Abdelhamid, T. S., Everett, J. G. (2000). Identifying root causes of construction accidents. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 126(1), 52-60. Retrieved from http://faculty.kfupm.edu.sa/CEM/jannadi/Identifying-Root-Causes-Of-Constuction-Accident.pdf Aldrich, M. (2001). History of Workplace Safety in the United States: 1880-1970. EH.net Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/aldrich.safety.workplace.us Alton, G. (n.d.). The history of workplace safety and health. eHow. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/about_5305608_history-workplace-health-safety.html Azhar, S., Nadeem, A., Mok, Y. N., Leung, H. Y. (2008). Building Information Modeling (BIM): A new paradigm for visual interactive modeling and simulation for construction projects. Paper presented at the First International Conference on Construction in Developing Countries (ICCIDC-I), Auguest 4-5,Karachi, Pakistan. Baliyan, S. (2008). Effective implementation of safety and health management system (SHMS). Retrieved from https://www.wshc.sg/wps/themes/html/upload/cms/file/EffectiveImplementationofSHMS.pdf United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2012). Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries Summary, 2011. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cfoi.nr0.htm Workplace safety in construction sector can be improved: Hawazi Daipi. (2012, June 28). channelnewsasia. Retrieved from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/specialreport/news/1210442_170/1/.html Cheah, C. Y. J. (2007). 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In Burton J.F., Chelius, J.R (Eds.), Workplace safety and health regulation: rationale and results (pp. 253-347 ). Cornell University Press. Retrieved from http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=Jb9TnhR2l-wCpg=PA181lpg=PA181dq=Government+regulation+of+the+employment+relationship.source=blots=KDlMYbJq1wsig=EwCohN7wU6pVGPmvw9uiscNaoHohl=ensa=Xei=tIBkUObWLoHNrQfrxYGoAwved=0CDwQ6AEwBA#v=onepageq=Government%20regulation%20of%20the%20employment%20relationship.f=false Kiviniemi, M., Sulankivi, K., Kà ¤hkà ¶nen, K., Mà ¤kelà ¤, T., Merivirta, M. L. (2011) BIM-based safety management and communication for building construction. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. Retrieved from http://www.vtt.fi/inf/pdf/tiedotteet/2011/T2597.pdf Lai, D. N. C. (2009). Adopting human resource (HR) practices to improve construction safety. (Unpublished undergraduate dissertation). National University of Singapore, Singapore. Lai, D. N. C., Liu, M., Ling, F. Y. Y. (2011). A comparative study on adopting human resource practices for safety management on construction projects in the United States and Singapore. International Journal of Project Management, 29(8), 1018-1032. doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2010.11.004 Ling, F. Y. Y., Ofori, G., Teo, A. L. (2004, 2 7 May 2004). Predicting safety levels of constriction project sites. Paper presented at the Proceedings of CIB world Building Congress: Building for the Future, Toronto, Canada. Ling, F. Y. Y., Teo, A. L. (2006). Increasing worksite safety: intrinsic behavior vs. external incentives. Paper presented at the Proceedings of CIB W99 International Conference in Global Unity for Safety Health in Construction, Beijing, China. Lingard, H., Rowlinson, S. (2005). Occupational health and safety in the construction project management. Taylor Francis Inc. Maurice, P., Lavoie, M., Laflamme, L., Svanstrà ¶m, L., Romer, C., Anderson, R. (2001). Safety and safety promotion: definitions for operational developments. Injury Control and Safety Promotion, 8(4), 237-240. doi: 10.1076/icsp.8.4.237.3331 Ministry of Manpower, MOM. (2012). Changes to Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA). Retrieved from http://www.mom.gov.sg/newsroom/Pages/HighlightsDetails.aspx?listid=88 Ministry of Manpower, MOM. (n.d.-a). Audits and reviews. Retrieved from http://www.mom.gov.sg/workplace-safety-health/safety-health-management-systems/audits-review/Pages/implementation-review.aspx Ministry of Manpower, MOM. (n.d.-b). Safety and health management systems. Retrieved from http://www.mom.gov.sg/workplace-safety-health/safety-health-management-systems/Pages/default.aspx Ministry of Manpower, MOM and Workplace Safety and Health Council, WSHC. (2008). A guide to the work injury compensation benefits and claim process. Retrieved from http://www.mom.gov.sg/Documents/safety-health/WICA%20Guide%20(English).pdf. Nilsen, P., Hudson, D. S., Kullberg, A., Timpka, T., Ekman, R., Lindqvist, K. (2004). Making sense of safety. Injury Prevention, 10(2), 71-73. doi: 10.1136/ip.2004.005322 Pearson, C. (n.d.). The history of work safety. eHow. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/about_7522903_history-work-safety.html Qi, S. T. H. (2011). Adopting building information modelling (BIM) to improve workers safety. (Unpublished undergraduate dissertation). National University of Singapore, Singapore. Ridley, J. (1976). Safety at work. London: Butterworths. Safe Work Australia (2012). Safe work health and safety statistics, Australia. Retrieved from http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/SWA/AboutSafeWorkAustralia/WhatWeDo/Publications/Documents/677/Key_Work_Health_and_Safety_Statistics_Australia_2012.pdf Safe Design Australia (2011). Model work health and safety act revised draft 23. Retrieved from http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/SWA/AboutSafeWorkAustralia/WhatWeDo/Publications/Pages/model-work-health-safety-act-23-June-2011.aspx Suraji, A., Duff, A. R., Peckitt, S. J. (2001). Development of a causal model of construction accident causation. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 127(4), 337-344. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2001)127:4(337) Teh, L. (2006, May 3). Workplace Safety and Health Act Emphasizes Self-Regulation. Singapore International Law Office. Retrieved from http://www.internationallawoffice.com/newsletters/Detail.aspx?g=43a52fd5-ae7b-47bb-9818-2cf5b725e871 Teo, A. L. (Eds.). (2009). Safety, health and environment management. Singapore: McGraw-Hill Education (Asia). Teo, A. L., Ling, Y. Y., Chong, F. W. (2005). Framework for project managers to manage construction safety. International Journal of Project Management, 23(4), 329-341. doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2004.09.001 Toole, T. (2002). Construction Site Safety Roles. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 128(3), 203-210. doi: 10.1061/~ASCE!0733-9364~2002!128:3~203! Workplace Safety and Health Committee, WSHC. (2009). WSH 2018 A national strategy for workplace safety and health in Singapore. Retrieved from https://www.wshc.sg/wps/themes/html/upload/cms/file/WSH2018_lowres.pdf Workplace Safety and Health Committee, WSHC. (2010). Implementing WSH 2018 for the construction sector in Singapore. Retrieved from https://www.wshc.sg/wps/themes/html/upload/cms/file/WSH%20Construction%20Sectoral%20final_lowres(1).pdf Workplace Safety and Heath, WSH Ministry of Manpower, MOM. (2011). Workplace safety and health report 2011. Retrieved from https://www.wshc.sg/wps/themes/html/upload/announcement/file/WSH%20Stats%20Report%202011.pdf. World Health Organiation on Community Safety Promotion, Sweden, World Health Organiation on Community Safety Promotion, Quebec World Health Organisation (1998). Safety and safety promotion: Conceptual and operational aspects. Retrieved from http://www.phs.ki.se/csp/pdf/Publications/safety_promotion1998%20.pdf Zhang, S., Teizer, J., Lee, J.-K., Eastman, C. M., Venugopal, M. (2012). Build information modeling (BIM) and safety: Automatic safety checking of construction models and schedules. Automation in Construction, 13. doi: 10.1016/j.autcon.2012.05.006

Effect of Organic Farming on Soil Nutrients and Structure Essay

Effect of Organic Farming on Soil Nutrients and Structure Works Cited Missing Since the 1970s, the agribusiness and agrochemical industries have been aware of a growing problem: as the global population soars, soils around the world are becoming less suitable for farming as a result of erosion, nutrient depletion, and structural degradation. In the United States, about 60,000 farmers have abandoned the "conventional" system which relies on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and adopted the organic farming systems that allowed areas of China and India to be successfully farmed for 4,000 years (Reganold et al., 1990, p. 112). Organic farmers use plant matter and animal and municipal wastes for fertilizer, and rely on natural predators and disease-resistant crop strains to keep insects and fungi under control. While these methods are appealing to many on philosophical grounds, they also bring tangible benefits to farmers who observe improved soil structure, nutrient levels, and erosion control. Many of the benefits that farmers claim to receive from organic farming are related to increased humus levels. Droeven et al. (1980) found that field which received additions of farm-yard manure (FYM) had organic matter levels that were significantly higher than those in fields using chemical fertilizers and plowing in the plant matter from previous crops -- the method used on conventional farms (p. 215). Reganold et al. (1993) compared 16 biodynamic (organic farms that also incorporate silica and plant preparations) and conventional farms and reported that the biodynamic soils consistently had a 1% greater carbon content (p<0.01) (p. 346). This increased organic matter content has a variety of positive consequences. Reganold ... ...ic farming measurably disrupts natural processes, but it must be noted that a great deal of plant material is not returned to the soil in Nigerian farming practices, and so has the opportunity to deplete the soil in nutrients that plants use to grow. While the findings of Aweto and Ayuba provide strong evidence that organic farming probably can not leave any soil ecosystem undisturbed. The simple act of removing some plant matter causes nutrient depletion over time. However, the addition of manure and plant material, rather than simply using inorganic fertilizers provides a way adapt natural processes in the soil to aid in the cultivation of crops. The benefits of a healthy soil ecosystem range from decreased erosion to easier plowing. And through recycling the wastes that are now being produced, agribusiness may yet be able to feed the global human population.

Revenge and Emotions Essay -- Literary Analysis, Shakespeare

In the world today, many people face family problems every single day, but there are few people who face adversities as tough as those in William Shakespeare’s plays. Coping with family problems can cause a person to do vile things to themselves as well as to others. Shakespeare’s famous play revolves around revenge, which is the desire to do harm in return for a wrong. His play shows how the loss of loved ones can affect people. He builds up the idea that people do harmful things through anger rather than reasoning. In the play Hamlet, the characters face emotions that lead to revenge because they are unable to cope with the death of love ones. Hamlet’s Uncle Claudius kills his father, but he has no knowledge of this. The ghost says, â€Å"I am thy father’s spirit, doomed for a certain term to walk to the night, and for the day confined to fast in fires, till the foul crimes done in my days of nature are burnt and purged away† (I.v.9-33). The ghost tells Hamlet that he is his father and that a foul crime has been committed. He also tells him that the crime is forgotten. Hamlet finds out that his uncle kills his father by pouring poison in his ear while he is sleeping. Ghost says, â€Å"List, list, O, list! If thou didst ever thy dear father love —† (I.v.21-23). At this point, the ghost is saying to Hamlet if he has any love for his father he will avenge his death. The ghost states, â€Å"Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder† (I.v.25). Hamlet’s father is telling him to get revenge for his death. Hamlet ‘s initial reaction is to avenge his father, a reaction that is brought on by a sudden shock of the ghost’s confession.To prove that Hamlet has love for his father he is going to avenge his father’s death. â€Å"Haste me to know’t, that... ...and wounds the king. Hamlet finds out that the king poisoned the drink that killed his mother. Hamlet is full of rage and runs his uncle through with the poisoned sword. Hamlet states, â€Å"Here, thou incestuous, murd’rous damned Dane, drink off this potion. Is thy union here? Follow my mother† (V.ii.304-306). Hamlet makes the king drink the same drink that kills his mother. Hamlet has fulfilled the ghost’s wishes. The theme of revenge reaches its conclusion when Hamlet kills Claudius. Revenge is the core theme in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Death of loved ones cause the characters to act blindly through anger and emotion which cause them to carry out revenge. Hamlet has opportunities to kill Claudius, but he waits until the time is right to kill him. Hamlet, and the Laertes both accomplishes their task. Their obsession and need for revenge lead them to their downfalls.

Discipline and Punish: a Critical Review Essay

Overview The main ideas of Discipline and Punish can be grouped according to its four parts: torture, punishment, discipline and prison. Torture Foucault begins by contrasting two forms of penalty: the violent and chaotic public torture of Robert-Franà §ois Damiens, who was convicted of attempted regicide in the mid-18th century, and the highly regimented daily schedule for inmates from an early 19th century prison (Mettray). These examples provide a picture of just how profound the changes in western penal systems were after less than a century. Foucault wants the reader to consider what led to these changes. How did western culture shift so radically? He believes that the question of the nature of these changes is best asked by assuming that they weren’t used to create a more humanitarian penal system, nor to more exactly punish or rehabilitate, but as part of a continuing trajectory of subjection. Foucault wants to tie scientific knowledge and technological development to the development of the prison to prove this point. He defines a â€Å"micro-physics† of power, which is constituted by a power that is str ategic and tactical rather than acquired, preserved or possessed. He explains that power and knowledge imply one another, as opposed to the common belief that knowledge exists independently of power relations (knowledge is always contextualized in a framework which makes it intelligible, so the humanizing discourse of psychiatry is an expression of the tactics of oppression).[2] That is, the ground of the game of power isn’t won by ‘liberation’, because liberation already exists as a facet of subjection. â€Å"The man described for us, whom we are invited to free, is already in himself the effect of a subjection much more profound than himself.†[3] The problem for Foucault is in some sense a theoretical modelling which posits a soul, an identity (the use of soul being fortunate since ‘identity’ or ‘name’ would not properly express the method of subjection—e.g., if mere materiality were used as a way of tracking individuals then the method of punishment would not have switched from torture to psychiatry) which allows a whole materiality of prison to develop. In What is an Author? Foucault also deals with notion of identity, and its use as a method of control, regulation, and tracking. He begins by examining public torture and execution. He argues that the public spectacle of torture and execution was a theatrical forum the original intentions of which eventually produced several unintended consequences. Foucault stresses the exactitude with which torture is carried out, and describes an extensive legal framework in which it operates to achieve specific purposes. Foucault describes public torture as ceremony. The intended purposes were: * To make the secret public (according to Foucault the investigation was kept entirely secret even from the accused). The secret of the investigation and the conclusion of the magistrates was justified by the publicity of the torture. * To show the effect of investigation on confession. (According to Foucault torture could occur during the investigation, because partial proofs meant partial guilt. If the torture failed to elicit a confession then the investigation was stopped and innocence assumed. A confession legitimized the investigation and any torture that occurred.) * Reflecting the violence of the original crime onto the convict’s body for all to see, in order for it to be manifested then annulled by reciprocating the violence of the crime on the criminal. * Enacting the revenge upon the convict’s body, which the sovereign seeks for having been injured by the crime. Foucault argues that the law was considered an extension of the sovereign’s body, and so the revenge must take the form of harming the convict’s body. â€Å"It [torture] assured the articulation of the written on the oral, the secret on the public, the procedure of investigation on the operation of the confession; it made it possible to reproduce the crime on the visible body of the criminal; in the same horror, the crime had to be manifested and annulled. It also made the body of the condemned man the place where the vengeance of the sovereign was applied, the anchoring point for a manifestation of power, an opportunity of affirming the dissymmetry of forces.†[4] Foucault looks at public torture as the outcome â€Å"of a certain mechanism of power† that views crime in a military schema. Crime and rebellion are akin to a declaration of war. The sovereign was not concerned with demonstrating the ground for the enforcement of its laws, but of identifying enemies and attacking them, the power of which was renewed by the ritual of investigation and the ceremony of public torture.[5] Some unintended consequences were: * Providing a forum for the convict’s body to become a focus of sympathy and admiration. * Redistributing blame: the executioner rather than the convict becomes the locus of shame. * Creating a site of conflict between the masses and the sovereign at the convict’s body. Foucault notes that public executions often led to riots in support of the prisoner. Frustration for the inefficiency of this economy of power could be directed towards and coalesce around the site of torture and execution. Public torture and execution was a method the sovereign deployed to express his or her power, and it did so through the ritual of investigation and the ceremony of execution—the reality and horror of which was supposed to express the omnipotence of the sovereign but actually revealed that the sovereign’s power depended on the participation of the people. Torture was made public in order to create fear in the people, and to force them to participate in the method of control by agreeing with its verdicts. But problems arose in cases in which the people through their actions disagreed with the sovereign, by heroizing the victim (admiring the courage in facing death) or in moving to physically free the criminal or to redistribute the effects of the strategically deployed power. Thus, he argues, the public execution was ultimately an ineffective use of the body, qualified as non-economical. As well, it was applied non-uniformly and haphazardly. Hence, its political cost was too high. It was the antithesis of the more modern concerns of the state: order and generalization. So it had to be reformed to allow for greater stability of property for the bourgeoisie. Punishment The switch to prison was not immediate. There was a more graded change, though it ran its course rapidly. Prison was preceded by a different form of public spectacle. The theater of public torture gave way to public chain gangs. Punishment became â€Å"gentle†, though not for humanitarian reasons, Foucault suggests. He argues that reformists were unhappy with the unpredictable, unevenly distributed nature of the violence the sovereign would inflict on the convict. The sovereign’s right to punish was so disproportionate that it was ineffective and uncontrolled. Reformists felt the power to punish and judge should become more evenly distributed, the state’s power must be a form of public power. This, according to Foucault, was of more concern to reformists than humanitarian arguments. Out of this movement towards generalized punishment, a thousand â€Å"mini-theatres† of punishment would have been created wherein the convicts’ bodies would have been put on display in a more ubiquitous, controlled, and effective spectacle. Prisoners would have been forced to do work that reflected their crime, thus repaying society for their infractions. This would have allowed the public to see the convicts’ bodies enacting their punishment, and thus to reflect on the crime. But these experiments lasted less than twenty years. Foucault argues that this theory of â€Å"gentle† punishment represented the first step away from the excessive force of the sovereign, and towards more generalized and controlled means of punishment. But he suggests that the shift towards prison that followed was the result of a new â€Å"technology† and ontology for the body being developed in the 18th century, the â€Å"technology† of discipline, and the ontology of â€Å"man as machine.† Discipline The emergence of prison as the form of punishment for every crime grew out of the development of discipline in the 18th and 19th centuries, according to Foucault. He looks at the development of highly refined forms of discipline, of discipline concerned with the smallest and most precise aspects of a person’s body. Discipline, he suggests, developed a new economy and politics for bodies. Modern institutions required that bodies must be individuated according to their tasks, as well as for training, observation, and control. Therefore, he argues, discipline created a whole new form of individuality for bodies, which enabled them to perform their duty within the new forms of economic, political, and military organizations emerging in the modern age and continuing to today. The individuality that discipline constructs (for the bodies it controls) has four characteristics, namely it makes individuality which is: * Cellular—determining the spatial distribution of the bodies * Organic—ensuring that the activities required of the bodies are â€Å"natural† for them * Genetic—controlling the evolution over time of the activities of the bodies * Combinatory—allowing for the combination of the force of many bodies into a single massive force Foucault suggests this individuality can be implemented in systems that are officially egalitarian, but use discipline to construct non-egalitarian power relations: Historically, the process by which the bourgeoisie became in the course of the eighteenth century the politically dominant class was masked by the establishment of an explicit, coded and formally egalitarian juridical framework, made possible by the organization of a parliamentary, representative regime. But the development and generalization of disciplinary mechanisms constituted the other, dark side of these processes. The general juridical form that guaranteed a system of rights that were egalitarian in principle was supported by these tiny, everyday, physical mechanisms, by all those systems of micro-power that are essentially non-egalitarian and asymmetrical that we call the disciplines. (222) Foucault’s argument is that discipline creates â€Å"docile bodies†, ideal for the new economics, politics and warfare of the modern industrial age – bodies that function in factories, ordered military regiments, and school classrooms. But, to construct docile bodies the disciplinary institutions must be able to (a) constantly observe and record the bodies they control and (b) ensure the internalization of the disciplinary individuality within the bodies being controlled. That is, discipline must come about without excessive force through careful observation, and molding of the bodies into the correct form through this observation. This requires a particular form of institution, exemplified, Foucault argues, by Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon. This architectural model, though it was never adopted by architects according to Bentham’s exact blueprint, becomes an important conceptualization of power relations for prison reformers of the 19th Century, and i ts general principle is a recurring theme in modern prison construction. The Panopticon was the ultimate realization of a modern disciplinary institution. It allowed for constant observation characterized by an â€Å"unequal gaze†; the constant possibility of observation. Perhaps the most important feature of the panopticon was that it was specifically designed so that the prisoner could never be sure whether they were being observed at any moment. The unequal gaze caused the internalization of disciplinary individuality, and the docile body required of its inmates. This means one is less likely to break rules or laws if they believe they are being watched, even if they are not. Thus, prisons, and specifically those that follow the model of the Panopticon, provide the ideal form of modern punishment. Foucault argues that this is why the generalized, â€Å"gentle† punishment of public work gangs gave way to the prison. It was the ideal modernization of punishment, so its eventual dominance was natural. Having laid out the emergence of the prison as the dominant form of punishment, Foucault devotes the rest of the book to examining its precise form and function in our society, laying bare the reasons for its continued use, and questioning the assumed results of its use. Prison In examining the construction of the prison as the central means of criminal punishment, Foucault builds a case for the idea that prison became part of a larger â€Å"carceral system† that has become an all-encompassing sovereign institution in modern society. Prison is one part of a vast network, including schools, military institutions, hospitals, and factories, which build a panoptic society for its members. This system creates â€Å"disciplinary careers†[6] for those locked within its corridors. It is operated under the scientific authority ofmedicine, psychology, and criminology. Moreover, it operates according to principles that ensure that it â€Å"cannot fail to produce delinquents.†[7] Delinquency, indeed, is produced when social petty crime (such as taking wood from the lord’s lands) is no longer tolerated, creating a class of specialized â€Å"delinquents† acting as the police’s proxy in surveillance of society. The structures Foucault chooses to use as his starting positions help highlight his conclusions. In particular, his choice as a perfect prison of the penal institution at Mettray helps personify the carceral system. Within it is included the Prison, the School, the Church, and the work-house (industry) – all of which feature heavily in his argument. The prisons at Neufchatel, Mettray, and Mettray Netherlandswere perfect examples for Foucault, because they, even in their original state, began to show the traits Foucault was searching for. They showed the body of knowledge being developed about the prisoners, the creation of the ‘delinquent’ class, and the disciplinary careers emerging. Criticism Theoretical arguments in favor of rejecting the Foucauldian model of Panopticism may be considered under five general headings: 1) Displacement of the Panoptical ideal by mechanisms of seduction, 2) Redundancy of the Panoptical impulse brought about by the evident durability of the self-surveillance functions which partly constitute the normal, socialized, ‘Western’ subject, 3) Reduction in the number of occasions of any conceivable need for Panoptical surveillance on account of simulation, prediction and action before the fact, 4) Supplementation of the Panopticon by the Synopticon, 5) Failure of Panoptical control to produce reliably docile subjects.[9] The first point concerns Zygmunt Bauman’s argument that the leading principle of social order has moved from Panopticism to seduction. This argument is elaborated in his 1998 essay ‘On postmodern uses of sex’.[10] The second argument concerns surveillance redundance, and it is increasingly relevant in the age of Facebook and online self-disclosure. Is the metaphor of a panopticon appropriate for voluntary surrender of privacy? The third argument for post-Panopticism, concerning action before the fact, is articulated by William Bogard: The figure of the Panopticon is already haunted by a parallel figure of simulation. Surveillance, we are told, is discreet, unobtrusive, camouflaged, unverifiable – all elements of artifice designed into an architectural arrangement of spaces to produce real effects of discipline. Eventually this will lead, by its means of perfection, to the elimination of the Panopticon itself . . . surveillance as its own simulation. Now it is no longer a matter of the speed at which information is gained to defeat an enemy. . . . Now, one can simulate a space of control, project an indefinite number of courses of action, train for each possibility, and react immediately with pre-programmed responses to the actual course of events . . . with simulation, sight and foresight, actual and virtual begin to merge. . . . Increasingly the technological enlargement of the field of perceptual control, the erasure of distance in the speed of electronic information has pushed surveillance beyond the very limits of speed toward the purest forms of anticipation.[11] This kind of anticipation is particularly evident in emergent surveillance technologies such as social network analysis. The ‘Synopticon’ concerns the surveillance of the few by the many.[12] Examples of this kind of surveillance may include the theatre, the Coliseum, and celebrity tabloid reporting. This â€Å"reversal of the Panoptical polarity may have become so marked that it finally deconstructs the Panoptical metaphor altogether†.[9] Finally, the fifth point concerns the self-defeating nature of Panoptical regimes. The failure of surveillance states is illustrated by examples such as â€Å"prison riots, asylum sub-cultures, ego survival in Gulag or concentration camp, [and] retribalization in the Balkans.†[9] In their 2007 article, Dobson and Fisher[13] lay out an alternative model of post-panopticism as they identify three panoptic models. Panopticism I refers to Jeremy Bentham’s original conceptualization of the panopticon, and is it the model of panopticism that Foucault responds to in Discipline and Punish. Panopticism II refers to an Orwellian ‘Big Bro ther’ ideal of surveillance. Panopticism III, the final model of panopticism, refers to the high-technology human tracking systems that are emergent in this 21st century. These geographical information systems (GIS) include technologies such as cellphone GPS, RFIDs (radio-frequency identification tags), and geo-fences. Panopticism III is also distinguished by its costs: Panopticon III is affordable, effective, and available to anyone who wants to use it. Initial purchase prices and monthly service fees are equivalent to cell-phone costs. In less than five years, the cost of continuous surveillance of a single individual has dropped from several hundred thousand dollars per year to less than $500 per year. Surveillance formerly justified solely for national security and high-stakes commerce is readily available to track a spouse, child, parent, employee, neighbor, or stranger.

Laptop and Samsung

A. Executive Summary This paper is focused on Samsung Electronics Co. , and it has four major product lines. Digital Media line produces digital electronics for both personal and business uses. Telecommunication line produces variety of mobile phones and supply to carriers; LCD line produces flat screen monitors used on TVs, cellphones and computers. Last, semiconductors product line produces memory chips used on computers and cell phones. For each product lines, we will be talking about their history, records of success, risks and opportunities, and recommendations.Lastly, we will give recommendations regarding how the company should develop itself to be more attractive to investors. B. Introduction Samsung was founded in 1938 and are located in Seoul, South Korea. The founder’s name is Byun-Chull Lee. â€Å"Samsung† means â€Å"three stars† in Korean. It started as a trading export company. In 1969, they became Samsung Electronics Co. And now it has become one of the largest technology companies known worldwide (Samsung Electronics, 2011). It is most known for its flagship products; the Galaxy smartphone and its LCD screens.Samsung became a publicly traded company in 2000. It has four major lines of business, Digital Media, Telecommunications, LCD, and Semiconductors. C. Four Lines of Business 1. Digital Media Digital media is the line of business that consists of all of Samsung’s digital consumer products, both home and personal use. These products include; personal computers, MP3 players, cameras, televisions, and home appliances. Samsung puts forward innovative designs, select world-leading products, and power efficient products. Digital media consisted of 37% of all sales in 2010 (Sustainability Report, 2012).Samsung Distribution ChannelAs you can see from the graph below is was the majority of Samsung’s sales. In the 1970’s, Samsung came out with its first black and white televisions, washing machines, refrigerat ors, and by the end of the decade color televisions. In the 1980’s, Samsung was marketing air conditioners, personal computers, and the world’s smallest video tape recorder. Since the 1990’s, Samsung’s innovation boomed. They came out with the world’s first digital television, the world’s first Blu-ray disc player, the world’s first HD camcorder, and the world’s thinnest television (About Samsung, 2012).Samsung also led the home entertainment business into the 3D market. Digital media’s record of success is definitely significant. Its sales numbers have increased by about 4 billion USD. Unfortunately, the profits are very low compared to its sales. This is due to Samsung’s high investment in research and development. You can see the difference between sales and profits in the graph shown below. The biggest risk for the digital media line of business is whether the large investments in research and development will pay off against its competing products.Many electronic companies invest heavily in creating better products and imbedding innovative technology in them, so the competition is very high for this line of business. The only way for a company to be successful is getting its products in the most consumers’ hands. So that is why Samsung invests about 6. 2% of total sales into research and development (Sustainability Report, 2012). This enables Samsung to ensure that its products are of the best quality, have the most innovative technology, provide convenient and advanced features, and have a stylish design.Research and development will always be one of the biggest investments of a successful technology company. Samsung should continue its high investments to secure its place as the leader in technology and innovation in this industry. Since Samsung is a global leader in technology, it should use this advantage to lead the rest to the next level of innovation. Samsung has already l ead others in the 3D home entertainment business now it has the opportunity to go further and create more advanced products that will lead its consumers to a more advanced and convenient lifestyle. 2. TelecommunicationsSamsung Telecommunications is one important line of Samsung Electronics. It is known as Samsung mobile and wireless, which provides a variety of personal and business communications productions, such as mobile phones, tablets, and wireless infrastructure equipments (Samsung, 2011). In 1988, Samsung Electronics merged with telecommunication, which then became a product line of Samsung Electronics (Company history, 2012. ). In 1986, Samsung released its first built-in car phone, but it failed due to the poor products’ qualities. But, the company did not give up on telecommunication product line.In 1992, Samsung developed its own mobile phone systems. In 1997, they developed world’s smallest CDMA mobile phone (Company history, 2012). Samsung became the lead er in the personal communications service market. Samsung Electronics has been successful since the company expended business into global market. Samsung took first step and exported its personal phones to Sprint, an American CDMA carrier, and then Samsung extended into GSM market. The company’s phones are compatible with the networks of leading wireless service providers, including AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA, and Verizon Communications.It has powered Samsung’s growth in the telecommunications industry. The bestselling Galaxy S smartphones was launched in 2011. It has been sold more than 20 million units around the world. In 2012, Samsung Electronics was ranked the 17th of global 500 companies by the Financial Times (Samsung annual report, 2012). By end of second quarter 2012, Samsung Electronics accounted for 330 million or 21. 2% of worldwide demand of mobile phones (Samsung annual report, 2011). (See Fig. 1. ) Fig. 1. Samsung Smartphone Market shares in 2011: 19. 9% (Samsung) The major risk was patent lawsuits.Samsung Electronics has involved with lawsuits in more than 10 countries between Samsung and Apple (Wingfield, 2012). Opportunity for Samsung is that partnership with more carriers, which would help Samsung Telecommunication to expand their business and market share. The recommendations for Samsung telecommunication is that focus on unique technology design. I think that will not only help Samsung avoid lawsuits, but also increase the market share and customer royalty. 3. Samsung’s LCD Display A liquid crystal display (LCD) is a flat screen monitor that is made of a thin liquid crystal layer in the middle.LCDs are used in many different applications such as, televisions, mobile phones, laptops and computers. LCD screen has been one of the best-selling products of Samsung, yet it still faces risks and needs some improvement to attract more customers (Mote, Stansell, & Greenland, 2010). Mote et al. (2010) state that Samsung c reated LCD technology in 1991. The LCD panel was first used for laptop computers and showed at a world trade event in Japan. The first LCD display for laptop computer was 9. 3 inches. In 2002, Samsung introduced a 54-inch digital LCD television monitor-the largest LCD television in the world at that time.Today, Samsung is the most famous LCD maker in the global market (Mote, Stansell, & Greenland, 2010). According to â€Å"About Samsung† (2012), Samsung sustained the highest profit among LCD manufactures over the world in 2007. In 2009, Samsung became the first company that sold more than ten million LCD televisions in the first half of the year and more than five million LCD panels per month. Epperson shows that, total segment revenue of LCD was about 62. 6 trillion U. S dollars in 2011. There were about 330 million shares, and the price was 1,067 dollars per share.Samsung has also maintained the largest market share in the global LCD televisions from the first quarter of 20 11 to the second quarter of 2012 (About Samsung, 2012; Epperson, 2012). (Data collected from www. statista. com) Although the record of success of LCDs seems really outstanding, Samsung is facing many risks. One of the risks that Samsung confronted was about LCD patent infringement. In 2008, Sharp filed the suit against Samsung in the U. S. District Court for violating its four patents related to a technology to improve the picture quality of LCDs. Then, Sharp expanded the suit to South Korea in December of the same year.Samsung fought back in the same month with lawsuits in Japan and the U. S. For some reasons, Samsung won over Sharp in Japan, but lose the case in the U. S. In 2009 US International Trade Commission began to block Samsung LCD products. Samsung also faces price war from other serious competitors such as LG, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic. In Standard & Poor’s Equity Research, Samsung’s LCD sales are decreasing due to the very competitive prices other comp etitors offer consumers (Patel, 2012). Base on â€Å"LexisNexis Academic† (2012), Samsung just created a new technology of LCD called Active-matrix OLED (AMOLED).This is another type of flat panel display which is very thin and flexible. Samsung announced that it will use AMOLED to invent a new model of its mobile phone named â€Å"Youm†, and the product will be introduced at the beginning of 2013. This is considered as a bright opportunity for Samsung in the future to increase its LCD revenues and profits (â€Å"Samsung’s flexible†, 2012). (Google images) To overcome risks and be more attractive to investors, Samsung should obtain LCD patent protection. For example, when any LCD design is created, Samsung should register for a license or trademark to protect the company from copyright.Samsung also need to focus on Research and Development investment to create new technology, new products and find out ways to lower the production costs, so they can compet e on price with others. 4. Semiconductors The decision of entering the semiconductor business is essential to Samsung. Byung-Chull Lee, the founder of Samsung, realized how big the high-tech electronics market would be in the future in mid-1970s, and that Samsung has to be a major player. Because of that, he decided to form Samsung Semiconductor and Telecommunications Co. in 1978.However, South Korea is lack of technological expertise, and that’s when the South Korean government steps in. The South Korean government required foreign telecommunications equipment manufacturers to hand out advanced semiconductor technology, in order for them to get access to the South Korean market. (Data collected from IBIS World) Semiconductor is one of the most successful product lines in Samsung. The sales of semiconductor have increased from 32. 6 billion dollars in 2010 to 33. 5 billion dollars in 2011. Moreover, its net income has also increased from 16 million dollars in 2010 to 48 milli on dollars in 2011.In fact, the company’s semiconductor segment consists two major parts: memory and LSI (Large-Scale Integration). Like the past 15 years, Samsung has topped the position in the dynamic random-access memory in 2011 with 42. 2% of shares. For the LSI segment, Samsung produces LCD panels for computer monitors and notebook displays. In 2011, Samsung has about $26. 5 million of revenue from LCD panel business (IBIS world, 2012). One of the biggest customers to Samsung’s semiconductor product line is Apple, which is recently considering switching to another semiconductor manufacturer.Losing this huge customer will definitely risk the market position of Samsung, as it is now at the top of the semiconductor manufacturing market. Opportunity for the product line would be its rising demand. There is a growing demand on semiconductor out in the market. Although the demand of desktop computers is slowing down, which will affect the sales of memory part of semicon ductors, demand of tablets and smartphones is raising rapidly, which will lead to a rise in demand of semiconductor (Epperson, 2012). There are still a lot of rooms for the sales of semiconductor to grow.Increasing production of semiconductor due to its raise in demand may not seem hard in the future. Manufacturers are now developing automated production in order to decrease their production cost. Samsung can start increase semiconductors supply to these robots, since those parts will boost the demand for the sophisticated electronics that control the robots. D. Conclusions and Recommendations for Samsung One of the important recommendations is technology innovation. Samsung Electronics is a high-tech company, which provided support for innovation in the areas of technology.Product lines involved with other companies regarding the patent lawsuits. Lawsuits have negatively impacts on company’s growth. In order for company to maintain sustainability and remain competitive in th e industry, we recommend that the Samsung Electronics should focus on unique technology designs. In that way, it will protect the company from getting sued and attract more customers. Samsung should also increase semiconductors productions by finding opportunities to cooperate and be a supplier to other smaller electronic companies. Again, the company hould invest more in R&D projects, so it can built new technologies and new products in order to compete against its competitors. E. References About Samsung. (2012). Corporate profile. Retrieved from http://www. samsung. com/us/aboutsamsung/corporateprofile/ Epperson, L. (2012). Samsung Electronic Co. , Ltd. Hoover’s. Retrieved Oct. 27, 2012, from Hoover’s database. Mote, D. , Stansell, C. M. , Greenland, P. R. (2010). Samsung Electronics Co. , Ltd. In International Directory of Company Histories, 108, 433-440. Retrieved Oct. 27, 2012, from Gale Virtual Reference Library database. Patel, A. (2012).Samsung Electronics. St andard & Poor’s Equity Research. Retrieved Oct. 27, 2012, from Net Advantage database. Samsung Electronic. (2011). FY 2011 Annual report. Retrieved from http://www. samsung. com/us/aboutsamsung/ir/newsMain. do. Samsung. (2012). Samsung Company history. Retrieved from http://www. samsung. com/us/aboutsamsung/corporateprofile/history04. html Samsung. (2011a). Samsung 2011 annual report. Retrieved from http://www. samsung. com/us/aboutsamsung/ir/newsMain. do Samsung. (2011b). Samsung Telecommunications. Retrieved from http://www. samsung. com/global/business/telecommunication/productInfo. do? tgrygroup=11&ctgrytype=18&b2bprdid=146 Samsung’s flexible AMOLED display codenamed â€Å"Youm† in the works. (2012, April 11). Kashmir Monitor (India). Retrieved Nov. 28, 2012, from LexisNexis Academic database. Sustainability report. (2012). Global harmony with people, society, and environment. Retrieved from http://www. samsung. com/aboutsamsung/sustainability/sustainability report Wingfield, N. (2012, August 24). Jury awards $1 billion to Apple in Samsung patent case. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www. nytimes. com/2012/08/25/technology/jury-reaches-decision-in-apple-samsung-patent-trial. html? _r=0

Religion on social change Essay

This essay is to assess the contribution of religion as a cause of social change and what it has cause throughout the years, some say that religion acts as a conservative force, other say it is a major contributor of social change and some like to take the middle ground on this topic. Religion to sociologist can be seen in two types of ways which is either a conservative force (keeping thing the way they are) or a force for change. Those who see it as a conservative are the ones who believe it’s a force of stability and order whereas the force for change sociologist would say religion encourages societies to change. Religion being a conservative force function is to preserve status quo by maintaining traditional beliefs and maintaining patriarchy. Religion has many functions functionalist believe that religion maintains social solidity, social stability and a value consensus and is therefore supports religion being a concretive force. Marxist on the other hand see it as an ide ology that prevents social change by legitimating and reproducing inequality and also disguises exploitation. Feminist also believe religion being a conservative force is a negative force because it legitimates patriarchal power and maintains women’s subordination. Religion can be seen as a conservative force as well as being force for change, the most famous of these being Max Weber study of the protestant ethic and spirit of capitalism. Weber argues that the religious beliefs of the Calvinist helped bring about a major social change, specifically the emergence of modern capitalism in n northern Europe in the 16th and 14th centuries. The Calvinist had several distinctive beliefs which were: predestination which was that God has already predestination which souls will be saved and who’s not and that no individual can change that. Another belief of theirs is the divine transcendence which is that God is immortal and no human can claim to know his will (including priests) and which this combined creates that Weber refers to as ‘salvation panic’. One other belief the Calvinist believe in is asceticism which is being abstinence, having self discipline and self denial to just live a simple life as Jesus did. The last but no least belief is the idea of a vocation or calling which are defined by two functions, 1 is it helped the Calvinist to cope with their salvation panic as they took this as a sign of God’s favour ad their  salvation- for why else would they have prospered and 2 is their accumulated wealth by the most efficient and rational means possible and not spending it on luxuries but instead reinvesting it (which in Weber’s view is the spirit of modern capitalism). It is very important to note that Weber’s was not arguing that the Calvinist beliefs were the cause of modern capitalism but simply that they were one of its causes. Other societies had a higher rate of economic growth than northern Europe in the 16th and 17th century but failed to adopt modern capitalism. China and India were more materially advanced but didn’t adopt capitalism due to their lack of religious belief like the Calvinist. They promote rewards in the other life, good deeds and other goals that lacked the material drive that Calvinism created. Weber has theory has many criticisms some of these are that for example Kautsky argues that Weber overestimates the role of ideas and underestimates economic factors in bring capitalism in to being, he argues that in fact capitalism preceded rather than followed Calvinism . Similarly R.H Tawney argues that technological change, not religious ideas, caused the birth of capitalism. Weber has also been criticised because capitalism did not develop in every country where there were Calvinist, for example in Scotland. Steve Bruce is interested in the relationship between religion and social change, he therefore used two case studies to analyse this, The American civil rights movements and The New Christian Right. The new Christian movement is a religiously motivated movement to end racial segregation in America in the 1950s to 60s. The black clergy played a major role (Dr Martin Luther King) giving moral legitimacy to activists, they provided sanctuary and unity, appealed to common Christian values of equality. Bruce sees religion is an ideological resource he identified several ways in which religious organisations are well equipped to support protest and contributes to social change: 1) Taking the moral high ground which is the black clergy pointed out the hypocrisy of white clergy who preached ‘love thy neighbour’ but supported racial segregation, 2) channelling dissent is religion provides channels to express political dissent, For example the funeral of Martin Luther king was a rallying point for the civil right cause. 3) Acting as honest broker because churches can provide a context for negotiating changes because they are often respected by both sides in a conflict and see n as standing above ‘mere politics’ and lastly 4) Mobilising public opinion is  when black churches in the south successfully campaigned for support across the whole of America. It had the shared values of those in power and those in wider society and could use these to push for change. The New Christian Rights is a politically and morally conservative, protestant fundamentalist movement it has gained prominence since 1960s because of its opposition to the liberalising of American society. They want to take America ‘back to God’. As well as want abortion, homosexuality and divorce illegal and ban SRE in schools. They also want to bring back the traditional family and gender roles (patriarchy) and teach only the creationism, nothing about evolution or big bang theory. The new Christian right has been largely unsuccessful in achieving their aim, reasons are because the ‘moral majority’ was never a majority, but 15% of the population at most, also its campaigners find it difficult to cooperate with people from other religious groups and they lack widespread support and has met with strong opposition from groups who stand for freedom of choice. The new Christian rights is described as a failed movement for change , despite enormous publicity and a high profile in the media it has not achieved its aims of taking America ‘back to god’. In conclusion religion has played such a big role in past and current society, some might say for the best others may disagree. As in item A ‘†¦ religion can play an important part in bringing about social change for example religious ideas can be a powerful motivation for change, as Weber showed in his study of Calvinist.’ , as well as also campaigning for social reform.