Essay --

What is the Better Purchase: LCD TV or Plasma TV? We live in a world of choice. In each moment, we are presented with the opportunity to choose from an array of options. The truth is, though, that we do not always make our choices consciously. Sometimes, instead of choosing what is best for our personal requirements, we fall in the trap of commercial tricks and purchase a product we do not need. When we want to make a choice based on facts and objective reasoning exclusively, we need to methodically analyze and compare each product based on the criteria that we value. In this essay, I will try to do just that when choosing between the two most popular types of TV’s – LCD and plasma. When entering the technical department of any supermarket or a high-tech store, many people ask themselves whether a LCD TV is better than a plasma TV or vice versa. To answer this question, we need to compare the two products based on several relevant technical criteria. From a layman’s eye, LCD and plasma TVs may look alike; however, a keen eye will notice the difference between these sets. These differences permit customers to have a manifold of choices based on their particular requirements. A plasma display comprises of two glass panels packed in compartmentalized spaces, with many small plasma cells. Plasma cells are normally charged to a precise electrical voltage level (Kith, Plasma TV Components). On the other hand, an LCD display is comprised of aqueous crystals that are normally preset between two panels of glass (Reed, Architecture of the TV). Displays are further enhanced by utilizing electricity voltage on the LCD TV set panel. As a result of such technical differences, a conclusion can be drawn that plasma TV sets are better in comp... ...y suit a hi-tech apartment of a young business person. Consumers should remember a couple of basic tips when choosing one type of TV over the other. For instance, if you want to fit a TV set into a huge space, then a plasma TV will do better due to the wider viewing angle and the lower price of big sizes. The debate about which TV set is better is far from over. In the end, the question lies more in the hands of the consumer. Next time you buy a plasma or LCD TV set, do not be surprised if your neighbor criticizes your choice. References: 1. Kith, Hendrick. Plasma TV Components. Hallwork Publishing. 2011. 2. Reed, Melanie. Architecture of the TV. Limpon Press. 2008. 3. Howard, Sarah. TV Comparisons: Modern. Francis Publishing. 2009. 4. Fields, Garry. Price Comparisons of Viewing. The Atlantis Times. 2012. 5. Franz, Liam. TV Statistics. The Seattle Daily. 2013.

Healthcare in Netherlands vs. U.S. Essay

Completing this assignment will require anywhere from 60-80 minutes. It will count as two response papers. This documentary is a case study in policy making. It helps us to learn about the mechanisms of making laws at the national level for high profile policies in America. In particular, this case focuses our attention on the role of powerful and wealthy interest groups in Washington, and how they can easily influence government and sway laws to their benefit. It also helps us to lean about who has power over and in government, who is represented, who has voice, influence, and who doesn’t. Please, watch â€Å"Obama’s Deal: PBS Documentary Exposing Corruption and the Role of Big Money and Powerful Lobby in American Policy Making Process† You may start filling out the questionnaire while you are watching the documentary. Simply copy these 14 questions into your response paper and answer them in the order of appearance. 1. What immediate problem did the president run into when initiating the healthcare reform? 2. Obama’s administration believed that taking on a healthcare reform is a test of what in American politics? According to Obama, it was intended to prove what? 3. Who opposed the healthcare reform under both Clinton and Obama? Who stood to lose from the healthcare reform? 4. What did the propaganda ads funded by insurance lobby advertise to the American public about the healthcare reform? Whose interests did they keep in mind when doing that? 5. Who could get to the congressional hearings on the healthcare reform? Was there anyone representing 50 million uninsured Americans at the congressional hearings? 6. While powerful insurance lobbyists initially stated that they would support the reform, what did they request in return and why? (hint: they wanted some feature added to the bill, what is that feature?) 7. Senator Baucus received $2.5 millions from insurance interest groups to do what? Whose interests did he represent? 8. Who is denied a seat at the negotiation table about the healthcare? Who is removed physically by guards from the press conference in the White House? 9. When in Congress senator Baucus introduced â€Å"Medicare prescription drug bill†, it was a payoff to drug  and pharmaceutical industries for what? Who did the bill benefit (financially)c? 10. Insurance lobbyists (Ignani being one big player) spend tens of millions of dollars to defeat the health bill through ads that created panic, scare, rumors, and etc. Why? What is at stake for insurance and pharmaceutical lobbyists if a meaningful healthcare reform took place? 11. The answer to this question would require some speculation on your part: why do you think many Americans bought the negative campaign ads against the healthcare reform that were manufactured by the insurance lobby? Why did some ordinary Americans end up siding with greedy insurance and pharmaceutical lobbyists, even though saving money and health of working Americans is the last thing that those lobbyists cared about? 12. What does this documentary show us about the role of money and powerful interests in American politics? For whose benefits laws are made or blocked? Based on this case study, what would you say about who controls American political process? 13. What have you learned from this documentary that either reinforces or contradicts information from the textbook chapter 11 about interest groups? 14. Anything else you wish to state about your reaction to this case study in policy making: Background and further readings on healthcare policy in the U.S.: Healthcare is one of the most contentious policy areas in American politics. Some of the most conspicuous issues with healthcare provision in our country are: -medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcy for middle class and low income households in America -Insurance premiums and co pays are too high and limits for patients with preexisting conditions are numerous; insurance industry is fairly unregulated and has monopoly on setting the rules of the game on who and how they cover. -50 million Americans remain uninsured, with elderly, students/young, and workers in low paid or part time jobs that offer no health insurance benefits most affected. We do not have a public health option that would offer a choice aside from private care, just like we have public education/universal education for any American who does not wish to spend tons on private education -while we have such programs as Medicare (for the elderly), Medicaid (for low income families), and emergency rooms, they do not cover all those who need medical care; states became strict with qualifications for such programs, cutting funding and  eliminating many Americans from qualifying. Emergency rooms, if you have been to one, do not offer quality care, preventative treatment, and many other essential services. Insurance does not cover pre-existing conditions; insurance plans have limits and co-pays that many people simply cannot afford once faced with a serious illness. -Healthcare is too expensive and inaccessible to many -What reforms are needed to address such disparities in healthcare? And more importantly, in our political system what reforms can or cannot be made? This documentary provides one way to think through the structure of policy making process in America. Supplementary/suggested readings: Start with understanding facts, numbers, and myths about Obama’s Affordable Care Act: http://www.whitehouse.gov/healthreform Margaret Flowers: Obamacare did not go far enough, we still need universal health coverage for Americans: http://www.thenation.com/video/168604/margaret-flowers-obamacare-doesnt-go-far-enough# Number of uninsured Americans rises to 50.7 million: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-09-17-uninsured17_st_n.htm Census data on health coverage in America: http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthins/data/incpovhlth/2010/highlights.html Republicans who benefit from Obama’s healthcare bill are torn about the candidates: http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/06/health/republicans-conflicted-obamacare/ Listing some benefits for women under Obama’s healthcare bill, particular for potential cancer patients: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021447151 Three myths about Obama’s Affordable Care Act: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Noq_tktemE0 Republican presidential candidate Romney on healthcare: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/05/opinion/krugman-romneys-sick-joke.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0 Public opinion about Obama’s healthcare bill: healthcare is complex in terms of public opinion–while a majority favored it’s repeal, large majorities actually favored each aspect of the law. Moreover, with the Supreme Court’s upholding the law, this seems to have made it more popular (but made the Court less so): http://themonkeycage.org/blog/2012/10/03/the-effect-of-the-courts-ruling-in-the-aca/ http://themonkeycage.org/blog/2012/06/27/framing-and-health-care-reform/ http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/62242.html Paul Ryan’s (runs as vice-president on the Republican ticket in 2012 election) plans to undercut social security and Medicare infuriate the elderly, he dismisses concerns with contempt and removal of a senior citizens from the hall: http://www.upworthy.com/paul-ryans-medicare-plan-will-hurt-old-people-paul-ryans-security-guys-have-hurt?g=2 Healthcare debate in cross-cultural perspective: Canada vs. U.S. http://www.diemer.ca/Docs/Diemer-TenHealthCareMyths.htm Healthcare in Netherlands vs. U.S.: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/magazine/03european-t.html?pagewanted=all

Importance of Fresh Water Essay

All living things on Earth need fresh water in order to survive But human beings become ill and may even die if they cannot get pure or clean and are forced to drink polluted water. Human beings can only last 3 day without fresh water. People died of thirst after the cyclone in 1999 because their supply of fresh water from irrigation channels was destroyed form tidal waves. However water is needed for many more purposes e.g. in agriculture and industries, but this water does not need to be fresh. Despite this there are still serious shortages in many countries for the purposes other than drinking. CAUSES FOR SHORTAGE OF WATER 1 The increases in populations, industries and irrigation The growth of population in many countries means that more water is required. The growth of population leads to the need for more goods and food. This leads to the increase in industries and in irrigated farmland. This means more water is required. 2 The pollution of fresh water supplies Even if there is sufficient fresh water in a country it may not all be good for drinking. Many villages in Pakistan depend on wells and rivers for their fresh drinking water. However chemicals used in the fields by farmers pollute some of these drinking water supplies. 3 the problems of the supply of fresh water Problems of the supply of fresh water in both rural and urban areas exist in the countries and in some countries. a) Fresh Water Supplies In Rural Areas In many rural areas in Pakistan and other countries there are no pipes o carry water to people’s homes or to their villages. Women and children may walk a long way each day to get their water. b) Fresh Water Supplies In Urban Areas Many villages have no piped water supply. But there are often serious problems of the supply of water even in urban areas where there are water pipes. This because of lack of distribution and transmission networks,  leakages and power failures at pumping stations and because of rampant corruption in KWSB. It is also because hydrant owners continue to defy government regulations. Possible solutions for shortage of water in Pakistan Treatment of sewage It has been suggested that water suitable for industry and agriculture could be provided by treating sewage. However this would require a new and separate network of pipes which would be expensive to construct. Desalination of sea water This suggestion was rejected up to 2004 because of the high cost of building the desalination plants. However, in 2004 plans were announced to build Pakistan’s first desalination plants at Korangi Creek in Karachi and near Port Qasim. Disadvantage of desalination process Even though the desalination process benefits us, it can also harm the environment on the other hand. It cost too much money to pay for the plants. It reduces oxygen levels in the air and results in an increase of the density of any discharged waste water. Its unlimited source of water make more green house gasses so there for more pollution in the atmosphere .It doubles the amount of salt in the ocean’s and impacts on the environment for animals and humans.

Blue Shield Health Insurance Essay

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) serves independent local Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies as its trade association. The BCBSA is one of the nation’s oldest and biggest health benefits company, widely recognized in the health insurance industry, given its 800 strong employee strength, across 39 companies in Chicago and Washington D. C. BCBSA companies together cover about 98 million people or about every one in three Americans. The reach and spread of the BCBSA is really immense covering all 50 states and the District of Columbia, in contract with over 90% of the hospitals and 80% of physicians. The products serviced by BCBSA covers individuals to small and large employers, ensuring coverage to all citizens. Through its several unprecedented and innovative schemes, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association tries to bring healthcare insurance to all people providing hope and security to everyone. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association is an insurance provider covering healthcare for more than 98 millions, nearly one in three Americans. Healthcare insurance is a must for everyone. It is necessary to keep the economy going and growing because once the people are covered under some healthcare insurance, their medical needs are adequately taken care of, which makes their productivity go up because better health obviously results in better work performance. If the concept of insurance were not Blue Cross and Blue Shield 3 there, then every individual would have had to save a huge amount of money as reserve to cover some unforeseen or unexpected calamities. Healthcare is one aspect which can never be compromised. With the mounting medical expenses, people without a healthcare insurance can just not afford to avail proper preventive and therapeutic treatment. With the cost of medical services growing by leaps and bounds, healthcare insurance is imperative for one and all. Healthcare insurance company also stands to benefit because when they are likely to pay more in claims than what they get in premiums, a hike in the premium is anticipated. Under the employer-sponsored healthcare insurance, the employer spends roughly five times more than what the employee contributes. But the increasing medical costs have a great impact on the employers who have to pay out huge sums as premiums for their employees. From 1998 to 2003, there was a national increase of 42% in individual premiums after adjustments made with regard to inflation. With the increase in medical costs, employees are forced to contribute a sizable amount towards their coverage, so they opt to stay away from the job-based health insurance plans. The employers depend more on part-time and contract workers who are often not eligible for coverage. So fewer people access employer-paid healthcare insurance. The job instability too contributes in the steady increase of the number of uninsured people. And then there are some firms, which do not provide health insurance to their employees. With the shooting medical expenses, it is difficult for people to go for healthcare coverage, as the premiums are high. This leaves them uninsured, which again has drastic effects affecting Blue Cross and Blue Shield 4 both the people and the company. So, healthcare insurance has now become something that people can neither do with nor do without it. To combat this scenario, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association brings various new schemes taking into consideration the needs of every individual. With no insurance and with the exorbitant medical expenses, the health care of the people is greatly compromised. They go in for lesser preventive care with the result diseases get out of hand before they are diagnosed, and even when diagnosed, the treatment costs are so huge that the therapeutic care is compromised. With no insurance, people are expected to pay up-front for the medical services and so they defer medical care except when it is life threatening. This also affects the government because it has to cater to the medical needs of the uninsured, which has a terrible impact on the economy because the expenses of the emergency department is much higher than in the outpatient clinics, and the conditions are often those that could have been averted or postponed with preventive care. Proper health insurance package is the icing on the cake. The medical expenses are so much that healthcare insurance acts as a major deciding factor when people seek jobs. With the ever-increasing medical expenses, every individual has to be insured medically so that they can avail the needed healthcare. But with the increased insurance premiums, the number of uninsured people is on the high. Furthermore, insurances have too many exclusions like certain drugs not being covered, certain Blue Cross and Blue Shield 5 procedures not being covered and the like, which again discourages people from being insured, which is detrimental to the citizens as well as the country at large. Even with insurance, the prospects of the people losing their jobs and thereby their insurances is there. There definitely have to be changes in the system so that every individual could be worked into the health insurance plan. The view of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association president and CEO Scott P Serota testifies this â€Å"With such divergent political ideologies, it is unprecedented for these groups to have a joint agreement. Helping the millions of Americans who do not have health insurance is an issue that needs to transcend politics and partisanship, and that is why we worked together to give Congress a starting point that we can all support. † The 2005 data shows that one in seven American was uninsured thus depriving them of basic healthcare. The Institute of Medicine has that approximately 18,000 die every year of diseases that could have either been treated or prevented had they had health coverage. Lack of insurance prevents people leading a quality life, and it also brings down their productivity because of their recurrent ailments. The first annual National Walk @ Lunch Day to be held on Wednesday, April 18, 2007, by BCBSA (Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association) will definitely bring about an awareness among people about the need for an active lifestyle, which obviously would usher in better health. Unlike the usual health insurance companies, Blue cross and Blues Shield Association design innovative schemes to match the diversified requirement of the market. It does a Blue Cross Blue shield 6 lot of activity to keep the competition at bay. Even though profit making is the main objective in any organization, Blue cross and Blues Shield Association takes care that it does not become the sole objective. A paradigm shift in this regard is obvious by the mere existence of CareFirst, the non profit health care company which provides health insurance products and administrative services. In the current scenario where the number of uninsured people is on the rise, Blue cross and Blues Shield Association has to be applauded for its efforts in trying to bring the maximum people under the healthcare insurance cover. REFERENCES www. nchc. org www. bcbs. com www. money. cnn. com

College Participation Essay

One of the best things we can do after high school is to continue our education by going to college. During a high school career fair, students may find themselves asking: â€Å"Why is it important to go to college? † Well, it is important because at college, students try new things, meet new people and expand their knowledge of the world. Higher education also improves their chances of having the lives and the job they always wanted. However, it is not as easy as they think. Students can get distracted by different things in college, which can prevent them from success and achieving their goals. In most cases, lack of class participation is one of the factors that could directly affect their education and increase their chances to quit college. Boring instructors and time management could be the obstacles for students to not participate in class activities. â€Å"My class is so boring†, â€Å"My instructor talks all the time†, â€Å"I fall asleep in my class†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ are popular sayings from college students. Why should students go to class when everything from the lectures can be found easily from the book? When the lectures are so boring and the instructors basically just represent the information from the book, students would think that it is not necessary for them to go class, so they skip. Moreover, there are instructors who just go to class with a mission: talk. They keep going on and on without any class activities for students to participate in. This makes class participation even harder for students who attend class regularly and have questions or topics they want to discuss. As a result, students easily fall asleep during the lectures. Next, time management could be considered one of the biggest barriers that prevents students from class participation. Part-time jobs, friends and school activities can occupy most of the time if students do not know how to manage their time well. College students may vary where they come from. They could be high school graduate students or people who come back after years to have higher education in order to achieve their goals. But, they all cannot fully function as well as normal if they had to work until 12 the night before and then go to class at 8 in the morning. Since some have to earn money for tuition, their jobs occupy most of their time rather than finishing their homework and preparing for classes in the next day. On the other hand, in college, students always meet new friends and new people, so hanging out with them will just be a part of a student’s schedule. It can put them in trouble if they cannot balance themselves between spending time on school work and friends. It is even harder for those who are school athletes. It is impossible for them to be able to finish their homework and to prepare for class after hours of sport practices. With unfinished homework, lack of sleep and no class preparation, students will just attend classes with empty brains. Despite great lectures from the instructors, they all will just fall asleep during class or hardly join class activities. As a result, lack of class participation would prevent students from deeply understanding the lectures, increasing their chances to fall in the path of getting bad grades on exam. Class participation helps student to interact with each other and with teacher. It is an opportunity for students to practice in-class problems in order to deeply understand the lectures. It also helps them to better prepare for the assignments and exams. Unlike in high school, in college, students may have to finish a book in a short quarter. Dealing with large amounts of information in the short time, students may find it difficult to memorize details from the lectures and the book if they do not understand the lectures in depth. If so, it becomes difficult for them be able to score high in the exam because a test in college usually covers at least three to four chapters. Thus, it would not be strange if they got bad grades in the exams. On the other hand, in some classes, participation in class could be counted as a participation grade which can affect the student’s grade in general. One more important thing is that the instructors sometimes use the discussion questions for the upcoming test, so it would be a big disadvantage for those who attended class but did not actually participate in class activities. By having too many bad grades, students will just drop out of class or, the worst thing could happen, they quit. Approximately three million students enroll in some form of college every year; however, 33% drop out each year. From lack of class participation, students will feel alone and school becomes the most boring place they have to go to every day. They do not see the importance of going to college. Students will just quit to find a job that can fit them in. In order to have students participate in class, instructors should have some strategies to make their lecture more interesting to students and create interactive activities such as rolling dice to have students answer question or group discussions†¦ However, students also have to actively prepare for classes and participate in class activities. Checklists and to-do lists can be a student’s best friends if they have trouble with managing their time. By doing so, students can balance their time on school works and outside activities more effectively and have more spare time for themselves. When students find it more interesting to participate in class, it means they are one step closer to be successful in college. Because the more time students participate in class, the more knowledge they can gain and the more successful they can be.

Jane Eyre Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Jane Eyre - Coursework Example On the very first page it is made clear that the prevailing upper class view of childhood is one of repression and dominance, since Jane finds herself in a new family, but not of the same status as the original children in that family. The mother, Mrs Reed makes it clear that Jane is an outsider, because of her birth, and that she is inferior and must learn to submit to those who are in some indefinable way superior to her when she says: â€Å"Jane, I don’t like cavillers or questioners: besides, there is something truly forbidding in a child taking up her elders in that manner. Be seated somewhere; and until you can speak pleasantly, remain silent.† (Bronte: 1922, p. 1) The tone of this cold mother figure is that of criticism and command, making it quite clear that Jane does not deserve the privileges of upper class childhood, because she does not possess the ability to hide her own feelings, keep quiet, and submit to the will of adults. The other children in the famil y, and their nurse Bessie, conspire to treat her with contempt and, at times violence, but the blame for any conflict always falls upon Jane. Appalled by the unjustness of it all, Jane’s instinct to use her reason against this â€Å"unupportable oppression† (Bronte: 1922, p. 9) is what saves her from being completely overcome. This shows a child who has developed a strong sense of right and wrong, and a firm determination to endure the hardships of childhood so that she can escape into a time where she can make her own decisions. There is a long tradition in European literature of works about childhood, and they often take the form of the Bildungsroman which is a German term meaning a novel of education. Kern defines this genre as follows: â€Å"The central feature of the Bildungsroman is the protagonist’s progress of psychological and moral growing and developing from childhood until finally maturity. The central figure has a good look at certain fields in lif e and works out his relation to them until he finally achieves true self-knowledge and is in accord with the world and himself.† (Kern: 2007, p. 4) The purpose of childhood in this genre is to provide a starting point for this journey of self-discovery. Jane’s unhappiness in her adoptive family is soon replaced by another kind of institutionalized unhappiness at the dreadful boarding school called Lowood. Here all the proper and dutiful attitudes of female childhood are drummed into the girls. The language used by the first person narrator makes it seem like a prison, and the religiosity of the regime is linked again and again with the extreme cold: â€Å"Sundays were dreary days in that wintry season. We had to walk two miles to Brocklebridge Church, where our patron officiated. We set out cold, we arrived at church colder †¦ â€Å" (Bronte: 1922, p. 55) Bronte stresses the cold and the poverty partly to emphasise the warmth and consoling power of human relation ships. In the absence of parents, Jane finds inspiration in her admiration for Miss Temple, and in the absence of brothers and sisters, she finds affection for Helen Burns. Eyre shows a childhood that is filled with physical hardship and yet an inner core of humanity remains within the child Jane,

Unit 4 assessment professionalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Unit 4 assessment professionalism - Essay Example By making the open door policy as an important policy in the organization ensures that the management and the subordinates understand what is required of them as guided by the policy. Further, by ensuring that it is part of policies in the organization is important in creating an organizational culture, which promotes open communication where every member is able to approach any other member of the organization who can address a given issue effectively (Malin, 2000). On the other hand, having a policy in place also helps in ensuring that the scope of what is permissible or not is addressed effective lest it turns the policy in to ineffective one, which causes more problems to the organization. In this case, the policy allows for order in the organization, where members respect each other and that they know what and where the policy is applicable (Anderson and Bolt, 2011). Lastly, a policy ensures that all individuals, both in the management and subordinate understand their responsibi lities towards the policy. Question 2:  As a supervisor, you observe, on numerous occasions, one of your best customers intently abusing two of your most valuable employees. What steps do you take to protect your staff members?   It is import for an organization to ensure that both the employees and customers have a good environment where they can engage each other with respect and professionally. Of great significance is the recognition of the importance of the customer, who should be well served and his/her needs addressed effectively and professionally. However, when customers become abusive on the employees, it is important for the organization to stand up to defend them from such abuse (DuPont, 1998). In many nations including the US, UK, South Africa and many more have legislation, which protects staff by forbidding certain behavior by customers. It is however important to know that the leadership of an