Prescription Drug Abuse Paper

Marc Boubelik Engl 102 MWF 3:00pm Yuan Ding 26 March 2012 Abuse of Prescription Drugs in the U. S. â€Å"Prescription drugs are the number-one drug problem that we face today,† says David Rotenberg, executive director of the adolescent treatment center at the nonprofit Caron Foundation. â€Å"They are more widely prescribed, more widely available, and more widely abused by adolescents than they have ever been before. â€Å"(DiConsiglio, 1) Abuse of prescription drugs is one of the fastest growing problems for young adults in the U. S. today.It is a concerning problem because of prescription drug’s widespread availability and little known negative side effects. Prescription drugs are being abused by many young adults and college students. This research paper will focus on the types of drugs abused, where these drugs are coming from and the reasons for abuse, and the dangers of unknown side effects of abuse. Many different prescription drugs are abused for academic purp oses as well as recreational purposes. First let’s take a look at one of the most popular abused drugs, Adderall.Adderall is by definition a prescription stimulant. It is composed of dextroamphetamine and amphetamine. It is normally prescribed by doctors to patients who suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and people who suffer from Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). To these patients, Adderall has a calming effect with an improvement in focus and can sustain attention for longer periods of time. Adderall comes is classified by two types, instantaneous release (IR) and extended release (XR). The first has a faster onset and is usually multiple doses are taken in a day.Extended is released in time controlled amounts and is usually taken at the beginning of the day. Adderall is cousin to such drugs as speed and methamphetamines. To adolescents without either disorder, the drug has a stimulating effect on the nervous system. It seems to increase focus and ale rtness in the abuser. â€Å"There are no hard statistics on how many college students use  Adderall. A University of Wisconsin study put the number at 20 percent. Our informal survey at colleges in this region suggests that some 25 percent of students have used  Adderall  at least once to study or to party. (Jaffe/Chip 42) Adderall is a schedule II drug, which defined by the DEA as â€Å"a category of drugs considered having a strong potential for abuse or addiction but that have legitimate medical use. † Another commonly abused prescription pill is powerful painkillers, like Oxycodone (OxyCotin) and Vicodin. These types of medications are usually prescribed to patients with injuries of extensive pain or for patients to take post-surgery. â€Å"Nearly 15 percent of high school seniors admitted abusing painkillers like OxyContin, according to the 2009 â€Å"Monitoring the Future† survey conducted by the University of Michigan. This is a startling statistic, espe cially since 24% of high schools students also partake in episodic and binge drinking. What does this mean? Just because these pills can be found around the house, teenagers think that they can’t be that harmful for your body. When taken in large doses painkillers can create a euphoric â€Å"high† feeling in the abuser. These painkillers can come in liquid, tablet, capsule, and extended release form. These types of painkillers are derived from opioids, the same stuff that heroin is composed of. Because it shares some of the same properties as heroin, it is very addictive in nature, physically and emotionally.Tolerance develops quickly to these drugs, which leads abusers to chase the same feeling as their first experience, often spiraling into full blown addiction. Now that we’ve covered what types of drugs are commonly abused by young adults and college students, how are these drugs obtained and why would adolescents want to abuse them? In the mind of a typical U. S. college student, drug abuse is not uncommon. There have been widespread coverage on binge drinking and alcohol abuse within college campuses, but what about prescription drug abuse?Where are these pills coming from? College students diagnosed with ADHD are popular kids around any given campus. Most college students looking to score some Adderall usually obtain it through a friend or an acquaintance. Pills can range anywhere from 3 to 30 dollars a pill. Using Adderall is seen as a way to get an upper hand when it comes to academics. Students will pop a pill to study, take a test, and even for fun. In an age where procrastination is common, students will do anything to cut their learning curve of classroom curriculum and make up for poor time management.Students report that when taking prescription stimulants they feel an increase in alertness and concentration. Students also report weight loss as a (sometimes desired) side effect. In the article â€Å"Got Any Smart Pills? â₠¬  authors Harry Jaffe and Alex Chip tell the story of a college student at Duke University named Kirk. Kirk was an average student who worked hard to get into Duke’s pre-medical program, but once he got there he found it hard to compete with the other students. Coupled with the party scene at the school, it’s no wonder his grades were sub-par. One day his frat brother picked up on his distress and offered him Adderall.Kirk had never popped a pill for academic or recreational purposes, but after taking the drug and cramming 14 hours straight for a test with positive results, he made it a staple in his academic routine. His abuse slowly progressed as the semester went on. During finals week he took a total 200mg of Adderall over five days and during his fourth and final test, his heart began to beat faster than normal and his temperature hit 103. 5 degrees. After a trip to the hospital, he stopped abusing the prescription drug almost entirely. The rule of moderation ap plies to prescription drugs.They have done wonders for the human race, but if taken in excess, they become harmful to the body, for example, increasing heart rate, altering senses and perceptions, and many other negative side effects. As well as being used as an academic stimulant, Adderall and prescription stimulants are used as a recreational drug, usually at much higher doses, to produce a mild â€Å"high† effect. Adderall is also commonly taken to purposely stay awake all night during the weekends to accompany long nights of drinking, a very dangerous combination. Painkillers like Oxycodone and Vicodin are abused solely for recreation.When taken in high doses, the opiate-derived pills create a sensation of euphoria and relaxation. These prescription drugs are obtained very similar to Adderall, through friends with prescriptions. In the article â€Å"Problem Pill. † Author John DiConsiglio tells the story of 18 year-old Chasey. Chasey started abusing OxyCotin at age 17 under the illusion that prescription drugs were safe to abuse; she became victim to its addictive grip. She used the drug to deal with her emotional pain. So why do many adolescents choose to abuse prescription drugs instead of other popular substances like alcohol and marijuana?Experts believe â€Å"pill popping† is common because it’s hard to detect. Pills are odorless, abusers won’t stumble over words or slur their speech, and the pills are also easy to conceal and carry (DiConsiglio 2). Another speculated reason that this type of abuse is so popular is that kids think it’s safe just because it’s prescribed by a licensed doctor. This leads us to our final topic, what are the dangers and side effects of abuse? Different prescription drugs come with different risks. Let’s relate back to Kirk’s story. His heart rate increased beyond normal and his temperature rose to dangerous levels.According to Scholastics Choices article  "Prescription Stimulants†, â€Å"Abusing prescription stimulants can also result in increased blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature, as well as nausea, headaches, anxiety, psychosis, seizures, stroke, and heart failure. † Although students know the risks of ingesting prescription stimulants like Adderall, many still choose to abuse them. Prescription drugs are very useful and helpful to us if we take them at recommended doses at scheduled times, however when young adults and college students abuse them they have little regard for dosage or a set schedule.Another concern is combining these pills with other commonly abused substances. Alcohol consumption is often very prevalent on college campuses. When alcohol and prescription drugs are combined, they can have potentially fatal results. Mixing pills with different pills could also land you in the hospital. As I mentioned earlier, prescription medicines can become physically and mentally addictive similar to ot her drugs such as cocaine and heroin,. Tolerance to these drugs can increase rapidly, resulting in the abuser taking higher doses to achieve the same effect. Most prescription drugs come with a long list of negative side effects.Some side effects of Adderall include increased heart rate, difficulty sleeping, vomiting, diarrhea, chest pains, dizziness and many more. A few side effects of Oxycotin include drowsiness, mood shifts, difficulty breathing, loss of consciousness, and many more. You can now see why prescription drugs are a growing problem in the U. S. Prescription drugs can be as dangerous as any drug. I’ve covered just what drugs are popular choices for abuse, the reasons why they are abused, and the dangers of abuse. Putting an end to adolescent abuse of prescription drugs is a difficult problem and the solution isn’t simple.Awareness for prescription drug abuse is being raised and needs to continue being raised as the problem itself grows. All we can ask is that America doesn’t become a nation that runs off pills. Works cited DiConsiglio, John. â€Å"Generation Rx. †Ã‚  Scholastic Choices  25. 4 (2010): 8-11. OmniFile Full Text Select (H. W. Wilson). Web. 1 Mar. 2012. DiConsiglio, John. â€Å"Problem Pill. †Ã‚  Scholastic Choices  26. 4 (2011): 14-17. OmniFile Full Text Select (H. W. Wilson). Web. 16 Mar. 2012. Jaffe, Harry, and Alex Chip. â€Å"Got Any Smart Pills? †Ã‚  Washingtonian  41. 4 (2006): 41-47. OmniFile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 1 Mar. 2012. Jardin, Bianca1, Alison1 Looby, and Mitch1 Earleywine. â€Å"Characteristics Of College Students With Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms Who Misuse Their Medications. †Ã‚  Journal Of American College Health  59. 5 (2011): 373-377. OmniFile Full Text Select (H. W. Wilson). Web. 1 Mar. 2012. â€Å"Prescription Stimulants. †Ã‚  Scholastic Choices  26. 6 (2011): 16-17. OmniFile Full Text Select (H. W. Wilson). Web . 1 Mar. 2012. Rasminsky, Abigail. â€Å"High And Mighty. †Ã‚  Dance Spirit  12. 7 (2008): 116-118. OmniFile Full Text Select (H. W. Wilson). Web. 1 Mar. 2012.

Discuss the Relationship Between Stress and the Immune System

Discuss the relationship between stress and the immune system (12) Cohen et al (1993) investigated the role of general life stress on the vulnerability to the common cold virus. 394 participants completed a questionnaire about the number of stressful events that occurred the previous year. They were also asked to rate the degree of stress and level of negative emotions. The three scores were combined together to make what Cohen called a stress index. The participants were then exposed to the common cold virus and 82% became infected.The results showed that the chance of developing a cold was significantly correlated with stress index. Cohen et al concluded that life stress and negative emotions reduce the effectiveness of the immune system. However a criticism of this study would be that there was no direct manipulation of the independent variable which was the stress index, so a cause and effect relationship cannot be confirmed. Also, it’s not easy to tell if whether the part icipants who reported sick was due to stress or other extraneous variables.Kiecolt-Glaser et al (1984) also investigated the impact of life stressors on the immune system. The participants were 75 medical students who were preparing for final exams. The natural killer (NK) cell activity was measured to use as an index of immune function. Measures of NK cell activity were recorded from blood samples 1 month before exams and one during exam period. Participants also completed a questionnaire on experience of negative life events and social isolation. The results showed that NK cell activity was significantly lower on high stress blood samples in comparison to low stress samples.Additionally, the greatest reductions were in students who had higher levels of social isolation. Kiecolt-Glaser concluded that examination stress reduces immune function thus making people more vulnerable to illnesses and infections. A criticism of this study would be that there was no manipulation of the inde pendent variable so the cause and effect relationship cannot be confirmed. Also, the experiment cannot be generalised as it used medical students therefore the results are specific only to medical students and when used on others the results may be significantly different.

Americas Democracy

The United States is a republic, or a representative democracy. Democracy, the word conveyed to us from Greece literally means the rule of people (romantic, July 8). This broad definition, who is human beings of, how they to reign, and do not answer to the important details, such as that they should follow (July 8). Defining answers to these questions means to define a model for democracy. William E. Hudson, in his book America in the crisis of democracy: conservation, development, diversity, and participatory democracy (Hudson, 8-19) defines four models. Democracy in the United States is the type of government that the US uses everyday. In the United States, democracy is now dominated. If America becomes democratic, people have their own opinion. Democracy has meaning and value. Democracy is a system that the government uses to comply. This Government's values ​​are designed to satisfy American citizens and their needs. Democracy seems to be different from the type of citizens making up the American society. Multiple American democracy American democracy Over the years, American democracy has changed. We have started to build a republic and still exist to some extent but otherwise we became a democratic country and to some extent became a socialist country. We still have voting colleges and electoral colleges. This is an example of how we are still a republic. One example of how we look to democracy is the union. When labor unions gather and cast a vote in favor of strikes etc ... that is ... ... democracy is a form of government with equal opinion on the decisions that all qualified citizens affect their lives . . With democracy, qualified citizens can participate equally in proposal, development and legal development, either directly or through elected representatives. It includes social, economic and cultural conditions that allow equal execution of freedom and political self-determination rights Is the United States a representative democracy ? The United States can be expressed as representative democracy It may be said that there are technical differences. The term representative democracy is to mean comparatively non-democratic republics You can use it, but please watch this conversation. Why do people say that America is not a democracy but a republic? Usually, it is a semantic problem, sometimes a political party problem, but sometimes people get absorbed in technical terms. For the basic government type, democracy implies direct democracy in this regard, and America says it is not direct democracy, it contains only a few alternatives. Americas Democracy The United States is a republic, or a representative democracy. Democracy, the word conveyed to us from Greece literally means the rule of people (romantic, July 8). This broad definition, who is human beings of, how they to reign, and do not answer to the important details, such as that they should follow (July 8). Defining answers to these questions means to define a model for democracy. William E. Hudson, in his book America in the crisis of democracy: conservation, development, diversity, and participatory democracy (Hudson, 8-19) defines four models. Democracy in the United States is the type of government that the US uses everyday. In the United States, democracy is now dominated. If America becomes democratic, people have their own opinion. Democracy has meaning and value. Democracy is a system that the government uses to comply. This Government's values ​​are designed to satisfy American citizens and their needs. Democracy seems to be different from the type of citizens making up the American society. Multiple American democracy American democracy Over the years, American democracy has changed. We have started to build a republic and still exist to some extent but otherwise we became a democratic country and to some extent became a socialist country. We still have voting colleges and electoral colleges. This is an example of how we are still a republic. One example of how we look to democracy is the union. When labor unions gather and cast a vote in favor of strikes etc ... that is ... ... democracy is a form of government with equal opinion on the decisions that all qualified citizens affect their lives . . With democracy, qualified citizens can participate equally in proposal, development and legal development, either directly or through elected representatives. It includes social, economic and cultural conditions that allow equal execution of freedom and political self-determination rights Is the United States a representative democracy ? The United States can be expressed as representative democracy It may be said that there are technical differences. The term representative democracy is to mean comparatively non-democratic republics You can use it, but please watch this conversation. Why do people say that America is not a democracy but a republic? Usually, it is a semantic problem, sometimes a political party problem, but sometimes people get absorbed in technical terms. For the basic government type, democracy implies direct democracy in this regard, and America says it is not direct democracy, it contains only a few alternatives.

What were the origins of African-American slavery Essay

What were the origins of African-American slavery - Essay Example However, these were not actually the first slave. This is because slave trade had long started before the 16th century i.e. during the Triangular trade or transatlantic trade, which involved the Americans, Europeans and the Africans. In the transatlantic trade, slave traders delivered slaves captured in war from Africa to work in the South America in exchange for sugar and tobacco. After the first batch of slaves in 1641, the colony of Massachusetts made slavery legal and then Virginia followed suit in the year 1660. Slavery intensified in the 17th and 18th century being enforced further in 1787 when U.S constitution was drafted to prohibit congress from meddling with slave trade before 1808 (Berlin, 2003). After the American Revolution War 1775-83, Americans began associating enslavement and oppression of Africans to the manner in which they were manhandled by the British. The slaves had no right to vacation, wages, owning property and marriage. This led to call for slavery ban, acknowledgement of slaves as three-fifth of a person for taxation purposes and recognition of slave as person held under service. Mostly in 1800’s slavery in North America was viewed as oppression amongst many, however, people of South America did not conquer with this opinion. This is because they relied heavily on slave labor and abolition of slavery would amount to loss of much of their wealth (Franklin, 2000). Despite the above progress, South faced Economic crisis in late 18th century as a result continued slavery in contrast to the North America. This was in the European industrialization period and there was high demand for cotton, South America cash crop. Moreover, the invention of the mechanical cotton gin in 1793 required more manpower. Consequently, the south continued slave trade to counter the huge labor demand and to meet their export demands. However, between

Organizational Design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Organizational Design - Essay Example Organizational Design Orlando Health is a network of privately run, non-profit community and specialty hospitals, located in Orlando, Florida. The network consists of eight health care institutions, and the one which is the focus of this brief report is Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC), which is the only level one trauma center in Central Florida and also the corporation's flagship medical center. Although, the network consists of eight institutions, each one operates independently and works under a decentralized setup. OHCG is at its heart a decentralized one. (Freund 1995). There is a centralized leadership with CEO and top management teams, but each institution functions independently. As far as physical location is concerned, though the main campus of Orlando Health is located with four out of the eight health care institutions including ORMC grouped together in that campus, each one has a separate or decentralized physical setup. This design enables each institution to act independently and also coordinate when there is a need. Focusing on ORMC, it is an 808-bed hospital specializing in trauma, critical care, emergency care, cardiology, orthopedics and neurosciences. (About Us, n. d). So, its function is to treat critically injured patients as part of trauma care, with a dedicated team of certified doctors, nurses and other technicians working 24/7.

Keynesian Economics Vs. Classical Economics Essay

Keynesian Economics Vs. Classical Economics - Essay Example The Keynesian and Classical economics also differ on their understandings of the behavior of prices. Whereas classical economics view prices and wages as flexible, Keynesians view them as inflexible or sticky downwards. For this reason, Keynesians do not think prices can be relied on to quickly drop and pawn the adverse effects on employment that can result from a decline in total demand. Since prices do not drop, there is no mechanism to ensure that full employment will automatically be restored. The Classical and Keynesian economics also differ in the desirability of an active role by government in maintaining the economy as close as possible to a non-inflationary, complete employment level of output. The Classical economics holds that the government should assume a less active role in stabilizing the economy. They believe that the economy if left alone will incline to run at its full (or natural) employment output (Tucker 484). Overall price and employment levels are the greatest concern in the economy. If government views its primary responsibility as keeping markets as free as possible, the resulting movement of wages and prices should lead to the adjustments necessary to ensure natural or full employment levels. Conversely, Keynesians believe the government should play a more lively function in stabilizing the economy. According to the Keynesian model, there is no reason to expect an economy, left alone, to reach a full employment level of output automatically (Tucker 484). According to Keynes, unemployment, or a recession, occurs due to lack of spending.

Finance Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Finance - Assignment Example 6. Â  If you calculate the growth prospects of a firm and from this forecast you project the amount of and timing of dividends and then you discount this dividend stream back to the present you are applying the Firm Foundation Theory. 8. Â  I do not currently own shares of FB. I think that the business model of FB is going to fail. I decide to borrow shares of FB and then sell these borrowed shares. This is an example of a short sale. 9. Â  It was individual investors who made huge mistakes that led to the dot.com and housing bubbles and the collapse of these markets. If individuals had allowed professionals to manage their money the destruction of value that took place when the dot.com and housing bubbles burst could have been avoided. 10. Investors are rational and this places constraints on asset prices. For example if Company X owns 90% of company Y and 10% of Company Y is traded on a stock exchange then the value of company X will always be the value of 90% of company Y plus the value of Company X. 11. IPOs are a way for insiders to liquidate their ownership interests of a company. IPOs tend to increase in frequency during a stock market bubble because the public is demanding to participate in the market for a new technology. This demand increases the value of shares offered and fuels the demand for more share

Business law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Business law - Essay Example The second area of grounds for action is the failure of the transit agency, with regards to assigning a staff member, who would oversee the safety measures to be observed while using the buses owned by the company. Further, the roles of the safety director should be clearly stated. From the case of the Lancung bus, it is apparent that the driver took the responsibility for safety, by refraining the dancing of the passengers at the bus, which was not enough to maintain safety during the duration of travel. The other area that a suit against the company could be based on is the limitation of the role of employees, towards accident prevention at the bus. First, it should be noted that the responsibility of accident prevention lies with all personnel, including higher ranking staff like the board of directors to low ranking staffs like drivers. In this area, the company holds the responsibility of hiring qualified personnel, who can aid in the prevention of accidents. The orientation and training of employees should also be carried out, with special regard to accident prevention. Particularly, in the case of drivers, the agency should have employed drivers who are knowledgeable in the area of the accident prevention system, procedures and policies, which were not observed by the driver in question (Byman 5-7). Other areas that drivers should be knowledgeable in, include federal, local and state regulation on safety, these including the OSHA, state safety belts. This is especially an important area, as the driver – from the case – only required that the passengers sit down, but did not give any regard to the use of safety belts – which may have avoided the injuries noted. The company should also have checked the driver for knowledge on safe limitation and operation of brakes and transit emergency procedures. Of particular significance to the case is the questionable experience of the driver, who should be knowledgeable in avoiding sudden stops à ¢â‚¬â€œ which were the direct cause of the injuries, on-board altercations and the action to be taken, and passenger evacuation – where there is need for that. These areas will offer the grounds for action in law to the passengers of the company in question, which may be sued for the injuries sustained by the passengers (Byman 8-15). This case is comparable to that of Donoghue v Stevenson  [1932]  UKHL 100, where Mrs. Donoghue drank a bottle of ginger beer, which contained a snail. After the incident, she fell ill, which made her sue the ginger beer manufacturer. During the hearing, the house decided that the manufacturer had failed to exercise their duty of care to her – as a customer of their beer. Therefore, it was noted that there was the breach of that duty of care, as the manufacturer’s failure to check the safety of the product had caused her harm. In the same line, the case of Lancung transit shows a case of breach of the duty of care, as the company , according to its accident prevention program – should have ensured that the safety of all the passengers was maintained at maximum. An example of the duties of care breached include requiring the

Texas Health Resources Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Texas Health Resources - Essay Example THR's goal of exceptional performance will have to be accomplished with cost savings, growth, and stakeholder value that may be in tension with quality and patient outcomes. This paper will examine the culture of THR, its contribution to the future success of THR, the present status of the strategic plan, and the future opportunities and obstacles facing THR. One of the primary assets that THR has as an industry leader is its mature and highly focused culture. The culture at THR is primarily based on the three pillars of being a faith-based organization, customer centered care, and the strength of its commitment to physician engagement. THR believes strongly that culture is the 'key driver to THR's competitive advantage" (Texas Health Resources 1, 20). Being a faith based health organization has several cultural aspects that define THR. Faith based, and primarily Christian, organizations have a long historical record of quality health care within the United States. In addition, they have traditionally shared "a passionate commitment to improving the quality of life of vulnerable populations" (MJ DeHaven et al. 1034). This aspect has created an attitude of patient oriented care to those that are most needy with less regard for a profit motive than for patient outcome. Faith based is also regarded as a system that places a high value on li fe and the positive aspects of spirituality in healing. These faith-based traditions are deeply engrained in THR's culture and THR is committed to maintaining these aspects as they move forward during the next 10 years. Bolstering the faith-based culture of THR is the long-term goal of its commitment to patient value and its dedication to working with physicians who have a good cultural fit. THR expresses this aspect of their culture as the Promise and the Value. The Promise is the pillar of their culture that emphasizes the importance of the individual "which can be easily lost in a larger organization" (Texas Health Resources 1, 6). Value relates to delivering the highest level of outcome, safety, and service in accordance with the cost of care. In addition, THR has made a formal commitment to creating physician and hospital relationships that will forge a physician partnership "in leading and managing key aspects of the THR 10-Year Strategic Focus and Transformational Themes" (Texas Health Resources 1, 23). Together, the faith based foundation, the promise to the individual, the concept of greatest value, and the physician partnership form the core concepts of THR's culture. While a great degree of THR's culture is in place and simply needs reinforced, the goal of integrating physicians as active managing partners will be a progressive process. Initially, physicians will be engaged based on a strategy of mutual benefit. Of course, while much of this benefit will be economic in nature, the long-term strategy also has some intangible benefits for the physician. The 10-year transformational plan calls for physicians that have a proud association with THR's brand, advanced clinical outcomes, as well as "tangible economic, clinical, and operational performance" (Texas Health Resources 1, 24). In addition, new employees are oriented into the strong culture of THR by highlighting their strategic statement which promises "to deliver outstanding value

Global Strategic Resource Allocation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Global Strategic Resource Allocation - Essay Example With this concern, a discussion will be made regarding a particular global health topic for a selected country i.e. the UK. In this regard, the global health topic, which will be discussed in the following discussion is â€Å"The Need for More Community Health Workers.† From various studies, it can be apparently observed that there exists a correlation between health and social problems. In the UK, the individuals with higher income can better meet the costs of healthcare services, whereas the poorer people have to suffer. The government of the UK has taken numerous steps to serve people who have low income and cannot afford to invest more in accessing varied healthcare services. It is worth mentioning that the UK government has developed various programs and with the help the Community Health Workers, it desired to create greater awareness in the entire region. The government strongly believed that the utilization of community health workers in a large manner will certainly contribute in providing greater health services to the individuals belonging to the UK and also a strategy to suffice the growing shortages of health workers in the UK. The involvement of the government and active participation of World Health Organization (WHO) has introduced certain programs that range from large scale to community-based initiatives in order to serve the individuals effectively residing in the UK. The absence of such programs and the community health workers have might greatly affect the people and the healthcare system of the UK at large (Appleby, 2011). The government of the UK is recognized to set and hold the utmost standards of professionalism in the healthcare sector. The nation has come forward to serve the individuals and also to encourage ethical behaviors. It is worth mentioning that with the help of the community health workers, the UK government desires to protect the interests of the people. The government

Parody vs Spoof Essay Example for Free

Parody vs Spoof Essay People are often confused about the word or the concept of a â€Å"Parody†. They often thought that it is synonymous to a â€Å"Spoof† because they share the same features that are commonly misunderstood. But there’s a difference between the two; and this paper aims to redefine, disambiguate, and clear the concept of a â€Å"Parody† from the concept of a â€Å"Spoof†. This paper will explain the concept of a â€Å"Parody† in general, using music videos specifically from YouTube to have a concrete example of a â€Å"Parody† in order to have a firm grasp of the concept. What is a â€Å"Parody†? According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, a â€Å"Parody† is: a literary or musical work in which the style of an author or work is closely imitated for comic effect or in ridicule; a feeble or ridiculous imitation. While according to Britannica Encyclopedia: In literature, parody is when a person closely imitates an author’s style or work in order to ridicule or to provide comic effects. The word comes from the Greek â€Å"Paroidia†, meaning a song sung alongside another. Parody differs from burlesque by the depth of its technical penetration and from travesty, which treats dignified subjects in a trivial manner. True parody mercilessly exposes the tricks of manner and thought of its victim yet cannot be written without thoroughly appreciating the work that it ridicules. Basically, a parody is an act of imitation of an original work by slightly altering its original style and content but still able to obviously show the original work in order to make the parody effective for the audience; its purpose is to critically ridicule, mock, and show the folly and absurdity of the original work through exaggerations and humor. It’s an implicit comment on the original work by showing his comments not by directly telling it in the parody. What appears serious in the original work is shown ridiculously because through comedy, all of the things that are not accepted by the society will blur because of the humor and laughter. Thus satire comes in if the parody goes beyond the style or content of the work and attacks the author or the maker of the original work. Here’s a good example of a music video parody by The Key of Awesome!, entitled What Makes You Beautiful One Direction Parody! Key of Awesome #57. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7CHfqg0wd8 A parody of the music video of a boy band named One Direction and their song called â€Å"What Makes You Beautiful†. In here, We can see that the maker of the parody retained the concept of the music video and just altered the lyrics and show the folly and absurdity of the original music video through humor. It’s a little bit satirical because of some of the lyrics were pertaining to the boy band itself. Now that we have define what is a â€Å"Parody†, next is that we need to define what the concept of a spoof is. Spoof is defined in the Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary as: to make good-natured fun of. Thus, it means that a spoof is just for fun sake. In music videos, a spoof is something that incorporates the concept of a original work and alters it but doesn’t comment or critically pertain on it. It’s just a plain comedy version of the original and irrelevant to the concept of it. Here’s a good example of a spoof. A parody entitled â€Å"Hipon† (Payphone Parody) by Sir Rex Kantatero ft. Shehyee http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mguMEXQIrHs; a spoof of the music video of a song called Payphone by Maroon 5. It’s evident that people are confused by the concept of a parody and a spoof; even though the title states it’s a â€Å"Parody† but it is an example of a spoof. In here, we can see that the maker of the spoof incorporates the tune of the original work but alters the concept and the lyrics of it. He just makes fun of the tune and basically added humor on its lyrics and video. The new concept of the video was completely irrelevant to the original and doesn’t contain any critique about the original one. Satire is still a very broad concept, but I will not go on there. What’s important is that we have already differentiated the concept of â€Å"Parody† and a â€Å"Spoof†. Yes they are both copy or an imitation of an original work and contains humor but what makes a â€Å"Parody† different from a â€Å"Spoof† is that it still obviously incorporates the concept of the original and has a little altering and it’s purpose is to critically comment on the original work. Whereas a â€Å"Spoof† it’s just a plain comedic version of the original. It doesn’t contain the concept of the original work and any critical comment pertaining on the original one. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dentith, S.(2011). Parody: The Art that Plays with Art Modernism modernity 190-192. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Kenny, K. (2009) The performative surprise: parody, documentary and critique. Culture and Organization, 15 (2). Kreuz, R. J., Roberts, R. M. (1993). On Satire and Parody: The Importance of Being Ironic. Metaphor Symbolic Activity, 8(2), 97. satire. (2012). In Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/524958/satire parody. (2012). In Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/444489/parody

Four Things To Do to Increase One’s Level of Contentment and Happiness Essay Example for Free

Four Things To Do to Increase One’s Level of Contentment and Happiness Essay The learned Viktor Frankl contends that â€Å"chance decides what happens but we decide how to take it† (cited in Southwick, et. al. , 2006, p. 162). For someone who has been through the most tragic circumstances of human existence, Frankl is surely someone who knows pretty well how happiness is to be pursued in one’s life. While it can be argued that happiness is a state of human living which cannot be singularly defined, we – human persons that we are – nevertheless know what brings it about or how it affects our general take of life. Pursuing Happiness All throughout One’s Life The basic thrust of this paper is to argue that our state of contentment or happiness is something that we human persons can always choose to pursue. By adopting Frankl’s philosophy, we can say that a person can always choose the path towards happiness against the backdrop of different life circumstances and issues that come with one’s lifespan development. First, one can always choose to discover his or her crafts, potentials and talents as a way to appreciate one’s giftedness and uniqueness. This is a very potent element that contributes well to one’s happiness; and this usually happens during one’s late childhood and adolescent stages. The discovery of our uniqueness gives us a sense of who we are. But even when, for instance, one is not gifted enough, one can still discover certain strains of uniqueness to be appreciated. This is crucial because it can give us an initial taste of our sense of directedness and purpose. Second, a person needs to choose the kind of relationships that work in order to attain a level of happiness as well. This is especially true for those who are at the early adulthood stage. Growing up, it would be normal to feel that we need someone to complete us; and finding that suitable someone is notably crucial for this stage. Many people end up either unhappy or miserable because they did not either take the courage to pursue a person whom they love or feel powerless to break free from relationships that just do not work. But finding true happiness is about choosing the right relationships that could nurture, and not defeat life. Third, in order to secure happiness, one must always face life-crises with a brimming sense of optimism. This surely is a case of no little importance, as it is not uncommon to learn that many middle-agers suddenly lose their sense of meaning at a time when life-crises emerging from home and workplace start to take their toll. Crises, it needs to be remembered, cannot be avoided. But they are defining moments that can either make or break us. Increasing one’s state of happiness during these poignant moments therefore necessitates a commitment to hope – i. e. , one faces life problems with a sense of optimism. If one can face problems convinced that he or she can successfully get out of it, then it is like facing a battle half-winning it already. Fourth, one can look at his or her life under the lenses of accomplishment and gratitude so as to be happy. This especially applies to those who are in the twilight of their lives. When one becomes bitter every time he or she looks back at the past, it effectively robs a person with a sense of contentment and happiness. Instead, looking back at life with eyes fixed on the accomplishments and blessings that one has done or received in his or her life surely elicits an incomparable sense of contentment, happiness and pride. Conclusion This paper therefore concludes that a person is always empowered to make a choice in order to increase his or her level of contentment or happiness. In any lifespan development or stages, the choice to uphold sense of happiness is always a concrete possibility; i. e. , we can always choose to discover one’s giftedness, choose the relationships that could make us happy, choose to face life-crises with hopefulness and choose to be thankful in our lives. In the final analysis, it must be ultimately argued that we are the ones responsible for our own happiness.

Customer Satisfaction In Bank Of Ceylon

Customer Satisfaction In Bank Of Ceylon Abstract In this comparative commercial world, the bank has to satisfy the needs and wants of the customers, and has to attract new customers, and hence enhance their business. Service quality is considered through the banks strategies. Therefore, every bank has to emphasize on customer satisfaction. As far as the banks are concerned this phenomenon is very prominent. Banking sector has to improve and modernize their service. I have selected the subject Service quality and Customer satisfaction in Commercial bank of Ceylon limited in Jaffna District- Sri Lanka. This research article has three tasks. First task is a research proposal which includes the introduction of the subject, hypothesis and methodology. Second task includes Literature review, data presentation and data analysis. Third task states the findings and some recommendations from the analysis. Finally the information gathered from the questionnaire, relevant books, mails and annual reports. To the best of my ability in order to present the research report, I have used the above guides to the research. Please be excuse due to any mistakes in this study. -Researcher. Task 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION This research topic is Service quality and customer satisfaction in Commercial bank of Ceylon limited in Jaffna District- Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is one of the developing countries in South Asia which has twenty five districts based on geographical and political system. Jaffna is one of the districts of Sri Lanka. There are different kinds of banks in Sri Lanka, such as, central bank, commercial bank, Exchange bank, Agricultural bank, saving bank, rural bank, and development bank etc. Commercial bank is selected for the research purpose in Jaffna district in Sri Lanka. This is an institution and accepts money from the public for non-interests bearing current accounts. A customer may withdraw on demand by cheque, the monies in his or her current account. Particular this bank is focused on the study. Banking institutions and their activities are vital for the development of the country. Customer satisfaction plays a major role in the banking activities in the competitive environment. So banks has to evaluate the satisfaction of customers. Parasuraman.P (1988) said that a persons feelings of pleasure or disappointment resulting from comparing a products perceived performance (or out come) in relation to his or her expectation. The banks are aiming for high satisfaction because customers who are just satisfied still find it easy to switch when a better offer comes along. The bank has invested heavily in researching the market to identify service quality. Today many banks undertake service quality through the satisfaction their customers. Service quality based on customers needs and wants expectation. Normally banks successfulness depends on large co-operate customers. This is profitability of banks .Therefore customers satisfaction is very useful concept about the banking sector. It can be achieved increasing customer service and service quality. 1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY Objectives are the end results of the process. Customer satisfaction also ends result of the service quality of the banking process. So the objective of the study is to know the organizations position. Through this study the researcher can get new ideas about service quality in banking sector and to improve customer satisfaction and can provide new ideas to modify any inefficient matters and can suggest any advantages and in future development. This research study will have some following objectives .these are Evaluation the service quality that the affect on customer satisfaction. Assessing the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction. To identify the reasons, the service improvement and why a bank improves customer satisfaction. To find out the significant factor, service quality for achieving customer satisfaction. Whether there is any relationship between in customer satisfaction and banks performance. If so, what type of relationship (positive/ negative). 1.3 SIGNIFICANSE OF YHE STUDY When we consider the significance of the study that provides some important factors to organization customers, employees and managers. If there is high customer satisfaction it will help full to organization and managers to get more customers. They can get much deposit and get more profit through this satisfaction. They can get a well goodwill in private banks also to provide a caring service quality .but on the other hand if there is dissatisfaction it is difficult to increase their market share. Customer satisfaction also helps to employees. If the employees give good service quality they can get good marks to their performance report on banking assistance, so it will help to their reward system. This study gives us a chance to understand to what extent the theoretical knowledge we have studied is being followed in practice .Study of working people may help us to understand clearly how the customer satisfaction of banking is important to meet the changing needs of the people to achieve the goals of the institution. 1.4 LIMITATIONS OF RESEARCH There must be some limitation to any event; it is not an expectation in this report. Though there are various factors causing service quality and customer satisfaction. Prevailing condition Due to the prevailing situation some customers and employees may not say whole true data strategies and benefits. Through there are various factors causing as service quality and customer satisfaction the following factors are taken this study. Improving service quality has high expresses, so it is not possible to implement immediately in Jaffna district. Select the sample of banks customers in the research with require their concern and it is there fore not expected to be with bias. This study has only tried to find out relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is a human behaviour, that is difficult to measure The questionnaire will prepare specially for customer-(selected samples). 1.5 METHODOLOGY 1.5.1 INTRODUCTION This chapter allocated to describe the methodologies that have used in relation to this study. This includes conceptualization, operationalization, research sample, data collection techniques and method of analysis. Further the way of research sample was selected. The system adopted in collecting data techniques used in analysis, the data and the measures utilized for analyzing the dates are explained. 1.5.2 CONCEPTUALIZATION In the conceptual frame work, the researcher can compare the relationship between independent variable and dependent variable. The problem of the service quality and customer satisfaction in the banks could be conceptualized based on the factors assumed that can cause for this problem. The following conceptual frame work can be formulated. Conceptual frame work Tangibles Reliability Responsiveness Services Customer Quality Satisfaction Assurance Empathy In this frame work showed the relationship between the key variables of the dependent variable and independent variables. The services quality is independent variable and customer satisfaction is dependent variable. The service quality are consist tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. If perceived service quality is equal to or, greater than expectation, the customer is satisfied. If perceived service quality is less than expectations the customer is dissatisfied. Services quality depends on five variables such as tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, and Empathy. In this variables are functioning in a better position there, quality service. It is issued by the firm. It is lead to customer satisfaction. OPERATIONALIZATION In this research the operationalization model is given below. Concept Variable Indicator Measurement Service Quality Tangible Reliability Responsiveness Assurance Empathy Questionnaire Questionnaire Questionnaire Questionnaire Questionnaire Questionnaire Questionnaire Questionnaire Questionnaire Customers Satisfaction Customers loyalty Customer complain Customer expectation Customer relationship Questionnaire Questionnaire Questionnaire Questionnaire Questionnaire Questionnaire Questionnaire Questionnaire RESEARCH SAMPLE In developing the research plan the research has to decide or, sample size, its composition and means of collecting data. There fore, for this research purpose a bank will be selected as sample. Commercial bank has been selected for this study in Jaffna district in Sri Lanka. Customer residing in some selected divisional areas of the Jaffna district was selected for this purpose. Samples for data collection are selected randomly. 1.5.5 DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES A scientific research is on the basis of Positivism and interpretivsm which are applied for this study. Primary data and secondary data were collected for the research work. Primary data was collected by the questionnaire through the gatekeeper who is working as a managing assistant in commercial bank (Jaffna branch, Sri Lanka). Secondary data has been collected from the Commercial bank of Ceylon Ltd, Jaffna from their annual report, articles, magazines and report and other related publications. Furthers such data has also been collected from publications, definitions about customers satisfaction. Questionnaire is a collection of written questions about the respondents attitudes, opinions, perceptions act. Information was collected by gatekeeper. Questionnaire was issued and collected randomly to the commercial banks customers in Jaffna district-Sri Lanka by gatekeeper. The questionnaire is included two parts. The questionnaire was prepared with questions in different sections to measure the customer satisfaction. These question were prepared based on the types of banks details such as, * Tangible * Responsiveness * Assurance * Empathy * Reliability and * Customer satisfaction. The questionnaire includes questions that are related to how far a bank has been attempted to fulfil the customer needs and wants. Marks were allocated in the following manner to the answer to the given questions. Very strongly Accepted 05 Accepted- 04 Not to do say 03 Rejected 02 Very Strongly Rejected- 01 1.5.6 HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY Hypotheses are the assumption that guides the research activity towards the ultimate finding based on the hypothesis. The researcher will go through the research activity including data collection analysis and then researcher will attain and ultimate conclusion. This research also has two hypotheses relating to customer satisfaction and service quality in respect of private banks. The moderator hypothesis is supported if the interaction is significant and although, there may also be significant main effects for the predictor and moderator, these are not directly relevant to testing the moderator hypothesis (Baron and Kenny, 1986; P 1174) According we report only the significant, interaction path co-efficient. The analyses revealed only two significant effects of moderation. Service failure moderated the effect of functional quality on overall satisfaction, and Communication moderated the effect of functional quality on functional satisfaction. H1 The service quality has mainly depended on the tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy with customer satisfaction. H2 -The service quality has an impact on customer satisfaction. 1.5.7 AN ACTION PLAN It is important to formulate an action plan to do the research. It is considered mainly six main steps for a scientific research such as; the research question, hypothesis, methodology, literature review, data collection and analysis, conclusion with recommendations. This study followed an action plan with a time table. 10/10/2009 Identify the research question or hypothesis 12/10/2009 Formulate the methodology 15/102009 Refer the literature review 19/10/2009 Data collection and analysis 02/11/2009 Presentation of findings 2.0 Task 2 2.1 LITERTATURE REVIEW 2.1.1 SERVICE QUALITY- DEFINITIONS Asubonteng (1996) said that it can be defined as the difference between customers expectations for service performance prior to the service encounter and their perceptions of the service received Gefan(2002) referred that Service quality as the subjective comparison that customers make between the qualities of the service. That they want to receive and what they get Parasuraman et al (1985, 1988) said that Service quality is determined by the differences between customers expectations of the services providers performance and their evaluation of the services the received 2.1.2 CUSTOMER VALUE Any promise is that customers will buy from the bank that they perceive offers the highest customers delivered value. The customer delivered value is the difference between total customer value and total customer cost. The total customer value is the bundle of benefits customers expect from a given product or service. Total customer cost is the bundle of costs customers expect to incur in evaluating, obtaining, using and disposing of the product or service. The researchers found five determinants of service quality. These are as follows. 01. Reliability: the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately 02. Responsiveness: the willingness to help customers and to provide prompt service. 03. Assurance convey: the knowledge courtesy of employees and their ability to trust and confidence. 04. Empathy: the provision of caring individualized attention to customers. 05 Tangibles: the appearance of physical facilities equipment, personal Communication materials Figure 1: Service quality model Service delivery (Including pre and past contacts) External Communications To consumers Translation of perception into service quality Management perception of consumer expectation Word of month Communication Personal Needs Past Experience Expected services Perceived services Gap 05 Gap 01 Gap 04 Gap 03 Gap -02 Gap 04 (Source: A parasuraman, Valarie, A Zeithamal and Leonard Berry, Journal of Marketing, fall 1985) 2.1.3 DEFINITION OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION Kotler said that Satisfaction is a persons feelings of pleasure or disappointment resulting from comparing a products perceived performance (or out come) in relation to this or her expectations (Kotler, 2000, p 36) Hount said that Satisfaction is a function of customers belief that he or she was treated fairly (Hount 1991) 2.1.4 METHODS OF TRAKING AND MEASURING CUSTOMER STATIFACTION Marketing concepts and tools describe how companies can track customer satisfaction. Companies use the following methods to measure how much customer satisfaction they are creating. Complaint and suggestion systems A customer centred organization makes it easy for its customers to deliver suggestions and complaints. Many restaurants and hotels provide forms for guests to report like or dislike. Companies are also adding web pages and e -mail to facilitate two way communication. These information flows provide companies with good ideas and enable them to act quickly to resolve problems. Customer satisfaction surveys Studies show that although customers are dissatisfied with one out of every for purchases, less than five percent of dissatisfied customers will complain. Most customers will buy less or switch suppliers complaint levels are thus not a good measure of customer satisfaction, responsive companys measure customer satisfaction directly by conduction periodic surveys they send questionnaires or make telephone calls to a random sample of recent customer. They also solicit buyers views on their competitors performances. Lost customer analysis Companies should contact customers who have stopped buying or who have switched to another supplier to learn why this happened. It is necessary to monitor the customer loss rate. If it is increasing this clearly indicates that the company is failing to satisfy customers, 2.1.5 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SERVICE QUALITY AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION Spreng and Mackoy (1996) had also found the path coefficient between service quality satisfactions to be significant (Lee et al 2000) wood side (1989) had found similar empirical evidence. The findings of Lee et al (2000), who have studied customers of an entertainment park and an aerobic school also supports this argument. The Lock of consensus in the causality between these two constructs has been caused mainly by the use of the constructs at different levels by researchers (Lee et al 2000) those who argue that satisfaction is an antecedent of perceived service quality have treated perceived quality as a global construct while treating satisfaction as an encounter (or transaction) specific construct. The majority of those who have found perceived service quality to be an antecedent rather than a transaction specific construct. Further some researchers have argued that perceived quality could also play a role at transaction level. at this level, it is found to be an antecedent of satisfaction with the transaction (Rust and Oliver, 1994) what is evident from the foregoing discussion is that When the level of aggregation of both constructs is identical, there is less dispute that quality is an antecedent to satisfaction (Roest and Pieters, 1997) 2.2.0 DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS 2.2.1 INTRODUCTION This chapter presents and analyses the data collected from samples from banking sector. This chapter tries to find out the relationship between the variables by using correlation and regression analyses with graphs by using SPSS and Microsoft Excel Packages. Further more, here the researcher examined the average of variables and percentage of variables and explains the relationship and comparisons by using the bar charts. 2.2.1 CORELATION ANALYSIS Correlation analysis is a statistical analysis, which statistically measures the extent and nature of the relationship between two variables. That means if changes of two variables are associated with each other, they are said to be correlates. It signifies a relationship between them. In this research this analysis is under taken to find out the relationship between. Quality of Tangibles and customer satisfaction. Quality of Reliability and customer satisfaction. Quality of Responsiveness and customer satisfaction. Quality of Assurance and customer satisfaction. Quality of Empathy and customer satisfaction. The co-efficient of correlation (r) is always between-1 and 1 and tells the type and strength of relationship between these variables. That is, if r is positive, there is positive relationship between the two variables. If r is less than zero that means there is negative relationship between two variables. The strength of relationship between the variables will be as follows. r= +1 indicates complete positive correlation. r= -1 indicates complete negative correlation. r= +/-0.5 indicates moderate correlation. r= +/-0.8 or +/-0.9 indicates strong correlation. r= +/-0.2 or +/-0.4 indicates weak correlation. r= 0 indicates zero or no correlation. Following tables illustrate the coefficient of correlation derived by the analysis for variables Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance and Empathy related to customer satisfaction in the Commercial bank of Ceylon Ltd. Table -1 coefficient of correlation between customer satisfaction and service quality Service Quality Customer satisfaction (r ) Tangible Reliability Responsiveness Assurance Empathy Total 0.229 0.579** 0.753** 0.388 0.641** 0.787** When interpreting the coefficient of correlation, the researcher can observe that, there is positive relationship between services quality and customer satisfaction in all cases. r is +0.787. The relationship is moderate in the case of service quality compared with customer satisfaction of the Commercial bank of Ceylon Ltd. In the case of tangible, the relationship between the tangible and customer satisfaction is positive relationship and also the relationship between the tangible and customer satisfaction is weak because the coefficient of correlation is + 0.229 between tangible and customer satisfaction. In the case of reliability, the relationship between the reliability and customer satisfaction is positive relationship and also the relationship between the reliability and customer satisfaction is moderate. The coefficient of correlation is + 0.578** between reliability and customer satisfaction. In the case of responsiveness, the relationship between the responsiveness and customer satisfaction is positive relationship and also the relationship between the responsiveness and customer satisfaction is strong. The coefficient of correlation is + 0.753** between responsiveness and customer satisfaction. In the case of Assurance, the relationship between the Assurance and customer satisfaction is positive relationship and also the relationship between the Assurance and customer satisfaction is weak. The coefficient of correlation is + 0.388 between Assurance and customer satisfaction. In the case of Empathy, the relationship between Empathy and customer satisfaction is positive relationship and also the relationship between the Empathy and customer satisfaction is moderate. The coefficient of correlation is + 0.641** between Empathy and customer satisfaction. There for, the relationship between total service quality and total customer satisfaction is strong positive relationship. The coefficient of correlation (r) 0.787** between total service quality and total customer satisfaction. The pattern of variation of the service quality as tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy in relation to the value of the satisfaction of the customer are as follows. Table 2 regression summary service quality and customer satisfaction in Commercial bank of Ceylon ltd in Jaffna district. Y= a + box Service quality a b r2 Tangible Reliability Responsiveness Assurance Empathy 61.0 38.1 22.9 49.6 36.8 0.229 0.578 0.753 0.388 0.641 0.053 0.334 0.567 0.151 0.411 Quality of tangible and customer satisfaction The regression equation of customer satisfaction in relation to the quality of the tangible in Commercial bank of Ceylon in Jaffna district is given below. Y=a+ bx Y= 61.0 + 0.229X Based on this equation when X increases by one unit, the value of y is increase by 0.229 that is the customer satisfaction is increased by 0.229 per each additional unit of tangible. This prediction equation is graphed in the following graph, along with a plot of the data points. Graph 1 Tangible and customer satisfaction Now let us check the usefulness of the hypothesized model that is whether X (tangible) really contributes information for the prediction of y (customer satisfaction) using the straight -line model. The coefficient of determination (r2) represents the proportion of the variation in y that is explained by the independent variable (x). In the case of customer satisfaction is 5.3% that means 5.3% of the variance in the customer satisfaction can be explained by the changes in the quality of tangible. This indicates that 94.7% of customer satisfaction will be influenced by the other factors. Quality of Reliability and customer satisfaction The regression equation of customer satisfaction in relation to the Quality of Reliability in Commercial bank of Ceylon Limited in Jaffna district is given below. Y= 38.1 + 0.578 X Based on this equation when X increases by one unit, the value y is increase by 0.578. That is the customer satisfaction increase by 0.578 per each additional units of Reliability. This prediction equation is graphed in the following graph with a Plot of the data points. Graph 2 Reliability and customer satisfaction Now, let us check the usefulness of the hypothesized model, that is, Whether X (Reliability) really contributes information for the prediction of Y (customer satisfaction) using the straight -line model. The coefficient of determination (r2) represents the proportion of the variation in Y that explained by the independent variable. In case of customer satisfaction is the reliability influences only 33.4% that means 33.4% of the variance in the customer satisfaction. This indicates that 66.6% of customer satisfaction will be influenced by the other factors. Quality of Responsiveness and customer satisfaction The regression equation of customer satisfaction in relation to the Quality of Responsiveness in Commercial bank of Ceylon Limited in Jaffna district is given below. Y= 22.9 + 0.753 X Based on this equation when X increase by one unit, the value Y will also increase by 0.753. That is the customer satisfaction will increase by 0.753 each additional units of Responsiveness. This prediction equation is graphed in the following graph along with a Plot of the data points. Graph 3 Responsiveness and customer satisfaction Now, let us check the usefulness of the hypothesized model, that is x (responsiveness) really contributes of information for the prediction of y (customer satisfaction) using the straight-line model. The coefficient of determination (r2) represents the proportion of the variation in y that explained by the independent variable. In the case of customer satisfaction is the Responsiveness influence only 56.7%. It means 56.7% of the variance in customer satisfaction. This indicates that 43.3% of customer satisfaction will be influenced by other factors. Quality of Assurance and customer satisfaction The regression equation of the customer satisfaction in relation to quality of Assurance in Commercial Bank Ceylon Limited in Jaffna district is given below. Y=49.6 + 0.388X Based on this equation when x increase by one unit, the value of y will also increase by 0.388. That is the customer satisfaction will increase by 0.388 per each additional units of Assurance. This prediction equation is graphed in the following graph, along with a plot of the data points. Graph 4 Assurance and customer satisfaction Now, let us check the usefulness of the hypothesized model, that is, whether x (Assurance) really contributes of information for the prediction of y (customer satisfaction) using the straight-line model. The coefficient of determination (r2) represents the proportion of the variation in y that explained by the independent variable. In case of customer satisfaction is the Assurance influences only 15.1% at mean, it means 15.1% of the variance in the customer satisfaction. This indicates the 84.9% of customer satisfaction will be influenced by other factors. 05. Quality of Empathy and customer satisfaction The regression equation of the customer satisfaction in relation to quality of Empathy in Commercial Bank of Ceylon Limited in Jaffna district is given below. Y= 36.8 + 0.641X Based on this equation when x increase by one unit, the value of y will also increase by 0.641. That is the customer satisfaction will increase by 0.641 per each additional units of Empathy. This prediction equation is graphed in the following graph, along with a plot of the data points. Graph 5 Empathy and customer satisfaction Now, let us check the usefulness of the hypothesized model, that is, whether x (Empathy) really contributes of information for the prediction of y (customer satisfaction) using the straight-line model. The coefficient of determination (r2) represents the proportion of the variation in y that explained by the independent variable. In case of customer satisfaction is the Empathy influences only 41.1% that means 41.1% of variance in customer satisfaction. This indicates the 58.9% of customer satisfaction will be influenced by other factors. Task 3 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 3.0 INTRODUCTION This is final chapter of this research. This chapter includes the findings of the research, hypotheses testing and recommendations. This chapter discusses the findings of the research and the test of the hypotheses whether the hypotheses are accepted or not. Further it gives suggestion to improve the service quality in order to achieve the customer satisfaction. 3.1 FINDING OF THE RESEARCH In this research, the researcher finds out the results based on the data presentation and data analysis used in this research a correlation, average and percentage. The area concerned with this research is banking sector with selected sample from Commercial bank of Ceylon Ltd in Jaffna district. According to the correlation analysis, the following findings are prepared. The relationship between the Tangible and customer satisfaction is positive and weak as at 0.229, Reliability and customer satisfaction is positive but moderate as at 0.578*, Responsiveness and customer satisfaction is positive and strong as at 0.753, Assurance and customer satisfaction is positive and weak as at 0.388 and Empathy and customer satisfaction is positive but moderate as at 0.641* in Commercial bank of Ceylon Ltd in Jaffna-Sri Lanka. Based on the re

Mending Wall Essay -- Literary Analysis, Robert Frost

Throughout the history of man, separation has been a part to their lives in one fashion or another. Man has faced separation from their god, from their community, from their loved ones and from their dreams and desires. Recognizing this continuing condition, writers throughout time have written about such separation that people have experienced. In fact, separation seems to be the central theme in many literary pieces of work. Robert Frost gave us the poem, â€Å"Mending Wall† which explores separation of one neighbor from another. Additionally, Frost wrote, â€Å"Home Burial† which demonstrates the separation experienced by a couple after the loss of their child. John Cheever’s short story â€Å"The Swimmer† shares the journey of Neddy whose alcoholism has separated himself from time, his family, friends, money and health. Walter Lee Younger in Lorraine Hansberry’s, â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun† faces constant separation from his dreams and a separation of ideals from his family. W.E.B. Dubois shares with the reader a separation of an entire people from their equality thought to have been given to them forty years prior. Though separation may not be the primary message of the writers above, it certainly reveals itself in a variety of ways. The myriad of ways separation is used in the poems and stories previously mentioned are as vast as the causes of the gaps themselves. The speaker in Frost’s, â€Å"Mending Wall† expresses through thoughts primarily the necessity for a wall between himself and his neighbor. Every year the wall is damaged by weather and hunters as the speaker indicates, â€Å"Something there is that doesn’t love a wall (Frost, 51).† Additionally, the speaker asks his neighbor of what purpose is there is such ... ... â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun† felt held down by the enormity of generations of struggle and poverty. Walter Lee’s burning desire to break free of poverty and gain financial success clouded his responsibility as head of the household and made him a slave to money he did not have. He was enslaved by the love of money. The poverty and the lack of support from his family fueled his ever edgy fire of discontentment. It is only through his placement of his family in a worse predicament did he break free of the bonds of money. This new found freedom eliminated the separation between he and his family, but like Du Bois, things went unchanged in his world. Walter Lee would never achieve his dream in the play. Racism, poverty and corruption kept Walter Lee from achieving his dream and he could not overcome them as he burdened with the fate that he had not part in receiving.

Essay --

Gerald Arenas Ms. Howell English 10 CPA February 25, 2014 Annotative Bibliography of Romantic Era Poetry Blake, William. â€Å"The Marriage of Heaven and Hell†. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. 2010. Web. 2-10 24. January 2014. â€Å"The Marriage of Heaven and Hell† is about Heaven and Hell. It questions if Heaven is as good as it seems, or is it deceiving us. Throughout the poem we see that the narrator is on the deception side. Firstly he states that the Bible is the causes of human errors. The narrator also feels positively about Hell, because he describes his walk in Hell as, â€Å"delighted with the enjoyments of Genius†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Finally, in the narrator’s imagination, he explains that he read the following sentence, â€Å"How do you know but every Bird that cuts the airy way, Is an immense world of delight closed by your senses five.† What the author is trying to say is that we commonly use the Bible as our religious beliefs, but it’s possible that the Bible is limiting how we perceive the world. Coleridge, Samuel. â€Å"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.† The Pennsylvania State University. 2013. Web. 27 January 2014. â€Å"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner† begins with three men walking to attend a wedding. One of the wedding guests’ hand gets grabbed by and old man, the mariner. After the mariner lets go, the wedding guest â€Å"listens like a three years child† to the story the mariner is about to tell. The story begins with the mariner and he crew out at sea. The mariner explains it suddenly got dark and they unexpectedly encountered a giant sea bird, called the Albatross. The Albatross was a symbol of good luck, but the mariner felt the need to kill it. The mariner did just that. Once the Albatross was slain the weather got clearer and the crew congratulated him for his... ...ther example from â€Å"The Marriage of Heaven and Hell† would be is sight of a â€Å"mighty Devil folded in black clouds†. â€Å"The Prelude† uses personification to further explain the potential of the earth. This can be seen from the quote, â€Å"Walk on this Earth† (148). It tells us the earth is powerful and it is also imagination, because the earth can’t walk. In â€Å"he Rime of The Ancient Mariner†, the author uses imagination to better display the mood of a certain scene. After the mariner shot the Albatross, the narrator sets a creepy mood by stating that, â€Å"The bloody Sun, at noon†. Imagination can be seen here, as the sun cannot be bloody. The author in â€Å"Adonais† uses imagination to further set the mood of the scene. â€Å"The shadow of white Death, and at the door.† (VIII) describes how scary death is and is imagination, because Death isn’t a physical person that can stand at a door.

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Ganguly, Rajat, and Ray Taras. Understanding Ethnic Conflict: The International Dimension. New York: Longman, 1998. Print. This book offers interesting insight on the role nationalism plays in the cause of violence ethnic conflict. It does this by looking at the overlapping aspects of nationalism, conflict, social cleavages, and the reaction of the international community. They also take and explain three main approaches to ethnic identities: primordialist, instrumentalist, and constructivist. They then explain how the mobilization and polarizing of groups ultimately led to conflict and the goals of their perspective political movements. Samarasinghe, V. "‘A Theme Revisited’? the Impact of the Ethnic Conflict on Women and Politics." JOURNAL OF WOMEN POLITICS & POLICY 33.4 (2012): 345-64. Web. 12 Feb. 2014. This article focuses role and impact ethnic conflicts have on the shaping of a nations ideology towards women of the ethnic majority. It looks at the case of ethnic civil war in Sri Lanka, and more specifically that of Sinhalese women. The research done in this article was primarily conducted through field work and field surveys of educated urban women. The work concludes that the ethnic conflict enforced the areas â€Å"ethno-religious identity† as well as creating a space for its inclusion in the nation’s political arena. Okoye, Festus (ed ). Victims: Impact of Religious and Ethnic Conflicts on Women and Children in Northern Nigeria., 2000. Print. 12 Feb. 2014. This book looks at how conflict in Nigeria has impacted women and children. It looks at the social, political, and cultural impacts of such violence at entire generations of Nigerian people. It looks at the the potential future impact on the countries development,... ... challenge the patriarchal hierarchy of society† where women and girls were subordinate to their male counterparts. Therefore, this article reflects on how gender is impact in post-conflict interventions. Lives Blown Apart: Crimes against Women in Times of Conflict, Stop Violence against Women. London: Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 2004. Print. This book looks at specific cases of violence and questions not only why these acts happened, but what can be done to prevent further violence. The book maintains that government and media play a role in both creating and ending such atrocities. It explores the ways in which sexual acts of violence impact women and their society at large. The book seeks to explain how the long-lasting impact of such events play an active part in the rebuilding of society, and how this impacts all levels of the culture.

New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority

IntroductionTraditional market structure suggests that all market decisions should be based on utilitarian theory. We often witness market decisions which neglect other important aspects of the market activity. As a result, we appear under the impact of one-side unbalanced decisions which ultimately neglect the principles of morality and moral theology of the marketplace.Rising fares and tolls by MTAâ€Å"After an unusually vigorous and spirited debate, the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted to raise fares on subways, buses and commuter railroads and tolls on bridges and tunnels† (Chan, 2007a). Why is it so surprising that not all members of the MTA board wanted to turn into the proponents of fares and tolls’ increase? Does this mean that more and more political and business players realize the importance of morality in taking market decisions?Evidently, the situation is much worse than one may imagine. One may initially think that increasing the f ares will lead to less traffic congestion, and will urge more people to use public transport; yet, the public transport fares are being raised, too. From the viewpoint of those who vote for raising fares and tolls in New York, this decision is the first step towards â€Å"fiscal responsibility. The authority had for long applied windfalls and real estate taxes hoping that someone would bail us out and turning a blind eye to our responsibility to put this MTA on a firm future monetary structure† (Chan, 2007a).Simultaneously, from the viewpoint of morality and theology of the marketplace, commercial activity is not limited by rational market decisions, but also â€Å"confronts us with the moral predicaments† (Gregg, 2004). The major concern within this situation is that the decision to raise fares has completely neglected the position of those whom we traditionally consider to be vulnerable populations. The representative of Working Families Party is confident that raisi ng fares will seriously hit working people (Benjamin, 2007). â€Å"Today, once again middle class New Yorkers and those struggling to make it, are bearing the cost†, Rep. Anthony Weiner said (Benjamin, 2007).â€Å"A fare hike now is the wrong choice for New York. It would hit many people who are struggling hard to make ends meet and hurt the region's economy. [†¦] This fare hike will hit 86 percent of the riding public who use fare discounts. These include pay-per-ride bonus MetroCards and 7- and 30-day unlimited-ride passes. It's also a double whammy for most L.I.R.R. and Metro-North commuters whose railroad fares would go up!† (Chan, 2007b)The discussed fare hike will also cause the bonuses' decrease for riders (from 20 to 15 percent), and the discounted fare will cost $1.74 instead of $1.67 (Chan, 2007b). The problem is that New Yorkers pay more than they have to for the transport they use. â€Å"In 2005, riders paid 55 percent of the costs of running the subw ays and buses† (Chan, 2007b). Objectively, this is much higher that the riders in other cities pay: those in Boston do not compensate more than 29 percent of the discussed costs, and those in Philadelphia pay no more than 37 percent (Chan, 2007b).As the M.T.A reports $140 million reductions, does this mean that they will make the riders pay this amount through higher fares and tolls? Doubtlessly, the suggested fares and tolls increase will help compensate the under-financing of the MTA by the state Government, but if the decision framework remains unchanged, this compensation will actually take place for the account of the already mentioned vulnerable populations. â€Å"To rely upon utilitarianism as the moral – philosophical foundation of the case for the market creates tremendous difficulties for Catholics† (Gregg, 2004).The utilitarian desire to find the greatest good and to satisfy the masses does not meet the ethical and moral criteria of religion. Those who were taking the decision to raise the fares and tolls in New York have neglected one essential aspect in their decision making: when one looks for the means to produce the greatest pleasure for the greatest number of people, one has to perform numerous calculations and to produce the decision which satisfies everyone. From the viewpoint of moral theology, such calculations in market decision-making are simply impossible.â€Å"No person can make such an assessment without admitting a tremendous degree of ignorance about all the possible effects that might proceed from a freely chosen act† (Gregg, 2004). The MTA governors have evidently gone beyond their reasonable abilities, trying to persuade us that that the future with raised fares and tolls for everyone was better than other possible alternatives. The MTA board members view the increased tolls and fares as the means to close the gaps in MTA’s budget and to provide safe and reliable system of transportation for the New York’s citizens. However, it is not the ultimate goal for those who use public transport and belong to vulnerable layers of the city population.ConclusionThe moral theology of marketplace rejects any uniform measures in defining the goals of decision making. This is why the governors should have considered the financial opportunities of those who cannot afford paying more for using public transport. The diversified structure of prices would resolve all moral and ethical issues, and would not create serious obstacles on the way towards better functioning of the city’s transportation systems.ReferencesChan, S. (2007a). Board approves subway and bus fare increase. The New York Times.Retrieved February 17, 2008 from https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/19/mta-board-approves-fare-and-toll-increases/Chan, S. (2007b). Hundreds stranded online by botched M.T.A. â€Å"Webinar†. The New YorkTimes. Retrieved February 17, 2008 from http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.co m/2007/12/10/mixed-reaction-to-new-mta-fare-plan/?hpGregg, S. (2004). Ethics and the market economy: Insights from Catholic moral theology.IEA Economic Affairs, June, pp. 4-10.

The Global Oil and Gas Industry Essay

anele perseverance is a genuinely complicated fabrication. ve vanquishable anele color is re in e precise last(predicate)y expensive and adopted in ein justice looking at of life. The argona parsimony depends on entirely. This drill has gone through more challenges in history. It began as early as fifteenth century. During early years, on that point were quicks that specialized in producing, civilization and selling the rock pet utilisationum products. These hards enjoyed monopoly. later on on, farawaymings headstrong to flash testifyership of the pet positionum colour field. The rock crude furnish bowed stringed instrument is unrufflight-emitting diode of three aims. there is upriver that is concern with the exploration and issueturn of crude anoint colour. There is midstream that is convolute with storage and bring of the crude fossil petroleum color. and so at that blank is downriver that is concerned with refining the crude f ossil petroleum into its constituents and then distri justing them o the consumers. At all these levels, some actors be compound.The key actors argon the administration and the c everywhere companies. The three briny types of rock cover companies argon the compound embrocate companies, the theme fossil vegetable cover companies and the self-sufficing companies. Politics has a beam effect on the crude fork unwrap range of mountains. Wars besides continue the crude crude industry negatively.Key words anele Industry, sphere thriftiness, petroleum color planning chain, actors in the vegetable anele industry, politics and contend, anele is a in truth crucial re base in the orbit (Inkpen, 2010, 1). Undoubtedly, it is the just now resource that runs the world economy according to Inkpen (2010, 3). There is no sparing activity that would run with erupt it. Consider transporting of adepts and function from one place to other. vegetable oil color mold iness be avail able-bodied for the transport to take place. Consider the heavy machines that be apply in circumstanceories in the run of manufacturing of products for sale. It is a fact that all these machines would forget travel rapidly in the absence of anoint color colour colour color. It is sensible to enjoin that in that respect is no liaison that foundation stay put stable in the absence of oil. In other words, the whole world would literally issue forth to a standstill without oil. In other words, be set out of its upshotance, the entire world is touched by boththing that concerns oil. In the oil communicate chain, main actors turn a fall apart. These actors ar encountered from the run for of oil exploration to the point of oil processing and consumption. They hear m each aspects of the oil. Besides, they make consequential decisions regarding oil. Their decisions lay down far stretch great power consequences crimson at the level of the consumer . Historically, oil resource has been subjected to stringent tame by these regent(postnominal) actors. In this paper, the historic background that surrounds actors in the oil ply chain as fountainhead as the time to come day of the oil industry is brought to light. story inunct has been used all over a giganticlong time. It started beingness used in fifteenth century. Its management has undergone numerous changes over time. Initially, oil ara all the way from exploration to processing was done privately by companies. Slowly by slowly, the topic government started getting engaged in the matters of the oil empyrean and taking a sell of ownership of the sector. Presently, national governments flip interpreted over the sub receivable of oil resource. Oil fields bring been folkified as sate resource and, therefore, should benefit the government. It is worth noting that the struggle to achieve the regulation of submit big short letterman over the oil resources has not been a simple one. In Mexico, the recount managed to claim deposit ownership of oil fields in 1917. In addition, it was able to come upon autonomous conceal over the selfsame(prenominal) in 1938. The UK prep ard an influence called Petroleum Act of 1934. It is this Act that provided the guidelines for reclaiming oil resources into state ownership.However, in the US, the process of converting oil fields into state dedicate resources has been slow. In the recent past, the state allowed private individuals to pay lordly control over the oil fields if they were at heart their territory. The state only owned what was present in the federal official land. Neverthe slight, this has changed because as at present, the state has taken over the ownership of oil fields and converted them to state properties. Ownership of oil fields notwithstanding, transport, dispersal and processing of oil has undergone tremendous changes. Strong organizations stir come up to control th e entire add up chain of the oils. In simple legal injury, outturn and grant of oil has created a very sophisticated ne twork. Political shades in any case crown the industry. Powerful actors control this constitutional resource. Therefore, oil industry is a very dynamic industry (Inkpen, 2010, 1).Actors in the Oil Industry There ar many actors in the oil industry. These actors be responsible for everything that come outs in the oil industry. They be in charge of oil exploration, oil excavation, distribution and even refining before comer the final consumer. It is important to state that the same actors besides be complicated in desexting up prices for the oils. They control the deal of render as good as its reli major power. They dominate the upstream, the midstream and the downriver of the supply chain. At the upstream, the activities taking place atomic number 18 exploration and action of the oil. At the midstream level, the main activities taking place be storage and exile of the oil. The downstream level of the supply chain is characterized by refining of the oil, distribution and consumption. The actors be mainly the states and powerful firms. These actors argon powerful and the decisions that they make break far reaching consequences. They take on the states that work their power as landlords of the oil resources in the nations that produce it, as champions and as regulators. They mostly dominate the upstream level of oil supply chain. Firms play a part in the integrating of the oil resources. Usually, they argon created by the oil producing state or states that atomic number 18 main importers of oil. They rotter also be organise by representatives from several states that share a common element such as oil yield. Firms mostly dominate the midstream level of oil supply chain where they exercise their power on the storage and transport of crude oil. They also exercise power at the downstream level where they control re fining processes, distribution and prices for the end consumer. In short, the oil supply chain is a very complicated network. This network has brought nations unneurotic because of shared common goals. In the ac connectioning paragraphs, each actor in the oil supply chain is analyzed and its collision in the supply chain assessed.States as oil landlords It has already been stated that national governments are in control of oil resources. These states are especially those which are principle producers of oil. Some of the states that adopt autonomy in the oil sector are UK, Kuwait, Saudi-Arabian Arabia and Mexico among others. These states are interested in generating revenues for the government. They set conditions under which the firms that give operate in spite of appearance their territory abide to. For instance, in the UK, the national government, through the Crown, issues licenses to firms that are interested in the search and output signal of oil and gas. The state ha s absolute power in deciding who to addition the oil resources with regard to national and foreign firms. Political dimensions and considerations admit a great role to play. The state also gives directions on which resources are available and which should not be feelered. In addition, the state determines the meet of resource extraction to the environment and gives an seize direction. It has the power to halt a process that has already begun if it is deemed that the negative impact in the environment fecal matternot be controlled. It is also the role of the state to determine what the government stands to gain in any deal with a firm. It also champions topical anesthetic employment. In a nutshell, oil resources in the world at heart national territories are subjected to national policy-making considerations in that nation. Therefore, oil firms pay back to sleep together and sing to the tune of the oil-producing states. Similarly, states that import the oil must create a good rapport with the exporting state in the political sense.States as national champions States also participate in home(a) Oil Corporations as investors. Most of the top class oil companies are owned by state. These national oil companies dominate the world oil re behaves and production. They are gnarled in determining the pot of oil production by the state. States opted to getting involved in the oil companies in fix to make their oil companies have a superior bargaining power internationalististly. For example, in the Middle East, the government found it incumbent to participate actively in the oil companies in order to prevail in the international competition by the international companies. In 1972, Iraq made Iraq oil company a national company. Moreover, OPEC ruled that the governments in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE should have at least 25% share in the oil companies. With time, the shares rose and by around 1980, they were coke% (meaning that the national government had taken over the oil company). These are just a few examples to show how states have decided to dominate the oil sector at all points. As far as exporting is concerned, national oil companies have a greater bargaining power. They can also chafe a wider grocery store than private companies. Thus, it is to the benefit of the exporting estate to consider nationalizing oil companies. In addition, states that import oil have national oil companies. Nations like South Korea, India and China have expanded their national oil companies afield so that they can have access to the oil militia easily. It is important to tune that national oil companies in the import states have an upper berth get hold of when it comes to strike deals with the exporting states. Hence, there is every compulsion for these national oil companies. The deals that are stricken at the level of national oil companies are very strong. Furthermore, nationalizing oil companies has helped stop unhealt hy competitions among the oil companies.States as regulators States also play a role as regulators in the oil sector. They set and lower conditions regarding oil production as well as consumption. It is the duty of the government to ascertain that oil production does not checker the environment to the extent that the lives of the people are endangered. For instance, pollution should be kept in check at all hail in the course of production. Furthermore, the rights of the consumer should not be compromised. The government should not watch passively as consumers get exploited by the business people. Moreover, the state imposes taxation on the oil products hence influencing the prices of these products. This way, the government can get revenue from the sales of the oil products. Through taxation, the state regulates the rate of oil consumption. The state also sets regulations and conditions that are meant to encourage the rights of the workers. This is a fundamental role of any caring government. Its people should be respected. These conditions are imposed on the firms that are operate within the borders of the state. In short, the government sets out conditions on whether a firm lead set out to explore for oil and under which conditions. This influence on the production of oil gives the state an upper hand in as far as its oil resources are concerned. Coupled with political objectives, the state can impose qualifyions on the oil companies operating both within the boundaries and overseas. For instance, the US government suspended all relationss with Libya until 2004 over allegations to links to terrorism. Therefore, oil companies in the US could not operate at all in Libya. Similarly, the US government has restricted any of its companies from dealing with Sudan.The Major Industry PlayersIntegrated Oil Companies desegregation is very important in the oil sector. One of its key benefits is to check uninterrupted oil supply (Inkpen, 2010, 5). too integration reduces price fluctuations. The reason for this is that integration helps companies achieve economies of scale and attain geographic variegation. The economy of scale is achieved since there is less competition. Also the trade is favorable. In addition, there are fewer fluctuations in prices and this makes the firms stable. They can make better predictions and forecasts in the market. Without the integration, there would be stiff competition that would exertion some companies out of market. Geographical diversification is looked at in two aspects. First, the sources of oil are diverse. That means that there are numerous geographical locations where oil is sourced. Integration makes it easy to aces all the locations. Secondly, the consumers of the oil are diversified in terms of geographical location. Integration makes it easy to reach all these customers. Firms like Exxon, Shell and Total have made their mark in the world. Others are BP, Chevron, ConocoPhilips and ENI . Together, they are referred to as the Seven sis. They are among the large-scalest worlds companies. They are the largest in terms of both capitalization and array of products that they produce. These firms have direct control at the upstream level and the downstream level of the oil supply chain. They have too much of influence regarding the oil prices. matterization of the upstream sectors of oil supply chain curtailed their influence at that level. However, their self-assurance downstream has not been shaken. Besides these heavyweights in the oil industry, state-owned companies also play a part in the network. They are large companies that are involved with the production, refinery and sales. Their strength is calculated in terms of the refinery capacity and the volume of sales. These firms are, therefore, critical in the oil supply chain.National Oil Companies These are sore in the industry according to Inkpen (2010, 7). They have taken over the oil market and grown in leaps and bounds. They are be in top ten in the oil sector. These companies have the support of the government. They are not affected by the local politics. In addition, they are getting priority when it comes to carrying out explorations, production and distribution of oil products in the country. They also enjoy an upper hand in negotiations.Upstream self-reliants This is some other category of actors that are involved in the oil industry as part of the oil supply chain. They are referred to as upstream separates because they do not own any assets downstream (Inkpen, 2010, 8). They are unvoiced at the production level and their work ends there. These actors have helped remove the monopoly of the oil industry colossuss. In addition, due to their activeness, they have led to amplificationd oil production. They have explored more and more sources of oil. These are actors that are actively involved in exploration of oil in Africa. For example, Tullow Oil is one of the lar gest oil companies that is independent working in Africa. The US government is strongly encouraging these independent companies to continue with their work because they are dower increase the world oil capacity. With the increase in the oil volume, the prices of the oil products take a breather low and the consumer can access it affordably. It is important to state that the independent oil companies are gaining ground so fast at the upstream level. It appears that in the near future, explorations and production of the oil whitethorn be their domain. The consumer go away benefit with an increase in the oil production because not only will it be affordable, both frequent oil crisis will be a thing of the past. Oil crisis causes escalation of the prices of all other products even those which are basic for human survival. However, the independent oil companies may not struggle favorably with the state-owned companies due to capital restrictions. Nevertheless, their impact is being f elt. Their contribution in the oil industry cannot be underestimated.Problems facing the giant oil companies There are two major problems facing the giant oil firms. First, they are finding it difficult to survive in the prevailing conditions. The emergence of companies that are owned by the state has been a great blow to them. These companies that are owned by the state are disposed(p) exclusive rights by the state in terms of exploration and production of oil as well as getting support to carry out downstream activities which include refinery and distribution. They are financially stable. They are not affected adversely by the political objectives. The second problem is that the giant firms are losing grounds to the independent companies oil production. Since these firms had heavily invested in the oil production sector, they are presently running into losses.For any oil company to stand firm in the oil industry, it must have ability to locate impudent oil militia. saucy o il reserves serve to flip-flop the exhausted oil reserves that have been used in the old production. The ability of the company, whether integrated or independent, to come advanced reserves is a flyer of its commercial strength. For the integrated firms, this ability has diminished. The fact that there are restrictions imposed by the states on foreign firms accessing their oil reserves makesit even harder for the integrated oil firms to replace their reserves. If the problem persists, it can reach a point that the firms can run out of business. Political dimensions also limit the ability of the integrated firms in acquiring new reserves. It is within the mandateof the state to control the firms activities within its territory. Therefore, state control, join with the domestic political atmosphere reduces the ability of the foreign integrated oil firms to grow. These problems are believably to persist into the future and these giant oil firms are likely to surrender.The role of politics in the oil sector Accessing oil reserves in another country is not an easy task. The National Oil Corporations, the integrated firms as well as the independent firm need to negotiate with the state from which they want to access the oil resources. The negotiations are to do with the terms and conditions of the access. Politics is at the core in these negotiations. Economic power of the firm is assessed in order to gauge the negotiation atmosphere. The state that has the resource plays hard to grant access to the foreign firms. Politics surrounds the negotiations. As the states restrict equity participation by firms that are foreign, the integrated firms and the National Oil Corporations are left with no choice but surrender.Oil sector and state of warfares Oil is a very precious goodness. It is an expensive commodity by the same measure. The reason wherefore this is so is its scarcity. It is limited to some areas and missing in others. Those that are privileged t o have this resource enjoy its benefits. Those that lack it stop to covet. Judging by its value, oil runs the economy of the world. There has been a series of wars intimated to be due to oil resources. In Nigeria, there was a civil war that was heavy(p) to tear the country apart. The reason for the war was emanating from the poor management of the oil resources by this country. Sudan has already split into two nations. Currently, there is South Sudan and Sudan. The split resulted from an unending war due to oil resource that is in the country. Surprisingly, even after the split, the two nations are in quarrels. In Nigeria, the civil war that broke out in 1967 interrupt oil production greatly. The struggle was aimed at forcing Nigeria to acquire equity stakes in the foreign companies, such as Shell, that operated in Nigeria. Nigeria has achieved this goal but has not gained absolute control of the operations (Frynas and Mellahi, 2003, 8-11). These are a few illustrations to demonst rate that oil has been the cause of both civil and even international wars.Future of the Oil Industry There are advancements that are taking place in the oil sector. New discoveries of oil reserves are making the sector thrive. However, as many oil reserves become available, the prices of the oil products will be going down. This will benefit the consumers. The producers of the oil will suffer losses due to low prices. It is a bitter truth on the side of the nations that rely on oil but good intelligence activity to the consumers. There are negotiations that are being carried out between states. These negotiations are among the members of OPEC. They are looking for a solution to the change magnitude oil prices. One of the options they are opinion of using is decreasing the amount of oil being produced in their countries. However, this is unlikely to happen because not all countries can agree to limit the quantity of oil produced. In addition, mergers and acquisitions are takin g shape in the oil industry (Inkpen, 2010, 15).increased advancements in the applied science make exploration and production of oil easier and faster according to Inkpen (2010, 15). Finally, advent of new and alternative sources on energy may reduce the dependence that is put on the oil as a source of energy. The national oil companies are likely to expand more. As the reserves get exhausted, it is likely to be harder in the future to do exploration (Inkpen, 2010, 17).Conclusion Oil supply chain is a very sophisticated network. Many actors are involved in the activities that regard oil supply chain. The supply chain has three levels which include the upstream, the midstream and the downstream. At each level, there are many actors in charge. For a long time, integrated firms had had absolute control on all the aspects of the oil sector. Lately, National Oil Corporations that are supported by the states have emerged. These are becoming stronger than the integrated firms in the con trol of the oil production, refinery and distribution to the consumers. Besides, states have come out strongly to control this valuable commodity. First, the states have emerged as landlords and, therefore, owners of the oil resources. Secondly, they have emerged as the champions in the business taking part in the production and distribution of the oil products through National Oil Corporations. Thirdly, they have come out as regulators of the oil firms. They make conditions to be followed by the firms that work within their boundaries. The future of the oil sector is encouraging as more oil fields are being discovered by independent firms.ReferencesFrynas,J.G., &Mellahi,K. (2003). Political risks as firm-specific (dis)advantages Evidence on transnational oil firms in Nigeria. Thunderbird planetary Business Review.Inken. (2010). The Global Oil and attack Industry.Bridge-Le Billion.(2012). Oil Capture.Flatau,J. (2007). 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