Integrate a quote with a signal phrase that precedes the quote. Essay Example for Free

Integrate a quote with a signal phrase that precedes the quote. Essay In his article â€Å"A Matter of Degrees,† Clive Crook illustrates the importance of literacy today: â€Å"Illiteracy has always cut people off from the possibility of a prosperous life, and from full civil engagement†¦ Three out of ten seniors in public high school still fail to reach the basic-literacy standard† (30). 2. Integrate a quote with a signal phrase that interrupts the quote. â€Å"So much about today’s adult industry seems like an undeft parody of Hollywood and the nation writ large,† says David Foster Wallace in the essay â€Å"Big Red Son,† describing the evolution of adult film stars. â€Å"†¦The gynecologically explicit sexuality of Jenna [Jameson], Jasmin [St. Claire], et al. seems more than anything like a Mad magazine spoof of the â€Å"smoldering† sexuality of Sharon Stone and Madonna and so many other mainstream iconettes† (29-30). 3. Integrate a quote with a signal phrase that follows the quote. â€Å"I love the Cup because it stripped away all the things about professional sports that Ive come to despise†¦ The World Cup just bangs it out: Two cool national anthems, two 45-minute halves, a few minutes of extra time and usually were done. Everything flies by. Everything means something. Its the single best sporting event we have by these four measures: efficiency, significance, historical context and truly meaningful/memorable/exciting moments,† says Bill Simmons of ESPN. com in â€Å"Bill Simmons: World Cup 20 Questions,† explaining some of the virtues of the international soccer tournament. Works Cited Crook, Clive. A Matter of Degrees. The Atlantic Monthly Nov. 2006: 28-30. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 July 2010. Simmons, Bill. Bill Simmons: World Cups 20 Questions ESPN. ESPN: The Worldwide Leader In Sports. ESPN Internet Ventures, 1 July 2010. Web. 05 July 2010. Wallace, David Foster. Big Red Son. Consider the Lobster and Other Essays. New York: Little, Brown, 2006. 3-50. Print.

Social Security Policy In Hong Kong Social Work Essay

Social Security Policy In Hong Kong Social Work Essay Welfare services are significant elements in a society, which welfare should provide, to what extent the welfare can be provided and how to provide may vary among different society. There are some models help us to understand the factors affecting the welfare system such as the Residual Welfare Model and the East Asian Welfare Model. We will examine whether Hong Kong a typical example of these two models by analyzing the social welfare policies. Social welfare refers to the well-being or betterment for individuals through direct benefits, services or disposable income (Wong, 2010). According to Ronald B. Dear, Social policies are those principles, procedures, and courses of action established in statute, administrative code, and agency regulation that affect peoples social well-being. Social Welfare Policies are some sort of these social policies. They may be thought of as those policies that affect the distribution of resources Richan (1988). In the following analysis, we will 5 main kinds of welfare policies which are housing, education health care, social care and social security to illustrate whether Hong Kong a typical example of both the East Asian Welfare Model and Residual Welfare Model or not. There are various characteristics of the Residual Welfare Model, the individual characteristics, economic characteristics and the characteristics of government and state. For the individual characteristics, people are recognized to be self-independent, self-interested and self-responsible. For the economic characteristics, laissez fair economy and the invisible hand are upheld since people believes that market can solve the social problems and to maintain the well- being of the society. The government and state are the major providers of social welfare and control to what extent the welfare can be provided. Under RWM, the government and state should not over burden itself with social welfare/ services and interfere with individual right and interests. Therefore, only the basic welfare should be provided i.e. law and order, defense, transport and communication infra- structure. Welfare seems as residual, temporary and substitutes of the normal structure of supply which means the family and the market economy. Only when the normal structure of supply breaks down, social welfare and services should be provided. In order to avoid the reliance on the welfare system, some of the welfare/ services may come with the stigma of dole or charity element. The poor is the major group of people to receipt welfare and they always recognized as the incompetent second class members of society. To ensure the welfare can be provided to the people in need, welfare will always have selec tivity. The most common method is by means test. According the Mishra, the main features show that a minimal government or state is preferred. The government just wants to provide welfare for the paupers and poor which is just minority group of the society. The services provided are just serving the basic need for them and range of statutory services is limited. Combining all these elements, welfare is just a safety net, confined to those who are unable to manage otherwise. Main features Residual 1. State responsibility in meeting needs (ideology of state intervention) Minimal 2. Need-based distribution as a value (ideology of distribution) Marginal 3. Range of statutory services Limited 4. Population covered by statutory services Minority 5. Level of benefits Low 6. Proportion of national income spent on state service Low 7. Use of means test Primary 8. Nature of clients Paupers/ the poor 9. Status of clients Low 10.Orientation of the service Coercive 11. Role of non-statutory agencies in welfare Primary Fig.1, The main features of Residual Welfare Model, (Mishra, 1984) Whether Hong Kong a typical example of Residual Welfare Model? We used the 5 main kinds of social welfare policies in Hong Kong to illustrate Hong Kong is adopting the RWM or not. Education Hong Kong provided different schemes for people to pay for their education fee. One of the education subsidy schemes is Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme. Government will subsidize the parents to meet towards school fees for pre-primary education of their children in the form of Pre-primary Education Vouchers. In addition, Hong Kong government announced 12 years of free education in Policy Address 2009-2010. It provides 12 years compulsory free education to children. For the Tertiary students, Tertiary Student Finance Scheme was released. Government provided larger amount of subsidies to tertiary students. The total amount of grant paid by government is $621.93 million in 2009-10. Fig.2, Publicly-funded Programmes Summary of Statistics The Continuing Education Fund (CEF) subsidizes adults who willing to pursue continuing education and training courses. Adequate applicants will be refunded 80% of their fees, a maximum sum of HK$10,000. Apparently, government pays effort on the education policies and the population covered is really broad. Health Care For the Clinics part, 70 % of primary consultations take place in private sector while others take place in government funded clinics. Moreover, there are 41 public hospitals in Hong Kong. However, there are only 12 private hospitals. And the Hong Kongs 12 private hospitals provide a total of 2794 beds. It less than 10% into the number of hospital beds in Hong Kong. Furthermore, in Healthcare Reform (2009-2010 Policy Address), government decided to increase the healthcare expenditure from 15% of the Governments recurrent expenditure to 17% by 2012. The strategy of healthcare reform reflects the governments direction of healthcare in the follow few years will still highly intervene in the healthcare services. All of these healthcare policies show that government has a quite high level of intervention and these services are open to all the Hong Kong residents without any selectivity. As a result, the health care does not match to the principles of residual welfare model. Housing Government also had launched lot of policies about housing. There are about 710  000 public rental housing in the Housing Authoritys portfolio, housing about two million people. Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS) was introduced in 1997 to enable at least 250  000 families living in public rental housing to buy their flats at an affordable price which is lower than the market price. Besides, Home ownership schemes (HOS) is another ownership scheme. It is designed to assist residents to buy their own flats and HOS flats are subsidized public housing. It is easily to find that government had interfered a lot in the housing supply. The population covered not just focus on the minority. Therefore, it differs from the principles of residual welfare model. Social Care In the field of social care, it provides a wide range of services taking care of the elderly, children, young people, disabilities, the victims of domestic violence, etc. This is quite different from the RWM since the population covered is large. The most common method adopted by the HK Government to provide the welfare services is to form partnership with non-government organizations. The government give a Lump Sum Grant to the NGOs and they provide the services to those in need. The expense on the Social Welfare Organization occupied the third large proportion of the total expense on welfare in Hong Kong. Fig.3, The expense of the social services organization Social Security Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme The characteristics on providing services on social security seem more close to the RWM. The aim of social security is to provide for the basic and special needs of the members of the community who are in need of financial or material assistance (Social Welfare Department, 2008). It is a short- time help. CSSA is a safety net for those who cannot support themselves financially and bring their income up to a prescribed level to meet their basic needs (Social Welfare Department, 2008). The old age, single parent and unemployment are the three major groups of people of to apply CSSA (Statistics on Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme 1998-2008, 2009). In order to select the most needed, people apply for CSSA should go through the financial tests. They need to pass the income and assets tests. Office interview and home visit will conduct to investigate and verify the applicants circumstances and information provided. Since this is a short-time help, the government do not want people rely on it, there is some special arrangement for those aged 15-59 in normal health to actively seek full-time jobs and participate in the Support for Self-reliance Scheme of the Department (Social Welfare Department, 2008). Sub-conclusion In the 5 main kinds of social policies, only the social security seems to be the typical example of residual welfare model. Social security just provides short-term help and to fulfill the basic needs of the recipients. Moreover, a series and comprehensive investigation and financial test are needed. And the CSSA may cause the Stigmatization. People may have bias on those CSSA recipients. Besides Government pays effort to teach and encourage the recipient to work in other to leave the safety net. In this sense, it conforms to the principle of residual welfare model. On the other hand, the other four categories of social welfare policies are not much like the residual welfare model. They are more like universal benefits and services having no or less selectivity, because benefits available to everyone. Those policies not only provide basic needs of individual but also to improve the quality of life, cultivate the citizens, and so on. Therefore, the expenditure on welfare keeps increasing. Thus, Hong Kong is not a typical example of residual welfare model. The East Asian Welfare Model (the EAWM) Definition There is another model related to social welfare policy which is the East Asian Welfare Model. It shares the Confucian ethics and value emphasizing on education, strong family relations, benevolent paternalism, social harmony, discipline, respect for tradition and strong work ethic. To determine whether Hong Kong is a typical example of The East Asian Welfare Model, we can see if it matches the elements of the model. Dominated on economic concerns In the EAWM, welfare policies are dominated on economic concerns in order to improve the productivity of labour force and provide strong working incentive. As it aims to help increasing the productivity of an economy, it is also called as a productivist social policy. Hong Kong does match this element. There is a concept of from welfare to workin Hong Kong. When more people have their own jobs, the numbers of CSSA recipients will decreases and the productivity of an economy will be increased too. Targeted employment assistance for various CSSA Recipients In Hong Kong, the government targets employment assistance for various CSSA recipients. For example, the Three trial Enhanced Community Work Projects which includes training elements in 2005 to 2006 were aimed to enhance the employability of participants. Up to October in 2006, there were 145 Intensive Employment Assistance Projects which provided intensive employment assistance services to unemployed CSSA recipients. Hong Kong government also supports for Self-reliance Scheme (SFS) that encourages and assists employable recipients to take up paid employment so as to make them to become self-reliant. This scheme includes Active Employment Assistance programme and Community Work programme. They aimed to help people finding jobs and thus increase the productivity of Hong Kong. Regulator rather than provider The Hong government acts as a regulator of welfare policy rather than a provider in EAWM. Hong Kong matches this element since Hong Kong government contracts out the services by giving funds to different organizations and asks them to provide welfare services for it. For example, it provides funds to The Neighbourhood Advice-Action Council to build Family Crisis Support Centres in order to tackle family crisis. It also gives funds to Po Leung Kuk and Childtime International Nursery Limited to build up child care centre so as to provide child care services. It gives funds to St. James Settlement and Hong Kong Society for the Aged to provide elderly services such as building up Elderly Community Centres. Way to maintain social stability and legitimacy In the EAWM, welfare has been seen and used as a key element to maintain social stability, to get the legitimacy of governments which lacked democratic legitimacy and to ameliorate grievances. Hong Kong matches this element. In Hong Kong, the Chief Executive and government officials are not elected by universal suffrage. With less legitimacy, welfare service becomes one of the tactics to pacify the grievances and to maintain social stability. Welfares can keep social stability as when peoples needs have been satisfied, they are expected not to commit crimes. Hong Kong government does do a lot to give financial assistance to the poor. For example, CSSA Scheme gives financial assistance to those who cannot support themselves. Social Security Allowance (SSA) Scheme provides monthly allowance to Hong Kong residents who are severely disabled or 65 years old or above. It shows that Hong Kong government uses welfare as a tool to maintain social stability, and so as to retain the legitimacy of the government. Low social welfare expenditure Hong Kong Government expenditure on social welfare is low compared with the Western countries. The welfare expenditure (% of GDP) of some western countries is above 20%, some are up to 29%. In Hong Kong, the welfare expenditure (% of GDP) is around 8% due to the low tax rate and the reliance on the market and the family to provide welfare. Hostile to the idea of welfare state Hong Kong is also hostile to the idea of welfare state. In the welfare states, the tax rate is high such as the corporate tax rate is 25% and the personal tax is up to 58% in Denmark. The high tax can support rate of large welfare expenditure. Welfare states provide comprehensive coverage of welfare including old-age pensions, unemployment benefits health and childcare services. The welfare is also very favourable since is more than the basic needs. In Sweden, the unemployed will receive 80 percent of his or her normal income under the unemployment benefits. However, in Hong Kong, the tax rates are extremely low compared with the OECD standards. The corporation tax rate is 17.5% and personal tax rate is only 16%, around 1/3 of the OECD standard. Hong Kong is one of the places with the lowest tax rates, named as tax haven. The low tax rates encourage competition i.e. the harder you work and more you gain. In the White Paper Social Welfare into the 1990s, government stated that it worked hard to improve the dependency culture and remind the citizens incentive to work and undermines the productive engine of the economy. It is to encourage self- independence and responsibility. Significant role of the family The family plays a significant role in Hong Kong social welfare. Hong Kong is influenced by the traditional Confucian culture which is family oriented. The role of family is measured not just by its affluence but also by its core values, the kindness, caring for others and mutual support. The family members support and look after each other. The number of elderly living with their son is higher than that in Western countries. The Government policies also promote the family values to lighten the dependency on social welfare system. Under Hong Kong tax system, allowances are given to the taxpayers who taking care of their children, parents and grandparents. It is to encourage family members to look after the youth and the elderly. Besides, the Public housing allocation policy will give special consideration to the family with elderly. The housing policy is family oriented. In the Policy Address 2009-2010, CE suggested to set up a Happy Family Info Hub to promote family core values, and to introduce family education as well as support services for the family. (Policy Address 2009-2010) Piecemeal, pragmatic and ad hoc welfare development Welfare development in Hong Kong is piecemeal, pragmatic and ad hoc. There is no comprehensive long term development plans on social  welfare, for example, the public housing policy in 50s, the aims of the policy is to settle the fire victims of Shek Kei Mei squatter areas. Besides, The Government legitimacy is shattered in the 67 riot. After that, Government started the social security policy including public assistance scheme, old age and disability allowances in the early 70s. The aims of the social security policy are to deal with critical issues and maintain society stability. Social welfare policies are reactive measures to address ad hoc issues without long term planning. Conclusion In conclusion, only social security policy in Hong Kong fit the Residual Welfare Model but other policies such as housing, education, health care and social care do not fit the model. On the other hand, the social welfare systems in Hong Kong fit most of the elements of The East Asian Welfare Model. Therefore, we do not agree that Hong Kong is a typical example of both models since it is not a typical example of the Residual Welfare Model but a typical example of the East Asian Welfare Model.

Relative Price And Performance Relationship

Relative Price And Performance Relationship 2.1 INTRODUCTION In essence, the job of a strategist is to understand and cope with competition. Often, managers define competition too narrowly, as if it occurred only among todays direct competitors. Lall, (2001, p. 6) stated that competitiveness in industrial activities means developing relative efficiency along with sustainable growth Moreover, agribusiness competitiveness has been defined as The sustained ability to profitably gain and maintain market share(Martin, Westgren, van Duren, 1991, p. 1456) or, in a more consumer-oriented way, as the ability of a firm or industry segment to offer products and services that meet or exceed the customer value currently or potentially offered by the products and services of rivals, substitutes, and possible market entrants (Kennedy, Harrison, Kalaitzandonakes, Peterson, Rindfuss, 1997). Yet, according to Michael E. Porter, the Harvard Business School professor, competition for profit goes beyond established industry rivals to include four other competitive forces as well as customers, suppliers, potential entrants and substitute products. Furthermore, the model of Five Competitive Forces was developed by Michael E. Porter in his book Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analysing Industries and Competitors in 1980. It draws upon Industrial Organisation (IO) to develop five forces that determine the competitive intensity and therefore attractiveness of a market. Attractiveness in the context of business environment refers to the overall industry profitability. An unattractive industry is one in which the combination of these five forces acts to drive down the overall profitability. A very unattractive industry would be one approaching pure competition, in which available profits for all firms are driven down to zero. The character, mix, and subtleties of competitive forces are never the same from one industry to another. A powerful and widely used tool for systematically diagnosing the principal competitive pressures in the hydroponics market and assessing the strength and importance of each is the five-forces model of competition.(see figure) Moreover, three of Porters five forces refer to competition from external sources. The remainders are internal threats. Therefore, it is important to use Porters five forces in conjunction with SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) and PEST Analysis (Political, Economical, Social and Technological). Porters Five Forces 2.2.1 Threat of new entrants One of the defining characteristics of competitive advantage is the industrys barrier to entry. It is very expensive for new firms to enter an industry where there is high barrier of entry. Furthermore, profitable markets that yield high returns will attract new firms. In this situation, these new entrants could change major determinants to the market environment (e.g. market shares, prices, customer loyalty) at any time. In the 1993 reprint of the first edition of Bain (1956, pp. 53-166), three main factors are considered as entry barriers: economies of scale, product differentiation advantages, and absolute cost advantages. Moreover, as more firms enter the market, you will see rivalry increase and profitability will fall to the point where there is no incentive for firms to enter the industry. Likewise, the threat of the new entrants will depend on the extent to which there are barriers to entry. These are typically: Economies of scale According to Kislev et al, it is generally accepted that agricultural production is characterized by increasing returns to scale. If economies of scale exist, it represents a high barrier of entry. Firms within the industry will have achieved these economies and if we enter this industry we will have to match their scale size of production in order to compete with them. Thus according to Michael Porter, since EOS does not exist in a tangible way, we need to prove their existence first before trying to compete with the existing firms. Capital requirements This refers to how much money should the firms have to tie up to keep the doors open. This is also a barrier to entry as if firms have to tie up large amounts of capital for daily operations; this will deter smaller firms from entering. Dr. Pieter A.Schippers said that hydroponics requires high-cost installations marketing gourmet vegetables at ritzy prices. According to AREU, the capital investment for hydroponics in Mauritius is up to three million rupees. Brand identity According to Erin Ferree ,Brand identity is the combination of consistent visual elements that are used in your marketing materials. A basic brand identity kit consists of a logo, business card, letterhead, and envelope. It can be extended to include a Web site Where there is brand identity there is high barrier to entry and regarding the hydroponics market in Mauritius, there are no such barriers in the field of hydroponics as it is a newly grown market. Access to Distribution The new entrant must, of course, secure distribution of its product or service. A new food item, for example, must displace others from the supermarket shelf via price breaks, promotions, intense selling efforts, or some other means. The more limited the wholesale or retail channels are and the more that existing competitors have tied them up, the tougher entry into an industry will be. Sometimes access to distribution is so high a barrier that new entrants must bypass distribution channels altogether or create their own. Switching cost Switching costs are fixed costs that buyers face when they change suppliers. Such costs may arise because a buyer who switches vendors must, for example, alter product specifications, retrain employees to use a new product, or modify processes or information systems. The larger the switching costs, the harder it will be for an entrant to gain customers. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is an example of a product with very high switching costs. Once a company has installed SAPs ERP system, for example, the costs of moving to a new vendor are astronomical because of embedded data, the fact that internal processes have been adapted to SAP, major retraining needs, and the mission-critical nature of the application. 2.2.2 Bargaining Power of suppliers The term suppliers comprises all sources for inputs that are needed in order to provide goods or services and bargaining power is the ability to influence the setting of prices. Therefore, bargaining power of suppliers will identify the extent to which your suppliers can choose to raise prices, reduce quality or reduce service without consequence. The more concentrated and controlled the supply, the more power it wields against the market. Monopolistic or quasi-monopolistic suppliers will use their power to extract better terms (higher profit margins or) at the expense of the market. Moreover, in a competitive market, no one supplier can set the prices. Likewise, suppliers can group to wield more bargaining power. The conditions making suppliers, as a group, powerful tend to mirror those making the buyers powerful are as follows: Differentiation of inputs A primary goal of the theory of product differentiation is the determination of market structure and conduct of firms that can choose the specifications of their products besides choosing output and price. Traditional models of product differentiation and marketing have focused on products that are defined by one characteristic only. ( See Hotelling (1929), Vickrey (1964), DAspremont, Gabszewicz and Thisse (1979), Salop (1979), Economides (1984), Anderson, de Palma, and Thisse (1992), among others in economics and Hauser and Shugan (1983), Moorthy (1988) and Kumar and Sudarshan (1988) in marketing.) Threat of forward integration The traditional market foreclosure theory, which was accepted in leading court cases in 1950s-70s, viewed vertical merger as harming competition by denying competitors access to either a supplier or a buyer. (Arrow, K., Vertical Integration and Communication, Bell Journal of Economics, 1975, 6, 173-183.) The critics argue that the theory is logically flawed, and a vertically integrated firm cannot benefit from excluding its rivals (e.g., Bork, 1978; and Posner, 1976). The paper by Salop and Sche ¤man (1987) forms the basis for this argument, and Ordover, Saloner, and Salop (1990, hereinafter OSS) is perhaps the best-known paper that pioneered the equilibrium approach to the analysis of vertical mergers. In this paper, I shall argue that the new theories on vertical mergers have ignored an important point, namely that vertical integration not only changes the integrated firms incentive to supply inputs to its downstream rivals, but it may also change the rivals incentives to purchase inputs from alternative suppliers. Once this is realized,an equilibrium theory of vertical mergers can be developed without some of the controversial assumptions made in the literature, and this theory can provide a framework in which the competitive effects of vertical mergers are measured and compared. The basic insight of my analysis is that vertical integration creates multimarket interaction between the integrated firm and its downstream rivals. A rival may recognize that if it purchases inputs from the integrated firm, the integrated firm may have less incentive to cut prices in the downstream market, which will benefit the rival. Therefore, vertical integration can change the incentive of a downst ream rival in selecting its input supplier, making it a strategic instead of a passive buyer in the input market. Supplier concentration relative to industry concentration Trade theory predicts that if trade costs go down or if productivity rises exogenously in a pool of potential suppliers with heterogeneous productivity levels, the number of suppliers will enlarge (Helpman, Melitz and Rubinstein 2008).An exogenous taste for variety, or a desire to limit monopoly positions, would also lead to a larger number of suppliers, although these forces are static. In the presence of heterogenous quality, however, the dynamics of diversification/concentration can be different. Access of labour According to Bertram,G. (1986), he assumes that output is governed by a well-behaved, continuous, constant returns to scale, aggregate production function involving two factor inputs, capital and labour.( Bertram, G. (1986), Sustainable development in Pacific micro-economies, World Development, Vol. 14 No. 7, pp. 809-22.) Importance of volume of supplier According to Hahn et al., 1990; Humphreys et al., 2004; Krause, 1997; Krause et al., 1998; Li et al., 2007; Watts and Hahn, 1993, buyer-supplier relationships are becoming increasingly important as buyers realize that their success is often tied to the capabilities and performance of suppliers. Many organizations engage in supplier development to assist suppliers in improving supply chain performance and capabilities. Bargaining power of buyer According to Inderst (2007), buyer power is the ability of buyers to obtain advantageous terms of trade from their suppliers. Monopsonistic or quasi- monopsonistic buyers will use their power to extract better terms at the expense of the market. In a truly competitive market, no one buyer can set the prices. Instead they are set by supply and demand. Prices are set by supply and demand and the market reaches the Pareto-optimal point where the highest possible number of buyers are satisfied at a price that still allow for the supplier to be profitable. Porter states that a buyer group is powerful if it: purchases large volumes relative to seller sales; learns low profits; the products it purchases from the industry represent a significant fraction of the buyers costs or purchases; the products are standard or undifferentiated and face few switching costs; the industrys product is unimportant to the quality of the buyers products or services; buyers pose a credible threat of backward integration; The buyer has full information. Additionally, with the bargaining power, buyers can impose on suppliers and thus can choose their suppliers. According to Ghodsypour and OBrien, (1998); Weber et al., (2000) and Dahel, (2003), this can be done by using the linear programming models. Moreover, the multi-objective programming model developed by Weber and Ellram (1993) can helps buyer to select a pool of suppliers and determine the purchasing units to be allocated among the suppliers. Buyer switching cost Buyer-supplier relationships play a key role in the success of a supply chain (Chen and Paulraj, 2004; Lin et al., 2001; Storey and Emberson, 2006); however, organizations often face the problem of choosing appropriate suppliers (Pagell and Sheu, 2001; Chen and Paulraj, 2004; Wadhwa et al., 2006; Phusavat et al., 2007). The problem of choosing suppliers so that profits can be maximized has become increasingly vital to an enterprises survival due to keen competition in the micro-profit era (Giunipero et al., 2006). Numerous studies have addressed the issue of the buyer-supplier relationship in supply chain management. One stream of research examines related variables, such as cooperation, satisfaction, trust, and commitment, which make the supply chain relationship successful (Byrd and Davidson, 2003; Fynes et al., 2005; Malhotra et al., 2005). Another stream focuses on the criteria for choosing suppliers, such as quality, on-time delivery, and costs (Chen and Paulraj, 2004; Blackhurs t et al., 2005; Gunasekaran and Kobu, 2006; Phusavat and Kanchana, 2008). Among these criteria, costs have received the most attention because they are considered the key factor in choosing suppliers (Noordewier et al., 1990; Kalwani and Narayandas, 1995; Dahlstrom and Nygaard, 1999; Zhao and Yang, 2007). Buyer information Another reason why buyers were in such a strong bargaining position was because they had full information about demand, actual market prices, and even manufacturer costs. The buyers comparative information was often better than what was available to manufacturers, and thus with such full information, retailers were able to ensure that they received the most favourable prices offered to others, and were able to oppose suppliers claims that their viability would be threatened if prices were reduced. Owing to all of the above reasons, one can see that the bargaining power of the Australian food retailers was so great in the early 1980s that they were perhaps in a unique position of strength even in a global sense. The current barriers for purchasing organic products mainly relates to price, availability, and consumer awareness. Moreover, offering customers and obtaining greater value added by creating, developing, and maintaining lasting customer-supplier relationships (Rexha,2000; Van der Haar et al., 2001), such that both parties benefit (Gro ¨nroos, 2000; Kothandaraman and Wilson, 2001; Sharma et al., 2001; Walter et al., 2001; Leek et al., 2003), is considered fundamental for guaranteeing the success and survival of companies in the market. Suppliers adapt to the customers needs in order to satisfy them. This adaptation can encourage the customer to behave opportunistically (Brown et al., 2000; Wathne and Heide, 2000). But if the supplier is able to adapt, and satisfy customer needs better than its competitors, enduring relationships can develop between both agents. Brand identity of buyer According to Aaker, (1991, 1996), brand identity is a message about a brand that a firm seeks to communicate with. This communication is undertaken via the product, the brand name, symbols and logos, historical roots, the brands creator, and advertising (Kapferer, 1998 Some organisations base their competitive advantage on physical assets such as a manufacturing facility, some on their employees, and some on their distribution networks (Kotler, 2000). Many others, however, seek to attain a competitive advantage from intangible assets such as their reputation or the brands that they own (Beverland, 2005; Keller, 1993; Low and Blois, 2002). Yet, research to date on branding in business and industrial marketing has been limited (Beverland et al., 2006; Low and Blois, 2002; Mudambi et al., 1997; Nilson, 1998). Price sensitivity Porter (1985) has defined two primary types of competitive strategy that can provide a source of competitive advantage: differentiation and low cost strategy. The low cost strategy, which may enable a price leader position, can lead to price wars and is therefore risky for all digital products and services, including retail banking. Ultimately only one company can be the price leader, thus all other companies should contemplate alternative strategies. Likewise, marketers and researchers are familiar with the concept of price elasticity, which describes changes in the quantity of demand for a product associated with changes in price of the product. If demand is elastic, changes in price level have a proportionally greater impact on demand. Inelastic demand describes the case where changes in price have little effect on demand. The concept of price elasticity describes the aggregate response of a market segment to price levels. Price sensitivity is an individual difference variable describing how individual consumers react to price levels and changes in price levels. A consumer high in price sensitivity will manifest much less demand as price goes up (or higher demand as price goes down), and consumers low in price sensitivity will not react as strongly to a price change. Standardize products A large majority of respondents believed that many retailers considered most food products to be fairly standard, and thus, as they could most often find alternative suppliers, they played one manufacturing company against another. It was the respondents view that such tactics also extended towards substituting house brands and generics for brand names, and these aspects will be considered later. Thus, unless a manufacturer had very strong end-user demand for its brand (e.g. Vegemite, Milo, Pal), it found that its product was capable of being substituted unless it succumbed to retailer pressure. Threat of substitute products All firms in an industry are competing, in a broad sense, with industries producing substitute products. The impact of substitutes affected certain segments of the food industry more than others, the obvious examples being the yellow fats segment (butter versus margarine), the sweeteners segment (sugar versus sugar substitutes) and the pet foods segment (canned versus dry). The food industry as a whole is, in fact, competing with other substitute expense categories such as entertainment and personal items. While expenditure on food will never fall below an essential base level. Research done by Ogilvy and Mather (1983) seems to suggest that more people cut back on food during the early 1980s, in order to cope with inflation, than on other expense categories. The following factors are being considered when analyzing the threat of substitute products: Buyer propensity to substitute For sellers, it is crucial to win a buyers trust, then nurture it over the course of a relationship. Trust enables the buyer to economize cognitive and emotional energy and rely on a seller before extensive information can be gathered (Luhmann, 1979; Jones and George, 1998; Yamagishi, 2002; Mayer et al., 1995). As trust matures, the buyer identifies with (Lewicki and Bunker, 1995) and feels affection and devotion for the seller (McAllister, 1995). Trust is therefore strongly linked to buyer commitment (Moorman et al., 1992) and loyalty (Morgan and Hunt, 1994). A sellers violation of trust occurs when the buyer perceives evidence that the seller failed to meet the buyers confident expectations (Tomlinson et al., 2004). Relative price/performance relationship of substitutes Shapiro (1992) argues that institutional investors, who normally trade in large quantities, are concerned with the opportunity costs involved in undertaking these large trades. Many suppliers, in turn, face a growing trend towards commoditization of products (Rangan and Bowman, 1992) and search for new ways of differentiating themselves through improved customer interactions (Vandenbosch and Dawar, 2002). From an academic perspective, there is a rich and growing body of research focusing on buyer-supplier relationships in business markets (Ulaga, 2001). More broadly, researchers have coined the term relationship quality which is typically assessed through some combination of commitment, satisfaction and trust (Crosby et al., 1990; Dorsch et al., 1998; Hewett et al., 2002). According to Wilson (1995, p. 337) trust is a fundamental relationship model building block and as such is included in most relationship models. In addition to trust, Morgan and Hunt (1994) identified commitment as another key-mediating variable of relationship marketing. Furthermore in their commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing, Morgan and Hunt (1994) establish trust as a key-mediating variable that is central to relational exchanges. Moreover, customer satisfaction is widely accepted among researchers as a strong predictor for behavioural variables such as repurchase intentions, word-of-mouth, or loyalty (Ravald and Gro ¨nroos, 1996; Liljander and Strandvik, 1995). Satisfaction research is mainly influenced by the disconfirmation paradigm (Parasuraman et al., 1988). Competitive Rivalry The rivalry amongst existing firms analysis will help you to understand the risk that your competitors may compete for market position and if their competitive tactics are likely to be effective. Furthermore, you will find that your competitors may compete for market position using tactics such as pricing competition, advertising as well as increasing customer service. To analyze industry rivalry in your industry, you will need to consider the following factors: Diversity among competitors The first point of departure is found in Miles et al.(1993)and Miles and Snow (1986) proposition that strategy in diversity and structure is normal in any industry, that it is good for and industry and furthermore that various configurations of strategy and structure may be equally effective in producing high performance. Industry growth rate When hydroponics industry is in a growth phase there will be room for the industry to grow, as a result there will be a low risk of competitor rivalry. Thompson et al., (2008) stated that rivalry becomes stronger if demand growth is slow. Exit barriers Powell (1995) incorporated entry barriers and industry rivalry in his research and found a significant correlation of firm performance with entry barriers (r  ¼ 0:29; p , 0:05) and industry rivalry (r  ¼ 20:32; p , 0:05). These results indicate the higher the entry barriers, the lower the threat of new entrants and the better the opportunities for improved performance; and similarly, the higher the industry rivalry, the tougher the industry competition which would mean the lower the firm performance. A critique of Porters model There are, however, several limitations to Porters framework, such as: It tends to over-stress macro analysis, i.e. at the industry level, as opposed to the analysis of more specific product-market segments at a micro level. It oversimplifies industry value chains: for example, invariably buyers may need to be both segmented and also differentiated between channels, intermediate buyers and end consumers. It fails to link directly to possible management action: for example, where companies have apparently low influence over any of the five forces, how can they set about dealing with them? It tends to encourage the mind-set of an industry as a specific entity with ongoing boundaries. This is perhaps less appropriate now where industry boundaries appear to be far more fluid. It appears to be self-contained, thus not being specifically related, for example, to PEST factors, or the dynamics of growth in a particular market. It is couched in economic terminology, which may be perceived to be too much jargon from a practising managers perspective and indeed, it could be argued that it is over-branded. SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis, which is originally introduced in 1969 by Harvard researchers (e.g. Learned et al., 1991), calls for an external assessment of the opportunities and threats that exist in a firms environment and an internal assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation. The SWOT framework became popular during the 1970s because of its inherent assumption that managers can plan the alignment of a firms resources with its environment. Subsequently, during the decade of the 1980s, Porters (1980) introduction of the industrial organization paradigm with his five forces models gave primacy to a firms external environment, overshadowing the popularity of SWOT. More recently, at the start of the twenty-first century, SWOT is alive and well as the recommended framework for case analysis in many of the leading strategic management and marketing texts (Hitt et al., 2000; Anderson and Vince, 2002). However, despite its wide and enduring popularity, SWOT has remained an theoretica l framework, of limited prescriptive power for practice and minor significance for research (Dess, 1999). Generally, firms are asked to develop strategies to guide the organisation to ward opportunities that may be exploited using strengths of the organisation, push the organisation away from threats in the environment, maintain existing strengths and improve organisational weaknesses. Recently, Duncan, Ginter and Swayne (1998) suggested a four step model for assessing internal strengths and weaknesses. Their four steps include surveying, categorising, investigation, and evaluating. The tables below show the Strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of hydroponics in Mauritius. STENGTHS WEAKNESSES Growing demand for vegetables, both consumer and business markets. Environment-friendly practices favoured. Provide employment. Flexible in production. Poorly structured distribution channels. Finance: such project requires huge investments. Insufficient use of technology: growers in Mauritius cannot afford to adopt latest technology such as those used in Australia and USA due to high costs. Equipment and other materials have to be imported. Lack of trained trainers. OPPORTUNITIES THREATS Favoured business environment- laws and legislations have been modified so as to propel small business. Examples are the introduction of the Municipal Fee, replacing the Trade Licence, Special Tax Holiday Scheme, cancellation of customs duty on several products and Empowerment Programme. Incentives offered to registered enterprises by SEHDA, National Computer Board and so on. Examples are awards to the best business plans, business counselling and facilitation. Increasing cost of doing business. High inflation rate causing depreciation of the Mauritian Rupees. Favourable prices of the substitutes. PEST Analysis PEST (or political, economic, social and technological factors) is the most commonly used tool for environmental analysis (Beamish, 1996) and is possibly the second most widely known strategy technique after SWOT analysis. Political/ Legal Environment: in most countries, the government provides much needed support to those who want to invest in hydroponics technology. Examples are tax relieves on equipment, free counselling, training, incentives to set up small businesses, loan facilities and so on. Regarding the Economic Environment, these issues should be considered: Income is a major influencer of consumer purchasing power. For instance, a fall in income caused by an increase in the rate of inflation may result in a fall in purchasing power. Consumers may buy more of the organic vegetables, which are cheaper than the hydroponics vegetables. The reverse is also true. Changing consumer spending patterns influence the demand for hydroponics produce. It has been noted that there is an increasing tendency for consumers to spend more and more on leisure activities, transportation, medical-care and education rather than food. But with the new budget made by the finance minister, we can expect that the spending on education will decrease and ultimately result to and increase in food or other activities also. Social/ cultural Environment: a study by the NZ Vegetable Growers Federation (www.vegetables.co.nz) , found that nearly 40% of people who purchase organic food do so because they believe it is pesticide-free. Technological Environment: growers of hydroponics produce who do not adopt the best practice technology will be disadvantaged and gradually lose access to all but low margin residual markets. However, there is a profound gap between PEST and SWOT analysis, and this is only partly met by Porters five forces. A linking technique is that of Grundys growth drivers (Grundy, 2004). See the diagram below. Grundy gives an example of growth driver analysis, helping us to represent the forces that, directly or indirectly, cause or inhibit market growth over a particular time period. However, an important feature to note here is that it is part of a system. The system captures, in an onion model format, the key domains that need to be thought through, within the overall competitive climate, beginning with: _ PEST factors _ growth drivers _ Porters five competitive forces _ competitive position. These layers of the onion are highly interdependent, which might be a very useful phenomenon for managers to learn about and to apply. For example, where the PEST factors are generally hospitable, growth is encouraged and the full impact of the five competitive forces may not be felt and may thus be latent. However, where the PEST factors become inhospitable, this will clearly dampen the growth drivers, and if the growth drivers within a particular market are themselves tightening, for example due to life-cycle effects, then this will put a disproportionate and adverse pressure on Porters five forces, particularly in the bargaining power of buyers, and also upon rivalry. Furthermore, a high growth environment may encourage entrants and a low one will discourage these. The result can lead to a collapse in confidence and in prices unless there are lots of exits.

Science vs Aging Essay -- Research Papers Essays

Science vs Aging Thesis Statement: Health care and science resources should be conservatively allocated to our aging population, focusing on providing quality to the aging years without draining assets in a reckless attempt to extend life. Introduction: The demographic projections in the United Sates are significant. Between 1982 and 2030 the median age will move from 30.6 to 40.8 years and the proportion of the population over 65 will go from 11.6 to 21.1 percent (Committee on the Aging Society, 1985). Persons over 85 are the fastest growing age group, 21 times more numerous than in 1900 (Callahan, 1995). This is also an international issue; by 2040 most developed countries will have 30 percent of their population over 60 (Hanson, 1994). These figures demand our attention on issues of aging. Most elderly need economic assistance and are significantly dependent on lower age groups. In the 1930's most of the elderly lived below the poverty line. Social Security helped reduce this figure to 15.7 percent by 1980. 80 year-olds receive 50% percent of their yearly income from social security (Committee on the Aging Society, 1985). The rest of their income often comes from pension plans or family funds. Elderly populations consume significantly more medical resources than other age groups. In 1984 elderly were 12% of our population, but consumed 31% of medical resources; by 2040 they are expected to consume 45 %. The Federal Government currently spends approximately $200 billion on health care for the elderly, which still only covers 67% of the expenditures. The remaining 33%, or $100 billion, must be covered by elderly and their families (Callahan, 1995). These economic expenditures have social conseq... ...the Aging Society. (1985). Aging America: Health in a Older Society. Washington DC: National Academic Press. 7. Finch, C. E. (1978). The Brain and Aging. In The Biology of Aging (pp.301-309). New York: Plenum Press. 8. Fries, James F. (1986). The Compression of Morbidity. Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly, 61: 3, 347-355. 9. Hanson, Mark J. (1994). How we Treat the Elderly. Hastings Center Report, 24:5, 4-8. PMID: 8002311 10. Harley, Calvin B. (1996). Telomeres. In Encyclopedia of Gerontology (Vol. 2, pp. 539-543). Washington DC: Academic Press. 11. Kirkwood, T. B. (1977). Evolution of Aging. Nature, 270:2, 301-304. 12. May, William F. (1996). Testing the Medical Covenant. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing. 13. Moody, Henry H. (1994). Four Scenarios for an Aging Population. Hastings Center Report, 24:5, 32-34. PMID: 8002308

Albinism :: essays research papers

Albinism The word "albinism" refers to a group of inherited conditions. People with albinism have little or no pigment in their eyes, skin, or hair. They have inherited genes that do not make the usual amounts of a pigment called melanin. One person in 17,000 has some type of albinism. Albinism affects people from all races. Most children with albinism are born to parents who have normal hair and eye color for their ethnic backgrounds. Albinism is found on the eleventh chromosome, section q, loci 14-21. Oculocutaneous albinism involves the eyes, hair, and skin. Ocular albinism involves primarily the eye. People with ocular albinism may have slight lightening of hair and skin colors as well, compared to other family members. At present researchers have found 10 different types of oculocutaneous albinism, and five types of ocular albinism. Newer laboratory research studying DNA has shown that there are numerous types of changes in the genes of those with albinism, including within families. The most common types of oculocutaneous albinism are called "ty-negative" and "ty-positive". Persons with ty-negative albinism have no melanin pigmentation, and more difficulty with vision. Those with ty-positive albinism have very slight pigmentation, and generally less severe visual difficulties. Tests were done on the hair roots of individuals with albinism, to tell these types of albinism apart. However, these hair tests cannot identify types of albinism, particularly in young children, whose pigment systems are immature. Therefore hair tests are not helpful in predicting the extent of visual disability of a child. "Ty-Neg" (also called Type 1A) albinism results from a genetic defect in an enzyme called tyrosinase. Tyrosinase helps the body to change the amino acid tyrosine into pigment. The genetic defect that causes albinism in other types of albinism is unknown, but it is speculated that it involves other enzymes used to make pigment. Albinism is passed from parents to their children through genes. For nearly all types of albinism both parents must carry an albinism gene to have a child with albinism. Parents may have normal pigmentation but still carry the gene. When both parents carry the gene, and neither parent has albinism, there is a one in four chance at each pregnancy that the baby will be born with albinism. This type of inheritance is called autosomal recessive inheritance. If a parent has a child with albinism, it means the parent must carry the albinism gene. Until recently, unless a person has albinism or has a child with albinism, there was no way of knowing whether he or she carries the gene

Crimes Against Children

Crimes Against Children Child abuse has been a major social concern only since the 1950s but adults have victimized children throughout history. Children are the most vulnerable of all groups which is why child abuse victims are of great concern to society. There are different forms of crimes against children, child abuse, physical or sexual abuse, emotional abuse and neglect. Child abuse is the neglect of or violence against children. From 1998 to 2000, 367,000 children were harmed by their parents.Physical abuse includes intentionally beating, biting, burning, strangling, hitting, kicking or shaking a child. In the 1060s the term â€Å"battered child syndrome† was coined. This is a condition where a child suffers serious physical injury usually inflicted by their parents or caregiver. Sexual abuse of children is particularly offensive and is the least commonly reported form of family violence. Unfortunately child sex abusers are family members and friends or neighbors of the victim. In many cases the child has a trusting relationship with the abuser.Emotional abuse is more subtle and involves power or control to harm the victim’s sense of self. Tactics such as verbal threats, social isolation, intimidation, exploitation, terrorizing a child or exposing him to family violence all serve to diminish a child’s self-worth and can cause impaired psychological growth. Child neglect is the chronic and repetitive failure to provide children with food, clothing, shelter, medical care or protection from harm. It constitutes the largest category of child abuse offenders.Fifty-two percent of all child abuse cases in the Unites States involve neglect. Parental alcoholism, drug problems and other inadequate social and family functions are among the factors affecting the child’s response to victimization. More needs to be learned about the long term consequences of childhood victimization. This article discusses what is known from past studies and also present finding of more recent research. Child maltreatment has physical, psychological, cognitive and behavioral consequences.These include minor injuries to brain damage and even death, low self- esteem, depression, substance abuse and suicide attempt. Cognitive effects include attention problems, learning disorders and poor school performance. Behavior issues range from poor peer relations to physical aggression to violent behavior. Males and females react differently to abuse. Males tend to externalize their feeling and are more likely to develop conduct disorders, while females tend to internalize their feelings leading to depressive disorders.Practices of the community and the justice and social services systems may have long-term effects. Children who are members of racial or ethnic minorities often meet with discrimination. Researches have suggested that victimized children are more likely to develop behavior problems in adolescence and may be labeled juvenile offender s. Abused and neglected children score lower on IQ tests and usually fail to complete school which leads to menial and unskilled jobs. Interpersonal relationships are also affected by child maltreatment.Frequent divorce and separation are more common in abused and neglected people. Childhood abuse also increases the risk of being arrested for violent crime. The psychological and emotional fallout for abused children include suicide attempts, antisocial personality disorder and alcohol abuse or dependency. Abused and neglected children may exhibit aggressiveness and behavior problems in childhood, delinquency in adolescence and antisocial and criminal behavior in adulthood.These children, as adults, may be more prone to become abusive themselves. Recent research indicates that child neglect especially at an early age causes substantial problems. Some forms of early neglect lead to â€Å"severe, chronic and irreversible damage†. There are many mechanisms by which abuse and negl ect affect a child but finding a single mechanism that explains all cases of abuse and neglect is highly unlikely. Both the textbook and the journal article agree that childhood abuse causes substantial problems later in life.

Comparing the Effectiveness of Four Common Techniques

Comparing the Effectiveness of Four Common Techniques Used to Treat Nocturnal Enuresis Tiffiny H. Winters Clarion University of Pennsylvania Abstract The proposed research is designed to combine 1 pharmaceutical treatment technique and 2 common behavioral interventions and assess the effect they have on the frequency of night-time wetting in children between the ages of 5 and 10 years old who suffer from nocturnal enuresis. I will randomly assign 120 child participants to one of six treatment groups which test them on varying degrees of the independent variables.Participants will be tested for a period of 30 days prior to the intervention application to determine a baseline rate of occurrence of enuresis, then tested again for 30 days while applying the intervention strategies to determine if there is a significant change in the frequency of the occurrences. I predict that the groups receiving the behavioral training paired with the anti-diuretic medication will have fewer episodes o f enuresis in a shorter amount of time during treatment, and have a slight increase in instances of regression after ceasing treatment.I also predict that the treatment groups that do not receive the anti-diuretic will have a slower rate of progression during the experiment, but the progression will stay primarily steady after treatment has ceased. Comparing the Effectiveness of Four Common Techniques Used to Treat Nocturnal Enuresis Nocturnal enuresis is a common childhood disorder, but can be a potentially distressing experience for children and parents alike.It has been defined as an â€Å"involuntary voiding of urine during sleep, with severity of at least twice a week, in children over 5 years of age, when not provoked by congenital or acquired defects of the central nervous system or by the direct physiological effect of substances such as a diuretic† (American Psychiatric Association, 2000); Butler & Gasson, 2005). This disorder has many stressful consequences for a ch ild, such as feeling like, or being treated as a social pariah, suffering a rollercoaster of emotional turmoil, a significant lowering of their self-esteem, and feelings of ncomprehension and helplessness. The prevalence of nocturnal enuresis in children ages 5 to 10 years old, according to The American Psychiatric Association (2000), are as follows: * Approximately 5% – 10% in 5 to 6 year olds * Approximately 11% – 18% in 7 to 8 year olds * Approximately 1. 5% – 5% in 9 to 10 year olds Prevalence rates are also higher for males than for females at all age points (Butler & Heron, 2008). At the present time, many empirical studies and reviews of different treatment strategies for nocturnal enuresis have been conducted.Prominent researchers from both the psychological and medical communities are making important contributions to the ongoing question of what types of interventions work best for the children who suffer from this disorder, which tends to bridge both the psychological and medical fields. This can cause complications for the results of the research, because each field traditionally produces its own literature on the studies that they do, and therefore the results aren’t always all-encompassing.However, experimenters are attempting to close this gap with new approaches that combine and compare treatments such as the dispensing of pharmaceuticals to patients, and some practical behavioral interventions. The behavioral interventions that will be used in this experiment are fairly common in the current research for treatment of nocturnal enuresis. Retention Control Training (RTC) came about due to the medical evidence that some children suffering from this disorder had reduced bladder capacity, and thus couldn’t hold a normal amount of fluid in their bladders throughout a typical night of sleep.RTC expands a child’s bladder capacity by having the child drink high amounts of fluid while delaying urination for as l ong as possible and trying to increase the amount of holding time each time. The thought is that this will cause the bladder to expand, and progress the child up to a relatively normal length of time between urinations. According to Friman (2008), RTC has had up to a 50% overall success rate. However, more recent studies are debating that these results may be negligible, and believe that other methods are more evidence-based and should be considered instead.The process of Dry-Bed Training (DBT) is one of the oldest, best-known, and most evidence-based treatment packages for enuresis (Friman, 2008). The process consists of following a strict schedule of waking the child up at night until he or she learns to wake up alone when needed. This program is usually implemented for a period of 7 nights, and then the process is repeated. DBT is typically completed in less than 4 weeks, with relapse rates of only about 40% (Brown, Pope, & Brown, 2010). A Urine Alarm is a key component in this t reatment, as well as cleanliness training and a positive reinforcement through a token system.A Urine Alarm is a device that is either placed underneath the child in the form of a mat, or as a sensor inside of the child’s pajamas that works by using a moisture-sensitive system that, when upon sensing dampness from urine, it sends a charge to a buzzer or alarm that is strong enough to wake the child (Friman, 2008). The alarm is an adverse stimulus, which leads to a conditioned avoidance response (startling the child) which leads to muscle contractions in the pelvic floor and neck of the bladder, ceasing the flow of urine when the child wakes.This leads to the child associating the feeling of a full bladder to the feeling of being awakened, and they will wake eventually without the help of the alarm. According to Mellon & Houts (2006), several reviewed studies and well-controlled experiments have established the basic urine Alarm as an effective treatment for nocturnal enuresis , alone or in combination with other treatment components, and the average success rate (14 consecutive dry nights) is 77. 9%, and has an average 6 month relapse rate of 15% – 30%.Despite the arguable efficacy of these behavioral interventions, reviews of the recent literature show that the common healthcare practice among physicians and pediatricians is to treat enuretic children with medication rather than putting behavioral interventions to use (Friman, 2008). The two most commonly prescribed to treat this disorder are anti-depressants and anti-diuretics. I will not be addressing the components of the anti-depressant prescriptions, as it does not directly involve my xperiment. The anti-diuretic that is typically prescribed is Desmopressin, a synthetic version of Vasmopressin, which is the body’s naturally occurring anti-diuretic hormone. According to a review by Brown, Pope, & Brown (2010), the rationale for using this drug is that there is evidence that children wi th nocturnal enuresis may not have the same nocturnal increase in Vasmopressin as children that do not suffer from enuresis.Desmopressin works by decreasing night-time urine production, and typically reduces the episodes by 50%. And although Desmopressin typically has a more rapid onset of dry nights than the Urine Alarm, removal of the drug almost always results in the child reverting back to the wetting behavior. In comparing this drug and its benefits to other behavioral treatments, it has been found in many studies to have better results when the drug therapy is used concurrently with one of the behavioral interventions previously discussed.For example, according to Brown, Pope, & Brown (2010), recent literature shows that the Urine Alarm, when used in conjunction with anti-diuretic medication, leads to more dry nights earlier in the conditioning process, and a longer lasting performance after treatment has subsided. Also, there have been many studies comparing several of the af orementioned common behavioral techniques to one another, as well as the combined power of using more than one technique concurrently to enhance the speed and permanence of the desired results.Also, studies have been done here in the United States, as well as abroad in many other countries, such as Australia, the United Kingdom, and many others. However, according to their review on studies done in this field of research, Brown, Pope, & Brown (2010) assert that â€Å"The medical and psychological literatures and studies completed regarding this problem have proceeded relatively independent from one another, and there has been little to no interconnection between the US and international studies, resulting in a lack of discourse and integration among researchers investigating treatment outcomes for enuresis. In general, many researchers agree that the current research and scope of the experiments have been very limited, and perhaps even insufficient. The focus of my proposed study w ould be to bridge this gap that others have been stepping around, and bring some of the conflicting variables to light in one controlled study. The proposed research is designed to combine 1 pharmaceutical treatment technique and 2 common behavioral interventions and assess the effect they have on the frequency of night-time wetting in children between the ages of 5 and 10 years old who suffer from nocturnal enuresis.My study would allow the individual treatment techniques to be compared under standard conditions without any other form of combined treatment or medicines, and it would also show the efficacy of each treatment technique when it is paired with the anti-diuretic Desmopressin, which has been shown to have remarkable results in the short-term treatment of episodes of enuresis, but is coming up short in the long-run battle against this disorder.I will randomly assign the participants to one of six treatment groups: (1) will receive Retention Control Training (RCT) paired wi th a daily dose of Desmopressin; (2) will receive Retention Control Training with no medication; (3) will receive Retention Control Training paired with a placebo; (4) will receive Dry-Bed Training paired with a daily dose of Desmopressin; (5) will receive Dry-Bed Training with no medication; (6) will receive Dry-Bed Training paired with a placebo.Participants will be tested for a period of 30 days prior to the intervention application to determine a baseline rate of occurrence of enuresis, then tested again for 30 days while applying the intervention strategies to determine if there is a significant change in the frequency of the occurrences. Participants will also be tested a final time 30 days after ceasing the interventions for a period of 2 weeks to determine how quickly each group regressed, if any did so.This would lead to many avenues of further research toward finding the best way to treat this problem, and also perhaps pave those avenues with a much stronger foundation tha n the one that has been going back and forth between the medical and psychological disciplines throughout the research that has been done thus far. I am predicting that the groups who receive the behavioral training paired with the anti-diuretic medication will have fewer episodes of enuresis in a shorter amount of time during treatment, and have a slight increase in instances of regression after ceasing treatment.I also predict that the treatment groups that do not receive the anti-diuretic will have a slower rate of progression during the experiment, but the progression will stay primarily steady after treatment has ceased. Method Participants The sample (N=120) will consist of 20 children (10 boys; 10 girls) at each of six age levels (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10yrs old) who meet the American Psychiatric Association (2000) criteria to be diagnosed with nocturnal enuresis. Wetting must occur at least 2 times per week for at least a period of 3 months and have a negative impact on other a reas of functioning, and must not be due to the effects of a substance or be caused by another medical condition. ) All participants will be assigned randomly into one of six treatment groups. Participants will be selected on a voluntary basis from an ad placed in the local newspaper, and also by doctor referral through email notification sent to local doctor’s offices advertising information about the study that I will be conducting.Informed consent will be obtained from parents of all of the participants, and consent forms and release forms will also be signed before participating in the procedure. Letters of explanation and consent forms will be sent to parents or guardians of the children, and they will be asked to return these by mail. To ensure confidentiality, participant names will be removed from any interviews and data entry recordings, and participants will be identified only by a numerical code. Participants, medical personnel, parents, and all others involved wil l be well informed that no information will be released about individual participants.Participating children will receive an age-appropriate gift approved by their parents upon completion of the experiment as a thank-you for participating. Apparatus/Materials Materials that will be needed and used are as follows: * Basic physical form completed by family physician for each participant. * 120 basic clip-on Urine Alarms. * Approximately 1200 doses of Desmopressin. (40 children, 1 tablet each before bed every night for 30 nights. ) (Can also be requested in nasal spray form. ) * Data sheets to record all procedures and episodes of wetness per night. * Approximately 1200 doses of a basic sugar pill to administer as a placebo. 40 children, 1 tablet each before bed every night for 30 nights. ) * Age-appropriate gift for each child given upon completion of the experiment. (120 total) Procedure An ad will be placed in the local newspapers to attempt to collect volunteers to participate in t he experiment, as well as an email offering information about the study will be sent to all local pediatricians’ offices asking them to inform any of their patients that may qualify and meet the guidelines about the study that I am conducting, and that they would be welcome to participate if they desire to.Participants will be interviewed at their convenience at a location that they are comfortable with, and will be asked to answer simple background questions dealing with the criteria for the experiment, and will also be informed about all aspects of the experiment before they consent to their child or children participating. Once all participants have been selected and all required paperwork has been returned, the parents will be instructed on how to monitor their child’s episodes of enuresis for the next 30 nights and shown how to record them on the data sheets that I will provide to them.Each parent will be provided a standard Urine Alarm and be instructed on how to use it to notify them throughout the night when their child wets to bed. (They can be programmed to notify the parent instead of waking the child. ) The parent will then keep as accurate of a record as possible of the episodes during this 30 day period to establish a baseline of performance for each child. (The Urine Alarms will be re-collected after this 30 day period has concluded. Then, after the initial 30 day testing period has ended, each child will be randomly separated into one of six treatment groups: (1) will receive Retention Control Training (RCT) paired with a daily dose of Desmopressin; (2) will receive Retention Control Training with no medication; (3) will receive Retention Control Training paired with a placebo; (4) will receive Dry-Bed Training paired with a daily dose of Desmopressin; (5) will receive Dry-Bed Training with no medication; (6) will receive Dry-Bed Training paired with a placebo.The parents will receive very thorough and easy to understand instructi ons on the treatment procedure that their child has to follow, and will be given a telephone number to contact me at any time day or night throughout the experiment if they have any questions, concerns, or if their availability to participate in the experiment changes. The parents will not have any knowledge about the use of a sugar pill as a placebo, as to eliminate any participant reaction bias. I will collect the data from each parent at the end of every week, during both 30 day periods.After the experimental 30 days has come to an end, I will collect all materials that were being used by the participants, compile the data that was collected and get it ready to analyze, hand out the gifts to the children for participating, conduct a closing interview of each parent and child to clear up any loose ends or questions that they may have, and to also ensure that no aftercare is needed for any parent or child that participated, and then thank them for their involvement and hard work. R eferences American Psychiatric Association. 2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. (4th ed. ). Washington, DC: doi: 10. 1176/appi. books. 9780890423349 Brown, M. L. , Pope, A. W. , & Brown, E. J. (2010). Treatment of primary nocturnal enuresis in children: A review. Child: Care, Health, and Development, 37(2), 153-160. doi:10. 1111/j. 1365-2214. 2010. 01146. x Butler, R. J. , & Gasson, S. L. (2005). Enuresis alarm treatment. Scandinavian Journal of Urology and Nephrology, 39, 349-357. Butler, R. J. , & Heron, J. (2008).The prevalence of infrequent bedwetting and nocturnal enuresis in childhood: A large british cohort. Scandinavian Journal of Urology and Nephrology, 42, 257-264. Friman, P. C. (2008). Evidence-based therapies for enuresis and encopresis. The Handbook of Evidence-based Therapies for Children and Adolescents: Bridging Science and Practice, II, 311-333. doi: 10. 1007/978-0-387-73691-4_18 Mellon, M. W. , & Houts, A. C. (2006). Nocturnal enuresis: Ev idenced-based perspectives in etiology, assessment and treatment. (pp. 432-441). New York, NY: Springer Publishing.