Revenue and profit Essay Example for Free

Revenue and profit Essay Q1 – What is the difference between revenue and profit? A1 – Revenue is the total amount of money that a business takes in during a given period by selling goods and services. Profit is the amount of money a business earns above and beyond what it spends for salaries and other expenses, which is to use revenue to minus salaries and expenses. Q2 – What is the difference between standard of living and quality of life? A2 – The term of standard of living refers to the amount of goods and services people can buy with the money they have. Standard of living is the physical measurement of peoples living. Q3 – What is risk, and how is it related to profit? A3 – Risk is the chance an entrepreneur takes of losing time and money on a business that may not prove profitable. The more risk that business people take, the more profit that business people may have. Q4 – What do the terms stakeholders, outsourcing, and insourcing mean? A4 – Stakeholders refer to all the people who stand to gain or lose by the policies and activities of a business and whose concerns the business needs to address. Outsourcing means that contracting with other companies to do some or all of the function of a firm, like its production or accounting tasks. Insourcing means that the company internally do some or all of the functions of a firm, like its production or accounting tasks. Q5 – What are some of the advantages of working for others? A5 –Somebody else assumes the companys entrepreneurial risk and provides you with benefits., like paid vacation time and health insurance. The company you work for will provide the tools and technology to make your job more productive. Q6 – What benefits do you lose by being an entrepreneur, and what do you gain? A6 – As an entrepreneur, you do not receive any benefits such as paid vacation time, and you have to provide them to yourself. By being an entrepreneur, you will have freedom to make your own decisions, opportunity, and possible wealth. Q7 – What are the five factors of production? Which ones seem to be the most important for creating wealth? A7 – The five factors of production are land, labor, capital, entrepreneurship , and knowledge. The most important one is knowledge. Q8 – What are four ways the government can foster entrepreneurship? A8 – First, the government allow private ownership of businesses. Secondly, the government can further lessen the risks of entrepreneurship by passing laws that enable businesspeople to write enforceable contracts. Thirdly, the government can also establish a currency thats tradable in world markets. Finally, the government can help minimize corruption in business and in its own ranks. Q9 – Whats the difference between effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity? A9 – Effectiveness describes producing the desired result, and efficiency refers to produce goods and services using the least amount of resources. Productivity is the amount of output you generate given the amount of output. Q10 – What is empowerment? A10 – Empowerment defines that giving frontline workers the responsibility, authority, freedom, training, and equipment they need to respond quickly to customer requests. Q11 – What are some of the major issues affecting the economy today? A11 – First, the war and terrorism issue makes the government to spend more money on the military, and firms have to purchase more secure devices to ensure their customers security. Second, global changes create a need for continuous learning. Finally, the climate change of the world affects the way people use energy. People tend to save energy and to produce products that cause less harm to the environment. Q12 – What major factor caused people to move from farming to manufacturing and from manufacturing to the service sector? A12 – The using of technology and machines increases the productivity and eliminates many jobs in agricultural fields. Then, with the development of technology and machines, farms and industries need few and few farmers and workers. Therefore, more and more people tend to find jobs in service sectors. Q13 – What does the future look like for tomorrows college graduates? A13 – The service ear now seems to be coming to a close as a new era is beginning . We are in the midst of an information-based global revolution that will alter all sectors of the economy. Save your file as Chapter 1.doc and submit it through the appropriate Assignment Link in Blackboard.

Role of Management in Improving Workplace Safety and Health :: Workplace Health and Safety

The article â€Å"Role of Management in Improving Workplace Safety and Health† (Admin, 2011) points out the importance of keeping the workplace safety and explains the role of Human Resources managers in workplace safety and health maintenance. The Human Resources managers should be more proactive regarding workplace health and safety (Admin, 2011). Although the employers' responsibilities regarding workplace safety and health are both ethically and legally undeniable, â€Å"Role of Management in Improving Workplace Safety and Health† makes a critical error by placing those responsibilities entirely on the HR Department. Furthermore, it is not possible to be more proactive because the HR department is not specialized in workplace safety and needs to fulfill other functions within the company. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is a government agency that defines and regulates employer responsibility in creating and maintaining a safe and healthy en vironment for employees. Instead of inspecting, evaluating, and developing solutions by themselves, HR managers are responsible only for following OSHA rules and regulations and keep up with current trends proposed by OSHA. Training Program Development The article â€Å"Role of Management in Improving Workplace Safety and Health† claims HR managers should develop proper training programs to prevent injuries at work and defines the purpose of safety training programs as methods of improving the employees' performance abilities when it comes to preserving themselves from work-related risks (Admin, 2011). The systematical method of developing training programs is through identifying needs after inspections, accident reports, and discussions with the safety committee, followed by planning, implementation, and improvement evaluation (Admin, 2011). Although these are standard protocols in developing training programs, the article does not mention the people or institutions responsible for actual program development. The initial blame for low proactivity on the HR department and its impact on worker safety and health remains unmentioned from the introduction of the article, so it is only natural to assume that the HR department is responsible for carrying out training program development after reading that section. The HR department cannot develop training programs because OSHA and similar agencies specializing in workplace safety are responsible for developing trainings. Furthermore, the HR department cannot even perform the actual trainings because their employees are not authorized to train employees in workplace safety. The HR department is responsible only for providing training for the company's employees, so they can perform work in a safe manner in compliance with OSHA requirements (Michaels, 2010), and they cannot possibly be involved in safety training or safety training program development.

Five Year Strategic Plan for Move Essay

Riordan Manufacturing, Inc. has been able to make way into the global business arena with a strong footing. Riordan has established operating plants in San Jose, CA, Albany, GA, Pontiac, MI, and Hangzhou, China. In addition, the quantity of plastic fan parts manufactured in the Hangzhou plant has increased, adding significant shipping costs. This plant is currently incurring transportation and loading costs which include trucking to a harbor on the Qiantang River, loading the goods into shipping containers which are stacked onto barges bound for the Shanghai seaport. Riordan’s COO, Hugh McCauley, has envisioned a solution on how to minimize the cost of shipping which involves relocating this plant to Shanghai, China. The relocation will translate into great savings because of the advantage of using container shipping subsidiaries of the China Shipping Company, which utilize the seaport of Shanghai. Therefore, a plan has been made to complete this relocation process within the next five years. In light of this relocation strategy, the newly appointed CIO of Riordan, Maria Trinh, has come up with a list of important factors to be considered by the IT department during the entire relocation process. Those factors consist of setting up a migration committee, defining the scope of the migration process, and preparing a migration timeline. Migration Committee Setup Maria Trinh has selected several IT colleagues from Riordan’s US hubs who will travel with her to Hangzhou, China in order to finalize the make-up of the migration committee. Those individuals are: Gary Tucker (Network Administrator), Carlos Gonzales (Development Engineer), and Gilbert Lofaro (Program/Analyst). These key IT players will interview a pool of prospective candidates from the China plant in order to complete the committee. Dave Nanda has been put in charge of managing the project and will be the CIO’s liaison in China. As project manager, Dave is responsible for establishing a shared file storage area (electronic) for important files and setting up time reporting codes. In addition, Dave will plan the relocation and identify major milestones. Gary Tucker has been appointed as the IT lead; the identified migration coordinators are, Elizabeth Pyrek (Finance and Accounting Dept.), Joe Squires (Operations Dept.), Jose Guevara (Human Resources Dept.), Lonnie Godat (Transportation Dept.), and Lowell Bradford (Legal Counsel). The committee will setup a meeting with all leads, managers, and architects to develop an order of magnitude (OOM), estimate high-level time requirements, and identify hardware and software needed. Each group will work to identify additional tasks necessary to their work effort. Once the committee has been setup, Maria Trinh will come back to Riordan’s Headquarters in San Jose, CA. where she will remotely manage the entire process. She may travel to China as conditions warrant. Scope of the Migration Process In determining the scope of the migration, it is necessary to prepare a performance matrix, set expectations, identify major stakeholders, assign them their specific responsibilities through statements of work, and delineate procedural documents. The scope consists of maintaining the current business operations (business continuity), establishing the relocation timeframe, allocating human, financial, legal, and transportation resources, and defining the required space of the new location. Migration Timeline In order to carry out this migration, the requirement definitions establish a timeframe of five years starting on March 23, 2007. The same definitions also define the following phases: devise the moving plan, create the migration committee and define its scope, get an approved cost migration budget (first ninety days), acquire a leased line (T1), and implement WAN linkage between the corporate headquarters and the China hub (subsequent two hundred seventy days). Beginning the first and continuing until the third year, the following will be developed: communication logistics, surveying prospective locations in Shanghai, planning to run parallel Information Systems, planning for an IT staff recruiting process, ensuring business continuity, prioritizing the criticality of each department and Server, analyzing legal relocation issues and drafting a resolution plan, and setting the shipping logistics. From the third through the fifth year, the following must be accomplished: assessment of the new location’s infrastructure (by March 2011), staff recruiting for the Shanghai location, resolution of most legal issues, ensuring business continuity, and selection of the pilot network workgroup which will be migrated first. On the fifth year, the Shanghai location must be secured, the headcount of relocating employees must be known, and the hiring of new staff must be accomplished (by September 2011), Again, business continuity must continue, migration of the IT function must be initiated and completed (by October 2011), and IT maintenance and staff training must be accomplished. (This effort will be facilitated by Mari Carrillo, a Development Specialist) During the same period, information systems must be run in parallel (by January 2012) until the shutdown of the Hangzhou plant (by February 2012). In addition, the previously mentioned definitions include a contingency plan that encompasses the following: Crashing non-critical tasks if delays threaten to derail the project Adding qualified human resources as a last resort to avoid the project’s  failure Having qualified staff available to make substitutions if it becomes necessary Having the company’s information systems backed up daily off site Having a prospective hardware infrastructure readily available in the event that a catastrophe compels the company to restore their systems When planning the relocation of the Hangzhou, China facility, it is important to consider that the existing departments will still require the IT department’s services in order to conduct business. In fact, the IT department is more likely to see an increase in the number of calls for support during the various phases of the relocation. The potential for increased call volume could result from one or more factors such as a question related to the move, connectivity issues due to the move, or even the perception that the move has caused a problem, when it is not even related to the move. When considering the effects on the IT department’s workload, management must consider both direct and indirect causes that may increase the workload demands. Every department that will be relocating to the new facility will invariably require assistance from the IT department. The needs may be minor or significant, but if not anticipated, these â€Å"distractions† detract from the goal (to relocate) and affect the budgeted labor required for the move. In order to provide the best possible continuity of service before, during, and after the move, it is necessary to evaluate each department’s needs and the relationships between each department to provide maximum support. For the first year goals, the IT department will evaluate each supported department to determine the above factors in an effort to establish an estimated amount of labor required for each department. This survey will also help to establish the most logical path to pursue when transitioning  each department to the new location. Timing is a critical element in the transition. It may make more sense to move certain departments in phases, and other departments at one time or the â€Å"big bang† approach. For example, it may be wise to move the payroll/hr department all at once as you would want to have all the records at one location and available to that department. Since this area houses sensitive data, it would be wiser to move everything at the same time in order to more easily track and secure the data since it will be confined to one location. A final factor to consider is the very real potential for a significant turnover rate across all departments due to the new site being a considerable distance from the existing site. This high turnover rate will result in less experienced employees; these employees usually require more assistance from the IT department than seasoned employees do. A physical move may agitate business, but a robust and smooth business continuity plan should allow the business to proceed as normal with minimal disruptions. An analysis of all risks will need to be performed as well as plans to mitigate these risks should the circumstances arise. Before one can ensure a successful business continuity plan, a test must be run to work out any idiosyncrasies or items that may not have been considered. An in-depth analysis identified several immediate risks. Since the majority of the current IT personnel will be relocating to Shanghai, a plan will be in place to account for the temporary IT personnel shortage. Approximately six weeks prior to the move, the remaining staff members, from the Hangzhou office, will be known. It is estimated that 1/3 of the current staff will remain. Once this number has been finalized, hiring will occur to backfill these positions. While approximately 2/3 of the staff will be preparing for the move, the remaining 1/3 will be conducting training for the new staff. Another identified risk was equipment failure due to damage during shipping or because of improper reconfiguration. Members of the existing staff will  rotate an on-call position for the first month. This will alleviate performance problems due to configuration. If the equipment failure is due to damaged hardware, two vendors will have been pre-determined to contact for service or replacement parts. To minimize issues with equipment delivery, several confirmations with the shipping company will be completed. Portions of the hardware will be shipped separately. For example, the QA equipment will be shipped first, followed by the finance equipment, etc. Gradually moving components will allow each individualized system to stabilize itself. In order to safeguard data and information assets, two identical servers will be used. One housed in the new location will be a mirror of the original. Once it can be determined that the databases and information can be used from the mirrored server, the original will be disconnected and subsequently destroyed. One way to ensure a successful business recovery plan is to test it. While in the current location, a dry run will be performed. Throughout the week, several staged, but undisclosed failures will occur which will allow the business recovery plan to be challenged. Problems such as an unavailable database, slow response time and faulty hardware will be orchestrated to mimic the anticipated response. Once this testing is complete, department coordinators will further document ways to combat the lessons learned. When the time arrives to begin the physical move, some additional steps will be taken to ease the transition. First, the department coordinator will be migrated; the procedure changes, issues, resolutions, etc. will be documented. Second, migration activities and estimated time spent on each activity will be prepared so that users know what to expect before actual migration. Sufficient time will be allocated on each migrated employee’s calendar and expectations will be set. The actual migration will happen in stages, three groups will be identified by the department co-coordinator based on system, application, or function criticality. Less critical groups will be moved first, followed by more  critical, and thereafter by the most critical. Each employee’s backup will be identified. When an employee is moved, his backup would still be working from old location to cover for him. We will wait for at least two weeks of stable work from the employee at the new location before removing the backup employee. This will provide redundancy in case there are some issues at the new location; tasks can still be performed by the backup until those issues get resolved. Arrangements will be made with the current shipping company to accommodate our new shipping logistics. If the current shipping company is unable to do so, a replacement shipping company will be used. Each department coordinator will be assigned the task of making sure all disaster recovery documents are up-to-date and existing business recovery measures are intact prior to the move. The test exercise will bring to light any inconsistencies in these documents. Enhancements will be integrated into the existing document. The business continuity plan (BCP) is a living document which needs to be kept up-to-date to ensure its effectiveness. It should be updated at least once every quarter. Another important aspect of the BCP is auditing. It should be tested at least once every six months to ensure its validity. At anytime, there should only be one document with all of the changes and updates. â€Å"If the document is well constructed the organization should be able to use external resources that do not have intrinsic knowledge of your current network to recover your system. This can only be achieved once the BCP document has matured and it is recommended to attempt such a recovery† (Magalhaes, 2005). The IT Department’s Role During the Move The IT department must continue supporting all the departments, groups, and systems at same level as that provided prior to the move, including but not limited to the following: Application development Testing and Quality Assurance Help Desk Messaging or email Asset management (hardware and software) System Administrators, Network support System security IT Planning, Training current and new staff as needed Providing maintenance to the current and new IT infrastructure Specific Milestones for Years One, Three and Five There are 250 users at Hangzhou, China. As far as system hardware, most of the IT related systems become obsolete in five years. This is the very reason that most companies lease their hardware equipment. The assumption is being made that Riordan Manufacturing leases equipment and will have six months of parallel systems. Hence, for the duration of six months, Riordan can keep the old as well as the new systems. The company will lease the system at the new location and retire the system at the old location. This approach will save moving costs and allow a six-month period to make sure the new system is stable before retiring the old system. Running the old and new systems in parallel facilitates a back-out plan in case we have to revert to the old system in a worst-case scenario. This also helps with system availability and business continuity planning as discussed in the beginning of the migration plan. The project scope will be determined by identifying all the servers, personal computers (PCs), networking systems, and other infrastructure components  that need to be moved. The hardware inventory of the items in Hangzhou is listed below: Satellite base station, connection to HQ T1 to outside network PCs for Corp (12), Finance (8), MFG (8), MTLS(6), and QA (6) IP phones (40) 8 HP laser printers NAS Windows Servers (2) – Network, Exchange UNIX Server – ERP/ MRP IBM Blade Servers (2) UPS, Router, VOIP data router, Gateway/ switch, switches, hub Riordan will also need a temporary communication channel such as a wide area network (WAN) between Hangzhou and Shanghai during the relocation period. The following are the specific milestones for years one, three and five of the migration plan. Year One An IT budget will be developed for the five year migration plan by engaging all department heads, their leads and architects so that an estimation of the required effort can be accomplished. The IT infrastructure group will be responsible to make sure server and network equipment transitions are as smooth as possible. Estimated hours from each department as well as from the  infrastructure group will be used to determine the estimated costs in man-hours. The cost of moving the hardware, software, and other equipment will also be estimated. Total costs will be presented to management for approval so that work can be started. In this phase, IT personnel will be recruited and hired, or transferred as needed. In Shanghai, the WAN connection to HQ will be implemented. In addition, a T1 to the outside network and a temporary WAN connection to Hangzhou will be established for duration of the migration effort. Network equipment will be leased and a new WAN connection contract will be negotiated with a vendor. During this phase, risk logs and issue logs will be maintained and security concerns and issues will be evaluated. Also, a work breakdown structure will be developed to establish tasks which need to be accomplished to successfully complete the relocation. Year Three Time lines to move, setup, test the equipment, and engage the stakeholders at appropriate time will be developed. The time line will be shared with management and discussed in monthly meetings; monthly meeting minutes including the summary of items completed, list of items targeted next, and any issues encountered will be provided. A six-month period will be used to make sure the new system is stable and the old system can be retired. Year Five Migration of the â€Å"most† critical systems as well as miscellaneous and residual systems will occur during this phase. New IT personnel will also be recruited and hired during this time. Legal constraints will be resolved and business continuity will be ensured as discussed in the beginning of the migration plan. As discussed previously, a six-month time frame will be used to ensure the new system is stable in the new location and no one is using the old system.

Acids, Bases and Salts

A chemical substance (typically, a corrosive or sour-tasting liquid) that neutralizes alkalis, dissolves some metals, and turns litmus red. Ionic Dissociation: Dissociation in chemistry and biochemistry is a general process in which ionic compounds (complexes, or salts) separate or split into smaller particles, ions, or radicals, usually in a reversible manner. Strength of Acids: The strength of an  acid  refers to its ability or tendency to lose a proton. There are very few strong acids. A strong acid is one that completely ionizes in  water. In contrast a weak acid only partially dissociates.Examples of strong acids  are  hydrochloric acid  (HCl),  hydroiodic acid  (HI),  hydrobromic acid  (HBr),  perchloric acid  (HClO4),  nitric acid  (HNO3) and  sulfuric acid  (H2SO4). In water each of these essentially ionizes 100%. The stronger an acid is, the more easily it loses a proton, H+. Two key factors that contribute to the ease of deprotonation are the   polarity  of the H—A bond and the size of atom A, which determines the strength of the H—A bond. Acid strengths are also often discussed in terms of the stability of the conjugate base. Sulfonic acids, which are organic oxyacids, are a  class  of strong acids.A common example is toluenesulfonic acid  (tosylic acid). Unlike sulfuric acid itself, sulfonic acids can be solids. Superacids  are acids stronger than 100% sulfuric acid. Examples of superacids arefluoroantimonic acid,  magic acid  and  perchloric acid. Superacids can permanently protonate water to give ionic, crystalline  hydronium  Ã¢â‚¬Å"salts†. Basicity of an Acid: Basicity of an acid refers to the  number of replaceable hydrogen atoms  in one molecule of the acid. 3 common types of Basicity of an acid Monobasic Definition: 1 molecule produce  1 H+ ion  upon dissociation Example:  HCl, HNO3 Dissociation Equation: HCl(aq) –> H+(aq) + Cl-(aq)Dibasic Definition: 1 molecule produce  2 H+  ion upon dissociation Example:  H2SO4 Dissociation Equation: Figure it out yourself!! Tribasic Definition: 1 molecule produce  3 H+  ion upon dissociation Example:  H3PO4 Dissociation Equation: H3PO4(aq) –> 3H+(aq) + PO4 3-(aq) Alkali: An alkali is a base in an aqueous solution or a chemical compound which is water soluble and neutralizes or effervesces with acids and turns litmus blue; typically, a caustic or corrosive substance of this kind such as lime or soda. Examples of alkalis include NaOH (Sodium Hydroxide), NH3(Ammonia) and KOH (Potassium Hydroxide).Salt: Any chemical compound formed from the reaction of an acid with a base, with all or part of the hydrogen of the acid replaced by a metal or other cation. Bases: A  base  in  chemistry  is a substance that can accept  hydrogen ions  (protons) or more generally, donate electron pairs. A soluble base is referred to as an  alkali  if it contains and releases hydro xide  ions  (OH? )  quantitatively. The  Bronsted-Lowry theory  defines bases as  proton(hydrogen ion) acceptors, while the more general Lewis theory defines bases as  electron pair donors, allowing other  Lewis acids  than protons to be included.Bases can be  thought  of as the chemical opposite of  acids. A reaction between an acid and base is called  neutralization. Bases and acids are seen as opposites because the effect of an acid is to increase the  hydronium ion  (H3O+)  concentration  in water, whereas bases reduce this concentration. Bases and acids are typically  found  in  aqueous solution  forms. Aqueous solutions of bases react with aqueous solutions of acids to produce  water  and  salts   

The World Goes Bang Band BOOM essays

The World Goes Bang Band BOOM essays ~recited by Japanese Emperor in 1945 On August 6, 1945 at 8:15am history was made. The first atomic bomb called "Little Boy" was dropped in Hiroshima, Japan. Again on August 9 a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. Hundreds of thousands of people died. With hundreds of thousands more injured. These days of radioactive heat rays of more then 3000 degrees Celsius instantly burning skin, bulldozing houses and even evaporating human existence was not needed to win war over Japan, nor should it have been. Causing a constant flow of deaths either instantaneously, or through untreatable radiation poison, these bombs were not needed. Creating cancer, leukemia, mental retardation, chromosomal "aberrations" and other lingering abnormalities, these bombs were not needed. Over 50 years later still having an operational 170 bed A-bomb hospital filled with continual suffering, these bombs were not needed. There is questions about this incident that have been asked around the globe for centuries, "Should the United States had dropped the Atomic bomb on Japan? Was it really necessary? Did they have to drop two? Did they have proper motives?" And more. A constant phrase comes up in all books, documents, and diaries regarding the decision to drop the A-bomb, that is that their main justification for using this weapon was, "to help save American lives in the Japanese war." However, what the US didn't consider was how the rest of the world including the American people, would accept use of this deathly device and if in fact their motive would actually be justified. Which most facts point to no. ~*~ Japan had officially gone to war shortly after they made their alliance with Germany in June 1941. This action caused the US, England, Netherlands, Philippines, and New Zealand to set an embargo on all goods for Japan leaving them without a drop of oil and other goods. At first this did not have much effect on the Japa...

Learning Mandarin Chinese

Learning Mandarin Chinese Mandarin Chinese is a difficult language to learn, especially given its unintuitive pronunciations and use of characters rather than an alphabet system. Learning Chinese can be a daunting idea, and often many beginner students dont know where to start. If you are feeling overwhelmed, this guide can give you the basic building blocks of Chinese grammar, introductory vocabulary, and pronunciation tips to help you build a foundation in Chinese. Be sure to click on hyperlinked text to access each lesson. The 4 Mandarin Tones Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language. Meaning, the way a syllable is pronounced in terms of sound and tone changes its meaning. For example, the syllable ma can mean horse, mother, scold, or hemp depending on which tone is used. Mastery of the four  Mandarin tones  is the essential first step to  learning this language. The  four Mandarin tones  are high and level, rising, falling then rising, and falling. You must be able to pronounce  and  understand the Mandarin Tones.   Once you have learned the tones, you can start learning new vocabulary and phrases while learning pinyin Romanization. Reading and writing Chinese characters is the last step. Mandarin Pronunciation Guide There are 37 unique sounds in Mandarin Chinese, which consist of 21 consonants and 16 vowels. Through a myriad of combinations, around 420 different syllables can be produced and are used in the Chinese language.   Lets take the Chinese word for often as an example. The character  Ã¥ ¸ ¸ is pronounced as chng, which is a combination of the sounds ch and ang.   The sound  chart in this guide has audio files of all 37 sounds along with their Pinyin spellings. Pinyin Romanization Pinyin  is a way to write Chinese using the Roman (Western) alphabet. It is the most common of many forms of  Romanization, and is used in most teaching materials particularly for Western students learning Chinese. Pinyin allows beginner  Mandarin  students to read and write Chinese without using Chinese characters. This allows students to concentrate on spoken Mandarin before tackling the formidable task of  learning Chinese characters.   Because pinyin has many pronunciations  which are unintuitive to English speakers, it is necessary to study the pinyin system to avoid pronunciation errors.   Introduction to PinyinPinyin Pronunciation Essential Vocabulary Of course, there is a seemingly endless of vocabulary words to learn. Ease yourself in by starting with some of the most commonly used, everyday Chinese words. In order to refer to people in a conversation, you will need to know Mandarin pronouns. This is the equivalent to terms like I, you, he, she, they, we.  Mandarin words for colors  is also elementary vocabulary that can be easily learned. As you see different colors in your everyday life, try and remember the Chinese word for it.   Understanding Mandarin numbers  is also a good place to start. After you have mastered reading, writing, and pronouncing numbers, learning  calendar terms  (such as days  in  the week and months) and how to  tell time  will be easier.   Conversation Topics As you progress in your mastery of Mandarin, you will be able to have conversations. These lessons will prepare you for conversing about particular topics. All conversations start with a greeting. Learn Mandarin greetings  to be able to say hello or good afternoon! In introducing yourself, common questions might be where are you from? or where do you live? This handy list of  Mandarin names for North American cities  can help you respond. Many social events and get-togethers happen at restaurants. Learning  food vocabulary  and  restaurant vocabulary  can be helpful so that you know what to order or how to ask for help if you need another pair of chopsticks. If you are traveling in a Chinese-speaking country, you may be staying in a hotel or have to deal with banking in terms of withdrawing money, exchanging money, and so on. These  hotel vocabulary  and  banking vocabulary  lessons can be a good addition. Mandarin Grammar Mandarin Chinese grammar is very different from English and other Western languages. The first step is learning basic  Mandarin sentence Structures. For a beginner-level Mandarin student, it is also important to know how to  ask questions in Chinese  because asking questions is the best way to learn about a language and a culture. Particularly helpful questions to know include how do you say X in Chinese? or what does this idiom mean?  Ã‚   An interesting difference between English and Chinese is the use of  Mandarin measure words. For instance, in English one would say a piece of paper or a loaf of bread. In these examples, piece and loaf are measure words for the nouns paper and bread. In Chinese, there are many more measure words. Reading and Writing Chinese Characters Chinese characters  are the hardest part of learning Mandarin. There are over 50,000 Chinese characters, and a dictionary will typically list 20,000 characters. An educated Chinese person will know around 8,000 characters. And to read a newspaper you must learn about 2,000 to read a newspaper. The point is, there are a lot of characters! While the only way to really learn characters is to memorize them, knowing character  radicals  can give you some hints too. Engaging with beginner-level  Chinese text and books  can be a great way to practice. If you want to practice by writing Chinese online, here is how you can  write Chinese characters using Windows XP.

Explain what is meant by the 'Biopsychosocial' perspective. Show how Essay

Explain what is meant by the 'Biopsychosocial' perspective. Show how this perspective is important in our understanding of psychological disorders - Essay Example The main aim is to define what is meant by BPS and how it is applied in the treatment of psychological disorders. To achieve this, I will be analyzing a disorder through the lens of BPS. The aim is not so much in determining the treatment of the disorder but to make the reader appreciate the use of BPS. The biopsychosocial (BPS) model in healthcare stresses the need for approaching illnesses and disorders holistically. Usually, medical professionals would usually limit themselves to understanding illnesses thru the lens of science especially that of biology. The model considers the health and disorders of human beings as the result not only of biological failure or invasion but also of psychological and social environment by which he is immersed. In treating disorders, beliefs, thoughts and emotions must also be taken into account. We can think of the human physiological systems including our genes to be rather open and flexible systems which respond to the demands place upon them as opposed to the encapsulated system view that is so pervasive in our society. BPS relies on the assumption that biological disorders could lead to psychological disorders. This is further amplified by social factors such as inappropriate environment and undesirable social interactions. The overall result is a dysfunctional and painful state of mind (Kirkpatrick, 1990). A biopsychosocial perspective in the treatment of alcoholism in wom... The wealth of literature of the topic helps us further to provide a more revealing discussion on the use of BPS. In the following passages, the reader will find that there are unique circumstances and challenges women alcoholics must deal with when compared to their biological counterpart. 2.3 Biological Factors There are certain biological realities that make women alcoholics at a worse position than men. To start with, women tend to be more affected physiologically by the consumption of alcohol. They may be drinking a little amount but that is already equivalent to a drinking spree by their male peers. In the study undertaken by Wilsnack, Wilsnack, and Miller-Strumhofel (1994) and Deal & Galaver (1994), it was found out that the biological makeup of women of having more fatty tissue causes this difference in physiological response. Since women have more fatty tissue and that alcohol does not dissolve well in this environment, the same amount of alcohol consumed by a man and woman will lead to higher blood pressure for the later. Deal and Galaver (1994, p. 190) was also able to show that women have lower levels of dehydrogenase - a very important enzyme in breaking down alcohol. This together with the fatty tissue differentials result to a higher blood alcohol concentration for women which also translates to higher risks for developing the liver illness called cirrhosis. There are many studies indicating that women are indeed more prone to cirrhosis than men and this includes that of Krasner, Davis, Portmann, & Williams (1977) and Peres, Gavallero, Brugera, Torres, & Robes (1986). Nixon (1994) was able to establish that in populations with alcoholic hepatitis, the women's condition were likely to deteriorate to