Associates vs Bachelor Degree in Nursing Essay Example for Free

Associates vs Bachelor Degree in Nursing Essay Bachelor degree nursing programs are highly regarded for the skilled, clinical thinking, and professionalism of nurses they provide for the community. Obtaining a baccalaureate in nursing provides the same skills and knowledge encompassed in most associate’s programs, while allowing a broadened look into research, public health, management, and humanities (AACN IENP, 2012). Many facilities are now providing incentives for nursing staff to continue their education; from tuition reimbursement, an increase in pay, and played time off for the sole purpose of education. Research has proven that with a more educated nursing populous there is a decrease in morality rates and medication errors, and it also provides more positive outcomes (AACN Fact Sheet, 2012). With such a high demand for nurses, the scope of nursing has become more comprehensive with a larger responsibility being placed on nurses. All of this has shown not only to the medical field but also policymakers and other leaders of the community that a higher level of education not only makes a difference, but many feel it should be a requirement. The difference between a baccalaureate and associates degree program may seem obscure at first, but looking into the information and research that students learn in a four year program verses a three year program can be shocking. When looking into the core requisites needed to graduate with a bachelors verses an associates, some obvious differences are the higher levels of English, math, communication, and pathophysiology required to graduate with a BSN. Also, the higher level course work required to complete a bachelors shows the necessity of critical thinking and research a nurse needs to even graduate. Once past the prerequisites required for a bachelor’s in nursing we have to exam the nursing course work itself. As stated before, most of the associates program is incorporated in a bachelors degree; with an associates the clinical experience is more limited to the clinical setting hospitals, nursing skilled facilities, and rehab centers, where as many bachelors programs also included public and community projects. Bachelors programs also put a broader focus on ethics, religion and spirituality, research, global awareness and public health, as well as nursing leadership and management (GCU, n. d. ). Nursing care is focused on the assessment, nursing diagnoses, planning, implementation, and evaluation of patients. This nursing process can also be implemented in aspects outside of nursing and on the nursing field as a collective group. The nursing role is evolving, following the process the outcomes have to be evaluated and put into perspective. Research is being completed the conclusions are all the same, the higher education of nursing care the better the patient outcomes. In an article published in Health Services Research in August 2008 that examined the effect of nursing practice environments on outcomes of hospitalized cancer patients undergoing surgery, Dr. Christopher Friese and colleagues found that nursing education level was significantly associated with patient outcomes. Nurses prepared at the baccalaureate-level were linked with lower mortality and failure-to-rescue rates. The authors conclude that â€Å"moving to a nurse workforce in which a higher proportion of staff nurses have at least a baccalaureate-level education would result in substantially fewer adverse outcomes for patients. † (AACN Fact Sheet, 2012) A Jewish patient is awaiting discharge after receiving an open heart procedure. The difference a bachelor’s educated nurse and an associate degree nurse may have on the patient can be profound in this scenario. A bachelors nurse will have a better understanding of the pathophysiology of this patient’s condition, instead of providing instruction on just the patient after care of the procedure the higher level education will allow the nurse to incorporate teaching of the patient’s condition that brought along the cause of the procedure, the nurse will be provide a broader education base to help the patient better understand the treatment and the conditions that they may face. The bachelors nurse will be able to better identify environmental factors, diet and exercise factors, and other stresses that could be changed to promote health wellness for the patient. The bachelors nurse will be more aware of community based health assistance and programs that will help the patient make more positive health changes. The bachelors nurse will be more aware of the patient’s religious requirements and needs, this may help the patient in making better overall health and wellness decisions. Also, BSN nurses have a more in-depth education in regards to ethics and religion, this may provide a more trusting bond between the nurse and patients allowing the patient to see that the nurse is there for providing care not only in his treatment but all aspects of the patient’s wellbeing. The history of nursing provides a great foundation and view on how nursing came into existence and how nursing has always strived for higher education. Before World War II great strides were made for university nursing programs, with the onset of war and the need for nurses, diploma and associates nursing found its place (Creasia and Friberg, 2011). Many feel that the nursing shortage is the reason that diploma and associates nurses programs still exist. Though, with the growing population that has increasing comorbidities it is more important than ever for nurses to have higher education. References American Association of Colleges of Nursing. 2012. Fact Sheet: Creating a More Highly Qualified Nursing Workforce. Retrieved from http://www. aacn. nche. edu/media-relations/NursingWorkforce. pdf American Association of Colleges of Nursing. 2012. The Impact of Education on Nursing Practice. Retrieved from http://www. aacn. nche. edu/media-relations/fact-sheets/impact-of-education Creasia and Friberg. (2011). Conceptual foundations: The bridge to professional nursing practice. (5th ed. ) St. Louis, Missourit: Mosby Inc. Retrieved from http://pageburstls. elsevier. com/#/books/978-0-323-06869-7/pages/47247567 Grand Canyon University. (n. d. ). Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing (RN to BSN). Retrieved from http://www. gcu. edu/degree-programs/registered-nurse-to-bachelor-of-science-in-nursing.

Arguments of Political Representation in the US

Arguments of Political Representation in the US â€Å"The vile state governments are sources of pollution which will contaminate the American name for ages†¦. Smite them,† Henry Knox urged Rufus King sitting in the Philadelphia Convention, â€Å"smite them, in the name of God and the people.†[1] The jostling of various interest groups, the self promoting ambitions of lawmaking, the persistent adhering to popular demands, these â€Å"excesses of democracy†[2] instigated the meeting at Annapolis, and consequently the convening of delegates in Philadelphia. It could be reasonably argued that the limitations of the Articles of Confederation in yielding Congress the power to raise revenue, to regulate trade, to pay of its debts, and to act successfully in international affairs was the primary reasoning for convening. But, there was more to it than the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. It was the unwillingness of the legislatures to do â€Å"justice,† and this matter of justice said Washington, is the origin of the evils we now feel.†[3] According to Madison, the matter of justice â€Å"contributed more to that uneasiness which produced the convention and prepared the public mind for general reform than those which occurred to our national character and interest from the inadequacy of the Confederation to its immediate object.†[4] It was this matter of â€Å"justice† that facilitated the uneasiness which generated the convention and organized the public for change more than the inadequacy of the Articles of Confederation. The convention brought together men whose discussions put in place an establishment of an unusually influential remote national government the like of which was never seen before. It began with the conception of a classical tradition of civic humanism and its patrician code of disinterested public leadership a complete turnaround from the popular individualistic and acquisitive era of the early 1780s. Ideally, arguments about justice between democratic legislators such as Findley who were considered by the likes of Madison as â€Å"men of factious tempers† and â€Å"of local prejudices† and â€Å"advocates and parties to the causes which they determine,†[5] that dominated the convention at Philadelphia and consequently the creation of the constitution. Eventually, what prevailed was disinterested patriotism and as the debates continued the arguments were written down as a basic deed that defined and restrict government. The constitution was not to become part of government,[6] but separate and higher to all actions of government and a precursor of government. This constitution became the pronouncement of the people themselves.[7] Their arguments were their experiences the resistance between supremacy and liberty and the interference of imperial sanctions they had defended against. Therefore, they argued against â€Å"corruption† that system they had observed of the British a system where ministers of the Crown are at the same time members of Parliament. The linkage David Hume called â€Å"influence† which they determinedly destroyed in 1776.[8] They argued vehemently against â€Å"virtual† representation; the British idea that the process of election was secondary to representation and therefore taxation without representation is justified. They were aware that it was this challenge that ushered in their revolution. They were cognizant at the convention that if citizens were to be correctly represented in a legislature â€Å"not only did the people have to vote directly for the members of the legislature, but they also had to be represented by members whose numbers were proportionate to the size of the population they spoke for.†[9] They were unrelenting on the idea that actual representation made the practice of election not secondary but indispensable to representation and that chosen representatives â€Å"not only had to be for the people they also had to be of the people.[10] Implicit in the idea also was the belief an underlying thought that no politician no matter the number of votes they attained could completely represent the citizens. Therefore, citizens could be represented in diverse ways and in varieties of organizations.[11] The debate was unrelenting in asserting that sovereignty stayed with the people themselves. The people, they insisted must never disappear by the process of representation which meant â€Å"all public officials became delegated and mistrusted agents of the people, temporarily holding bits and pieces of the people’s power out so to speak on always recallable loan.†[12] This accepted wisdom of thinking of people in this amazing way endured at the convention and founders were able to formulate federalism, the extraordinary sharing of power between central and local governments that establish two governing bodies ruling over the same terrain, the Congress and the separate legislatures. They were firm on the concept of sovereignty so much so that a suggestion for an inclusion of a Bill of Rights,[13] was unanimously turned down by delegates. A conviction that unlike England where the King’s privilege was sacrosanct, in America all power existed in the people who with their ballots apportioned fragments of it to their representatives, therefore, the Bill of Rights was unnecessary. What made these arguments sustainable was that it was written down. What made it exceptional in the history of mankind, it [the deed] was placed before the people for ratification and as each state constitutional convention ratified the deed the people themselves became the actual power. The consent of the people made the constitution a primary law invulnerable from legislative infringement. It gave judges the ability to oblige limits on what Congress enacts as law and hence a precursor of Judicial reviews.[14] Thus, the radicalism of the founders infused with Lockean beliefs ushered in a new republic. A government derived from the people. This logic of republican equality brought ordinary people into the political process and restricted the prospect of preferment[15] in public life. These ideologies that gave birth to a nation have traversed many roads and has sustained. Very many writers have investigated the idea that sustained America and reached different conclusions. Lakoff though takes a new approach. He looks at America from the background of a family. He suggested a family has two types of orientation, the Strict Father Orientation and Nurturent Parent orientation. The application of each, he relates to two ideologies; conservatism and Liberalism. With these two models he created two world views. He posits that it is through the morals of this two world views America operates politically, socially and policy wise. In essence he sees the nation metaphorically as a family. He believes that political and moral ideas develop systematic ways from our models of ideal families. He claimed that our political system is governed by two world views, the strict father and the nurturant parent. Both internalized by constituents in terms of metaphorical concepts and as a consequence two ideologies, conservatism and liberalism. Linking morality to politics he posited that the language of framing is what set the two ideologies apart. That is, essentially, it is not what you say, but how you say it. [1] Knox quoted in William Winslow Crosskey and William Jeffery Jr., Politics and the Constitution in the History of the United States (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980), III, 420, 421. [2] Benjamin Rush to Jeremy Belknap, May 6, 1788 in Butterfield, ed., Letters of Rush, I, 461; Elbridge Gerry, in Max Farrand, ed., The Records of the Federal Convention of 1778 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1911, rev. ed., 1937), I, 48. [3] George Washington to John Jay, May 18, 1776, in Fitzpatrick, ed., Writings of Washington, XVIII, 432. [4] James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, October 24, 1788, in Boyd et al., eds., Papers of Jefferson, XII, 276. [5] Cooke, ed., The Federalist No. 10; [William Findley], A Review of the Revenue System Adopted at the First Congress under the Federal Constitution†¦ (Philadelphia: Bailey, 1794), 117. [6] Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man [7] James Wilson, Wilson’s declaration at the Philadelphia Convention of 1787. [8] United States Constitution, Article 1, Secti.on 6, Clause 2 [9] Gordon S. Wood, The Idea of America: Reflections on the Birth of the United States (New York: Penguin Books, 2012)., p. 182. [10] Ibid., p. 183. [11] Ibid., p. 183. [12] Ibid., p. 184. [13] George Mason withheld his signature to the constitution on account of this. [14] James Iredell, Calder v. Bull, 3 U.S. (Dall.) 386, 1 L. Ed. 648 (1798) which became the Principle of Judicial Review. [15] Clifford K. Shipton, â€Å"Jonathan Trumbull,† in Sibley’s Harvard Graduates: Biographies of Those Who Attended Harvard College (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1951), 8: 269.

The Debate Over Minimum Wage :: Economics Argumentative Persuasive Essays

The Debate Over Minimum Wage Introduction: The Clinton Administration served notice in 1993 that it intended to seek an increase in the federal minimum wage. Liberal politicians applauded the new president, agreeing that an increase was overdue and deserved. However, their conservative counterparts lamented the policy proposal, fearful that a minimum wage hike would further unsettle the economic recovery that was underway at the time. Both liberals and conservatives began to marshal their statistical forces to support the long held claims concerning the positive and negative consequences of a minimum wage increase. Since then, political rhetoric has often ruled the minimum wage debate. (Mckenzie, 10, 1994) Minimum wage is a contentious issue because it is debated in a wide and eclectic audience. Minimum wage is at the heart of the economist's interest; he is in pursuit of finding its connection to job loss. Countries all over the world, including all members of the OECC, maintain minimum wage laws. For this reason, it is of obvious importance to policy makers. Because those that tend to earn a minimum wage are disproportionately from low income and minority families, the minimum wage has attracted attention from social activists as well. The topic is perhaps most interesting to the average American. At some point in our lives, almost everyone has been paid the minimum wage. Due to this fact, it is of popular debate over dinner, at restaurants, and in the typical American living room. The people of the United States should support raising the federal minimum wage because empirical evidence proves that it does not lead to job loss. Americans know a raise in the minimum wage is one way to help make work pay. For many working Americans an increase in the minimum wage will make the difference between living in poverty and not. Furthermore, a higher minimum wage, a floor to ensure workers that they're getting a fair deal for their efforts, provides a foothold into the middle class for many other families who would otherwise not earn a middle class living. America of the 1990's is a country of increasing disparity, where the wealthy are moving ahead while the working class is falling behind. In this economic phenomenon, the middle class is disappearing. One of our major defenses to ensure those in the working class receives a fair wage, is legislation providing for one. While many opponents of minimum wage cite labor supply and demand concerns with a legislated wage, we must look at the facts instead of the mere theory.

Those Winter Sundays :: essays research papers

"Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden is a poem about a how the author is recalling how his father would wake up early on Sundays, a day which is usually a reserved as a day of rest by many, to fix a fire for his family. The mood of this poem is a bit sad. It portrays a father, who deeply cares for his family but doesn't seem to show it by emotions, words, or touching. It also describes a home that isn't very warm in feelings as well as the title" Those Winter Sundays" The author describes the father as being a hard worker, in the line "†¦with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday†¦", but still even on Sundays--the day of rest, the father works at home to make sure the house is warm for his family. The "blueblack cold described in the poem is now warmed by a father's love. This poem describes the author reminiscing what did not seem obvious at the time, the great love of his father, and the author's regretting to thank his father for all that he did. "Sex without Love" is a poem by Sharon Old, who states in the opening line "How do they do it, the ones who make love without love?" It starts out with judging those, who have sex outside of having feeling for one another. It describes the sex in the third line as without feeling more as a techniques, which is describe "beautiful as dancers.. over each other like ice skaters." Sex without love to the author is described more as an act, which is performed instead of two people in love, who sex is in love not because of the act but instead of the love of the person. The author seems to climax in the literal sense at line nine : come to the Come to the †¦ then God comes in picture after the act is done. Judgment and sin is the mood of this poem of how two people can commit an act of a heart and soul without disappointed God. "Schizophrenia", the poem by Jim Stevens is a poem that begins the opening with "It was the house that suffered most" . Most how think about how difficult it would be for the member of a family dealing with a family member, who has the condition of Schizophrenia.

The Arrival of the Bee Box and the Rime of the Ancient Mariner :: English Literature

In The Arrival of the Bee Box and the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, compare the ways in which the choice of language, detail and the form, tell us about the feelings of the writer. In both poems, a range of literacy devices are used in order to express the feelings of the writers. Plath's poem is written similarly to the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and yet they are different in many ways. Plath wrote her poem in 1962 and Coleridge wrote his poem in the 1700's or early 1800's, and the style of writing differ, as Plath's writing seems to be more emotive, whereas Coleridge's work seems to have a more a gothic theme to it. One of the main literacy devices used in both poems is the extended metaphor. Plath uses the metaphor to show the box as a symbol of her life and how she wants to escape from it, but can't because of the consequences. "The box is locked, it is dangerous." I think she feels trapped within her life and the depression of everything is getting to her. She wants to get out and experience other things, but feels that she has created her life and therefore must live with it, "I ordered this, this clean wood box/ I have to live with it overnight" Possibly, this could be related to part of her past, where she tried to commit suicide, in order to end her life, so that she can be free of the box. In the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, there are many metaphors within it. As the boat travelled on its course, it came across some ice and it got stuck there. At that time the Mariner didn't know what to do. Then an Albatross came to the rescue and it cracked the ice so the mariner was able to carry on his journey, "at length did across an Albatross/thorough the fog it came; / As if it had been a Christen soul, / We hailed it in God's name. / It ate the food it ne'er had eat. / And round and round it flew./ The ice did split with a thunder fit;/ The helmsman steered us through!" I think the ice was a symbol for the limitations in life, and the barriers Coleridge has come across in life and he over come them. Also, maybe the ice was a symbol of the dangers that come with life, and once they are dealt with, you can move along safely. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is written in loose, short ballad stanzas usually either four or six lines long but, occasionally, as

Last Sacrifice Chapter Twenty-four

CONSIDERING THEIR EARLIER antagonism, I was a bit surprised to see Sonya and Robert combine their powers to create an illusion for the Dashkov brothers. It obscured their appearances, and with the addition of some fake names, the Mastrano family just assumed the guys were part of our increasingly bizarre entourage. Considering the distress and upheaval already going on in the house, a couple more people seemed the least of the Mastranos' worries. In playing good Moroi hosts, it wasn't enough to just cook up dinner. Emily also managed to get a feeder to come by–a sort of â€Å"blood delivery service.' Normally, Moroi who lived outside sheltered areas and intermingled among humans had access to secret feeders living nearby. Usually, these feeders had a keeper of sorts, a Moroi who made money off the service. It was common for Moroi to simply show up at the home of the feeder's â€Å"owner,' but in this case, Emily had made arrangements for the feeder to be brought to her house. She was doing it as a courtesy, the kind she'd do for any Moroi guests–even ones who were delivering news she'd dreaded receiving for most of her life. Little did she know just how desperately welcome blood was to the Moroi we'd brought along. I didn't mind the brothers suffering a little weakness, but Sonya definitely needed blood if she was going to continue her recovery. Indeed, when the feeder and her keeper showed, Sonya was the first to drink. Dimitri and I had to stay out of sight upstairs. Sonya and Robert could only manage so much spirit-illusion, and hiding Robert and Victor's identities from the feeder's Moroi was imperative. Obscuring both me and Dimitri would have been too much, and considering our most-wanted status, it was essential we not take any risks. Leaving the brothers unsupervised made Dimitri and me nervous, but the two of them seemed too desperate for blood to attempt anything. Dimitri and I wanted to clean up anyways, since we hadn't had time for showers this morning. We flipped a coin, and I got to go first. Only, when I finished and was rummaging through my clothes, I discovered I'd gone through my clean â€Å"casual wear' supply and was down to the dress Sydney had included in the backpack. I grimaced but figured it wouldn't hurt to put the dress on for one night. We wouldn't be doing much more than waiting around for tomorrow's departure, and maybe Emily would let me do laundry before we left. After decent hair styling with a blow dryer, I finally felt civilized again. Sydney and I had been given a guestroom to share, and the brothers occupied another. Sonya was going to stay in Jill's room, and Dimitri had been offered the couch. I didn't doubt for a second he'd be stalking the halls as the household slept and that I'd be trading shifts with him. For now, he was still showering, and I crept out into the hall and peered down over a railing to check out the first floor. The Mastranos, Sonya, and the brothers were all gathered with the feeder and her keeper. Nothing seemed amiss. Relieved, I returned to my room and used the downtime to check on Lissa. After the initial excitement of passing her test, I'd felt her calm down and had assumed she was getting much-needed sleep. But, no. She hadn't gone to bed. She'd taken Eddie and Christian over to Adrian's, and I realized she was the one who'd woken him up from the dream I'd shared with him in the car. A skimming of her recent memories gave me a replay of what had happened since the time he left me and staggered to his door. â€Å"What's going on?' he asked, looking from face to face. â€Å"I was having a good dream.' â€Å"I need you,' said Lissa. â€Å"I hear that from women a lot,' said Adrian. Christian made a gagging sound, but the faintest glimmer of a smile crossed Eddie's lips, despite his otherwise tough guardian- stance. â€Å"I'm serious,' she told him. â€Å"I just got a message from Ambrose. He's got something important to tell us, and †¦ I don't know. I'm still not certain of his role in everything. I want another set of eyes on him. I want your opinion.' â€Å"That,' Adrian said, â€Å"is not something I hear a lot.' â€Å"Just hurry up and get dressed, okay?' ordered Christian. Honestly, it was a wonder anyone slept anymore, considering how often we were all pulled out of sleep. Adrian nonetheless did dress quickly, and despite his flippant comments, I knew he was interested in anything related to clearing my name. What I was uncertain of was whether he'd tell anyone about the mess I'd gotten myself into, now that I'd slipped and revealed some of my true activities. My friends hurried over to the building they'd visited before, the one where Ambrose lived and worked. The Court had woken up, and people were out and about, many undoubtedly wanting to find out about the second monarch test. In fact, a few people catching sight of Lissa called out happy greetings. â€Å"I had another trial tonight,' Lissa told Adrian. Someone had just congratulated her. â€Å"An unexpected one.' Adrian hesitated, and I waited for him to say he'd already heard that from me. I also waited for him to deliver the shocking news about my current company and whereabouts. â€Å"How'd it go?' he asked instead. â€Å"I passed,' she replied. â€Å"That's all that matters.' She couldn't bring herself to tell him about the cheering people, those who didn't just simply support her because of the law but because they actually believed in her. Tasha, Mia, and some surprise friends from school had been among the onlookers, grinning at her. Even Daniella, there to wait for Rufus's turn, had grudgingly congratulated Lissa, seeming surprised Lissa had made it through. The whole experience had been surreal, and Lissa had simply wanted to get out of there. Eddie had gotten pulled away to assist other guardians, despite his protests that he was Lissa's escort. So, Christian and Tasha had ended up having to take Lissa home alone. Well, almost alone. A guardian named Ethan Moore joined them, the one Abe had teased Tasha about. Abe exaggerated some things, but he'd been right this time. Ethan looked as tough as any guardian, but his kickass attitude occasionally faltered whenever he looked at Tasha. He adored her. She clearly liked him too and flirted along the way–much to Christian's discomfort. I thought it was cute. Some guys probably wouldn't go near Tasha because of her scars. It was nice to see someone who appreciated her for her character, no matter how disgusted Christian was by the thought of anyonedating his aunt. And I actually kind of liked seeing Christian so obviously tormented. It was good for him. Ethan and Tasha left once Lissa was securely back in her room. Within minutes, Eddie showed back up, grumbling about how they'd delayed him with some â€Å"crap task' when they knew he had better things to do. He'd apparently made such a fuss that they'd finally released him, so he could hurry back to Lissa's side. He made it just ten minutes before Ambrose's note arrived, which was lucky timing. Eddie would have freaked out if he'd come to her room and found her gone. He would have thought Strigoi had kidnapped his charge in his absence. That was the series of events leading up to what was happening now: Lissa and the three guys going off to Ambrose's secret meeting. â€Å"You're early,' he said, letting them in before Lissa could even knock a second time. They stood inside Ambrose's own room now, not a fancy parlor for clients. It resembled a dorm room–a very nice one. Much nicer than anything I'd endured. Lissa's attention was all on Ambrose, so she didn't notice, out of the corner of her eye, Eddie quickly scanning the room. I was glad he was on his game and guessed he didn't trust Ambrose–or anyone not in our immediate circle. â€Å"What's going on?' asked Lissa, as soon as Ambrose shut the door. â€Å"Why the urgent visit?' â€Å"Because I have to show you something,' he said. On his bed was a pile of papers, and he took the top one. â€Å"Remember when I said they were locking off Tatiana's belongings? Well now they're inventorying and removing them.' Adrian shifted uncomfortably–again, only something I noticed. â€Å"She had a safe where she kept important documents–secret ones, obviously. And †¦' â€Å"And?' prompted Lissa. â€Å"And, I didn't want anyone to find them,' Ambrose continued. â€Å"I didn't know what most of them were, but if she wanted them secret †¦ I just felt they should stay that way. I knew the combination, and so †¦ I stole them.' Guilt shone on his face, but it wasn't murderous guilt. It was guilt for the theft. Lissa eyed the stack eagerly. â€Å"And?' â€Å"None of them have anything to do with what you're looking for †¦ except maybe this one.' He handed her the piece of paper. Adrian and Christian crowded around her. Darling Tatiana, I'm a bit surprised to see how these latest developments have unfolded. I thought we had an understanding that the safety of our people required more than just bringing in a younger crop of guardians. We have let too many of them go to waste, particularly the women. If you took actions to force them back–and you know what I'm talking about– the guardian ranks would swell. This current law is completely inadequate, particularly after seeing how your â€Å"training' experiment failed. I'm equally shocked to hear that you are considering releasing Dimitri Belikov from his guards. I don't understand exactly what happened, but you cannot trust mere appearances. You may be unleashing a monster–or at the very least, a spy–in our midst, and he needs to be under much stricter guard than he currently is. In fact, your continued support of the study of spirit is troubling altogether and no doubt led to this unnatural situation. I believe there is a reason this element was lost to us for so long: our ancestors realized its danger and stamped it out. Avery Lazar stands as proof of that, and your prodigy, Vasilisa Dragomir, is certain to follow. In encouraging Vasilisa, you encourage the degradation of the Dragomir line, a line that should be allowed to fade into history with honor and not the disgrace of insanity. Your support of her may also put your own great-nephew at risk, something neither of us would like to see happen. I'm sorry to burden you with so much condemnation. I hold you in the highest regard and have nothing but respect for the way you have so skillfully governed our people these long years. I'm certain you will soon come to the appropriate decisions–though I worry others may not share my confidence in you. Said people might attempt to take matters into their own hands, and I fear for what may follow. The letter was typed, with no signature. For a moment, Lissa couldn't process it as a whole. She was completely consumed by the part about the Dragomir line fading into disgrace. It hit too close to the vision she'd seen in the test. It was Christian who pulled her back. â€Å"Well. It would seem Tatiana had enemies. But I guess that's kind of obvious at this point in the game.' â€Å"Who's this from?' demanded Adrian. His face was dark, furious at this thinly veiled threat to his aunt. â€Å"I don't know,' said Ambrose. â€Å"This is exactly the way I found it. Maybe she didn't even know who the sender was.' Lissa nodded her agreement. â€Å"There's certainly an anonymous feel to it †¦ and yet, at the same time, I feel like it's someone Tatiana must have known well.' Adrian gave Ambrose a suspicious look. â€Å"How do we know you didn't just type this yourself to throw us off?' â€Å"Adrian,' chastised Lissa. She didn't say it but was hoping to urge Adrian to feel out Ambrose's aura for anything she might not be able to detect. â€Å"This is crazy,' said Christian, tapping the piece of paper. â€Å"The part about rounding up dhampirs and forcing them to be guardians. What do you think that means–the â€Å"actions' that Tatiana knows about?' I knew because I'd been tipped off about a lot of this earlier. Compulsion, Tatiana's note had said. â€Å"I'm not sure,' said Lissa. She reread the letter to herself. â€Å"What about the â€Å"experiments' part? Do you think that's the training sessions Grant did with Moroi?' â€Å"That was what I thought,' said Ambrose. â€Å"But I'm not sure.' â€Å"Can we see the rest?' asked Adrian, gesturing to the stack of papers. I couldn't tell if his suspicion was legitimate distrust of Ambrose or just the result of how upset his aunt's murder made him. Ambrose handed over the papers, but after going through the pages, Lissa agreed: there was nothing of use in them. The documents mostly consisted of legalese and personal correspondence. It occurred to Lissa–as it had to me–that Ambrose might not be showing everything he'd found. There was no way to prove that for now. Stifling a yawn, she thanked him and left with the others. She was hoping for sleep, but her mind couldn't help but analyze the letter's possibilities. If it was legitimate. â€Å"That letter's evidence that someone had a lot more reason to be pissed off at Tatiana than Rose did,' observed Christian as they wound their way back upstairs toward the building's exit. â€Å"Aunt Tasha once said that anger based on calculated reason is more dangerous than anger based on blind hate.' â€Å"Your aunt's a regular philosopher,' said Adrian wearily. â€Å"But everything we've got is still circumstantial.' Ambrose had let Lissa keep the letter, and she'd folded it and put it in her jeans pocket. â€Å"I'm curious what Tasha will have to say about this. And Abe too.' She sighed. â€Å"I wish Grant was still alive. He was a good man–and might have some insight into this.' They reached a side exit on the main floor, and Eddie pushed the door open for them. Christian glanced over at Lissa as they stepped outside. â€Å"How close were Grant and Serena–‘ Eddie moved a fraction of a second before Lissa saw the problem, but of course, Eddie would have already been watching for problems. A man–a Moroi, actually–had been waiting among trees in the courtyard that separated Ambrose's building from the neighboring one. It wasn't exactly a secluded spot, but it was far enough off of the main paths that it often stayed deserted. The man moved forward and looked startled when he saw Eddie racing toward him. I was able to analyze the fight in a way Lissa couldn't. Judging by the man's angle and movement, he'd been heading for Lissa–with a knife in his hand. Lissa froze in fear, an expected reaction for someone not trained to react in this situation. But when Christian jerked her back, she came to life and quickly retreated with him and Adrian. The attacker and Eddie were deadlocked for a moment, each trying to take the other down. I heard Lissa yell for help, but my attention was all on the fighters. The guy was strong for a Moroi and his maneuvers suggested he'd been trained to fight. I doubted, however, that he'd been trained since elementary school, nor did he have the muscle a dhampir did. Sure enough, Eddie broke through and forced the guy to the ground. Eddie reached out to pin the man's right hand and get the knife out of the equation. Moroi or not, the man was actually quite skilled with the blade, particularly when I (and probably Eddie too) noticed scarring and what looked like a bent finger on his left hand. The guy had probably gone to great extents to hone his knife-hand's reflexes. Even restrained, he was still able to snake up with the blade, aiming unhesitatingly for Eddie's neck. Eddie was too fast to let that happen and blocked the blow with his arm, which took the blade's cut. Eddie's block gave the Moroi a bit more room to move, and he bucked up, throwing Eddie off. Without missing a beat–really, this guy was impressive–the Moroi swung for Eddie again. There could be no doubt about the man's intentions. He wasn't holding back. He was there to kill. That blade was out for blood. Guardians knew how to subdue and take prisoners, but we'd also been trained that when things were moving too fast, when it was an us-or-them situation–well, we made sure it was them. Eddie was faster than his opponent and was being driven by instincts pounded into us for years: stop what was trying to kill you. Eddie had no gun or knife, not at Court. When the man came at him a second time, knife again pointed straight at Eddie's neck, Eddie used the only weapon left that he could be sure would save his life. Eddie staked the Moroi. Dimitri had once jokingly commented that you didn't have to be Strigoi to be hurt by a stake through your heart. And, let's face it, a stake through the heart didn't actually hurt. It killed. Tatiana was proof. The man's knife actually made contact with Eddie's neck– and then fell before piercing skin. The man's eyes went wide in shock and pain and then saw nothing at all. He was dead. Eddie leaned back on his heels, staring at his victim with the adrenaline-charged battle lust that followed any situation. Shouting suddenly caught his attention, and he leapt to his feet, ready for the next threat. What he found was a group of guardians, ones who had responded to Lissa's earlier cries for help. They took one look at the scene and immediately acted on and the conclusions their training drove them to. There was a dead Moroi and someone holding a bloody weapon. The guardians went for Eddie, throwing him against the wall and prying his stake away. Lissa shouted to them that they had it all wrong, that Eddie had saved her life and– â€Å"Rose!' Dimitri's frantic voice shocked me back to the Mastrano house. I was sitting on the bed, and he knelt before me, face full of fear as he gripped my shoulders. â€Å"Rose, what's wrong? Are you okay?' â€Å"No!' I pushed him aside and moved toward the door. â€Å"I have to–I have to go back to Court. Now. Lissa's in danger. She needs me.' â€Å"Rose. Roza. Slow down.' He'd caught hold of my arm, and there was no escaping from that grip. He turned me so I faced him. His hair was still damp from the shower, and the clean scent of soap and wet skin surrounded us. â€Å"Tell me what happened.' I quickly repeated what I'd seen. â€Å"Someone tried to kill her, Dimitri! And I wasn't there!' â€Å"But Eddie was,' said Dimitri quietly. â€Å"She's okay. She's alive.' He released me, and I leaned wearily against the wall. My heart was racing, and even though my friends were safe, I couldn't shake my panic. â€Å"And now he's in trouble. Those guardians were pissed–‘ â€Å"Only because they don't know the whole story. They see a dead body and a weapon, that's it. Once they get facts and testimonies, everything will be okay. Eddie saved a Moroi. It's his job.' â€Å"But he killed another Moroi to do it,' I pointed out. â€Å"We're not supposed to do that.' It sounded like an obvious–and even stupid–statement, but I knew Dimitri understood what I meant. The guardians' purpose was to protect Moroi. They come first. Killing one was unimaginable. But then, so was them trying to kill each other. â€Å"This wasn't a normal situation,' Dimitri affirmed. I tipped my head back. â€Å"I know, I know. I just can't stand leaving her undefended. I want so badly to go back and keep her safe. Right now.' Tomorrow seemed years away. â€Å"What if it happens again?' â€Å"Other people are there to protect her.' Dimitri walked over to me, and I was surprised to see a smile on his lips, in light of the grim events. â€Å"Believe me, I want to protect her too, but we'd risk our lives for nothing if we take off right now. Wait a little longer and at least risk your life for something important.' A little of the panic faded. â€Å"And Jill is important, isn't she?' â€Å"Very.' I straightened up. Part of my brain kept trying to calm me about Lissa's attack while the other fully processed what we'd accomplished here. â€Å"We did it,' I said, feeling a smile slowly spread to my own lips. â€Å"Against all reason †¦ somehow, we found Lissa's lost sister. Do you realize what this means? Lissa can have everything she's entitled to now. They can't deny her anything. Hell, she could be queen if she wanted. And Jill †¦' I hesitated. â€Å"Well, she's part of an ancient royal family. That's got to be a good thing, right?' â€Å"I think it depends on Jill,' said Dimitri. â€Å"And what the after-effects of all this are.' Guilt over potentially ruining Jill's life returned, and I stared down at my feet. â€Å"Hey, it's okay,' he said, tilting my chin back up. His brown eyes were warm and affectionate. â€Å"You did the right thing. No one else would have tried something this impossible. Only Rose Hathaway. You took a gamble to find Jill. You risked your life by breaking Abe's rules–and it paid off. It was worth it.' â€Å"I hope Adrian thinks so,' I mused. â€Å"He thinks me leaving our â€Å"safe house' was the stupidest thing ever.' Dimitri's hand dropped. â€Å"You told him about all this?' â€Å"Not about Jill. But I accidentally told him we weren't in West Virginia anymore. He's kept it secret, though,' I added hastily. â€Å"No one else knows.' â€Å"I can believe that,' said Dimitri, though he'd lost some of his earlier warmth. It was such a fleeting thing. â€Å"He †¦ he seems pretty loyal to you.' â€Å"He is. I trust him completely.' â€Å"And he makes you happy?' Dimitri's tone wasn't harsh, but there was an intensity to it that put the exchange on par with a police interrogation. I thought about my time with Adrian: the bantering, the parties, the games, and of course, the kissing. â€Å"Yeah. He does. I have fun with him. I mean he's infuriating sometimes–okay, a lot of the time–but don't be fooled by all the vices. He's not a bad person.' â€Å"I know he isn't,' said Dimitri. â€Å"He's a good man. It's not easy for everyone to see, but I can. He's still getting himself together, but he's on his way. I saw it in the escape. And after †¦' The words caught on Dimitri's tongue. â€Å"After Siberia, he was there for you? He helped you?' I nodded, puzzled by all these questions. Turns out they were only the warm-up for the big one. â€Å"Do you love him?' There were only a few people in the world who could ask me such insanely personal questions without getting punched. Dimitri was one of them. With us, there were no walls, but our complicated relationship made this topic surreal. How could I describe loving someone else to a man I'd once loved? A man you still love, a voice whispered inside my head. Maybe. Probably. Again, I reminded myself that it was natural to carry lingering feelings for Dimitri. They would fade. They had to fade, just like his had. He was the past. Adrian was my future. â€Å"Yeah,' I said, taking longer than I probably should have. â€Å"I †¦ I do love him.' â€Å"Good. I'm glad.' The thing was, Dimitri's face didn't look all that glad as he stared blankly out the window. My confusion grew. Why was he upset? His actions and words no longer seemed to match lately. I approached him. â€Å"What's wrong? â€Å"Nothing. I just want to make sure that you're okay. That you're happy.' He turned back to me, putting on a forced smile. He'd spoken the truth–but not the whole truth. â€Å"Things have been changing, that's all. It's making me reconsider so much. Ever since Donovan †¦ and then Sonya †¦ it's strange. I thought it all changed the night Lissa saved me. But it didn't. There's been so much more, more to the healing than I realized.' He started to slip into pensive mode but caught himself. â€Å"Every day I figure out something new. Some new emotion I'd forgotten to feel. Some revelation I totally missed. Some beauty I didn't see.' â€Å"Hey, my hair in the alley does not go on that list, okay?' I teased. â€Å"You were in shock.' The forced smile grew natural. â€Å"No, Roza. It was beautiful. It's beautiful now.' â€Å"The dress is just throwing you off,' I said, attempting a joke. In reality, I felt dizzy under his gaze. Those dark, dark eyes looked at me–really looked at me, I think, for the first time since he'd entered the room. A mixed expression came over him that made no sense to me. I could pick out the emotions it contained but not what caused them. Awe. Wonder. Sadness. Regret. â€Å"What?' I asked uneasily. â€Å"Why are you looking at me like that?' He shook his head, the smile rueful now. â€Å"Because sometimes, a person can get so caught up in the details that they miss the whole. It's not just the dress or the hair. It's you. You're beautiful. So beautiful, it hurts me.' I felt a strange fluttering sensation in my chest. Butterflies, cardiac arrest †¦ it was hard to say what exactly. Yet, in that moment, I was no longer standing in the Mastrano guestroom. He'd said those words before, or something very close. So beautiful, it hurts me. It was back in the cabin at St. Vladimir's, the one and only time we'd had sex. He'd looked at me in a very similar way, too, only there'd been less sadness. Nonetheless, as I heard those words again, a door I'd kept locked in my heart suddenly burst open, and with it came all the feelings and experiences and sense of oneness we'd always shared. Looking at him, just for the space of a heartbeat, I had a surreal sensation wash over me, liked I'd known him forever. Like we were bound †¦ but not in the way Lissa and I were, by a bond forced on us. â€Å"Hey, guys, have you–oh.' Sydney came to a halt in the half-open doorway and promptly took two steps back. â€Å"Sorry. I–that is–‘ Dimitri and I immediately pulled back from each other. I felt warm and shaky and only then noticed how close we had been. I didn't even remember moving, but only a breath had separated us. What had happened? It was like a trance. A dream. I swallowed and tried to slow my pulse. â€Å"No problem. What's going on?' Sydney glanced between us, still looking uncomfortable. Her dating life might be non- existent, but even she knew what she'd walked in on. I was glad one of us did. â€Å"I †¦ that is †¦ I just wanted to come hang out. I can't handle that going on downstairs.' I attempted a smile, still utterly confused by my feelings. Why did Dimitri look at me like that? Why did he say that? He can't still want me. He said he didn't. He told me to leave him alone. â€Å"Sure. We were just †¦ talking,' I said. She obviously didn't believe me. I tried harder to convince her †¦ and myself. â€Å"We were talking about Jill. Do you have any ideas on how to get her to Court–seeing as we're all outlaws?' Sydney might not be an expert in personal relationships, but puzzles were familiar territory. She relaxed, her attention focusing inward as she tried to figure our problem out. â€Å"Well, you could always have her mother–‘ A loud crashing from downstairs abruptly cut her off. As one, Dimitri and I sprang for the door, ready to combat whatever mess Victor and Robert had caused. We both came screeching to a halt at the top of the stairs when we heard lots of shouts for everyone to get down. â€Å"Guardians,' Dimitri said. â€Å"There are guardians raiding the house.'

Operation & Logistics Management Essay

In modern world, the management of operations and logistics can represent the know-what, the know-how, and know-why of a company’s overall picture as well as its functional areas. Knowledge of the management is acquired by managers and employees, including analysts, by examining and investigating operations under study. This differs from the acquisition of specialized knowledge that is learned by performance over time. Usually, the management of operations and logistics is conducted by company personnel who possess a high level of skills in their field of work, for example, strategic planning, marketing, manufacturing, accounting and finance, and human resources. Besides, there are other company occupations that include some type of management work, directly or indirectly. The management of operations and logistics can therefore be defined as ‘‘the acquisition, creation, packaging, or application of knowledge’’ (Lesser 90). KANGPUT Technology Development Company has been increasingly, and heavily, influenced by economic theories of the firm; notably, developing management systems, selecting appropriate software that may be placed under the umbrella term of the â€Å"knowledge-based view of the firm†. KANGPUT Technology Development Company is based on customer satisfaction. This essay is based on KANGPUT Technology Development Company in China. This paper will consider how to use, maintain and control the knowledge effectively so the current management of operations and logistics of the organisation could be improved and have a better future overall. This work also covers the possible need for the director of KANGPUT Technology Development Company to accommodate changing knowledge work processes. An important part of developing operations and logistics management systems is selecting appropriate software, and therefore software selection is also discussed in the paper. Operations form the base of both multinational and small company, whether in manufacturing, service or non-profit organisations. Operations Management & Logistics is a field that involves several subject disciplines such as product development, quality management, logistics, information systems and human resources management. Operations comprise beginning from the performance management of a group of design engineers to the exact forecast of production and delivery performance. People are the source of the ideas and actions that grow organizations. Yet the role of people and human capital has been changing in a fundamental way over the last several decades. Until recently, institutions have been the dominant part of the equation. As long as human inputs into wealth were seen as commodities, then people were interchangeable, one for another. Their contributions were marginal to the profits and practices of the company. As much as leadership proclaimed, â€Å"Our people are our most important resource,† very few organizations actually mobilized their people (Thierauf 32). A major challenge for the organisation is to engage and cultivate its networks of human capital (Bassett 35). In this era, the human capital that supports the company is only partially a group of direct employees. In fact, as time goes on, many organizations will operate with a core group of strategic leadership. The era where benign bureaucracies hired people to have jobs for life has come to an end. Instead, people will work in a number of organizations during their working lives and may have multiple engagements with a number of companies at the same time. People will increasingly begin to see themselves as companies of one, where they are responsible for their learning, their personal growth strategies, the quality of their relationships, and their work environment. As a result, a growing proportion of the people working with enterprises will be independent contractors, outsourced from other organizations, members of organizations with whom the enterprise has alliances. KANGPUT Technology Development Company raises these critical questions and lay the groundwork for establishing the kinds of frameworks, practices, and relationships that are necessary for any company to successfully navigate operations management & logistics. KANGPUT Technology Development Company must to make organization that is nothing more than an extension of human thought and action, which makes human capital the only active capital. Financial and physical resources are important, but they cannot be transformed without the lever of human capital. The input of human capital grows in value and is becoming the differentiator for the company. Therefore, KANGPUT Technology Development Company must recalibrate to see how that input operates and bring it into balance with all of the other elements, including long-term knowledge management strategy. There should be a power shift. As people will begin to be better able to autonomously gather information, achieve mobility, and initiate connectivity, they will redefine the role and value of their human capital. As a result, they will make new demands on management for more satisfying kinds of tools and techniques for the management of operations. Operations management has to, in a sense, catch up with its workforce and respond with increasing flexibility to obtain the kinds of capabilities and commitments it needs to succeed (Lowson 120). This is a major reversal for operation management, which is used to being able to dictate the terms of employment. Regardless, it is a necessity. Company leadership must come to know better what human capital it needs, not just for today, but also for tomorrow and the day after. It must understand how to rapidly acquire, compensate, grow, and retain it so that it can positively affect its business performance and operating objectives. The result is that it must change its orientation and its basic systems to be at the lead of the knowledge-based enterprise reality. Managing the knowledge and human capital for continuous learning, sharing, and connecting as human beings needs to be part of the daily practice of everyone, from leadership to the frontline of the company (Thierauf 67-78). In the beginning, it should be said that there is no single hardware or software product or combination of the two that can give a comprehensive approach to operations management. If a comprehensive operations management system environment is the ultimate purpose, hardware and software products cannot be utilized alone. Creating a company-wide knowledge management infrastructure needs the integration of many different technologies. For KANGPUT Technology Development Company to open successfully its collective knowledge for companywide use, it is essential not only to develop and use integrated hardware and software technology but also to use the development company’s employees and their related business processes with this knowledge management technology. If KANGPUT Technology Development Company employees are not working in a collaborative environment or if no procedures are in place to share the knowledge, no amount of operations management system technology can change that. For operations management system environment to work well, it must be viewed by company employees at all levels as a strategic means for KANGPUT Technology Development Company to become more competitive and ensure success in the long run. To better comprehend what needs to be done to develop operations management systems effectively, it is best to begin with past and current approaches to the management of operations. This can be done in the form of expert systems and then go on to various levels of operational knowledge acquisition and use—beginning from tactical knowledge to strategic knowledge (Leonard-Barton 156). To acquire and spread narrow- to wide-based operational knowledge for KANGPUT Technology Development Company’s employees, the present knowledge work processes may have to be innovated. This may include reengineering in which knowledge work processes have to be revamped so that knowledge flows freely to every functional unit and subpart that needs it. In order to achieve this ambitious knowledge work redesign, several approaches can be undertaken by operational knowledge management system developers. First, KANGPUT Technology Development Company can change the content of knowledge by expanding what it encompasses in order to better meet desired goals. Second, the company can reorder the composition of work so that company employees may change the concentration of their jobs from information to knowledge. This change may demand the use of more teams of employees in order to share knowledge learned from previous projects, job assignments, and the like. From another side, the change can concentrate on the employment of new networking technology that lends itself to groupware. Using this technology allows employees to have individual knowledge bases and global knowledge bases so that to improve the effectiveness of their operations. Overall, the described changes are quite consistent with reengineering approaches to work and also bolster the efforts of employees using knowledge to make their jobs more effectively. For the purpose to decide which approach to use for reengineering work processes, it is essential for the operations system developers to define which knowledge orientation is required by the company and its employees. Additionally, there are other factors that can influence which direction to choose. These involve the competitive environment, corporate culture, company strategies, problem-finding approach, and the information technology infrastructure. By creating an effective relationship among knowledge work processes, company employees, and the items set forth above, operations system developers can sort out the important factors and set forth ones that are useful in the final design. Operations management systems represent a new business intelligence technology that is useful. Business intelligence technology has become popular because it gives decision makers the opportunity to access and analyze large quantities of information. This information can be used to distil knowledge concerning current and future patterns and trends. Besides, operations management systems are attractive because they give decision makers faster access to desired knowledge which can be presented in new ways that do not require extensive custom programming. In the future of the company they will assist decision makers in making better informed decisions. The point is that decision makers have a wide base of resources at their command to use on problems facing them. Since no one software product can serve the full range of user knowledge needs, there are a host of products available today. Good operations management systems require the cooperation of the vendors, the computer department, and the company’s decision makers and their employees. Most outside vendor products have limitations that will be reached the first time a user says, ‘‘I need †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬â„¢. What the person then finds is that the package has provided what is thought to be needed. The vendor can do little to adapt it. So instead of simply acquiring this package, it is necessary to look for one or more software packages that provide capabilities for adapting it to the needs of company decision makers. This naturally leads to the next team that must be created, the computer department. Cooperating with the computer department rather than treating it as an outsider will result in a operations management system much better used to the users’ needs. These computer employees, after all, have been providing much of the information that managers and their employees use. Therefore, they know what some of the decision makers’ needs are already. They will also be the people who will create and implement the system and adapt it to decision makers’ needs.