Reflective Essay

Reflective Essay Reflective Essay Reflective Essay Amanda Williams HCS/455 September 29, 2014 Nicolette Hamilton Reflective Essay A health care policy is crucial for the industry. This will allow the industry to make changes that may be necessary for the benefit of the consumer. The first step in the policy making process is to figure out what the policy is going to be and what it is going to cover. As an example, a health care policy would be the creation of more employment opportunities for health care professionals. This would involve creating more facilities in rural areas. After the policy has been formulated it is time to start the implementation process. At this time the policy is sent to the appropriate division within the Health and Human Services. â€Å"The US government’s principal agency for implementing many of the health laws is the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)† (Shi, 2014 pg. 39). In this division the rules and regulations are made on how the policy will be enforced. For example, if each state is required to report the number of facilities, the requirement will be made to do so. The implementation stage of the process is putting the policy into action. During this stage stakeholders have responsibilities as well. Stakeholders would consist of the government that provides the funding for the policy, the individual states will ensure the policy is enforced, and facilities or organizations using the funds to expand. The failure or success of a policy is

When to Abbreviate, Etc.

When to Abbreviate, Etc. When to Abbreviate, Etc. When to Abbreviate, Etc. By Mark Nichol When is it appropriate to abbreviate words? The answer to this question, as with many matters in writing, is not a simple one: It depends on type of content and the degree of the content’s formality. In technical publications and scholarly journals, abbreviation of statistical information or references to dimensions and durations abounds. Furthermore, the American Medical Association’s manual of style dictates that periods be omitted in many abbreviations. However, in general content intended for professional publication, consider whether to abbreviate, especially in contexts in which multiple various abbreviations might be distracting. Social titles such as Mr., Mrs., and Ms., are usually superfluous altogether but are abbreviated when they appear, except in generic usage such as â€Å"Hey, mister!† Doctor is abbreviated before a name but otherwise spelled out, as is saint. (Note, however, that cities and other geographic designations differ in using Saint or St.; consult a resource to verify the correct style for a particular location.) Military and quasi-military ranks are spelled out or abbreviated depending on context, but as with other titles, they should be spelled out in isolation (for example, â€Å"The captain returned the salute†). Regarding i.e., that abbreviation and its close cousins e.g. and etc. are convenient, but they are no improvement on the English equivalents (â€Å"that is,† â€Å"for example,† and â€Å"and so on,† respectively). Style for scholarly journals is to use the abbreviations in parentheses and spell out the English phrases outside parentheses, but this distinction is not recommended for general-interest publications; avoid them altogether. Names of countries and other geopolitical entities are usually spelled out as nouns but abbreviated as adjectives (â€Å"the United States,† but â€Å"the US economy†); note in the previous example that periods in such designations, as in most other capitalized abbreviations, are unnecessary. Designations of thoroughfares, like many other words, can be abbreviated in lists or in graphics where space is at a premium, but generally spell out such terms as avenue, road, and street even when they are part of an address. Titles of senior corporate executives- CEO, COO, and CIO, for instance- are almost always abbreviated in all references, but VP (â€Å"vice president†), SVP (â€Å"senior vice president†), and the like are generally spelled out in all instances. Corporate terms such as PR (â€Å"public relations†) and HR (â€Å"human resources†) can be spelled out or abbreviated depending on context; they’re likely to be spelled out in a formal report and probably will be abbreviated in a casual reference in a mass-market book. Academic degrees are often abbreviated after a person’s name, but it’s better to refer to someone receiving a bachelor’s or master’s degree or a doctorate rather than a BA, an MA, or a PhD. Likewise, â€Å"curriculum vitae,† or the plural form â€Å"curricula vitae,† is preferable to CV. References to media such as CDs and DVDs are ubiquitous (or at least were before they began to give way to online access to music and films), and there’s no need to spell those initialisms out. (You’d likely have to look up that DVD originally stood for â€Å"digital video disc,† though the second word has since been supplanted by versatile. And who knows, or cares, that URL stands for â€Å"uniform resource locator†? The initialism will do in all cases.) However, words for parts of a book or other printed publication should be spelled out (for example, â€Å"In my copy, chapter 6 starts on page 47†), and MS or ms, for manuscript, should be used only in informal contexts. No. is sometimes used as an abbreviation for number in phrases such as â€Å"No. 1†; it’s a compromise between spelling the word out and using the number symbol (#). The abbreviation for versus, vs., is acceptable in informal content, as is OK. (Okay is a common variant, but the initials are more accurate; the most likely derivation of OK is the jocular misspelling â€Å"oll korrect,† the only survivor of a short-lived flurry of such locutions coined during the nineteenth century.) Terms of distance and duration, such as foot and hour, are generally spelled out when accompanying numerals except in technical writing, as are designations such as Celsius and Fahrenheit; the same is true of phrases such as â€Å"miles per hour† and â€Å"pounds per square inch.† However, the abbreviations am and pm, often capitalized and/or with periods, are always acceptable, though a phrase such as â€Å"one o’clock in the morning† is appropriate for a casual reference in fiction or nonfiction. Abbreviations are much more likely to be employed in ephemeral publications such as newspapers than in more durable materials such as books, though formality varies widely in the latter format; online usage differs as well. Ultimately, the careful writer will consult a style guide appropriate to the type of print or online publication for guidance or at least will consciously consider the visual and cognitive impact of abbreviation. (See this post for more guidance on abbreviations, and search for â€Å"abbreviations† on DailyWritingTips.com for additional assistance.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:30 Synonyms for â€Å"Meeting†50 Synonyms for "Assistant"Personification vs. Anthropomorphism

The Past and Future of Energy Usage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Past and Future of Energy Usage - Essay Example Two works that have recently been published that attempt to replace this rhetorical sideshow with legitimate information is Vaclav Smil's Energy at the Crossroads and Alfred Crosby's Children of the Sun. Crosby's work offers a natural history of energy consumption from the development of fire and cooking all the way to third millennial technological possibilities such as the holy grail of nuclear fusion. Smil's presents a more detailed analysis of the economic and energy situation of the past century focusing specifically on the statistical utilization of hydrocarbon technologies in various countries. Their respective accounts and arguments give a good overall picture of the natural evolutionary, economic and environmental impact of the past, present and long-term future of energy. The primary thrust of Crosby's argument is that the story of technology in tandem with humanity has always been about finding novel ways of exploiting the same source of energy: the Sun. As humanity has expanded and become more socially and culturally sophisticated technology has responded by finding consistently more efficient ways to harness the sun's powers, indirectly through wood and biomass and in more recent times, directly through wind and solar power utilization. However, unlike other analyses Crosby places humanity within nature versus against nature, and thus his work is a "natural history" of energy consumption rather than a litany of environmental offenses we have committed against nature. Of course, Crosby is sympathetic to the Malthusian end game at stake. He reveals through historical examples that every crossroads or crisis point, humanity has found a way to transform technologically the way in which we utilize energy to avoid the collapse of civilization. One speci fic example of this was the dependence on whale oil in the 18th century. "Humanity's yearnings for the convenience of light at night, though implemented through a primitive technology, were endangering a whole species of Cetacea."1 The two options to resolving this yearning included conservation, unthinkable by all except for the most progressive of individuals, or finding a substitute, which turned out to be kerosene and "the history of human exploitation of sun energy took another violent turn."2 The situation is much the same, today's whale oil is petroleum, with two "minor" complications here in the 21st century 1) the global political and economic dynamic have interposed agendas on technological transformation, and 2) hesitancy in adopting conservationist practices has placed a significant stress on the planets resources locally and globally. The question of Oil is more than just a question of natural history; it has become the bellwether issue of our time. Many would assert that the current situation in the Middle East is directly related to this question, and the political catchphrase of the decade has been "reducing our dependence on foreign oil." Smil's statistical analysis of oil usage is thorough and he means to tackle the popular debate regarding the "Peak Oil" theory. Peak Oil offers that at some point in the near past or near future3 maximum oil production will be reached followed by terminal decline. The consequences of failing to find a viable alternative energy form or

Revelation and the Apocalyptic Tradition, Jesus' Letters to the seven Essay

Revelation and the Apocalyptic Tradition, Jesus' Letters to the seven Churches, visions and signs from heaven - Essay Example Bible says the ‘Jesus sent seven letters from heaven’ through John to seven churches on earth. John wrote the letters as said by Jesus to us (Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, Revelation 2 & 3). All seven letters follow the same pattern and refer to actual historical circumstances in those churches in the first century that first praises the church, then criticizes for their work, giving them warning and finally encouraging to continue their good work (Harris, Ch.20).The Revelation was a special vision given by Jesus to John which interprets the history which had happen and reveals the prophecy that will happen (Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, Revelation 2 & 3). Jesus, while instructing John to write the letters, appeared to John showing signs like double edged sword, seven stars, keys, seven lamps. Harris (20) interprets the symbols as referring to the events in first century; future predictions which will take place or occur at a particular place and time. The seven lamps symbolize seven churches, where the letters were to be sent. The seven churches were Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. The seven letters explain the significance to doing good and benefits of overcoming the bad. Referring to the first letter written to Ephesus, Jesus writes to the angel ‘announcer’ of the church ‘people’ of Ephesus expressing his happiness over their hard work and patience for not giving up their faith but criticizes the same church for not showing eager love as in the past. But the same does not prevail now and threatens to steal the lamp from the church if eager love does not exist and promises fruit from tree of life for overcoming the obstacle (The Letter to the Church at Ephesus). Second letter written to Smyrna reveals true love of God to the church. Jesus writes that ‘He is the first and He is the last’ and praises the church of Smyrna for their faith in Christ despit e horrible torture carried out by the Roman and Israelis for not following their God. Jesus criticizes those persecuting the people of church and assures that the people who will face the atrocities and win, will be crown of life. This refers to a place in heaven with real riches. The letter also refers to the second death which will not die which means ‘the lake of fire’ i.e. our soul which will never die (Revelation 2: Jesus’ Letters to Seven Churches). The letter to Pergamum explains the true faith of Christianity. As usual letter starts praising the people for their faith in God but criticizes them for following two religions, eat food sacrificed to idols, comprise with religious duties. Jesus warns them to accurate the doctrine of Christianity and threatens to come to church with double edged swords which are His ‘words’. While encouraging, Jesus ensures to give them MANNA, special bread from heaven and a name of white stone (Letters to the Seve n Churches of Asia, Revelation 2 & 3). In its letter to Thyatira, Jesus appears in eyes with fire and shining bronze feet praising the church for its increasing greatness of deeds, faith, service to people, love while warning them not to follow Jezebel, the lady who is spreading sex sins and destroying churches. The letter reveals that Jesus has patience and power look through the hearts of people to inspect their soul and encourages the church to follow true religion and the one who overcome will receive God (Letters to the S

Management and Chemical Engineering Essay Example for Free

Management and Chemical Engineering Essay I have completed my Bachelors of Technology in Chemical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, India (IITG). I am seeking a position in your organization in order to enhance my skills and practical experience, while being resourceful and innovative. I have worked hard in my undergraduate studies, striking a balance between compulsory courses like Fluid Mechanics, Process Equipment Design, Process Control and Instrumentation, Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics, related wet lab courses and supervised research under the guidance of Dr Chandan Das (Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, IITG) Dr AK Golder (Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, IITG). My Bachelor Thesis Project was on Biosorption of heavy metals to purify industrial effluents under the guidance of Dr. Chandan Das (Associate Professor, Dept. of Chemical Eng., IITG) and Dr. AK Golder (Associate Professor, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, IITG). When I look back now, I realize the role of an inspiring mentor in a student’s life. Dr. Das and Dr. Gloder gave me a whole new direction to explore my research skills and the interest in reading research articles while doing my undergraduate courses in mainstream Chemical Engineering. After graduation I joined Jindal Steel and Power Ltd as a Project Engineer where I practiced what I learnt during my educational life. Post completion of one year, I joined SPI Pvt. Ltd. As an Assistant Manager. I choose this as apart from technical skills, I also wanted to gain a good understanding about the business processes and its various elements. While working there my interest became more focused towards managerial skills. It was there where I decided to go for my higher education in Masters in Management as managerial knowledge via a reputed and esteemed university will help me to learn a wider scope of business management skills which was missing in my technical career. In my education thus far, I have been actively involved in sports and co-curricular activities including making manual robot, organized Rock-o-Phonix for three consecutive years (2008, 2009 2010) and represented IIT-Guwahati in Inter IIT sports meet in Football which has helped me to develop upon simplicity in approach, patience, team work, confidence, loyalty, ability to manage loads of stress and adaptability. To work using the in-hand knowledge and indigenous creativity simultaneously is my biggest asset. Education I believe is not just excelling in courses that we take and cracking their exams but a continuous process of development and self-realization. Not just asking â€Å"what to do† or â€Å"how to do† but â€Å"who am i† and â€Å"what is my purpose† too. My long term career goals are to become socially responsible individual and to get the dream job of working in the field of interest. If given the opportunity of pursuing the graduate study in field of management I would be getting involved in a project that will help me grow intellectually and professionally and result in useful outcomes.

The Impact of Television on American Society Essay -- essays research

The Impact of Television on American Society   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What role does television play in society? For decades we have seen many parts of our world rapidly going through changes in technology. Today’s society has been transformed by means of communication and the available information through mass media. Most Americans rely on television for news, sports, and entertainment. Television is just one of the many examples of how technology has changed our lives. Since the invention of the television in the early 1900’s, it has played a very important role in our lives. Having a television set in the home has become very essential in today’s society. We depend on it to entertain us with its sitcoms and to inform us about current world issues. The problem is that sometimes what we hear or see on television is not always accurate or correct. Sometimes news stories give us the wrong information and we believe that it is true because it is being said on television. They may give you a story, but they may lea ve out some details to prove their point or to make the story more interesting. Americans are among the most ill-informed people in the world. Television, in other words, is not the great information machine. It is the great disinformation machine. TV tends to mislead us with its stories and in many ways we allow ourselves to be fall behind in the world as we tend to want to watch the entertainment shows and not the news broadcasts. Thus, we are not informed about what is going on in o...

Dow Pbb

Dow Chemical By Kai Draaisma Laurens de Blij Diedrik Oost Eva Sloff Lesley Flohil 13-11-2012 Duisenberg School of Finance Executive summary 1. Summary of Facts. With an annual revenue of $20. 2 billion Dow held the leading market position worldwide in ethylene and polyethylene (exhibit 1b). To consolidate all of Bahia Blanca’s polyethylene activity under Dow’s control a three-stage plan was developed. The first stage involved taking control of PBB, the second stage involved acquiring Polisur’s two polyethylene plants, and the third stage involved building a new ethylene cracker.To determine a proper risk premium Dow had to consider possible country risks. Currency and government policy risk may have had an impact because of possible future crises and changing government policies relevant to foreign investments. Furthermore, because of the ending of the convertibility law Dow also had to consider a possible exchange-rate risk. Dow created a holding company, Dow In vestment Argentina, to invest in the project, then they had to decide whether they will use general corporate funds or raise debt for the PBB bid. 2. Statement of problem . 1General analysis Rational for Acquisition of PBB Dow Chemical’s corporate strategy is to look for horizontal- and vertical integration, achieve technological leadership and gain international presence. Dow will benefit from a more integrated production process by lowering their cost of production. PBB will also create stable supplies of ethane for Dow allowing them to achieve operating rates near 100%. Cracking ethane in the region will result in lower operating risk for Dow meaning the supply/input risk for the production of Polyethylene.An increase in the production output of Dow will allow them to benefit from economies of scale. Overall Dow will gain technology leadership and operational excellence from adding PBB to their company and enhance them with a costleader position in the market required to c ompete with the government-subsidized chemical complexes. Risk measurement In this section we provide a brief risk analysis. Table 1 is designed to give a compact overview of the different risks, possible mitigating actions and whether the risks are integrated in the cash flow or discount rate.Not every risk was applicable in the acquisition of PBB. The risk that influenced our cash flows the most is the currency risk caused by a possible liquidity crisis in Argentina. Argentina has experienced eight major currency crises (tijd/reference)and there is a risk of a new currency crisis in the future. When this happens, Dow will not be able to sell its output to the home country and will have to increase its export. Revenue de We have also taken into account that the convertibility law that now provides stability could eventually stop. This will also have a significant impact on inflation.Operating risk is the second risk with a large impact on projected cash flows. This is mostly the ri sk of not meeting the full operating capacity. For the first 3 years we keep the operating rate of the plant at 65% and from 1995 we increase the operating rate by 5% each year. Other risks had less of an impact on our cash flows. Information risk was less of an issue because Dow was already present in Argentina and PBB was important to the government of Argentina. Corporate Governance risk in Argentina is not expected to have a significant additional impact on cash flows.This risk is already included in the discount rate for similar projects in the US. Table 1: Risk overview| Risk| Mitigating actions| Cash Flow (CF) or Discount rate (DR)| Corruption risk| 1. Have a large bank loan from a national bank. 2. Government stake of 49% here is a mitigating factor | DR| Expropriation risk| Same actions as for corruption risk| CF (tax wil increase 5%)| Operating risk (only post/ completion risks )| n/a| CF| Sovereign risk| Through the convertibility law, the peso has been anchored to the US D to prevent hyperinflation. | DR| Currency/ Foreign exchange risk| 1.Dow is a well diversified investor, therefore this should be mitigated. 2. Buy put options on the Arg peso. | CF| Corporate Governance risk| Give shares to management to align incentives. | DR| Repatriation risk| Current political climate is stable, not likely that Arg will impose limits on fund outflows. | DR| Information Risk| Dow Chemical already has presence in Argentina, therefore are more likely to receive high quality information. | n/a| Adjusted discount rate All risks that are not used for adjusting cash flows are integrated in the adjusted discount rate.These risks include but are not limited to corruption risk, information risk, hyperinflation, sovereign risk, repatriation risk and other residual risks. These risks are partly mitigated, however all the different risks combined constitute a premium which we will add on to the the given discount rate for similar projects in the US of 8%-10%. A reasonable assumption for the combined premium will be [ ]. The auumed premium results in a discount rate of [ ] which we will use in our further valuation. 4. Recommendation Bidding decisionCompeting bidders need to comply with certain covenants (exhibit 6). Competitors Perez Companc S. A. and Copesul do not comply with the requirements of having a statement of net worth of at least 5 billion. Even if the two companies would merge they do not meet the the requirements. This makes Dow the sole bidder for PBB. This has a profound impact on the internal valuation. Appendix 1 Risk Information risk. When you are doing a cross-border valuation you have to take into account that there may be information risk.This includes the risk of outside investors getting the wrong information because of poor disclosure in the financial statements. However since Dow entered Argentina in 1957 we assume they are familiar with the market and accounting rules, therefore information risk for this project is low as Do w chemical has already collected country experience in Argentina via Dow Quimica. Because this is difficult to quantify we have taken this into account in our discount rate. Corruptionrisk. The risk of corruption includes the illegal payments and favors outside the rule of law.Corruption exists to some extent in all countries, but there are large differences across countries. According to the Global Corruption Index by Transparancy international, the level of corruption for Argentina in 1995 was given a 5. 24 out of a possible score of 10. This gave them a ranking of 24 out of 42 countries surveyed. All of which were assumed to be developed countries. However, Dow somehow secured itself thanks to PBB’s importance and the Argentine government’s intention to keeps 49% which is an advantage and not a disadvantage.The Argentine government will also appreciate the jobs being created in the later project stages, if successful, and a good relationship with the government will likely also be beneficial when discussing with YPF about long-term ethane supply. Mitigation: Part of this risk can be mitigated by taking a loan in Argentina to finance the project as the government will not want Dow to default on their debt resulting in an overall bad outcome for Argentina’s economic situation. Furthermore part of this risk is mitigated as the government has a stake in the company so it is also in their interest to keep the company strong.Currency risk: As Argentina has experienced 8 major currency crises in the past there is the risk of a new currency crisis occuring in the future. Even though the convertibility law took away some of the risk, Dow will still have to bear in mind that when a crises happen, they will not be able to sell their output to the home country and will have to increase its export. This risk is taken into account in the cashflows. Expropriation risk. Political instability or expropriation is small as they company has had a stable dem ocratic government past 12 years.However, changes in the policy of the government will cause a risk for Dow and their foreign investments. At that moment there were no restrictions on borrowing abroad and there were no limits imposed on payments of foreign loan principal and interest. If something changes in this regulations it may have an effect on the acquisition of Dow. For this reason we will also include this risk in our discount rate. Furthermore the government has no limits on cash flows going out of their country but can eventually decide to do so.We consider the risk of the government taking over the company to be low as the production of polyethylene and deriving ethylene from hydrocarbon crackers is complex. This is a process for skilled people and not just anyone can therefore run the company properly. The risk of expropriation is therefore low. As the production of ethylene and derivatives such as polythylene is a highly complicated process, requiring large captial inve stment and a high operating leverage, not many companies will be able and willing to take over the business.Furthermore as Polythylene is a commodity product that trades globally with a narrow price range. Mitigation:Dow can decrease the risk exposure by taking on a loan in Argentina to finance their project. This will decrease the risk exposure as Dow can only default on their debt when the government decides to raise taxes, which will not lead to a company default. Foreign Exchange Rate Risk. Foreign Exhange rate risk will be low because of Dow Chemical’s international presence and the assumption that shareholders are sufficiently diversified. The convertibility law which ensured a fixed Argentine peso and U.S. dollar at exactly one already decrease the foreign exchange rate risk. However we need to take into account the risk that the convertibility law might come to an end. Mitigation: The risk can be decreased by setting up binding financial contracts with the governmetn to make sure the deal will happen. Furthermore Dow could decide to place a put option on the peso to protect themselves when the peso collapses. Operating risk Pre-completion: as the project is already completed there is no risk concerning the technology risks or other completion risk.Post-completion: we have included the post-completion risk in our cashflows as we run the risk of not meeting the full operating capacity. For the first 3 years we keep the operating rate of the plant at 65% and from 1995 we increase the operating rate by 5% each year. As the company provides their own input this risk does not need to be taken into account. Operating risk would likely matter but we handled that risk by adjsuting down our casfhlows in stage 1 so we do not take it into account for adjusting our cost of capitalSovereign risk Politcal events suchs as wars, labor strikes, terrorism and changes in laws can happen in any country you work with and therefore needs to be taken into account. Sinc e it is hard to quantify this risk we have handled it through the discount rate. Appendix 2 | | Source: Erb, Harvey Viskanta, ‘Poltical risk,Economic risk and Financial risk’, Fuqua School of Business Working Paper No. 9606, 1996. | ——————————————– [ 1 ]. For broader explanation of the different risks see Appendix 1 [ 2 ].According to the Global Corruption Index by Transparancy international the level of corruption for Argentina in 1995 was given a 5. 24 out of a possible score of 10. This gave them a ranking of 24 out of 42 countries surveyed. All of which were developed countries more or less. Source: http://archive. transparency. org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/previous_cpi [ 3 ]. See Appendix 1 for an explanation of the mitigating factors of the before mentioned risks [ 4 ]. This conclusion was reached byTaking the ‘total assets’ as net worth on the financial statements of Perez on Copesul (exhibit 8a &8b).