Insulin Pump free essay sample

Introduction:1 †¢ Type 1 Diabetes2 †¢ Type 2 Diabetes2 †¢ Gestational Diabetes2 2. Scope:3 3. The insulin pump hardware organization:3 4. Need:4 5. Requirements for the insulin pump:4 6. Risks Analysis5 6. 1 Business Impact Risks:5 6. 2 Customer related risks:5 6. 3 Technology risks:6 7. Risk table:6 7. 1 Technology will meet expectations:6 7. 2 End users resist system:7 7. 3 Changes in Requirements7 7. 4 Lack of development experience:7 7. 5 Poor quality documentation:8 8. Insulin delivery system8 . Requirement Models9 10. Interfaces For The Automatic Insulin Pump10 11. Data Flow Diagram14 12. Summary15 13. References16 Introduction: The problem of diabetes is a growing concern in the world, especially among Americans. Diabetes is a medical condition where the body does not manufacture its own insulin. Insulin is used to metabolize sugar and, if it is not available, the person suffering from diabetes will eventually be poisoned by the build-up of sugar. It is importan t to maintain blood sugar levels within a safe range as high levels of blood sugar have long-term complications such as kidney damage and eye damage. These are not however, normally dangerous in the short-term. We will write a custom essay sample on Insulin Pump or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Very low levels of blood sugar (hypoglaecemia) are potentially very dangerous in the short-term. They result in a shortage of sugar to the brain which causes confusion and ultimately a diabetic coma and death. In such circumstances, it is important for the diabetic to eat something to increase their blood sugar level. An estimated 23. 6 million people in the United States—7. 8 percent of the population—have diabetes, a serious, lifelong condition. Of those, 17. 9 million have been diagnosed, and 5. 7 million have not yet been diagnosed. In 2007, about 1. million people ages 20 or older were diagnosed with diabetes [pic] The three main types of diabetes are †¢ type 1 diabetes †¢ type 2 diabetes †¢ gestational diabetes †¢ Type 1 Diabetes Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. An autoimmune disease results when the body’s system for fighting infection—the immune system—turns against a part of the body. In diabetes, the immune sy stem attacks and destroys the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. The pancreas then produces little or no insulin. A person who has type 1 diabetes must take insulin daily to live. †¢ Type 2 Diabetes The most common form of diabetes is type 2 diabetes. About 90 to 95 percent of people with diabetes have type 2. This form of diabetes is most often associated with older age, obesity, family history of diabetes, previous history of gestational diabetes, physical inactivity, and certain ethnicities. About 80 percent of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight. †¢ Gestational Diabetes Some women develop gestational diabetes late in pregnancy. Although this form of diabetes usually disappears after the birth of the baby, women who have had gestational diabetes have a 40 to 60 percent chance of developing type 2 diabetes within 5 to 10 years. Maintaining a reasonable body weight and being physically active may help prevent development of type 2 diabetes. The easiest way for Type 2 patients to manage their health is through a healthy diet and exercise plan. For Type 1 patients, treatment almost always involves the daily injection of insulin, which is the focus of the Automated Insulin Pump System (AIPS). Currently, there are two ways in which a patient can administer insulin. In the first method, the user must check his or her blood sugar with a glucose sensor, calculate the appropriate amount of insulin to administer, and personally inject the insulin. In the second method, the patient uses an AIPS. The AIPS detects the level of glucose in the user’s blood, calculates the amount of insulin need, then triggers a pump to administer the correct dosage to the user via a needle that inserted into the user. Both of these methods require the user to play a critical role in his or her treatment. Using the AIPS minimizes the possibility of errors occurring. To accomplish this, the AIPS integrates the blood glucose sensor and the insulin pump into one system. Integrating these two processes allows the autonomous delivery of insulin to the user. This ability of the system to remove the user from the glucose self monitoring and injection process allows diabetics to live a healthier and more enjoyable lifestyle. Scope: We are developing a that system measures the level of blood sugar every 10 minutes and if this level is above a certain value and is increasing then the dose of insulin to counteract the increase is computed and injected into the diabetic. The system can also detect abnormally low levels of blood sugar and, if these occur, an alarm is sounded to warn the diabetic that they should take some action. This report focuses on the control software for the insulin pump which is concerned with reading the blood sugar (glucose) sensor, computing the insulin requirements and controlling the micro pump which causes the insulin to be delivered. Automatic insulin delivery systems help to keep blood glucose level under control. Administering insulin with different methods aims to improve patients comfort and convenience. Automated Insulin pumps are little computerized insulin deliverers. Automatic insulin delivery systems can be used for treating type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes, juvenile diabetes, diabetes mellitus and alike. But, the information about diabetes is crucial for having the perfect diabetes medication. The insulin pump hardware organization: An insulin pump is a safety-critical system which is used to deliver regular doses of insulin to diabetics. A block diagram of the insulin pump assembly is shown below. Note that the small boxes marked s indicate a sensor. [pic] Figure 2: The insulin pump hardware organization †¢ Needle assembly Connected to pump. Component used to deliver insulin into diabetic’s body. †¢ Sensor Measures the level of sugar in the patient’s blood. The input from the sensor is represented by Reading in the following specification. Pump Pumps insulin from a reservoir to the needle assembly. The value representing the number of increments of insulin to be administered is represented by dose! in the following specification. †¢ Controller Controls the entire system. This has a three position switch (off/auto/manual) plus a button to set the number o f units of insulin to be delivered (1 unit per press). Moving the switch to the manual position causes the blood sugar measurement and automated insulin delivery to be disabled but information is maintained about the amount of insulin delivered and the reservoir capacity. †¢ Alarm Sounded if there is some problem. The value sent to the alarm is represented alarm! In the following specification. Displays There are 3 displays. These displays are represented by display1, display2 and clock in the following specification. display1 displays system messages, display2 shows the last dose of insulin delivered and clock shows the current clock time. †¢ Clock Provides the controller with the current time. The system clock is initialized when the machine is installed and the start time of each 24-hour period is set at midnight each day using a hardware interface on the machine. For safety reasons, the clock cannot be altered by system users. Need: With almost 200 million with diabetes world wide and about 400,000 patients currently on insulin pumps, there is sufficient market potential to spur further development, and at least 6 companies are selling devices in the U. S. Very short clinical trials have proven the concept of a closed-loop system, but the technology must catch up for long-term implantation. By 2015 there could well be an implanted closed-loop system on the market. It will likely take several years longer before it is clear when the device is a superior alternative to other advancing technologies. Requirements for the insulin pump: This specification is a specification of the requirements for the control software for the insulin pump. It is NOT a complete system requirements specification for the pump itself or even all of the software associated with the pump. In particular, it does not include a specification of the self-testing operations or a specification of the hardware interfacing. The requirements for the insulin pump are specified in natural language and partially in the Z specification language. Z is not ideal to express all requirements but is useful when precise descriptions are required. In all cases, the Z specification should be considered as an annotation that provides detailed information which augments the natural language specification. [pic] Figure 2: Insulin pump Risks Analysis: Alarm condition Explanation: |Alarm conditions |Explanation | |Battery low |The voltage of the battery has fallen to less than 0. V | |Sensor failure |The self-test of the sugar sensor has resulted in an error | |Pump failure |The self-test of the pump has resulted in an error | |Delivery failure |It has not been possible to deliver the specified amount of insulin | |Needle assembly removed |The user has removed the needle assembly | |Insulin reservoir removed |The user has removed the insulin reservoir | |Low insulin level |The level of insulin is low (indicating that the reservoir should be changed). | Table 1: Error conditions for the insulin pump. 6. 1 Business Impact Risks: The number of the customer is fairly high. There is large number of users of insulin pump. Their need is considered consistent as all target users will be patients of diabetes. Sophistication of end users: Low, the target users are patients of diabetics. Automatic insulin pump is designed to be easy to use, and is supplied with directions to guide through all necessary steps in using the machine. 6. 2 Customer related risks: Past coordination: We are developing software because of the increased of diabetes among which children are also included. So to give them facility we are developing complete new program that will help them a lot. †¢ Customer information: Customer has the idea how to use it because of already available automatic pumps in the market but this one is more sophisticated and all directions are given with it as well. 6. 3 Technology risks: Familiarity: Automatic insulin pump is a software tool to aid diabetic patients. Development team members are familiar with software development, as well as the necessary data base implementation. Specialized user interface: The interface is completely specialized. It is not based on anything other than every other Microsoft Windows application out. The GUI is completely our design and no other application out (to our knowledge) contains exactly what is expected of our software. Risk table: |Risks |Probability |Impact | |Technology will meet expectations |25% 1 | |End user resist system |20% |1 | |Changes in requirement |20% |2 | |Lack of development experience |20% |2 | |Poor quality documentation |35% |2 | Impact Values: 1 – Catastrophic 2 – Critical 3 – Marginal 4 – Negligible 7. 1 Technology will meet expectations: †¢ Mitigation In order to prevent this from happening, meetings (formal and informal) will be held with the customer on a routine business. This in sures that the product we are producing, and the specifications of the customer are equivalent. †¢ Monitoring The meetings with the customer should ensure that the customer and our organization understand each other and the requirements for the product. Management Should the development team come to the realization that their idea of the product Specifications differs from those of the customer, the customer should be immediately notified and whatever steps necessary to rectify this problem should be done. Preferably a meeting should be held between the development team and the customer to discuss at length this issue. 7. 2 End users resist system: †¢ Mitigation In order to prevent this from happening, meetings (formal and informal) will be held with the customer on a routine business. This insures that the product we are producing, and the requirements of the customer are equivalent. †¢ Monitoring The meetings with the customer should ensure that the customer and our organization understand each other and the requirements for the product. †¢ Management Should the development team come to the realization that their idea of the product requirements differs from those of the customer, the customer should be immediately notified and whatever steps necessary to rectify this problem should be taken. Preferably a meeting should be held between the development team and the customer to discuss at length this issue. 7. 3 Changes in Requirements †¢ Mitigation In order to prevent this from happening, meetings (formal and informal) will be held with the customer on a routine business. This insures that the product we are producing, and the requirements of the customer are equivalent. †¢ Monitoring The meetings with the customer should ensure that the customer and our organization understand each other and the requirements for the product. †¢ Management Should the development team come to the realization that their idea of the product requirements differs from those of the customer, the customer should be immediately notified and whatever steps necessary to rectify this problem should be taken. Preferably a meeting should be held between the development team and the customer to discuss at length this issue. 7. 4 Lack of development experience: †¢ Mitigation In order to prevent this from happening, the development team will be required to learn the languages and techniques necessary to develop this software. The member of the team that is the most experienced in a particular facet of the development tools will need to instruct those who are not as well versed. †¢ Monitoring Each member of the team should watch and see areas where another team member may be weak. Also if one of the members is weak in a particular area it should be brought to the attention by that member, to the other members. †¢ Management The members who have the most experience in a particular area will be required to help those who don’t out should it come to the attention of the team that a particular member needs help. 7. 4 Poor quality documentation: †¢ Mitigation In order to prevent this to happening, members who are in charge of developing the documentation will keep in contact with witch developer on the team. Meeting will be held routinely to offer documentation suggestions and topics. Any topic deemed missing by a particular developer will be discussed and it will be decided whether or not to add that particular topic to that documentation. In addition, beta testers will be questioned about their opinion of the documentation. †¢ Monitoring Throughout development or normal in and out of house testing, the development team and or beta testers will need to keep their eyes open for any possible documentation topics that have not been included. †¢ Management Should this occur, the organization would call a meeting and discuss the addition of new topics, or removal of unnecessary topics into the documentation. Insulin delivery system [pic] Requirement Models [pic] Figure 3: Requirement Use Case Diagram [pic] Interfaces For The Automatic Insulin Pump The user interface displays all relevant system information to the user, as well as all controls needed to operate the system in â€Å"manual† mode. The GUI displays the current time, the last time a dose of insulin was administered, and the corresponding amount of that dose. If any hardware component malfunctions while the system is running, a system alarm indicator activates, prompting the user to check the system messages. This alarm is both auditory and visual. By scrolling through the system messages, the user can isolate the source of the error and take appropriate measures. Other indicators on the GUI show the level of charge in the battery and the amount of insulin remaining in the reservoir, there is also a history button which displays a table containing a history of blood sugar values and doses. [pic] Figure 5: System User Interface. [pic] Figure 6: System User Interface During Failure [pic] Figure 7: Table of history of the system. Besides displaying relevant system information, the user interface also functions as a control panel for manual operation of the insulin pump. To deliver a manual dose of insulin, the toggle switch controlling the operation mode must be set to manual. Once the system is running in manual mode, the user may press the â€Å"Inject 1 Unit† button to deliver one unit of insulin. Even in manual mode the system users decisions are checked make sure they do not exceed the maximum daily dose. Figure 7 illustrates the error message from attempting to deliver more than the maximum daily dosage. [pic] Figure 8: Visual Notification of Maximum Insulin Dose for the Day. In addition to the User Interface a hardware simulator was design and coded to run on beneath the insulin pump and provide the backend with different state levels for the various internal variables. Figure 8 displays the portion of the GUI that displays the internal variables. Data Flow Diagram [pic] Summary There may be at least 640,000 who good candidates for the insulin pump. It is an especially useful advance for many type 1 patients whose glucose control is difficult to manage and require several injections of insulin and glucose checks a day. It is still unclear whe n the pump is beneficial for type 2 patients. †¢ The technology has come a long way with an integrated system that continuously monitors glucose, a management system with algorithms providing advice on amount of insulin required and an external pump injecting insulin through a subcutaneous canula. This â€Å"advise you† open loop system dramatically increases the complexity of management. It has beneficial for those dedicated to its use, but it is unclear when it should be used. †¢ Diabetes experts feel current pumps (with or without continuous glucose monitoring) are best used by those who are knowledgeable, very meticulous in their diabetes management and accept fact that the system requires a lot of attention. These people value the benefits of the pump. Others do not desire using a pump system and get about the same satisfactory results with multiple daily injections as they would by trying to manage a pump. †¢ Controlled studies on the benefits of insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitoring are still needed to demonstrate a clear benefit over other aggressive therapeutic options. This applies to both type 1 and type 2 patients. †¢ The current integrated system is very expensive – up to $7,500 a year for the disposable sensors, canulas and insulin plus the cost of the pump. It requires insertion of new glucose sensors and insulin canulas every 3 days or more often and attention to detail in safely keeping all the components functioning properly. Focused attention is also required in adjusting and administering bolus insulin doses. †¢ Many insurers provide reimbursement for the pump. Diabetes advocacy groups (JDRF ADA) are working hard to secure insurance and Medicaid coverage for the continuous glucose monitoring component with its expensive disposable components. Within the next 2-4 years, an implanted pump will be available that will allow more freedom, but at more expense and risk. It will work like the new external pumps and can be used with the independent subcutaneous glucose monitor. It will not be a closed-loop system. †¢ With ov er 400,000 people worldwide currently using pumps and many more considering pump usage, there appear to be sufficient marketplace incentives to encourage technological advances. Our rough estimates suggest 650,000 in the US might benefit from these systems. References †¢ http://74. 125. 155. 132/search? q=cache:- valCGvPRHEJ:www. comp. lancs. ac. uk/computing/resources/IanS/SE7/CaseStudies/InsulinPump/Slides/Insulin-pumpOverview. ppt+scope+of+diabetes+in+software+enginee

buy custom Universal Health Care essay

buy custom Universal Health Care essay Universal health care refers to a scheme of issuing health treatment for any participants who are enthusiastic. The government normally undertakes the program using funds from levies. However, it is fascinating to note that the United States is the only developed nation that does not have the universal health care scheme for its people. There has been a prolonged debate concerning the implementation of universal healthcare in the United States of America. However, the question to ask is; does universal health care provide certain outstanding benefits to US people or does it do more harm than good? Therefore, the ultimate aim of this context is to give an argument as to why the universal healthcare system is important and has to be implemented in the United States (Jose Mosserli 93). Argument concerning implementation of universal health care in the USA I suppose that universal health care is beneficial to the United States citizens because of several reasons. To begin with, health care has become less affordable for businesses and people. Some companies and people that opt to maintain their health care tactics still have to pay higher costs. Let it be clear that businesses only have some amount of cash they can spend on employees. If they are to spend extra on health insurance premiums, they will have little money left to pay for new hires, raises, investments, and many other things (Jui-Fen and Hsiao 78). People who must disburse more on premiums have remarkably small amount of cash to spend on food, rent, and consumer products, which means less cash is driven into the economy. Therefore, health care stops the nation from creating a robust economic revival. However, some people argue that government-managed health care would result in a reduction of patient flexibility. They further state that, at first, the process may seem to be effective for the patients as they are likely to increase flexibility, but with time the government begins to strive to keep the costs withn the set limit because the fulfillment of certain actions is expensive to a large extent. For example, would elective surgeries that include wart removal, breast implants, Lasik eye surgery, and hair restoration be covered? The government may decide that the patients must pay for elective surgeries but then, who would decide what is elective and what is needed? What about the disease like breast minimization to avoid back illnesses? Generally, the entire process is too costly for the government to handle and the citizens are the affected parties (Mosserli 110). However, universal health care can be insured with health insurance companies for the majority of occupants. The number of uninsured citizens in the United States has increased to more than 45 million individuals although it encompasses illegal immigrants. The fact that health care costs are still rising, the inflation rates are causing several businesses to decide to stop offering health plans or to forward large amounts of costs to the workers. Those workers that pay higher prices on the other hand, opt to survive without health coverage. In other words, they decide to work without health insurance companies. However, surviving without health insurance never imply that an individual cannot have access to health care because there are several clinics and medical services offered freely to poor people. Nevertheless, the expenses that are not covered by insurance must be soaked up by all the rest of the citizens thus intensifying premiums (Jui-Fen and Hsiao 78). The number of uninsur ed people has been questioned in the sense that it encompasses illegal immigrants and individuals making more than $75K who opt to ignore health coverage and others who have some alternatives for coverage but decide not to get it. The actual number of individuals who do not have any alternatives is approximately 15 million and the government has to care for all of them. Therefore, universal health care is essential for the United States citiizens (Mosserli 122). Some individuals also argue that there is not even one government organization or department that operates professionally. Do people need an agency such as the US Levy Code to control something as complicated as health care matter? The response is no because when a person tries to imagine that there is any government department that operates efficiently, one may find such a department. Think of the department of education or any other office including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Social Security and Administration, Department of Transportation, none of them is running efficiently (Jui-Fen and Hsiao 78). This means that encompassing the universal health care system simply means adding another burden to an already heavy load for the government. Nevertheless, universal health care can help get rid of such incompetence as duplication of paper work, insurance submission, and claim approval. When a person looks back and analyzes his or her life, it becomes clear that he or she has filled out medical history responding to similar questions for several times. The same case occurred while working with the insurance paperwork that is filled in and submitted several times (Mosserli 156). There is no doubt that the present health care scheme creates an enormous amount of overheads. All the time when a patient visits a physician, an assertion has to be issued, the approval department has to check the assertion, then checks have to be sent via emails and patients have to rush from one office to another to co-pay bills, etc. All this is a waste of time. Moreover, it can result in the delay of treatment of the suffering patient. Besides, each doctors office has its own record system, which they have to go through before treating the patient. However, the universal health care system will permit individuals to develop one unified system where there would be no essence of keeping in surance information or wasting time issuing assertions. Buy custom Universal Health Care essay

What is the service encounter and how is it managed in the hospitality Essay

What is the service encounter and how is it managed in the hospitality industry - Essay Example â€Å"A service encounter is defined as the period of time that a customer interacts with a service†.The description of a service encounter is wide and comprises of a customer’s contact with customer-contact staff, machinery, computerized systems, physical services, and any other service related components (Massad and Crowston, 2003). Service encounter is a very crucial event for an organization while conducting a service oriented business. In its essence, it refers to any contact or interaction between the customer and the organization providing the service (Johnston and Clark, 2008). As previously mentioned, this interaction may be in various different forms. It could be a person to person interaction between a seller and the customer, a communication between the organization and the customer through an advertisement, or even the customer’s encounter with the actual product of the organization, that is, the service it is providing (Johnston and Clark, 2008).As previously mentioned, this interaction may be in various different forms. It could be a person to person interaction between a seller and the customer, a communication between the organization and the customer through an advertisement, or even the customer’s encounter with the actual product of the organization, that is, the service it is providing (Johnston and Clark, 2008... An interesting fact regarding services is that it is a personal experience. That is, a person goes through the entire process of the service himself and has a much closer contact with the organization and its personnel as compared to a tangible product, in which case a person might never come in contact with the organization itself (Johnston and Clark, 2008). Moreover, the services have a more personal impression on the customers (for example a medical examination with the doctor, a haircut with the barber, a dress design session with the tailor, a wedding plan with the event manager, a birthday party at a restaurant etc.) and have a deeper impact on their lives as compared to the tangible products (like soaps, shampoos, clothes, shoes, and even cars, etc.) Therefore, the customers are more particular about choosing the service provider and once they are satisfied, they tend to stick to a particular service provider and hesitate to switch (Kotler, Bowen and Makens, 2005). Thus, if a series of service encounters, also called a service relationship, turns out to be a positive experience for the customer with a particular service provider, he becomes loyal to that organization and tends to stick (Johnston and Clark, 2008). Furthermore, the customer would talk about it happily with his peers and colleagues, that is, a positive word of mouth will be spread about the service being provided. Hence they become a service encounter themselves for potential new customers. This can work wonders for the reputation for the service provider since when it comes to services, most people refrain from experimenting and blindly follow referrals from close friends and family (Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons, 2006). Service Encounter and Hospitality

Organizational Capabilities and Strategic Management of Google Essay

Organizational Capabilities and Strategic Management of Google - Essay Example In relation to the study the company which has been selected is Google as a multinational corporation that was founded in the year 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin who were Ph.D. Students at Stanford University. It is a search engine that provides various internet services such as advertising technologies; cloud computing, internet search, and software. It links various Web pages allowing sharing and accessibility of information. Brin and Larry note that its mission is organizing world information and making it accessible and useful to everyone. It offers tools that enable one to do a fast search such as Google Chrome and Android. It also focuses on the success of various businesses in the online world and offline too.  Ã‚   It does this by focusing on products such as media and sales ads. For the web, Google has built various products with the intention of making the web and the experiences of the users better. Google has proved to have a wide range of organizational capabilitie s that enable it to stay ahead of the market competition. Scott states that one of the capabilities that Google has is innovativeness in terms of its products and even how they offer the services. This can be clearly seen from its motto of continuous innovation. Google usually invests some of its money and time towards innovation growth by encouraging its employees to come up with new products and ideas. An example is where it recommends 20% of the technical employees’ time to be spent on their own activities while 80% of their time spent on advertising and core research. This investment has accounted for half of new features and products that have been created by Google. Every employee is given freedom of thought and ability to make changes to projects or even create their own projects. This in effect continuously encourages the employees to concentrate on coming up with new ideas that will add value to the company. The ideas are presented in an open environment which enhanc es its image. Dornefest and Calishain note that another capability that Google has is its strong organizational culture (133). It uses every opportunity in motivating employees by regular recognition of best performers. It has an open culture where every employee contributes to the running of the organization by accepting ideas from everyone. This in turn makes people to be comfortable in raising their ideas without intimidation which leads to its success. When hiring, goggle has a culture of hiring people based on the capabilities and not their experiences and it hires smart and determined workforce which contributes to higher capabilities. Another culture that the company has is that of holding weekly all- hands meeting where people raise ideas and issues directly to the management. This culture is effective because it leads to quality production and quick decision making as well as problem solving. Another capability is that Google provides the best working environment for its workers. This has been evident from the many awards that Google has received as ‘the best place to work’ which has in turn led to employee satisfaction. This capability is of great importance for it attracts a lot of professionals to the company. This in turn has seen the company to comprise of a lot of people who have great potential making the company to stand in a better chance of expanding and developing new ideas. Information technology is another capability that Google has which makes it to be more competitive. This is from the ability to link various pages and come up with other products and search tools (Brin 95).Having vast technology has enabled Google to connect various web pages, advertise and even sell. With enough resources that Google as i.e. a good capital base, it has been able to purchase tools that add to its efficiency. An example is where Google bought You Tube which has led to its efficiency in terms of its market share. This has been from the fact that a lot of people love watching live

The bullwhip effect

The bullwhip effect Erratic shifts up and down the supply chain is known as the bullwhip effect, and is one of the major difficulties in properly setting inventory levels in various parts of the supply chain (Turban, Leidner, McLean, Wetherbe, 2008). Economists call it a bullwhip because even small increases in demand can cause a big snap in the need for parts and materials further down the supply chain. It has the domino effect, because of the spontaneous demand along the supply chain. This may be an insignificant problem for any one customer, but for the supplier it is huge and costly. Some of the things that contribute to this are price fluctuation, poor demand forecast, order batching, and rationing within the supply chain (Turban, Leidner, McLean, Wetherbe, p.360). Actual demand for a product is influenced by several factors such as competition, prices, weather conditions, technological developments, and consumers general confidence. These would be considered external and unmanageable factors. There are other uncertainties involved as well that can have an effect on the supply chain such as problems in delivery time due to production machine failures. Techniques to lessen or curtail the bullwhip effect would be to understand and recognize who or what is suggesting the variations in demand. Is it the retailer, manufacturer, the customer, or the distributor? The key element to eliminating this setback is being aware of where the demand changes are beginning. Techniques that can be used or put into place to reduce the bullwhip effect is sharing information along the supply chain, Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI), and managing e-business. The most obvious way to reduce the bullwhip effect is to improve communication and forecasting along the supply chain (ehow.com). Master Data Management (MDM) is can be looked at to integrate all data in an organization at the highest level, both internally and externally. One of the most notable examples of information sharing is between large manufacturers and retailers (Turban, Leidner, McLean, Wetherbe, p.307). Inventory if properly managed, it can increase profits and efficiency. The implementation of a Vendor-Managed Inventory (VMI) initiative would be a key factor in improving and controlling the bullwhip effect. VMI indicates that the vendor, usually a distributor, maintains the inventories for manufacturer or buyer and in turn will reduce warehouse costs for suppliers. VMI alleviates uncertainty o f demand and replenishment decisions can be made according to operating needs, and also has heightened awareness of trends in demand. E-commerce brings about new opportunities to improve the performance of the supply chain. The primary advantages of internet utilization are speed, decreased costs, the potential to shorten the supply chain, and flexibility. Electronic marketplaces provide for more efficient resource allocation, better information flow and dissemination on products and services in the supply chain. Electronic data interchange (EDI) can be implemented to help supply chain mangers in reducing misleading signals sent from sales and marketing (distribution). Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is one of the most successful tools for managing supply chains. ERP is software that integrates the planning, management, and use of all sources in the entire enterprise (Turban, Leidner, McLean, Wetherbe, p.2008). The major objective is to integrate all departments and functional information flow across a company onto a single computer system that can serve all of the enterprises needs. A plan created from an SCM system that allows companies to quickly assess the impact of their actions on the entire supply chain, including customer demand, can only be done with the integration of ERP software. ERP and SCM can help alleviate the bullwhip effect across the supply chain by having a shared understanding of what needs to get done, managing the variations in the organization, communication among all thats involved especially top management, and having single control of replenishment or VMI can overcome inflated demand forecasts. Long lead times should also be reduced where it is reasonably beneficial. References: Understanding the BullWhip Effect in Supply Chains. Retrieved March 18, 2010, from http://sloanreview.mit.edu/improvisations/2010/01/27/understanding-the-bullwhip-effect-in-supply-chains/. Turban, E., Leidner, D., McLean, E., Wetherbe, J. (2008). Information technology for management: Transforming organizations in the digital economy. (6th ed.) Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley Sons. http://www.ehow.com/how_5154541_reduce-bullwhip-effect.html

In a book written by Goldscheider Essay

Studying the Jewish Future, the author revealed the reasons for the unexpected results, that instead of a vanishing race, the reality is that of a thriving community. And the explanation can be broken down into the following: 1. Conversion – It is surprising to find out that a considerable number of non-Jewish spouse opted to be converted to Judaism. It must be noted though that the said conversion may be formal or informal but true conversion is rather marked by a following community norms and values. 2. Acceptance – the Jewish community is now more open to the idea of intermarriage and this has resulted in a more openness which predictably made it easier for non-Jewish spouse to get exposed to Jewish ways. 3. Deliberate Outreach – the Jewish community and its institutions are forced to reach out to intermarried couples and by doing so encouraged non-Jews to be respect their beliefs and for some a desire to be counted as Jews. Ambivalence There is a dramatic change in perception and outlook that resulted in an improvement in how the Jewish community in general is treating intermarried couples. Still, the Jewish faith would never have reached its current position, a survivor of the Holocaust and many other forms of persecution without creating a defense mechanism that ensured the survival not only of its lineage but also of its beliefs and customs. It is this defense mechanism that made it hard for other to jump on the â€Å"accept the intermarried couples bandwagon† and prevented some to see the possibilities not only in finding a novel way of thriving in a modern society like America but also a novel way of finding new converts. In one extreme, intermarriage is one valid form of proselytizing whose impact is not yet fully measured. But as mentioned earlier, not everyone is convinced that the time has come for the Jews to fully open its house to the Gentiles. Bayme and Rosen provided an example of this ambivalence when they cited the popular Mordecai Kaplan who at one point encouraged intermarriages: Jews must meet all situations that might lead to mixed marriages, not fearfully or grudgingly, but in the spirit of encountering an expected development †¦ With a belief in the integrity and values of his own civilization, the Jewish partner to the marriage cold †¦ make Judaism the civilization of the home†¦ And yet two years later the same person said: Since Jews are a minority and Judaism is exposed to tremendous disintegrative forces from non-Jewish environment †¦ it cannot approve of uncontrolled intermarriage with non-Jews. If however, a non-Jew who desire to marry a Jew, after studying what is involved in being a Jew and what are the principles and practices of Judaism, he should be given every encouragement and should be welcomed into the Jewish community (Kaplan, as qtd. in Bayme & Rosen, 1994, p. 268). Conclusion After thousands of years since God has declared them the â€Å"chosen people† the Jews continue to struggle and to find their place in the world. Every generation is pressured to find ways to pass on what they have received from their ancestors to the next generation of Jews. Each time the baton is passed the more it becomes more difficult to continually display integrity, commitment, and consistency. Just like other ancient religions, Judaism is finding it extremely difficult to solve the dilemma of identity and relevance. The present generation can enforce and strengthen their spiritual identity and dig deep into their past to find that old familiar path that will lead them to their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. But every time they struggle to keep their ancient traditions and beliefs together they risk losing their relevance to a fast evolving world. This is especially true in America; the world’s most advanced and most powerful nation. As a result the new generation of Jews are abandoning ancient traditions and exchanging it with new ideas. But this is just a part of a bigger problem. What they are most concern about is the marriage of Jews to non-Jews or interfaith marriages. As mentioned in the introduction part of this paper, the Jews can directly trace their lineage to an ancient people, the Israelites, children of Jacob. A long time ago, they co-existed with ancient people groups but they are the only fortunate ones to have survived the passage of time. It can even be argued that they are the only surviving, direct descendants of ancient tribes. This made them a special group. A fact that is not lost in the collective psyche of the Jewish people. This ability to survive against all odds does not come without a price. They have developed a sort of defense mechanisms against the â€Å"melting pot† effect of the world. The world is like one giant sponge of conformity, sucking them in to make them conform to popular trends and standards. The Jewish people, for thousands of years were able to resist that pull. They have their strict diet, their festivals, their rituals, and their traditions that must be strictly followed wherever they are. Whether they are in the midst of prison, or in a land filled with racism they have to remember who they are and by doing all these things they have fought back extinction and remained a distinct people group. The Jewish race also has one major secret weapon and it is the implied rule that they should not marry non-Jews. At first glance it is easy to believe that they perpetuate this rule for the sake of practicality. It would be impossible for an outsider to keep up with their way of life unless one has learned of these things since early childhood. But a close look into this code of conduct reveals a religion that is so exacting that it sees intermarriage as a threat to the continuity of this particular group. For thousands of years they had succeeded in maintaining the status quo. Wherever they went they formed a close knit community of fellow believers that find support and strength from one another. The long history of persecution and anti-Semitism forced them to band close together as one family. It is understandable why for a long time outsiders are reluctant to penetrate their strong defenses so that they can get an idea as to what Judaism is all about. Moreover, anti-Semitism is a serious problem that strongly discourages a potential suitor from risking his life for someone that is as enigmatic as a Jewish girl. Everything went fine until after World War II. It seems that the Holocaust has placed the Jews in the limelight and not to discount also the successes of the Holocaust survivors in the field of finance and business that may well have contributed to their fame in the international stage. Another factor is the settling of Jews in America, first coming in droves as refugees and then finally establishing a place they can call home. In the New World the Jewish community was able to thrive in an environment where anti-Semitism is denounced as something belonging to a bygone era. Then an unexpected thing happened. The lessening of anti-Semitism no doubt changed the way Americans see the Jews. In short Jewish men and women became desirable in the eyes of modern day Gentiles. And since they are in the land of the free, the new generation of Jews can find nothing wrong in interfaith marriages. But for the elders, especially communal leaders have a different perspective. They are perhaps remnants of that era where Jews are considered as the persecuted one in Europe and in many parts of the world. It may have been a difficult notion to entertain for these old folks – that a Jew can finally live with a non-Jew and yet retain its identity and continue practicing their faith. They cannot see the gray area, only the black and white shades that says either one is fully committed Jew, focused on his religious duties or none at all. Moreover, the increasing rate of intermarriages was seen as a black-eye for the Jewish community. They interpret it as a growing weakness in the institution that teaches Jewish beliefs and traditions. It was also interpreted as rebellion towards parents and to their way of life. In modern times, there are researchers like Goldscheider who contends that the elders made a fundamental error in judgment. He argues that the reason for the negative assessment of intermarriage is a wrong perspective. He hastens to say that if the elders and the whole Jewish community can see what intermarriage is doing to the community in general then they will be more open to the idea of intermarriage. Firs of all, intermarriages are means for increasing the number of Jews in America. This is because studies have found a significant percentage of non-Jews willing to learn more about the Judaism, willing to let their children grow up as followers of Judaism and in many instances non-Jews are getting converted formally or informally. Goldscheider warns though that in order for this new trend to be a source of joy for communal leaders and elders they need to have a paradigm shift. They no longer have to limit their idea â€Å"Jewishness† on the basis of birth but they must be willing to accept that a true Jew is not someone with a direct lineage to the ancient people found in the Jewish Bible, but they are people who are in love with Jewish customs and tradition and that they are eager to lead their children in following their lifestyle. For Goldscheider this is what 21st century needs and for him this is what intermarriage brings to the Jewish experience. Works Cited Bayme, Steven. Jewish Arguments and Counterarguments. New Jersey: KTAV Publishing House, 2002. Bayme, Steven & Gladys Rosen. The Jewish Family and Jewish Contiunity. New Jersey: KTAV Publishing, 1994. Goldscheider, Calvin. Are American Jews Vanishing Again? Ed. Put Name of Editor of the book article was taken from. Place of Publication: Publisher, year of publication. _____________________. Studying the Jewish Future. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2004. Jewish Bible. Retrieved 13 November 2007 from http://www. breslov. com/bible/Joshua3. htm#3 Shapiro, Edward. A Time for Healing: American Jewry Since World War II. MA: The John Hopkins Press, 1992. Sklare, Marshall. Understanding American Jewry. New Jersey: Transaction Books, 1982.

Civil War Weapons

Lori Robinson HIS 226-IN1 Module 4 Weapons of the Civil War I have to load a weapon? Oh no! Let’s see, first I have to get my cartridge out of the box. I really hate the taste of gunpowder in my mouth when I rip open the cartridge with my teeth. Then I have to pour that powder into the barrel of the gun. What next? Remove the rammer, ram the barrel to set the ammo, and then return the rammer. Then to prime the gun, I have to set my cap, and now I can finally fire a single shot. Am I really expected to remember to do all these steps, for every shot, while at the same time people are shooting at me?What about all the smoke and noise? The noise of the guns and people next to me screaming in pain, or breathing their last breath. It is all so confusing. Is there not any other weapon in can use? The musket I am using now is most likely the Enfield rifle. It is what is called a cap lock rifle. It’s probably the most popular shoulder arm of both armies. The South did have more in the beginning of the war, as they put in a large order from England, and it took a lot of time to produce the second order for the North. There are two types of muskets used during this war.The smoothbore, which is not very accurate, nor does it have a very long range. The rifled-musket is not only more accurate, but because of the rifling, or grooves in the barrel, that cause the ball to spiral, it has a much longer range. Another category of shoulder arms is the carbine. The carbine, used most often by the cavalry, was shorter and lighter in weight than a musket. Carbines are breech-loaded, which means it is loaded between the barrel and the stock. This makes it easier to reload while still on horseback. There are about twenty different types of carbines, and mostly used by Northern troops.Many were actually produced in the North. One exception to this is the Maynard carbine. It is one of the favorites of the Confederate cavalry. Even though it is manufactured in Massachusetts, it continued to be shipped to Confederate States for several months after the war began. People claimed they were using the guns as Southern sportsmen. What if I want a sidearm? (Otherwise known as a pistol. ) There are hundreds of manufacturers and model being used, but there are about 5 or 6 favorites, including the Remington, the Keer, and the Derringer.The Colt was the most commonly used, but the LeMat is one of the most powerful killing models. It is the one carried by Generals J. E. B Stuart and P. T. G. Beauregard. This revolver holds nine rounds plus the capacity of also holding a load of buckshot in a lower barrel. One problem with the LeMat, though is that it doses not hole standard ammunition. Most weapons use either . 44 or . 36 caliber projectiles, while the LeMat fires . 35, . 40, or . 42 caliber ammunition. I wonder what it would be like to be part of an artillery gun crew. It takes five men to load a cannon.Let’s see if I can get all the procedures right. I h ave not gotten to do this yet, but have watched some of my buddies during drills. The first thing they do is to cover the vent hole. Then another man will ream his â€Å"worm† down the barrel to remove anything left for the last shot. Then a third man rams a sponge down the barrel to put out any hot embers. Good thing they do this, as I would not want any of my friends to reload power on top of a fire already in the barrel. Next the powder monkey comes to present the rounds to the loader, who then puts it in the barrel and it is rammed down the barrel again.Now another man sets the primer cord, and after everyone is cleared of the cannon, it is fired. There are two types of artillery cannons being used in this war — field guns and howitzers. The both use anywhere from six to thirty-two pound projectiles for ammunition. Just as with muskets there are smoothbores, rifled barrels and breech-loaded cannons. The rifled barrel cannons were used less often because as the barr els were made of bronze, a softer metal than the iron of the musket, the rifling was often worn smooth with continuous use.The field gun has a longer barrel and is usually fired straight ahead, or maybe a slight 5 degree upward angle. The howitzer has a shorter barrel, used larger ordnance but a small charge. By the way, ordnance is just a military term for cannonball. The field gun had a longer range, but the howitzer was more accurate, with a higher arc. The longer range of the field gun is not even fully used most of the time, as the gunner must be able to see his target in order to adjust his shots. Are these all the weapons used in this war?Or course not! There are the â€Å"edged† weapons. In most cases all edged weapons, are nearly negligible in as far as how many causalities these weapons accounted for. These include sabers, swords, bayonets and military cutlery. Military cutlery is just another fancy term for hand-to-hand weapons, such as the Bowie knife. I heard a f unny story that was passed down from a Georgia boy about another type of edged weapon, the pike. It seems the Georgia governor, Joe Brown, at a time when there was a shortage of firearms, ordered 10,000 pikes.He imagined that he could create effective soldiers to defend themselves on a battlefield with this mid-evil type of weapon that was actually nothing more than a two-foot knife attached to a six-foot pole. The soldiers were trained using these weapons, but I wouldn’t want to go to a gunfight with nothing more than a knife, no matter how long the knife was. In fact, the 34th Georgia regiment was close to mutiny at the thought of going into battle armed with only the pike. Governor Brown wants his men to charge the enemy with â€Å"terrible impetuosity†.He told him men; about the pike â€Å"at least it will never misfire or waste a single charge of powder. † The pikes were only meant as a last-ditch effort to arm the men with whatever could be found until mor e firearms could be furnished. Other weapons like gunships and submarines are being used in the war, but I will save those stories for later. I need to finish this story now so I can get some rest and prepare for battle in the morning. www. civilwarweapons. net