Antecedents of Safety Performance Behaviours: A Review

Antecedents of Safety Performance Behaviours: A Review Occupational safety is a vital issue that is affecting peoples lives and also countries economies dramatically. As the necessity of preventing the occupational accidents and illnesses occur, more researches are conducted to understand and improve the conditions that cause the hazards. (Neal Griffin, 2006) In this essay, the antecedents of performance safety behaviours would be critically reviewed. Work safety and the accident measures are vital for preventing the injuries and the occupation related illnesses. According to the data of HSE (Health and Safety Executive) Statistics 2009/2010; in UK, 152 people died at workplace 1,3 million worker are suffering from occupational based illnesses , 354 430 worker had injured (reportable and other injuries). The accidents and occupational illnesses also have an economic effect as 28,5 million work days were lost in total based on the injuries and illnesses. (The Health and Safety Executive, UK, 2010) The dramatic effect of occupational accidents and illnesses on human and economy forces for new precautions and further researches to improve the conditions that would affect the health of the workers. According to Fernà ¡ndez-Muà ±iz, Montes-Peà ³n Và ¡zquez-Ordà ¡s (2007) , for recovering from the recent situation in occupational injuries and illnesses, safety culture has an increasing interest by several fields. According to the research they have conducted on 455 Spanish companies, they have found out that the managers in the companies has direct and indirect vital roles in the means of providing a safety culture which effects the workers safe behaviour. Managers can affect the workers by founding a management system which would enforce the safety regulations and activities. Managers can also guide them to desired behaviour that would help them to improve a safer work environment. Safety culture is an important concept that comes to life after the Chernobyl disaster although there were studies examining the companies in the means of the effects of the policies, behaviours and precautions to their safety performance. One of the oldest theory is Heinrichs Domino theory (1930s) which is based on the five dominos that would fall in an accident sequence as the first one is social environment conducive to accidents and the others are fault of person. Even though lots of research had been conducted after this theory, safety culture is not totally clear in the means of understanding and implementation. Despite the organizational differences defined by industrial, regional, national, technological, companies experiences, managements view on safety culture, legal regulations, there are still common points that would define an efficient safety culture. In a successful safety culture, the workers should be aware of all the risks in their work and also they should be know and practice all the precautionary measures for their own safety. The workers also should be cautious about the new potential risks and inform the management about practices and developments.(Ostrom, Wilhesen Kaplan,1993) Safety Performance behaviours are strongly related with safety motivation and knowledge. Psychological and group safety climates are also has vital effects on the safety performance behaviours however group safety climate has the strongest association in the means of accidents and injuries. (Christian, Bradley, Wallace Burke, 2009) Neal and Griffin, (2006) argues that occupational performance is an efficient way to examine the relationship between safety behaviour and safety climate. Neal and Griffin, (2002) had divided the safety behaviour in to two as safety participation and safety compliance. Safety participation is related with the performance such as safety trainings, interaction with the other workers in the safety concerns, that is not particularly related with the workers own safety however sustain an organizational culture to improve safety at the workplace. Safety compliance is related with the workers performance that is needed to sustain the occupational safety such as wearing PPE (personal protective equipment) and comply with the organizational regulations. Christian et all., (2009) categorize antecedents as person related (proximal and distal antecedents) or situation related (safety climate and leadership) . Safety knowledge and safety motivation are determined as the proximal antecedents. Safety knowledge is important in the means of the personal fulfilment of the safety rules and actions. (Neal Griffin, 2002) As knowledge has a positive connection with performance behaviour it would also improve the success of the safety performance because the worker who had the related knowledge would behave safer. (Christian et all., 2009) Safety motivation is vital in the means of the workers motivation to fulfil safety rules and required actions. (Neal Griffin, 2002). Christian et all.(2009) assumes safety motivation positively effect the improvement in the number of accidents. Clarke and Robertson (2005), used the big five personality factors to examine their relation with the accidents. According to their research, low agreeableness and conscientiousness were found as related with the accident involvement. Even though highly extraverted workers might be considered as more likely to have accidents, the relation between extraversion and work place accidents were found invalid. The workers who have higher neuroticism are more likely to have problems in risky situations than the others and also because they could easily get demotivated they are more likely to have experience accidents. Christian et all., (2009) also used the big five personality factors to examine their relation with the accidents. By considering the conscientious workers features as being more responsible, dependable, and also more positively related to motivation than the other workers who has lower conscientiousness levels, they are less likely to have occupational accidents. Also as Clarke and Robertson, (2005) had founded, Christian et. all, (2009) suggests the workers who have higher neuroticism would have lower safety performance behaviour and higher chances to encounter to an accident. Locus of control is one of the big five personality factors. It is one of the most researched areas in psychology with self-esteem and neuroticism. (Judge, Erez, Bono Thoresen, 2002) The workers who have internal locus of control are more concerned in the safety issues where as the workers who has external locus of control are less likely to concern the safety. (Christian et. All, 2009) Propensity for risk taking is one of the big five personality factors that concerns about the reason why some people decide to perform more risky behaviours than the others. To examine the reasons that would cause the risky behaviours would enable the management to found better working risk management systems. According to the research, the tendency of risk consciousness is higher than it was before over the job markets not only about the financial risks but also the occupational accidents. (Nicholson, Soane, Fenton-OCreevy, Willman,2005) Safety climate can be defined as a concept that includes the safety policies, strategies and actions for providing the safety in the organisation. Otherwise safety culture is related with the beliefs and values that are shared by workers in the means of their reactions on the safety risks and management systems. The researches on safety climate generally concentrate on the main configuration of safety climate and also examines the connection between safety climate and outcome variables. Several researches were carried out to describe the safety climate hence they couldnt compromise on the main scope of safety climate as they provide an extensive scale of various main configurations. (Neal Griffin, 2002) As the former researches refers to a considerable connection between safety climate and accident involvement, (Clark, 2006) argues that safety climate has a small relation with occupational accidents even though it is successful in estimating the safety performance behaviours. Organizational safety climate has more effect than the individuals safety climate in safety performance as it consists of collective concepts in the group than individual ones.(Christian et all., 2009) Leadership is a situation related antecedent. Lately some researches are conducted in the means of examining the relationship between the leadership and safety climate which might have an effect on accidents and safe behaviour. Leader worker relations has a vital effect on the workers actions. The workers who have high-quality relationships with their leaders are more likely to have more positive safety behaviours because the leader and the worker would have connected to solve problems together. (Hofmann, Morgeson Gerras 2003) Also workers who have positive interactions with their leaders are more likely to respond their leaders positively then their colloquies. (Christian et. all, 2009) Every year a high number of workers are affected by the occupational accidents and illnesses which forces to research occupational safety to find solutions to improve the current situation. The managers have an important affect in the organizational culture to change the workers safety behaviours. (Fernà ¡ndez-Muà ±iz et all, 2007) Also workers should be aware of the all risks in their work and know how to prevent them. (Ostrom et. all, 1993) Safety motivation and safety knowledge is important for preventing the accidents. (Christian et. all, 2009) As we conduct the big five factor model to occupational safety behaviours, it has been found out that, low agreeableness and conscientiousness are related with the accident involvement (Clarke Robinson, 2005) Also the workers who has higher neuroticism are more open to the accidents. (Christian et. all, 2009) Organizational safety climate has also a positive affect on the workers safety behaviours. (Christian et. all, 2009) REFERENCES Christian, M.S., Bradley, J.C., Wallace, J.C., Burke, M.J.,( 2009), Workplace Safety: A Meta-Analysis of the Roles of Person and Situation Factors , Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(5), 1103-1127 Clark, S., Robertson, I.T., (2005), A meta- analytic review of the Big Five personality factors and accident involvement in occupational non-occupational settings. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 78(3), 355-376 Clark, S., (2006), The relationship between safety climate and safety performance: A meta-analytic review, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 11(4), 315-327 Fernà ¡ndez-Muà ±iz ,B., Montes-Peà ³n, J.M., Và ¡zquez-Ordà ¡s, C.J., (2007) ,Safety culture: Analysis of the causal relationships between its key dimensions, Journal of Safety Research, 38, 627-641 Hofmann, D.A., Morgeson, F.P. Gerras, S.J., (2003), Climate as a moderator of the relationship between leader-member exchange and content specific citizenship: Safety climate as an exemplar, Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(1), 170-178 Neal,A., Griffin ,M.A. (2002), Safety Climate and Safety Behaviour , Australian Journal of Management, 27, 67-76 Neal, A., Griffin, M.A., (2006), A study of the lagged relationships among safety climate, safety motivation, and accidents at the individual and group levels, Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(4), 946-953 Nicholson, N., Soane, E., Fenton-OCreevy, M., Willman, P.(2005), Personality and domain-specific risk taking, Journal of Risk Research, 8(2), 157-176 Ostrom, L., Wilhelmsen, C. and Kaplan, B. (1993) Assessing Safety Culture, Nuclear Safety, 34(2),163-172 The Health and Safety Statistics 2009/10,HSE 2010, http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/overall/hssh0910.pdf Judge, T.A., Erez, A., Bono, J.E., Thoresen, C.J., (2002), Are measures of self-esteem, neuroticism, locus of control, and generalized self-efficacy indicators of a common core construct?, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(3), 693-710

The Party from Hell :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My birthday fell on the 21st of July, but it was only the 18th. My parents were out of town, so this had to be the weekend I threw a huge birthday bash. I made up flyers, 50 of them, and my neighbors didn’t seem to mind too much, so things seemed to be set. I took the 16th and 17th off of work so I could get anything of value safely locked away in secured rooms. I hoped that things would work out well and nothing would go wrong. I made sure that the flyers were only handed out to the people that I actually wanted there, in efforts to keep away the â€Å"trouble makers†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The day of the party was finally here, and I spent it setting up my very expensive stereo system so that no one could break it. Everything seemed to be in place and the people started rolling in. Things were going great. People were dancing and playing pool and just having a good time. There were a few people over by the snack bar eating their hearts out, and that is where the first signs of trouble caught my eye. I noticed a couple of people sneaking drinks. This was exactly what I had tried to prevent. In my past experience, whenever there was alcohol at a party, bad things happened. I didn’t want to spoil the fun people were having so I decided as long as it was contained to those few people, nothing would go wrong. As the night continued, things only seemed to get better. My friends were there and we were having a great time. No one had complained about the noise, and the drinking had kept itself to those few people, or so I thought.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A couple of hours after I noticed the alcohol, I spotted a crowd around one of the bathrooms. Apparently there was a girl in there, throwing up. As I began to walk over, she pushed through the crowd, completely out of control. I didn’t know how to react; it seemed like anything anyone did just made her more upset. She was screaming that she needed to go outside, so we let her out onto the back porch. I tried to calm her down, along with about five of my other friends, but nothing seemed to work. She began running down the street yelling that we were trying to attack her.

Protrayal of Australian Landscape and Character

How has the Australian Landscape been used to portray and show the development of Australian Character? Refer to 2 Texts. As a person that calls Australia home, I have seen and heard many criticisms and descriptions of this land that were observed from foreigners. Although there are aspects that create the image of Australia such as the people and the natural fauna, the main and central idea that represents our home are her deadly and awe-inspiring environments and landscape. Australia’s character is built upon first impressions.As most people rely on their sight, their first impressions are from visual perspectives. The environment of which they arrive in or have experienced from media depend largely on what they see, thus making the Australian landscape of vital importance in creating the â€Å"Australian Character. † Due to the fact that we rely on sight, this also includes our limitless imagination; and the key to imaginations are words. Description, tone and the fe elings portrayed through words are the cause of imaginations and perceptions and because the iconic images of Australia are the landscapes we tend to include them in our portrayals.Written languages have been around for centuries, it is a way of communication and as informed so are images. The comparison for the development of Australia flows easily with words and is therefore usually portrayed in texts, other forms of literature and in songs. It goes into more depth. It is a detailed way to represent the character of Australia. There are many text examples, of which use the Australian landscape to portray the development of Australia such as poems like â€Å"My Country† and â€Å"The Fierce Country† and lyrics in the Advance Australian Fair.The poem â€Å"My Country† by Dorothea Mackellar is a famous Australian poem, well-known for the descriptions based upon Australia’s landscape. The poem contains many words related to landform such as â€Å"sweeping plains†, â€Å"ragged mountain ranges† and â€Å"wilful lavish land,† all in which have an adjective to accompany it. This creates allows us to imagine these depictions in the same perspective as the authors, which gives us a clear view to what she is talking about.The way Dorothea used symbolic words to describe Australia’s landscapes, helps us to grasp the concept of Australia’s character. A sample of this would include the contrasting effects in the verse: â€Å"I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, Of droughts and flooding rains. I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea, Her beauty and her terror – The wide brown land for me! † Here the words symbolise and infer many characteristics that may bring out feelings. There are many ways to interpret Australia’s character through this.For example, the â€Å"sunburnt† gives me the idea of being durable and tough as well as the c olour of red, the â€Å"land of sweeping plains† keeps me thinking of being broad/wide and productive as plains contain fertile soil and the â€Å"ragged mountains† produces the personality of being persistent and being able to stand her ground through many years. Additionally, â€Å"her far horizons† perceives calmness, the â€Å"jewel sea† shows that Australia is rich, valuable and holds substance still to be discovered and the contrast in the line â€Å"her beauty and her terror† indicates that she is diverse.By reading through this verse of the landscape, it overall gives Australia the characteristics of being strong, durable, dynamic, tenacious, relaxed and unique and therefore portraying Australia’s characteristics. Another poem is Douglas Stewart’s, â€Å"Fierce Country. † In this case, the uses of landscapes are used constantly through the poem, in a way forcing us to think about only landscapes throughout the whole thi ng. He uses many personifications such as â€Å"the sun glares down on the stones and the stones glare back†, â€Å"red stones leap with fire† and â€Å"where the mirage still watches with glittering eyes. This enables us to think of this country as a living organism, which gives us an easier way to create Australia’s character and personality. The use of landscapes mixed along with personification also assists our interpretation as we are human and have experienced or seen these personified actions before, hence strengthening the concept through the whole poem and is a way in which the Australian landscape has been used.

Toyota Goes Green Essay Example

Toyota Goes Green Essay Example Toyota Goes Green Essay Toyota Goes Green Essay With the high costs of fuel and the environment dwindling. Companies have started going green to help reduce cost and find alternative to the natural burdens of the economy by using eco friendly services and products. Car companies like Toyota have gone green to look for another alternative to rising fuel prices and better gas mileage. With their introduction of the Prius, Toyota has become the world’s leading car manufacturer. The Prius also helps out by being environmentally friendly. Hybrid cars like the Prius are designed with an electric motor that is mixed with a gasoline engine that lets drivers get above average gas mileage. Existing models get 47 to 60 miles per gallon, depending on where youre driving. Toyota claims you can drive its 2004 Prius from Detroit to Washington on a single tank of gas â€Å"(U. S. A Today, 2007) Toyota has not only made cars to prove that they are going green but they also incorporate ways to save money and save the environment. In an arti cle in the Times magazine it states â€Å"What matters more than one car model,† says the article, â€Å"is the efficiency Toyota brings to all aspects of its business a corporate philosophy that strives to exterminate waste†. Toyota can use a single production line to make several car types, which means it has cut energy use by 30 per cent since 2000. †(Times, Jan 11) Toyota has made a huge financial impact by choosing to design and sell economic friendly products. â€Å"In Toyotas case, green also refers to the color of cash; this month the carmaker announced that between December, 1997, and May, 2007, it sold more than 1 million hybrid cars worldwide. †(Janna, R) The auto industry has made a major impact by producing these hybrids. Toyota is not the only maker of hybrids like the Prius. Honda started the craze by being the first car company to produce the Hybrid vehicle which was called the Honda Insight. The Honda Insight was introduced in 1999 and provided lower gas emissions. Soon Toyota caught on to the craze of hybrid vehicles by making the Prius, the Highlander, and now even the new Camry is a hybrid car. Other car companies like Ford and General Motors have noticed the financial impact and are said to roll out new hybrid vehicles with in the next three years. The environment has been effected tremendously by companies going green. Like the car companies that have gone green other companies have also gone green by trying to find other alternatives for rising fuel costs. It is not only the rising prices of fuel for cars that the economy is focusing on. Energy companies have also joined the cause to go green and fight the rising cost of fuel for electricity. Energy companies are trying to save money while expanding their markets by using less fossil fuel and making products and services that are more economically friendly. â€Å"With energy prices trending higher, the threat to the bottom line continues to grow. That’s made the motivation for conserving fuel more compelling. Some 65 percent of U. S. companies think that escalating energy prices pose a potential roadblock to their companys growth over the next 12 months, according to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers in the fourth quarter of 2005. †(MSNBC, 2007) Other companies such as Cargill which is in the global food processing business have started to use their waste into new energy. Using meat scraps they have been able to develop a methane gas that has allowed the company to save money by replacing the high cost of natural gas. Electricity companies have started to use alternatives such as ethanol and wind energy to power the world’s energy. U. S. ethanol production hit nearly 4 billion gallons last year, according to the U. S. Energy Information Administration. Nearly 100 ethanol plants are in operation, another 33 are under construction and nine are being expanded, according to the Renewable Fuels Association. â€Å"(MSNBC, 2007) â€Å"Wind energy is also getting a lift. Though it makes up just a half a percent of U. S. energy consumption, its the fastest growing sources of renewable energy in terms of usage and capacity. One big reason is the dramatic cost per kilowatt of producing electricity with wind making it much more competitive with fossil fuels. †(MSNBC, 2007) I can not make any recommendations on what should have been done since I think the rising new technology and the eco friendly products and services are helping cut costs while helping the World clean up the environment. I look forward to the new innovation since these costs are sky rocketing every day. I can only hope that average people like us get the much deserved break that we need. (2007) â€Å"Companies going green with energy alternatives â€Å"Retrieved on November 27, 2007, from msnbc. msn. com/id/12040418/ (2007) Times Magazine Jan 11†Going green is natural for some† Retrieved on November 28, 2007, from imesonline. co. uk/tol/life_and_style/career_and_jobs/graduate_management/article1291095. ece U. S. A. Today, Block, S Your Money (2007)†Going green with car can save you some green at tax time† Retrieved on November 29, 2007, from usatoday. com/money/perfi/columnist/block/2004-01-13-ym_x. htm Reena, J (2007) â€Å"The business benefits of going green† Retrieved on November 29, 2007, from businessweek. com/innovate/content/jun2007/id20070622_491833. htm? chan=innovation_innovation+%2B+design_green+design

The 46 Colleges With the Highest ACT Scores, Ranked

The 46 Colleges With the Highest ACT Scores, Ranked SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Did you know that the ACT is accepted by all four-year colleges? And that more students now end up taking the ACT than the SAT?With the test growing more popular each year, it’s helpful to get a handle on what schools are toughest when it comes to applicants’ ACT scores. For this article, I've compiled a list of colleges with the highest average ACT scores for admitted students. With this data, you can compare your own ACT scores (or goal scores) with those earned by admitted applicants at top colleges. We'll also talk about what these rankings actually mean: are these schools the best you can attend? Are they the most competitive? What if your ACT scores are below the listed averages? Read on to find out the answers to these questions (and more)! The Current ACT Rankings Here's a chart of colleges and universities whose admitted students have the highest average ACT scores: Average Composite ACT Score School 35 Caltech 34 Columbia 34 Duke 34 Harvard 34 Harvey Mudd 34 MIT 34 University of Chicago 34 Vanderbilt 33 Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering 33 Johns Hopkins 33 Northwestern 33 Notre Dame 33 Princeton 33 Rice 33 Stanford 33 Washington University in St Louis 33 Yale 32 Amherst 32 Boston College 32 Bowdoin 32 Brown 32 Carnegie Mellon 32 Cornell 32 Dartmouth 32 Georgetown 32 Georgia Tech 32 Grinnell 32 Hamilton 32 Haverford 32 Pomona 32 Swarthmore 32 Tufts 32 UC Berkeley 32 University of Pennsylvania 32 USC 32 Washington and Lee 32 Williams 31 Carleton 31 Claremont McKenna 31 Colgate 31 Emory 31 Middlebury 31 University of Michigan 31 Vassar 31 Villanova 31 Wellesley If you want more information about your own chances of getting into any of the schools listed above, click on the names of the schools you're interested in to see their ACT scores and admissions info page. How Should You Interpret These ACT Rankings? The ACT is scored, in total, out of 36 points. As you can see, the scores ranked above are pretty close to that maximum score (the highest listed above is 35, and the lowest is 31). According to ACT, Inc., the current average ACT score (when considering every single student who takes the exam) is 21 out of 36. A student's score is generally considered high if it's 25 or above- this puts the student in the top 25% of test takers. By contrast, a score is generally considered low if it's 16 or below- this puts a student in the bottom 25% of test takers. You can read more about what's considered a good and bad ACT score by checking out our guide to ACT scores. Highest ACT Averages: Are These Really the Top Schools? Now that you have an idea of where your own ACT scores (or goal scores) fit in terms of these rankings, you might be wondering how important this list is when it comes to determining top schools. It's a bit of a complicated question. Most of the schools listed above are ranked very highly on college ranking lists, including the most recent edition of theUS News best universitiesand best national liberal arts colleges lists. These college ranking lists take many factors into consideration, not just ACT scores. Even though the rankings might not be perfectly accurate, they give a pretty good general idea of what the top US schools are. The institutions that rank on this list do tend to have better reputations than other schools and are generally more competitive- that is, acceptance rates are lower (in some cases much lower) than average. You'll notice, for example, that all the Ivy League schools are on the ACT list above. Because these schools are highly competitive, the students who attend them are typically very strong academically. The schools who won a spot on this list tend to be ranked highly by education experts, have high graduation rates, and are home to a strong student body. Of course, it's important to consider not only a school's reputation or rankingbut also what it can offer you personally. The top school for you will be the school that best matches your own personal preferences, interests, passions, and future aspirations.Schools with very specialized programs or unique offerings might be better fits for some students- not everyone will know or care about the Curtis Institute of Music, for example, but any musician in the making will more than likely know it’s one of the top music schools in the country (even though it doesn’t make the list for top ACT scores). To sum up, the schools on the ACT list above do tend to rank very highly, and for good reason. Ultimately, though, what makes a school "good" is whether it's a good fit for you. Are Schools With High ACT Scores the Most Competitive? For the reasons discussed above, the schools on this list are some of the most competitive in the country- that is, they have some of the lowest acceptance rates, with some reporting super low rates of less than 10%. However, there are also niche institutions with extremely low acceptance rates that do not necessarily weight ACT scores as heavily as the schools above. Some of the most competitive schools in the US are military and naval academies, conservatories, andschools that guarantee a minimum financial aid amount. Many of these institutions don't rank on this ACT list. What If Your ACT Scores Are Below the Listed Averages? Admissions officers consider a student applicant as a whole- they don't just look at your ACT score to determine whether you're a good fit for the school. If your ACT scores are less than stellar, you might be able to make up for a low test score with other strengths. The bottom line is that if you’re applying to a school with extremely competitive ACT scores and your scores are below average, you’ll have to stand out as an exceptional applicant in other parts of your application.You can do this by earning an impressive GPA, demonstrating a long-standing commitment to community service, using your personal essay to discuss extraordinary circumstances or personal obstacles you've faced †¦ the list goes on! Find a way to stand out as a strong applicant in ways that don't involve your ACT score. Now, keep in mind that the scores listed above are averages- about half of all students attending a particular school will have ACT scores lower than the score listed for it. What this means is your application won’t necessarily be tossed aside just because your ACT score is lower than the average. You can also access information on the "middle 50" for each school- that is, the score at the 25th percentile and 75th percentile for admitted students. This will tell you the range of scores that the median 50% of accepted students have. You'll generally be a stronger applicant if you fall in this middle 50% than if you're in the bottom 25% of students. If you want to calculate your chances of getting into a certain school, use our admissions pages, which you can find by Googling "[School Name] PrepScholar." Finally, if the ACT just isn't your thing, consider taking the SAT.All four-year colleges accept SAT scores, and some students mightperform better on the SAT than they would on the ACT. What's Next? If you haven't already taken the ACT, perhaps this list of top schools has given you a goal to shoot for.If so, you should check outour guide to getting a perfect ACT scoreas well as our guide to the best tips you can use to improve your ACT score. Don't have a ton of time to prep? Learn how to study for the ACT in a month, and take a look at our most effective last-minute ACT tips to help you increaseyour score on test day. Is the ACT not your thing, but you still want to get into a top school? Get more info on how to get a perfect score on your SAT. Want to improve your ACT score by 4+ points? Download our free guide to the top 5 strategies you need in your prep to improve your ACT score dramatically.

The Middle East And North Africa Mena Economics Essay Essays

The Middle East And North Africa Mena Economics Essay Essays The Middle East And North Africa Mena Economics Essay Essay The Middle East And North Africa Mena Economics Essay Essay of which, with the exclusion of Syria and the West Bank and Gaza, all states in the part are members or have observer position. Ten MENA states have signed European Union-Mediterranean Association Agreements ( EMAAs ) with the E.U. These understandings replace the discriminatory entree to European markets for goods from African, Caribbean, and Pacific states with a mutual decrease in duties on many goods. However, these understandings by and large exempt agricultural trade goods. The MENA part is besides an oil rich part and the part s economic lucks over much of the past one-fourth century have been to a great extent influenced by the monetary value of oil. During the recession of 2008 that effected planetary economic systems and the demand for oil, it led to increase uncertainness for the MENA part because of its high dependance on oil monetary value in the international market. As an incorporate unit MENA has been able to get by with planetary recession because of its combined trade policy. In the old ages to come, integrated parts similar to MENA might be the reply to future jobs and therefore makes it of import to look at costs and benefits of economic integrating in the visible radiation of MENA. The paper will foremost look at the current jobs and challenges faced by the MENA part and so look at the benefits of integrating to the part Challenges faced by the MENA part In order to understand the challenges faced by the MENA part jointly, it is of import to split the part into groups and expression at these jobs in a coherent segregated mode. Harmonizing to a study by OECD titled Opportunities and challenges in the MENA part these categorizations are: Resource-rich, labor-abundant states are manufacturers and exporters of oil and gas and have big native populations, which represent about the entirety of their occupants. This group of states includes Algeria, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Resource-rich, labor-importing states are manufacturers and exporters of oil and gas and have big portions of foreign or expatriate occupants, who represent a important per centum of the entire population, even the bulk in some instances. This group of states comprises the Gulf Cooperation Council ( GCC ) members ( Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates ) and Libya. Resource-poor states are little manufacturers or importers of oil and gas. These states include Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, and the Palestinian Authority. ( OECD, 2003 ) Unemployment The challenges faced by MENA include high unemployment degrees ( in specific among young person ) ; permeant corruptness and deficiency of answerability and transparence ; bloated public sectors with state-owned endeavors that crowdout the development of private endeavor and investing ; low degrees of endeavor creative activity ; and, for a figure of states, a high dependance on fuel and nutrient imports bring forthing extended exposure to trade good monetary value volatility. Given that these challenges are both structural and interconnected, they can be addressed merely through a co-ordinated and comprehensive scheme that involves authoritiess, the private sector, civil society, and the international community which I will demo subsequently in the essay. The chart below from the World Bank shows unemployment rates for 2000 and 2009 in the MENA part, bespeaking the alteration in unemployment over nine old ages. ( World Bank, 2011 ) Arab Spring Revolution Immigration is expected to increase in those states most affected by the Arab Spring. Immigration to GCC states, which already host important portions of Arab immigrants, is expected to lift. Numerous histories have been reported of Immigrants flying from Northern Africa to Europe. Furthermore, a study of Egyptian immature people by the International organisation for Migration found that the oncoming of protests and instability may hold acted as a primary push factor for young person who reported anterior purposes to migrate. The study s consequences showed that two-thirds of respondents with migration purposes who were working prior to the start of the protests were negatively affected by the events: 26 per centum lost their occupations, 20 per centum were asked to take unpaid leave, and 19 per centum witnessed a decrease in their working hours. ( International Organization for Migration, 2011 ) Inflation Datas from OECD indicated that high rising prices which is the merchandise of a high dependance on fuel and nutrient imports represents a major challenge for resource-poor states. For the MENA part ; consumer monetary value rising prices has remained high since the oil and fuel monetary value spikes of 2007-08. This is peculiarly the instance in Egypt, which registered an rising prices rate of 5 per centum during 1996-2005 and a significantly higher rate of 11 per centum during 2006-10. A noteworthy exclusion to high rising prices has been Morocco, which has kept consumer monetary value additions below 3 per centum. ( OECD, 2003 ) Costss and Benefits of Economic Integration in MENA Although the MENA part has registered a comparatively high economic growing during the last few old ages, However ; the absence of a vivacious private sector which would hold been able to make more and better occupations, has meant that economic public presentation has non been reflected in improved life criterions for the bulk. As discussed earlier, some factors doing this lack are stiff labour markets, accomplishments mismatches, the herding out of private endeavor by SOEs and high corruptness. But there are besides other economic and structural factors, such as low degrees of fight in fabrication sectors, deficiency of export-market variegation, and low intraregional integrating which still exists in the part. Furthermore, although the Arab Spring provides an of import chance for economic reform, although its immediate effects will be negative for those states most affected by societal and political instability Passage illustrations from other parts suggest that the medium-run additions from traveling to more unfastened and accountable authoritiess are ample. Income growing tends to stabilise at a higher mean rate in the decennary after passage, and income volatility at a lower rate, as compared with the old period. The consequences will depend on how fleetly and believably authoritiess can perpetrate to reform. In the interim, as investors wait for political uncertainness to be resolved in states affected by political convulsion, it is inevitable that investing will be delayed and economic challenges will emerge. Evidence from earlier passages shows that these troubles tend to be limited ; growing typically dips for merely one twelvemonth and so returns to or exceeds old degrees. Integration via Trade in Goods Regional trade understandings ( RTAs ) have proliferatedin the MENA part in the past two decennaries. Such understandings can do it possible to harvest benefits from internationalintegration, while orienting the commissariats ofthe understandings to the peculiar demands and adjustmentcapacities of the states involved. They canalso have good indirect effects. Opening domesticmarkets to spouse states, for illustration, can increasecompetition in sectors with antecedently highlyconcentrated industrial constructions. Such precompetitive impacts are peculiarly of import for countriesthat have merely a nascent domestic competition policy.Also, regional cooperation can be effectual in harmonizingcustoms processs and domestic regulations.Adopting common regulations on investing, forexample, has the possible to promote increased inflowsof foreign direct investing by heightening thecredibility of FDI-related policies and supplying a restrainton sudden policy reversals. Harmonizing to the World Bank many MENA states have late seen the portion of intraregional trade in entire ware trade addition dramatically over the past two decennaries. Compared to this ; the extent of intraregional trade remains lowerthan in all other parts of the universe, except for South Asia. Though the ratio of intraregional trade to GDP exceeds 15 per centum in the Syrian Arab Republic and Jordan, in most MENA states the ratio remains in the low individual figures. In peculiar, resource-rich, labor-importing states by and large show a really low degree of intra-MENA exports in relation to GDP, despite high entire export-to-GDP ratios. ( World Bank, 2005 ) . Integration through Servicess For an economic system, services typically contribute a major part to the GDP. Therefore, it is of import to take barriers to entryfor both domestic and foreign houses and increasethe efficiency of services. The current regional integrating understandings inMENA by and large do non cover services trade, and in countries where the understandings do cover services, it is in the footings of purposes and silent understandings. Furthermore, there still exist differences in ordinances and at times bounds on the physical motion of persons. In these instances it is presently making a state of affairs in which it is frequently easier for MENA states service suppliers to run in states outside the part than within. The chart below from the World Bank represents the service exports for selected states in the MENA part. Integration through Labor reforms If we compare the part s integrating through trade and labour we can see that the MENA part is more incorporate in the globaleconomy through labour mobility than through tradeand investing. Harmonizing to a study by the World Bank on the MENA part titled Economic Developments and Prospects it has outlined that the part s portion of planetary trade flows is below 5 per centum, andthe part receives an even lower portion of globalFDI flows. However, about 16 per centum of all remittancespaid out to migrators in the universe originate inthe MENA part, basically the GCC states, and 10 per centum of planetary remittals are standard byresidents of MENA states. ( World Bank, 2008 ) They have besides explained a recent tendency where MENA s portion in remittals has come down significantly since the 1990s, at atime when remittals to India, China, Mexico, andthe Philippines have increased exponentially. Therefore looking closely at these immense labour flows in the past it becomes of import to inquire here if in-migrations are wholly conflict-driven flows. This is non the instance if we look at the chart below where the portion of refugees as a part of Migrants has decreased dramatically. One of the primary factors prefering the addition in in-migration still appears to be demographics. Harmonizing to population projections from the United Nations in context with labour force engagement rates, show that, if there is no migration so the labour force in GCC states will maintain turning at 2.2 per centum per yearbetween 2005 and 2010, but after 2010, this growing rate will worsen. Thus, without extra migrator workers, two GCC workers would still hold to supportthree inactive individuals over the foreseeable hereafter. This shows that if there are no drastic alterations so underlying demographic factors will go on to prefer more migration. Integration through Capital Flows Two developments frame the context for recenttrends in capital markets in the MENA part: countriessuch as Syria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisiahave begun to intensify structural and institutionalreforms, increasing the demand for capital The oil roar has generated monolithic liquidness in theGulf provinces, therefore increasing the supply of capital. Compared with conditions in old oil boomperiods, a higher sum of the excess is now availableto the oil-exporting MENA states and is beingchanneled into project-based investings in the region.GCC states have already allocated over $ 1.3 trillion in substructure and fabrication investmentsover the following 5 old ages harmonizing to the EIU mentality for 2007 ( Economist Intelligence Unit, 2007 ) On the other manus, Project-based investings have late been increasingespecially in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, andTunisia. These intra-MENA investings are largely basedon telecommunications, substructure, existent estate, touristry, and banking. The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency has list of multibillion-dollar investing undertakings in MENA which is acquiring longer. Harmonizing to them some recent investing undertakings include: A $ 9 billion touristry undertaking by Dubai Holding and Emaar Holding in Morocco, Kuwait s Telecom Group ( Wataniya ) spread outing into Tunisia, DubaiHolding geting 33.5 per centum of Tunis Telecom ( $ 2.25 billion ) , and the Bukhater Group s $ 5 billion City Complex undertaking in Tunisia. To day of the month, there are 15MENA national investing publicity bureaus, most of which were established in the past decade.New investings are facilitated by private groupsand finance houses, and authoritiess are closelymonitoring reform indexes published by i nternationalagencies to analyse the effects of greater investings intra-region. ( Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, 2011 ) Integration through Infrastructure Investments In footings of Infrastructure investing late, there have been cross-border substructure undertakings that are going more outstanding in the part. Some of the examplesinclude cross-border electricity grids, gas grapevines, conveyance links, and telecommunication webs. However, there are still many regulative and fiscal challenges.In the yesteryear, interconnectedness of power grids in theMENA part was chiefly driven by governmentsconcerns about continuing power supply securityin their several markets. On the other handother benefits, such as capital investings salvaging, are besides considered, though these are non yet the chief drivers fornetwork interconnectedness. The sum of exported and imported power still remains low in many instances. For case studies from the World Bank show that merely 12 per centum of entire capacity of theAlgeria-Morocco links is used, 17 per centum in the instance of the Algeria-Tunisia interconnectedness. ( World Bank, 2011 ) With the exclusion of Yemen and Djibouti, transportsystems are good developed in MENA states. Most states have been able to develop extensiveroad webs, with high capacity in some countries, and modern installations for air, sea, and railtransport. The cardinal issue in the part is the quality of the conveyance assets as a consequence of the deficiency of appropriatemaintenance or of hapless service operations due to institutional lacks. Cost-effectivetransport services, efficient facilitation, and transport substructure supplemented with good intermodalconnectivity are required to suit the growing in planetary and intraregional trade. However, regional integrating enterprises still remain at an early phase of development in the conveyance sector.As a consequence of the closing of several boundary lines in the part, land-based conveyance plays a minor function inintraregional trade in MENA. Decision In visible radiation of the recent developments and the challenges faced by the MENA part we can accurately see that there is still room for more significant development in the part as a consequence of greater intra-regional economic part. Looking at consequences from the development of intra-regional trade and services we can see that the benefits outweigh the costs and it is of import the reforms are taken at a governmental degree to let for greater de-regulation of markets and policies set uping trade flows between states. However, the recent oil roar and planetary trade good roar does leave enormous room for development and growing in the part.

Network Design Consultation Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Network Design Consultation - Research Paper Example These elements will all certainly be discussed very in-depth in this piece. II. Recommended Design, Hardware, & Software That Meets The Customer’s Needs A recommended design that will meet the customer’s needs will have 3 computers; a printer will also be included. File sharing is included, along with wireless internet access, several Gmail and Yahoo! and/or Admin addresses at the organization’s official address; additionally, basic security like Norton Antivirus, can be purchased. This would all be within the ballpark of $4000, $1000 under budget, with running costs about $200 per month. There have been several studies done showing that good technical writing yields helpful results, especially when it comes to task-oriented information.   According to Pringle and O’Keefe (2003), â€Å"Task-oriented writing makes up the bulk of technical documentation—installation manuals, getting started manuals, and user guides, for example† (pp. 91).    III. Original Diagram of the Configuration IV. ...   This would probably be done with the help of an online site such as CodePad (at http://www.codepad.org) or others which helps a programmer figure out if his or her C++ (or other type of code) works functionally.   Thus, one can test one’s own code being entered intothe online program and see if one’s code works.   Finally, the written report would basically demonstrate how the code works, why it would be used, and how it would be beneficial to the organization that would be utilizing it.   To be brief, basically the written report would demonstrate the facility of use and usefulness of the scheduling code for the supervisory roles or Admins.   It might also be a code which could be marketed to other organizations and/or business or be put online as open source code in order to enhance businesses’ functioning so they would run more smoothly. V. Cost Table Listing All Items Needed to Purchase and Associated Costs ITEM COST Virus Protection (Norton Antiv irus) Subscription for One Year $100 3 computers (1 Mac OSX, 2 Windows 7) $2000 Admins’ Salary $1900 Total Cost $4000 VI. Basic Configuration Recommended for a Secure Computing Environment The core activities to be focused upon are to provide clear purpose and direction to the workforce, optimize use of financial and other resources, increase operational efficiency and effectiveness, plan and prioritise projects and activities and deliver on time, and remain within budget and achieve performance targets. There are six important activities that lay at the heart of organizational dealings, many of which are aligned with becoming a â€Å"green† or environmentaly-friendly company. These are technical, commercial, financial,