Preference of Foreign Brands amongst Chinese People

The acceptance of products of foreign origin by Chinese consumers is with a genuine enthusiasm and due to various seasons: better quality, good reputation, greater diversity of choice, more attractive appearance, a feeling of liberty, new arrivals and so on. During the recent period everything that has a foreign name had to be of good quality, high price, and all those who consumed these products were regarded as rich and refined. This research paper consists of four main parts. Initially, we believe it is necessary to present the evolution of foreign brands in China, which allows us to have an overview of the context of our research.The second part will be devoted to the presentation of he conceptual framework of the issue of foreign brands. Then, we will trace the development of consumption in China. Last but not least, we propose, from all our lectures, methods of the research to solve our problem. We will conclude with the presentation of the contributions of our research and con sidered future developments. BODY 1 . The evolution of the foreign brands in China The Chinese economy was characterized by shortages, due to insufficient domestic production before the year 1979 (Guy, 2005).Indeed, during the Cultural Revolution (1968-1978), ‘ration tickets' have been distributed to buy products in China. Obviously, it was impossible for the Chinese to make a choice among competing brands. After 1979, a reform and opening policy to engage fully in building a modern economy allowed all industrial sectors to experience prodigious growth. At that time, many foreign companies have failed to penetrate because of their lack of knowledge of the Chinese market and local habits, but foreign brands remained very attractive for Chinese. However, the price of foreign products was so high that average employees could not afford them.In 1990, many Chinese have expressed a genuine enthusiasm or foreign products, from car to food and clothing. By purchasing a product that be ars a worldly famous name, Chinese consumer achieved a part of their dream. Some even saved intentionally to be able to buy foreign products. With the deepening of reform and opening up the economy and improving the investment environment, especially with its entry to WTFO, the enormous Chinese market has attracted more and more foreign products in China, and attracts more foreign companies coming to invest.The number of applications for registration and trademark registrations is increasing, so is their proportion in the annual applications compared to all existing brands. In 1982, applications for registration of foreign brands accounted for 8. 4% with 1 565 applications. In 2002, one year after the formal accession of China to the WTFO, they increased by 25. 2% over the previous year to reach the number of 50 902, which stood 13. 7% of applications. Before 1979, only 20 foreign countries and territories had registered trademarks in China, for a total of 5130 recordings.At the end of 2003, the number of countries and territories reached 129 and the number of registrations was 361 795, as 71 times more. The proportion of the cumulative number of foreign trademarks registered in relation to the total rose from 15. 7% in 1979 to 18. 3% in 2003, representing a growth of nearly three points (1). At the same time, Chinese consumers like foreign products because they demonstrate a higher life quality. Thus, some foreign products with special character are still quite requested.For example, European or American clothing are still in vogue, and very high-end foreign products are the new trends in consumption in China. According to a study cited recently by the Financial Times, China is the third oral market for luxury products with annual sales of two billion dollars and growth prospects annual 20% until 2008 and 10% up in 2015 (9). The influence of foreign brands on consumer behavior is a hot topic. It is first studied in the literature in terms of brand strategy to be adopted by enterprises (non- domestic customers).Motormen & Sharking (1998, (10) have noted three main points to understand: 1 . How consumers in each country consider the choice of brands, 2. How they evaluate them, 3. The different needs that drive their purchasing decision. In a context of globalization of markets, there are many studies about the alternatives f a marketing strategy, standardized or localized, which derives the question of a branding strategy standardized (global) vs. brand adapted (Seafarer, 2002 (5) , Roth, 1992 (1 1), and 1995 (12)).Research shows that it is important to identify potential obstacles, for example, some national characteristics, in the process of developing a global brand. Before looking at the value of a particular brand in a given market, it is also necessary to know the predisposition with which consumers of this market consider the brand in general, and then this brand in particular. 2. The concept of country of origin and its effects on consumer behavior Indeed, much has been said and written about the role of country of origin on the perception, evaluation and choice of foreign products.However, the effect of origin on brand has rarely been studied, and only in recent years it becomes an interesting subject for the researchers, with the rise of a movement that believes that the congruence between these two variables is more important than their effects taken separately (Airier and Fort, 2005). Our research intends to adopt this congruence approach to better understand the symbolic value and the practical value of the country of origin in the perception of foreign brand by Chinese consumers. There are a smaller number of researches studying the problem of countries of origin in the context of developing countries.Bator & AAA. (2000 (3)) showed that consumers in these countries perceive the country of origin as a factor indicating not only quality but also social values symbolic, and they give preference to tradema rk ‘non-local † compared to local brands. However, these proposals were rarely tested by empirical work. The study of Bator & AAA. 2000) among Indian consumers is an important reference on this point. Their results showed that consumers in developing countries have a more favorable attitude towards brands perceived as non-local, and for reasons that go beyond evaluating the quality of the brand.According to the authors, non-local brands are regarded as symbols of prestige, at least by certain categories of consumers and for categories of products with high symbolic value. These consumers are identified as those with a high degree of standard setting influence, one of the main influences that a reference group has on n individual. This group admires the lifestyles of economically developed countries. It is interesting to note that the brands are generally presented as non-local and non- associated with a given country, as in other more conventional research on the effect of country of origin. In sum, the study Bator & AAA. Mongo consumers in India provides us with the first clues for further research on the perception of foreign brand by consumers in developing countries. In this research, an interesting feature of Chinese consumers towards foreign brands in a society in transition is explored. Basing on this literature review and its limitations, we can assume that cultural orientation can influence consumer attitudes towards foreign brand in a positive way. Cultural values are considered as determinants of attitudes and behaviors and provide a more stable and domestic-oriented consumers (Kumara and Novak, 1992 (5)). . The Chinese culture and consumption of foreign brand 3. 1 The traditional Chinese culture and consumption of foreign brand The presentation of some of these principles will help us gain a better understanding of the behaviors of Chinese people. Some elements or values are respected, promoted and implemented in everyday life, includin g how to choose a brand. The features are introduced below: -The first feature of Chinese society is the collective nature The Chinese will adhere more easily to the standards of group than people in individualistic societies.An essential element in Western culture and consumer behavior, the desire to distinguish themselves, is also in China. It assumes a difference as a member of one group over another group, while respecting individual standards of his group. We therefore believe that the consumption of the product of reign origin is rather symbolic other than utilitarian to correspond to social status. Imitation is also a behavior used for identification as a member of the group. Moreover, it is obvious that luxury products are well sold in China in recent years.This means that the brand is in the process of buying decision because it meets the needs of good social status than personal needs (Guy, 2005). -The second characteristic feature is the concept of social interaction The relationship of trust leads the development of interpersonal relationships that underpin the functioning of many Chinese. The behaviors of Chinese consumers are more easily influenced by the existing trust between people who have a good personal relationship.It is assumed that the recommendations and comments from others play a very important role in the choice of brand. The Chinese consumers tend to regard the brand as part of their social life and their relationships to others. The exchange of gifts is considered as the most direct and most visible to cultivate social interaction. The way a person respects and implements the complex rules of gifts exchange is an essential element in assessing the social position of that person. For example, luxury products and international brands that can be gifts are well sold in China in recent years. The third feature is the concept of self-esteem In Chinese tradition, the concept of elf-esteem refers to the obligation of reciprocity. It is im portant to give oneself a positive image, reflecting his role, his status and is in line with the traits that respect his group membership†¦ Len view of the higher price and ostentatious function of the international brand compared to the local brand, consumers choose brands which is best known locally and do not want to take the sis of spending money for these brands anonymous on the market (Lu, 2004 (8)).The reputation of the brand foreign in domestic market is required for the reason of saving face. 3. 2 The modern Chinese culture and consumption of foreign brand The attitudes towards international brands of Chinese consumers are influenced by modern Chinese culture as well as traditional one. Specifically, modernity, youth, success and wealth allow Chinese consumers to pay greater importance to the brand, to develop a preference for foreign brands since it itself can constitute a social and symbolic universe (Lenitive and London, 1997 (7)).Modern consumers have more ways, c onsume more symbolically; they look for products with brand, either for their good quality or value for signs of the brand through research statute. Western Life influences consumer behavior of young Chinese. The admiration of the quality of life of developed countries exerts a positive influence on the attitude towards foreign brands. The relationship of Chinese consumers with foreign brands, which includes several aspects, manifests itself in a more or less depending on different social backgrounds, different categories of people.Elements such as age, sex, education level, and the tankard of living†¦ Certainly seem to influence the perception of foreign brands. A global study published by Accentuate shows that to attract Chinese consumers increasingly sensitive to foreign brands, companies must adjust their marketing strategies to the preferences of three categories of clientele. So the â€Å"golden youth†, I. E. Young urban graduates, mostly women, who have a high sta ndard of living and significant interest to the foreign brands is the first category with the most potential.According to the study, consumers in this class are two times more likely than others to only to buy new brands (28% against 14% maximum for others), but also to be the first to test (43% against 32% maximum). The other two categories are, on the one hand, â€Å"ambitious†, young people who are sensitive to brands and covet the latest and best products, but whose incomes do not allow them to realize their dreams. On the other hand, â€Å"high income†, who are also looking for exclusive products at the cutting edge of technology, but unlike the former, deserve the brands (14). 4. Guidelines for the management of foreign brands in China – Practical ValueNumerous studies on the problem of country of origin are interested in the influence of this concept on consumer preferences, and more specifically, preferences for foreign products or domestic products. The research in this field has highlighted a trend among consumers in developing countries to prefer foreign products to domestic products because of the superiority of foreign products in terms of quality. Long accustomed to basic products and very poor quality, Chinese consumers welcome these products of foreign origin with an enthusiasm, which may explain a better quality of these products.We therefore believe that the greater the perceived quality gap between the local brands and foreign brands is, the more Chinese consumers are sensitive to foreign brands. – Symbolic Value The importance of symbolic value tends to increase when society evolves socio economically from a low level to a higher level (Supplely and GarГÃ'‘enough, 2003 (13)). The Chinese consumers today are looking for brands capable of performing not only utilities functions but also symbolic functions and give them greater importance.The value of symbols and social standards of Chinese culture invites us to assume that it esters the perception of foreign brands by Chinese consumers. We also assume that the differences of the perceived symbolic value between local and foreign brands exert a positive influence on the perception of foreign brands. 4. 2 Perception of foreign brands – Integration of foreign brands in the Chinese culture The Chinese cultural characteristics influence the behavior of Chinese consumers.More precisely, Confucianism (the collective nature, the concept of social interaction, the notion of the self-esteem and modern Chinese culture exert a positive influence on the perception of foreign brand. Segmentation of the Chinese market In addition to the cultural differences that characterize Chinese consumers, their attitudes and behaviors appear closely related to other factors such as age, sex, education level, the standard of living†¦ Indeed, the evolution of the perception of foreign brand in China takes place at a very rapid pace.This can create signi ficant differences between groups of people more or less susceptible to the effects of opening up the country, for example, between cities and rural areas, between generations†¦ For the foreign firm, it is essential to find segments of Chinese nonusers who are more sensitive to brands. – The impact of competition China is entering a new phase of its economic development during which the foreign brands are no longer in the same position visit-Г-visit the Chinese consumers. The local competition may exert a negative influence on the perception of foreign brands.The Chinese brands have made progresses and become competitors for certain foreign brands. Faced with the improving quality of domestic products and the maturity of Chinese consumers, foreign companies must understand the symbolism of consumption that is implanted in the mind of Chinese consumers as a fundamental element of Chinese culture. In summary, the situation of foreign brands in China and Chinese consume r behavior visit-Г-visit foreign brands are discussed in this paper. The Chinese preference to foreign products seems to be an interesting feature in a society in transition to consumerism.The phenomenon of foreign brands in China appears somewhat different from what is often addressed in research in marketing, because of the complexity of the market situation and cultural characteristics of today's Chinese society and consumer behavior, closely related to the combined experience of generations of Chinese. Together with globalization and integration of markets, foreign investors wishing to work in China have to be aware of this reality. To have a good strategy of building brand image, it is important to understand the symbolic values of prestige required by the Chinese.To attract Chinese consumers, our study suggests several options: to highlight differences in terms of product quality and in terms of the symbolic value of brands; to strengthen orientation to Confucianism and to the theme of modernity and youth linked to consumption; to emphasize the importance of segmentation for the Chinese market; to emphasize the difference in hooch between categories of products with high symbolic value and low symbolic value and at last to identify new constraints imposed by local competition.Finally, we hope that this study makes a contribution to knowledge about the management of the brand in general and on the issue of foreign brands in the Chinese market in particular.

Considering The Present

Getting my first apartment 3. Having my two beautiful daughters 4. Becoming the Head Cake Decorator on my Job 5. Returning to school Each of these experiences has had an amazing impact on my life in one way or another. Graduating from high school was a big deal for me as well as my family. I was the first of my grandmother's grandkids to graduate from high school. After graduating from high school I worked hard and paid to rent my first apartment.Having my own space and becoming independent was something I have always wanted because I had to share everything growing up. I have two beautiful daughters whom have changed my life for the best. Before having the girls I was a party animal. They have slowed me down and made me realize what Is Important in life. I have always liked to design things growing up. Becoming a head cake decorator has allowed me to show my creativity and provide for my family, Last, but not least returning back to school to further my education has been a goal tha t I have always anted to accomplish.Obtaining my degree from Gifford will help me to provide an even better lifestyle for my daughters. When I graduated from high school, I was so proud of myself. I accomplished something that none of my grandmothers grandkids had ever done. Getting my own apartment taught me how to be a strong individual. I worked hard and maintained my own space which some young ladies at the age of 19 couldn't do. Having my kids was the best thing that ever happened to me. It taught me how to love unconditionally and genuinely.I felt great that I had a home of my own to raise them in. Becoming head cake decorator was a goal that I accomplished that was really unexpected. I was the backup cake decorator. When the head decorator took a higher paying Job she nominated me to take her space which was a great accomplishment. Returning back to school has been one of my biggest dreams and I am overwhelmed with happiness on how well I am doing after being out of school fo r over ten years. In my first class I finished with a B I great for and proud to be a student at Gifford university. Considering The Present In childhood and throughout our lives we live, we love, and we learn. These learning experiences can be either positive or negative and they can quickly be forgotten or can stay with us forever. Throughout my lifetime I have gone through my fair share of both positive and negative experiences. It is through these experiences that I have become the woman I am today. Two of these positive experiences that I have gone through in the course of my life that have played the largest part in the woman I am today are; the birth of my first son and getting clean and sober.Both of these experiences came with a variety of mixed emotions in the beginning but in the end were very rewarding. I can still remember the day the doctors told me I was pregnant. That immediate sense of fear swallowed me whole and time seemed to stand still. It was not until a couple of months later that I realized there was no changing the situation and that I needed to make the very best of it. Finding out I was pregnant started out as a very scary experience but ultimately was one of the most positive and rewarding experiences I have ever endured.After the fear settled a little bit I was able to really start thinking about my life and what I needed to change. Up until that day at the doctors I was living day by day doing what I needed to do for me and no one else. I had no job, I was living with my parents and my only source of excitement came from the local bar rooms late at night. I knew things needed to change and I set out on a mission to make that change happen. Alone and afraid I was able to swallow my pride and ask my family for help and the guidance to get my life back on track before this baby entered our world.All through my pregnancy I knew I loved my unborn son more than I have ever loved anything in this world. I knew that my life was no longer mine rather it was my son and I’s and that I needed to be the very best parent I could be. Although I was not able to find a real job I was babysitting for other family members and earning my own money. I was able to buy almost everything that was needed for my unborn son all on my own. Two months before I was due to give birth I finally got my own apartment. I was starting to feel like my own person and I was not so scared anymore.Kaidon Douglas Bishop entered this world on July 26th, 2005. It is a day that I will never forget. That immediate feeling of unconditional love overwhelmed me. This little boy had changed my life forever and for the first time in my life I felt like I did something right and I had a reason to live the right way. I chose this experience to discuss first because I believe it has had the most profound impact on my life and the person I am today. Finding out I was pregnant was a huge eye opener and motivator.There has been no other experience in my life that has made me as happy and satisfied as this one. The second experience I have chosen to discuss is my journey through addiction and into sobriety. This is yet another experience that has had a lasting impression on my life. At about the age of 16 I went through some very hard times and rather than deal with all the feelings and emotions that came with those difficulties I turned to drugs to bury those feelings. Things quickly escalated and in only a few short months my life was turned completely upside down.My drug addiction was the only thing in my life that mattered and I did not care about anything except my next high and where it was coming from. The ages of 16 through 21 were by far the worst years of my life. My addiction to opiates was running my life. Throughout the five years of my addiction I did several stints in and out of County jails, State prisons and rehabs. When I was not in one of those places I was homeless, bouncing around from drug house to drug house when I could and sleeping on the streets when I had no other option.My final rock bottom was when my own family had completely shut me out of thei r lives. It was at this point I knew that something had to change and I needed to get help. I had nothing and nobody and it was a very lonely time for me. I began making phone calls to substance abuse programs all over New York State hoping and praying that somebody would want to help. I was finally accepted into a suboxone program for opiate addiction and once again had someone on my side. Slowly I was able to completely get off from the heroin and pain killers and regain some sense of control.I understand that this sounds like a very negative experience but I have chosen it as one of the more significant experiences in my life because the outcome was so positive and rewarding and to this day affects my everyday life and decisions. Once I was clean and my family saw my progress I was accepted back in to open arms and a boat load of support. I doubt highly I would have ever been able to beat this addiction and get my life back without the help of my family. This experience not only taught me t he value of family but that persistence and working hard to get something you really want does pay off.

Erp System Implication

Analyzing Enterprise Resource Planning system implementation success factors in the Engineering-Procurement Construction & Commissioning Industry Introduction Back Ground Enterprise Systems (ES), also called Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, are among the most important business information technologies to emerge in the last decade. While no two industries Enterprise Systems are the same, the basic concept of Enterprise Systems is focused mainly on standardization, synchronization and improved efficiency. ERP is basically the successor to material resource planning (MRP) and integrated accounting systems such as payroll, general ledger, and billing. The benefits of Enterprise Systems are very significant: coordinating processes and information, reducing carrying costs, decreasing cycle time and improving responsiveness to customer needs [ (Davenport, 2000) ]. MRP is limited to controlling the flow of components and materials, and does not lend itself to more complete production control and coordination. The next generation of manufacturing software, known as MRP II, was developed to address this shortcoming and to further integrate business activities into a common framework. MRP II divides the production control problem into a hierarchy based on time scale and product aggregation. It coordinates the manufacturing process, allowing a variety of tasks such as capacity planning, demand management, production scheduling and distribution to be linked together. [ (Mendelson, 2000) ] Conventionally, the EPC firms have been faced with the predicament of handling the mega projects. The issue always is to keep these multimillion dollar projects on schedule, under budget, and safe with the quality specified by the end user. Although the EPC firms are one of the leading contributors to the development of region, yet it faces the challenges of most highly fragmented, inefficient, and geographically dispersed industries in the world. In recent times the emergence of ERP Software has helped such firms to overcome the issues. EPC Companies in the present world are expanding day by day, moving across the globe to open new avenues of business and expand. These companies also seek diversification in their business and continuously changing and adopting technology to keep pace and maintain their competitive advantage in their prior and newly adopted business sectors. Managing these huge companies need special support of Information Technology to keep a track of activities and handle them accordingly. Companies like BHP Billiton, Nestle etc. have implemented ERP systems around the globe wherever they operate. In our part of the world i. e. Pakistan companies such as Packages, FFC, Raftan Maize and Descon etc. have all implemented ERP systems to handle their business in a more efficient manner with their growth locally and globally. ERP is a software architecture that facilitates the flow of information among the different functions within an enterprise. Similarly, ERP facilitates information sharing across organizational units and geographical locations. It enables decision-makers to have an enterprise-wide view of the information they need in a timely, reliable and consistent fashion. ERP provides the backbone for an enterprise-wide information system. At the core of this enterprise software is a central database which draws data from and feeds data into modular applications that operate on a common computing platform, thus standardizing business processes and data definitions into a unified environment. With an ERP system, data needs to be entered only once. The system provides consistency and visibility-or- transparency across the entire enterprise. A primary benefit of ERP is easier access to reliable, integrated information. A related benefit is the elimination of redundant data and the rationalization of processes, which result in substantial cost savings. [ (Mendelson, 2000) ]. Problem Statement Unfortunately for Nestle USA, they did not heed the failures of others. Throughout the implementation, Nestle USA made several large mistakes that almost doomed the project. When the project began a team of 50 top executives and 10 senior IT professionals was assembled to develop a set of best practices for all Nestle USA divisions. The goal was to develop these best practices for all functions of the organization. By the time the implementation began in 1999 Nestle already had problems with its employees’ acceptance of the system. Most of the resistance met by the project team was traced back to the fact that â€Å"none of the groups that were going to be directly affected by the new processes and systems were represented on the key stakeholder’s team†. This was only the start of Nestle USA’s problems. By early 2000, the implementation had turned into a disaster. Employees did not understand how to use the new system and did not understand the new work processes they were being forced to adopt. Divisional executives were just as confused as their employees as they had been left out of the planning and development of the new system and were less than willing to assist in straightening out the mess that had developed. The result of this was that morale plummeted and turnover skyrocketed [ (Dieringer, 2004) ]. Nestle learned the hard way that an enterprise-wide rollout involves much more than simply installing software. When you move to SAP, you are changing the way people work,† Dunn says. â€Å"You are challenging their principles, their beliefs and the way they have done things for many, many years. † [ (Worthen, 2002) ] While it’s true that successful implementation of an enterprise resource planning system is a task of Herculean proportions, it’s not impossible. If your organization is to reap the benefits of ERP, it must first develop a plan for success. But prepare to see your organization reengineered, your staff disrupted, and your productivity drop before the payoff is realized. In a recent survey, information technology managers identified three primary reasons for the failure of all IT-related projects: poor planning or poor management (cited by 77 percent), change in business goals during the project (75 percent), and lack of business management support (73 percent). Since ERP is an IT-related project, the above are valid reasons for explaining ERP implementation failures. For managers who have struggled with incompatible information systems and sub-optimum operating practices, the promise of ERP to solve the problem of business integration is enticing. But the price of securing the benefits of ERP may be high. The cost of a modest ERP implementation can range from $2 million to $4 million, depending on the size of the organization and the specific products and services purchased from vendors. The cost of a full-blown implementation in a large organization can easily exceed $ 100 million. [ (Umble, 2002) ] Research Objectives The objective of this research is to identify factors that influence ERP implementation, providing factors associated with the success of ERP systems in EPC firms. The research brings to limelight the factors associated with the success or failure of ERP implementation, and scrutinize these factors according to the level of significance in affecting the success of ERP systems. The primary research objectives: 1) Identify the factors responsible for the success or failure of ERP implementation? a. Identify factors that can motivate users to adopt the ERP System and make the project successful. b. Also to discuss relationship between these factors. ) What marks the success of an ERP implementation and how to avoid the failure of implementation? Literature Review EPC Companies such as Descon, Hyundai, Bechtel, Petronas and Foster Wheeler etc. face frequent challenges of managing project schedules, budgets, safety, and quality to meet requirements provided by the end user / customers across the globe. The proper utilization of internal and external resources is essential if construction companies are to make the best business decisions, maximize bu siness goals, and survive in the competitive environment (Shi, 2003). Recently, an appreciable number of major EPC companies decided to implement enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, an integrated information technology IT solution, to better integrate various business functions and resources, particularly those related to project accounting procedures and practices (Boo Young Chung, 2008). Enterprise resource planning systems, also called enterprise systems ES are among the most important business information technologies that emerged during the last decade. While no two industries’ ERP systems are the same, the basic concept of ERP systems is focused on standardization and synchronization of information, and as a result, improved efficiency. The benefits of ERP systems include coordinating processes and information, reducing carrying costs, decreasing cycle time, and improving responsiveness to customer needs (Davenport, 2000). Major EPC firms are starting to recognize the benefit of ERP systems, however, they are often hesitant to invest and adopt these systems due to high cost and risks associated with ERP system implementation. Many factors must be considered for successful implementation, but construction firms have little to guide them in identifying key success factors (Boo Young Chung, 2008). The ERP Systems are not limited to just financial and accounting, they have the whole system embedded in them. The ERP modules such as SAP comprise of modules for Supply Chain Management, Human Capital Management, Material Management, Finance etc. The main modules of an ERP System are as follows 1. Finance & Controlling (FI & CO) 2. Quality Management (QM) 3. Material Management (MM) 4. Human Capital Management (HCM) . Project Systems (PS) 6. Production Planning (PP) 7. Sales & Distribution (SD) 8. Treasury (TR) 9. Plant Maintenance (PM) 10. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Currently, many construction firms have implemented their ERP systems adopting a best-of-breed approach in which separate software packages were selected for each process or function rather than using full packages of major ERP vendors (Ta tari, 2007). EPC Companies selected different modules like material management, quality management from major ERP vendors and clubbed together with their customized software. The customization of these ERP Systems have been a major issue as all companies try to mend these modules in to their own processes which makes the implementation very difficult. For this reason, regardless of the agreed upon implementation approach, any integrated corporate system in which all the necessary business functions are pieced together for the company is considered the ERP system in this study. The main reason of using this approach is that construction processes are less standardized than manufacturing: each project has a different owner, is managed by a different project team, requires different specifications, etc. Therefore, success or failure factors and their significance for ERP implementation in the construction industry may be different from those in the manufacturing industry. (Boo Young Chung, 2008). We can classify ERPs benefits as: (1) improvement of information flow between sub-units by standardization and integration of activities, (2) centralization of administrative activities such as accounts payable and payroll, (3) reduction of IS aintenance costs and increased ability to deploy new IS functionality, (4) transformation enablement from inefficient business processes to accepted best-of-practice processes (Ayyub Ansarinejad1, 2011) Variables in the ERP Model The main variables in ERP Success model are * Output * Job relevance * Image * Result demonstrability * Compatibility * System Reliability * Internal Support * Function * Consultant Support * Subjective Norm * Perceived Usefulness * Perceived ease of use * Intention to use * ERP Benefits * Project Success / progress * Project success / quality Bibliography Ayyub Ansarinejad1, M. -S. A. (2011). Evaluating the critical success factors in ERP Implementation using Fuzzy AHP approach. Internation Journal of Academic Reserach , 65-80. Boo Young Chung, M. J. (2008). Anaylzing Enterprise Resource Planning System Implementation Factors in the Engineering-Construction Industry. Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering , 373-382. Davenport, T. (2000). Mission Critical : Realizing the promise of Enterprise Systems. Harvard Business School Press Boston . Dieringer, D. S. (2004). ERP Implementation at Nestle. Mendelson, H. (2000). ERP Overview. Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, CA . Shi, J. J. (2003). Enterprise Resource Planning for Construction Business Management. Journal for Construction Engineering and Management , 214-221. Tatari, O. C. -L. (2007). Current state of construction enterprise information system: Survey Research. Construction Innovation , 310-310. Umble, E. J. (2002). Avoiding ERP Implementation Failure. Industrial Management, Industrial Management Society , 25-33. Worthen, B. (2002, May 15th). Nestle's ERP Odyssey.

Patents Act Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Patents Act - Essay Example Any questionable aspects to MCJ’s patent could be used by DD to approach the Comptroller to ascertain whether DD is entitled to the patent in view of the fact that it had applied as early as July 2002 and the questionable nature of MCJ’s purported earlier application. If the Comptroller determines that MCJ is not entitled to ownership of the patent, then he will â€Å"reach a solution which will provide a reasonable opportunity for the patent to be exploited should there be a demand for it.†The Comptroller can also amend the application and also has the power to license DD’s A-UK patent. However, since MCJ’s license has already been published, remedies in this area appear limited. Since MCJ’s is the earlier patent based on priority date, this means that DD may be liable for infringing the patent of MCJ. However, since DD was not aware of the development of a similar product but developed its cylinder coating product independently, and is also trying to acquire a license from MCJ to use the product, it is possible that no charges may be brought by MCJ. In respect to the rights in patents, it may be noted that the cylinder coating process may still be protected since DD â€Å"did not know of the earlier transaction, instrument or event† and was unaware of the published application of MJC Ltd. An â€Å"innocent infringer† will be exempt from any liability for damages.

US future markets and risk management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

US future markets and risk management - Essay Example The aim of this paper is to examine futures as risk management techniques companies could use to manage their risks. The paper first of all examines the risks companies are prune too before analyzing how the risks can be solved with futures.Today, bankers are increasingly becoming conscious about recent developments in their respective markets and have resorted into various method of managing risk in bank. Risk management appears to have improved in most sub-regions as a result of the introduction of new approaches in conducting business as well as better measurement and pricing of the various risks (BIS Paper No 33, 2005).According to BIS paper No.33, financial markets are subject to various sources of risk: credit, market, liquidity, operational and legal risks. These risks tend to be more pronounced in the developing world than in developed countries due to a lower level of economic, financial and institutional development.Credit risk tends to be more acute as a result of a lack o f highly rated counterparties. Market and liquidity risks are higher due to thinly traded markets. Operational risks may also be exacerbated because of inadequate human resources or the failure of manual, mechanical or electronic systems to process payments. Finally, legal risk may also be part of the environment (for instance, due to the inability to foreclose on collateral). The next section discusses credit risk and some of its components and how it can be managed.The aim of this paper is to examine futures as risk management techniques companies could use to manage their risks. ... dit risk; this is typically the most important form of risk for commercial banks Shapiro, 2003; Buckley, 1996; Muller and Verschoor, 2005; Solt and Wayne, 2001).Solt & Wayne (2001) argues that, in assessing credit risk, an institution needs to consider three issues: default probabilities over the horizon of the obligation, credit exposure (ie how large the obligation is when the default occurs) and the recovery rate (ie what part of the exposure may be recovered through bankruptcy proceedings or some other form of settlement) (Solt and Wayne, 2001). Credit risk is often difficult to assess due to the lack of information on the credit history and financial position of borrowers, inadequate accounting practices and standards that make it difficult to evaluate credit exposures, macroeconomic volatility and deficiencies in the institutional environment (e.g., political instability) (BIS Paper No.33, 2005). Weak enforcement of creditor rights may also contribute to uncertainty regarding recovery rates. Although many of these factors have been improving in recent years, progress in some cases is slow (Mohanty et al., (2006). Moreno (2006) highlights two key issues related to credit risk that are relevant for emerging market economies (EMEs). First, the distinct increase in the share of credit to the household sector that has been observed in a number of countries could lower credit risk if the concentration of bank assets fell, if consumer credit diversifies risk among a larger number of borrowers. 2.0 Risk Management In management of credit risk, I will focus only on the currency risk exposure aspect of credit risk. That is in a situation where credit is offered in multiple denominations of currency. Currency risk or foreign exchange exposure or better still foreign

The role of Chaim Rumkowski in the Lodz ghetto Essay

The role of Chaim Rumkowski in the Lodz ghetto - Essay Example In times past and even today, we know that countries and kingdoms try to invade other countries and kingdoms in a bid to possess their land and possibly enslave its members.This has been in an attempt to ensure expansion to expand economic possession and in some cases, show superiority. If not at all, it is not for nothing that the United Nations itself recognises certain countries as Veto Nations, some of G (Great)-Countries, and others as members of the United Nations Security Council. Such accolades accorded to countries always make them feel the need to undertake military and economic moves that will win them global pride. Again, it is not for nothing that though many nations of the world have gained political independence and enjoy their sovereignty, they still pay a lot of respect to their colonial masters.So the underlining factor is that countries want and admire fame.Counties love that their names as heard as super powers, counties love that they are the once who make headli ne news in the media everyday.Just as countries do, political, military and royal personalities also take a lot of pride in being referred to as ‘super powers’.Mention can be made of names like Alaric the Visiqoth, Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, Cyrus the Great, Hannibal, Julius Caesar, Marius who were accorded accolades as warriors, conquerors and the like.... Counties love that their names as heard as super powers, counties love that they are the once who make headline news in the media everyday. Just as countries do, political, military and royal personalities also take a lot of pride in being referred to as ‘super powers’. Mention can be made of names like Alaric the Visiqoth, Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, Cyrus the Great, Hannibal, Julius Caesar, Marius, Scipio Africanus who were accorded accolades as warriors, conquerors and the like. In times past, these fighters sprang up to fame because they led their armies to undertake the invasion, capturing and conquering of other great nations, armies or people. Even though such acts of bravery may not be very much needed today as it existed in times past, the general perception is that the contributions made by those people were necessary for their nations; back in those days. Some commentators argue that we do not see military takeovers and invasion wars today just becaus e the approach to becoming a champion and that the acts of bravery and warship displayed by those gallant men and women in times past were wrong. It is against this argument that studies on the acts and inactions of such brave men and women of the world has continued to be relevant in school curricula and lessons. There is no denying the fact the study of history and for that matter the study of military warfare and military takeovers in times past will not end anytime soon. One important character, who stands out tall in history as far as religious, ethnic and regional conquests are concerned is Chaim Rumkowski. Born in 1877 in Russia, the family Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski and Rumkowski himself moved to Poland where he took up a career as the

The Use of 5 Fluorouracil Pumps in Gastro-Intestinal Patients Research Paper

The Use of 5 Fluorouracil Pumps in Gastro-Intestinal Patients - Research Paper Example The authors reported a study involving 26 patients suffering from gastrointestinal cancers and other epithelial-related conditions. These subjects were administered to continuous intravenous infusion of the medication using a portable pump. From the 26 observed patients who were placed under continuous observation, four realized full remission, another four showed a partial response to the therapy. From 12 of the patients, the disease remained stable. The response rate from the study was 33%. Twenty from the total number showed significant improvement as reflected from their overall quality of life and performance status after the therapy. The information showed a 9.5 months median survival. The study showed that continuing the infusion of 5-fluorouracil results in palliative value, from patients suffering from gastrointestinal or other neoplasma condition, related to epithelial origin. In administering the therapy, the usage of portable pumps makes the model cost effective and a pra ctical outpatient model of treatment for these patients. This paper is an audit report of 5 fluorouracil (5FU) pumps as used on gastro-intestinal patients, accounting for the information given to patients and the areas of information deficiency when administering the therapy (Cascinu et al., 1999). Background information on the use of 5 fluorouracil (5FU) pumps The service evaluation was instigated by the Forever Healthy cancer support, which is a cancer support agency operating in the US and also extending its supports services and information provision to many other different regions across the world. The reasons for undertaking the service evaluation included the information gaps evident in the usage of the model, despite the fact that the area has been studied extensively. An example of the deficiencies in information includes that communicated to the patients as well as the team administering this therapy. Some of the areas of information deficiency include the lack of knowledg e on how to control the side effects resulting from the therapy. For instance, an overdose of 5-FU results in severe side effects such as neutropenia, diarrhea, and hand/foot syndrome. On the other hand, a low dosage of the medication does not produce any results or therapeutic effect. Further, there is a possibility of individual therapeutic balance existing between the benefits and the side effects expected. As a result, based on understanding of the expected benefits and the effects of this therapy on the users, the organization saw that there is a need to offer more information to the patients. Based on the better information, they will make better decision and more logical choices when using the service, as opposed to the current use – which may be affected by the lack of comprehensive information. Based on the information delivered to the users, more information on the individual-based application of the therapy, as well as the benefit-threats balance, more areas of inf ormation will be uncovered, leading to better results from the therapy. For instance, more information on the usage of the administered dosage depending on the body characteristics of the patients will be of great importance to the usage of the therapy.

Language development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Language development - Essay Example At this preliminary stage it is necessary to investigate the topic through a variety of means. Researchers suggest a number of strategies which may be effective in examining the topic. These include brainstorming, clustering and free-writing (Lipkewich and Mazurenko1999). Clearly, these strategies act as a measure of developing or restricting a topic. The more ideas that are generated at this stage the more structural focus the writer would obtain from this initial piece of writing. The purpose of this first step then is to establish some sort of structure to the ideas that are generated. Thus, if a writer decides to choose free-writing as a means of initiating the writing process then the writer may begin to write on a topic without interruption until everything the writer knows about the topic is exhausted on the paper. In this case there may no adherence to grammatically correct structures such as spelling, punctuation or even paragraphing. The words that appear on the paper would be an exact replica of the thoughts that flow through the mind. The second step involves the actual composition of the paper. Some writers use this stage as a means of creating a rough draft of the final paper. The previous stage which may or may not have included free-writing is the precursor to this writing stage where the writer brings some sort of focus to the writing. During this stage therefore the writer must adhere to the mechanics of writing which were previously ignored in the earlier stage. There is need to organize the work in terms of correct punctuation, paragraphing and other grammatical structures which may have been non existent in the previous stage. Consequently, the major purpose for this writing stage is to add content and organization to the work. The more time a writer spends on this initial writing stage the less work will be needed to complete the final draft. Revising, the third step in the writing process

Anishinabe people and our homeland Research Paper

Anishinabe people and our homeland - Research Paper Example The truth is emphasized on ensuring that young people get well prepared to face new phase of their journey in all the steps of life. The basic learning experiences through the term involve several aspects. One of the aspects is enabling students to have a critical way of thinking. The teaching and learning goals may be very different (Audlin, 55). The learning experiences within this term ensure that an individual is capable of monitoring his or her own mind habits. The individual is also facilitated with basic intellectual capabilities as well as personal qualities. Learning through the term was fostered towards helping the students develop analysis capabilities where they can explain problems and develop an argument about same problem X using concept Y as depicted through the clan system of learning. Comprehension of concepts by students is evidenced by their position to analyze situation X and the ability to distinguish the concepts from common misconception (Trudeau, 34). The clan system insists on different outcomes at the end of a given term. For instance, by the end of this term, the clans system insists that all the students should have acquired basic analysis and be able to explain human behavior in terms of relationships among multiple factors (John, DeWitt, and Erwin 139). In a wider range, students should be able to understand how marginality is the broader learning category, linked to the understanding of nature (Trudeau, 54). The learning experiences are characterized by engaging activities that optimized every learner’s learning both in time and effectiveness. The term was also characterized by both hybrid learning and blended learning. Per se, the two terms mean a mix of online learning activities and quizzes with instructors-led teaching. Most of the instructors maintained a ‘coach on the side’ ways of teaching other than ‘sage on the stage’ methods. The learning activities were flexible

Management and Leadership Essay Example for Free

Management and Leadership Essay Management and leadership are considered synonymous, but actually they are two different words. Management is defined as, The art, manner or practice of managing, handling supervision or control whereas leadership is defined as, The ability to: express a vision, influence others to achieve results, encourage team cooperation, and be an example. Leadership is getting others to want to do things. Leadership is intimately tied up with motivating and influencing others. Managers are administrators who write business plans, set budgets, monitor progress, solve problems and facilitate meetings. A manager achieves authority and position through experience, understanding, time and loyalty. Managers have subordinates but a leader has followers. A leader can be a manager, but a manager is not necessarily a leader. The leader of the work group may emerge informally as the choice of the group. If a manager is able to influence people to achieve the goals of the organization, without using his or her formal authority to do so, then the manager is demonstrating leadership. As put by Faye Wattle ton, The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.Organizational CultureAccording to Websters New Collegiate Dictionary culture is the integrated pattern of human behavior that includes thought, speech, action, and artifacts and depends on mans capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations.Organization culture is a system of shared beliefs and values that develops within an organization and guides the behavior of its memebers .It includes routine, behaviors, norms, dominant values and a feeling or climate conveyed..The pupose and function of this culture is to help foster internal integration, bring staff members from all levels of the organization much closer together and enhance their performance. A companys culture determines a lot of the organizations behavior. A culture may be strong (having a dramatic influence over an individuals behavior) or weak (having a relatively low impact on behavior).A strong culture is a coherent set of beliefs, values, assumptions, and practices embraced by most members of the organization. It fosters motivation, commitment, identity, solidarity, and sameness, which, in turn, facilitates internal integration and coordination. An understanding of organizational culture and how to transform it is crucially important for managers and leaders to achieve strategic outcomes. The position of strategic leaders in an organization assists them to see the dynamics of their organizational culture and attain the essence of strategic success through positive transformation. Effective managers recognize that replacing a long term culture of traditional values with one that embodies the competitive values needed in the future can take years. But the rewards of that effort will be an organization much more effective and responsive to its environmental challenges and opportunities.(Bateman Snell, 2007)Organizational Culture at Southwest AirlinesSouthwest Airlines was founded in 1971 as a low-cost regional air carrier. The companys mission stated on its website truly reflects its positive and healthy organizational culture. We are committed to provide our Employees a stable work environment with equal opportunity for learning and personal growth. Creativity and innovation are encouraged for improving the effectiveness of Southwest Airlines. Above all, Employees will be provided the same concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that they are expected to share externally with every Southwest Customer.Southwest Airlines has consistently been successful in terms of profitability, good employee and union relations, and customer satisfaction at a time when most airline carriers are struggling in all these areas. Central to the companys success is a culture of flexibility, family-orientation, and fun. They believe in, The way you treat and reward employees is one part of your companys culture. Culture is the companys way of life. It is how the business functions, operates, handles stress and reinforces its staff. It is the companys general attitude toward the world. Southwest has built a reputation as a fun, light-hearted and irreverent airline with a happy staff. It is said that Southwests biggest hiring criterion is whether an applicant smiles during his or her interview. Southwest feels it can train anyone to do the job, but it cannot teach a person to have a positive attitude. Southwest Airlines has recognized that smiling staff members can  handle negative issues skillfully and still satisfy their customers. Southwest is also identified as the early leader of worker responsibility. The company limits emphasis on the formal organizational structure. At Southwest, decision making is the process which is done by management/worker committees. Leadership meetings are taped and shared with employees. The researchers learned that productivity could be maximized when employees felt as though their needs were being considered by receiving attention for their work. This phenomenon became known as the Hawthorne Effect. It is as true today as it was during the last century that paying attention to our human assets produces tremendous results. Southwest Airlines has learned to capitalize on the principles of the Hawthorne Effect. Southwest Airlines has consistently remained at the top of its industry, while placing a rigorous focus on employees feedback and needs. Southwest seeks to share the companys success with its employees. The airline achieved high levels of employee satisfaction and was included in the Fortune magazines list of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in America for three years in a row. Southwests no-layoff response to September 11 was a reminder to its employees of the organizations tradition of caring for its people. When asked to comment on this, an official explained, Its part of our culture. Weve always said well do whatever we can to take care of our people. So thats what weve tried to do. Many analysts feel that the remarkable performance of Southwest is because of its ability to build and sustain relationships characterized by shared goals, shared knowledge and mutual respect between employees. Southwests organizational culture was shaped by Kellehers leadership. Kellehers personality had a strong influence on the culture of Southwest, which symbolizes his spontaneity, energy and competitiveness. Southwests culture had three themes: love, fun and efficiency. Kelleher treated all the employees as a lovely and loving family. Southwest attempts to promote a close-knit, supportive and enduring family-like culture. The Company initiated various measures to foster intimacy and informality among employees. Southwest encouraged its people to  conduct business in a loving manner. Employees are expected to care about people and act in ways that affirm their dignity and worth. Instead of decorating the wall of its headquarters with paintings, the company hung photographs of its employees taking part at company events, news clippings, letters, articles and advertisements. Southwests organizational culture encourages employees to be innovative, to communicate, understand and care, be devoted to customer service and most importantly to be an Individual. It maintains its success due to employee education, much of which takes place in Southwest Airlines festive learning center: the University for People. Southwest sees learning as a never-ending process. University for People trainers, known as facilitators, build a foundation for an ongoing learning environment through a supervisory leadership class called Leadership Southwest Style, which utilizes the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator ® (MBTI ®) assessment for self discovery. At Southwest Airlines, management wants employees to feel comfortable, reflecting its philosophy that an employee who is comfortable can think more freely and creatively. Regular celebrations bring employees together. These include Spirit Parties, Culture parties, and weekly Deck Parties at headquarters. Activities at these events include talent shows, dance contests, limbo contests, karaoke, and famous person look-alike themes. The Culture Committee welcomes new employees with a New Hire Welcome Kit, which includes a bag, tee-shirt, badge holder, pen, and welcome letter. Southwest Airlines is an excellent example of social invention that helps people discover their true capabilities. The social environment combines humor with responsibility. Employees work in teams without outside supervision. At job interviews, along with other self-development attitude, the prospective employee must show a sense of humor. The company recognizes the key to its culture is The Spirit of LUV. Their commitment to hire people with the capacity to love and serve others has yielded a bountiful harvest of loyalty and money. Hence it shows a very well combination of management and leadership. Key concepts of organizational culture at Southwest Airlines †¢Encourage to assume ownership †¢Hire for life †¢Trust their decisions†¢Give employees  immediate access to critical information. †¢They have the power to make adjustments and to fix significant problems quickly. Results achieved through these concepts†¢On-time arrivals, proper baggage handling, and customer complaints are communicated on a weekly basis. †¢Everyone is focused on customer service and making Southwest a success which allows them to expand outside of assigned responsibilitiesStrategies that organizational managers and leaders can use to create and maintain healthy organizational cultureMotivation Management Leaders must have coaching skills, not control skills. Motivated people have goals and seek ways to achieve them. Efficiency is the result of motivated employees. The self motivated employees assume responsibility for their tasks. It creates an environment where workers trust management and management trust workers. Continuous Learning Opportunity Motivation is associated with the desire to learn. Without it, motivation dies. Most businesses operate with a wide knowledge gap between worker and management. All through history this has been the policy, it is job security for leadership. Today, efficiency requires workers to assume responsibility and this requires the narrowing of the knowledge gap. This is achieved by empowering workers. A strong organizational culture and an approach to learning that encompasses more than just training classes can create an organization that learns and improves upon its past successes. When change occurs, organizations with a learning culture and a focus on organizational development can surpass even their own expectations. ConclusionTo sum up, leadership is essentially related to a persons skills, abilities and scope of influence and management is a theory and a way of doing business. The managers who truly exercise the four functions of management; planning, organizing, leading and controlling, to accomplish their organizational goals are also true leadersAs time and requirements of  an organization change, there is always a need to change managerial functions. Managers at all levels must anticipate and adapt to changes. In any ordinary but expanding organization the next future change might be to restructure the organization. Technology is bringing a change in leadership styles. The command-and-control leadership methods of the last century are extremely inefficient in the fast changing technology world. Motivating environments are needed on the front-line with people who assume responsibility and exercise leadership. To attract and keep this type of person, the work environment must inspire and exploit employee capabilities. References Bateman, Thomas S. Snell Scott A. (2007). Management: Leading and collaborating in acompetitive world. (Seventh edition), Ch-2 12 pgs 66- 69 393-383Southwest Airline webpage. Retrieved on April 20, 2007 from www.southwestairlines.comSouthwest Airlines. Retrieved on April 19, 2007 from www.caseplace.orgFrazee, Bonnie (Nov, 2006).Organizational Behavior and the Learning Process. Retrieved onApril19, 2007 from www.innovativelearning.com

The Purpose Of Study English Language Essay

The Purpose Of Study English Language Essay Functional Grammar was introduced by Halliday (1994) based on the assumption that language is a set of meanings. Language which is a means of communication is used to negotiate and exchange meanmgs. He states that a language is interpreted as a system of meanings accompanied by forms through which the meanings can be realized. Halliday (1994) adds Functional Grammar lean towards text, which is a semantic unit, rather that sentence. So, Functional Grammar which was developed based on meanings uses text as the unit of analysis. Functional Grammar has been adopted to become one of the subj ects in the English Department of UNJ since 2002. Statements related to Functional Grammar as subjects can be quoted as follows: Mata kuliah mi bertujuan mengembangkan wawasan eksplisit tentang teori bahasa dan segi fungsinya (tekstual, interpersonal, experiential) untuk menunjang pengembangan kemampuan dan ketrampilan berkomunikasi lisan dan tulisan dalam bahasa Inggnis secara benar dan baik. (Pedoman Akadeniik 2004/2005:100) Functional Grammar 1 aims at developing the explicit knowledge of the theory of language based on the thnction (textual, interpersonal, and experiential) to support the development of ability and skills to communicate both written and spoken well and correctly. (Own translation). Mata kuliah mi bertujuan mengembangkan kemampuan dan ketrampilan menganalisa teks dalam bahasa Inggris dilihat dan segi fungsinya (tekstual, interpersonal, experiential) untuk menunjang pengembangan kemampuan dan ketrampilan berkomunikasi lisan dan tulisan dalam bahasa Inggris secara baik dan benar. (Pedoman Akademik 2004/2005:100) 1 Functional Grammar 2 aims at developing ability and skills to analyze text in English based the function (textual, interpersonal, and experiential) to support the development of ability and skills to communicate both ritten and spoken well and correctly. (Own translation) In keeping with the description, both Functional Grammar 1 and 2 have the basic purpose that is to support the development of ability and skills to communicate, both written and spoken, well and correctly. As a matter of fact, a number of students complain about the subjects. They have difficulties about the subjects. No study was conducted relevant to the condition. Realizing the need of improvement, the researcher is interested to conduct a study about English Department students perception towards their knowledge, comprehension, and ability to apply Functional Grammar in analyzing text and writing. B. Focus of Study The research is initiated by the fact that some students have problems in understanding Functional Grammar concepts. Learning the condition, the researcher is interested to conduct a study related to English Department students perception towards their knowledge, comprehension, and ability to apply Functional Grammar in analyzing text and writing. C. Research Questions Based on the background above, the research questions that are identified in this study are: What is English Department students perception towards their knowledge of Functional Grammar concepts. 1 2 What is English Department students perception towards their comprehension of Functional Grammar concepts. What is English Department students perception towards their ability to apply Functional Grammar concepts in analyzing text. What is English Department students perception towards their ability to apply Functional Grammar concepts in writing. I). Purpose of Study The purpose of the study is to identifi English Department students perception towards their ability to apply Functional Grammar in analyzing text and writing. Using Blooms Taxonomy of Educational goals, students knowledge and comprehension of Functional Grammar are included in this research. E. Benefit of Study The result of this study is expected to give input related to English Department students perception towards their knowledge, comprehension and ability to apply Functional Grammar in analyzing text and writing. 3 CHAPTER II LiTERATURE REVIEW To provide the basic theory of the research related to English Department students perception towards their knowledge, comprehension, and ability to apply Functional Grammar in analyzing text and writing, this chapter discusses Traditional Grammar, Functional Grammar, Functional Grammar as a subject in the English Department, Ability to apply, Writing, and Perception. 1. Traditional Granmiar A number of experts such as Harmer (2001), Thombury (1999), and Gerot and Wignell (1994) have defined traditional grammar as a set of rules of a language. Harmer (2001) describes the grammar of a language as the description of the ways in which words can change their forms and can be combined into sentences in that language. Thombury (1999) explains grammar as a description of the rules for forming sentences. While Gerot and Wignell (1994) point out Traditional Grammar is focused on the rules for producing coffect sentences. They add sentence becomes the unit of analysis. So, based on the discussion, Traditional Grammar is focused on rules and sentence becomes the unit of analysis. Further, Gerot and Wignell (1994) explain that Traditional Grammar labels elements of the clause in terms of the word class that are nouns, verbs, prepositions, adverbs, and adjectives. Criticizing towards the weaknesses of Traditional Grammar, Thombury (2002) argues that there is 4 no one-to-one correspondence between grammatical form and communication function such as making a request, offering something, etc. 2. Functional Grammar Functional Grammar was introduced by Halliday (1994) based on the assumption that language is a set of meanings. Language which is a means of communication is used to negotiate and exchange meanings. Halliday (1994) believes that when one communicates, he exchanges the meanings with other people. He further states that a language is interpreted as a system of meanings accompanied by forms through which the meanings can be realized. To be different from Traditional Grammar that is focused on rules and sentence as the unit of analysis, Functional Grammar is focused on meanings and text as a whole becomes the object of analysis. Further, Halliday (1994) explains that Functional Grammar discusses the notion of a clause as a unit in which meanings of three different kinds are combined. The three aspects of meaning of the clause are clause as representation, clause as exchange, and clause as message. 1). Clause as Representation The first aspect of the meaning of the clause is Clause as Representation. Based on Hallidays assumption, Gerot and Wignell (1994) note it concerns with human beings experiences. Clause as representation is related to human beings experiences. As human 5 beings experiences vary, it is possible to identify the types of those experiences. Halliday (1994) describes the most powerful impression of experience is that it consists of goings-onhappening, doing, sensing, meaning, being, and becoming. Halliday (1994) then proposes there are three semantic categories that are processes, participants, and circumstances. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Processes Based on Hallidays assumption, Gerot and Wignell (1994) notice processes are realized by verbs. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Participants Halliday (1994) writes participants are realized by nouns. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Circumstances Halliday (1994) describes circumstance is realized by adverbial group or prepositional phrase. Based on Hallidays assumption, Gerot and Wignell (1994) note circumstances answer such questions as when, where, why, how, many, and as what. Halliday (1994) further explains the different types of processes that are built into the granmiar of English are material process, mental process, relational process, behavioral process, verbal process, and existential process. A. Material Process: processes of doing Based on Halliday, Gerot and Wignell (1994) state material processes are processes of material doing. Halliday (1994) notes they express the notion that entity does something which may be 6 done to other entity. This process consists of these particular participants-an obligatory actor, and optionally also a goal. Based on Halliday, Gerot and Wignell (1994) explain the entity who or which does something is the Actor. The entity which may be done to is the Goal. B. Mental Process: processes of sensing Halliday (1994) explains mental processes are processes of feeling, thinking, and seeing. The two participants in mental process are senser and phenomenon. The senser is conscious being that is feeling, thinking, or seeing. The phenomenon is that which is sensed, felt, thought, or seen. C. Relational Process: processes of being There are two different modes that are attributive and identifying. a. Intensive processes: attributive Based on Halliday, Gerot and Wignell (1994) refer attributive processes as processes which assign a quality. Halliday (1994) notes the quality is labeled the attribute, an entity to which it is ascribed is the carrier. b.Intensive processes: identifying Based on Halliday, Gerot and Wignell (1994) refer identifying processes as processes which establish an identity. Halliday (1994) adds the process has an identity assigned to it. The terms are given the x-element and the a-element, that which is to be 7 identified, as identified, and the a-element, to which serves as identity, as identifier. D. Behavioral processes Halliday (1994) explains these are processes of physiological and psychological behavior like breathing, coughing, smiling, dreaming, and staring. The participant who is behaving is labeled behaver. E. Verbal processes Halliday (1994) refers to these are processes of saying. The term sayercan be interpreted as a subject (it may be someone or something) that says something. There are three participant functions that are the receiver, verbiage, and target. a. The receiver is the one to whom the saying is directed at. b. The verbiage is the function that corresponds to what is said. c. The target is the entity that is targeted by the process of saying. F. Existential processes Halliday (1994) notes these represent that something exists or happens. That object or event which is being said to exist is labeled, simply, existent. 2). Clause as exchange The second aspect of the meaning of the clause is clause as exchange. Halliday (1994) explains clause as exchange has two components that are Mood and Residue. 8 a. Mood Element Halliday (1994) proposes it consist of two parts: (1) the subject, which is a nominal group, and (2) the finite operator, which is a part of verbal group. Based on Halliday, Gerot and Wignell (1994) add the finite element is one of the small numbers of verbal operators expressing primary tense, modality and polarity. Halliday (1994) explains primary tense means past, present, or future at the moment of speaking. Finite verbal operators Temporal Past present future Did, was does, is will, shall Had, used to has would, should Modal: Low median high Can, may will, would must, ought to Could, might is to, was to need (dare) has to, had to (Halliday 1994:74) Halliday (1994) refers to modality as the speakers judgement of the probabilities, or the obligations, involved in what he is saying such as may, will, can etc. He adds polarity is the choice between positive and negative, as in is/isnt, do/dont. 9 b. Residue Halliday (1994) explains the Residue consists of functional elements of three kinds, that are, predicator, complement, and adjunct. a Predicator. It is realized by a verbal group minus the temporal or modal operator. b. Complement. A complement is an element within the Residue that has the potential of being subject but is not. It is typically realized by a nominal group. c. Adjunct. An adjunct is an element that has not got the potential of being subject. It is typically realized by an adverbial group or prepositional phrase. 3). Clause as message The third aspect of the meaning of the clause is clause as message. Halliday (1994) states a message consists of a Theme combined with a Rheme. As general guide, the theme can be identified as that element which comes in first position in the structure. The analysis of the Theme of the clause is rather complex. Halliday (1994) explains in this case, complex clause is called a multiple Theme. In a multiple theme, there are certain complements which have their orders. Halliday (1994) points out the typical ordering is textuaYinterpersonaVexperiential. The textual theme is any combination of continuative, a structural theme, and a conjunctive theme. 10 (i) Continuative is one of small set of discourse signalers, yes, no, well, oh, now. (ii) A structural Theme is any of the obligatory thematic elements such as conjunctions and W-H relative. (iii)A conjunctive Theme is one of the conjunctive adjuncts. He refers conjunctive adjuncts are those which relate the clause to the preceding text such as also, meanwhile, soon, finally, etc. Halliday (1994) further describes the interpersonal theme that is any combination of (i) A vocative is any item, typically (but not necessarily) a personal name, used to address; it may come more or less anywhere in the clause and is thematic if preceding the topical Theme. (ii) A modal theme is any of the modal adjuncts. He describes that modal adjuncts are those which express the speakers judgment regarding the relevance of the message such as maybe, usually, occasionally, surely, honestly, etc. (iii) A mood marking theme is a Finite verbal operator, if preceding the topical Theme; or a WHinterrogative (or imperative lets) when not preceded by another experiential element (i.e. when functioning simultaneously as topical Theme). The last order is experiential. Halliday (1994) explains the experiential element is referred as topical theme. This means that the Theme of a clause ends with the first constituent that is either participant, circumstance, or process. 11 3. Functional Grammar as a subject in the English Department, State University of Jakarta Functional Grammar has been adopted as a subject in the English Department since 2002. The subject must be taken by the students when they are in the fourth semester for Functional Grammar 1 and in the fifth semester for Functional Grammar 2. Both Functional Grammar 1 and 2 consist of three semester credit units. Referring to Academic Guidelines 2004/2005 of Faculty of Languages and Arts, it is stated that the three semester credits unit have 24 meetings. Each meeting takes 100 minutes. It has two kinds of tests that are mid semester test and final semester test. As stated in the Academic Guidelines 2004/2005 of Faculty of Languages and Arts, Functional Grammar as a subject is described as follows: Mata kuliah mi bertujuan mengembangkan wawasan eksplisit tentang teori bahasa dan segi fungsinya (tekstual, interpersonal, experiential) imtuk menunj ang pengembangan kemampuan dan ketrampilan berkomunikasi lisan dan tulisan dalam bahasa Inggris secara benar dan baik. Functional Grammar I aims at developing the explicit knowledge of the theory of language based on the function (textual, interpersonal, and experiential) to support the development of ability and skills to communicate both written and spoken well and correctly. (Own translation) Mata kuliah mi bertujuan mengembangkan kemampuan dan ketrampilan menganalisa teks dalam bahasa Inggris dilihat dan segi fiingsinya ( tekstual, interpersonal, experiential) untuk menunjang pengembangan kemampuan dan ketrampilan berkomunikasi lisan dan tulisan dalam bahasa Inggris secara baik dan benar. Functional Grammar 2 aims at developing ability and skills to analyze text in English based the function (textual, interpersonal, and experiential) to support the development of ability and skills to communicate both written and spoken well and correctly. (Own Translation) 12 In keeping with the description, both Functional Grammar 1 and 2 have the basic purpose that is to support the development of ability and skills to communicate, both written and spoken, well and correctly. 4. Ability to Apply In discussion about ability to Apply, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (2001) describes ability is something that one is able to do, because one has particular mental or physical skill. Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture (1998) notes ability is the fact of having the skill, power, or other quality that are needed in order to do something. Websters New World Dictionary of American English (1998) adds ability is skills, expertness, or talent.. Bloom (1956), cited in Elliot et a!. (2000) proposes classification of educational goals. There are six major classes in the cognitive taxonomy of educational objectives: 1. Knowledge is the recalling specific facts. 2. Comprehension is understanding what is communicated. 3. Application is generalizing and using abstract information in concrete situation. 4. Analysis is breaking a problem into subparts and detecting relationship among the parts. 5. Synthesis is putting together parts to form a whole. 6. Evaluation is using criteria to make judgments. 13 In accordance with the development, the three classes of educational goals that were analysis, synthesis, and evaluation were then revised to become analyze, evaluate, and create. Arend (2004) describes six classification of the cognitive process dimension: 1. Remember is retrieving relevant knowledge from long-term memory. 2. Understand is constructing meaning from instructional messages, including oral, written, and graphic communication. 3. Apply is carrying out or using a procedure in a given situation. 4. Analyze is breaking material into constituent parts and determining how parts relate to one another and to overall structure or purpose. 5. Evaluate is making judgments based on criteria and standards. 6. Create is reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure. In keeping with Blooms theory and the purpose of this study that is to identify English Department students perception towards their knowledge, comprehension, and ability to apply Functional Grammar in analyzing text and writing, ability to apply should be developed after the steps of knowing and understanding. Referring to the explanation above, ability to apply Functional Grammar is to be developed through the steps of knowing and understanding. The questionnaire will also include identifying not only the knowledge and understanding but also ability to apply Functional Grammar in analyzing text and writing. 14 5. Writing Writing as described by Leki (1998) is communicating. Meyers (2003) notes writing is a process of discovering and assembling ideas, putting them on paper, reshaping, and revising them. To be acceptable, Windshuttle and Windshuttle (1998) state good writing should have correct grammar and precise and clear content. Diyanni (2001) adds good writing is coherent. Readers can follow and understand it easily. Hughes (2001) describes underlying writing ability is a number of sub abilities such as control of punctuation. Considering the important points above, it can be concluded that good writing covers the aspects of grammar and coherence. 6. Perception Perception is defined by Elliot, et all (2000) as the giving of meaning to the discrete, meaningless stimuli that initially arouse awareness. Barkhuizen (1998) notes perception refers to feelings and views of the students. Students perception is important in language learning as Barkhuizen (1998) claims that it is important for teachers to discover their learners feelings and beliefs about their language learning process. He believes it can give input and consequently review and possibly change their teaching process. 15 Referring to the purpose of this study that is to identify students perception towards their knowledge, comprehension, and ability to apply Functional Grammar in analyzing text and writing, questionnaire will be used to identify students views and feelings of their levels of cognitive domaim lb CHAPTER ifi METHODOLOGY This chapter discusses the methods used to conduct the study which is related to identifying English Department students perception towards their knowledge, comprehension, and ability to apply Functional Grammar in analyzing text and writing. The first part discusses the issue of the study which is then followed by Study Design and continued by the Implementation of the study. A. Issue of Study This study is related to identifying English Department students perception towards their knowledge, comprehension, and ability to apply Functional Grammar in analyzing text and writing. The researcher is interested to conduct this study because of the fact that some students express their difficulties while attending Functional Grammar classes. It is expected that findings of this study can be used as input concerning with students perception towards their knowledge, comprehension, and ability to apply Functional Grammar. B. Study Design This study was designed to employ survey The instruments employed were questionnaire and interview. The questionnaire was used to identify English Department students perception towards their knowledge, comprehension, and ability to apply Functional Grammar in analyzing text and writing, whereas the interview was used to gather more detail data. This was to anticipate the possible weaknesses of questionnaire. This study employed stratified sampling as the 17 selection of respondents planned was based on their academic entrance. The data then were analyzed by clustering educational goals from Bloom (1956) and the aspects of Functional Grammar from Halliday (1994). It was designed that the respondents of questionnaire were 100 students and the respondents of the interview were 10 students. 1. Method of Study It was planned that survey was chosen to conduct this study. Brown and Rodgers (2002) state surveys are any procedures used to gather and describe the characteristics, attitudes, views, and opinion. The purpose of a survey as described by Nunan (1992) is generally to obtain snapshot of conditions, attitudes, and / or events at a single point in time. Based on the discussion above and the purpose of this study that is to identify English Department students perception towards their knowledge, comprehension, and ability to apply Functional Grammar in analyzing text and writing, survey can be seen as the appropriate method. 2. Respondents it was planned that the respondents of this study were 100 students. They were English Department students of State University of Jakarta. The students were both from Educational and Non- Educational Programs who had completed Functional Grammar 1 and 2. The sampling procedure that was planned to be used in this study was stratified sampling. Bums (2000) describes stratified sampling is sampling in which groups or strata within the population are each sampled randomly. He adds that a population can be divided on the basis of social class membership, sex, level of intelligence or level of anxiety. The researcher planned to conduct this technique of sampling as Burns (2000) notes that sampling error is reduced by stratification for the sample can not differ from the population with respect to the stratifying factors. The respondents of this study were planned to be divided based on the Academic Entrance that is 2002,2003, and 2004. 3. Site and time This study was planned to be conducted in the English Department of State University of Jakarta in the second semester of Academic Year of 2005/2006. It was between 6 March 2006 and 13 March 2006. Referring to the purpose of study that is to identify English Department students perception towards their knowledge, comprehension, and ability to apply Functional Grammar in analyzing text and writing, the researcher chose English Department of UNJ as the site of the study. It was designed that this study was conducted in between 6 March 2006 and 13 March 2006. This choice was made by considering the availability of time that the researcher had. It was also the time in which students were effective in the process of attending teaching-learning activities. 19 4. Instruments As mentioned in the previous section, this study was designed to employ survey. Questionnaire and interview were chosen to become the instruments of collecting data. In keeping with Blooms Taxonomy, both instruments were designed to include knowledge, comprehension, and ability to apply Functional Grammar. Detail description about the instruments is given in the following section. a. Questionnaire Questionnaire was chosen as one of the means to collect data used in this study. Questionnaire as discussed by Nunan (1992), is relatively popular means of collecting data. The questionnaire used for this study was designed to gather information and to identify English Department students perception towards their knowledge, comprehension, and ability to apply Functional Grammar in analyzing text and writing. The total number of questionnaires is 36 items which represent students perception towards their knowledge, comprehension, and ability to apply. Each number of questionnaires consists of five different choices of answers that represent the scale of excellent, good, average, poor, and very poor. The questionnaire was designed to use Bahasa Indonesia in order to avoid misunderstanding of the respondents to answer each statement. To answer the questionnaire, the respondents were asked to choose only one answer of each number that represents knowledge, comprehension, and ability to apply Functional Grammar. 20 There were 7 questions prepared before conducting the interview. The questions covered the identifying students perception towards their knowledge, comprehension, and ability to apply Functional Grammar. The interview is to anticipate the possible weaknesses of questionnaire as described by Burns (2000) who proposes there is no opportunity to acquire supplementary observational data. Also, the respondents motivation for answering the questionnaire is unknown. C. Implementation of Study The research was uutiated by the fact that some students express their difficulties while attending Functional Grammar classes. Following such problems, the researcher was interested to conduct the study. It covered questionnaire and interview. This study was implemented by following the steps of the research procedures. 1. Data Collection Process Questionnaire and interview were used as means to collect the data. The data collection process lasted for 1 week that was between 4 May and 12 May 2006. The implementation of data collection was not as it was planned. This was because the process of making the questionnaire took longer time. At the same time, the researcher had to follow PPL program In addition, as the result of data of interview did not clearly present the specific area of writing that can be developed by applying Functional Grammar, the additional interview was again conducted that was between 14 July 2006 and 16 July 2006. 22 a. Collecting Data by Means of Questionnaire The set of questionnaire was given to 54 students who had completed Functional Grammar 1 and Functional Grammar 2. Before conducting the study, the researcher introduced herself to the respondents. The researcher also gave information about the purpose of the study to respondents. The distribution of questionnaire was done after classes that were on 4 May and 12 May 2006. The completion of the questionnaire took between 3 and 4 minutes. The questionnaire consists of 36 items which represent students perception towards their knowledge, comprehension, ability to apply Functional Grammar in analyzing text and writing ability. Items number I until 6 represent knowledge of clause as representation. Items number 7 until 12 represent comprehension of clause as representation. Items number 13 until 24 represent applicability of clause as representation. Items number 25 until 26 represent knowledge of clause as exchange. Items number 27 until 28 represent comprehension of clause as exchange. Items number 29 until 32 represent applicability of clause as exchange. Item number 33 represents knowledge of clause as message. Item number 34 represents comprehension of clause as message. Items number 34 until 36 represent applicability of Functional Grammar. To rank their abil ity, this study employed Likert scale. There were 5 scales used in this questionnaire namely excellent, good, average, poor, and very poor. The respondents were asked to choose one scale of each item. 23 I b. Collecting Data by Means of Interview The interview was held between 11 May and 12 May 2006. Since some students felt reluctant to express ideas of such problems and due to considering the limitation of time, the researcher decided to interview 6 students. The additional interview was conducted between 14 July 2006 and 16 July 2006. The researcher conducted the additional interview because the result of the previous interview did not cover the specific aspects of writing such as language and/or content aspects that can be improved by applying the concepts of Functional Grammar. There were three additional respondents interviewed. The previous and additional interview was conducted face-to-face discussion individually. The respondents for this interview were selected based on their various scores of Functional Grammar I and Functional Grammar 2. Respondent 4 and 7 who had completed Functional Grammar 1 and respondent 5 and 8 who had completed Functional 2 got A. Respondent 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8 who had completed Functional Grammar I and respondent 2, 3, 4, 7, and 8 who had completed Functional Grammar 2 got B. Respondent 6 and 9 who had completed Functional Grammar 1 and respondent 1 and 9 who had completed Functional Grammar 2 got C. The interview used Bahasa Indonesia. The reason was to avoid the possibility of different perception in understanding the questions. The use of Bahasa Indonesia for the interview was also to make the respondents understand and answer the questions easily. The questions of interview were related to identifying English Department students perception towards their knowledge, comprehensi on, and ability to apply Functional Grammar in analyzing text and writing. The specific areas of writing ability that could be improved by 24

Anorexia Nervosa: Symptoms, Treatment and Impact

Anorexia Nervosa: Symptoms, Treatment and Impact Circulatory system is made up of the vessels and the muscles that help and control the flow of the blood around the body. Blood contains antigens and antibodies to protect us from infectious and non-infectious diseases which called the immune system. Whenever antigen and antibody interlock, the antibody marks the antigen for destruction. Everyone would want to have the ideal body. They will do everything so that their bodies could be perfect form, especially female. Approximately 95% of those affected by anorexia are female, but males can develop the disorder as well. Anorexia nervosa is a non-infectious disease. Anorexia nervosa or usually called anorexia is an eating disorder or loss of desire for food (appetite). When people have this disease, they are called to be anorexic. The process of too much limiting the amount of food into the body is likely to result a person experiencing anorexia. People with anorexia nervosa behave to be very high achievers, performing very well in many activities. Professionals for instance athletes, model or superstar are easily got anorexic, because of their professional requirement. Anorexia is mostly resulted from one maintaining an extremely low weight, and formed as a result of changes in ones behavior, emotions, thinking, perceptions, and social interactions. When people called to be anorexic, they dont have any nutrition in their body and thus anorexias antigen could attack antibodies. When antibodies failed to prevent anorexias antigens, our body will get tired, weak and other symptoms of anorexia will occur. Even though there have been many anorexia cases, at the end of the millennium, people health will be better and anorexics will decrease because of the technology improvement. This essay will discuss the causes, symptoms, prevention methods, and treatment methods towards anorexia disease. Anorexia is a very dangerous disease because it is happening in all over the world. A record has been made in 2004 by world health organization statistical information system to prove how harmful is this eating disorder. There are approximately 20 countries counted for the people death caused by anorexics. Below is the diagram of the record. Anorexics might cause by having troubled relationships or being teased about their size or weight at their past. When being teased, person felt of not good enough, low self-esteem, and even anger. Thus this will affects their social life. According to a research suggests that a combination of certain personality traits, emotions and thinking patterns, as well as cultural and environmental factors might be responsible. People who have anorexia are behaving to deny that they have a problem. Due to people with anorexia often hide their condition symptoms are not easy to see. But as time goes by, as anorexia progresses symptoms may be seen and its start to be difficult for them to deny. The symptoms are: Anorexics read food labels to measures and weighs the calories of the food that they will eat. Anorexics will pretend that they had eaten before when someone ask them to or throw the food away. They preoccupy with food. By collecting recipes, reading food magazines or cooking for friends may make other think that they are normal and forgotten about their previous thought of (he/she) getting anorexia. Anorexics will cut food into small pieces and chewing every bite a certain number of times. The affected person uses various methods such as vomiting or laxative abuse to prevent weight gain. Most individuals with anorexia nervosa do not recognize that they have an eating disorder. And usually hide their feelings, thoughts, intentions and actions from other people (secretive). They may easily get tired, weak, and most of the time dizzy because of low blood pressure. Have purplish skin color on their arms and legs from poor blood flow. They also happen to have yellow skin and dry mouth. Patient of anorexia nervosa are easily getting confused and slow thinking. Not all of cases involving this type of non-infectious disease can be prevented. Despite that, there may be some ways to be done to prevent some cases to happen. What can be done are: teaching and encouraging healthy eating habits and realistic attitudes about food and body image to people that are suspected might experience anorexia. The role of parents in a family is also important. In particular, mothers should create a healthy lifestyle in order to show her children how important to consume particular amount of food, and fathers should not criticize too much on his children body shape and weight. In addition, parents should promote a healthy and supporting environment for their children. On the other hand, the media can also be used to promote healthier lifestyle. It must represent the society, as the basic characteristic of an individual is that they may tend to follow others lifestyle. The media can also display programs that are created to prevent eating disorder. Many of anorexics died before they could get a well treatment. Anorexics that are in a very underweight condition, must be treated carefully, or hospitalized. After anorexics get the medical treatment, they need to get psychological counseling in order for them learn about healthy foods and lifestyle. The psychological counseling may includes nutritional counseling, individual counseling and group counseling. Nutritional counseling will teaches anorexics to count calories of body needed in comfortable method. And to help with weight gain, doctors usually use liquid food supplements. Anorexics may also need some therapies such as cognitive-behavioral therapy or known as CBT in the individual counseling. CBT teachers will help anorexics to change their attitudes and behaviors about eating. Group counseling is also needed for anorexics, to share their experiences and to encourage their friends (who also experience anorexia) to recover. Family therapy is very helpful, especially for teen with anorexics. Parents and siblings could support the anorexics during treatment emotionally and physically. Another effort to help anorexics recover is by letting them expressing their feelings and doing something enjoyable for them for instance doing their hobbies. Then, doing relaxation is also important. By having yoga, massage and the traditional Chinese relaxation exercises will build a healthy relationship with their body. Bibliography ThinkQuest, ThinkQuest. Circulatory System. 30-11-09 . National Cancer Institute, USA, National Cancer Institute, USA . Antigens and Antibodies. 29-12-09 . Stoppler, Melissa. Anorexia nervosa. medecinenet.com. 29-11-09 . ehealthMD, ehealthMD. Anorexia nervosa. 30-11-09. NationMaster.com, NationMaster.com. Mortality Statistics > Eating disorders (most recent) by country . 1-12-09 . Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Clinic. Anorexia nervosa. 1-11-09 . Depression and Anxiety in Older Adults: Knowledge Gaps Depression and Anxiety in Older Adults: Knowledge Gaps Depression and Anxiety in Older Adults:  Are there gaps in current knowledge regarding diagnosis and treatment? Introduction Mental health problems in older adults can cause a massive social impact, often bringing about poor quality of life, isolation and exclusion. Depression is one of the most debilitating mental health disorders worldwide, affecting approximately 7% of the elderly population (Global Health Data Exchange, 2010). Despite this, it is also one of the most underdiagnosed and undertreated conditions in the primary care setting. Even with estimates of approximately 25% of over 65’s living in the community having depressive symptoms severe enough to warrant medical intervention, only one third discuss their symptoms with their GP. Of those that do, only 50% receive treatment as symptoms of depression within this population often coincide with other later life problems ( IAPT, 2009; World Health Organisation (WHO), 2004). Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1: Depression and Anxiety in older adults Many misconceptions surround ageing including the fact that depression is a normal part of the ageing process. Actual evidence indicates that other physical health issues often supersede the presentation of depressive symptoms in older adults which may suggest that the development of depression is influenced by deteriorating physical health (Baldwin, 2008; Baldwin et al, 2002). Depression may present differently in older adults in comparison to adolescents or even working age adults. Although the same disorder may be present throughout different stages of the lifespan, in older adults certain symptoms of depression may be accentuated, such as somatic or psychotic symptoms and memory complaints, or suppressed, such as the feelings of sadness, in comparison to younger people with the same disorder (Baldwin, 2008; Chiu, Tam Chiu, 2008). O’Connor et al (2001) carried out a study into ‘the influence of age on the response of major depression to electroconvulsive therapy†™ and found that when confounding variables are controlled (age at the beginning of a study), there is no difference in the remission rates for depression in both younger and older adults, however, relapse rates remain higher for older adults. Backing this up, Brodaty et al (1993) conducted a qualitative naturalistic study into the prognosis of depression in older adults in comparison to younger adults and again confirmed that the prognosis and remission for depression in older adults is not significantly worse than for younger adults. However, the rigor of a qualitative naturalistic study is argued by proponents as being value-laden in nature, while criticisms of this study approach highlight it as being subjective, anecdotal and subject to researcher bias (Koch, 2006). In addition to depression, anxiety disorders are also common among older adults, often presenting as a comorbid condition. In 2007, 2.28 million people were diagnosed as having an anxiety disorder in the UK, with 13% of those individuals aged 65 and over. By 2026, the projected number of people diagnosed with an anxiety disorder is expected to rise by 12.7% to 2.56 million with the greatest increase expected to be seen in the older adult population (King’s Fund, 2008). Despite the prevalence rate, anxiety is poorly researched in comparison to other psychiatric disorders in older people (Wetherell et al, 2005). Of the anxiety disorders, phobic disorders and generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) are the two most common in older people (Bryant et al, 2008). It wasn’t until 1980 that the American Psychiatric Association (APA) published the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) 3rd Edition which introduced Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) into the psychi atric nomenclature, distinguishing it from other anxiety disorders for the first time (APA, 1980). MCManus et al (2009) estimate that in England alone, as many as 4.4% of people suffer with GAD with prevalence rates between 1.2 and 2.5 times higher for women than men (Prajapati, 2012). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) continues to gain increased recognition and has received more clinical interest lately, correlating with individuals from the Second World War, Holocaust and Vietnam Veterans reaching or being well into old age. Despite this, data relating to prevalence rates still remains limited with research tending to focus on specific populations as opposed to community figures, for example, with regards to UK war veterans, approximately 30% will develop PTSD (pickingupthepieces.org.au, 2014). Unfortunately, stigma tends to misrepresent PTSD statistics as sufferers tend not to seek diagnosis or researcher bias is present. Britt (2000) found that many service personal within the military stated that admitting to a mental health problem was not only more stigmatising that admitting to a physical health problem but they also believed it would have a more detrimental impact on their career prospects. Furthermore, Mueller (2009) conducted a study into disclosure attitudes in which it was concluded that these attitudes can strongly predict symptom severity. With this in mind, it is important to stress the importance of practicing within the limits of NMC (2008) code of conduct in which unconditional positive regard must be shown by all nursing staff whilst incorporating a non-bias attitude in practice. Anxiety and depression comorbidity is well established. A longitudinal study, noted for its beneficial adaptability in enabling the researcher to look at changes over time, conducted by Balkom et al (2000) found that in a random community sample of adults (55 and older), who were diagnosed as having an anxiety disorder, 13% also met the criteria of major depressive disorder (MDD). Adding weight to the evidence of anxiety and depression comorbidity in older adults, Schaub (2000) who also conducted a longitudinal study, found that 29.4% of a sample of older adults in a German community diagnosed with an anxiety disorder also met the criteria for a depressive disorder. Longitudinal studies are thought to vary in their validity due to the attrition of randomly assigned participants during the course of the study, thus producing a final sample that is not a true representation of the population sampled (Rivet-Amico, 2009). King-Kallimanis, Gum and Kohn (2009) examined current and lifetime comorbidity of anxiety with depression. Within a 12 month period they found 51.8% of older adults with MDD in the United States also met the diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder. There is evidence to suggest that the first presentation of anxiety symptoms in older adults suggests an underlying depressive disorder (Chiu et al, 2008). Unfortunately, comorbid anxiety and depression in older adults is associated with much higher risks of suicidal symptoms (Bartels et al, 2002; Lenze et al, 2000) in addition to increased reports of more severe psychiatric and somatic symptoms and poorer social functioning when compared to depression alone (Lenze et al, 2000; Schoevers et al, 2003). 2.2 Diagnosis and Screening Tools The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) (2009) states that screening for depression and anxiety in older adults allows GPs and mental health practitioners to look for these conditions despite the service user not reporting the symptoms. However, recommendations on the use of screening tools should be limited to services where there are adequate systems in place to refer service users on for in-depth assessment and treatment as screening without adequate treatment and follow-up is highly ineffective as highlighted by O’Conner (2009) and USPSTF (2009) in separate research reviews. Snowden et al (2009) further stipulates that screening should only be carried out in appropriate settings using approved depression screening tools designed specifically for older adults. Some of these specific screening tools include the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and the 2 –item and 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2 /PHQ-9). It is necessary to be mindful of the fact tha t screening tools are not diagnostic assessments, they merely identify the likelihood of someone have depression/anxiety (Snowden et al, 2009) and should be used in conjunction with a clinical examination to aid diagnosis (Chie et al, 2008). The self-administered Geriatric Depression Scale is the most widely accepted screening tool for depression in older adults, first developed by Yesavage et al in 1983. It is available in both a ‘long form’ and’ short form’. The ‘long form’ consists of a 30-item questionnaire, which asks the older adult to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to specific questions in reference to how they have been feeling over the past week. The ‘shorter form’ (see appendix 1) was developed in 1986 following validation studies of the ‘long form’ and takes approximately 5 minutes to complete. This is often the more suitable screening tool as it can be more easily used by individuals who are physically unwell and those suffering from mild to moderate cognitive impairments such as dementia who may have relatively short concentration spans. It comprises of 15 specific questions from the ‘long form’ that generated the highest association with depressive symptoms. Scores of 0-4 on the GDS ‘short form’ are considered normal; 5-8 indicate mild depression; 9-11 indicate moderate depression; and 12-15 indicate severe depression (Yesavage et al, 1983; 1986). The GDS have proven to a highly reliable and valid screening tool. One study carried out by Paradela et al (2005) found that the GDS had 81% sensitivity and 71% specificity when evaluated against diagnostic criteria in the DSM-IV. In a validation study completed Sheikh and Yesavage (1986) comparing the GDS Long and Short Forms, both were successful in distinguishing depressed from non-depressed older adults with a high correlation. Within the NHS, several screening tools are more widely used than the GDS. These include the PHQ-9 (Spitzer et al, 1999), PHQ-2 (see appendix 2) (Kroenke et al, 2003) and ‘Whooley questions’ (see appendix 3) (Whooley et al, 1997). Both the PHQ-2 and PHQ-9 use a psychometric Likert scale format while the ‘Whooley questions’ uses simple yes/no answers. The PHQ-2 and ‘Whooley questions’ fall into the category of ‘ultra-short’ questionnaires comprising of as little as three, two or one single detection questions. Despite the use of these ultra-short questionnaires being used in practice, evidence from Mitchell and Coyne (2007) suggests that ‘one-question’ screening tools identify as little as one third of patients with depression making them unacceptable and unreliable screening tools if exclusively relied upon. Despite this, there is still support for the use of two and three question screening tools, specifically the PHQ-2 which has been found to identify as many as 80% of individuals with depression in primary care settings (Ross, 2010; Mitchell and Coyne, 2007). As with all good practice, caution should be used when utilising these screening tools are they can present false-positive results (Mitchell and Coyne, 2007). By comparison, the PHQ-9 is a self-administered 9-item questionnaire aimed at the detection of depression (Kroenke et al, 2001). It value within mental health screening is well known due to the robust evidence surrounding it validity and excellent levels of sensitivity (91.7%) and specificity (78.3%) (Kroenke et al, 2010). Chapter 3: Application to Nursing Practice Dementia, along with depression and other priority mental disorders are included in the WHO Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP). This programme aims to improve care for mental, neurological and substance use disorders through providing guidance and tools to develop health services in resource poor areas. Synthesis and utilization of empirical research is an important aspect of evidence-based care. Only within the context of the holistic assessment, can the highest quality of care be achieved. References: Baldwin, R., Chiu, E., Katona, C., and Graham, N. 2002. 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Yesavage, A., Brink, L., Rose, L., Lum, O., Huang, V., Adey, M., and Leirer, O. 1983. Development and validation of a geriatric depression screening scale: A preliminary report [Online]. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 17(1). pp 37-49. Available at: http://ac.els-cdn.com.abc.cardiff.ac.uk/0022395682900334/1-s2.0-0022395682900334-main.pdf?_tid=3e351376-2f84-11e4-80c4-00000aab0f02acdnat=1409320755_7707825345e33994a5a5539c953dac90 [Accessed 29th August 2014]. Appendix 1.