Technology Diffusion and Productivity Growth

Question: Discuss about the Technology Diffusion and Productivity Growth. Answer: Introduction: Rising healthcare costs have become a major concern for all the developed countries in the world. In the present day, many of the nations have conducted researches regarding the amount of expenditure on healthcare. They have come to a conclusion that their expenditure on healthcare is lowering the economic stability of the nation. The nations now believe that it is highly important to introduce reforms that will reduce the spending of the government on healthcare. However the governments are also concerned about the increase in expenditure that would affect every citizen if the governments reduce their contribution forcing citizens to spend huge money from their own pockets. Therefore most of the nations who think of their citizens are in great dilemma about the expenditure in healthcare sectors thereby appoint policy makers to introduce reforms that will help both the government and the citizens to contribute the increasing cost of healthcare (Groves et al. 2016). However, there has been always a debate among health economists. One group suggests that in order to match up with the increasing healthcare costs, it is the duty of the individuals to pay for their healthcare expenditure. On the other hand, another group argues that in order to maintain equality among the healthcare expenditures, both high and low income families should have similar access to healthcare. In order to do so, there should be enough contribution from the government for low income families (Drummond et al. 2015). Therefore the essay will mainly focus on the dilemma that a policy maker will face while taking side for a particular side of the debate. It will also portray about how the issue can be dealt so that the main outcome of healthcare cost can be reduced without creating a hole in pocket of both citizens and the government. In the recent era, in most nations, it has seen that there is huge increase in the expenditure of the healthcare sectors. One of the prime reasons for the increase in healthcare cost is the increasing advancement in technology and its inclusion in each aspect of healthcare departments (Kayyali, Knott and Van 2013). The duty of a policy advisor would not be to create excessive pressure both on the government and on the citizens. A better policy advisor would be a person who will guide the entire nation in a way which will help to stabilize the increasing hike in healthcare sectors (Jones et al. 2014). It has been seen that technology is considered to involve presentation of drugs, devices along with different medical or surgical procedures. New technologies have also helped in several prevention and rehabilitation of different diseases. It has been stated by many researchers that the primary reason for increase in healthcare cost in the present era is due to the technological change n ecessary to treat patients. This technological use in healthcare has helped in increasing benefits like life expectancy, reduction in disability among the different elderly as well as decreased number of mortality in many cases where patients used to die previously (Skinner and Stagier 2015). However at the same time, citizens should pay importance to the cost of the benefits that they are taking help. In order to save the lives of loved ones, they are utilizing healthcare technologies but these technologies come at a higher cost and therefore such innovations and their services are costly. These must be analyzed by citizens that just like they are being able to save lives of family members with technologies which otherwise would have not been possible without technologies. Hence, they should also feel that is indeed important for them to contribute more to the healthcare system as the recent systems have to spend a lot of money for maintenance and servicing of the technological adv ancements incorporated in the setting. Many new types of equipment have been introduced for treatment as in case of myocardial infarction (Kontos et al. 2014). Besides pharmacological intervention, a number of different intervention like thrombolytic therapy, angiography, angioplasty, coronary bypass surgery and similar others have been introduced. All these services use extensive technological supports and therefore are costly. However at the same time, they have decreased the number of people suffering from myocardial infarction. Therefore, as citizens one should also feel responsible in spending out of pocket in order to get more benefits of technology for the costlier services (Gell et al. 2013). However, hospitals should also be ethical enough in charging the cost for the new technology. There are also reports that many hospitals undertake unnecessary tests and overuse of high cost technology mainly in the private healthcare sectors. These hospitals tend to earn more profits by unnecessary application of technology even in different diagnoses which might be done without technological help. Such discrepancies should be monitored by regulatory bodies so that unnecessary so that citizens are not forced to pay more than what is needed (Sultan 2014). The government should also implement regulatory bodies where they would evaluate the economically implications and analyze the cost and cost effectiveness and thereby implement policies which would help to save money by the citizens. The government should also take initiatives for the appraisal of social and ethical implications about the diffusion as well as the use of health technologies and other organizational implications (Chib, van Velthoven and Car 2015). Moreover discrimination is also present in the healthcare industry that also needs to be properly analyzed. There are two types of healthcare insurances that are utilized by a particular citizen. This involves the private healthcare policies and public healthcare policies. The private healthcare policies are mainly initiated by the different healthcare sectors or private companies in association with hospitals and nursing homes. The private healthcare insurances usually charge more to the patients and the insurance they cover is of huge amount as well (Khatib et al. 2016). However the governmental initiatives of the insurances cover budgets which are comparatively smaller than the private ones. Moreover, it has been suggested by many studies that the governmental health insurances also pay less to the doctors. However still the doctors remain attached with public sectors as they tend to increase the amount of the bill ultimately matching the budget with that of the private insurances . On the other hand, private insurances pay more to the doctors as they cannot afford the doctors leaving the carriers. Therefore, one can see both the private and the public insurances are providing the equal money to the healthcare sectors for attaining the same treatments (Hill and Cooke 2014). As a responsible citizen having a moderate to high income of money should not create extra pressure on the government for providing money to the healthcare expenditure of a middle income to high income family. It has been already established that both the type of insurances nearly provide the same sort of assistances (Perry, Zulliger and Rogers 2014). Therefore systems should be adopted in such a way that moderate and high income individual should opt for private insurances. People belonging to high socioeconomic background should spend more on their premiums so that an overall stability in financing the healthcare system can be achieved. The main motive of the healthcare system and its ex penditure should be based on equity. By this statement, it means that the individuals who are privileged with high income should more as the premium whereas people of low economic background should be helped by the government. This system would help in achieving a condition where sufficient finance can be accumulated for meeting the needs of healthcare for both the privileged and underprivileged (Nagarajan and Shrieff 2017). Moreover it would be also helpful if the government can develop a hand in deciding the money which would be paid as tax to the government. The high income and middle income citizens would be classified into a number of slabs and depending upon it, their percentage of tax would be decided. This would be helpful in lessening the stress on the pocket of low income families and also of the government. Although it would be the citizens who would be spending the money, the government should play an important role in the setting up of proper slabs depending upon which their payment of healthcare tax should be fixed. Their authority to hold private insurances would also depend upon their salary slab as well. This system is evidence based and would help to maintain equity among different healthcare systems. This is helpful as it does not create excessive economic pressure on the citizens and only extracts that minimal amount which can be provided by them to help the healthcare sectors to provide them services in need (George et al. 2016). Therefore, the initiative would be taken by the government to introduce healthcare benefits for low economic households, introduce slab systems for payment of taxes to meet the healthcare needs and encourage the high and middle economic families to uptake private insurances without creating pressure on governmental funds. Recently another important trend in rise in healthcare cost is linked with the rise in prevalence of manmade disease . There are a large number of diseases like diabetes, obesity, substance abuse disorders, excessive smoking, alcohols and many others which mainly take place due to improper life styles which are involuntary. Often certain behaviors like lack of exercises, overconsumption of food, intake of calorigenic food and many other often result from an individuals own choices. Moreover many nations are seen to be more inclined on spending money on treatment rather than trying best to preventive (Keift et al. 2014). The World Health Organization has already tried its best to create awareness among citizens of every nation. They have clearly discussed the concept of prevention of diseases stating that prevention is indeed the most cost effective process of decreasing the rate of chronic diseases especially for those individuals who are at the higher risk of the disease. WHO has al so shared facts where they have stated that about 80% of the different diseases like heart disease, diabetes, stroke, along with one third of the cancers can be avoided by individuals (Spinks et al. 2017). They can achieve this by eliminating the shared risk factors which may include tobacco use, physical inactivity, and unhealthy diet and also overuse of drugs and alcohol. Many of the diseases can be checked if the citizens are careful enough with their lives and through regular preventive healthcare such as diagnostic screenings (www.acponline.org 2017). However still people are careless and take their lives for granted until they are affected with severe disorder. In such cases, patients with these habits applying for governmental help for financing his healthcare expenditures is morally and ethically incorrect. Therefore the governmental help should be specified for usage of particular classes of people and for particular specified diseases, so that the chances of exploitation o f governmental fund can be prevented. In order to do so the government should develop systems for properly analyzing the kind of service needed by the patients, his financial status, his credibility, his needs and others before deciding on the aid (George et al. 2016). The government should introduce policies that will encourage citizens to develop proper living habits rather than taking healthcare funds for granted. The government can help by introducing proper education systems for citizens who will help them to undertake proper lifestyles and therefore reduce the occurrences of disorders. However, often patients become victimized to high prices of healthcare services; this is mainly due to different factors of the healthcare services that tend to increase the bill of patients. Often patients who visit to hospitals for healthcare services are provided with options of treatments which are much more costly than the alternatives which were not disclosed to the patients. Therefore the patients often fail in proper decision making (Kieft et al. 2014). Here, the patients become victims to the discrepancies of the hospitals as a result of which their expenditure gets higher. The hospitals tend to charge more when they see patients with insurances. Moreover often patients also become victim to different types of errors conducted by healthcare professionals. This again led to a huge expenditure of the resources on behalf of the patients (Mosadehgraj 2014). There have been many cases where it is reported like improper medication administration to patients following a wrong route , a wrong dose, a wrong procedure and many others have increased the stay of patients in healthcare sectors. Although one is expecting the patients to pay amount from their pockets in case of their ailments, this kind of errors from the healthcare groups should be highly criticized. The government should come forward and introduce strict rules and policies which will handle such errors and take strict disciplinary rules (Lee 2015). Moreover hospitals are also admitting patients with diseases for which specialists are not available. This is resulting in compromise of the health of the patient along with that of the resources of the patients. Moreover many hospitals are incapable of maintain a correct skill mix of healthcare professionals. This also affects the quality treatment that a patient expects form a healthcare sector. There are also many hospitals which after attaining a brand value try to impose higher charges for their services irrespective of the costs which are fixed by t he government. Therefore, the hospitals should be properly regulated by the strict governmental monitoring so that the hospitals can be careful in the interventions they apply (Metsala and Vaherkoski 2014). The government should be particular in the policies that apply. They should ensure accurate costing of each of the health services and the health products that the hospitals are providing to the students. The government should also try to implement strategies to turn the inappropriate workforce into trained individuals so that the chance of patients spending more money on errors conducted by unskilled workers can be avoided (Pellegrin et al. 2017). Also the high administration cost of well known hospitals should also be managed properly so that the costs do not create a pressure on the pockets of the patients. As a senior policy advisor of the Ministry of Health, it would be the duty of the advisor to introduce reforms that will help in decreasing the healthcare costs associated with healthcare services. Each services and products of the healthcare sectors should be properly analyzed and their pricing should be foxed, so that any discrepancies do not affect the pocket of the patients. The government should initiate reforms to introduce strategies that will prevent excessive flow of money from patients. This may include strategic spending of the patients for healthcare through payment of health taxes according to their earning slab. The patients with higher income should pay higher tax than people with moderate income. This would help in preventing pressure on both the government and also low economic families. Moreover the high income families should be encouraged for private insurances so that the finance under the government can be spent for those patients coming from poverty stricken fa milies and similar backgrounds. By this way, the policy advisor will be able to strike a balance in the health care expenditure and maintain equity in healthcare. As the government should be concerned with the healthcare of the patients who are unable to afford healthcare costs, the upper and middle class families should also be responsible for marinating their healthcare costs to some extent. This would create less pressure on the economic condition of the nation and would help nation spend money on other development sectors which would help in the growth of very individuals financially. The government should provide a subsidy to every healthcare sector to keep their service price low. At the same time the citizens should be responsible to maintain lives in such a way so that they get let exposed to harmful diseases and also manage their insurances and finance plan. This should be done in such a way so that it helps them to cover the healthcare charge without creating a huge hole i n the pocket. References: Chib, A., van Velthoven, M.H. and Car, J., 2015. mHealth adoption in low-resource environments: A review of the use of mobile healthcare in developing countries.Journal of Health Communication,20(1), pp.4-34. Drummond, M.F., Sculpher, M.J., Claxton, K., Stoddart, G.L. and Torrance, G.W., 2015.Methods for the economic evaluation of health care programmes. Oxford university press. Gell, N.M., Rosenberg, D.E., Demiris, G., LaCroix, A.Z. and Patel, K.V., 2013. Patterns of technology use among older adults with and without disabilities.The Gerontologist, p.gnt166. George, C.E., Ramadas, D., Norman, G., Mukherjee, D. and Rao, T., 2016. Barriers to cardiovascular disease risk reduction: Does physicians perspective matter?.Indian Heart Journal,68(3), pp.278-285. Groves, P., Kayyali, B., Knott, D. and Kuiken, S.V., 2016. The'big data'revolution in healthcare: Accelerating value and innovation. Hill, A. and Cooke, G., 2014. Hepatitis C can be cured globally, but at what cost?.Science,345(6193), pp.141-142. Jones, S.S., Rudin, R.S., Perry, T. and Shekelle, P.G., 2014. Health information technology: an updated systematic review with a focus on meaningful use.Annals of internal medicine,160(1), pp.48-54. Kayyali, B., Knott, D. and Van Kuiken, S., 2013. The big-data revolution in US health care: Accelerating value and innovation.Mc Kinsey Company, pp.1-13. Khatib, R., McKee, M., Shannon, H., Chow, C., Rangarajan, S., Teo, K., Wei, L., Mony, P., Mohan, V., Gupta, R. and Kumar, R., 2016. Availability and affordability of cardiovascular disease medicines and their effect on use in high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries: an analysis of the PURE study data.The Lancet,387(10013), pp.61-69. Kieft, R.A., de Brouwer, B.B., Francke, A.L. and Delnoij, D.M., 2014. How nurses and their work environment affect patient experiences of the quality of care: a qualitative study.BMC health services research,14(1), p.249. Kontos, E., Blake, K.D., Chou, W.Y.S. and Prestin, A., 2014. Predictors of eHealth usage: insights on the digital divide from the Health Information National Trends Survey 2012.Journal of medical Internet research,16(7), p.e172. Lee, D.J., 2015. Injections, Infections, Condoms, and Care: Thoughts on Negligence and HIV Exposure.Cornell JL Pub. Pol'y,25, p.245. Metsl, E. and Vaherkoski, U., 2014. Medication errors in elderly acute carea systematic review.Scandinavian journal of caring sciences,28(1), pp.12-28. Mosadeghrad, A.M., 2014. Factors influencing healthcare service quality. Nagarajan, G. and Shrieff, J.K., 2017. Role of Management in Medical ErrorsMarking and Methods to Improve Safety and Reduce Errors to the Healthcare OrganisationA Theoretical Prospective.MIM INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH, p.53. Pellegrin, K.L., Krenk, L., Oakes, S.J., Ciarleglio, A., Lynn, J., McInnis, T., Bairos, A.W., Gomez, L., McCrary, M.B., Hanlon, A.L. and Miyamura, J., 2017. Reductions in Medication?Related Hospitalizations in Older Adults with Medication Management by Hospital and Community Pharmacists: A Quasi?Experimental Study.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society,65(1), pp.212-219. Perry, H.B., Zulliger, R. and Rogers, M.M., 2014. Community health workers in low-, middle-, and high-income countries: an overview of their history, recent evolution, and current effectiveness.Annual review of public health,35, pp.399-421. Skinner, J. and Staiger, D., 2015. Technology diffusion and productivity growth in health care.Review of Economics and Statistics,97(5), pp.951-964. Spinks, J., Jackson, J., Kirkpatrick, C.M. and Wheeler, A.J., 2017. Disruptive innovation in community pharmacyImpact of automation on the pharmacist workforce.Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy,13(2), pp.394-397. Sultan, N., 2014. Making use of cloud computing for healthcare provision: Opportunities and challenges.International Journal of Information Management,34(2), pp.177-184. www.acponline.org. 2017. Controlling Healthcare Costs While Promoting the Best Possible Health Outcomes. [online] Available at: https://www.acponline.org/acp_policy/policies/controlling_healthcare_costs_2009.pdf [Accessed 6 Apr. 2017].

Depreciation Its Impact On Profitability â€Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Disuses About The Depreciation Its Impact On Profitability? Answer: Introducation Telstra Ltd - The Company uses straight-line basis method of depreciation taking into consideration the estimated useful life of the fixed assets. The fixed assets that are depreciated using this method include property, plant, equipment, buildings and leasehold property but exclude freehold land (Telstra, 2016). The companys policy is that the company starts charging depreciation only when the assets are put to use in the company. The estimated useful life and the residual value of the assets are estimated by the management using judgment basis and the review is done every year for the same. Further, the assessment is also done in comparison with other companies in the industry. The effect of this method of depreciation on profitability remains the same every year as the same Accountt of depreciation is reduced and then the net profit arrives (Brealey et. al, 2011). Hence, it can be described as a consistent method that helps in arriving at the profit with ease. But as the depreciation is a non-cash expense, profits reduce but not the cash flows. TPG Telecom Ltd.- This company also uses the straight line method of depreciation and uses the estimated useful lives of the assets to calculate depreciation amount. The estimated useful life is estimated by the management according to the trend in the industry and as per own judgments (TPG Telecom Ltd, 2016). The review is done in this company also on an annual basis for the estimated useful lives. But, the estimated useful lives estimated by this company are totally different from that estimated by Telstra Ltd. The effect on profitability is the same every year as the amount of depreciation expense is the same for every year (Davies Crawford, 2012). Inventory Methods and impact on Profitability. Telstra Ltd.- In this company, the valuation of Inventory is done at lower of the net realizable value or the cost price of the inventory (Telstra, 2016). The company finds out the net realizable value of the inventory by subtracting the total cost of inventory (including purchase, distribution cost, etc from the estimated selling price which may be determined by industry trends (Porter Norton, 2014). The company also uses weighted average price method to find the actual cost of inventories. TPG Telecom Ltd.- The inventory valuation method used by TPG Telecom Ltd. is the same as that used by Telstra Ltd. This company also values inventory at cost or net realizable value whichever is lower. The inventory valuation needs to adhere to the policies of the company as the profit figure is highly affected by the policies adopted for the inventory valuation (TPG Telecom Ltd, 2016). The impact of inventory valuation method on profitability is that if the inventory is overvalued, it will result in an increase in profits and if the inventory is undervalued, it will result in a reduction of profits. Identification Analysis of Intangibles of the company. Telstra Ltd.- The company has the following intangible assets as per the financial statements of the company : Goodwill- The valuation of goodwill is done at cost and the cost is the excess of purchase consideration paid over the total value of net assets purchased (Telstra, 2016). Other intangible assets acquired by the company are valued at fair value by the company which is- Software Assets Licenses Deferred Expenditure Other Intangibles TPG Telecom Ltd.- The company has the following intangible assets as per the financial statements : Non- Amortizing Intangible Asset- Goodwill it is valued at cost less any impairment losses Brands- Relief from Royalty Method is used by the company for valuing and recognizing the value of brands Amortizing Intangible Assets- Acquired customer bases- when a company is acquired, the customer relationships and the contracts with those customers come along with the acquisition. Such relationship is valued using the expected future economic benefits of such customers (Brigham Daves, 2012). This indicates that the acquisition carries the specific benefits too. Indefeasible rights of use of capacity- these are recognized at fair value of the acquisition. Other Intangibles- these are usually valued at cost less any impairment losses and accumulated amortization. Comparative summary of policies (covering points 1 to 3) adopted by both companies TPG Telecom Ltd.- The main accounting policies of this company are: Basis of consolidation- In case of business combinations, the purchase consideration is valued at fair value of the assets and any sum paid in excess of the fair value of the net assets acquired is treated as a purchase of goodwill which is then shown as an intangible asset of the company (Choi Meek, 2011). In the case of subsidiaries, the financial statements of subsidiaries are included in consolidated financial statements and the accounting policies for the subsidiaries are changed to align them with the policies of the total group from time to time (TPG Telecom Ltd, 2016). While preparing the consolidated financial statements, the intra group transactions and balances are ignored. Foreign Currency Transactions- The transactions that are in foreign currency are converted into the exchange rate at the time of preparation of financial statements at the rate prevalent on that date. The assets and liabilities are also converted at the current exchange rate and any foreign exchange differences that arise on conversion are shown in the income statement. Other non monetary assets and liabilities are converted from foreign currency to Australian Dollars using the then ruling rate of exchange. Foreign Operations The incomes and the expenses of the foreign operations are converted to Australian dollars at the rate which was there at the time of those particular transactions. The assets and liabilities involved in the foreign operations are converted to Australian Dollars at the exchange rate prevalent on the reporting date (Subramanyam Wild, 2014). Any foreign currency conversion difference is then recognized in the income statement and shown in equity. The comparative points with regard to the above-mentioned points in the case of Telstra Ltd. are as under: Foreign Currency Transactions- The transactions in foreign currency are usually converted at the spot exchange rate of the transaction date. The receivables and payables are converted at the exchange rate that is ruling on the reporting date (Telstra, 2016). The same treatment is witnessed in the case of TPG Telecom Ltd where the foreign currency gets converted. Foreign Operations Here also there are many similarities when we talk about the foreign operations. The assets and liabilities including goodwill are converted to Australian dollars at the exchange rate on the reporting date. The Equity items are converted at the rate which was prevalent on the initial investment dates (Horngren, 2013). The main point of comparison here is that the incomes and expenses shown in Income Statement are converted into Australian Dollars at the average rate mostly and other wise on the transaction date rate (Telstra, 2016). Basis of Consolidation In case of Telstra Ltd. also, similar policies are adopted for consolidating the accounts of all subsidiaries with the parent company. As per Telstra (2016), the purchase consideration is valued at fair value of the assets and any sum paid in excess of the fair value of the net assets acquired is treated as purchase of goodwill which is then shown as intangible asset of the company. The subsidiaries are the controlled entities where the parent company has the right to the activities of the controlled entities. Hence, the parent company has the utmost control over the activities of the subsidiary (Graham Smart, 2012). In the case of subsidiaries, the financial statements of subsidiaries are included in consolidated financial statements and the accounting policies for the subsidiaries are usually consistent but are changed to align them with the policies of the total group from time to time (Albrecht et. al, 2011). The functioning of intra group transactions is also similar here and the intra group transactions and balances are ignored while consolidation of accounts. Recommendation The companies operate in the field of technology and going by the overall evaluation it can be seen that there appear certain differences between the two, however; the line of action is the same considering the operations. As per the evaluation and comparison did above, on the three policies that both the companies have similar kind of accounting policies and this is due to the reason that both of them operate in the same line of activity and try to match the policies of the industry as a whole. Both the companies follow the policies as per their business and the manner of operation. This is in tune with the industry standards. However, the management from time to time can update the policies to have a better grasp of the environment and the practices. Hence, the regulatory framework is keenly eyed by both the companies and the same has been vividly described in the annual report. References Albrecht, W, Stice, E. Stice, J 2011, Financial accounting, Mason, OH: Thomson/South-Western. Brealey, R, Myers, S. and Allen, F 2011, Principles of corporate finance, New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Brigham, E. Daves, P 2012, Intermediate Financial Management , USA: Cengage Choi, R.D. Meek, G.K 2011, International accounting, Pearson . Davies, T. Crawford, I 2012, Financial accounting, Harlow, England: Pearson. Graham, J. Smart, S 2012, Introduction to corporate finance, Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning. Horngren, C 2013, Financial accounting, Frenchs Forest, N.S.W: Pearson Australia Group. Porter, G Norton, C 2014, Financial Accounting: The Impact on Decision Maker, Texas: Cengage Learning Subramanyam, K Wild, J 2014, Financial Statement Analysis, McGraw Hill Telstra 2016, Telstra 2016 Annual Report and accounts, viewed 24 August 2017 https://www.telstra.com.au/content/dam/tcom/about-us/investors/pdf-e/FY16-Annual-Report.pdf TPG Telecom Ltd 2016, TPG Telecom Ltd Annual report and accounts, viewed 24 August 2017 https://www.tpg.com.au/about/pdfs/FY16%20Annual%20Report.pdf

WGU Ready Assessment Essay Sample

WGU Ready Assessment Essay SampleA WGU readiness assessment essay sample is a good tool to help you make your WGU decision. It is helpful for you to understand the purpose of the WGU software and the individual needs of your study group. A WGU readiness assessment essay sample is ideal for those considering a program to make a WGU decision.Many college courses take place in schools and colleges, and students must be tested for their abilities with several aptitude tests. If a student does not pass a certain level of a test or fails a test with a low passing score, they may be required to do an alternate test that would bring their scores up to the level required for graduation. This is just one reason why a WGU readiness assessment essay sample is so valuable.For example, if a student already has an upper-level math course, it is possible that they will need to take an upper-level math class if they decide to continue on a WGU program to advance their education. Also, a student may f ind themselves needing to take a science course if they decide to pursue further study. Students who are considering a WGU program are usually trying to keep their current coursework, so a WGU readiness assessment essay sample can help them understand whether or not the additional coursework they are going to need will impact their grades enough to impact their WGU decision.As a student, you should carefully consider what your priorities are when making a WGU decision. If you already have a math course, for example, you may find that you are already passing the WGU requirements or are close to passing them. However, if you want to add a science course or another math course, you may need to take a WGU assessment in order to determine whether or not you are capable of taking this additional course.One of the best things about taking a WGU assessment is that you are able to learn more about your individual needs when making a WGU decision. You will be able to identify whether or not y ou need to take the course. Or, you will be able to determine whether or not a course will meet your educational goals.You can use a WGU readiness assessment essay sample to determine if you need to continue on a WGU program. You can also use this type of material to determine what courses are best suited for your specific needs. And, you will be able to find out how a WGU program will benefit you with the courses that you choose.As you make your WGU decision, remember that all courses are not created equal. You should only take a WGU assessment essay sample into consideration if you have certain specific requirements or if you are trying to understand the purpose of the WGU program.

History of the Zamboni free essay sample

The History of the Zamboni Although ice hockey was originated in the early 1800’s, the first Zamboni did not hit the ice until 1949. For well over a century, the sheet of ice was resurfaced by tediously shoveling off the snow and pouring water back over the ice. The technique left the ice in a miserable, almost unskatable state by today’s standards. Not only was it a poor surface to skate on, resurfacing a sheet of ice took nearly over an hour and a half to complete. Frank Zamboni’s invention of the Zamboni not only brought convenience to the rink, it revolutionized the speed of the game. Frank J. Zamboni was born in Eureka, Utah, in 1901 and grew up on a farm in Idaho, where he helped with the family farm and worked as a mechanic in a local garage. In 1920, Frank moved to the City of Paramount, California with his brother, Lawrence. We will write a custom essay sample on History of the Zamboni or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page After saving his money to study electricity in Chicago, Frank and Lawrence decided to open an ice/refrigeration plant in 1927, giving it the trademark name, Zamboni Bros. Electric Co. As electric refrigerators became more common nearly a decade later, the demand for ice-box services diminished leaving the Zamboni brothers with an opportunity to put the ice machines to new use. In 1939, Frank, Lawrence, and their cousin, Pete built one of the largest rinks in the country, Iceland, but Frank became so fed up with the lengthy ice-resurfacing procedure that he attempted to build and ice resurfacer of his own, pulled by a tractor in March of 1943. With a fail at his first attempt, Frank’s persistence urged him to try again after World War II, where he was left with a military surplus of cheap parts. Using the parts, Frank reconstructed his prototype but failed again when the self-propelled resurfacer with two-wheel drive was found to have no traction on the ice. After much trial and error though, Frank got his first ice-resurfacer, the Model A, working and applied for a patent, which he received four years later. Now with his patent, he was able to form Frank J. Zamboni Co. His first customer was world renowned figure skater, Sonja Henie. Sonja loved Frank’s new invention so much that he started receiving orders in no time from all around the world. Overtime, the demand for Frank’s â€Å"Zambonis† became such a high demand that he opened two ice-resurfacing factories. Frank came up with new models year after year. Starting from the model A to the present Zambonis, Frank produced over 28 different models ranging from gas to zero emissions to electric. â€Å"Each of the first dozen or so machines Frank built was an improvement on its predecessor. My dad had been changing every machine up until 1954,† explained Frank’s son, Richard. The Zamboni, costing between $10,000 and $200,000, depending on the model, takes on average ten minutes to complete a sheet of ice. There are four steps in the process of making perfect ice: shaving, collecting, washing and renewing. The fifty seven pound, specially-made blade shaves a thin layer off the top of the ice. If the blade goes too deep, it creates an uneven surface and you could risk hitting concrete. If not deep enough, it does nothing. The snow that is created by scraping the top layer of the ice is then pick up by large skew conveyors, sending it up the back of the Zamboni. From here, the snow is then picked up by a large conveyor belt and carried up into the snow tank. After each resurfacing, the snow is dumped out of the Zamboni. Water jets at the back end of the machine spray water heated up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit to flush out the ice and replace the later that was just scraped off as well as fill in the grooves left by skates. As a vacuum sucks up the extra water left from the jets, a final layer of heated water is sprayed onto the ice. At this time, a large towel trailing the machine evenly distributes the water over the ice, leaving it smooth and ready to skate on. The Zamboni has come a long way since Frank Zamboni first started experimenting with it in his backyard in 1947. Starting as fridge scraps, to war scraps, to the Model B jeep chassis, the Zamboni machine has been designated the official ice resurfacer of the NHL today. Each Zamboni ice resurfacer is constructed, painted, and completed in about three weeks with no assembly lines by 30-35 employees. Big time companies use the surface of the Zambonis as a canvas for advertising. In spite of being pulled out of school in the 9th grade, Frank Zamboni received an honorary doctorate in engineering from Clarkston University in 1987. Frank Zamboni invented the

Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight first founded Nike Inc. Essays - Nike

Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight first founded Nike Inc. Essays - Nike Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight first founded Nike Inc. in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports. In 1971, it was re-named Nike after the Greek winged goddess of victory, strength, speed, glory, and fame. The Nike swoosh is meant to represent the wings of the goddess Nike, as she was often depicted in mythology with. The iconic swoosh was created by Caroline Davidson, an advertising student at Portland University. She was a freelancer asked to design a graphic logo that could fit on the side of a shoe by Phil Knight; she was paid $35 for her design. The first interaction between the founders of Nike was in 1959, when track coach Bill Bowerman met Phil Knight; who was a runner at the University of Oregon where he was coaching. The need for the company arose out of Bills desire to find lighter, more durable racing shoes for his university track team, and Phils desire to find a way to make a living without having to give up his love of sports. The two put their heads together, and the end product was a company that now dominates the market in its sportswear segment, despite having begun as a small distributing outfit from the back of Phils car. While Phil was obtaining his MBA degree at Stanford in the 60s, Professor Frank Shallenberger assigned his students with a project; the goal of which was to devise a small business and a marketing plan for its success. Building on his earlier brainstorms, Phils project consisted of the idea that quality running shoes could be produced at low cost in Asian countries like Japan, and shipped to the U.S. for distribution. In 1963, Phil actually traveled to Japan, and scheduled an interview with a Japanese businessman affiliated with Onitsuka Corporation and its subsidiary Tiger; to whom he presented himself as an American distributor with an interest in selling Tiger shoes to American runners. The boardroom executives liked what they heard; and Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS) was born. By 1964, BRS had sold 8,000 pairs of Tiger running shoes and had added salesman Jeff Johnson to the team. By 1971, the trademarked swoosh was implemented, BRS officially became Nike Inc., and the company hit $1 m illion in sales. Later into the 70s, Nike went from $10 million in sales to $270 million in sales and was hugely benefiting from (if not leading) Americas craze towards popularized fitness; a revolution that caused the idea of exercise and game-playing to transcend from an extracurricular that the average American did for fun, into a cultural signifier of status for health and wealth. Nikes brand prosperity is clearly evidenced in a quote from 1996 in Advertising Age (a magazine that analyzes data on marketing and the media), the ubiquitous swoosh was more recognized and coveted by consumers than any other sports brand. That same year, Nikes revenues were $6.74 billion, with $8 billion expected in the upcoming year, and a target of $12 billion by the millennium. With all that said however, Nike was still mindful of its competitors and the risks they pose on its global stage. For example, Nike is the main leader in its industry of sportswear (footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories) and is valued at 10.7 billion, but it does have a hefty amount of competition. Nikes main four competitors are Reebok, Adidas, Fila, and New Balance. Nike is the industry leader with a 47% market share, Reebok is in second place at 16%, and Adidas comes in third at 6%. The biggest contributor to Nikes edge over its competitors is its marketing and global business strategy. Nike relocated all of its factories overseas where it could utilize a more inexpensive workforce to fabricate its shoes, and 86% of its total products are now produced in either Taiwan or South Korea. With Nike cutting costs on the labor and production expenses, more capital was freed up and put towards increasing their advertising budget. For example, Nike spent four and a half times as much in advertising expenses as Adidas in 2003. This helped Nike gain much more awareness in the regions where they were marketing their product by demographic statistics. A tactic Nike has also relied on heavily to hold

Contemporary Theories of political Economy final essay

Contemporary Theories of political Economy final - Essay Example Thus in order to fathom the basis of the economical crisis that emerged during the late 1060s and the early 1970s, a more thorough and wide-ranging approach needs to be taken. At the start of the 1970s, the opinionated left had created strict doctrinal views about the purpose of capitalism. They believed that capitalism was inherently a system of exploitation and oppression (Jà ¸rgensen 125). The global and economic activities that took place in the 1960s were largely the result of capitalism as it had emerged since the Great Depression. However the 1970s were witness to a crisis and transformation of capitalism, initially displaying its faults but later on escaping the clutches of the left. Indications of a crisis were being sighted in the late 1960s, attributable not merely to the global unrest of 1968 but also due to the fact that the economic system was not fail-proof to the pervasive effects of crisis in capitalist systems. One of the major effects of the protest cycle that had initiated in 1968 was the emergence of newly revived working class militancy (Jà ¸rgensen 125). This militancy was responsible for shattering the peace of the labor market that had been present for a long time now. The time period between 1968 and 1972 attested to a series of strikes in Western Europe, specifically characteristic of wildcat strikes that were held beyond the structural setup of negotiation. Jà ¸rgensen observes that â€Å"the official trade union leaderships were more often than not taken by surprise by their members’ militancy† (125). The unrest occurring during this time period, along with the fall of the Bretton Woods system and the dollar crisis, cumulated together and made the global crisis into an impending reality. It was in 1973 that the crisis finally struck, and the hopes of stable capitalism as a reasonably organized perpetuum

Diabetes , hypoglycemia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Diabetes , hypoglycemia - Essay Example Sugar or glucose is then absorbed into the bloodstream to stimulate the pancreas to secrete insulin. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas, which controls the amount of sugar in the blood and transports the sugar from the blood to the cells (â€Å"Diabetes Mellitus,† 2003). Once inside the cells, the sugar or glucose is then converted into Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP), or energy, which is then immediately utilised by the body, or stored for future use. Without insulin, blood sugar levels or blood glucose levels become extremely high due to the fact that it was not transported from the blood to the cells. Because of this, glucose begins to overflow into the urine since the kidney tubules cannot reabsorb it fast enough. Water is then flushed out of the system along with glucose, resulting to dehydration. (Marieb, 2004) Because insulin production is either inhibited or impaired, glucose stays in the blood, and thus cannot be converted into energy. Cells break down fats and protein instead of glucose to meet its energy requirements (Marieb, 2004). This can lead to a series of complications. Since fats are broken down for energy instead of glucose, ketones may form in the blood as it has become very acidic; hence, ketoacidosis may arise. Apart from this, since protein is also utilised as an energy source, the body’s defense mechanisms become weak, and there is loss of weight and muscle tone. The three cardinal signs of Diabetes Mellitus to be watched out for are the three polys. First is polyuria, which is excessive urination. This arises because, as mentioned above, the excessive amount of glucose is flushed out of the system, along with ketones. Second is polydipsia, which is extreme thirst due to dehydration from excessive water flushing, and last is polyphagia or excessive hunger resulting from the inability of the cells