Staphylococcus aureus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Staphylococcus aureus - Essay Example This test also helped in identifying the resistance of staphylococcus against certain antibiotics revealing the mechanisms used in developing the resistance such as enzyme production. Staphylococcus aureus are spherical, gram positive non spore forming with 0.5- 1Â µm long bacteria as viewed under microscope. In 1988, S.aureus was first discovered in Aberdeen by Alexanda Ogston. Determination of Staphylococcus follows an observation in solidified medium such as nutrient agar and selective medium manitolagar. This bacteria is salt tolerant. From the main genus staphylococcus there are 32 species of which 11 are harmful and can be spread causing diseases in human body. The most common of these diseases causing staphylococcus are S.aureus and S.epidermis. Growth rate and survival of Staphylococcus is affected by a number of factors including temperatures, PH, Oxygen and water present (Stewart, 2003). Staphylococcus ureus have been found to posses the ability to live in both aerobic and anaerobic environment. Staphylococcus gain entrance into the body through causing open lesion skin that is mostly red, swollen and painful. When they enter the blood vessel, staphylococcus multiplies and releases toxins that cause life threatening complications such as septic shock and endocarditis complication of heart (Gwendolyn, 1996). Studies on these bacteria have shown that people who suffer from particular diseases including diabetes, people with chronic kidney diseases, people with cancer therapy, skin burns are more susceptible of getting the Staphylococcus aureus infection. Additionally, people with transplanted organs also depict high susceptibility to infections from staphylococcus aureus since they take immune suppressive drugs. Staphylococcus aureus can be found on the noses of up to 25 percent of healthy people , in which case it remain harmless but when it gain entrance into the blood stream it causes diseases such as septic shock and meningitis

Students should go to colleges better than universities from the Essay

Students should go to colleges better than universities from the beginning - Essay Example One of the problems is that most of these students study for the sake of passing their examinations (Fernando, 50). As a result, most of them finish campus with no adequate knowledge required by the employers. This makes most of them jobless for a long time, which is problematic for the generation of these productive individuals. The reason is some individuals may not have gotten the required grade to join their desired course (Nitza, 135). Thus, the university admits the individual for a much lower course than the one the individual yearned for. They will only study for that course for the sake of getting a degree. This is unlike in joining college first since the individual can get the required marks in college and then join university to pursue their desired courses. Most of these individuals joining university are fresh from high school where their parents monitor their every move (Chin, 18). However, with university, most of them even move out to live in campus premises. The joy of being able to live away from the parents finally is a relief for most of them who tend to put it in their heads. They become party animals in campus to an extent of forgetting their studies. There are even cases of students caught cheating during exams due to failure of adequate preparation. It is important for such students to realize that despite how long it takes, it is important to join university for the right reasons- working hard to get a well-paying job in future. This brings us to the next

Key Challenges Faced By The Bpo Industry Management Essay

Key Challenges Faced By The Bpo Industry Management Essay Peter Drucker says innovation is a change that creates a new dimension of performance. In todays business world, competition has become fierce and sophisticated. Companies worldwide are striving hard to operate as efficiently as possible and pass on the savings to the end consumers, in a bid to stay ahead of the competition. In the process, many companies are forced to innovate to come up with ways to reduce costs, increase efficiency and identify differentiators not only for their own organizations but also for their customer organizations. In the midst of this dog eats dog global competition, customers are true beneficiaries by demanding additional value, process innovation and business transformation from suppliers. In todays dynamic world, innovation is the hallmark of a competitive and leading organization. With attrition rates and competition in the BPO and ITES sectors rampant, innovation is the logical solution to stem the rot of this exodus and surge ahead of competition. Innovation, however, is not only about discoveries or new inventions; it is a concerted initiative to implement new ideas and methods of doing business to increase the overall efficacy of results (read topline and bottomline).   Innovation in BPO and ITES sectors is now picking up after companies have woken up to the fact that innovation is indispensable for survival and also in creating a competitive edge. Innovation occurs not randomly or accidentally but when there is a proper system/structure in place to encourage it. Any business is the sum total of its capabilities, which may differ from person to person. Nourishing innovation involves understanding the various capabilities in an organization and harnessing them to the best of its ability. These capabilities include: Differentiating capabilities an organizations primary assets that describes its special nature and the real differentiating factor Core capabilities those that are critical to the organizations survival, but may not necessarily help in differentiation Support capabilities those that support the organizations core capabilities and foster them. This paper aims to analyse innovation in the Indian ITES industry, success thereof and the focus needed to excel in the space. In particular, the organozation I was working for was suffering from all the symptoms mentioned in the report. Key Challenges faced by the BPO industry today and ways to fight it Flight to Scale Galloping Manpower Costs Increasing investments in Infrastructure Customer Retention Customer Acquisition People Retention To face these challenges, BPOs are forced to innovate and differentiate themselves in the market place. There are various types of innovation that a BPO can resort to: Business Model Innovation Services/Markets innovation Operations Innovation Business Model Innovation would mean changing the structure of doing business or even changing the billing model. From an hourly billing rate or transaction based billing organizations are now looking at outcome based financial models and sharing the risk and reward with the customer. Services/Markets Innovation would mean targeting entirely new markets based on new or existing offerings. BPOs can also innovate by coming up with entirely a new range of services. For example, many organizations are now talking about platform Platform BPO is about providing Business Processing services using a domain rich vertical or horizontal application (platform). Good examples for Horizontal application would be FA, CRM etc. There are innumerable vertical platforms. Some examples are Mortgage Processing, Collection Management, Insurance Benefits Administration, Policy Administration, Claims Processing and the list goes on. The purpose of the platform is to give credibility to the BPO providers capability. Operations Innovation aims at providing operational excellence with new offerings. Organizations are increasingly investing in analytics to provide the client insights into the way business is conducted and identifying areas of improvement. In one sense, it is akin to consulting services. Other forms of innovation could be in the areas of employee practices and investments in new technology. This is a significant change, which is true also of what is happening in IT and has a remarkable parallel with the transformation and rise of Japan in the post-war period. The transformation first occurs in transiting from cost advantage (wage arbitrage) to quality. Then comes the stage where quality is taken for granted, like hygiene, and clients start demanding innovation as a matter of course. Indian BPO as also IT is here right now and the ability of Indian players to innovate, in which they are still beginners, will determine their future.   A few examples of innovative players to help employee retention Intelenet Global Services, one of the leading BPO companies in India and rated among top-10 by NASSCOM, offering BPO and technology consulting services to clients in various sectors across the globe, has capitalized on its capabilities through employee innovation practices. To eliminate the boredom of the employees and keep them motivated to give their best for continuous value-addition to their clients, it offers its employees three career paths in the form of vertical growth, horizontal growth, and shift to parent company. While 70% of promotions in the organization are internal, only 30% is external. After 2 years of service, if an employee doesnt want to be a team leader (vertical growth), but desires to get into HR or training or other areas, he is allowed to shift diagonally across functions. Moreover, if someone who has worked for 2 years wants to move from nightshift to dayshift, then he is given first preference, subject to a vacancy in the parent company. Intelenet has spon sored offshore domain specialization training programmes for its employees, besides certification programs such as Train the Trainer. It has sent its employees to participate in seminars and conferences of top management institutes and also got them Customer Operations Performance Centre (COPC) certified. Similarly, Prudential Process Management Services (PPMS), the wholly-owned BPO subsidiary of Prudential UK, also offers vertical and lateral growth for its employees, thus enhancing value for its clients as well as employees through employee innovation. eFunds International, a US-based company providing technology solutions in financial risk management and electronic payments, and consultancy services, is creating continuous value for its clients through employee innovation. Whenever an employee joins the organization, he is given a Magic Score Card, which serves as a training passport. eFunds provides its employees training expertise in domain areas and also focuses on leadership skills. Because of its innovation initiatives, eFunds net revenues increased 11% from $532 million in 2003 to $552 million in 2004. Infowavz, another BPO company, offers a 1-year Management Development Program for fresh employees who join the company after completing their MBAs. It also offers an Accelerated Career Development programme for highly motivated and self-driven employees who look for continuous challenges and opportunities to maximize their potential. It has designed a unique Team Innovation programme for top performers who are associated with new projects at the pilot stage or proof-of-concept stage. Infowavz lucidly communicates its career path to employees at the recruitment stage, defining the Key Result Areas, and conducts an exhaustive Training Needs Analysis programme to identify the deficiencies and build employee competencies. There are quite a few BPOs investing on platform technologies to differentiate themselves from competition and also to improve margins. Wipros experience in the outsourcing industry has led to the development of Base, a technology platform that integrates outsourced services with the customers internal business processes and fulfils the following requirements: Flexibility and continuous improvement Control and transparency Complaince Faster time to benefit Accuracy and Quality What it takes to be an innovator A Partnering Attitude. Whats key here is a strong, long-term relationship between the two organizations. Both organizations must discourage adversarial, us-versus-them attitudes. If the provider fails, the client failsand vice versa. This is not about warm, fuzzy feelings; it is about clarifying synergies between the two organizations during the RFP cycle and ensuring alignment of interest just like in joint ventures. The Right Technology Platform. IT should support innovation. The technology platform provider must be able to make new technologies available quickly through the provider. This requires close collaboration between the BPO provider and the technology vendornot just marketing agreements. Also, buyers should select technology vendors with a demonstrated track record in bringing innovations to market over extended periods of time. BPO is long term; it is an innovation marathon, not a sprint. The Appropriate Governance Mechanisms. Buyers must ingrain innovation in their governance. That includes creation of an innovation and technology council with members from both buyer and supplier who meet regularly to review progress, ensure the technology evolves, and check the benchmarks at regular intervals to identify where performance falls behind. And technology evolution must push innovation efficiently, meaning integration is easy because the platform conforms to standards. Buyers can insure their tech platform does this using proactive oversight and agreed-upon standards. Standardized Process Redesign and Related Technology. Buyers need to limit their customization demands whenever they can. If buyers want innovation, the service delivery economics must work for the supplier. Suppliers that make money can afford to bring in innovation. This often becomes tricky because both buyer and supplier have to clearly understand the cost structure of the service delivery. A provider forced to accept a service delivery model that does not harness economies of scale, process optimization, or access to labour arbitrage is never going to be able to innovate, and customers forcing BPO providers to tweak their offerings may inadvertently kill the very root of the economic advantage suppliers are supposed to bring to the table. Better discussions about standardization pains and gains must happen between the client and the provider organization. Absolute top management commitment. No innovation can happen without top management commitment for both human and capital resources. This is very important because when investing in innovation sometimes results are not immediate. The senior management must have the vision and patience to reap the benefits. Conclusion Innovation in the BPO space continues to be a challenge for the following reasons: BPOs are normally under margin pressures and resource commitments for innovation are difficult to make. The SLAs are very stringent and time bound. Moreover daily performance could affect the commercials in a big way. This is because organizations see this as a window to reach out to their customers and a slip here would directly affect their customer satisfaction. Hence contracts are very tight and normally followed to the dot. This leaves very little room for innovation. Running the operations everyday is a struggle in itself People related issues are much higher when compared to the sister industry Information technology. The work hours are odd and the compensation less. This means a good amount of time being spent of motivational issues and coaching and training. Due to all these reasons, innovation in the BPO space continues to be a challenge. But in future as competition stiffens and the line between IT and ITES fades, there is a good chance that the scene gets better, including the organization I was working for.

Lego Testing - Just Another Education Fantasy :: Teaching Education Essays

Lego Testing - Just Another Education Fantasy After years of hearing how standardized testing cheats minorities and the disadvantaged out of the higher education, educationists have come up with a new bag of tricks - Lego building. Johnny can’t read and Mary can’t compute? Not a problem. If they can build a robot out of Legos in 10 minutes, they’re college material under a pilot program being tested by Colorado College and eight other schools – Beloit, Carleton, Grinnell and Macalester colleges and the University of Michigan, University of Delaware, Rutgers and Penn State. The gist is this: Some children who do poorly on standardized tests have other qualities that counselors believe would make them good candidates for success in college. The Lego test and other exercises – public speaking, conflict resolution and personal interviews – are designed to measure those qualities. The Lego exercise works like this: A group of eight to 10 students is given a box of the colored blocks and shown an assembled Lego robot in another room. Each student views the robot individually. Then the group is given 10 minutes to try to reproduce the robot. Evaluators rate students’ performances, awarding a score between one and four. The robot isn’t the end point, apparently. The process is supposed to reveal which of the students emerges as a leader, one of the markers for projected college success. Other markers are perseverance, drive, motivation, adaptability and the ability to work well within a group. Too many exceedingly bright students have emerged from dismal backgrounds to succeed in college to support the thesis that standardized tests are unfair to the socially disadvantaged. Likewise, too many exceedingly advantaged children perform poorly on standardized tests to convince me that financial security predicts academic success. You either can read or you can’t; you either can do math or you can’t. That’s about as simple as it gets. What more likely is true is that minority children who also come from economically depressed neighborhoods tend to receive inferior educations owing to a plethora of problems, not the least of which is the high turnover rate among teachers exhausted by an incompetent education system.

“Solution” Eurasia International: Total Quality Management in the Shipping Industry

CASE STUDY: â€Å"SOLUTION† EURASIA INTERNATIONAL: TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN THE SHIPPING INDUSTRY SYNOPSIS: This Case gives an account of how a ship management company was able to set itself apart from competitors and from its clients’ own in-house technical and crew-management capabilities by embracing a culture of continuous improvement and by implementing Total Quality Management systems. The shipping industry was not alone in having regulation imposed upon it, but its distinctly international nature made ship managers, as cost-cutting practitioners, particularly open to criticism.A ship management company’s very existence hinged upon its ability to convince ship-owners that it would preserve their valuable assets and maximize revenue-earning potential – demonstrating that its collective skills were superior and more cost-effective. As a result, an effective quality assurance system that continuously improved the organization’s human and busin ess systems could enhance efficiency and also have a significant marketing impact. ANALYSIS: 1. With the changes taking place in the shipping industry, what were the ship-owners’ motivations for outsourcing vessel and crew management to third-party ship managers?With the rise in outsourcing arrangements, management structures have become more explicit. In the highly competitive international shipping industry, ship-owners were continually seeking ways to keep their costs down and their business performance ahead of the competition. As a result, ship-owners were taking a serious look at the option of outsourcing crew and technical management functions as a way of lowering costs and keeping pace with industry best practices.By concentrating on the sales and marketing function, ship-owners could hive off operations activities to more suitable providers who were knowledgeable about the regulatory climate and on the cutting edge of ship management (in terms of infrastructure, expe rtise and organizational capabilities). 2. How was Eurasia able to differentiate itself from the competition? Eurasia can be said to have taken a boutique approach within its industry, and to have upheld a relentless commitment to serving its customers’ interests.Since it was inclined to remain a boutique, Eurasia was cautious about pursuing growth but was still willing to take risks in its company philosophy and business model. As a member of the Schulte Group of companies, it was able to offer the advantages of economies of scale, yet was also able to customize its service delivery to suit different customers’ needs. By contrast, many of its larger competitors had gone through mergers and acquisitions to remain economically viable, and thus risked losing their personal touch with the customer.To offer even closer proximity to its clients, Eurasia embarked on a five-year plan to expand its operations, and established a network of regional offices that could operate in the same region and time zone as the customer. 3. What is Total Quality Management (TQM), and why was it an appropriate organizational change mechanism for Eurasia? The term TQM was widely used to describe a focus on the pursuit of quality within an organization. Early discussions of TQM hinged around the Deming Management Method and statistical process control techniques, particularly in connection with manufacturing environments.The works of later TQM experts such as Philip Crosby have been less statistically and technically oriented and more people-oriented. Regardless, TQM is built on core mandates to continually improve systems and processes, and to focus the people and resources of the organization to delivering customer value – as ultimately, value exists only in the eyes of the customer. Broadly speaking, the TQM philosophy is founded on several conceptual principles: * A definition of â€Å"quality† in terms of meeting the customer’s requirements.Anyon e producing work output may be considered a supplier, while any party receiving work inputs constitutes a customer. The customer relationship is held in esteem and a supplier’s responsibility is to understand and meet the customer’s requirements. * Quality is achieved by undertaking the right action the first and every time. * The organization requires a proactive approach to ensure that quality is achieved, thus a system of prevention must be coupled with a reactive system of inspection. * Quality must be continually measured; a measurement framework can determine whether organizational resources are being deployed optimally.Eurasia’s President, Rajaish Bajpaee, recognized that a changing regulatory climate, the global dispersal of his industry and intensifying competition among ship managers meant a robust quality assurance system was needed to keep his organization focused on customer value. With complicating factors on so many fronts – the global dist ribution of labor, variety in the types of vessels under management, maritime regulations, procurement and logistics, risk and liability – encouraging cross-functional collaboration would increase the flow of information, improve problem-solving capabilities and enhance customer focus.The very process of developing such a framework could offer invaluable insights into the organization’s strengths, weaknesses and position within the industry. Moreover, an efficient quality assurance system could be the ship manager’s best defence against criticism, forced compliance and over-regulation. Most new regulation came about as a reaction to perceived deficiencies; by taking a proactive stance, ship managers could endorse appropriate regulations rather than waiting for legislation to be mandated. 4.How was management’s commitment crucial to the success of Eurasia’s TQM effort? This is a tremendous human resource challenge to ensure that people have a certai n set of values, because it is the values which mould perceptions and perceptions mould attitudes. Attitudes mould behaviour; behaviour moulds actions and actions mould results. So if we want consistency†¦a predictable result, then we have to start from the bottom of the chain – that is the values, and if we can get the values right in each one of our floating factory’s staff, then we can expect a predictable result. Rajaish Bajpaee, President & Group Managing Director, Eurasia International) A lack of management involvement is often cited as one of the leading reasons why TQM efforts fail. Management must do more than simply instruct the rest of the organisation to implement quality control mechanisms. The amount of time a senior manager dedicates to quality issues is readily observed by employees and reflects the organisation’s actual priorities.As Eurasia’s President, Rajaish Bajpaee was tasked with the responsibility of adding value to key co nstituencies, and he held the firm belief that customers ultimately determined the organisation’s fate. In leading Eurasia’s TQM effort, Bajpaee was intimately involved in defining the need for change and developing new visions and the frameworks needed to mobilise commitment. Leadership entails the ability to articulate those visions and oversee the process of evolution through which the organisation learns new ways and methods.

Informative Speech: Fire Safety Imagine waking up in the middle of the night

Informative Speech: Fire Safety Imagine waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of a smoke alarm. What is the first thought that goes through your mind? Every year thousands of people die from House fires. I’m here to give you some statistics and some helpful solutions that may save your life. By the end of my speech I hope you will have a better understanding of Fire Safety and things you can do to prevent one in your home. 1. In 2011 Fire Departments responded to 370,000 House fires (NFPA.Org) Of those 370k Fires A. 2590 People died (Not including FF’s) B. 12,910 People were injured C. 7. 2 billion dollars in direct damage D. On Average 7 people died everyday in the U. S E. Nov-March Fires more likely to occur F. 40 percent of house fires occur in homes with no working smoke alarms. 2. Leading cause’s of House fires A. Cooking 5-8 pm B. Heating equipment- Elderly population C. Arson D. Males account for almost double the total cost in damage and fire injuries over women at 4. 8 billion. E.Main two groups of people that are at most risk for causing and being injured by fires. 3. Children A. Children 4 & under a. Children are curious about fire b. Children account for 35k fires per year c. 8k are in homes. B. How to educate Children a. Teach Children that fire is a tool and not a toy b. Teach them not to hide during a fire c. Teach them to go downstairs and not higher (Heat and smoke travel up) d. Teach them Stop Drop and Roll e. Crawl low in smoke f. Teach them how to sleep with the door closed to their bedroom. 4. ElderlyA. Will account for 21 pct of population by 2050. B. Elderly Most prone to Fire. a. Accounting for 25% of all fire related deaths. b. More likely to misuse electrical appliances (Portable heaters, heating blankets) c. More prone to household accidents involving cooking fires, electrical fires and smoking d. Dementia and Alzheimer’s (forgetting to turn of stove or iron) e. 10 pct of elderly are living in p overty, causing them to use candles, space heaters, or even the oven as a heat or light source increasing fire hazards in the home.