Logistic management or supply chain management select one topic only Dissertation

Logistic management or supply chain management select one topic only - Dissertation Example Using case study research method, secondary data will be collected from different literature regarding the selected firms which include text books, journal and news articles. The next section on findings and discussion will analyse the two companies and how and what lean approaches are used to enhance operations in logistics. Finally, all the findings will be summarized and recommendations will be given on research and study. This study analyse the state of two logistic companies and their approach to the lean concept. It was found out that two companies have tried to initiate a number of lean methods’ but still a lot remains to be done. There were significant losses that were covered by the company management in both cases, by effective implementation of lean logistics approach. INTRODUCTION Optimizing a business process is essential to the long term success of the business and its returns. However, this process is complex owing to the diversity of activities, departments, an d varied requirements of each business process, especially the process industries, (Taylor, 2003). This paper conducts a study on the logistics sector companies to analyse their current operations with a lean approach and subsequently suggest improvements to enhance their logistics operations. Research Aim: The purpose of this paper is to study the current state of affairs in the field of lean logistics concepts while giving a brief study upon the theory of constraints which is similar to lean concept of management. Analyse the implication of lean concepts of management on two logistics companies and how have they been able to implement and execute the methods and related technologies. Research objectives To cite the concept of lean theory and theory of constraints with relevant literature To critically review the theory and relate them to practice of the management To recommend for the solutions to enhance logistics operations The paper has been divided into different sections. Sec tion one will refer the relevant literature regarding Lean concepts of management and theory of constraints. Section two will discuss the methodology of research design and techniques used to such implications for the selected firms. Using case study research method, secondary data will be collected from different literature regarding the selected firms which include text books, journal and news articles. Section three would help to analyze the data of the selected firms. Finally, all the findings will be summarized and recommendations will be given on research and study. LITERATURE REVIEW TOC CONCEPT Theory of Constraints (TOC) and Lean concept have become popular in recent years. The objectives of these two are the same – to provide process optimizations and performance improvements. TOC focuses the attention of the management to avoid and eliminate the few present constraints in the system. Lean approach assists managers to improve performances by eliminating all the waste activities. The TOC concepts have proved to be quite profitable by reducing inventories and lead times, and enhancing the operations within a value chain, (Eric, et.al, 1995). Giving a brief about TOC, the TOC views organizations as a source of resources which are actually interlinked with the various activities and processes. TOC further states a constraint as one that has the ability to limit the performance of the system. TOC is of the perspective that in

The Concept of Healthy Lunch Provision Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

The Concept of Healthy Lunch Provision - Essay Example Roundabout sixty-five years ago, a lunch program for the school children American federal was introduced to make them healthy. During the great depression of the 1930s, the concept of the school lunch program was introduced by the provision of a small number of funds through government on the ad hoc basis. But these funds were not enough for each student of every school, and poor students were in need of food due to the stark of world war two. In 1946, a political party Congress take an initial step to pass an Act â€Å"as a measure of national security† by naming it National School Act. It was a guaranteed law for the food provided to the millions of needy school children. The provision of school lunch program by the government of America not only benefited the children but also expanded the range of business communities of agriculture and cafeteria fields on the basis of the subsidized food program. In the start, the program was not as successful due to lack of proper manage ment, but in these days the lunch is totally free of cost for those children whose families have low incomes or belong to poor class (HINMAN). A British TV chef Jamie Oliver stated about the school lunch menus during ABC News interview that, â€Å"Children are getting diabetes, heart disease, and all sorts of diseases that only used to show up in adults, because of the food they are eating. We can influence this in a massive way by improving at least one daily meal, school lunch.† When there was no restriction of lunch commodities by the Government officials, then the school administrations did not care for calorie control strategies and the students were free to whatever they like.

International business Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

International business - Personal Statement Example As an undergraduate student I have been able to get the most out of my academic experience through the boundless knowledge that has been offered to me by my professors, something that should be noted, is not available in the simple purchase of a textbook. The academic lessons offered to me have increased my understanding of the business world and molded my marketing perspectives to views that I consider unique and will play a big role in my career in the future. The next step in my path is the subject of International business, and I would like to continue my personal and academic growth with this respected base of education. I believe that I will be able to get the most out of my learning experiences if I am surrounded by not only what I see as familiar, but progressive surroundings as well. I have a great resolve to succeed in life, and I hold firm in my belief that this institution would be the best means of my doing that. I hope that you will humbly consider my application to continue with my education in your prestigious

The Concept of Healthy Lunch Provision Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

The Concept of Healthy Lunch Provision - Essay Example Roundabout sixty-five years ago, a lunch program for the school children American federal was introduced to make them healthy. During the great depression of the 1930s, the concept of the school lunch program was introduced by the provision of a small number of funds through government on the ad hoc basis. But these funds were not enough for each student of every school, and poor students were in need of food due to the stark of world war two. In 1946, a political party Congress take an initial step to pass an Act â€Å"as a measure of national security† by naming it National School Act. It was a guaranteed law for the food provided to the millions of needy school children. The provision of school lunch program by the government of America not only benefited the children but also expanded the range of business communities of agriculture and cafeteria fields on the basis of the subsidized food program. In the start, the program was not as successful due to lack of proper manage ment, but in these days the lunch is totally free of cost for those children whose families have low incomes or belong to poor class (HINMAN). A British TV chef Jamie Oliver stated about the school lunch menus during ABC News interview that, â€Å"Children are getting diabetes, heart disease, and all sorts of diseases that only used to show up in adults, because of the food they are eating. We can influence this in a massive way by improving at least one daily meal, school lunch.† When there was no restriction of lunch commodities by the Government officials, then the school administrations did not care for calorie control strategies and the students were free to whatever they like.

Facing the Hard Facts of Life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Facing the Hard Facts of Life - Essay Example Born in a well-to-do urban business class family, life had always been a cakewalk for me. A cakewalk, till the day the â€Å"hard facts† of life were thrust on me! I remember having a carefree childhood, cushioned in the warm, caring love of my parents and elder sister. Being the younger child, and a chubby one with dimples to go with my naturally good looks, I was the apple of everyone’s eye. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, seniors, friends, and later girlfriends, everyone simply loved me. Life was just beautiful. In school, I was good in studies, sports and extra curricular activities. Dad’s business was thriving and we were used to the best in life. We lived in a palatial house, went to the best school in town, dined in fine restaurants on weekends with dad’s friends and had a chauffeur driven limousine to drop my sister and me to school every day. Once in a couple of years, we would have a foreign holiday. What more could one ask for in life? At least, that is what I thought when I entered my teens.

Effects of Computerized Cognitive Training

Effects of Computerized Cognitive Training CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION This chapter will discuss†¦ it will also discuss its public health significance†¦ and also report strengths and limitations of the review. 5.1  Summary and discussion of the evidence: 5.1.1  To what extent was the intervention effective? The overall aim of this study was to investigate the effects of computerized cognitive training aimed at improving cognitive function in individuals at a high risk of developing dementia. The ten trials that have been included in this study are spread widely across different countries. They vary enormously even within each subdomain analysed in terms of sample size, intervention characteristics (overall length of duration, number of training sessions and their frequency) and outcome measures used. Participants were assessed on a number of cognitive outcome measures that were unrelated to the trained tasks, this was necessary to show that cognitive improvement was not task specific as suggested by previous studies (Ball et al. 2002). The results from these ten studies suggest that computerized cognitive training is a promising approach for improving cognitive performance in persons with mild cognitive impairment. Participants showed improvements over a wide variety of neurocognitive o utcome measures, such as memory, attention, executive function, working memory, visuospatial ability, general cognition and speed of processing. Among these cognitive domains the most consistent improvements across all studies were observed in visual and verbal memory, attention, and executive function. Improvements in cognitive outcome measures suggests that individuals with MCI, despite cognitive deficit retain significant amount of neuroplasticity (Rosen et al. 2011) which makes them responsive to cognitive training. These findings are consistent with previous studies that demonstrate positive effects of cognitive training on cognitive performance in individuals with MCI (Brum et al. 2009; Ball et al. 2002; Rapp et al. 2002). Previously it has been suggested that training gains are influenced by the frequency and duration of the intervention (Gates et al. 2011), however, findings show no difference in training effects among studies with longer duration of intervention and those with smaller duration (Rozzini et al. 2007). The inability to conduct a meta-analysis due to heterogeneity of diagnostic criteria, intervention characteristics and outcomes measured made it difficult to precisely identify which cognitive domains benefited the most from the training. It has been pointed out several times over the years that unless accompanied by behavioural, psychological or other changes, changes in cognition let alone are not sufficient to justify a cognitive intervention (Woods, 2006). Out of the ten studies included, five studies assessed behavioural, psychological and everyday functional symptoms apart from neurocognitive outcome measures (Gaitan et al. 2013; Gagnon and Belleville, 2012; Finn and McDonald, 2011; Rozzini et al. 2007; Galante et al. 2007). The findings revealed positive effect of the intervention on some aspects of subjective measures of memory. Depressive symptom scores decreased most consistently. This was followed by reduction in anxiety levels. However, no significant improvements were observed in self-reported activities of daily living or everyday functioning memory. This could be explained by the fact that as individuals were carefully screened out in order to meet criteria for MCI, the participants were not impaired in everyday functional abilities and hence, it was difficult to assess the effect of training in terms of transferability to real world outcomes. No changes in well-being were reported. This is in contrast to the findings by Belleville et al. (2006) which reported positive impact of computerized cognitive training on the participant’s feelings of well-being. This can perhaps be explained by the inclusion of pre-training sessions on stress, self-esteem and imagery that were part of the intervention in their study. Despite the importance of quality of life to patients and caregivers, none of the studies measured quality of life. According to Rozzini et al. (2007) although use of cholinesterase inhibitors has also been associated with reduced depressive symptoms, but computerized cognitive training supersedes pharmacological therapy as no negative or adverse effects of training have been found in participants, contrary to adverse effects and high dropout rates reported in drug tri als in MCI (Clare et al. 2003). 5.1.2  To what extent were the effects maintained after the intervention? Four studies included a follow up assessment ranging between 3 months to a period of 12 months (Gaitan et al. 2013; Herrera et al. 2012; Galante et al. 2007; Rozzini et al. 2007) and one study used a longitudinal design (Valdes et al. 2012) to ascertain if the training gains lasted longer, showed stability over time and hence, could possibly contribute to preventing future cognitive decline. General cognitive function remained stable up to 9 months post training (Galante et al. 2007); recognition, attention and recall improvements were maintained at 6 months (Herrera et al. 2012); executive function (Gaitan et al. 2013), episodic memory and abstract reasoning (Rozzini et al. 2007) showed improvement trends at 12 month follow up; and effects on speed of processing were maintained at 5 years after the end of the training programme (Valdes et al. 2012). Two studies showed reduction in behavioural disturbances such as depression and anxiety (Gaitan et al. 2013; Rozzini et al. 2007) at a 12 month follow up. Evidence suggests that computerized cognitive training is at least effective in slowing or delaying the progression of cognitive decline and onset of dementia. Moreover, it also suggests that if computerized cognitive training show cognitive gains, these improvements are likely to be preserved at follow up. In summary, computerized cognitive training justifies Swaab’s (1991) phrase â€Å"use it or lose it† used to explain the relationship between declining neuronal activity and neurodegeneration. Overall, these results show findings similar to a recent meta-analysis by Li et al. (2011) that showed improved overall cognition, domain specific cognitive improvements and positive training effects on follow up in the intervention group after receiving traditional cognitive training. According to literature, computerized cognitive training has shown to be more effective than traditional cognitive training (Kueider et al. 2012), the results from this study suggest that structured computerized cognitive training produce significantly greater benefits in individuals with MCI as compared to those engaged in cognitively stimulating activities only. Evidence reveals that individuals with MCI that were randomized to intervention group showed larger cognitive gains as compared to active control groups. 5.2  Public health Significance: With the elderly population of the world increasing rapidly, the numbers of older adults suffering from dementia are bound to rise. With 1 in 3 people above 65 years developing dementia, the number of individuals with dementia are projected to be as high as 135.46 million in 2050 (Alzheimer’s Disease International, 2013). Dementia has several devastating consequences. The economic impact of dementia globally is quite alarming. This has diverted attention not only towards the treatment of dementia itself but also towards preventive therapies specifically aimed at individuals with MCI. In 2007, the average cost of care for a patient with Alzheimer’s disease in the United Kingdom was estimated to be around  £29,746 (Alzheimer’s Society, 2008). This makes the principles of disease prevention and health promotion particularly relevant to dementia (Geda, Negash and Petersen, 2011). The prevention of a disease involves the identification of groups that are at high ris k; MCI indeed, is a high risk state for dementia particularly of the Alzheimer’s type (Alzheimer’s Disease International, 2013). Individuals with MCI are identified as high risk groups as they are 3 to 5 times more at risk of developing dementia than those without MCI (Alzheimer’s Society, 2014). As findings from this study reveal that many of the cognitive domains retain effects from as low as 6 months up to 5 years post computerized cognitive training and demonstrate delay in the progression of cognitive impairment. This can have positive implications for public health. This is because according to the Alzheimer’s Society (2007) delaying the progression of cognitive decline and hence onset of dementia merely by 5 years would halve the number of deaths that are directly attributable to dementia. It would also reduce the huge economic costs associated with dementia care borne by the carers and the government. In addition, it would also cut down the costs borne by individuals or their carers as computerized approach itself is a cost effective approach as explained earlier. Growing evidence on the positive effects of computerized cognitive makes it a strong candidate to be on the priority agenda for policy making on tackling dementia in coming years. As demonstrated, much evidence in literature exists highlighting the positive impact of cognitive training on cognitive performance. NICE guidelines (2011) recommend the use of structured cognitively stimulating programmes for individuals with mild to moderate dementia irrespective of the drugs prescribed for the treatment of cognitive symptoms of dementia. Results from this study indicating the potential of computerized cognitive training and other relevant evidence in literature advocates that the use of computerised cognitive training for MCI patients can be included in the clinical practice guidelines. However, for that to be practically useful, there needs to be developed a structured computerised cognitive training service which can be commissioned when needed. Such service should identify in particul ar the software to be used, the duration and frequency of training sessions and sequencing of training sessions. Kueider et al. (2012) highlighted that older adults did not need to be tech savvy in order to complete and benefit from the intervention. Moreover, these findings could have positive implications as contrary to the old belief that older adults may not welcome the idea of using technology; research suggests that older adults in many cases are the fastest growing users of computer and internet technology (Wagner et al. 2010). Moreover, as mentioned earlier, computerized cognitive training offer flexible and personalized approach as the difficulty level can be adjusted according to the user’s performance, hence, keeping it engaging and enjoyable for users. 5.3  Strengths and limitations of the study: The review was undertaken after a thorough search of literature available around the research question. To the author’s knowledge this is the only systematic review to-date that has been conducted on this topic and includes up to date evidence. Another strength of this study is the strict inclusion criteria in terms of study design. Only randomised controlled trials were included in the review. Although there were other relevant studies available having other study designs but according to the Cochrane review guidelines (Higgins and Green, 2011), the author decided to limit the final studies to randomised controlled trials. This helped to decrease bias and increase the methodological quality of the overall review. The author intended to synthesize the results from best available evidence. Although efforts were made to ensure a transparent and reproducible review, a number of caveats need to be mentioned that might have influenced the results. 5.3.1  Time frame: The time frame to conduct a systematic review was extremely limited keeping in view that there was only one researcher carrying out the entire procedure. Maximum time was spent searching through different electronic databases and other sources and reading the abstracts of different articles in an attempt to identify relevant studies. There may be a possibility of selection bias as the selection and screening of studies was done solely by one reviewer. However, in order to minimise such bias, the search and screening of articles was done twice. 5.3.2  Methodological limitations: Across the literature on computerised cognitive training common but notable methodological limitations emerge. One of the general limitations of this systematic review was small sample sizes used in majority of the studies. The small sample sizes led to reduced statistical power which may have obscured the detection of potential differences between the groups. Larger groups could have allowed detecting smaller gains in performance. A second limitation was that several studies lacked an adequate active or placebo control group. Failure to include a proper control group may not only have had an impact on the results but also made interpretation of results difficult as attribution of cognitive benefits could have originated from other sources besides computerized cognitive training. These issues impact on the main aim of the study which was assessing how computerized approaches compare with traditional approaches. Only two studies used an active control group indulged in activities similar to traditional cognitive training (Gaitan et al. 2012; Herrera et al. 2012) making it difficult to directly compare both the approaches. The review supports findings from previous studies (Sitzer et al. 2006) that intervention groups show larger effect sizes when compared to waitlist instead of active control conditions. Several studies reported inclusion of participants receiving pharmacological therapy (Cholinesterase Inhibito rs) raising the possibility that the cognitive gains were not because of the training solely but were a result of the synergistic effect between pharmacological therapy and training. An important limitation of this study was the scarce availability of data for individuals with mild cognitive impairment despite the relatively large time span covered. Furthermore, although most studies used the Petersen’s criteria to diagnose and assess individuals with MCI but modifications in the exact application of this definition existed e.g. the use of MMSE- scores one of the included studies used MMSE scores > 24 () while one study used MMSE scores of 23 (). Additionally the heterogeneity of the outcomes measured across studies made cross-comparison difficult but at the same time highlighted the need of developing robust research designs for cognitive training intervention studies. According to the inclusion criteria, only studies that were randomised controlled trials were to be included. This led to the exclusion of many quasi-experimental studies that were related to the research question and that could have contributed to the results (Talassi et al. 2007; Belleville et al. 2006; Cipriani et al. 2006; Tarraga et al. 2006; Schreiber et al. 1999). 5.3.3 Dual vs Single person data extraction: The Cochrane Collaboration (Higgins and Green, 2011) expects each study included in the review to be data extracted by at least two independent researchers who are blind to the study authors and institution from which the study has been published. This however, was not possible owing to the time limitations and practicality of an MSc degree and therefore, data extraction was carried out by a single reviewer. According to Edwards et al. (2002) study screening and data extraction by two or more researchers increases the reliability and accuracy of the systematic review. 5.3.4  Language limitation: The requirement of studies being published in English language led to the exclusion of two studies deemed relevant by their abstract as the body of text was published in German and Spanish (Ott-Chervet et al. 1998; Fernà ¡ndez-Calvo et al. 2011). Summary: This chapter discussed on the results that were generated in the previous chapter. Computerized cognitive training had positive impact on multiple aspects of cognition, including behavioural and psychological symptoms. The effects of training on multiple outcome measures were retained for as less as 6 months to 5 years after the end of the training programme. This showed that the effects of training were not only immediate but also halted cognitive decline. These findings were extremely important from the public health.

Slavery During, In, and After the Civil War Essay -- Slavery Essays

Slavery During, In, and After the Civil War The Civil War was doubly tragic because it was completely unnecessary. Slavery had been ended in other nations with the stroke of a pen, and yet in the mighty United States the country was willing to go to war over the issue of whether slavery should remain. The southerners felt that it was their constitutional right to own slaves and did not see a time when they should be required to give up that right. However, upon the election of Lincoln as President, the southerners felt threatened, and felt their slave holding rights were being threatened, and in an effort to protect these rights they chose to secede from the union. Why would any one person want to own another human being with the same intestines, some of the same feelings yet a different color for their own good . This was quite crazy if you ask me , I feel that the southerners should have felt threatened and that if what they were doing were so right why feel so threatened about doing it.The northerners and Lincoln saw the importance of maintaining a united country, set out to bring back the seceded states. Thus the Civil War began. During the civil war many Americans were either killed or wounded, this number was only surpassed by World War II. While the civil war originally began as a quest to bring the southern states back to the union. However, the goal of the war did soon change to that of abolition. While the war may have seemed necessary to ...