Explain giving examples how Woolworths should go about HR Planning? :: Business and Management Studies

Explain giving examples how Woolworths should go about HR Planning? Human Resource Planning (HR) is the identification of the future labour requirements needed by a company and how these are going to be met. It is the process by which a company ensures that it has the right number and kind of people, in the right places at the right time, doing the things for which they are economically most useful. It is a method for determining future human resource requirements and developing action plans to meet them. It is defined as a strategy for the requisition, utilization, improvement and retention of an enterprise’s human resources and it encompasses the subject concerned with the developing range of manpower policies, including those for recruitment, deployment, development and retention. The use of HR planning is a big issue for any company if they are to have enough staff to meet the future demand that the company may receive. The main issues to do with HR planning at Woolworths is that the company has a high labour turnover with many people moving on to a higher status job and the idea that people do not really want to work for the company which has resulted in large numbers of staff leaving the company. This is mainly due to a large number of the staff being part time students who are looking for temporary employment whilst they are finished their A level or decree courses. The four stages of HR planning that the business will need to consider are: * Stock taking * Forecasting the supply of labour * Forecasting the demand for employees * Implementation and review The first stage of HR planning that Woolworths will need to consider is the use of the Labour stock take. The purpose of the labour stock take is to find out exactly how many staff that the company has available to them after taking into consideration the number of staff that are leaving the company and the quality of the staff available to the company. When using a labour stock take, Woolworths should use a combination of job analysis and performance review, the use of a skills audit will be of little benefit to the business as this method assesses the skills and qualifications of the employee and little qualification is needed to work in the retail area that the business operates in, a combination of the performance review, this involves looking at the performance of all the employees within the organisation in order to identify staff potential and to identify where staff have more training needs. This will enable the business to. The use of the job analysis will enable the business enables the

Performance Management and Performance Appraisal Essay

Evaluating the performance of an employee has become and important task for managers. This way they know were or in what aspects they need to work more to achieve the companies goals. â€Å"Managing employee performance is an integral part of the work that all managers and rating officials perform throughout the year. It is as important as managing financial resources and program outcomes because employee performance, or the lack thereof, has a profound effect on both the financial and program components of any organization.† 1 (US department of the interior) This essay talks about performance management and performance appraisal, the difference between them, and how a successful performance management plan work and their common mistakes. To understand the difference between performance management and performance appraisal first we need to understand the meaning of both concepts. These two terms are usually used while evaluating employee efficiency in an organization. Lets start by learning what performance management is â€Å"Performance management is simply a term used to describe a set of activities that assess whether goals or objectives are being met. These activities include defining work, setting goals, providing feedback and encouraging development. Performance management is about shared responsibility and understanding of roles, expectations and standards† For better understanding about PM is really about the university of Berkeley posted this example in their web-side â€Å"The campus carries out its mission through the individual and collective contributions of its employees. To do their best, staff members need to know that those contributions will be recognized and acknowledged. Performance Management is one of the key processes that, when effectively carried out, helps employees know that their contributions are recognized and acknowledged. Performance management is an ongoing process of communication between a supervisor and an employee that occurs throughout the year, in support of accomplishing the strategic objectives of the organization. The communication process includes clarifying expectations, setting objectives, identifying goals, providing feedback, and evaluating results† 2. (University of Berkeley). The Office of Personnel Management defines performance management as the systematic Process of: 1. Planning work and setting expectations 2. Continually monitoring performance 3. Developing the capacity to perform 4. Periodically rating performance in a summary fashion; and 5. Rewarding good performance Know lets look at the meaning about Performance appraisals it is â€Å"The process by which a manager or consultant (1) examines and evaluates an employee’s work behaviour by comparing it with preset standards, (2) documents the results of the comparison, and (3) uses the results to provide feedback to the employee to show where improvements are needed and why. Performance appraisals are employed to determine who needs what training, and who will be promoted, demoted, retained, or fired† 3 (Business dictionary) A great appraisal needs to be fair, objective, two-way, realistic, clear, on-going and specific. Just by reading the definitions it easy to see that Performance appraisals is just one part of performance management. Although one helps the other there are a few differences that can be noticed: it can be said that performance management is the older and traditional approach. On the other hand performance appraisal is a sort modern method or approach of evaluating the performance of an employee of a firm or an organization. â€Å"Performance appraisal consists in the setting of job standards and evaluation of the past performance†¦.† On the other hand performance management concentrates on managing the performance in state time so that the performance can reach the expected level† 4 (Aaron 2011) Also performance appraisal only focuses on the past performance and its done normally twice a year on the other hand performance management â€Å"is a continuous function in the sense that it is done in an on-going fashion to ensure that the employees discharge their capabilities in such a way that targets are achieved in real-time basis. Hence it is often said that performance management is continuous in purpose whereas performance appraisal is occasional in purpose.† 4 (Aaron 2011) If we start talking about methodology there are a few differences performance appraisal is more of a formal structure while performance Management has a more flexible and casual nature. Know that we know what they mean we can talk more about performance Management. To achieve greater organizational success an organization needs a strong performance management, that process organizations put in to measure and reward the abilities of their workforce to achieve their goals. Improving morale, creating loyalty and increasing overall productivity in your employees through performance management is the key to your company outperforming the competition? Performance management not only ensures that the employees do their job but they do it the right way After reading about performance management I came across a lot of steps to make an effective one, the following are the 5 steps that I agree will make a successful PM plan. 1. Planning your Business workload; set the organizations goals strait where do managers want to take the organization, what tasks need to be done and how. For example â€Å"Have you ever tried to drive somewhere without proper directions? This almost always turns out to be a frustrating experience. Sure, if you stop and ask enough people you may eventually reach your target destination, but think of all the wasted energy, time, and resources needed to accomplish your goal. Let’s take this concept and move it to the realm of managing a business. Does it make sense to expect your employees to reach a goal or strategic objective without providing them a road map of where they are headed? â€Å" (Josh Greenberg 2011) Employees need to be involves in this process, by this they improve the morale, helps managers make sure they are no gaps in the communication process, and gives employees a clear idea of what is expected from them. 2. Monitoring business and individual performance: managers need to watch carefully the work of their employees to make sure it is done on time and the right way and see how well employees are able to function. It is also useful to keep track not only of the tasks already done but also the ones to come. 3. Individual and team performance development; involve employees to keep and upgrade standards, develop new skills, teach new procedures. It may also mean to give new responsibilities to those employees that deserve them, the ones that show they have outgrown their old ones. 4. Rating individual performance; Evaluate the employee performance address in which areas the employee needs to grow but do not forget the ones where he has already excel. It’s telling the employee where he/she is standing. 5. Rewarding great performance; this may seem like the least important but it is actually one of the most important ones, when a manager rewards their employees for their hard work it helps keeping them motivated and happy. When an employee is happy they usually keep performing at a high level (Martin Haworth) In order not to have an unsuccessful performance management, it is important to make sure that the process is well understood; managers and employees need to understand the process and its use. There might even be a training to use the system â€Å"it’s not just using the tool but using it properly.† So develop a good process and make sure everyone’ uses it. The plan must be relevant and â€Å"strategic and be part of the fabric of the organization†¦. Employees need to be able to see how working their plan will make both them and their organization more successful. In order to do that, the plan must link, at least in part, to organizational, departmental and job specific mission and planning. Other elements must enable the success of the individual.† 5 (Erik Britten, 2011) so make the plan meaningful and useful to the employee and the organization. Lets remember that performance management is an everyday activity, â€Å"If plans are developed and aligned properly, employees and managers should be able to link what they are doing almost daily to something in their plan. Managers need to connect those dots frequently in group or individual meetings.† 5 (Erik Britten, 2011) these is why it’s important to make performance management an ongoing activity. Mistake usually happen when something is not a 100% understood so lets remember to use a meaningful and useful plan for the employee and the organization, develop a good process and make sure everybody uses it and not do it twice or tree times a year but everyday, to avoid some mistakes. The biggest error that can happen is that not to manage performance, it is easy to come with excuses not to do so but it is a risky move. The most common excuses are: â€Å"my staff don’t want to be performance managed,† â€Å" not enough time,† â€Å"It’s easier to ignore underperformers and move them on to someone else to manage, † â€Å"It’s not worth the effort and does not pay off.† The list can go on and on but all these are wrong. As we have learned before performance management â€Å"The effective management of performance is a primary managerial responsibility and has significant impact on employee performance and retention.† All employees expect feedback, â€Å"Ignored underperformance rarely goes away and it gets increasingly harder to tackle.† 6 (Government of South Australia) Other errors include improper documentation or preparation. Fix the mistake by being prepare, use your time more effectively. The employee may assume the manager does not know what is going on or that she simply doesn’t care enough to prepare. Not knowing employees, get to know your employees and the quality of their work, managers need to listen, and not expect their employee to know everything and exactly how he wants the task done. Accepting excuses, don’t give a chance of a poor performance in an organization. Find a solution and establish an action plan to avoid the problems in the future. Avoiding the tough issues, It’s hard for an employee to correct their problems without any help. It’s hard to give â€Å"bad† feedback but it is really worth it if not the problems or when the work gets harder it will be all-wrong. There is a saying in my country that says â€Å"el que no habla trabaja doble† It basically says that the one that doesn’t speak or doesn’t address its problems works double. Not following through, â€Å"Most of the time and effort spent in planning for and conducting an effective interview is lost if you don’t follow through with the actions/plans discussed in the evaluation†. 7 (HRN performance solutions) Not giving the proper feedback, â€Å"critical aspects of managing an individual’s performance are daily interactions and feedback. Performance that is not actively managed is nonetheless influenced by default. Failure to provide feedback means employees are unaware of whether their performance is acceptable and valued and can be a major disincentive to stay with the organisation. Furthermore, failure to manage negative performance can have harmful consequences on the morale of the rest of the work team† 6 (Government of South Australia) Listen to employees feedback, do not ignore the employees comments, if the manager does not agree he can tell them why and then they can discuses it, but ignoring a comment can be very damaging, it can even lead to an employee not to participate in meeting or share their ideas. Overemphasizing Good Performance, â€Å"compliments quickly become meaningless if they aren’t specific and substantive. They can also give an employee the false impression that you are completely pleased with everything he does. Be honest and direct.† 7 (HRN performance solutions) â€Å"The Halo Effect, â€Å"Allowing one highly favourable (or unfavourable) employee behaviour or characteristic to affect judgment about the entire appraisal ignores other employee strengths and weaknesses.† 7(HRN performance solutions) Performance Management is a method by which a business Owner can ensure that his or her business is constantly growing and achieving at the level they desire, its important to do it no matter what, it will help achieve the employee and organization goals. With a good plan in performance management creates an engaged and aligned workforce. Without one, your organization could lose more than just time and money – you could lose knowledge, employees and, in the end, your competitive edge. 8 (Josh Greenberg) Sources 1. US Department of the interior â€Å"Performance Appraisal Handbook† 2004 http://www.doi.gov/hrm/guidance/370dm430hndbk.pdf 2. Human Resources at UC Berkeley â€Å"Concepts & Definitions† http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/guides/managing-hr/managing-successfully/performance-management/concepts 3. Business dictionary â€Å"Performance Appraisal† http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/performance-appraisal.html#ixzz1rdm7iVn5 4. Aaron 2011 Difference between Performance Management and Performance Appraisal http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-performance-management-and-vs-performance-appraisal/#ixzz1rdoPSf7O 5. Erik Britten, 2011 â€Å"Performance Management Best Practices: What are your 3 tips for managing employee performance?† http://www.focus.com/questions/performance-management-best-practices-what-are-your-3-tips/ 6. Goverment of South Australia â€Å"Managing People, Managing Performance† page 17 http://www.espi.sa.gov.au/files/Managing_people_Managing_Performance_good_practice_guide.pdf 7. HRN performance Solutions, 2012, â€Å"15 Common Errors Managers Make When Appraising Employees† http://www.hrnonline.com/tryit/AppraisalTips-15CommonErrors.asp 8. The Key to Successful Performance Objectives By Josh Greenberg http://performance-appraisals.org/experts/succobj.htm Other Sources: – Cleland David, Munsey Wallace. 1967 â€Å"Who Works with whom?† Harvard Business Review.page 84 – Goldman, Marshal and Conner Alice, â€Å"Businessmen Appraise East-West Trade†.1966. Harvard Buisness Review page 6 -Barrett Rowena â€Å"Factors affecting Perseptions of workplaces Industrial Relations Climate† International Journal of Emplyment Studies, volumen 3 number 2 october 1995 page 77 – http://www.riverlogic.com/documents/effective_performance_management.pdf – Martin Haworth Performance Management – Five Easy Steps To Success http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/performance-management-five-easy-steps-to-success-204895.html – http://www.focus.com/questions/performance-management-best-practices-what-are-your-3-tips/

How Is Peak Load Staffing, Unit Hour Utilization and System Status Management Used in the Fire Service and Ambulance.

The majority of non EMS/Fire related people believe that the EMS and Fire calls are sporadic. In reality there is a predictable trend where the call volumes are higher and lower. There are 3 concepts that I will discuss further, first, System Status Management. SSM is simply what its name implies, the management of a EMS/Fire system’s resources before and between calls. It is the process of preparing the system for the best possible response to the next EMS or Fire call. Second, the concept is of Unit-Hour Utilization. UHU is an equation to find out what percent of the time a specific unit is being used on a specific day.Third, Peak Load Staffing will be discussed. PLS is a pretty simple topic to understand, For instance, Industrial areas and commercial office building usually have the highest call volume during the 9am-5pm business day when residential areas have a higher call volume after 5pm, lessen at night and start again around 6am the next day. The concept of PLS is to have more resources in the higher call volume times and areas. I work as a Paramedic for the Medical Express Ambulance Service (Medex) where both SSM and PLS are used. First, the concept of System Status Management.Our 2 most northern posts at Medex are Swedish Covenant Hospital (northeastern chicago) and Resurrection Medical Center (northwest chicago). The dispatchers attempt to keep 2 ALS and 3 BLS ambulances around the hospital. However if all of our ambulances out of Swedish Cov. Hospital get dispatched, Our dispatchers will move a few ambulances from Resurrection over to Swedish Cov. to cover the area and decrease overall response times. There have been times where we have not been relocated to either hospital and had to travel more than 30-45 minutes lights and sirens to get to a patient.If SSM had been implemented appropriately, that response time could have been greatly decreased. â€Å"UHU, or unit hour utilization, itself is fairly straightforward. It's calculated by divi ding the number of transports by the number of â€Å"unit hours,† with one unit hour defined as a fully equipped and staffed vehicle in your EMS system. If your system has 10 ambulances around the clock, there are 240 unit hours in a 24-hour period. If those 10 ambulances do 120 transports in 24 hours, you would calculate your system's UHU as follows:120 transports/240 unit hours = . 5 UHU† (http://www. ems1. om/ems-management/articles/1365144-How-to-explain-UHU-from- UFOs-to-your-city-manager/) Back to personal experience at Medex for the implementation of PLS. On average, our Medical calls on the week days are nearly double that of which we get on the weekend. In addition, the number of calls during the day is cut in half at night. On average, I run 6 medical calls per 12 hour shift on a week day, 3 at night and 3 on the weekend. If you look at those numbers, if you were to staff the same amount of ALS and BLS ambulances on the weekend or at night as you did during th e day, the UHU ratio would be extremely low.On average, Medex has around 12 ALS and 24 BLS ambulances on the street during the week. For the weekend, they only have 6 ALS and 10 BLS ambulances on the street. This effectively reduces the running cost for the company but does not strain the line staff. The EMS and Ambulance companies utilize these three concepts quite effectively, however they can also be applied to municipal Fire/Rescue departments. Most people see the Fire Departments as a rigid system, The stations are where you sit. However this does not always cover the most amount of area.For instance, town ABC has 2 fire stations both on the main road in town 5 miles apart. Both have 2 ambulances at each station, If both ambulances at one of the stations go our on a call. One of the towns regions around the station would experience a long ETA for an ambulance. However if one of the 2 ambulances sitting at the other station would go and cover the empty station until a unit clear ed from a call, the ETAs would be greatly reduced. This system is partially implemented with the station coverage neighboring departments participate in.The concept of UHU would be implemented in the Fire service more for evaluation purposes. This can help identify if addition resources are required, which units are near operational limits and which units are not utilized to their potential. Finally PLS is a topic which is not often used in the Fire service. This if properly implemented can reduce line staff strain, more adequately cover the areas required and save money. For instance, a town like Rosemont is primarily commercial business that are open 9-5 with very little residence on off hours and weekends. The majority of their Fires are 9-5 weekdays.To have more staff on duty during those hours would simply make more sense and save the town money. The Ambulance services have less complications than the Fire services does implementing the above concepts. The Fire service provides a larger spectrum of services and has many different apparatus for different uses. In the ambulance service they only have ALS and BLS ambulances which can sometimes work for eachother. For instance, a ALS ambulance can run a BLS call easily. However in the Fire service, a ALS ambulance cannot have the firefighting capabilities of a Truck or Engine crew.In addition, Ambulance companies have a plethora of resources that they can call on, to get another ambulance on the street is easy as calling a few people in since they have many spare ambulance that can be deployed if needed. The largest problem with the Firefighting side of this concept being implemented is that fires, sizes and resources needed truly is a sporadic event. Yes you can predict in the winter there will be more fires but the resources needed to combat a fire cannot be predicted as accurately.The UHU is extremely variable as is the ability to effectively implement PLS on Fire Apparatus. For the 4th of july scenario sh ows the utilization of Peak Load Staffing by having more resources on duty for events and days shown to require more resources. City XYZ FD is using System Status Management to cover the high call volume areas between the hours required. The final example uses Unit Hour Utilization to most effectively distribute the resources. The three above concepts of properly applied to the fire service can greatly reduce strain on the staff and running costs.

Can We Hide from Failure

Can We Really Hide From Failure? Does success and failure go hand in hand? Success gives people satisfaction and delight, where failure can discourage and exhaust them. But what people can tend to forget is that in life, everyone comes across failure every once in a while. What everyone should remember is that no one is perfect and they should not lose hope and give up. Winston Churchill once said â€Å"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts† (Winston Churchill) Humans have always been imperfect, so we often tend to stumble every now and then.Life tests everyone. Failures are more memorable, but they can be helpful in many different ways. They are our best teachers and give us the most growth. Every time one fails they can learn some type of lesson. When people learn to investigate the reason behind their failures, they can attempt to change the outcome the next time to protect themselves against making the same mistake. Success c an mislead many into negative paths. It can make them become less enthusiastic, uncreative, make them conceited and sometimes arrogant. It can even make people forget who they are.If they become too proud of their accomplishment, it can allow for some to forget their selves. On the other side many can learn from ones success. If people learned to study the success of others, they could learn a lot about themselves. Present day society learns a lot from other people’s failures, and society needs to consider more that failure can be the best lesson. No one should be fearful of failure. People are able to learn the most about themselves when they have failed, so in turn, people should never be afraid to fail. Failure is a large part of becoming successful.Many people are so afraid to fail that they fail to even try. The experiences that man receives through failure each time makes their future success lasting and enjoyable. If everyone gave up on trying as soon as they came acro ss failure, they would feel defeated all through life, even when they possess the courage to reach the goal. In each failure on can discover hidden intelligence. Each failure gives more experience and knowledge than the last. People need to learn how to avoid giving failure attention to be careless or disorganized of the person’s responsibility.If people learn to be equipped with the experience of failure and use courage to continue on, success will be theirs. â€Å"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently† (Henry Ford). Man should not need to feel flustered if failed. People are beginning to hear and read about adults wanting to protect children/students from the trauma and the experience of failure. Things they hear are about removing exams in the school system, or if exams are being presented; for them to not be marked as zero’s or even with â€Å"fail†. Of course they have also heard about the sporting events.Tryi ng to avoid the winning and losing aspects, and instead favoring the enjoyment of just playing the game. This is occurring because people are worried for the fragile nature of their self-worth, and being protected against the early bumps in the road. This fails to represent the reality of their lives, the reality that children/students will be involved in as adults and the reality that they will be expected to function within. What good is this movement doing to this generation? By doing engaging the removal of failure we will not be prepared to deal with the reality that we see out in the world every day.Failure allows man to take in the positive learning experience. Failure teaches people many character building life lessons. Only those that try and fail can physically and mentally understand the difficulties and disappointment of others who have misfortune and lack of success. Without empathy and compassion this world would be a lot more miserable. Man’s ability as an indi vidual expresses compassion for others will have increased by experiencing failure themselves. As man grows they learn to be patient when their plans go astray and are forced to gather themselves up and start over.These challenges are difficult to overcome in one easy try. When plans don’t go as accordingly, they should patiently try again and again until they achieve success. If man were experiencing nothing but success, might they potentially walk around all high and mighty? Failure also allows them to be humble, to take nothing for granted. When man witness another experiencing failure, they are more than able to help and support the individual while in the rut of failure. There is no one more exquisite then a humble successful person. One of the more positive side effects of failure is acquiring the virtue of perseverance.Every accomplishment man achieves in life is by trying and failing and then trying again to accomplish success. Determination leads to perseverance whic h culminates all man’s efforts into achievement. If we give up early, we may never experience success. The only way to overcome failure is to never give up. Many people have probably experienced failure at one time or another. They all have their own definitions of failure, simply because they have different standards, values, and beliefs. A failure for one person can simply be a learning experience for someone else. The fear of failing can be damaging.Many people are afraid of failing, most of the time. It can cause them to do nothing, and therefore resist moving forward. But when they allow fear to stop their forward progress in life, they are likely to miss some great opportunities, and achievements along the way. Man can choose to see failure as the end of the world, or look at failure as the incredible learning experience that it often is. Every time man fails at something, they can choose to acknowledge the lesson they are meant to learn. These lessons are how man grows as a person, and how they keep from making the same mistake again. Failure will only stop man if they let it.

Memory †The mysterious phenomenon

Memory, a phenomenon which has been bewildering scientists and philosophers is san entity that needs to be analyzed very carefully for finding out the truth behind it. Going deep in to the subject, memory comes under a prominent branch of neuroscience called the cognitive neuroscience. The basic factors that lead to the phenomenon of memory are reception of information, processing, storage and recollection. There are various factors that affect each of these processes. Based on this memory is broadly classified in to three heads. They are: 1) long-term memory 2) short-term memory and 3) sensory memory Long-term memory Long term memory refers to those memories that are stored in the brain for a considerably prolonged period of time with out any loss. Here when an idea is stored in long-term memory, the information is stored in a semantically encoded format. As a result of this it is easier for us to remember a telephone number by virtue of repeating the same but it is difficult to memorize a random ten digit number. For the later case the encoding format is acoustic and hence the information is stored in short-term memory. Baddeley, the great researcher on human memory has found out that when given a test to recollect words uttered was given to a group of respondents the result was that people failed to recall words with same meanings like small, tiny, minute etc.. Short-term memory This is a much more volatile memory that stores information just for a period of several seconds to few minutes with out memorizing it by heart. George A. Miller, held various demonstrations and the conclusion was that the storage capacity of short -term memory was just 7  ± 2 entities (he presented a paper entitled â€Å"The magical number 7 ±2†). In the present day the projected capability of short-term memory is still less. But hen the same group of words or letters, for an example is presented in different order, greater are the chances for recollecting it. For example it is difficult to recollect the string FBIUNOASDFUS But when the same string is presented as below, greater chances re there for anyone to recollect it FBI UNO ASDF US. In the first combination of letters the information was lying stray with no order to memorise, whereas in the second one, they have an opportunity to memorise it as bits which could be identified to something that they know. Short-term memory relies on the phonemes and the acoustic symbols for retaining information. Visual codes are rarely converted to short-term memory. Conrad a renowned researcher on human memory found out that the subjects of his experiments had difficulty in identifying and recollecting acoustically confusing phonemes and words like he, ghee, bee, see, etc.. Sensory memory This kind of memory refers to the memory that is retained in the receivers mind for about 200 to 500 milliseconds, once the information is acquired. Hence this is highly volatile and short-life memory. Sensory Memory can be identified as the ability to identify the specific features of an item, let it be a sound or an object by virtue of an observation of the same for a fraction of a second. George Sperling is the pioneer to conduct experiments on Sensory Memory. Respondents were provided with a set of 12 letters, which were made into 3 rows of four each. After completing a small introduction, the candidates were then made to hear either a high, medium or low pitch tone, providing them info regarding which of the rows to report. On the base of this experiments, Sperling demonstrated that the range of sensory memory was about 12 items, but also found that it degenerated at a much more faster pace (it only had the life span of a few milliseconds and hence highly momentary). The main negative part of this kind of memory is that any sort of rehearsals do no not enhance the longevity. What is memory? Present day neuroscience and scientists are with the stream of thought that memory is a group of neural connections which are encoded so as to retrieve for future references. This sort of memory encoding may happen in different parts of the brain. Thus, a network of neural communication is likely to link various parts of the brain. The strength of the memory depends up on the strength of the neural connections. Recollection or calling back of any bit of memory can happen whenever a positive stimulus that trigger the particular part of the networked neural connections. As a result of this, when a part of the brain gets damaged, the neural network present there and obviously the memories associated with the particular neural connections is lost for ever. Why do we forget things? Forgetting can better be explained as an inability to keep memories secure. This is a condition when ideas and images perceived are either lost in full or part. The reasons for forgetting are many. The prominent factors that lead to forgetting include. 1. Poor encoding (this is why we forget dreams that we see while asleep. Encoding refers to converting the sounds, visuals, taste, smell tc. To corresponding chemical / neurological codes); 2. Unavailability of a retrieval mechanism (if there is no proper stimuli to trigger the memory, the information remains dormant); 3. Time factor : when a recent incident happens, the older data are sometimes wiped off from memory (We tend to forget exact dates of our vehicle insurance, when you have some 5 cars and 4 cruisers! ); 4. Continuous similar experiences (You may have memories of the first instance when you visited London, but if you fly London Every year, you many not remember when you landed for the fifth time! ) The Chemistry of memory! The human brain is a highly complicated organ with more than 20 billion nerve cells (neurons), about 150 trillion nerve connecters or synapses; an average of 7500 synapses per neuron within the brain, anyway, some neurons may have as many as 900,000 as well. Due to repair and safety from glial cells that protects the neurons, some nerve cells will be alive till the organism cease to live, however, it is calculated that about 85,000 neurons wear out everyday in the brain. The most prominent doubt regarding memory is the place / location where it is being stored. It was in 1960’s that the theory of Long-Term Potentiation (L. T. P) and it counter theory called opposite Long Term Depression came in to existence as molecularmemory postulates. Long-term potentiation refers to the reinforcement of neuron relations through elevating synaptic ion movements. In all connections of neurons there exists a synapse through which chemical neurotransmitters moves unhindered from the axonates and axons of the transmitting cell to the dendrites of the corresponding receiver cell. Neuro-transmitters like acetylcholine, gamma-aminobutyric acid, glutamate, serotonin, norepinephrine function in free flow of complex electrical signals between nerve cells, muscle cells and sensory cells. Where as in the mean time, inside the cell, the protein pumps located in the cell membrane and channels frequently retains a constantresting potential of – 70 m V by virtue of moving sodium cations on the outer part of the cell against a specific gradient. Presence of neurotransmitter into a receiver neuron located in the membrane part of a post-synaptic dendrite triggers and starts de-polarization of the specific membrane by the influence of calcium and sodium ions, this again results in the building of voltage-gated sodium and calcium channels to unlock, permitting rapid flow of calcium and sodium ions, this is then followed by the inflow of potassium ions . as a result of this ion flow, depolarization happens once again to + 40 m V. As a result of this continuous process, â€Å"action potential† rapidly happens in the cell membrane to the axon , axonates and the pre-synaptic cleft, thus repeating this each and every time the signal reaches a neuron. Once the action potential has completed, the voltage gated channels close by themselves, and the potassium and sodium pumps makes the cell membrane to return to their original potential. All these happens in milliseconds, thus permitting multiple contradictory signals in swift momentum.. Memory Disorders The branch of Human psychology and neurology is the basis for the diagnosis and treatment of many of the known memory disorders. In general the loss or degeneration of memory is termed as amnesia. Amnesia is of different categories. Analysing it can reveal the various forms of it and helps in the proper treatment as well. Many neuron related conditions like Alzheimer's disease may also result in full or partial memory loss. Hyperthymesia, also called hyperthymesic syndrome, is a serious memory disorder which has adverse effect on retention of personal memory. Some sort of memory loss can be symptom of hypothyroidism a severe medical condition. Increasing oxygen supply to the brain, is considered as one among the foremost techniques to improve memory. This can be achieved by doing exercises like swimming, bicycle riding, gymnastics etc.. Tips to improve memory Many factors to improve memory was furnished by the report published by ‘The International Longevity Center’ in the year 2001 (pages 14-16) The study recommends to stick to the following to improve memory stay intellectually active through learning, training or reading, keep physically active so as to make blood circulation in the brain more active, socialize, reduce stress to the maximum possible extend, observe regular sleep timings, avoid depression or emotional strain and good nutrition.

The Nature of International Politics

The Nature of International Politics The first principle that Thucydides addresses regarding the nature of international politics calls into question the conclusive goals that each individual entity in the world of international relations deems most important. Thucydides states that a country or state’s ultimate goal is to gain power and ruling over other nations. He illustrates this best in The Melian Dialogue through the actions of the war-loving Athenians.In their effort to maintain their stance of power against their rival Spartans, they travel to the island of Melos with the goal of conquering the Melians; either through force or through the Melian surrender. The people of Melos wish to remain neutral friends of both Sparta and Athens, but the Athenians will not hear of it. In their eyes, staying on friendly terms with a neutral country would be construed as a sign of weakness and fear. The Melians refuse to surrender, resulting in the ultimate destruction of their societ y while the Athenians gain further rule and power for their empire.However, I believe that this principle need not to always hold true, especially in the terms of war through diplomatic countries such as the United States of America. The United States has always held its principles in the effort to spread democracy and morality in the international realm. In The Fog of War, John F. Kennedy disproves Thucydides first principle. In the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the last thing Kennedy and his Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, wanted to do was to attack Cuba or go to war with the Soviet Union to gain power or ruling in any sense.They wanted to deal with the frightening presence of the Soviet Union’s extensive nuclear warheads on Cuban soil in the most diplomatic way possible in order to avoid nuclear war. While this was best for the self-interest of the American people, it was also for the benefit for the citizens of Cuba and the USSR, as nuclear war destroys nation s. Thankfully JFK had the help of a man named Tommy Thompson on his team who personally knew the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Thompson urged Kennedy to go forward with negotiations with Khrushchev in order to end the Cuban Missile Crisis peacefully.Luckily, it worked. Kennedy and Khrushchev reached an agreement that the Soviet Union would dismantle the weapons as long as the United States would not invade Cuba. Through the peaceful, yet stressful, negotiations, both JFK and Khrushchev went against the international principle that countries only aim to rule and conquer, and instead in the arms of a rational governing body most often the countries own self-interest for safety overrules the desire to prove their power over other countries.Thucydides’ second principle of international politics relates to the idea that between a world of expansive cultures and beliefs, there is no international moral code for war and relations between states. In the Melian Dialogue, Thucydide s exemplifies this idea through the war practices that the Athenians practiced in regards to the Melian people. While some may argue that their initial attempt to discuss the impending attack while offering the option of surrender was â€Å"humane†, the brutal force they eventually brought upon the Island of Melos outweighed their weak attempts in the beginning.Once the Melian people surrendered, the Athenians put all men of military age to death and sold the women and children as slaves. The Athenians practiced the â€Å"might makes right† way of thinking about morality: that those who hold the most power also hold the ability to decide what actions are appropriate where they deem fit. In this case, they were the mighty ones. Their forceful actions toward the Melians were justifiable in their eyes, but across cultures such actions could easily be deemed excessive and radical.Therein lies Thucydides’ argument that there is no such moral code that every nation ca n be held accountable to. In The Fog of War, Robert McNamara is horrified with such a truth, and wonders aloud â€Å"What is morally appropriate in a wartime environment? † He illustrates his question by describing â€Å"Agent Orange†, a chemical that was approved for usage during the Vietnam War while he was acting Secretary of Defense. â€Å"Agent Orange† is a chemical that was often used to take the leaves off of trees, and after the war was discovered to be highly toxic and lethal.The usage of â€Å"Agent Orange† killed numerous citizens and soldiers who were exposed. He continues to ask whether those who issued the approval of â€Å"Agent Orange† criminals? Within the definition of the word ‘criminal’ is the assumption that there is a crime being broken that is made illegal by a system of written laws. But McNamara points out that there are no such kinds of laws in war to determine what is acceptable and what is not and ultimately there is no such thing as an international moral code that can be upheld, especially in the times of war.While there exists no international moral standard, does that mean that no state can be trusted? Thucydides’ third principle of international politics would answer â€Å"yes†. He believes that in the sense of self-interest, one state cannot rely upon alliances and only those alliances that are in line with national honor should be upheld. This principle is evident in the Melian Dialogue when the Melian people state their hope and belief in the Spartan people coming to their aid in the prospect of attack from the Athenians.They believe that if not solely for the Spartan’s will to preserve their neighboring allies (that will surely take note if they don’t come to aid Melos), then for the kinship of the Melian and Spartan race. Ultimately, the people of Melos are proven to have had too much hope in the Spartans, as no one comes to their aid. However, muc h like in the throes of friendship where not all can be trusted, surely some friends and allies can. The Fog of War displays a twisted sense of camaraderie between the USSR and Cuba, a bond that was forged in the joint disparage toward the United States.Their alliance built and housed nuclear weapons on Cuban soil, weapons that had the ability to destroy most of the continental United States. Once the American Government took hold of the dangerous situation and offered negotiations to the USSR in the hopes of avoiding destructive warfare, Nikita Khrushchev had a decision to make†¦and he had two major options. He could ignore the offer of diplomatic problem solving and strike the United States with the nuclear weapons or he could agree to the negotiations JFK brought to the table.On the one hand, attacking the United States guaranteed a responsive strike from the US that would undoubtedly destroy Cuba and kill thousands (not to mention create real problems between the USSR and t he US). And on the other, he could agree to take out the weapons in return for the promise that the US would not attack Cuba. He could be known as the man who saved Cuba from an attack by the United States and could gain national respect for upholding USSR honor and morality.Despite the disturbing urgings from war-mongering Fidel Castro, Khrushchev decided to agree to negotiations. While his actions may have been solely done for self-interest and preservation of the USSR’s teetering relationship with the US, he ultimately had the interest of the people of Cuba in mind even when their own President did not. This act by Khrushchev, despite the reasons behind it, upheld the ideals of alliances: that one nation must be reliable and ready in the ability to protect the people and rights of the ally nation.

To carry out study of Wireless Sensor Network in comparison three Essay

To carry out study of Wireless Sensor Network in comparison three different companies - Essay Example The first company I have chosen is the Petro-Chinas Xinjiang Dushanzi Petrochemical Company manages one of the major petrochemical schemes in China. The current plant will process sulfur-containing rudimentary oil supplied in the course of pipeline from Kazakhstan. This plant has the capacity to sanitize 10 million tons of oil and generate 1.2 million tons of ethylene for each year. This plant has installed the Wireless Sensor Network for several working purposes. For instance fixed gas recognition systems comprise a number of sensor heads that are linked to a programmable logic controller and power lines in the course of an explosion-proof stream. They have adopted the RAE Systems that is a foremost universal supplier of swiftly deployable sensor networks that assist consumers to distinguish security and safety threats in real time. Products contain multi-sensor chemical recognition, wireless gas projection, radiation and digital video inspection networks for homeland safety and man ufacturing applications. It also provides cost effectual way out to lots of industrial works. The application of Wireless Sensor Network provides numerous advantages to the Petro-China. Their average production is better than the average production capability of the Petro-China. The safety and security standards have enhanced. The user friendly wireless interface has facilitated the workers to handle and work more easily. The second company I have selected is the Pemex Gas Petroquimica Basica or PGPB that is the division of the Mexican National Oil and Gas Company that is in charge of exploration and sanitization the gas and fundamental petrochemicals all over the country. PGPB has economically managed its huge network of pipelines with a control centre situated in Mexico City and has a big section of the pipeline incorporated into their