Operating system with inputs, transformation process and outputs Essay

The operating system that I have chosen is a particular service operation: the realisation of a music concert. As every other organisation that produce goods or services, it has a precise operating system, composed by a range of inputs, a transformation process and a final output. INPUTS – We must distinguish between two different kind of resources: transformed resources, that are the resources treated and transformed in some way, and transforming resources, that are the resources that act upon the transformed resources. The transformed resources are usually materials, information and customers; very often one of these is dominant. A concert, like many other service operation, is predominantly a customer processing operation. The main task of the musicians, and therefore also of the organisers, is to process audience in a way in which satisfies their public, maximising their enjoyment. There is of course a very high contact between audience and operation; in fact a concert is a typical example of an operation in which satisfaction is measured by customers perceptions, that are subjective. That means that is quite difficult to measure and control them. So, for example, the administrators of a music hall, following the music market sales, should try to have as a guest only the most successful musicians of the moment. The other transformed resources, together with audience, is the building converted or arranged for the concert. It can be a music hall, a stadium, an indoor stadium or merely an open park, in any case it goes through a complete transformation of its appearance and its utilisation. As regards the transforming resources, there are two different types: facilities and staff. Facilities are all the materials used to prepare the building for the concert. Depending on the location of it, they can have some differences, but surely there must be a stage, a checkpoint, lights and all musical and technological equipment (instruments, cables, microphones, mixer, etc.). Then, not always, there could be seats, banisters, changing room, toilets,  bars, and checkrooms. Staff are all the people in the operation, at any level, who carry out the concert. The most important are obviously the musicians: if music concert is the product, the skills of musicians are the human capital of the entire process. But besides them a music concert needs also technicians, stage assemblers, security guards and box-office attendants. TRANSFORMATION PROCESS – The transformation process is the music played for the audience, the concert itself, together with all other aspects of exhibition. The whole process usually does not cover more than one day. We can say that this kind of customer-processing operation is concerned with transforming the psychological state of the audience, which is typical for most entertainment services, such as theatre, television and radio. OUTPUTS – The output of a music concert is first of all the entertained audience, but we cannot forget to mention the importance of having guaranteed security for all the people inside the building. The general characteristics of these outputs are the same that distinguish outputs of every organisation that produces services from outputs of organisation that produce goods: not tangible, non-storable, untransportable and simultaneous (in other words produced and consumed at the same time). Just the exact opposite of a normal good. Another difference between goods and services, as said before, is that the quality of goods is reasonably evident, it is measurable. But in a concert it is a little bit more complicate. The customer is inside the operation, he judges not only the outcome of the service (the music), but also the aspects of the way in which it was produced (all the rest of the scene). The input-transformation-output model can also be used within operations. All operations are made up for several units or departments, witch themselves act as smaller versions of the whole operation, with their own resources and their own outputs. So any operation can be considered as a hierarchy of operations. This is more true for greater manufacturing operation than the  ours, but also inside a music concert we can distinguish some different micro operations, as stage operations, location for audience, performance realisation.

Animal Testing Research Paper

Abstract With animal testing, the killing and harming innocent animals, being around for centuries with little change, will exploiting the facts that the public does not know about, help put an end to all the product and medication testing on animals? Introduction Animal testing has been around for centuries, when it really should be one of those â€Å"cruel memories† of things we have done in the past, but will not let in happen again in the future. Rats, Mice, Rabbits, and a whole slew of other animals are forced to endure massive quantities of testing substances or endure pain by having harmful chemicals applied to their bodies, even though the testing may have nothing to do with anything relatable for human use. My purpose for this subject is to let people think twice about buying a product, or hopefully helping put this inhuman testing to an end. When did animal testing originate? The history of animal testing goes back to the writings of the Greeks in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. Aristotle (384-322 BC) and Erasistratus (304-250 BC) were among the first group of people to perform experiments on living animals. A physician in 2nd-century Rome, dissected pigs and goats and is known as the â€Å"father of vivisection†, when his real name is Galen. Avenzoar, whom is also a physician but of Arabic, also practiced dissection in 12th-century Moorish Spain, and introduced animal testing as an acceptable experimental method of testing surgical procedures before applying them to human patients. (Cohen Loew, 2013) What is animal testing? Animal testing, a phrase that most people unsure of exactly what is involved but have heard it before. There are many names, animal testing, animal experimentation or animal research, it all refers to the experimentation carried out on animals. Its main purpose in why it is used, is to assess the safety and effectiveness of everything from medication to cosmetics. We also use it to help find a better understanding of how the human body works. Supporters believe it is a necessary practice and obliteration to animals for our bettering and the deaths of the animals are well worth the cause. Then there are those opposed to animal testing because they believe it involves the torture and suffering of innocent animals (Ian Murnaghan BSc (hons), 2011) Who does animal testing affect? Animal testing affects everyone in the modern world today. It is primarily used to help save lives. The testing is performed so that there is a better understanding of what reactions drugs may have, so that we can figure out which drugs help which diseases, as well as observe how certain drugs affect conditions such as pregnancy and other side effects they may cause like cancer. Another part of animal testing is to help promote a product or to understand the effects of those products and the percentile of which those effects may cause. This might include testing makeup, lotions, or food products. Animal testing main support is from those people that believe the animals in our world today, are a close link to humans, and therefore allow them to be tested to see what effects drugs, products, or foods have on our society. A second opinion humans have, is that animal testing is a cruel and inhumane, torturous act, and should not be done to anyone or anything, no matter what the benefit might be to the human species (Contributor, 2012). Animal Testing Funds The United States government spends up to the sum of $14. 5 billion in a year in any research involving experimentation on animals. These experiments will often lead to death or unwarranted consequences for the animals involved. Some projects are funded for decades by the siphoning of the US taxpayers dollars and resulting in cruel treatment and deaths of an unfathomable number of animals. About 47% of research grants have an animal research-based component according to NIH, National Institutes of Health, and documents. The number has been very consistent over the last decade (Newcomer, 2013). Where do companies get money for testing? Many companies today get their funding for research from the NIH. Other companies also receiving money from the NIH are numerous colleges around the U. S. A. whom are primarily receiving grants to experiment on animals. The NIH is a biomedical research facility located in Bethesda, Maryland. They are part of the United States department of Health and Human Services. These agencies are primarily used to do biomedical and health-related research. NIH uses the Intramural Research Program to conducts scientific research through. 80% of the NIH funding, is used as research grants to outside researchers. They give approximately 500,000 grants to an approximate 325,000 researchers that consists of more than 3000 institutions. In 2010 alone, NIH spent around $10. 7 billion on just clinical research. On top of that, they also spent $7. 4 billion on genetics-related research, $6. 0 billion on prevention research, $5. 8 billion on cancer research, and $5. 7 billion on biotechnology research which almost all include the torture of other species on Earth (Health, 2013). How much does it cost? Each year in the United States, there are approximately 100 million animals that are tormented and killed in experiments conducted to better humans. Much of this cruelty is highly supported by the National Institutes of Health, and the United State government, since the NIH is a department of the government. The NIH allocates a minimum of 40% of its annual research budget just towards animal experimentation. Based on the NIH’s 2010 budget, this accounts for more the $16 billion in US taxpayer money alone (PETA, 2013). Substitutes for Animal Testing There are nearly 50 different alternative methods and testing strategies that have been developed, validated and/or accepted by international regulatory authorities. These non-animal methods usually take less time to complete then using the crude, archaic methods animal testing that they meant to replace. In addition, these methods cost only a fraction of what animal experiments burn through, cash wise, and are not affected by a species differences from humans that make applying test results to humans difficult or impossible (PETA, Alternatives to Animal Testin, 2013). Corrositex Testing Corrositex is a non-animal alternative toxicology test. Although this is not a classical â€Å"in vitro† style test, Corrositex uses a synthetic membrane-based detection system to determine the UN packing group classification of chemicals, consumer products, or other hazardous materials. The results, expressed as a break-through time, correlate well with rabbit dermal corrosively tests. In the Corrositex testing system, a glass vial filled with a chemical detection fluid and is capped by a proprietary bio-barrier membrane. This membrane is designed to mimic the effect of corrosives on living skin. Corrositex measures the time required for a test article to pass through a hydrated collagen matrix and supporting filter membrane (Corrositex, 2010). Technological Advancements The NIH has recognized that animal models do not always accurately predict a drug efficacy in people, and they are starting to support the generation of more reliable and predictive models. The use of different human cell types, in series of combinations, will help generate micro-sized physiological systems which can â€Å"talk to each other† and better address the biological complexities of whole living organisms. This â€Å"human body chip† technology would start to allow scientists to look for specific profiles in cells and would help identify human safe compounds to allow testing on people. This technology represents significant advantages over animal models because it relies on human cells which is more like what they are going to be applied to then the use of a completely different species, and is more likely to be predictive of what happens in people in the product or drugs current form (Society, n. d. ). What happens during testing? The government describes an animal experiment as a â€Å"procedure† that is ‘likely to cause pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm. ’ Many experiments cause extreme suffering, often to the point of the animal’s death. Even when they are not being experimented on, animals suffer stress in laboratories where they are typically kept in barren containers or kennels, often in solitary confinement. After the animals have been used in experiments, they are usually killed to prevent being released and causing an evolutionary process in the wild that was created in the lab (Aid, 2013). Killings Injuries According the U. S. Department of Agriculture, in 2006 there were about 670,000 animals that were used in procedures which did not include more than a momentary pain or distress. About 420,000 were used in procedures in which pain or distress was relieved by anesthesia, while there were 84,000 which were used in studies that would cause pain or distress that would not be relieved. In the UK, research projects are classified as mild, moderate, and substantial which is measured in terms of the suffering that they, the researchers conducting the study, say they may cause. There is also a fourth category of â€Å"unclassified†, which means the animal was anesthetized and killed without recovering consciousness, according to researchers (Ryder, 2013). Subjected to horrible unsafe procedures Research reveals that only 5% to 25% of the animal tests and human results are agreeable! Most of the drugs passed by animal tests are discarded due to the fact that they are useless to humans. The conditions under which the animals are subjected to these human experimentations, have caused tumors in rodents, while the animal test results were declared to be of little relevance for humans! The only explanation being offered for this declaration, is the mere fact that there are anatomical and physiological differences between animals and humans. It is important to note that even though animals are almost always used in cancer research, they never get the human form of cancer which also affects membranes like the lungs. With all that research being done that only yield maybe 5% success, almost 9% of the anesthetized animals in the laboratory die. These animals have a better chance of dying then actually helping us develop something successful. Most medical experts agree that data from animal test cannot be extrapolated safely to human patients without any altercations to the drugs (Buzzle, 2013). Companies using and not using animal testing There are a lot of companies that test on animals that we buy from every day. Some of these companies are 3M, Air Wick, Almay, Band-Aid, Blue Buffalo, Febreze, and the list goes on. There are some companies though that do not test on animals such as Abercrombie Fitch, Absolute Green, Aloe Vera of America, and more. It seems like all the companies we know and buy from use some form of animal testing for their product, and yet there are others companies that we have not have hardly heard of, don’t test on animals. Companies use the warning labels saying â€Å"animal tested† Animal testing by manufacturers seeking to market new products may be used to establish product safety. In some cases, after considering available alternatives, companies determine that animal testing is necessary to assure the safety of their product or ingredient. FDA supports and adheres the provisions of applicable laws regulations, and policies the governing animal testing. FDA supports the developments and uses of alternatives to whole-animal testing, as well as adherence to the most humane methods available with the limits of scientific capabilities when animals are used for testing the safety of cosmetic products (FDA, 2006). Types of animals being tested on, and what is tested on them Researchers use many different types of animals, mice, rabbits, dogs, ferrets, and fish to name a few. The type of animal selected for study often depends solely depends on a combination of factors; previous research involving that animal type, scientific relevance, accessibility, and practical aspects of implementation of the product or item being tested. Government agencies also require that any drugs used in humans needs to be tested in at least two different types of animals, one of which is not able to be a rodent. The reason is that a drug can have very different effects on different species of animals (Nordin, 2009). All the animals used in testing/studies Right now, millions of mice, rats, rabbits, primates, cats, dogs, and other animals are locked inside cold, barren cages in an unfathomable number of laboratories across the country and even the world. Exact numbers are not available because mice, rats, birds, and cold-blooded animals- who make up over 95% of creatures used in experiments, are not covered by even the minimal protections of the Animal Welfare Act and therefore go uncounted (PETA, Animal Testing 101, 2013). Types of products used on animals during testing Mice and rats are forced to inhale toxic fumes, dogs are force-fed pesticides, and rabbits have corrosive chemicals rubbed onto their skin and eyes. Many of these tests are not even required by law, and have often produced inaccurate or misleading results that were pointless towards the end affect when the results had to be tossed and started over for being inaccurate towards the desired end result. Even if a product harms animals, it can still be marketed to consumers. Cruel and deadly toxicity tests are also conducted as a part of the massive regulatory testing programs that often funded by USA taxpayers’ money without them even knowing (PETA, Animal Testing 101, 2013). Conclusion Animal testing should not be something that is taken lightly, where as innocent animals are being tested with harmful products, and it is not fair to them. With our advancements in technologies every day, why are we still using innocent animals to test our products on which in turn may not even give us the results needed or give us false results which makes the tests of those animals useless and obsolete? With people knowing what many of these animals go through, would they sign their own pets up to go through that? Having a heart on this issue is what will end it, animals have lives, should be able to live it in their nature desired ways that is unaffected by humans.

Financial Services Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Financial Services Marketing - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that the term promotional mix is referred to the combination of various promotional methods that can be adopted by an organization in order to promote the products as well as services in the market. The promotional mix related to products and services is different from the financial promotional mix. The term ‘marketing mix’ is a broad concept in the fields of marketing and the promotional mix is considered as the element of ‘marketing mix’. In today’s marketing environment, the promotional mix is much essential as it communicates to customers about the new products and inspires them to buy. The financial services industry has been facing challenges for several years in marketing fields. Though the market of financial industries is considered as a matured one, however, the industries are facing long-standing downward trend. The financial service organizations use traditional approach of promotion mix and the related tools for marketing the services. As a result, it has a negative impact on their impression of marketing. The promotional tools adopted by financial institutions and banks are inadequately received by customers. The promotion of products in the market is conducted with several objectives. An organizational effectiveness can be increased signifying that sales force can be stimulated. There will be a rise in profits as well as the competitiveness of the organization in the market. The sales revenue will enhance and also the awareness level of the products may increase. Through the promotional methods information can be delivered to the target markets and may help in creating desire among the customers. The promotional tools if applied in an efficient manner may assist to improve the image of the products in consumers’ mind. The premium price will also reduce to certain extent (Jackson, 2010). 1.2 Tools and Factors of Promotional Mix Various promotional tools of promotional mix that are used by a marketer for promoting the products as well as services are advertising, promotion, public relations, sponsorship, personal selling, packaging, exhibitions as well as point of sales. In financial service marketing, these tools are used differently by a marketer (Jackson, 2010). Advertising is a paid format of non-personal communication by the utilization of mass media that involves television, outdoor, radio to reach the target market (Jackson, 2010). The financial organizations use television advertisement for creating awareness of the organization as well as their products in the customers’ mind. The constancy along with reliability of organization also assured the customers through advertisement tool. The financial organizations focus on general or corporate themes instead of product-specific themes. The intangible products are expressed through certain actions and events in order to provide its benefits associated with the desired product. Financial Services Act (1986) has set certain conditions in relation to the advertisement of financial services. The advertisement needs to show about the cause of misuse of the products to the customers (Alajmi, 2011). Personal Selling relates to the ‘interaction between a buyer and a seller’ (Jackson, 2010). It also refers to personal communication with the customers about the products as well as services and therefore encourages them to make purchase decision. Since personal selling is interactive, it acts as a vital tool in financial organization. However, the representatives from the organization can easily communicate with the customers by providing them with potential messages and relevant

Operations Management processes Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Operations Management processes - Assignment Example The effective utilization of TQM can yield positive results which would not only improve the operations but would set higher operating standards. The proposed alternative approach for Pizza Store would be the implementation of Six Sigma Principle in relation to External Benchmarking. This strategy will initiate with DMAIC methodology where customer priorities and Defined which in Mario’s case would be length of the queue, the customers in peak hours, waiting time, order processing time, and the overall service. These are the parameters which are regarded significant by the customers and should be targeted. The second step is to Measure the current processes to pinpoint the defects in the system and highlight the bottlenecks. These concerned areas are critical to the quality of service and needs to be improved (Jacobs, Chase and Aquilano, 2005). Once the gray areas are identified, we need to proceed with Analyzing the reasons behind these defects. We need to find answers to the questions such as, Are we able to cater the customers during peak hours? Where the order processing consumes maximum time? Is the behavior of ou r waiters friendly? The next step is to Improve the concerned areas by identifying the acceptable standards for working to achieve them. Alignment with the highest operating standard to yield desirable result is a tedious process (Jacobs and Chase, 2010). It is needed to be carried out with diligence so that no lacking in standards is observed in any critical area. The existing processes needs to be modified, changed or even re-engineered to reach the desirable level. The last but not the least, Control the array of events otherwise the complete activity would be a useless ordeal. Proper monitoring of the key personnel as well the variables is required to ensure that all is under control. Failing to abide by any of these would simply result in a failure

Contemporary issues in development finance Essay - 1

Contemporary issues in development finance - Essay Example Income inequality is described as the uneven distribution of individual or household income/earnings across the several participants in the economy. It is the sign of how the material resources are generally distributed across the society. High degree of earnings/income inequality is considered as undesirable. Measures of the earnings inequality relies on the data of disposable income of the household. The key indicator of earnings distribution is employed in ‘Gini coefficient’. The values of Gini coefficient scope between 0 (in perfect equality case) and 1 (in perfect inequality case). Poorer countries generally have elevated level of income inequality (Oecd, 2011). The main purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the connection between the financial growth and the income inequality by taking the example of Vietnam from the period 2000-2008. In the previous two decades, country like Vietnam has applied various economic and social reforms in order to encourage economic growth. The entrance of Vietnam into ‘World Trade Organisation’ in the year 2006 has concerned large inflows of foreign capital under the projects of foreign direct investment. Free trade and market-oriented financial system helped in releasing the capabilities and potentials of enterprises and individuals. Due to this, the economy achieved efficiency, higher productivity, and economic growth (C.M. Hoi and L.Q. Hoi, 2012). The connection between financial progress and the income inequality is a searched topic lately. Till now, two strings of notion, of which one pursue linear hypothesis and other follows non-linear hypothesis, are under exploration for the empirical evidence. Linear hypothesis: An overlapping model has been offered by Galor and Zeira (1993), who concentrated on the significance of the investment of human capital. They believe that there exist two sectors in

Financial Analysis for Managers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Financial Analysis for Managers - Essay Example The WACC takes into consideration the relative weights of each element of the capital structure and presents the predicted cost of new capital for an organization. In this way the WACC is important for any firm or organization operating as it not only helps them identify the minimum returns they need to earn but also helps them maintain a constant stock price. The WACC also provides greater accuracy and stabilizes fluctuations (Robert Libby, Patricia Libby, 2005). The WACC is also an important decision variable in investment appraisal and capital budgeting. Every company or firm wants to increase its wealth and earn profits hence it invests wherever it sees an opportunity. To find the profits that would be earned in the future through the investment at present WACC is a very effective tool. WACC helps a firm take on greater range of projects, because with a lower WACC, more projects will have a positive NPV plus it provides greater firm value, and therefore, greater Stock Price, beca use you discount cash flows by a smaller number. Capital expenditures are the allotment of resources to huge, long-term projects. The capital budget is a declaration of the intended capital expenditures. It is far more than a straightforward listing, and is not the "budget" in the common sense. Provided the nature of capital expenditures, the capital budget is thought of as a declaration of the goals and strategy of the firm. Formation of the capital budget is an essential assignment that affects and is affected by all other areas of decision-making in a firm. Current and future business situations are the opportunities and constraints through which the goals of the firm are formulated. The goals force the strategic decisions of capital budget and financing but likelihood and uniformity with the mutually dependent financing and capital budget decisions must be measured in situating the goals. For projects that are similar to the normal operations of the firm and have a similar risk profile the opportunity cost can be estimated by the firm's weighted average cost of capital (WACC) (Paul D. Kimmel, Jerry J. Weygandt, Donald E. Kieso. 2006). The WACC is the rate of return that just meets investor expectations, leaving the worth of the shares of the firm unaffected. WACC is computed by initially approximating the rate of return compulsory to meet the obligations for each basis of capital. These obligatory rates are then weighted according to the objective capital structure of the firm to attain the in general rate of return required to meet the mutual obligations. This is the return that could be achieved by reinvesting the finances within the company. What are the risks and uncertainty related to capital budgeting There are plenty of risks and uncertainty associated with capital budgeting, Capital budgeting involves a lot of analyzing and studying because a wrong decision can be fatal for a firm. Mostly projects that have a positive NPV are selected to be undertaken. Capital Budgeting involves the risk of losing the invested money. As capital budgeting involves future investing decisions hence constraints such as

Economic development Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Economic development - Coursework Example This reading focuses on the economic development in Africa through agricultural activities. This considers the use of proven agricultural techniques in order to increase the yields for food security purposes. The common challenges faced by African farmers entail soil exhaustion, water insufficiency and distorted economics caused undeveloped infrastructures. This implies that the poor soil fertility hinders the growth of some crops. This is because the local farmers engage in over farming and insufficient crop rotation. The existence of poor infrastructures contributes to high production costs because the farmer cannot access fertilizers and other inputs. Similarly, constant water scarcity due to periodic drought spells also affect Africa’s agricultural sector. This reading discusses the population explosion in developing nations, regardless of the favorable conditions. The author explores the population growth rate of Kenya in which it emerges that adults are free to give birth to any number of children. The people do not care about the availability of health care facilities, food or other aspects. The population explosion concept threatens humanity due to scramble for space, resources and economic activities. The Maragoli documentary depicts the struggles of women across the world since they cannot control birth rates. The underlining aspect of the documentary is that, in reality, population increases, but the amenities remain the same. The focus of this reading is the developmental challenge of political and criminal violence. It tackles the negative influences of the two aspects, such as destruction of property, death, displacement of people and economic stagnation among others. For instance, children brought up in hostile environments suffer from malnourishments and illiteracy. The millennium development goal (MDG) project has been unable to achieve its objectives of uplifting the living standards in