Discussion questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Discussion questions - Assignment Example he fact that during the advanced stage AD patients may develop physiological complications as body systems begin to fail thereby paving the way for health deterioration. Thus, it is always expedient that other tests are carried out as a way of ruling out other health complications that co-occur with AD. Some of these conditions include brain tumor, anxiety, infections, depression, vitamin deficiency and thyroid complications. To this effect, blood tests, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tests and computer tomography scan (CT) may be used to ascertain the patient’s internal anatomy (Gillick, 2012). If a kidney failure has been fully established to be real, it will be necessary to put the patient on the dialysis machine. This will help the patient get rid of wastes in her system. Recommending renal failure diet will also go a long way in regulating the amount of phosphorus, sodium and proteins in the diet. The patient will also be put on drips to help hydrate her body. It would be most important for the drip to include dextrose and saline, since these elements will help raise the fluid level. After the tests have revealed the cause of the bruises in the body, appropriate medical intervention may be administered. In this wavelength, the patient’s meal will have to include calcium and vitamin K to help foster coagulation in the patient’s ruptured blood vessels. There are several ethical issues that emanate from this development. Occupational safety of the nurse attending to the patient is a serious ethical issue because, since the patient is at an advanced stage of AD, nurses will have to deal with incontinence. The issue of the quality of life will also pose another ethical challenge, especially if other factors such as the patient being terminally ill, her old age, her relative insignificance to the economy and scarcity of healthcare resources are factored in. Even when requested, euthanasia cannot be executed since it is proscribed in the US. Conversely,

Financial Statement Analysis Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Financial Statement Analysis - Case Study Example This shows that the short-term financial position of Advance Auto Parts and Pep Boys is slightly better than that of AutoZone. While a low current ratio shows that the short term financial position is endangered, a very high current ratio would indicate idleness of working capital. It would mean that cash is not being utilized in an optimal way. For example, the excess cash might be better invested in equipment. A current ratio can be improved by increasing current assets or by decreasing current liabilities. Acquiring a long-term loan instead of short-term debt, selling an idle or less useful fixed asset are some of the many ways of improving the current ratio. The quick ratio (also called 'acid test ratio') indicates the liquidity of a business. The quick ratio looks only at a company's most liquid assets and compares them to current liabilities. It tests whether a business can meet its obligations even if adverse conditions occur. In general, quick ratios between 0.5 and 1 are considered satisfactory as long as the collection of receivables is not expected to slow. AutoZone has a very low quick ratio of 0.173 times.

The research process: Beginning to end

The research process: Beginning to end THE RESEARCH PROCESS Introduction The research process is the steps included or needed to conduct a research from the beginning to the end. Research that have been identify should be carried out in a deliberate and systematic manner in order to produce a substantive besides useful outcomes (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). The specific way in each of these stages and their attendant sub-stages is operationalized will wary from project to project (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). Furthermore, research also is an extremely cyclic process, where the review of earlier work might be necessitate for the later stages (Leedy and Ormrod, 2001). Therefore, it can be difficult to determine on where to begin or where to end the research due to its cyclic (Leedy and Ormrod, 2001). According Weaver and Lawton 2006, there are basically seven steps in the research as shown below. Step 1: Problem Recognitions According to Leedy and Ormrod, 2001, a research begins with a problem. Therefore, the first step in any research process or before conducting a research is to recognize the problem or issues that interest the investigator (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). In tourism-based corporation, the core issues that require research are reduced patronage and declining market share (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). From a destination perspective, additional concerns may be harbored about negative community reactions to tourism or declining environmental conditions that will affect the industry (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). However, methodological bias of the researcher might dictate the problems As we know, before starting to conduct a research, at first we should come out with a question because all of the research that begins with a question. Besides that, curiosity of a researcher is often used as a foundation for scholarly inquiry. Before start to conduct a research, the researcher should know the problems a nd broad issues that interest them to conduct a research. Researcher should clearly understand and clarify what they want to know to conduct the research. After problem has been recognized and the researcher understand what they want to know to conduct the research, it will makes them easier. Researcher can ask themselves question on what they want to know actually based on the research that will be conduct. By this, it can help them to conduct a better research because they have the purpose for conducting the research. After problem has been recognizing, the researcher can plan or create a useful framework for clarifying or contextualizing the broad problem. For example: if you are interested in finding out about how many students will take the opportunity to involve themselves in the sports events in school? You might need to pose out a question that what is the advantages of taking part in sports event in school? Researcher should understand what they really want to find out by t his topic. They should indentify what problem, concepts or keywords in this question on what they want to know by doing this research and then plan their framework well before start to do their research. Step 2: Question formulation After all the problem and topic that researcher identify or broad problems that have been selected, research questions must be focused to prevent that time and resources are not wasted on tangential avenues of investigation(Weaver and Lawton, 2006). Furthermore, hypothesis may be expressed when question formulation. As a basis for question formulation, it is helpful to clarify that the level of investigation that is warranted by the problem and the resources of the company or destination that are available. There are four levels of investigations which are description, explanation, prediction and prescription. All of this level will be using based on the research that will be conducted by the researcher. The first level if the investigation is description (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). Description it is the most basic level of inquiry. For example, the managers of a particular destination are concerned that the local people appear to be increasingly hostile toward visiting tourists. The logical first step in addressing this issue is to describe the actual situation, by asking questions such as what are the attitudes of local residents towards visiting tourists. Next level for the investigation is explanation (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). Explanation is the decision whether to or not to proceed to this level of investigation, which is to explain the resultant patterns is often constrained by the availability of resources. However, the decision should be based on whether one or more serious problems have been revealed after the research process has been completed at the descriptive level. For example, the perceived hostility of residents involves only a few isolated incidents instigated by known troublemakers, and then there is probably no compelling reason to precede any further investigation. But, if the suspicious of emerging hostility have been confirmed, and the parameters of the hostility are identified as being broad-based, then the explanation is necessary towards its resolution. Level three for the investigation level according to Weaver and Lawton, 2006 is prediction. Prediction means once a plausible explanation for a problem is found out, the further investigation is to predict the problems consequences if no remedial measures are taken. As with any prediction involving humans, this stage of inquiry will be speculative, but it is possible to engage in intelligent and well-considered speculation that will inform the final stage of prescription. Example would be like asking what will happen to the local tourism industry if no steps are being carried to address the hostility of young adults towards tourism. Lastly, the final stage of the level of investigation according to Weaver and Lawton (2006) is prescription. Prescription is the culmination of research process, involving the consideration of various solutions to the problems. If the predictive phase reveals that the above situation is highly volatile, and that the community will endure great suffering if no correction action was taken, then it is essential to proceed with prescriptive phase. To summarize, the intervention or the actions that should be taken to ensure optimum outcomes for the company or destination, is a core component of the process in management and in applied research. Appropriate solutions or prescriptions will only emerge as a result of the knowledge that is obtained through preliminary research at the levels of description, explanation and prediction (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). Step 3: Identification of research methodology and/ or methods Next step of the research process is to identify the methodologies that will be use to conduct the research that the researcher already selected (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). In the other words means identify the specific research methods that will be best allow the project or research to be proceed, and normally all this probably will based on the problem that have been identified and the question set for the research. For example, in the descriptive phase, the investigators may undertake quantitative surveying in which resources, time; cultural and social context will be taken into account. Whereas in the explanatory phase, the researcher will engage in qualitative, in-depth interviews to identify the reasons for revealed attitudes and behavior. While for prediction level, the interviewer has a number of options that can be pursued in conjunction with each other to see whether the different methods yield the same results. As shown in the above example, the usage of all the techniques in the same research process also can be known as methodological triangulation. Furthermore, If all of this four methods for the research reveal the similar outcomes, it will gives the researcher high degree of confidence that the real situation of their research that they want to be conduct has been identified. Moreover, it is likely that each of the method will yield its own unique insights into this situation, thereby strengthening the knowledge base that is obtained from the research. Step 4: Data collection After the most appropriate have been identified, the next step of the research process can be proceeded (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). In a former case, a sample of data collection mostly is randomly drawn from the population and each of the members of the population has the equal probability to be selected as the sample for the data (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). Researchers will simple drawn out all the names of those will be involves in the research by using the random number tables to prevent biases when collecting the data. However, researcher also will select a large enough sample so that inferences can be made about the entire population. According to Neuman 1997, it is advisable that the sample should be at least of 30 per cent of the entire population to make sure that it will achieve the same effect. In the data collection, researcher commonly will practiced the non-probability or convenience sampling in the qualitative research and deliberate selection of certain cases to build th e sample for the research that will be conducting. (Weaver and Lawton, 2006) Besides that, for the data collection, once the sample size and procedure of selection for the research have been decided, the actual or the process of the data collection can be started and there is few factors that need to be considered at this stage such as consistency for the result in as short a time period as possible, timing of the interviewing or observation for the research (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). The reason is that it can save the cost and resources for the research without wasted and the collection of the data will be more accurately as well. Theory will be developed from the data gathered and analyzed by the researcher (Neuman, 2000). Furthermore, each research that will be conducted must use an appropriate data collection technique based on the research methodology that has been chosen. The researcher might also involve in pilot study or test, in which the researcher will conduct a trial test of the data collection tools and analysis by using the same sample of the po pulation used in the final study (Jennings, 2001). Besides that, once the sample size and selection procedure have been decided, the actual data collection can be started (Weaver and Lawton, 2006).   The main goals of both quantitative and qualitative studies are to maximize the responses and the accuracy of the research (Walonick, 1993). The researchers will also validate the data collection process When others data collection service are being used, by contacting a percentage of the respondents to verify that they were actually being interviewed ( David S. Walonick 1993). Not only that, the checking process for inadvertent errors in the data also involves data editing and this process normally required a computer to check for the out of boundaries data. Step 5: Data analysis The data analysis is the next stage after data collection, which is a stage that attempts to answer the related research questions by examining and assessing the collected information to identify patterns and meanings (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). At this stage, filtering and organizing the database to eliminate the invalid responses usually will be involves to get a better result for the research. Next (at least in quantitative research), it is follow by the coding and entering of the data that already been collected into a computer software system such as SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Science) facilities which have the further classification and analysis (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). Actual analysis of the research can be undertaken after all the data already been cleaned to eliminate error in the coding procedure. According to Weaver and Lawton, 2006, the most basic analysis in a qualitative research is to record a simple descriptive statistics such as means, frequencies and standard deviation besides test also can be use when in a more sophisticated level. Researcher need to be open to the data to ensure that the data that they collected do not force the data (Glaser 1992). According to Neuman 1997, qualitative data analysis includes organization of the same categories as well as the relationship development and process models based on a constant comparison of the text-based data. There are 3 aspects of data analysis which is data reduction, data displaying and drawing conclusion (Miles and Huberman 1994). The relationship between different variables and groups can be examined or determined simultaneously by using multivariate technique, such as analyzing the factor and the multidimensional scaling. Level of sophistication depends on the nature of the research question and the datas characteristic collected by the researcher (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). In a qualitative research, the sorting, comparing, classifying and synthesis of the collected informat ion can be involves in analysis for qualitative research (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). Step 6: Data presentation In data presentation, the results of the analysis should be presented in the way that can be easily understood by the target audience. When preparing data for presentation, make sure that you are choosing the key points of the research (Gayle Jennings 2001). The most common devices that use to presenting data is by using tables and graphs but great care also should be always be taken to avoid complexity and clutter particularly if the intended audience is non-academic (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). The reason is that to prevent that audience did not understand what are being present. Furthermore, researcher also can use maps for their presentation because maps are extremely efficient means of presenting spatial information if being constructed properly (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). According to Jennings 2001 Power point presentation also can be use to present the data but there is some consideration when using it to presenting data such as slides should not overwhelmed with text, text is ea sy to read, try not to use colors that are hard to focus on or gaudy, not to over use different font and different style such as italics, bold, use an infra-red or timber pointer if need to indicate something, do not turn your back to audience and check out the slide is in the correct order.   Step 7: Data interpretation The final stage of the research process is data interpretation, in which the meaning from the research results will be extracted (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). This is the stage where important implication of the research result are considered from theoretical and/or practical perspective besides in this stage, researcher also will consider higher levels of investigation which means the researcher will revisit the previous stages(Weaver and Lawton, 2006). Data that been interpret maybe will be influence by the methodological and other biases of the researcher.   The important of the effective interpretation at the specific or broad level cannot be overstated since leads to translation of research results into policy decision and other outcomes that are important to the target audience (Weaver and Lawton, 2006).   

Psychology Q&A :: Psychology

Question 1 Psychology is defined as the scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of individuals. Before psychology, people did not know why we feel the things we feel or think the things we think. So psychology began with some goals in mind. The first goal is to observe behavior and describe what is happening. This allows for the next goal which is to explain what is happening. It is important to be able to explain how and why behavior happens. It is necessary to find motives or triggers that will cause outcomes. By knowing what causes behaviors to occur we can then predict what will happen in the future. We can then know what to expect and intervene to control the outcome of behavior. Predicting behavior will allow psychologists to better help people by being able to control the outcome of their behavior. There have been a few pioneers that have paved the road for modern psychology. In Leipzig, Germany, a scientist by the name of Wilhelm Wundt became one of the largest contributors to the development of psychology. Wundt created a laboratory strictly for the study of psychology. Another key player is Edward Titchener who founded the first experimental psychology lab in the United Sates. One of the most important documents written in psychology, The Principles of Psychology, was written by William James. With all of these great minds at work an argument arose. The argument was about the right subjects to study and the correct methods to use while studying them. One side of the argument was structuralism. Structuralism uses the idea that all mental processes could be explained by knowing what the mind is made of. The other side of this argument was functionalism. Functionalism asks not so much what the mind is made of but how and why it operates. Functionalism states that the mind depen ds on it’s adjustment to the environment and that it will be an ever-changing entity. In psychology, there are many different perspectives that are employed. The psychodynamic perspective was made famous by Sigmund Freud. Freud exclaimed that behavior motivated by internal forces such as instincts or heredity. The behaviorist perspective declares that behavior is determined from reactions to environmental occurrences. Another perspective is the humanistic perspective which believes that no matter what inheritance or environment provides people are still able to make a choice as to how we behave. The cognitive perspective states that a human is designed to think and imagine.

Budgeting Essay Essay

A1 – Prepare a summary report in which you do the following: 1.Discuss specific budgetary items raise concern in the budget planning (Spreadsheet Tab: Task 2_Budgets_and_Proformas). Competition Bikes has prepared a budget for year nine of operations. In reviewing the budget presented several technical areas of concern have been noted. For ease of review, budgetary issues that raise concerns are presented in a bullet format.  ·The first issue of concern is in the direct materials budget, it appears to be missing the total direct materials budget. There is a raw materials budget and a components budget present, but the two are never combined to complete the direct materials budget. On the surface this omission does not appear to be particularly egregious. However, omitting a total for direct materials can confuse the evaluation of how much money is going just to materials.  ·The second issue of concern can be found in the Manufacturing Overhead Budget. The budget lists quality control under Unit Level Costs, however, quality control is a Batch Level Cost. Unit Level Costs are costs relating to activities performed on each unit. These costs are incurred in a more or less linear pattern which varies directly with the number of units produced. Examples include the electricity used to run production machines and the indirect material such as nuts and bolts used in production. oBatch Level Costs are costs related to production batches. They change in a more or less linear way, varying with the number of batches run. Batch level costs include costs such as machine set up costs, purchasing and material handling costs, and of course quality control and inspection.  ·The third area of concern has to do with utility costs. Included in the manufacturing overhead budget under facility in general operations level costs $55,747 is budgeted for utilities and services. This figure appears again on the budgeted schedule of cost of goods manufactured and sold under manufacturing overhead and is again listed as utilities and services. It is unclear what this costs is for since it appears on the facilities and general operation level expenses simply as utilities and is $150,000. There  is the possibility that these are two different costs, however this question leads into the fourth area of concern. Also on the facility and general operation level expenses is listed and expense for â€Å"other utility services† for $54,000. This additional budgeted expense serves to seriously confound the review of the budget and the determination of budgeted utility expenses.  ·As troubling as all of the above concerns are, the final and most troubling technical aspect of the year 9 budget is the total of operating expenses. When total selling expense is added to total general admin expenses, the total is $54,000 short of the total operating expenses listed on the budget. The most likely explanation for this difference in sums is the exclusion of $54,000 for â€Å"other utility services† from the budgeted income statement. Examination of previous year’s income statements did not result in unbalanced totals only the year 9 budgeted income statement had this problem. In addition to the technical issues, the year nine budget also has several budgetary items that raise concern as well.  · The first issue of concern is the Other General and Administrative Expenses. oThese are expenditures related to the day-to-day operations of Competition Bikes. These expenses are operations expenses rather than expenses which can be directly related to the production of goods or services. General and administrative expenses generally include rent, utilities, insurance, and managerial salaries. Since insurance is not specifically mentioned in the budget, it is likely captured by this expense as well as any other expenses such as office supplies, computer equipment for office personnel, and cleaning products for the break room. oHistorically this budget item has increased from year to year. In year six this item was $120,500, in year seven was $158,000, and in year eight it was $170,000. The increase from year six to year seven was 31%, and while the 8% increase from year seven to year eight is small by comparison, there is no reason to believe that this budgetary expense would remain static from year eight to year nine. Even a minor increase in this figure would be plausible, but zero change is highly unlikely.  ·The second issue of concern is Administrative Salaries. oAt first glance this budget item doesn’t seem to be of concern, however review of years six, seven and eight show that this will be the third year in a row with no budgeted raises for the administrative staff. In year six $140,000 was budgeted for this item, in year seven it was increased to $170,000, where it remains it remains. Management has made a point of noting the retention of high-level production staff, so it stands to reason that competition bikes management would want to retain high-level administrative staff as well. High-level cannot be retained without compensation.  ·The third area of concern is Cash and Cash Equivalents. . oCash and Cash Equivalents’ is an asset that includes currency (coins and bank notes) held by a business (in hand and in bank accounts) and cash equivalents which are assets that are readily convertible into cash, such as money market[->0] holdings, short-term government bonds[->1] or Treasury bills[->2], marketable securities[->3] and commercial paper[->4]. (Cash and cash equivalents are the most liquid assets[->5].) Cash equivalents are distinguished from other investments through their short-term existence; they mature within 3 months whereas short-term investments are 12 months or less, and long-term investments are any investments that mature in excess of 12 months. oHaving a higher cash ratio (ratio of cash and cash equivalents to current liabilities) suggests that the business is liquid ( it should not have any difficulty in paying very short-term liabilities). oThe concerning aspect of this budget item is its growth. In year six this item was $261,000. In year seven it fell to just $92,376. In year eight it jumped to $414,038, and in year nine, it is projected to be $523,492. Having cash on hand is a good thing, but holding too much cash at the expense of other investments is not such a good thing. Having this much cash sitting around, not working for Competition Bikes is irresponsible.  ·The fourth area of concern is Utilities Expense. oUtilities expense reports the cost of the electricity, heat, sewer, and water used during the period. oThis budget item has grown year-over-year since year six, the first year of data provided. In year six this expense was $130,000. In year seven and grew to $135,000, and in year  eight to $150,000. oGiven the yearly increase in this expense. It is not reasonable to budget the same amount in year nine as in year eight. At least a nominal increase in this budget item is mandated by the historical increase. A2a – Evaluate the flexible budget and its variances A flexible budget is a budget that can be prepared for any level of activity by flexing to reflect an updated activity level. It adjusts the static budget for the actual level of output. The activity that Competition Bikes uses to modify the flexible budget is units sold. Difference between the budgeted amount of expense, or revenue is known as a budget variance. The budget variance is unfavorable when the actual revenue is lower than the budgeted item or when the actual expense is higher than the budgeted item. In essence, the flexible budget is equal to what would have been budgeted had the actual output been known. There are two types of variances considered on Competition Bikes Flexible Budget Performance Report. The first type of variance is an activity variance, which is the difference between a revenue or cost item static planning budget, and the same item in the flexible budget due to the level of activity assumed in the planning budget and the actual activity level. The second type of variance is either a revenue or a spending variance, which describes the difference between how much the revenue or spending on a specific budget item should have been given the actual activity level and the actual revenue or spending for the period. Competition Bikes Flexible Budget Performance Report for year 9 shows that 3510 bikes were plan to be sold, but the actual unit sold was only 3423. Below I will list the activity variance resulting between each budgeted item’s plans. Revenue or expense and extended cost adjustment on the flexible budget. Next, I will highlight the difference between the flexible budget and the actual output. Net sales:  ·Net sales was budgeted to be $5,247,450, at the expected activity level, whereas the flexible budget predicted net sales would equal $5,117,385.  ·Actual net sales were $5,096,847. This is an unfavorable revenue variance of $20,538 resulting most likely from a higher than expected level ofnspoilage and greater than expected expenses.  ·Management should investigate the production process to confirm that the raw materials consumption calculations remain accurate. Direct materials:  ·Direct materials were budgeted to cost $2,292,028. The flexible budget calculated that the actual level of output direct materials would cost $2,235,219.  ·The actual cost of direct materials was $2,035,219, which is a favorable variance of $200,000 and do most likely to purchasing obtaining materials at a lower than anticipated cost.  ·The Direct Materials Efficiency Variance was $100,000 and unfavorable. oAn unfavorable Direct Materials Efficiency Variance indicates that more materials were used than needed or budgeted for the job. oFavorable direct materials efficiency variance results when fewer materials are used than planned. oThere are several possible reasons for this variance  §A miscalculation in the accounting for materials may result in a one-time or temporarily unfavorable direct material efficiency variance. This could also be a systemic issue wherein Management has failed to include scrap or waste required for production into the calculations. oAnother possibility is inferior materials. Lower-quality materials may require the use of more units of a particular material, resulting in an unfavorable direct materials efficiency variance. oWorkers and equipment can also factor into a Direct Materials Efficiency Variance. Spoilage and damage to materials caused by workers, insufficiently trained workers on the production line, and/ or poor supervision can lead to an unfavorable direct material efficiency variance. Additionally, if equipment breaks down or there is a glitch in the operation of a vital machine that results in spoilage or destroyed materials an unfavorable direct material efficiency variance may result.  ·The Direct Materials Price Variance was -$300,000 which indicates that direct material was purchased for a lesser amount than the standard price and is therefore favorable. oA favorable direct material price variance is not always good, however. It is possible that the purchasing department may have purchased lower quality raw materials to generate a favorable direct material price variance. Such a favorable  material price variance will be offset by an unfavorable direct material quantity variance due to wastage of low quality direct material.  ·In Competition Bikes Case, given the Favorable Price Variance and Unfavorable Efficiency Variance the likely cause of this is the purchase of lower quality materials that resulted in greater than planned spoilage.  ·Management should adopt standardized supply chain practices so as to control the quality of materials used in production. This will reduce the amount of spoilage and wasted materials. Additional actions that management may take to more accurately address the forecast of net sales Direct labor:  ·Direct labor was budgeted at $1,053,000. It is calculated $1,026,900 on the flexible budget.  ·The actual cost for direct labor was $1,126,900. This is an unfavorable cost variance of $100,000 and most likely due to a higher than expected mix of less experienced production workers who required more time than the standard to complete the manufacturing process.  ·The Direct Labor Price Variance was $150,000 and unfavorable. oAn unfavorable variance means that the cost of labor was more expensive than anticipated, while a favorable variance indicates that the cost of labor was less expensive than planned. oNewly hired workers will likely get paid less which creates a favorable labor rate variance. oHigher skilled workers who are paid more can create an unfavorable labor rate variance.  ·The Direct Labor Efficiency Variance was -$50,000 and favorable. oThis variance measures the productivity of labor time. oThe possible causes of an unfavorable efficiency variance include poorly trained workers, poor quality materials, faulty equipment, poor supervision, or insufficient demand for company’s products. oA favorable labor efficiency variance indicates better productivity of direct labor direct labor during the period. Possible causes of the favorable labor efficiency variance include the hiring of more high skilled labor, training of the workforce, and the use of better quality raw materials.  ·The easiest way for Competition Bikes to more accurately forecast direct labor cost is to maintain a seasoned production force. Additionally, providing production staff with additional training may decrease production times. Manufacturing  overhead-variable:  ·Variable manufacturing overhead was predicted cost $331,798. The flexible budget calculated this to be $323,574 at this activity level.  ·Actual variable manufacturing overhead was $350,000, which is an unfavorable cost variance of $26,426 and which was likely due to greater than expected facilities and machinery maintenance.  ·The variable manufacturing overhead price variance was $24,000 and unfavorable. oThe company’s actual variable manufacturing overhead costs were more than the amount expected for the actual machine hours used.  ·The variable manufacturing overhead efficiency variance was $2426 and also unfavorable. oThis number illustrates the difference between what was spent and what was expected to be spent in terms of the manufacturing cost per unit.  ·It may be necessary for management to increase their estimations for facility and machinery repair, maintenance. Variable selling expenses:  ·The static budget expected variable selling expenses to be $157,424, whereas the flexible budget calculated to be $153,522 at the lower level of activity.  ·The actual cost of variable selling expenses was equal to the flexible budgets calculation of $153,522. Advertising expenses:  ·Advertising expenses were calculated to be $28,412 on the static budget. The flexible budget predicted this cost to be $27,708.  ·The actual cost of advertising expenses was $31,462, which is an unfavorable cost variance of $3754. This is most likely the result of an increase in fees for the production of advertising materials.  ·The advertising expense price variance was $5000 and unfavorable.  ·The advertising expense efficiency variance is $-1264 and favorable.  ·Advertising expenses can be tricky to curtail, but one way to keep these expenses down, and is close to the budgeted amount as possible is to require detailed weekly expense reports be completed. This metric would allow management to more closely monitor expenses and hold purchasers accountable for their purchases.

Proposal Management at Kudler Fine Foods

The objective of the auditing is to gain the understanding business functions and evaluation of Kudler Fine Foods’ business. Hence the auditing is linked with accounts, volume of transactions processed, systems and processes utilized in the operations etc. The audit may be internal or external. The internal audit is performed to regulate internal control and evaluation whereas the external audit is mandatory as per the statutory regulations.As such the internal auditor access and review the correspondence files, budgetary information, organizational charts, job descriptions, evaluation of internal controls. In this regard, the auditor makes internal report along with deficiencies notices. The audit may be statutory or internal, yet several types of audits exist. As far as Kudler Fine Foods, the related audits are Financial Audits, operational Audits, Department Reviews, Information System Audit, Investigative Audits, Follow-up Audit etc.The financial Audit is historically orie nted and independent evaluation is performed so that fairness, accuracy, reliability of financial data is expressed. The gFinancial Audit is mandatory. With respect to the Operational Audit, it is future-oriented and evaluation of organizational activities. The primary source of the financial audit is operational policies and achievements that are related to the organizational objectives. However financial data may be utilized for the purpose and internal controls/efficiencies can be evaluated during operational audit.The Department Review is linked with the current period analysis of administrative functions in order to evaluate adequacy of controls, safeguarding of assets, proper use of resources, statutory compliances etc. The Information System Audit allows to analysis of General Control Review, Application Controls Review and System Development Review. Follow-up Audit is not mandatory, yet such type of follow-up Audit is conducted after six months of internal/external audit rep ort has been issued. The Follow-up audits are designed to evaluate corrective action that has been taken in connection with issues reported in the Audit Reports.

Free Essays on Positive Effects Of The Black Death

Positive Effects of the Black Death It is difficult to imagine that one of world history’s most tragic events could actually have had any positive outcomes, yet it did indeed. When we consider that this plague wiped out somewhere between 25 and 50% of the population of Europe it is hard to see a good side. From China to Greenland and seemingly everywhere in between the Black Death was a pandemic nearly global in its proportions (Thomas, 6). Fleas and rats were the carriers of this grotesque disease. Symptoms included high fevers, aching limbs and vomiting of blood. The most noticeable characteristic was a swelling of the lymph nodes. The lymph nodes are found in the neck, armpits, and groin. The swellings continued to expand until they eventually burst, with death following soon after. From the first symptoms to final expiration only lasted three to four days. The swellings were easily visible and its blackish coloring gave the disease its name: The Black Death. Europe was flourishing it seemed, for nearly half a century before the early thirteen hundreds. Yet, a succession of environmental disasters occurred that set the scene for calamity. Famine and poor harvests were brought on by the â€Å"Little Ice Age† and suggested that the years of prosperity were over. In 1347 the plague arrived in Europe at Messina, Sicily and in several years the plague ravaged almost the entire Western world ( Zaller, 378). Europe lost nearly one third of Jones 2 its population during this four year period. It seems evident that there is nothing good whatsoever about these tragic events. In fact, some considered this time to be the â€Å"Apocalypse† better known as the end of the world. However, when looked at from a different prospective one might conclude otherwise. Economically speaking the plague had a number of important effects. The severe depopulation was a major contributing factor to many socio-economic change... Free Essays on Positive Effects Of The Black Death Free Essays on Positive Effects Of The Black Death Positive Effects of the Black Death It is difficult to imagine that one of world history’s most tragic events could actually have had any positive outcomes, yet it did indeed. When we consider that this plague wiped out somewhere between 25 and 50% of the population of Europe it is hard to see a good side. From China to Greenland and seemingly everywhere in between the Black Death was a pandemic nearly global in its proportions (Thomas, 6). Fleas and rats were the carriers of this grotesque disease. Symptoms included high fevers, aching limbs and vomiting of blood. The most noticeable characteristic was a swelling of the lymph nodes. The lymph nodes are found in the neck, armpits, and groin. The swellings continued to expand until they eventually burst, with death following soon after. From the first symptoms to final expiration only lasted three to four days. The swellings were easily visible and its blackish coloring gave the disease its name: The Black Death. Europe was flourishing it seemed, for nearly half a century before the early thirteen hundreds. Yet, a succession of environmental disasters occurred that set the scene for calamity. Famine and poor harvests were brought on by the â€Å"Little Ice Age† and suggested that the years of prosperity were over. In 1347 the plague arrived in Europe at Messina, Sicily and in several years the plague ravaged almost the entire Western world ( Zaller, 378). Europe lost nearly one third of Jones 2 its population during this four year period. It seems evident that there is nothing good whatsoever about these tragic events. In fact, some considered this time to be the â€Å"Apocalypse† better known as the end of the world. However, when looked at from a different prospective one might conclude otherwise. Economically speaking the plague had a number of important effects. The severe depopulation was a major contributing factor to many socio-economic change...

Dr. Seuss Biography - Creator of The Cat in the Hat

Dr. Seuss Biography - Creator of The Cat in the Hat Who Was Dr. Seuss? The biography of Dr. Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel, reveals that the impact he had on books for children has been an enduring one. What do we know about the man known as Dr. Seuss who created so many classic childrens books, including The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham? For several generations, picture books and beginning readers books by Dr. Seuss have delighted young children.   Although Dr. Seuss died in 1991, neither he nor his books have been forgotten. Every year on March 2, school children across United States and beyond celebrate Dr. Seusss birthday with skits, costumes, birthday cakes, and his books. The American Library Association named the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award, a special annual award for beginning reader books, after the popular author and illustrator in recognition of his pioneering work in the development of childrens books written at the appropriate reading level for beginning readers that are also entertaining and fun to read. Theodor Seuss Geisel: His Education and Early Employment Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1925, but rather than earning a doctorate in literature at Oxford University as he originally intended, he returned to the United States in 1927. During the next two decades he worked for several magazines, worked in advertising, and served in the army during World War II. He was stationed in Hollywood and won Oscars for his work on war documentaries. Dr. Seuss and Childrens Books By that time, Geisel (as Dr. Seuss) had already written and illustrated several childrens books, and he continued to do so. His first childrens picture book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street was published in 1937. Dr. Seuss once said, Children want the same things we want. To laugh, to be challenged, to be entertained, and delighted. Dr. Seuss books certainly provide that for children. His witty rhymes, engaging plots, and imaginative characters add up to fun for children and adults alike. Dr. Seuss, A Pioneer in Developing Books for Beginning Readers It was his publisher who first involved Geisel in creating entertaining childrens books with a limited vocabulary for beginning readers. In May 1954, Life magazine published a report about illiteracy among school children. Among the factors cited by the report was the fact that children were bored by the books that were available at the beginning reader level. His publisher sent Geisel a list of 400 words and challenged him to come up with a book that would use about 250 of the words. Geisel used 236 of the words for The Cat in the Hat, and it was an instant success. The Dr. Seuss books definitively proved that it was possible to create engaging books with a limited vocabulary when the author/illustrator had both imagination and wit. The plots of the Dr. Seuss books are entertaining and often teach a lesson, from the importance of taking responsibility for the earth and one another to learning what is really important. With their quirky characters and clever rhymes, the Dr. Seuss books are great to read aloud. Childrens Books by Theodor Seuss Geisel Picture books by Dr. Seuss continue to be popular read alouds, while books by Geisel for young readers continue to be popular for independent reading. In addition to those written by Dr. Seuss, Geisel also wrote a number of beginning readers under the pseudonym Theodore Lesieg (Geisel spelled backwards). These include The Eye Book, Ten Apples Up on Top, and Many Mice of Mr. Price. Although Theodor Geisel died at the age of 87 on September 24, 1991, his books and Dr. Seuss and Theodore Lesieg did not. They continue to be popular as do books in the style of the original Dr. Seuss.   In addition, several collections of lost stories by Dr. Seuss have been published in the last few years and in 2015, his unfinished picture book What Pet Should I Get?was completed by others and published. If you or your children have not read any of Dr. Seuss books, you are in for a treat. I particularly recommend The Cat in the Hat, The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, Green Eggs and Ham, Horton Hatches the Egg, Horton Hears a Who!, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Lorax, And To Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street and Oh, the Places Youll Go. Theodor Geisel once said, I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.* If your brain cells need a wake-up call, try Dr. Seuss. (Sources: About.com Quotations: Dr. Seuss Quotes*, Seussville.com, Dr. Seuss and Mr. Geisel: A Biography by Judith and Neil Morgan)

Jay’s Treaty, Between Britain and the U.S.

Jay’s Treaty, Between Britain and the U.S. Jay’s Treaty was an agreement between the United States and Great Britain signed on November 19, 1794 intended to avert war and resolve issues between the two countries that had lingered since the end of the American Revolutionary War. While it was unpopular with the American public, the treaty succeeded in ensuring a decade of peaceful and mutually profitable trade between the United States and Britain during the French Revolutionary Wars. The treaty was signed by President George Washington on November 19, 1794 and approved by the U.S. Senate on June 24, 1795. It was then ratified by the British Parliament and took effect on February 29, 1796. Officially titled, â€Å"Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, Between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America,† and also called â€Å"Jay Treaty,† the pact draws its name from John Jay, its chief U.S. negotiator. Key Takeaways: Jay's Treaty Jay’s Treaty was a diplomatic agreement reached in 1794 between the United States and Great Britain.Jay’s Treaty was intended to resolve disputes between the two nations that remained after the 1783 Treaty of Paris had ended the American Revolutionary War.The treaty was signed on November 19, 1794, approved by the U.S. Senate on June 24, 1795, and approved by the British Parliament, thus placing it into full effect on February 29, 1796.The treaty draws its name from its chief U.S. negotiator, first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Jay.   Bitter objections to the treaty by the French government led to the XYZ Affair of 1797 and the 1798 Quasi-War with France. In the United States, political conflict over ratification of the treaty contributed to the creation of America’s first two political parties: the pro-treaty Federalist Party, led by Alexander Hamilton, and the anti-treaty Democratic-Republican Party led by Anti-federalists Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. International Issues Driving Jay’s Treaty After the American Revolutionary War ended, tensions between the United States and Great Britain remained understandably high. Specifically, three main issues remained unresolved even after the 1783 Treaty of Paris had ended military hostilities: Goods exported from America were still being blocked by Britain’s wartime trade restrictions and tariffs. At the same time, British imports were flooding American markets, leaving the U.S. facing a significant trade deficit.  Ã‚  British troops were still occupying several forts on U.S.-claimed territory from the Great Lakes region to modern-day Ohio, which they had agreed to vacate in the Treaty of Paris. The British occupation of the forts left American frontier settlers living in those territories open to recurrent attacks by Indian tribes.Britain continued to seize American ships carrying military supplies and force or â€Å"impress† the American sailors into the service of the British Royal Navy to fight against France. When France went to war with Great Britain in 1793, the long period of global peace that had helped the newly-independent United States flourish in both trade and revenue ended. America’s intent to remain neutral in the European war was tested when between 1793 and 1801, the British Royal Navy, without warning, captured nearly 250 American merchant ships carrying goods from French colonies in the West Indies. The combination of these and other lingering issues and animosities brought the U.S. and Britain back to the brink of war in the late 1700s. US Response and Politics The American public was outraged, especially by Britain’s seizure of American ships, cargo, and impressment of sailors. In Congress, Thomas Jefferson demanded passage of a declaration of war. James Madison, however, called for a trade embargo on all British goods as a more moderate response. At the same time, British officials made matters even worse by selling rifles and other weapons to the First Nations Indian tribes near the Canadian- American border and telling their leaders that they no longer needed to respect the border. American political leaders were bitterly divided on how to respond. Led by Jefferson and Madison, the Democratic-Republicans favored aiding the French in its war with Britain. However, Hamilton’s Federalists argued that negotiating for peaceful relations with Britain- especially trade relations- could turn the British into a lasting and powerful ally. President George Washington agreed with Hamilton and sent Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Jay to London to negotiate an all-encompassing treaty- Jay’s Treaty. Negotiations and Terms of the Treaty Despite his well-known command of diplomacy, Jay faced a daunting negotiating task in London. He believed that his best bargaining chip was the threat that America would assist the neutral Danish and the Swedish governments in preventing the British from forcibly seizing their goods. However, what Jay did not know was that in a well-intentioned attempt to establish good-will with Britain, Hamilton had independently informed British leadership that the U.S. government had no intention of helping any of the neutral European nations. In doing this, Hamilton left Jay with little clout in demanding concessions from the British. When Jay’s Treaty was finally signed in London on November 19, 1794, the American negotiators had won only two immediate concessions. The British agreed to vacate its forts in the northern United States territories by June 1796. In addition, Britain agreed to grant the United States the advantageous â€Å"most favored nation† trading status, but greatly limited U.S. trade to emerging lucrative markets in the British West Indies.   Most other outstanding issues, including British seizures of American ships and repayment of U.S. pre-Revolutionary War debts to Britain, were left to be decided later through the relatively new process of international arbitration. Jay was forced to concede that during the undefined period of arbitration, Britain could continue to seize U.S. goods headed for France on American ships if they paid for them and could seize French goods transported on American ships without payment. However, Jay failed in his attempt to negotiate an end to Britain’s impressment of American sailors into the Royal Navy, a sore point which would slowly fester into a key issue driving the War of 1812. While the American public, feeling it overly advantageous to Britain loudly objected to Jay’s Treaty, it passed in the U.S. Senate by a 20 to 10 vote on June 24, 1795. Despite the many objections against doing so, President Washington implemented the treaty, considering it to be the price of a period of peace during which the United States could rebuild its funds and military forces in the event of future conflicts. Jay’s Treaty and Indian Rights Article III of Jay’s Treaty granted all Indians, American citizens, and Canadian subjects the perpetual right to freely travel between the United States and Canada, then a British territory, for purposes travel or trade. Since then, the United States has honored this agreement by codifying its provision in Section 289 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, as amended. As a result of Jay’s Treaty, â€Å"Native Indians born in Canada are therefore entitled to enter the United States for the purpose of employment, study, retirement, investing, and/or immigration.† Today, Article III of Jay’s Treaty is cited as the basis of many legal claims filed against the U.S. and Canadian governments by Indians and Indian tribes. Impact and Legacy of Jay’s Treaty Historians generally agree that in terms of modern international diplomacy, Jay got the â€Å"short end of the stick,† by having achieved only two minor immediate concessions from the British. However, as Historian Marshall Smelser points out, Jay’s Treaty did achieve President Washington’s primary goal- preventing another war with Great Britain, or at least delaying that war until the United States could become financially, politically, and militarily able to fight it.   In 1955, historian Bradford Perkins conclude that Jay’s treaty brought the United States and Great Britain from within a sword’s point of war in 1794 to the brink of the true and lasting friendship and cooperation that endures today. â€Å"Through a decade of world war and peace, successive governments on both sides of the Atlantic were able to bring about and preserve a cordiality which often approached genuine friendship,† he wrote.   Sources Bemis, Samuel Flagg. â€Å"Jays Treaty and the Northwest Boundary Gap. Harvard College Library First Nations and Native Americans United States Embassy, Consular Services Canada.Karl S. Hele.Lines Drawn upon the Water: First Nations and the Great Lakes Borders and Borderlands Wilfrid Laurier University PressElkins, Stanley M. and Eric McKitrick. The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788–1800 February 1, 1995. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN-13: 978-0195093810Smelser, Marshall. The Democratic Republic, 1801-1815 Waveland Press. March 1, 1992. ISBN-13: 978-0881336689Perkins, Bradford. The First Rapprochement: England and the United States, 1795–1805 University of California Press. ISBN-13: 978-052000998

Napoleonic War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Napoleonic War - Essay Example The fierce competition started as a power struggle between the two nations. At that time, the size of Britain’s army was small, and had lost many battles in the European nations. The revolution pushed France into mayhem, the ruins of which, gave rise to the most powerful army led by Napoleon Buonaparte. Napoleon was born in 1769 in a poor family. The feudal government of France received a severe blow in 1789 from almost all other European nations. This lasted for almost two decades of warfare with all the other competing empires trying to impose their view of balanced power. Consequently, many wars were fought over many large areas and were thence referred to as the First World War. This era was divided into the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic Empire. With the advent of Napoleon Bonaparte, the French Revolution and the subsequent republic experienced tumbling of the French monarchy and its replacement by a series of intermittent violent civilian directions. At the peak of this period, known as â€Å"The Terror† the King and Queen were cruelly put to death. This stimulated the other European nations towards France, and vowed that the resulting nation would never enjoy the cooperation of other European leaders. This is when Napoleon Bonaparte seized the control of French government. With his unusual intelligence and charisma, Napoleon started climbing steps of success one after the other. Before moving as the French artillery officer, Napoleon struggled against French domination in Corscia, a place on the border of Europe. Napoleon was made the Lieutenant in 1792 at the age of 23. A year later, his genius personality led him to becoming the Brigadier-General. After two years, he was able to successfully fight the Austrian troops. Though situation was bad for the French, Napoleon was highly confident of his abilities for battle and was given the command of French armies. Napoleon Bonaparte became the first ambassador of French rebellion in

The chassis of a typical motorcycle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The chassis of a typical motorcycle - Essay Example dy components are made from cast-able aluminum, we will discuss here, the characteristics for aluminum casting with reference to its various grades, as this is the best non-ferrous casting alloy and Accordingly, the proper aluminum grade is to be selected, depending on the type of casting. In most of the cases, â€Å"Twin Spar† type aluminum is used for the manufacture of a motorbike frame. The further techniques and processes for the manufacture of this chassis involve welding, tube manipulation and profiling, sheet metal work and Jigging, tooling. These are described here in brief This process is involved when the product turnover is huge .As indicated above, the sand casting or die-casting techniques are used for the manufacture of a motorbike chassis. However die-casting is the technique mostly used for the aluminum chassis manufacture. The process can be either hot chamber or cold chamber die casting methods. The molds involved are required to be quality tested frequently due to their high ware and tear. Various casting processes have their respective advantages and limitations. Some of them are detailed below Apart from the nonferrous metals like aluminum, which are used for die-casting to manufacture the motorbike chassis, other non-metal materials are used currently. These include high resistance and strong polymer based compounds that may need a different casting procedure. The road-going version of Norton featherbed frame was manufactured using electric arc welding process only. However, the technology has advance a lot since then and it is now found that electric arc welding may not be suitable for the chassis building as the requirement of the tubing wall thickness here is more than 2mm, which makes the material expensive. This is also called CO2 gas welding. The weld material is in the form aof a wire or electrode and the gas fed as a shroud is the mixture of carbon dioxide and argon. While, the process is used mostly for steel tubing and other

Hip hop Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Hip hop - Essay Example It was very entertaining using dictionaries to write rhymes and rapping about science and issues that affected the society.Hip hop is made up of four basic elements: DJing,MCing, Breakdancing and Aerosol Art (Graffiti).AfrikaBambaatana, popularly known as ‘Godfather of Hip-hop,’ pioneered the first artistic battles that incorporated the four elements of hip-hop as a tactic in substituting violent disputes. Discussion In the recent times, gangster rap has grown to become mainstream and thus influencing children so much that they don’t have interest in listening to hip-hop that fails to mention pimping, smoking of blunts or drinking(Holmes&Brad,2008). Media on the other hand has played a major role in fusinggangster rap and hip-hop. Gangster rap is classified under MCing, and this is just one –fourth of what hip-hop is made up of. It is therefore not logical to define hip-hop basing on gangster rap since it does not address the contribution made by the other three elements. However, gangster rap has been glamorized by the corporate media(Holmes & Brad, 2008). They have managed to use it in marketing of their products and labeling it ‘Hip-hop.’ It is beyond any doubt that in our recent society, hip-hop has proved to be very marketable hence being used as a marketing strategy for selling products ranging from clothes to shoes to liquor to dolls, just mention but a few. Most corporate companies which use hip-hop to advertise and promote their products have led to the emergence of postmodern generation of youths with massive buying power. These corporate companies are on the fore front in theorizing pedagogies of consumptions as a way of appropriating the differences facing the youths in different locations and sites. For instance, Co-cola Company used a famous song ‘Waving Flag’ by a Somali born musician K’naan. The song received lots of attention from the youth all over the world because of its strong mess age and entertaining rhythm. Coca-Cola Company must have chosen the song because of its richness in culture and the energy. The song mixes the Ethiopian culture with that of other parts of the world. K’naan’s song is rich in language and very interestingly combines the Canadian accent with the Somali accent. In this case, the song has managed to bring the two languages together and thus the youths coming from the two locations appreciate each other’s language as well as culture. Being a Somali born and living in Canada,K’Naan has managed to bring people from different races together with his song. The song was unanimously acclaimed by people from different races since it did not look down upon other races. Coke successfully managed to use K’Naan’s song as a campaign song for the 2010 Fifa World Cup tournament in Africa. The music captured the host-continent’s spirit and the celebratory mood associated with soccer in stadiums. Coke wan ted a song that could cross borders easily and capture people’s heart. They needed a song that would be in line with its world marketing strategy, a song that would open happiness and bring joy to its target group. The artist was also to have an inspiring backstory(Duane, 2010). Coke’s marketing team fell in love with K’Naan, his multinational upbringing and the sweeping melody and chorus of his song, â€Å"Waving’ Flag†. The song talked of K’

Personal reflective paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Personal reflective paper - Essay Example They stated that I was not audible and I was not convincing. Since then, I have put a lot of attention on my communication. Despite achieving some improvements, I am yet to learn how to use non-verbal communication skills. However, in order to lead other subordinates in the organization, I need to learn how to use these skills. Currently, the market keeps on changing. Therefore, the organization are employing employees who emanates diverse culture, religion, race, and gender. This is meant to enable the organizations to deal with varying challenges. However, diverse groups are facing various challenges because such people have different ways of dealing with issues. Therefore, conflicts are rampant in such groups. As a leader, I will be faced with a challenge of ensuring that these groups work as a single unit. Therefore, I need to learn on how to work with diverse groups. One of my worst leadership experience occurred during my high school years. As a leader, I was delegating responsibilities to the other team members. Therefore, I was not participating in the task. However, during the presentation of the assignment, the panel announced that the leaders of the groups were the ones to present the assignments. I was not prepared and I had no idea on what the team member had drafted. Therefore, we failed as a group and we were forced to repeat the whole unit. My best leadership experience came during my internship. I was assigned a number of international students who came from different counties and placed in the organization. I was informed that I had to train them how to work as a single unit. In order to achieve this role, I made it mandatory for them to communicate each day. In addition, I emphasized that they were supposed to appreciate the diverse views of each other. Furthermore, they were to use their diverse skills towards achieving the overall objective

Race and your community Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Race and your community - Research Paper Example It shall present my account of how human interactions in my community have been racialized. This analysis is being undertaken in the hope of coming up with a thorough and analytical assessment of the race in relation to the community, in the hope of clearly establishing the trends and patterns of human behavior. First and foremost, I am of Romanian, African-American, and Indian descent. As a child, our family moved around a lot and because of this, I was exposed to and I grew up in a mixed community. When, I joined the service, I was still in a mixed community – living and being exposed to Caucasians, African-Americans, Asians, Europeans, and other races. At present, I am still in a mixed community, being exposed to different races and cultural groups. Some of the members of my community look like me. My features are predominantly African-American and some of the members of my community look the way I do. My coloring is not as dark as those who are of pure African-American descent and so, I am slightly different from them in this regard. About 35 percent of my community is of African-American descent. About forty percent of the community is Caucasian and I do not look like them at all because of my stronger African-American features. The leaders within my community are sometimes ambivalent to people like me. Most of the leaders are Caucasians (whites) and they seem to treat people who look like me with suspicion. One time, I complained with the leaders about a Caucasian neighbor who liked to play loud music at most times of the night. They spoke to the neighbor, but they did not do so with firm authority. After a few days of quiet, my neighbor resumed his loud music. In order to avoid any trouble, I just tried my best to ignore the loud antics of my neighbor. I saw however how differently I was treated by the leaders when it was my neighbor’s turn to complain when I

Political science questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Political science questions - Essay Example This came as a stark contrast with the Bush Administration, who continued to state and restate the need for American forces in Iraq to continue the humanitarian mission that was started in 2003. For international relations as a whole, the Obama Doctrine means that Americans can expect more open and collaborative relationships with foreign countries. However, according to some critics, it may also lead to more appeasement to corruption and violence overseas. 2. The â€Å"Great Recession† of the late 2000s started with the 2007 financial crisis and it has affected the global economy. In 2009, the recession ended because the United States experienced two consecutive quarters of growth in GDP. Despite the official end of the recession, the U.S. still suffers from high unemployment, low home prices, and inflation. Even while these problems persist through the official end of the recession, the world is arguably in a much better place than it was in 2007 and 2008 when the financial crisis began. The global economy has adjusted by changing who is growing and who is not growing in their economies. While the United States, Russia, and much of Europe remain slow to grow after the recession, China and India continue to grow despite the slowdown. In this sense, growth in the world economy did not decrease and instead, it shifted elsewhere. 3. The American Tea Party stands for any number of populist and conservative ideals, but the members of the movement consistently state their desire to lower the national debt. They claim that the most direct path to that goal is fiscal responsibility and accountability from legislators. The primary method the Tea Party uses is protests, which they organize and carry out very effectively. Because the Tea Party is a grassroots organization, it has a broad range of support from everyday Americans. The Tea Party is also increasing in power and in the attention they receive from the national media. By having a larger number of party m embers and more attention, the Tea Party is able to put more pressure on politicians to create fiscally responsible legislation that is either neutral to the national debt or reduces it. The Tea Party puts the most pressure on Republicans because the Tea Party is often seen as an outgrowth of the Republican Party. For that reason, some prominent Republican in Congress are shifting over to embrace the Tea Party label, which appeals to a wider base of supporters and plays into the Tea Party goal of making a more responsible and accountable federal government. 4. In 2011, President Obama handed over control of the military intervention in Libya in order to allow the United Nations to carry out its long-held responsibility to maintain peace in the country. Earlier this year, a number of countries decided to take immediate military action to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya, which involved missile strikes and fly-overs by American forces. Although the United States has participated in bo mbings and surveillance of Libya, the United Nations is largely organizing the military intervention. Allowing NATO and the UN to take over but keeping a large role for the United States was an intelligent move on President Obama’s part because it demonstrates the collaborative spirit of the Obama Doctrine and it avoids the costly role that the United States took in Iraq and Afghanistan. In late March, the NATO

Race and your community Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Race and your community - Research Paper Example It shall present my account of how human interactions in my community have been racialized. This analysis is being undertaken in the hope of coming up with a thorough and analytical assessment of the race in relation to the community, in the hope of clearly establishing the trends and patterns of human behavior. First and foremost, I am of Romanian, African-American, and Indian descent. As a child, our family moved around a lot and because of this, I was exposed to and I grew up in a mixed community. When, I joined the service, I was still in a mixed community – living and being exposed to Caucasians, African-Americans, Asians, Europeans, and other races. At present, I am still in a mixed community, being exposed to different races and cultural groups. Some of the members of my community look like me. My features are predominantly African-American and some of the members of my community look the way I do. My coloring is not as dark as those who are of pure African-American descent and so, I am slightly different from them in this regard. About 35 percent of my community is of African-American descent. About forty percent of the community is Caucasian and I do not look like them at all because of my stronger African-American features. The leaders within my community are sometimes ambivalent to people like me. Most of the leaders are Caucasians (whites) and they seem to treat people who look like me with suspicion. One time, I complained with the leaders about a Caucasian neighbor who liked to play loud music at most times of the night. They spoke to the neighbor, but they did not do so with firm authority. After a few days of quiet, my neighbor resumed his loud music. In order to avoid any trouble, I just tried my best to ignore the loud antics of my neighbor. I saw however how differently I was treated by the leaders when it was my neighbor’s turn to complain when I

Free

Free Will and Determination Essay Do you make your own choices or your destiny has been decided for you by circumstances behind your control? For thousands of years, this question has puzzled philosophers, scientist and anyone who thinks about how they choose to act and live. Part of the complexity of the matter is related to the metaphysical nature of the subject which has a close affinity with the concept of GOD. Some people think that Everything that happens in nature and life is predetermined. Morality, love, hate and free will is just an illusion(Ward, 2005) while others think, human beings have an absolute and total freedom to enjoy all the deeds and actions unconstrained by any external forces, fate or divine intervention ( Sadegh, 2011). There are at least three main approaches to the problem of free will and determinism. First is deterministic approach. Determinists main idea is that all events are caused and the caused events are never free, (Ward, 2005). The future state of things can be explained and predicted by knowing the current state of the things and the way they are affected by the work of natural laws, (Ward, 2005). This approach implies that the urge to eat, for example, is governed by our internal need and the search for food is also a natural reaction to this need. When a person is on a diet and limits his food intakes at the time of hunger, the deterministic view explains that this restriction is not by choice but it is a natural response to the health concern. To make things more complicated, if the person fails to follow his diet and fall off the wagon, the failure is attributed to the winning of the hunger force over health conscious force. The Libertarianism approach on the other hand, recognizes free will, and the ability to make choices unconstrained by forces such as physical laws, fate and divine desire. Man’s decisions are influenced, but not caused (Sadegh, 2011). The question of free will has important implications for our moral responsibility. If we do not have free will, and our behavior is determined by what came before us, like our environment, genetics and our parents then what does that mean for our justice system and our idea of crime and punishment? How do we treat individuals who commit crimes if we believe their backgrounds led them to the crimes? The third approach towards the issue of Free will and Determinism is the compatibility view or a combination of both. This simply means that determinism and freewill are not absolute concepts and freedom is compatible with determinism because freedom essentially just a matter of not being constrained in certain way when one acts or makes a choice. The reality is that humans have some degree of free will within the boundaries of determinism. Normal adult human beings in normal circumstances are able to act and choose freely. No one is holding a gun to their heads. Therefore they are fully free to choose and act even if their whole physical and psychological makeup is determined by thing that they had no control over like genetic inheritance and early upbringing. It is true that our choices are limited by some circumstances, but it does not mean that we are not free in those circumstances. Only compulsion, panic or uncontrollable impulse really removes our freedom to choose. Even when our finger is being forced down on the button, we can still act freely in resisting the pressure. Going back to my hunger example, although hunger is a natural reaction to seek food, and man might not have control over this mechanism, he is certainly in control of the way he is reacting toward this need. What to eat, when to eat and even how much to eat, are some of the decisions that man can make. Of course we can’t do everything we want to do, we might want to fry unassisted or end civil war in Africa or even free all women from abuse. But that is not free will, free will is simply a matter of having true and genuine options and opportunities for action, and being able to choose between those options according to what we want and think. One of the strongest evidence for supporting free will is human conscience. When people do something that is against their moral values they feel shame and regret and they try to use their negative experience to avoid making the same mistakes in future. This behavior and emotional response indicate that humans have a free nature. The existence of shame is unexplainable with a deterministic view. The fact that people admire and praise the good and rebuke the evil is also a confirmation of free will. Growing up and going to school in a Muslim society, we were encouraged to think, talk and write about free will and determination. The main reason was to teach us the responsibility of our actions, despite knowing that God is aware and in control of everything. It might have been difficult to understand such a philosophical concept at the time but now I am at peace with this concept due to the early teaching of Islam. Islam provides a comprehensive answer to the Free will and determinism debate. Islam, more than 1200 years ago stated: No Determinism, No Free will but something in between. According to Islam, the choices of man are not entirely determined by God. Man indeed is a free agent and freely makes choices, but these choices are limited. One of the reasons for the creation of the world is to provide a ground for humans to flourish and qualify for divine satisfaction. God will reward or punish people in the hereafter based on their deeds. One way to characterize the concept of ultimate responsibility for one’s action is by refereeing to the story of hell and heaven. If we are responsible for what we do, then it make sense to propose that it could be just to punish some in hell and reward others in heaven. It makes sense because what we do is absolutely up to us. But, one certainly does not have to believe in the story of heaven and hell in order to understand and believe the notion of responsibility. Karl Popper, one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century also recognised that there had to be some balance between complete determinism (clocks) and complete disorder and chance (clouds), (Haselhurst ,2012). â€Å"What we need for understanding rational human behaviour and indeed, animal behaviour is something intermediate in character between perfect chance and perfect determinism something intermediate between perfect clouds and perfects clocks (Popper, 1972, p.232)† (Haselhurst ,2012). 1. Ward, K. Baron, D’Holbach And Determinism, open source buddhism Oxford University Press (2005) 2. Sadegh, M (2011) Citing website. Free will and determination in Islam. Retrieved Feb 20, 2013, from http://www. bsharat. com/id/1/2/1jabr. html 3. Haselhurst, G, (2012) Citing website. Philosophy of Education. Retrieved Fed 20, 2013, from http://www. spaceandmotion. com/Philosophy-Free-Will-Determinism. htm.

What are the key elements of cbt

What are the key elements of cbt According to Beck, the cognitive approach to psychotherapy is best viewed as the application of the cognitive model of a particular disorder with the use of a variety of techniques designed to modify dysfunctional beliefs and faulty information processing characteristic of each disorder. At its current stage of development, CBT is considered one of the best validated psychotherapies available (Bennett-Levy et al. 2004, Salkovskis 1996), indeed, surveys indicate that CBT is fast becoming the majority orientation of practising psychologists (Gaudiano 2008). The fundamental premise of CBT is that emotional experience, behaviour and physiological sensations are influenced by individuals cognitive processes. Each of these realms of human experience is synergistically co-determining, with cognition mediating their reciprocal interrelationship (Sanders and Wills 2005); Clark Steer in Salkovskis, 1996). CBT asserts that the appraisal or meaning assigned by an individual to these processes t hat will determine their impact on psychological well-being (Beck 1976). Essentially, there may be several alternative ways of looking at experiences (Salkovskis 1996), that individuals actively construct their realities (Clark Steer in Salkovskis, 1996). The crucial role of cognitions in predisposing and maintaining psychological difficulties is emphasised, cognitive techniques are therefore viewed as a key element of the intervention process (Clark Steer in Salkovskis, 1996). The CBT model proposes that psychopathology is the product of faulty information processing that manifests itself in distorted and dysfunctional thinking which directly leads to negative emotions and maladaptive behaviours. Therapy aims to help clients identify and modify these distorted patterns of thinking (Bennett-Levy et al. 2004) by empowering them to choose alternative ways of interpreting and reacting, drawing from the fullest possible range of alternatives available. Psychopathology is conceptualise d as occurring on a continuum, symptoms being viewed as extreme variants of relatively common human experiences. For example, in anxiety disorders, cognitive models specify circumstances under which otherwise normal cognitive processes become stuck resulting in pathological levels of anxiety (Salkovskis 1996). Furthermore, CBT postulates the existence of cognitive styles and biases characteristic of particular psychological disorders known as the cognitive content specificity hypothesis. In practice, CBT is a collaborative, time limited, structured, educational, empirical and active form of therapy utilising a variety of methods, some specific to CBT, others adopted from other therapeutic approaches. Not only has CBT developed rapidly since Becks seminal work on depression, it has also changed greatly over the last 15 years with the emergence of CBTs 3rd wave approaches (Mansell 2008). Therapies falling under the CBT umbrella now include problem-solving therapy, DBT, ACT, rational-emotive behaviour therapy, cognitive processing therapy, MBCT and cognitive behavioural analysis of psychotherapy (Gaudiano 2008). Initially, this paper will explore the defining characteristics of conventional, mainstream CBT providing a brief overview of therapys structured format, its emphasis on collaborative therapeutic relationships and its cognitive and behavioural intervention techniques. The paper will endeavour to highlight throughout the defining characteristics of CBT, namely, i ts empirical, educational, parsimonious and adaptable approach to treatment using examples from a variety of clinical disorders. Examination of the main tenets of CBT will be followed by discussion of limitations associated with the approach. CBT has been criticised on multiple fronts, both from within CBT and from alternative therapeutic perspectives (Andersson and Asmundson 2008). A number of CBTs critiques will be examined including CBTs coherence as a theoretical framework, the role of the therapeutic relationship, its applicability across various populations and its current status within the broader socio-political context of mental health care provision. Limitations will be evaluated given recent developments within the discipline, primarily the emergence of the complementary therapeutic approaches heretofore mentioned. This paper will examine whether recent developments have sufficiently addressed CBTs limitations and will conclude with a discussion of possible areas of futur e research and development within the discipline. Case Conceptualisation CT is not a technique driven treatment, it should be driven by individual case conceptualisations that are based on a specific cognitive model (Wells 1997). The CBT assessment is a valuable opportunity to engage and socialise the client in the CBT approach, in which the therapist encourages the client to view therapy as a no lose experiment. In contrast to other therapeutic approaches, CBT assessments primarily focus on a detailed description of the current presenting problem (frequency, circumstances/situational aspects and associated distress levels), analysis of symptom, cognitive and behavioural details, historical and aetiological factors (primarily predisposing or triggering factors) and social/environmental influences. The majority of assessment is devoted to the identification and objectification of current presenting problems. Symptom presentation may be analysed in terms of its antecedents, associated appraisals and beliefs and emotional or behavioural consequences (Wells 1 997). In panic disorder, assessment would focus on the nature of catastrophic misinterpretations, a detailed description of the primary feared symptoms and the nature of safety and avoidance behaviours (Wells 1997). During assessment and indeed throughout the course of therapy, symptom and mood measures are used to establish base line rates and to assist in monitoring progress over time. Assessment is an important element of the formulation or cognitive case conceptualisation process. Case conceptualisation is envisaged as the process whereby client and therapist reach a shared understanding of the origins, development and maintenance of the clients problems. The formulation is an overview, essentially a working hypothesis, which is open to testing and verification throughout therapy and provides a tentative intervention plan. Conceptualisation is an active and continuing process throughout therapy, thus, the formulation is open to addition and revision as therapy proceeds (Sanders and Wills 2005). As the client becomes increasingly socialised in the CBT approach, SBs and cognitive biases may be incorporated into the initial formulation to aid clarity, understanding and planning. Crucially, the evolving formulation educates the client in the interaction between thoughts, emotions, behaviour and physiology, illustrating how the elements interact, trigger and maintain their problems. The assessment and formulation process allow the therapist to draw upon their knowledge of cognitive models of psychological difficulties, tailoring these models and associated protocols to the individuals case conceptualisation, thereby creating a bridge between theory and practice. At its simplest level, the formulation may be a diagrammatic representation of the clients problems, in which therapist and client plot the sequence of events in symptom presentation, often using vicious cycles (Wells 1997). The formulation represents the first stage in creating a cognitive set for the processing of alternative explanation of the clients problems (Wells 1997). However, there is a scarcity of evidence linking quality or style of formulation and therapeutic outcome (Sanders and Wills 2005); its value lies, from a practitioner viewpoint, in representing a roadmap of how therapy might proceed and possible intervention avenues. Structure and Format The brief nature of CBT necessitates a highly structured and goal directed format to be adopted from the outset. Through the negotiation of agendas, goals, a problem list, summaries and completion of self-guided activities (homework) (Padesky and Greenberger 1995), CBT maintains a focused, results oriented approach. At the beginning of each therapy session, an agenda is collaboratively devised and agreed upon, each session typically including a review of the clients mood, feedback, client and therapist agenda items, review and agreement of homework tasks (Sanders and Wills 2005). In early therapy sessions, the generation of a problem list (a practice inherited from behaviourism) highlights the main areas in which the client wishes to see improvement and guides target areas (Sanders and Wills 2005). Goal setting, which typically occurs at the end of the assessment, allows client and therapist to clearly define and operationalise the gains the client wishes to make by the end of therap y (Sanders and Wills 2005). A central component of CBT practice is self guided activity or homework. CBTs educational and self-help ethos seeks to empower the individual to ultimately become their own therapist, the completion of homework tasks outside session reinforce this learning experience. Homework can be enormously varied, from reading self help material to conducting behavioural experiments. Ideally, homework is devised collaboratively with a clear rationale for treatment gain. As therapy proceeds and the client becomes increasingly socialised to CBT, the client can adopt an increasingly independent role in devising homework with decreasing levels of therapist input. CBTs brief duration is greatly aided by the completion of homework outside session, enabling therapy to occur continuously in the clients own time. Successful homework completion has been associated with improved therapeutic outcomes, with clients who consistently complete homework between sessions improving more than patients who do not (B urns Auerbach in Salkovskis, 1996). Treatment including homework produced improved outcomes than treatment consisting entirely of in-session work (Kazantzis et al. 2003) Collaborative Therapeutic Alliance CBTs core competencies (Roth Pilling, 2007) affirm the importance of a collaborative therapeutic relationship within clinical practice. Competency as a CBT practitioner requires not only knowledge of cognitive models of psychopathology but also the ability to apply its theory in a structured manner. In practice, therapists must be able to formulate a useful case conceptualisation and apply empirically based clinical interventions within a collaborative therapeutic relationship (Padesky and Greenberger 1995). The collaborative element of the therapeutic relationship necessitates the adoption of a team work approach. This is underscored during therapy through the elicitation of client feedback, joint agreement of goals and frequent summaries by therapist and client to check understanding and learning. Collaboration is fostered by curiosity and inquisitiveness on the therapists behalf, both parties working in parallel towards achieving therapy goals. In contrast to alternative therapeutic approaches such as Psychodynamic, the therapeutic relationship is not conceived in of itself, to be the primary vehicle of clinical change in CBT. Beck, 1976, argued that although the qualities of a good therapeutic relationship are necessary, they are not sufficient as therapies active ingredient. Once the basic elements of the therapeutic relationship are established, CBT interventions may proceed (Burns Auerbach in Salkovskis, 1996). The importance of the therapeutic relationship within CBT has been reasserted over recent years. Demonstration that non-specific therapy factors, that is, the therapeutic relationship have an additive contribution to clinical improvement independent of CBT techniques has emphasised the importance of the alliance within CBT. These research findings illustrate that client subjective appraisal of the quality of the therapeutic relationship and therapist empathy are crucial (Squier 1990). Clients of practitioners wh o where rated as warmest and most empathic improved significantly more than patients of therapists with the lowest empathy ratings. Therefore, the quality of the therapeutic relationship, even in a technical form of therapy like CBT, has a significant impact on clinical improvement (Sanders and Wills 2005). As with other forms of therapy, the fundamental characteristics of a good therapeutic relationship such as accurate listening, empathy and congruence are vital for effective CBT practice (Sanders and Wills 2005). Guided Discovery Guided discovery, the primary learning process within CBT, teaches clients to question their own thoughts and beliefs (Padesky and Greenberger 1995). Therapists guide discovery verbally through questioning and experientially through BEs. Through this process, clients evaluate alternative perspectives or information which may be outside their immediate conscious awareness but when considered informs and impacts their existing thoughts, predictions and beliefs. Through the practice of collaborative empiricism, client and therapist adopt an experimental approach (Wells 1997), treating thoughts as hypotheses open to testing and verification (Padesky and Greenberger 1995). CBT encompasses interventions targeting cognitive content, from NATs to schema level and cognitive processes known as metacognition. Using Socratic dialogue, the therapist guides the client to uncover new information, integrating and generalizing these new insights into their thinking. The use of synthesising questions allows the therapist and client to extrapolate from the concrete to the abstract, applying information gleaned in the current discussion to previous ideas, thus facilitating generalizability and the construction of new beliefs. Socratic dialogue has been conceptualised as a means of loosening NATs, priming clients to consider alternative possibilities, increasing their range of attention, memory and highlighting cognitive biases in action. Thought records, a content focused intervention, enables the examination of evidence for and against a negative automatic thought, the identification of alternative perspectives and associated belief levels. The identification of the most salient or affect inducing thought (hot thought) focuses client and therapist on emotively charged and potentially debilitating or maintaining thoughts. Belief ratings assist in the distancing process, emphasising that thoughts are not true or false in a dichotomous sense. Moreover, thought records allow client and therapist to identify predictions which can be subjected to testing (Wells 1997). Whilst working with DAs, it may be more appropriate to emphasise the construction of new, more adaptive alternatives rather than attempting to disprove old rules using evidence for/against or examining pros/cons (Padesky and Greenberger 1995). Cognitive techniques targeting the core belief and schema levels such as positive data logs and retrospective though t records enable the generation of new helpful, alternative beliefs over a prolonged time period or the re-evaluation of past experiences using present day focus. Traditionally, CBT has tended to focus upon language content; metacognitive perspectives (thinking about thinking or the meaning of thinking) assert the importance of maladaptive cognitive processes in the development, maintenance and treatment of psychological problems. Advocates suggest that challenging of negative thoughts or beliefs targets the output or end product of dysfunctional metacognitive processes. Metacognitive awareness therefore highlights process level maintaining factors, for example, through the use of frequency counts; the client may record the number of intrusive thoughts or duration of ruminative thinking and associated impact on mood (Sanders and Wills 2005). Imagery based cognitive techniques are used when the clients thoughts and emotions present in visual rather than verbal form or when imagery is their preferred form of expression (Sanders Wills, 2005). For example, in social phobia, the clients fear of social rejection and perceived lack of coping skills may come to mind as an image of themselves blushing and being publicly humiliated. Therapeutic interventions focus upon restructuring or altering the form or content of images. The client can be encouraged to re-imagine an image, altering its appearance or creating a new ending finishing out (Wells 1997). In PTSD, in which intrusive memories and images maintain the current threat cycle, imagery techniques are used to contextualise the trauma image, embedding it within its historical context, thereby disabling its contribution to current threat perception. Behavioural techniques Behavioural intervention techniques such as activity scheduling and BEs have been described as the most powerful means of cognitive change (Wells 1997). The effectiveness of behavioural activation (BA), graded increases in activity levels and exercise has been demonstrated, particularly in depression (Westbrook et al. 2007). BA promotes improvements in mood and feelings of self-efficacy through focus upon increasing opportunities for enjoyment, mastery and pleasure. Activity schedules enable a baseline level to be established, plan future activities, increase problem solving and demonstrate to the client their current activities and achievements (Beck in Salkovkis, 1996). BA is typically the first intervention target in depression, progressive increases in activity levels and associated improvements in mood allow therapy to proceed to more cognitively focused tasks which may have been initially impossible. BEs are experiential exercises which enable clients to test hypotheses through action, reality check their predictions and generate new perspectives thus facilitating emotionally grounded change (Bennett-Levy et al. 2004). BEs are highly adaptable in design and implementation, in which the client may be an active participant or observer, can occur independently or with therapist support either in session or in vivo. BEs are most successful, that is, produce maximum cognitive change if outcomes that support the various hypotheses are clearly operationalised, results are reviewed in detail and their impact on existing beliefs openly discussed (Bennett-Levy et al. 2004). The potency of BEs as learning experiences means that a limited number of well designed BEs can not only target NATs but also begin to undermine dysfunctional assumptions and beliefs. Informed by the experiential learning cycle and adult learning theory, BE design is envisaged as containing four key elements: planning, experiencing, observing and reflecting. Each stage represents an opportunity to question predictions, generate new ideas and test them in everyday life. Theoretical considerations of the mechanisms of change underlying BEs invoke multilevel information processing models such as Teasdales ICS model (Teasdale in Salkovskis, 1996). ICS outlines two qualitatively different information processing systems, a propositional, logical, rational, verbal, affect-free processing system and an implicational, non-linguistic, rapid, experiential, emotionally salient learning system. According to the ICS model, the value of BEs is their ability to create enactive procedures that activate different schematic models. Essentially, BEs enable enactment of different ways of being rather than solely providing evidence which when rationally considered leads to belief chang e. In contrast to the cognitive techniques previously discussed, BEs are though to operate on both the propositional and implicational levels enabling a felt sense of their results. It is assumed that verbal cognitive techniques exclusively operate on the propositional level unless affect is stimulated. Research conducted with trainee practitioners has demonstrated that BEs produce significantly greater cognitive and behavioural change than thoughts records (Bennett-Levy 2003), although evidence for their specific effectiveness is sparse (Bennett-Levy et al. 2004). CBTs oft quoted limitations have been described as myths by those within mainstream CBT (Westbrook et al. 2007), critiques have originated however both within and external to the discipline (Andersson and Asmundson 2008). The following discussion will examine some of the main themes of this somewhat polarized debate, contextualising views within the reality of present day evidence-based, cost/efficiency focused, stepped care service delivery. It will argue that recent developments within CBT have done much to counteract its limitations and that CBTs future course will be defined by its ability to integrate increasingly fragmented perspectives into its ever evolving framework. Coherence According to Salkovskis, 2002, theory and empirical evaluation are central to developments within CBT; there is a continuous reciprocal relationship between science and practice. In recent years however, the necessity of cognitive intervention techniques, one of CBTs defining characteristics which differentiates it from other therapeutic approaches has been questioned (Jacobson et al. 1996). The necessity of logico-rational strategies to directly challenge and modify maladaptive thoughts has been questioned (Longmore and Worrell 2007);(Ilardi and Craighead 1994). A number of empirical anomalies within CBTs outcome literature have inspired this debate (Hayes et al. 2004). Component analyses investigating the necessary and effective elements of CBT have in some cases failed to demonstrate added value of cognitive intervention techniques. In a study of major depression, comparison of treatment conditions comprising of BA, BA with challenging of automatic thoughts and CBT resulted in equ ivalent performance across conditions at conclusion of therapy, 6 month follow up and in relapse rates at 2 years (Jacobson et al. 1996). The ambiguity has further intensified due to CBTs delay in researching its mechanisms of change, which according to (Burns and Spangler 2001) often fail to conform to cognitive model predictions. Additionally, measuring changes in the cognitive mediators of a disorder (thoughts and beliefs implicated by a cognitive model in disorder maintenance) do not appear to precede symptomatic improvement, thereby challenging cognitions assumed mediating role in therapeutic change. The course of this ongoing debate would appear to be directly in contrast with Salkovskis description of CBTs empirical focus above. The clarification of the essential and effective components of CBT practice across ranges of severity and CBT formats appears to be required (Waddington,) This equivocation is further exacerbated by characteristics instilled by CBTs integrative development. CBTs foundations in BT and CT have resulted in the development of a diverse and at times contradictory nomenclature (Mansell 2008). Its roots in clinical observations rather than empirical research, led to a disconnect with cognitive science and neuroscience (Gaudiano 2008). Furthermore, CBT has been criticised for its inability to define itself and its lack of coherence as a theoretical framework (Mansell, 2008). Although there is general agreement on the key characteristics of CBT, outlined earlier in this paper, there is not an accepted definition of the essential elements that comprise CBT. The recent proliferation of competing theoretical frameworks such as ICS, SPAARS, S-REF RFT has propelled CBT further from its foundations and towards increasing complexity and fragmentation. A reductionistic, mechanistic model of distress CBTs opponents have argued its approach is mechanistic, overly rationalistic (Greenberg and Safran 1987), fails to address the entire individual and has limited utility for people with long term or complex problems (Gaudiano, 2010). Critics cite its focus on the here and now, its lack of attention to developmental history, interpersonal relationships and CBTs technique driven focus governed by rigid protocols (Sanders and Wills, 2005). CBTs response has been two fold, further research and refinement of its cognitive models and intervention enhancements tackling enduring and complex problems utilising Schema Focused Therapy (SFT). For example, Becks initial schematic model of depression was augmented to include the concepts of modes and charges to account for findings of diathesis-stress, the relationship between cognition and personality and the phenomena of sensitization and remission (Beck in Salkovkis, 1996). This pattern can be observed in many cognitive models in which research findings have been integrated to provide a more comprehensive account, for example, the finding that self-directed attention is a critical mediator in social phobia. Schemas are unlikely to become a primary therapeutic target in conventional, short term CBT unless necessitated by client material or pose a significant risk factor for relapse. SFT developed from studies of CT non-responders and relapsers, so called treatment failures. These individuals were characterised as having more rigid cognitive structures, a history of chronic, lifelong psychological difficulties and deeply engrained maladaptive belief systems. These schemas were formed in troubled or abusive childhoods, resulting in the childs development of maladaptive coping or survival styles. Developed for the treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), SFT builds upon its CBT foundations assimilating elements from attachment, psychodynamic (particularly object relations) and emotion focused perspectives, incorporating a range of therapeutic techniques from these approaches (Kellogg and Young 2006). A primary mechanism of change within SFT is limited reparenting, therapist and c lient dialogues enable the nurturing of the client as an abandoned child thereby challenging harsh and punitive adult relationships from early childhood. The therapeutic relationship is the antithesis of traumatic childhood relationships, an arena for clients to identify and test beliefs about relationships, practice alternative new behaviours and learn new ways of relating (Sanders and Wills, 2005). Patients are guided to generalise what they have learned in the therapeutic relationship to relationships outside of therapy. Confrontational, adversarial and dehumanizing Critics have asserted that CBT frames the client as a passive recipient of technical interventions (Strong et al. 2008), the CBT practitioner as controlling, medicalising, concerned with employing techniques and seeking evidence (Mansell, 2008; Sanders Wills, 2005). The use of technical terminology such as administered and implemented within CBT does little to assuage these concerns. Conversely, CBT advocates maintain that it is not an assembly of techniques applied mechanistically (Salkovkis, 1996). Research has demonstrated that CBT patients rate their therapists higher on various relationship variables (interpersonal skills, accurate empathy and support) than psychodynamic therapists, their level of active listening was found to be equivalent to insight-oriented therapists (Keijsers et al. 2000). The integration of a compassion based focus within CBT has further enriched and reinforced the importance of the therapeutic alliance. Compassion focused therapy (CFT) developed from observations that people with high levels of shame and self-criticism find it difficult being warm, compassionate and kind to themselves (Gilbert 2009), that they often use a harsh, bullying manner when attempting to change their thoughts and behaviours. People who are unable to self-sooth find it difficult being reassured or remaining calm when considering alternative thoughts or engaging in new behaviours. In CFT, the role of the therapist to help the client experience safety in their interactions, to feel safe with what is explored in therapy and to ultimately replace self-criticism with self-kindness. In compassionate mind training, the client learns the skills and attributes of compassion through modelling of the therapists compassionate abilities. CFT focuses upon the client experiencing alternativ e thoughts as kind, supportive and helpful. Throughout therapy, the client is taught to use warmth, compassion and gentleness as their foundation from which to move into more challenging activities. Limited applicability to certain populations: the psychologically minded Critical evaluations of CBT have highlighted its potential weakness and limited evidence-base for children, older adults (Kazantzis et al. 2003) and people with intellectual disabilities (ID). Critics argue whether CBT models and techniques can be applied to these disparate populations or whether CBT is best suited for the population in which it was developed. The extant literature has highlighted particular characteristics that engender suitability for CBT including, the ability to access thoughts, recognise, differentiate and label emotions, link events and emotions, understand the mediating role of cognitions and assume responsibility for change (James et al, 2001). Within ID, research is required on potential barriers to treatment that may or may not arise from capacity and motivational factors. CBT being an essentially linguistic method presents unique challenges within ID, cognitive techniques being more difficult to apply as verbal ability decreases (Willner and Hatton 2006). Furthermore, there has been a paucity of research within mainstream CBT regarding the applicability and validity of CBT models to ID (Willner and Hatton 2006). NICE guidelines for children indicate CBT, in either group or individual format for depression (NICE, 2005) and moderate to severe ADHD (NICE, 2006). Research investigating child focused CBT interventions have been almost exclusively derived from adult treatment protocols, with insufficient attention devoted to their applicability to children (Cartwright-Hatton and Murray 2008) or developmentally appropriate intervention techniques (Doherr et al. 2005); (OConnor and Creswell 2008). For example, it has not yet been demonstrated, that a childs developmental stage predicts treatment outcome. The role of family in child-focused CBT is receiving increased attention. Research investigating parental cognitions as triggering or maintaining factors in childhood problems have resulted in their incorporation within child-focused models. A recent study demonstrated that socially phobic mothers encourage their infants to interact less with a friendly stranger than mothers with GAD, which is predi ctive of the extent to which the child subsequently shows anxiety in the presence of a stranger (de Rosnay et al. 2006). Parental anxiety has also been found to be a significant predictor of treatment failure of individual child treatment. Preliminary evidence suggests that treating one family member whether it is parent or child can have secondary effects on other family members difficulties. A panacea for psychological distress Clinical significance analysis reveals that one third to a half of clients achieve recovery following CBT (or any other form of psychological therapy) (Westbrook et al, 2007). Therefore, it is clear that CBT and other therapeutic approaches cannot be conceived as a panacea for psychological problems. For a number of disorders, specifically tailored variants of CBT are recommended, often in parallel with family centred approaches, for example, anorexia and bulimia nervosa (NICE, 2004). CBTs impressive evidence base for depression and anxiety disorder treatment has encouraged the creation of the Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme in the UK (Ghosh 2009). IAPT focuses upon rapid throughput of patients aiming to reduce waiting list times and move 50% of people treated towards recovery (Rachman and Wilson 2008). IAPT draws heavily upon the NICE depression guidelines and Layards work on happiness (Layard, 2006) which outlined the social and economic costs of depre ssion and psychological problems. Mental health research has been dominated by symptom based