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About Smart Phones

Smart phone, which has an advanced connectivity and computing capability, is a mobile phone that is developed on a mobile operating system platform. It is more advanced than the featured or common mobile phones. The first smart phones have minimal functionalities that mainly include mobile phone and PDA (personal digital assistant).However, later models are advanced and have many features and functionalities that include mobile phones, PDA, pocket video cameras, portable media players, compact digital camera, GPS navigation units, web browsers, high resolution touch screens and GPS navigation unit.

Devices that combine computing applications and telephone functions were developed in 1973,but their offer for sale began in 1994.It was in 1997 that the term smart phone appeared when Ericsson described the GS88 notion as a smart phone. The difference between the common or feature phones and smart phones is not clear, however, one of the major difference is the presence of APIS(advanced application programming interfaces on smart phones, which enable them to support third party applications. APIs enable apt integration of hardware and phone operating systems, a feature that is absent in common phones.

The first mobile phone to support personal digital assistant feature was an IBM prototype introduced in 1992 .The phone was presented for public viewing at COMDEX computer industry trade show in 1992.In 1994, a superior version started to be marketed and sold to consumers under the name Simon personal communicator. Marketing of the Simon was undertaken by BellSouth. Although the term smart phone had not been coined by then, the Simon can be referred to as smart phone because of its advanced features that were absent in common phones. Apart from receiving and making normal phone calls, the Simon was able to receive and send emails, pages and Facsimiles through the display presented by its touch screen. Other applications in the Simon include calendar, calculator, games, handwritten annotations, touch screen keyboards, address book and appointment scheduler (Lu,2012)

In 1996,the Nokia 9000 was released by Nokia. The smart phone, which was part of Nokia Communicator line was the best selling communication device in 1996.In a design referred to as clamshell design, Nokia 9000 consisted of a PDA and palmtop computer style fixed together in form of a hinge(Lu,2012). In 2001,Kyocera 6035 was introduced by Palm Inc. The mobile device integrated mobile phone with PDA and its operations were based on Verizon wireless network. Further, it supported internet browsing(Lu,2012)

In 2004,ipaq 6315 was released by HP. the device was able to integrate HP2215, the previous PDA with mobile phone capabilities(Lu,2012). Smart phones have been undergoing numerous and hi-tech changes to suit the ever changing generational tastes. In 2013, fairphone company released its socially ethical smart phone in London. The company emphasizes on changing the strategies employed in commercial works and supply chain strategies. The mobile operating system supported by smart phones include android developed by google, Ios formulated by apple inc, window phone unveiled by Microsoft inc, Bada, blackberry, palm OS, and Symbian(Lu,2012)

In conclusion the development of smart phone is a clear evidence that technology is advancing as time go by. In future, there is a high chance that state of art smart phones will be developed.

Reference

Lu, Z. (2012). Learning with mobile technologies, handheld devices, and smart phones:

Innovative methods. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.

Burnout for Healthcare Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Burnout in Healthcare

The healthcare system has undergone various changes over the years. A majority of those changes over the years have been made to make the healthcare system more efficient in achieving its role. The main role of the healthcare system has been to ensure that affordable healthcare services are made available to the citizens. As such, a majority of the changes which have occurred have been focused on the patients as the main stakeholders of the healthcare system. For the healthcare services to be made available to the patients, the healthcare institutions have also focused on maintaining profitability. Unfortunately, the changes to the healthcare system to ensure the affordability of services and the profitability of delivering the services have left the healthcare professionals (HPs) bearing the pressures and the burdensADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Sultana”,”given”:”Abida”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Sharma”,”given”:”Rachit”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Hossain”,”given”:”Md Mahbub”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Bhattacharya”,”given”:”Sudip”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Purohit”,”given”:”Neetu”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2020″]]},”publisher”:”SocArXiv”,”title”:”Burnout among healthcare providers during COVID-19 pandemic: Challenges and evidence-based interventions”,”type”:”article-journal”},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=b90daed4-92c4-4b42-8370-9b6048c38a6f”]},{“id”:”ITEM-2″,”itemData”:{“author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Chor”,”given”:”Wei Ping Daniel”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Ng”,”given”:”Wei Ming”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Cheng”,”given”:”Lenard”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Situ”,”given”:”Wangmin”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Chong”,”given”:”Jun Wei”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Ng”,”given”:”Ling Ying Abigail”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Mok”,”given”:”Pek Ling”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Yau”,”given”:”Ying Wei”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Lin”,”given”:”Ziwei”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”The American Journal of Emergency Medicine”,”id”:”ITEM-2″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2021″]]},”page”:”700″,”publisher”:”Elsevier”,”title”:”Burnout amongst emergency healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-center study”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”46″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=909279e5-f6b5-4533-b7cd-10d95ffc746d”]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Chor et al., 2021; Sultana et al., 2020)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Chor et al., 2021; Sultana et al., 2020)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Chor et al., 2021; Sultana et al., 2020)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Chor et al., 2021; Sultana et al., 2020). For example, more physicians are doing more clerical work, which either distracts them from providing adequate care to the patients or adds to their workload. As a result, HPs have been increasingly working in high-stress environments, which has led to the profession being characterized with high rates of burnout. With the advent of the novel coronavirus and the COVID-19 pandemic, the stressors in the healthcare working environment have only increased, resulting in higher rates of burnout for HPsADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Matsuo”,”given”:”Takahiro”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Kobayashi”,”given”:”Daiki”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Taki”,”given”:”Fumika”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Sakamoto”,”given”:”Fumie”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Uehara”,”given”:”Yuki”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Mori”,”given”:”Nobuyoshi”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Fukui”,”given”:”Tsuguya”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”JAMA network open”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issue”:”8″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2020″]]},”page”:”e2017271-e2017271″,”publisher”:”American Medical Association”,”title”:”Prevalence of health care worker burnout during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Japan”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”3″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=16d42042-03c4-4e77-ac2a-5db32ae8d57e”]},{“id”:”ITEM-2″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”1432-1246″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Jalili”,”given”:”Mohammad”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Niroomand”,”given”:”Mahtab”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Hadavand”,”given”:”Fahimeh”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Zeinali”,”given”:”Kataun”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Fotouhi”,”given”:”Akbar”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health”,”id”:”ITEM-2″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2021″]]},”page”:”1-8″,”publisher”:”Springer”,”title”:”Burnout among healthcare professionals during COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study”,”type”:”article-journal”},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=b410b3dc-0680-4575-b511-0214f3250a5f”]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Jalili et al., 2021; Matsuo et al., 2020)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Jalili et al., 2021; Matsuo et al., 2020)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Jalili et al., 2021; Matsuo et al., 2020)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Jalili et al., 2021; Matsuo et al., 2020). In case of future pandemics, measures should be implemented to improve the resilience of HPs to the increased stressors of a pandemic.

New Stressors for HPs During the Pandemic

When the pandemic was first experienced, it resulted in drastic changes to the healthcare institutions. Suddenly, a majority of the healthcare facilities were being stretched beyond their capacity to take care of the COVID-19 patients. The HPs were also a stretched resource since they were required to work longer hours, handle more patients, and have tighter work rotations. The number of critical cases they were also dealing with had also increased in frequency, which made many HPs feel as if they were operating out of their depthsADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“author”:[{“dropping-particle”:”V”,”family”:”Ferry”,”given”:”Amy”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Wereski”,”given”:”Ryan”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Strachan”,”given”:”Fiona E”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Mills”,”given”:”Nicholas L”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”QJM: An International Journal of Medicine”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2021″]]},”publisher”:”Oxford University Press”,”title”:”Predictors of UK healthcare worker burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic”,”type”:”article-journal”},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=8a3f8e4c-ba21-48f0-9c9b-c0119c5154c2”]},{“id”:”ITEM-2″,”itemData”:{“author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Chor”,”given”:”Wei Ping Daniel”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Ng”,”given”:”Wei Ming”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Cheng”,”given”:”Lenard”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Situ”,”given”:”Wangmin”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Chong”,”given”:”Jun Wei”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Ng”,”given”:”Ling Ying Abigail”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Mok”,”given”:”Pek Ling”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Yau”,”given”:”Ying Wei”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Lin”,”given”:”Ziwei”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”The American Journal of Emergency Medicine”,”id”:”ITEM-2″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2021″]]},”page”:”700″,”publisher”:”Elsevier”,”title”:”Burnout amongst emergency healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-center study”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”46″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=909279e5-f6b5-4533-b7cd-10d95ffc746d”]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Chor et al., 2021; Ferry et al., 2021)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Chor et al., 2021; Ferry et al., 2021)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Chor et al., 2021; Ferry et al., 2021)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Chor et al., 2021; Ferry et al., 2021). The work burden of the HPs was further complicated by the fact that there was limited knowledge on how to deal with the disease and the patients. Many efforts were directed towards treating the symptoms without much hope of whether the patients would recover. This made the HPs feel like they were dealing with an impossible situationADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”1525-8610″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Tan”,”given”:”Benjamin Y Q”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Kanneganti”,”given”:”Abhiram”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Lim”,”given”:”Lucas J H”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Tan”,”given”:”Melanie”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Chua”,”given”:”Ying Xian”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Tan”,”given”:”Lifeng”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Sia”,”given”:”Ching Hui”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Denning”,”given”:”Max”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Goh”,”given”:”Ee Teng”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Purkayastha”,”given”:”Sanjay”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Journal of the American Medical Directors Association”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issue”:”12″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2020″]]},”page”:”1751-1758″,”publisher”:”Elsevier”,”title”:”Burnout and associated factors among health care workers in Singapore during the COVID-19 pandemic”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”21″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=066a5bae-ddd9-4826-be15-b617e69ad54c”]},{“id”:”ITEM-2″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”2198-1833″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Talaee”,”given”:”Negin”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Varahram”,”given”:”Mohammad”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Jamaati”,”given”:”Hamidreza”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Salimi”,”given”:”Alireza”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Attarchi”,”given”:”Mirsaeed”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Kazempour Dizaji”,”given”:”Mehdi”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Sadr”,”given”:”Makan”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Hassani”,”given”:”Somayeh”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Farzanegan”,”given”:”Behrooz”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Monjazebi”,”given”:”Fateme”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Journal of Public Health”,”id”:”ITEM-2″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2020″]]},”page”:”1-6″,”publisher”:”Springer”,”title”:”Stress and burnout in health care workers during COVID-19 pandemic: validation of a questionnaire”,”type”:”article-journal”},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=fdbc40cc-7c68-459a-9922-ee72843397c1″]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Talaee et al., 2020; Tan et al., 2020)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Talaee et al., 2020; Tan et al., 2020)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Talaee et al., 2020; Tan et al., 2020)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Talaee et al., 2020; Tan et al., 2020). Apart from the limited knowledge that the HPs had to rely on to treat the COVID-19 patients, there was also the unpreparedness to deal with the higher implementation of telemedicine to satisfy the high demands for healthcare services.

Taking care of the COVID-19 patients also meant that the HPs had to take measures to reduce the likelihood of being infected, and hence compromised and rendered unfit to take care of other patients. Therefore, the HPs had to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) while dealing with the COVID-19 patients. However, because of the overwhelming rate at which the disease spread and the financial burden placed on the healthcare facilities, the PPEs were sometimes not enoughADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”0165-1781″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Barello”,”given”:”Serena”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Palamenghi”,”given”:”Lorenzo”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Graffigna”,”given”:”Guendalina”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Psychiatry research”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2020″]]},”page”:”113129″,”publisher”:”Elsevier”,”title”:”Burnout and somatic symptoms among frontline healthcare professionals at the peak of the Italian COVID-19 pandemic.”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”290″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=8a749be8-c9a5-4fdb-b7d4-a865f4998969”]},{“id”:”ITEM-2″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”1432-1246″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Jalili”,”given”:”Mohammad”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Niroomand”,”given”:”Mahtab”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Hadavand”,”given”:”Fahimeh”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Zeinali”,”given”:”Kataun”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Fotouhi”,”given”:”Akbar”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health”,”id”:”ITEM-2″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2021″]]},”page”:”1-8″,”publisher”:”Springer”,”title”:”Burnout among healthcare professionals during COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study”,”type”:”article-journal”},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=b410b3dc-0680-4575-b511-0214f3250a5f”]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Barello et al., 2020; Jalili et al., 2021)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Barello et al., 2020; Jalili et al., 2021)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Barello et al., 2020; Jalili et al., 2021)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Barello et al., 2020; Jalili et al., 2021). This resulted in the HPs constantly being in fear of being infected as one of the new stressors that the pandemic caused.

Before the pandemic, the healthcare environment was already characterized by enough stressors to the HPs. One way the HPs used to cope was through the support they got from their social networks and families. However, the pandemic resulted in social distancing and self-isolation policies. This made it difficult for the HPs to get the support they needed to cope in a high-stress environment. The impact was even greater for the families of the HPs since the HPs were constantly interacting with the COVID-19 patients, they had the highest risk of contracting the diseases. 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For a healthcare professional to interact with families, it was done with the psychological burden and fear of exposing the family members to the virus.

Apart from the stressors that the HPs experienced in their places of work, they had to deal with new stressors in their personal lives. The pandemic initially resulted in the closure of learning institutions as well as childcare facilities. This meant that the HPs who had children were forced to develop alternative options for childcare, such as employing people to take care of the children at home. This meant that some healthcare professions had to spend more even though they were earning lessADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”1932-6203″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Morgantini”,”given”:”Luca A”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Naha”,”given”:”Ushasi”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Wang”,”given”:”Heng”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Francavilla”,”given”:”Simone”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Acar”,”given”:”Ömer”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Flores”,”given”:”Jose M”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Crivellaro”,”given”:”Simone”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Moreira”,”given”:”Daniel”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Abern”,”given”:”Michael”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Eklund”,”given”:”Martin”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”PloS one”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issue”:”9″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2020″]]},”page”:”e0238217″,”publisher”:”Public Library of Science San Francisco, CA USA”,”title”:”Factors contributing to healthcare professional burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic: a rapid turnaround global survey”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”15″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=cff63843-8355-4337-a30f-39db482d840b”]},{“id”:”ITEM-2″,”itemData”:{“author”:[{“dropping-particle”:”V”,”family”:”Ferry”,”given”:”Amy”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Wereski”,”given”:”Ryan”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Strachan”,”given”:”Fiona E”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Mills”,”given”:”Nicholas L”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”QJM: An International Journal of Medicine”,”id”:”ITEM-2″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2021″]]},”publisher”:”Oxford University Press”,”title”:”Predictors of UK healthcare worker burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic”,”type”:”article-journal”},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=8a3f8e4c-ba21-48f0-9c9b-c0119c5154c2″]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Ferry et al., 2021; Morgantini et al., 2020)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Ferry et al., 2021; Morgantini et al., 2020)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Ferry et al., 2021; Morgantini et al., 2020)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Ferry et al., 2021; Morgantini et al., 2020). The pandemic had resulted in reduced out-patient revenue for the healthcare facilities, which had to cut down on salaries and benefits of the HPs. This was stressful to the HPs because even though they were required to work longer hours, they were getting less pay.

Signs of Burnout

There is no single accepted definition of burnout as a concept. The lack of a single accepted definition of the concept results from the fact that it is usually job-specific. For example, mental health workers, HPs, and the military could have different experiences with burnout. However, there are various distinguishing characteristics and measures of burnout. The widely accepted measures of burnout include the level of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Therefore, burnout for HPs occurs when they have high levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization while exhibiting low levels of personal accomplishmentsADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”1432-1246″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Jalili”,”given”:”Mohammad”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Niroomand”,”given”:”Mahtab”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Hadavand”,”given”:”Fahimeh”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Zeinali”,”given”:”Kataun”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Fotouhi”,”given”:”Akbar”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2021″]]},”page”:”1-8″,”publisher”:”Springer”,”title”:”Burnout among healthcare professionals during COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study”,”type”:”article-journal”},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=b410b3dc-0680-4575-b511-0214f3250a5f”]},{“id”:”ITEM-2″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”1525-8610″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Tan”,”given”:”Benjamin Y Q”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Kanneganti”,”given”:”Abhiram”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Lim”,”given”:”Lucas J H”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Tan”,”given”:”Melanie”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Chua”,”given”:”Ying Xian”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Tan”,”given”:”Lifeng”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Sia”,”given”:”Ching Hui”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Denning”,”given”:”Max”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Goh”,”given”:”Ee Teng”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Purkayastha”,”given”:”Sanjay”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Journal of the American Medical Directors Association”,”id”:”ITEM-2″,”issue”:”12″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2020″]]},”page”:”1751-1758″,”publisher”:”Elsevier”,”title”:”Burnout and associated factors among health care workers in Singapore during the COVID-19 pandemic”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”21″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=066a5bae-ddd9-4826-be15-b617e69ad54c”]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Jalili et al., 2021; Tan et al., 2020)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Jalili et al., 2021; Tan et al., 2020)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Jalili et al., 2021; Tan et al., 2020)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Jalili et al., 2021; Tan et al., 2020). High levels of cynicism may also accompany these three signs of burnout for HPs

.

Concerning the COVID-19 pandemic period, nurses, women, and frontline workers had the highest burnout measures. High levels of emotional exhaustion were likely caused by the high number of patients that the HPs were dealing with. Emotional intelligence is one of the requirements of effective HPs. When they continually have to exert themselves emotionally, they end up feeling emotionally exhausted at the end of the day. This also leads to feelings of depersonalization. Depersonalization is usually characterized by the HPs not identifying with their feelings and thoughtsADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”1432-1246″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Jalili”,”given”:”Mohammad”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Niroomand”,”given”:”Mahtab”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Hadavand”,”given”:”Fahimeh”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Zeinali”,”given”:”Kataun”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Fotouhi”,”given”:”Akbar”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2021″]]},”page”:”1-8″,”publisher”:”Springer”,”

About Sources for College English Research Papers:

Some students might need clarification about which sources will qualify as appropriate ones for this class’s research project. The BPCC librarians are very helpful with showing students how to search the Literature Resource Center online to find critical essays, journal articles, and online books that have the topic about the literary work and/or author in question. Make sure they show you JSTOR, which is a database often used for college research in the humanities and can be searched quite easily for title and topic. ( For example: Hamlet and revenge.) You will need to first choose a topic that you are interested in and see what is out there in the research domain of literary criticism. Many of the works from 201 have literary criticism going back hundreds of years. Once you decide that your thesis idea is viable and can be backed up by the required number of appropriate sources, you can begin to organize it using the format described on the assignment document.

The page numbers referenced in the following are from the McGraw-Hill Handbook. The BPCC library has one on hand for library use (you can make copies) if you do not have one:

Evaluating sources: For information about evaluating internet sources, see pages 290 through 297. There are several handy checklists that will help you assess the relevance and reliability of a source. Wikipedia and other unverifiable sources are not acceptable, but you can use them to get ideas—for pre-research purposes—and then move on to more scholarly sources. In literary research papers, it is also not acceptable to cite unpublished papers from the internet that could very well be from another student. Student oriented study guides, like Sparknotes, are also inappropriate to cite, but can be helpful for ideas. For help understanding the difference between popular and scholarly sources, see page 264.

Citations: There are two parts to the citation–the in-text citation and the Works Cited page—and they must correlate with each other exactly. It is essential to use only the updated, ’09 MLA format and to have all available required information shown on the Works Cited page. The MLA section in the MHH has examples of both types, beginning with the in-text citations on page 343. There are a number of examples of how to cite types of sources in the body of the paper as well as a sample research paper in this section. The examples of Works Cited entries for online sources begin on page 363, with databases like the ones that you will use from the library on pages 371-372.

Quoting sources: Use a variety of methods to introduce quotes and convey your evidence. For assistance with introducing and punctuating direct quotes and examples, see pages 756-763.

Paraphrasing a source: For guidelines to and examples of paraphrasing, see pages 322-325.

Questions about when to cite: To avoid plagiarism concerns, see the MHH on pages 308-9 and the handy checklist on pages 311-312.

Keeping track of sources: Keep good notes and records of your research process. For instructions on how to create a working bibliography and annotate sources, see pages 314-320.

Other information about citations can be found on the assignment document.

Management Information Systems

Name:

Institution:

Question 1

The computerization effects have affected every department and institutions in the world as people use computers in everything they do. Hospitals have not been left behind and this has led to the computerization of all their activities such as decision making. The hospitals have embraced the information system, which helps the hospital personnel to gather, process, create and interpret data (Wager et al, 2009). One of the most helpful computer-based information systems to a hospital would be the management information system, which primarily deals with information that would help in the managing of the hospitals.

The management information system uses the gathered data to create a report, which a hospital manager can easily use while responding to various problems arising in the hospital. The most important management information system to a hospital setting would be the decision support system, which is crucial in supporting any decision making activity (Wager et al, 2009). The challenges that the decision support system would help address are largely related to data. The system would deal with the recording of inappropriate data in the hospital, which leads to complications during decision making as it focused on the collection and recording of appropriate data.

Hospital managers also face problems in relating the data provided by the junior officers pertaining to any transaction they make for the hospital. This has led to fraud particularly in big hospitals which have numerous transactions as the managers can’t know the transactions that don’t add up or are not included in the data (Hebda & Czar, 2013). Hospitals are faced with the relaying of crucial information such as the work schedule and change in their operational areas. This problem mainly affects the junior officers whose duties are delegated to them by the senior officer or managers.

Management decision making functions would greatly improve as the decision support system provides a report of all the necessary data pertaining the hospital. The report contains data got from the different departments in the hospital making it easy to make the correct decisions that would help improve their operations. For example, the manager can decide to allocate more funds to the departments, which are producing poor results due to the minimum funds allocated to them (Hebda & Czar, 2013). The decision support system helps managers to deal with the fraud cases in the different departments and this would be possible as the system keeps track of every data submitted from different people and departments in the hospital. After receiving such information, the system summarizes it in a report and it would be now possible for a manager to note any inconsistency in the data.

The decision support system would help transform the hospital’s efficiency as the manager can now make informed decisions based on accurate data. The efficiency of the hospitals helps in the better provision of services to the intended people in turn giving it a good image. The key organizational barrier would be the manipulation of the data feeding into the systems by the hospital’s personnel (Wager et al, 2009). This creates the possibility of imputing the wrong information in order to cover their tracks for other people in the organization.

To be in line with the hospital’s strategic goals, the stakeholders and management come up with a proposal of regular auditing of the system. This is because the managers greatly use the information provided in the reports to make decisions that affect the hospital. This helps in ensuring the stakeholders that the decision support system is always reliable and that a manager can use it during the making of an urgent decision that helps the hospital to achieve its short term goals.

The outbreak of Ebola happens it different places at different times. People who reside in the region where the disease breaks out fast mostly lead to the spread of the viruses to other people they come into contact with (Wager et al, 2009). The integration of data of the various local hospitals and its presentation to the Information Technology Collaborative online Public Health Catalog where every person can access the data helped deal with the spread of the epidemic. Health officials would check on the recordings made by the different hospitals noting its trend and the most vulnerable areas. To deals with this, health alerts and emergency clinics were set up where people with the disease would be confided in to prevent is report.

This application had a positive impact on the public health as an individual could log into the application and search for a health facility that treated any aliment. This would save them time going to the health centers that did not offer the intended services. Government officials related to the health department used this application to check the areas that needed more attention from the government in terms of manpower and financial boost improving the public health sector.

Question 2

The Information Technology Collaborative online Public Health Catalog is helpful to the public in that a person with a certain illness can use the records stored in the application to check on the public health facilities that deal with such illnesses. This makes such persons not to spend a lot of money trying to get the right hospitals for their illnesses. The government uses such records to curb an outbreak of certain diseases and this is helpful to the unaffected people who are threatened to get the disease.

The application has a negative impact to people as their privacy is not upheld. To represent the data on the application, extra details about certain individuals are given and a careful look into them results to the revealing of their identity and crucial information. This exposure damages the reputation of such people. The application is also costly to maintain, as it requires a system analyst who keep an eye on the changes and new events recording them into the application (Northern Ireland Audit Office, 2007).

Hospitals have a role in the application of the health-related IT application by providing data to be stored and processed by the system. The hospitals also contribute as they are the ones who can decide to use IT applications in their operation. To ensure that the application is run properly, they should ensure that they hire an expert in the related field to help in the managing of the application. Hospitals can give input on the specifications that the health related IT applications should have. This makes it easy for the application developers when coming up with the application programs.

The Information Technology Collaborative online Public Health Catalog application will affect the recording of data and the structure of health care organizations. They will have to change their mode of operation to a more computerized one to accommodate the application. It will now be a requirement of the entire staff working in the health facilities to be computer literate to be in a position of applying the program. The health facilities might be negatively impacted when private information about patients gets into public hands (Hoboken, et al 2010). This will result in damaging their reputation and the cases of civil suits made by these patients will be on the increase. The system can be hacked into leading to the exposure of private information.

Data security in EHRs in outpatient clinics

Information and data security is the main concern of all the users of the new technology since the stability of any organization depends on its information security detail. An organization with less measures put in place to guard data are prone to the information attack and misuse, which may lead to the collapse of such organization. In order to maintain a strong powerful security measure to guard the security of all the company’s data. In this section, the research study describes the measures necessary in maintaining the security of information of the outpatient clinics. Such measures include the installation of firewalls, installation of antivirus softwares, and use of security clearance for the access in specific location holding sensitive information (Smith, 2013).

Installation of firewalls help guard the information stored in such systems since it only authorize users with the required clearance to access sensitive information stored in the systems. This ensures that users who do not have the required clearance do not access such information. Such initiative prevents the wrong use of the information when they fall in the wrong hands. It also ensures that privacy is maintained at all times. Use of firewalls also ensures that in case of fire information stored in such systems do not disappear due to fire. This is another vital security measures aimed at maintaining and protecting information stored in the EHRs in outpatient clinics (Hoboken, et al 2010)

Installation of updated antivirus software: this helps in ensuring that all the data and information stored in this system are secure and free from malicious attacks. Most computers used by outpatient clinics use active software, which prevent the loss of information, which may result from malicious attacks from unauthorized software. By maintaining the security of the information, this step ensures that not all the vital information held by the hospital gets lost due to virus attacks.

Security clearance level: by deploying the use of security clearance, the management of outpatient clinics control the movement and access to certain locations within the facilities. Only people with the required security clearance to access sensitive information stored in the systems. This ensures that users who do not have the required clearance do not access such information. Such initiative prevents the wrong use of the information when they fall in the wrong hands. It also ensures that privacy is maintained at all times (Wager, et al, 2009). 

Implications of security breaches of its health care data

Some of the implications of security breaches of health care data in these clinics include misuse of information by the employees, selling of patient health information to organizations, publicity of information, which is supposed to be private. The employees of the clinics or persons who may have gained access to such information commit all these breaches. This has led to the violation of information privacy since data, unauthorized users access which is meant to remain private. Authorized personnel should only access information about patients and access to such information infringes the rights of the patients (Smith, 2009).

In order to curb this practice of information breach by the employees of outpatient clinics ought to up certain measures. These measures include tough penalties for the violators of the information security keeping, and employee trainings aimed at educating the employees on the importance of maintaining the security of such information. These measures will ensure that the privacy and security of information are maintained at all times (Northern Ireland Audit Office, 2007).

Question 3

Secure sensitive data falling into the wrong hands can occur in any health care department and in the event it happens, many people are negatively affected. One challenge that can make it hard for the workers in the dialysis department to secure sensitive information is the physical environment where they are kept (Wager et al, 2009). Any sensitive data kept for example in computers that can be easily accessed by anyone visiting the department are bound to be accessed by unauthorized people. The hospitals that have little space in which they operate from are the ones faced mostly by this challenge, as they can’t afford some extra inner rooms to keep the computers or sensitive data.

A major challenge with the securing of sensitive data for people in the dialysis department is the unauthorized personnel working in the department having access to the sensitive information. The malicious workers in turn use this information for personal gains like selling it to the people who would require the information to damage the patient’s image. This mainly occurs in the department, which has no personnel clearance to their system that helps in ensuring that only the authorized personnel access data (Wager et al, 2009).

Hackers also form part of the challenges that the department face in securing sensitive information. They gain access into stored particularly the data that is not well protected with encryptions. Virus attacks on the systems leads to the loss of clients’ sensitive data that may not be recovered. In the dialysis department, the progress of the treatment is recorded and the loss of such data may be dreadful to both the patient and doctors.

In the event a security breach occurs on the sensitive data of the patients, sensitive information may that may negatively affect their family may be exposed. The doctors are also affected by this breach of sensitive information in that their reputation can be damaged. The affected patients can sue the doctor and the department for violating the code of conduct.

Some of the implications of security breaches of health care data in these clinics include misuse of information by the employees, selling of patient health information to organizations, publicity of information, which is supposed to be private. The employees of the clinics or persons who may have gained access to such information commit all these breaches. This has led to the violation of information privacy since data, unauthorized users access that is meant to remain private. Authorized personnel should only access information about patients and access to such information infringes the rights of the patients (Smith, 2009).

References

Hebda, T., & Czar, P. (2013). Handbook of informatics for nurses & healthcare professionals (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons. (2010) The next wave of technologies: Opportunities from chaos.

Northern Ireland Audit Office. (2007). Outpatients: Missed appointments and cancelled clinics : report. London: Stationery Office.

Rowland, H. S., & Rowland, B. L. (1997). Nursing administration handbook. Gaithersburg, Md: Aspen Publishers.

Smith, D. A. (2009). Healthcare solved: Real answers, no politics. Indianapolis, IN: Global Health Press.

Smith, R. E. (2013). Elementary information security. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Wager, K. A., Lee, F. W., & Glaser, J. P. (2009). Health care information systems: A practical approach for health care management (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Wolf, J. A. (2011). Organization development in healthcare: Conversations on research and strategies. Bingley: Emerald Group.

Millennials Preparedness to Real-World Environment

Andrew Extejt

Bowling Green State University

Millennials Preparedness to Real-World Environment

Graduate unpreparedness to the real world has become the primary growing concern in a career that significantly develops anxiety and culture of uncertainty among the millennials. Should more education courses attempt to create real-world environments to better prepare students or should colleges streamline coursework in favor of more classes devoted to a career as well as significant preparedness? It is an inquisitive question as both are to some extent solutions to student unpreparedness in college. However, I support the act of colleges streamlining the coursework in favor of more class devoted to significant preparedness and career as it works out better in curbing the problem. The necessity of getting a tertiary level education is acquiring the knowledge as well as the skills essential in performing practical work in the job field. Therefore, the reality of student graduating while not contented regarding career preparedness is a great catastrophe that requires immediate action at the college level. Restructuring of the college’s coursework in favor of more classes being dedicated toward a career is discussed into an in-depth extent as a valid measure of curbing student anxiety as well as enhancing major preparedness to the real world environment.

A high percentage of the graduates from the universities as well as other advanced level learning institution is not satisfied with what they are taught. It significantly means that the professors as wells other staff are not doing their work correctly or the students do not play their part well (Dondlinger & McLeod 2015). These are alarming questions but essential in elaborating the cause of the growing concerns of anxiety and uncertainty towards career preparedness. According to the researchers’ reports, it is right that the tutors are delivering their services of feeding the students with all the knowledge required in consideration to the education curriculum. However, they forget the bit of teaching the same scholars the practical technicalities that are efficient in the field. “55 percent of students felt they were well prepared to work but only 18 percent of employers felt the same.” (Wurdinger & Qureshi 2015). Apart from the substantial general coursework, the students are also subjected to the co-curriculum activities which are mandatory to miss as well as a standardized test that they are supposed to acquire more than the recommended pass mark or retake the same course. Also, the same students have to be active in the school clubs and other non-curriculum activities vital for the social-being such as participating in religious activities. It is written to be evaluated through the continuous assessments and take part in co-curriculum events, but the practical skills part in the coursework should also be given the same weight. When all these things are put together, it becomes tiresome, and the students will have limited time dedicated to the practical work that prepares them to survive in the real world environment.

It is essential to restructure the tertiary level education coursework as the vital thing of students being in that institution is being capable of living well after the course which involves financial stability, helping the family and giving back to the community. The act of developing self-dependency at the millennial age is vital in preparing the students to face the real world, and the course framework should be structured in a sound way that considers knowledge instigation as well as work preparedness. All these elements regarded as “well-being” in the real world refers to the act of being capable of working or investing as well as inventing a viable business that is worth and paying (Ravitch 2016). Education sharpens peoples’ mind, and that is the reason behind an individual specifying to a particular discipline at the advanced level that one has the potentiality and willingness to work at after the completion of the course. It is healthy and right for the students to participate in the co-curriculum activities as it dramatically plays a significant role in mind refreshment but they are supposed to manage their time well not to spend all of it out there in the field and end up having problems in other parts of education. Some have the talents that are worth as well as paying even more than the other careers in the world, hence the co-curriculums cannot be ignored as well. Streamlining the coursework is vital to make sure that every essential element based on class, extra-curriculum and career preparedness are adequately granted enough time to prevent dragging behind one side (Dunn, 2016). Since students are often not prepared, changing how the coursework is structured will help them to be more sucsessful.

For instance, consider the case of these graduate that move out to the career environment and cannot stand in one job even for a year. It is an excellent example of college-level unpreparedness, and it depicts the importance of rectifying the coursework. This postgraduate realizes that the career that they have secured does not fit their requirements, or they are not capable of giving out what is recommended in the field. All this involves career unpreparedness at the college level education. In the university, the professors are keen in ensuring that students are fit in the class work that they teach and prove it by testing them through the standardized test. “…the schools’ inability to show them applicable skills as one of the leading ways schools failed to help them,” (Irvine et al. 2015). It is right that they have acquired the knowledge, but they should also gain the skills fundamental to their work through practical experience in the career environment. The tutors at the college level have to put up a strategy that equips the students with the appropriate expertise in the real world in such a way that they will be able to work and secure a place after the course.

In the world today job opportunities are limited, and only a few, as well as the sharpest outcompete others in securing the available chances. It has reached an extent that in acquiring a career one have to be experienced and capable of putting the skills in practice efficiently or having a connection with a person who can persevere in training you how to do the job (Murcia & Idárraga, 2013). Hence, making it very rare for the university graduate securing good careers immediately after their course completion. Therefore, in the college students are supposed to be depicted in a program that will to a profound extent train them how to plan and come up with new viable ideas that will effectively open broad ways at the real world. For instance, it is evident in real life situations that among the most prominent and wealthy people in the world are the businessmen. They spend adequate time and energy investing and inventing new ideas that fill the gap in the society earning those lots of capital. In reality, people in business do not make a living through working by themselves, but they employ others, people, to work for them in the ventures they have invested enhancing diversity. Teachers are supposed to align the curriculum in such a way that the learners have adequate time to develop the skills of planning and coming up with new opportunities by the utilization of the available resources (Hew 2016). Current students do not have the resources available to them and much of their time and energy is being put into things that will not help them in their career.

In colleges and other tertiary level learning institutions, practical techniques of rectifying the coursework in a manner that will depict enough time to career preparedness are supposed to be adopted. Some of these measures include introducing and reorganizing internships into a more efficient way, increasing the number of projects done throughout the course as well as encouraging students to get involved in activities that can earn them income during their holidays and other free time. To start with is the rescheduling the methodologies of offering internships and others related attachments. Some colleges are never serious about this activity, and it becomes an option regarding the individual student’s interest. Others provide the internship opportunity but once in the whole time course duration. It is traumatizing to the extent of taking learning institutions as business-oriented ventures whose aim is just earning the capital and have no concern of where the graduates will end up to in future. Internships are among the best techniques of introducing students to the real world as they will have the time to get experience and interact with professionals in that particular field who will significantly share their skills.

Therefore, colleges are supposed to put implement them as part of the coursework in such a way that it will be inevitable for a student to skip. Also, it is crucial for the students to attend various internships up to three of them or more if possible depending on the duration of the course. The more they get exposed to the working environment to more they master the skills and techniques required in the field, and this will be essential when it comes to securing a career (Fincher et al. 2017). During the internships, there is a capability of the students identifying a particular gap in the society that they will utilize as opportunities to start inventions through the experience gained. It sharpens their brains as well as technical skills that make them innovative, and they will not undergo too much struggle when they get out to the real world which favors the productive people. Nowadays during the interview sessions, the interviewer’s panels are not much concerned with the papers and grade point aggregates that one get on course completion but the kind of skills and experience the one has. In the end, those graduates with positive recommendations and experience after undergoing to various internships are favored and first secure the job opportunities.

The second issue regards increasing the number of projects partaken by the students throughout the coursework (Wurdinger & Qureshi 2015). The higher the number of these projects the well-equipped the student will be. Many institutions only put in consideration one general project at a particular phase of the course, but that is not right. Projects make students to think critically, carry out significant research, analyze the issue, come up with a plan and finally present it to a panel of professors who either certifies it or insist that more should be done. Projects cannot be ignored as partaking them make students have practical experience of how the real world is and develop the cognitive of being active in identifying a problem in the society as well as being fast to generate a valid solution (Entwistle & Ramsden 2015). Students with adequate skills will not depend on employment but will be there to study the environment and come up with their innovations that will be productive to the community.

Projects have an unusual approach that is unique in such a way that skipping one step leads to significant failure as it will interfere with rest of the work. The same case happens in the real world, especially in the workplace. Therefore, projects will equip the students with the smartness and be used to correctly doing things following all the required steps as well as avoiding the alluring shortcuts. Furthermore, these projects will boost the students’ courage as they make a presentation and this will be applicable in the career field during the interviews as well as when presenting other constructive ideas (Murcia & Idárraga, 2013). Thus, the learning institutions should make the significant rectification of giving students adequate time to carry out projects as well as other practical experiments as they play an essential role when it comes to career preparedness. The professors should also not ignore any of these projects, and they have also to ensure credibility in testing the students’ capabilities.

The other solution to graduate career unpreparedness and anxiety is encouraging students to get involved in part-time activities that will significantly earn them income. The fact of their presence in school sharpens the mind and gains skills that enable them to work and be financially stable for their sustenance as well as that of their families. Talents work out well as part-time work for the students, but they can also be significantly be involved in all the other fields such as business as long as it is not interfering with their studying program (Dunn 2016). Therefore, having the potentiality of being productive and earning while still partaking their course is significant as it will ease the parents’ burden as well as developing a sense of responsibility. Students who are used to work even when at school have an easy time when they graduate as they are used to the real world and knows which fields they fit better hence secure the best careers. Also, it is essential as they develop the sense of belonging and impedance as they will not all the time rely on their parents to cater for their expenses as well as school fees.

For instance, take an example of a student who at the other side is a musician and spends his free time composing songs and attending other relevant occasions to entertain the audience. At long last, he knows his career field and will significantly take a course related to music ending up improving his skills that are effective in facing the real world after course completion. The anxiety of unpreparedness will not affect him, and he will be longing when that time comes to complete his studies and get in the field on a full-time basis. He will not be part of the growing concern culture of unpreparedness to career “…21 percent of students said there are not enough internship opportunities,” (Dondlinger & McLeod 2015).

Today many learning institutions have adopted new technology as a way of equipping students with practical skills necessary at the workplace as a way of preparing them to face the real world. Although, it seems that either one of the party the students or the tertiary level tutors have failed to do their work correctly. All the blame cannot be subjected to the college level schools as even students have to play their part well. At the tertiary level, the professor expects to deal with mature people who should not be pushed all the minute to do the right thing at the right time. It is evident that the practical lessons are framed as part of the coursework in various institutions, but some students end up not attending the sessions that particular moment is hence missing the practical based context of the entire course. The issue of work unpreparedness has emerged to be a devastating menace in the community where the students’ tamarack and waste lots of their time trying to find fitting job opportunities. Some even end up losing hope living a frustrated life where it is challenging to have a good livelihood. Therefore, it is a task of all the affected party whether the students, professors, and the tertiary learning institutions to reschedule the coursework appropriately and enhance proper management of time and available resources towards students’ job preparedness.

From the above discussion, it is true that there are anxieties and growing concerns regarding graduate unpreparedness towards the real world, but restructuring the tertiary level coursework schedules will be a sound solution to the problem. Taking the mentioned above measure will significantly enable psychological and physiological preparedness of the students to join the career fields as they will be adequately trained and experienced. It is not the learning institutions and tutors duty to make the sound changes but also government’s responsibility to appropriately intervene with the education system in such a way that it will improve students’ preparedness to join the real world. Also, students at the individual level should make the efforts of curbing the anxieties and growing concern cultures and adopt productive actions that will enhance their survivability in the world as well as careers.

References

Dondlinger, M. J., & McLeod, J. K. (2015). Solving real world problems with alternate reality gaming: Student experiences in the global village playground capstone course design. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 9(2), 3.

Dunn, M. E. (2016). Reclaiming Opportunities for Effective Teaching: An Institutional Ethnographic Study of Community College Course Outlines. Lexington Books.

Entwistle, N., & Ramsden, P. (2015). Understanding student learning (Routledge revivals). Routledge.

Fincher, M., Kelly, C., Harrison, M., Harrison, Z., Hopson, D., & Weems, S. (2017). Articulation and transfer for career and technical students: Best practices for dealing with real and perceived barriers to baccalaureate degree attainment for applied science students. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 41(8), 531-535.

Hew, K. F. (2016). Promoting engagement in online courses: What strategies can we learn from three highly rated MOOCS. British Journal of Educational Technology, 47(2), 320-341.

Irvine, J., Molyneux, J., & Gillman, M. (2015). ‘Providing a link with the real world’: Learning from the student experience of service user and carer involvement in social work education. Social Work Education, 34(2), 138-150.

Murcia, L. J. T., & Idárraga, U. Q. (2013). ” Attitudes of Preservice Teachers Towards Teaching Deaf and ESL Students” (Doctoral dissertation, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira. Facultad de Bellas Artes y Humanidades. Licenciatura en Lengua Inglesa).

Ravitch, D. (2016). The death and life of the great American school system: How testing and choice are undermining education. Basic Books.

Russell, J. E., Van Horne, S., Ward, A. S., III, E. A. B., Sipola, M., Colombo, M., & Rocheford, M. K. (2016). Large lecture transformation: Adopting evidence-based practices to increase student engagement and performance in an introductory science course. Journal of Geoscience Education, 64(1), 37-51.

Wurdinger, S., & Qureshi, M. (2015). Enhancing college students’ life skills through project based learning. Innovative Higher Education, 40(3), 279-286.

Mines R Us

Report of Risks and Opportunities

Stewardship for Mines R Us will be more than environmental performance. It will include a consideration of human issues and social problems that emanate from its operations in the other regions. The new area of operation is unique because of its indigenous importance and historical heritage. It is important that the specific areas within the new community remain untouched and unpolluted by the consequences of the mining company. As a business, the company uses raw materials directly from the natural environment. Profitability and meeting of shareholder objectives are determined by the management of input costs, ability to maintain production, and remaining competitiveness. The company is also expected to positively influence community relations and its brand perception.

Mines R Us Board of Directors decision to open a new mining operation in an area of significant indigenous importance and heritage would require a show of having an authentic approach to stewardship. To achieve this, responsible management will be required to undo unwarranted environmental situations and human issues through a modification of the company’s management concepts. At present, the company uses a model that focuses on the capitalistic management of resources. The Board must combine responsible management practices with physical stewardship approaches and actions including creation of protected areas for the new location, renovating infrastructure relating to the areas of significant indigenous importance, limiting harvests to a level that does not degrade the heritage areas, reducing and possibly eliminating harmful activities that may lead to loss of value for the heritage areas, ensuring pollution of the environment is limited to levels that do not have a negative impact on the indigenous community, restoration of degraded areas, using sustainable methods, and creating positive value by establishing community gardens. These suggested approaches touch on the three impact areas of climate change, local environment, and local community. Overall, the report recommends that the Board upgrades its management and governance to include sustainability in a firm-wide approach. Specifically, the new mining operation area will need stronger and more active policies and reporting on the same.

Mines R Us previous cases have shed a lot of light on the need for the company to use a responsible business mindset in order to ensure sustainability. At present, the company faces several operational risks including a threat to its license to operate due to perceptions of negative impact to the environment, inconsiderate approaches that contribute negatively to climate change, and a degradation of the local environment. Over-consumption of local resources in other areas means that the organization will have to change tactic in the new area. As such, the main risks include strategic risks, compliance risk, operational risks, reputational risks, and financial risks. The new business plan to include a comprehensive sustainable plan that touches on positive contribution to climate change, the local environment, and the local community. This new approach poses a strategic risk because it may fail to meet shareholder goals of profitability and cost reduction. Compliance risks mean that the laws of the new area of operation may change with time, leading to immense losses. Additional regulations in future relating to the environment, local community, or even the overall climate and others regarding pollution may lead to compliance risks. Operational risks relating to the new sustainable approach in management and corporate culture may lead to internal failure due to poor reception from employees. All of the above risks also lead to financial risks due to lost revenue or extra costs. In the end, the company risks its reputation if it fails to adhere to the expectations of protecting the environment, the local community, and working towards the reduction of its effect on climate change. A damaged reputation leads to outright loss of revenue, in the case of Mines R Us, loss of operational permits and licenses.

An opportunity arises from the above risks and new expectations. First, the company has a fresh chance to implement an organizational-wide strategy that is sustainable both in the production of raw materials and how it relates with the social and human aspects of its operations. There is also an opportunity to redeem its current reputation due to the incidences in Canada leading to loss of natural heritage sites and the devastation of the local community in Peru. The new area gives the company an opportunity to showcase a responsible business mindset and stewardship by implementing the aforementioned suggestions to actively participate in creating positive outcomes for the climate, the local environment, the local community, the people, and the social aspects of the new area. Protecting the areas of indigenous importance and heritage should be top of Mines R Us strategy for the new area, creating a new platform to showcase shared responsibility, corporate social responsibility, stakeholder consideration, and stewardship for the people, the environment, and the local community.

Management Information Technology

Introduction

The introduction of information technology was indeed groundbreaking as it marked a new dawn for the contemporary world. Information technology is a term used to underline the application telecommunications equipment and computers in the storage, transmission, as well as manipulation of data usually in the context of business entities. Computation has been around for thousands of years. However, the entry of computers undoubtedly marked an enormous leap with regard to information technology. Needless to say, there have been incredible developments right from the invention of computers. These have been aimed at enhancing efficiency and effectiveness of information technology in the varied functions. This has undoubtedly resulted in the incorporation of information technology in almost every aspect of the contemporary human life. It goes without saying that every year, new developments and leaps in the world of information technology are made. These are incorporated in varied industries including healthcare, security, defense, education, communication and others. On the same note, they have varied impacts on the industries within which they are applied, with some displacing earlier technologies or even complementing. This paper outlines the developments that have recently been made in the world of information technology, as well as their subsequent impacts in their respective industries or the technology industry as a whole.

Kattau, S (2013). Embarcadero RAD Studio XE4 enables ‘true native’ app development. SD Times, web retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://sdt.bz/45657” http://sdt.bz/45657

The release of the RAD Studio XE4 has ushered in Embarcadero Technologies into the debate pitting HTML5 against native code for the development of mobile application. It allows developers to get rid of their HTML5 tools for true native code. While HTML5 comes with enhanced time-to-market, the native code offers better user experience and application performance. RAD Studio XE4 is similar to native Android applications but does not necessarily operate at its best in those. It can be used by developers to create applications for personal computers, smartphones, and tablets thereby giving users an experience equal to applications that are created using platform SDKs. Embarcadero uses compilers and Delphi language thereby developers to write once running true native on the devices. Developers expect that they can write it once using the true native code, as well have it operating on different supported devices, which is what the developing company is doing with Macintosh OS X, Windows 64, Windows 32 and iOS with Delphi, which means that one language is used on one product, a single codebase and one compilation on all platforms. The developers are also working with their C++ compiler so as to give their C++ developers the same capability in the future. Its key features include full application framework for Mac OS X, Windows and iOS, Full Visual designer for user interfaces in Windows, Mac and iOS with numerous orientation and resolutions among other features.

Application analysis

This application allows business application to have up to ten times faster with in-built enterprise class database and visual development support. In addition, it allows developers to design and develop their applications with reusable and extendable visual component building blocks, thereby allowing for highly maintainable and faster development. On the same note, rapid on-device prototyping allows developers to create a visual prototype operating on the target device so they can quickly have feedback and get the applications to market fast. The development of multi-device applications using this software eliminates the necessity of maintaining a separate development project so as to deliver the application natively for multiple devices such as smartphones, Personal computers and tablets on multiple platforms such as Mac, Windows or iOS. On the same note, it eases the process of building script-free and true native applications that expose the entire range of device performance and capabilities incorporated in the underlying devices. On the same note, security from hackers is catered for in the application. A large number of development vendors allow for multi-platform development using runtimes and scripting languages that are targets of notorious hackers thereby presenting inherent security risks on the mobile devices. The studio brings a true native application development thereby allowing the code to run directly on the device and lowering the risk of attacks from third parties.

Shah, A (2013). Powerful thin clients may be alternative to PCs. Infoworld retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://www.infoworld.com/d/computer-hardware/powerful-thin-clients-may-be-alternative-pcs-219255” http://www.infoworld.com/d/computer-hardware/powerful-thin-clients-may-be-alternative-pcs-219255

Thin client was introduced by Hewlett-Packard and Dell with faster processor and high-definition graphic capabilities than the existing thin clients thereby providing an alternative to the conventional personal computers. The desk-side thin clients incorporate advanced visualization features allowing virtual desktops to host numerous applications in a single session. These Thin Clients are essentially personal computers that don’t have local storage but have network connectivity. Virtual desktops on thin clients run applications that are stored in remote servers through virtualization technologies from VMware, Citrix, and Microsoft. They incorporate the capacity to operate high-definition games that are delivered over cloud. While thin-client computing may not be an entirely new idea, the incorporation of cloud comes with a new twist. The new thin client fits in the emerging cloud model considering that more applications are centralized to the data center, not to mention that businesses may consider upgrading Windows XP PCs to thin clients that have the capacity to host Windows 7 instances. While this new device is less expensive than PCs, the implementation of cloud-based computing model with the server and software resources may be expensive. On the same note, as much as the larger part of processing is done on the server side, it is necessary that powerful thin clients are incorporated considering that applications are dependent on heavy-client processing or graphics.

Analysis of its effects

Cloud computing has been all the range in the recent times. It provides an avenue through which an individual has increased capacity and capabilities on the fly without making any investment on new infrastructure, licensing new software or even training new personnel. It encompasses subscription-based that extends the existing capabilities of IT in real time over the internet. This, therefore, eliminates the restrictions pertaining to physical capabilities of computers. This is what the invention of thin clients that have remote servers introduces to the computer world. It is worth noting that the powerful thin clients allow for on the fly performance, which, therefore, increases the flexibility.

Simonite, T (2011). What Bitcoin Is, and Why It Matters. MIT Technology Review retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://www.technologyreview.com/news/424091/what-bitcoin-is-and-why-it-matters/” http://www.technologyreview.com/news/424091/what-bitcoin-is-and-why-it-matters/

This software was born out of the need for individuals to undertake a secure electronic exchange of money without necessarily incorporating the help of a third party like financial institutions. Bitcoin was based on cryptographic techniques that enable individuals to ensure that the money they receive is genuine even when they do not trust the sender. An individual would download the Bitcoin client software and run it, thereby allowing it to connect to a decentralized network of all users of the software through the internet. It would also create a pair of distinctive and mathematically linked keys that the user would need so as to exchange Bitcoins with other clients. One of the keys is public with its version dubbed Bitcoin address being given to other individuals so that they can send the individual Bitcoins, while the other key is private and hidden in the users’ computer. It is impossible to work out an individual’s private key using their public key, therefore, preventing any impersonation. However, the two keys are transferable to another computer as they are stored in a transferable file. Once a transaction is performed the Bitcom software carries out the operations to blend one’s private key and the other party’s public key with the bitcoins that an individual wants to transfer. This operation’s results are sent across the distributed bitcoin network to allow for the verification of the network by bitcoin software clients that are not participating in the transfer.

Analysis

The efficiency and accuracy of the banking sector has been incredibly watered down in the recent times. It is well recognized that a large number of frauds and criminal activities in the banking sector has involved ATMs (Automated Teller Machines). However, it is well recognized that the ATMs are inefficient in a certain way especially considering their affiliation with certain financial institutions and money transfer corporations. Nevertheless, the entry of Bitcoin seems to settle this issue thereby eliminating the need for third parties such as financial institutions in sending and receiving money, as well as ensuring that the money is genuine. This comes with an element of efficiency and effectiveness especially considering that the genuineness of the money is verified, not to mention the security that is encompassed considering that not even a super-computer can crack the private key. Needless to say, it has an enormous effect on the use of financial institutions. Of course, it is worth noting that Bitcoins are not controlled by anybody, not even the federal bank, in which case the fixed supply of money that it allows would make it difficult to undertake deflation of goods and services in the contemporary world, which is extremely dangerous.

Jackson, J (2013). IBM preps SmartCloud for real-time analytics. Infoworld, retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/ibm-preps-smartcloud-real-time-analytics-219274” http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/ibm-preps-smartcloud-real-time-analytics-219274

International Business Machines (IBM) intends to use its version 10.5 of its DB2 database on its SmartCloud IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service). This database comes with a new set of technologies that have the capacity to speed up data analysis by over 25 times. SmartCloud has the capacity to run copes of SAP’s HANA in-memory database for development and test jobs. The BLU acceleration technologies incorporated in the DB2 database offers columnar processing where only columns are processed thereby speeding up the performance. In addition, it bypasses unnecessary data and may use multiple processor cores to undertake a query via parallel vector processing techniques. In addition, it incorporates a compression technology that lowers the space needed by a data set while offering easy access for quick analysis. Every DB2 instance on SmartCloud has the capacity to operate on up to 16 processor cores, a combination of which would manage at least a terabyte of memory. This technology would allow a customer to set up a system that can carry out data analysis in real time. Organizations can store data in data warehouse or in Hadoop cluster, after which they would use varied BI tools to get the patterns and other intelligence. It is proposed that the same BI tools are used in keeping data in-memory, as well as analyzing it on the fly. The company offers to run copies of SAP HANA on SmartCloud for data analysis. Nevertheless, pricing information is the company works with individual clients to determine how much the SmartCloud Database service should cost on case-by-case basis.

Analysis of its impact

Like every new technology, the incorporation of the version 10.5 of DB2 database on SmartCloud Iaas is aimed at enhancing efficiency and effectiveness especially with regard to data processing and analysis. This appears to have been met considering that the database incorporates new technologies that can speed up data analysis by more than 25 times, not to mention allowing for compression of data thereby reducing the amount of space that is needed by a data set, while also providing easy access for quick analysis. Needless to say, this is a groundbreaking move by the company considering that it is the first company to undertake

On the same note, choosing not to set the price and allowing it to be determined on a case to case basis is undoubtedly a first as it allows for customization of the database according to the needs of the customer. In addition, the effect of the invention can be felt across the industry with other cloud providers making changes. For example, Google reduced the cost of the Google Cloud Datastore by about 25%, while Microsoft expanded its Azure cloud service to China.

Science News (2013). Facial-Recognition Technology Proves Its Mettle. Science Daily retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130524142549.htm” http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130524142549.htm

This article outlines the development of facial-recognition technologies with three technologies being evaluated. One of the three proved to be effective in providing a “rank one” identification. However, in one of the tests, the suspect could not have his face matched at a high rank because he wore sunglasses. This technology is said to have high accuracy levels (99 percent accurate) under conditions where the face is angled to the camera and in good lighting. It is noted that automatic recognition of face has the capacity to quickly attach a name to a particular face through searching the database of face images and coming up with the closest match, thereby replacing the manual way used by law enforcement agencies. The automatic system speeds up the identification process and eliminates the possibility of an innocent person being incarcerated.

Technology application analysis

Needless to say, this technology comes as extremely crucial to law enforcement forces especially with regard to identification of criminals. In addition, it comes in handy in eliminating the possibility that an innocent person will be incarcerated and questioned for a crime. This means that the law enforcement agencies will not only be using their time more efficiently but also more effectively especially considering the high accuracy levels with which it comes. However, the fact that the technology is unable to function so efficiently in certain conditions such as poor lighting, when the individual is not facing the camera directly or in instances where the individual is wearing sunglasses and other face masking items, underlines the need for increased development, research and innovation so as to enhance its accuracy and effectiveness. This, however, does not undermine its incredible effectiveness and accuracy especially in the right conditions.

References

Kattau, S (2013). Embarcadero RAD Studio XE4 enables ‘true native’ app development. SD Times, web retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://sdt.bz/45657” http://sdt.bz/45657

Science News (2013). Facial-Recognition Technology Proves Its Mettle. Science Daily retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130524142549.htm” http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130524142549.htm

Jackson, J (2013). IBM preps SmartCloud for real-time analytics. Infoworld, retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/ibm-preps-smartcloud-real-time-analytics-219274” http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/ibm-preps-smartcloud-real-time-analytics-219274

Simonite, T (2011). What Bitcoin Is, and Why It Matters. MIT Technology Review retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://www.technologyreview.com/news/424091/what-bitcoin-is-and-why-it-matters/” http://www.technologyreview.com/news/424091/what-bitcoin-is-and-why-it-matters/

Shah, A (2013). Powerful thin clients may be alternative to PCs. Infoworld retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://www.infoworld.com/d/computer-hardware/powerful-thin-clients-may-be-alternative-pcs-219255” http://www.infoworld.com/d/computer-hardware/powerful-thin-clients-may-be-alternative-pcs-219255

BUSA 3000 Quantitative Analysis for Business

Homework Assignment 2 (40 points)

Name /Last Name:

IMPORTANT: For each question: First provide the formula and then show your calculations for your answers.

If calculations didn’t provide, a 50% deduction; if formulas didn’t provide a 10% deduction; if both didn’t provide, a 70% deduction will be conducted. If you are going to provide work and have mistakes still you can get partial points for your work.

The questions in this assignment covers these topics:

Chapter 10: Inference about Means and Proportions with Two Populations

Question 1 & 2 10 points

(25%)

Chapter 11. Inferences about Population Variances

Question 3 & 4 10 points

(25%)

Chapter 12. Tests of Goodness of Fit Independence and Multiple Proportions Question 5 & 6 10 points

(25%)

Chapter 13. Experimental Design and Analysis of Variance Question 7 & 8 10 points

(25%)

You can find similar questions with their answers in the exercise file of each chapter. These files located under each folder of related Chapters.

Please, provide one file as a pdf or doc for your HW assignments. So, if you are writing by hand, you have to merge your photos in a pdf file. I will not accept separate pictures, photos. You have to arrange your assignment and submit in a professional manner. Homework assignments will be available for approximately 7 days. I will not accept any excuse or any submissions through email.

Please, provide your answers under each question.

Chapter 10: Inference about Means and Proportions with Two Populations

Question 1 (5 points)

Consider the following hypothesis test.

The following results are for two independent samples taken from the two populations.

a.What is the value of the test statistic? (2 points)

b.What is the p-value? (2 points)

c.With a α=0.5, what is your hypothesis testing conclusion? (1 point)

Question 2 (5 points)

Consider the following data for two independent random samples taken from two normal populations.

a.Compute the two sample means. What is the point estimate of the difference between the two population means? (1 point)

b.Compute the two sample standard deviations. (2 points)

c. What is the degrees of freedom for the t distribution? (1 point)

d. What is the 90% confidence interval estimate of the difference between the two population means? (1 point)

Chapter 11: Inferences about Population Variances

Question 3 (5 points)

An automotive part must be machined to close tolerances to be acceptable to customers. Production specifications call for a maximum variance in the lengths of the parts of .0004. Suppose the sample variance for 30 parts turns out to be s2= .0005. Use a α= .05 to test whether the population variance specification is being violate (use p value approach)

H0: 2 .0004

Ha: 2 .0004 Research hypothesis

Question 4 (5 points)

Two new assembly methods are tested and the variances in assembly times are reported. Use α=.10 and test for equality of the two population variances.

The hypothesis

H0: 1 2 = 2 2

Ha: 1 2 ≠ 2 2

Computing the value of the test statistic

F = s12s22=2512=2.083The p-value is the probability of obtaining the value of the test statistic, or a value more extreme. The p-value is the number or interval in the column title of Table 4 containing the F-value with df n = 31-1 = 30 and df d = 25 – 1 = 24

0.05 = 2 x 0.025 < P < 2 x 0.05 = 0.10

P < 0.10, Therefore, reject Ho.

Chapter 12: Tests of Goodness of Fit Independence and Multiple Proportions

Question 5 (5 points)

Suppose we have a multinomial population with four categories: A, B, C, and D. The null hypothesis is that the proportion of items is the same in every category. The null hypothesis is

H0: pA =.pB = pC = pD = .25

A sample of size 300 yielded the following results.

A:85 B:95 C:50 D:70

Use α=.05 to determine whether H0 should be rejected. What is the p-value?

Expected frequencies: (1 point)

Actual frequencies: (0.5 point)

(1.5 points)

degrees of freedom: k – 1 = (0.5 point)

Using the table with df = ,= …………. shows the p-value is…….. than ……….. (0.5 point)

Conclusion:(0.5 point)

p-value ………….05, ………….H0

Complete this sentence based on your conclusion: (0.5 point)

The population proportions ……………. the same.

Question 6 (5 points)

The following table contains observed frequencies for a sample of 240. Test for independence of the row and column variables using a α=.05.

H0: The column variable is independent of the row variable

Ha: The column variable is not independent on the row variable

Observed Frequencies (fij) (0.5 point)

  A B C Total

P Q R Total Expected Frequencies (eij) (1 point)

  A B C Total

P Q R Total Chi–Square Calculations (fij – eij)2 / eij (1.5 points)

  A B C Total

P Q R =

Degrees of freedom = (r – 1)(c – 1) = (0.5 point)

Using the table with df = ………,=……………….. shows the p–value is ………. than ………… (0.5 point)

Conclusion: (0.5 point)

p–value ……….. .05, ……………. H0.

Complete this sentence based on your conclusion: (0.5 point)

The column variable …………… independent of the row variable.

Chapter 13: Experimental Design and Analysis of Variance

Question 7 (5 points)

The following data are from a completely randomized design. (Data file can be found in the D2L.)

a.Compute the sum of squares between treatments. (.5 point)

x = 119 + 107 + 100/3 = 107.9

SSTr = 8*(119 – 107.9) ^2 + 10*(107 – 107.9) ^2 + 10*(100 – 107.9) ^2 = 1617.86

dfBG = 3 -1

= 2

The mean square between groups is,

MSBG = SSdf=1617.86/2 = 808.93

b.Compute the mean square between treatments. (.5 point)

MSBG = SSdfMSTr = 1617.86/2 = 808.929

c.Compute the sum of squares due to error. (1 point)

SSE = (8 – 1) *146.86 + (10 – 1) *96.44 + (10 – 1) *173.78 = 3460

d.Compute the mean square due to error. (1 point)

3460/ (10 + 10 + 8 – 2) = 138.4

e. Set up the ANOVA table for this problem. Use the Excel Single Factor ANOVA test and provide screenshot: (1 point)

ANOVA table Source SS    df MS F    p-value

Treatment 1,617.86 2 808.929 5.84 .0083

Error 3,460.00 25 138.400 Total 5,077.86 27 f.At α= .05, is there a significant difference between the treatment means? (1 points)

Since the p-value (0.0083) is less than the significance level (0.05), we can reject the null hypothesis.

Therefore, we can conclude that there is a significant difference between treatment means.

Question 8 (5 points)

In a completely randomized design, 12 experimental units were used for the first treatment, 15 for the second treatment, and 20 for the third treatment. Complete the following analysis of variance. At a .05 level of significance, is there a significant difference between the treatments?

a. Complete the following ANOVA table. (3 points)

b. What hypotheses are implied in this problem? (1 point)

The p-value is 0.05

Consider Null and Alternative hypothesis.

Null hypothesis, all treatment means are equal.

Alternative hypothesis, all treatment means are not equal.

Hence, conclude that all treatment means are not equal

All treatment means are not equal.

c. At the α= .05 level of significance, can we reject the null hypothesis in part (b)? Is there a significant difference between the treatments? Explain.(1 point)

p < 0.01

p < 0.05

There is sufficient evidence to reject the claim of equal population means.

Top of Form

Source

of Variation Sum

of Squares Degrees

of Freedom Mean

Square F p-value

Treatments 1200 2 600 44 < 0.01

Error 600 44 13.6364 Total 1800 46

About Aramex Company culture and marketing positioning

Executive SummaryAramex is an international logistics and transportation service company specializing in a wide range of services including logistics, express, domestic distribution, and freight forwarding. It was founded in 1982 by Ghandour who became its CEO. The firm began as an international operator offering oversea delivery to American courier companies in the Middle East. This paper looks at the US companies Aramex has partnered with over the history, identifies the culture that drives it, its services, and how it has managed to develop a global network. First mover advantage and developing global network alliance are the two drivers of Aramex competition.

Contents

TOC o “1-3” h z u Executive Summary PAGEREF _Toc380779424 h 1The Global Express Business PAGEREF _Toc380779425 h 2Entry of ARAMEX PAGEREF _Toc380779426 h 3Aramex Culture PAGEREF _Toc380779427 h 6Aramex Services and Global Positioning PAGEREF _Toc380779428 h 6Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc380779429 h 8

Introduction

Aramex is an international logistics and transportation service company specializing in a wide range of services including logistics, express, domestic distribution, and freight forwarding. The company was established in 1982 by Fadi Ghandour in partnership with his father’s friend William (Bill) Kingson. Ghandour had just attained a degree in political science from the University of George Washington. As a student in the university he marveled at reliability and efficiency of U.S express business and wondered what it would feel to start a similar business in the Middle East. He met Kingson at Paris Air Show and they talked about this opportunity in the Middle East. This conversation led to a partnership to establish an express business in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. They established the firm to offer delivery services for companies dealing with exports deliveries in North America like FedEx (Federal Express), Purolotor, Emery, Burlington Northern, and Airborne Express. Its main competitor at the time was DHL in this region. In 1990 it partnered with Airborne Express to establish an independent alliance for international express companies known as OEC (Overseas Express carriers). This organization formed an international delivery network for the member firms to give them an advantage over large firms. In 1997, the company became the first Middle Eastern company to list in the NASDAQ. However, it delisted from the stock exchange in 2002 to return to private ownership. In 2003, Airborne Express was acquired by DHL and it existed from its alliance with Aramex.

The Global Express BusinessAt the time Ghandour contemplated venturing into express business this industry was still at it infancy globally. Air freight industry started in US around 1970s. Airlines began to ship cargos in empty spaces underneath passengers. However, because international trade was not well developed then demand was low. As a result, airlines shifted to larger and more appealing items and abandoned smaller packages businesses to firms known as freight forwarders (Augustine, 2009)..

In the U.S the freight forwarders included Emery, Airborne, and Purolator. These companies consolidated smaller packages into large loads attractive to the commercial airlines. Later, FedEx entry into the industry transformed this as it came with its own aircraft carrier as well as logistic infrastructure. This caused ripples in the industry and other firms went on to purchase their own aircraft to generate similar profitability like FedEx (Augustine, 2009).

Over these years United States express business dominated the world. DHL was the only company operating internationally in the whole world. It was established in 1969 in California at San Francisco. The Bank of America was the company’s first customer as it needed an international express carrier to carry its credit letter and other records globally reliably and rapidly. In the 70s the company operated in Europe, Far East, Africa and Latin America. It was one of the express companies with local offices in Middle East. By 1983, the company operated in over 125 with 500 offices (Augustine, 2009).

Entry of ARAMEXAfter graduating from university, Ghandour decided to conduct a feasibility study to start an express carrier in the Middle East. In his analysis he noted that global carriers would bypass DHL if they had an option for delivering their items across the world. By partnering with Kingson they established Aramex. Ghandour spent a lot of time in the initial years travelling around the world to find entrepreneurs to develop his network. He networked with individual who accepted to deliver Aramex packages locally. They include small travel operators, and emerging domestic courier companies. Ghandour initially used commercial flights to ferry packages across the world. He also noted that though most of the courier firm used to send packages to Middle East, majority had no interest in venturing into global market. His company established processing operation in major drop points like New York City airport of John F. Kennedy and Heathrow in London. In these locations the company started to load small packages to be taken to Dubai, Amman, and Bahrain for sorting and delivery to various parts of Middle East. In time the company was able to lure U.S express operators like Emery, Burlington Northern, and Airborne to partner with it and deliver these firms’ packages to Middle East. The company was able to use the known brands to attract more business (Augustine, 2009).

The company successfully developed its brand with the small courier companies. In 1987, it attracted the U.S. largest courier company FedEx. This became the firm’s turning point as the partnership alone generated 30 percent of the total revenue for Aramex. In the late 80s express industry experienced a series of acquisitions of various courier companies that the firm served, but it continued to serve them despite the changes in ownership. However, the firm later developed its relationship with Airborne and they formed OEC alliance. This alliance enabled the two firms to compete with large firms like DHL and UPS with global presence. By 1991 this network had 90 percent connection to various countries of the world enabling Aramex to access different markets. This network enabled the firm to build trust among businesses in the Middle East for services ranging from freight forwarding to express, and distributed goods to any location a client needed.

Although this alliance formed an important source of business growth for Aramex, it still depended on other courier express company like FedEx. As a result, when FedEx decided in 1966 to drop the firm and start its own ground operation in the Middle East it created a great threat to Aramex’s revenue. Accordingly, the firm started to source for finances to develop its own systems in Middle East. The company first sourced these funds by selling 9 percent of its share to Airborne. However, these investment were inadequate to enable the company develop its technological capabilities to a competitive level in the region. The Arab world was also reluctant to invest in the firm. They did not have confidence in the firm because it did not own buildings or lands. Kingson advised Ghandour that they should list the firm in NASDAQ, an American based stock exchange. In addition to the cash acquired for this listing, it enabled the firm to build its reputation as a global player. The firm’s IPO (initial public offering) traded on January 1997 and was the first company based in Middle East to sell shares in a United States Stock Exchange (Augustine, 2009). The listing left an impression among other players such as strategic partners, banks, and client. They all started to view the firm in a different perspective.

According to Ghandour (2011) partnering with Airborne had a great impact on the firm reputation. The company used to speak about this partnership in every road show organized in America. This partnership cultivated confidence in the firm from institutional investors in US. It was also later instrumental in attracting regional investor interest in the firm. The firm was therefore, able to move from its IPO value of $7 million to $14 million in the second offer. As a result, the company was able to accelerate its growth and it started to venture into new regions beyond Middle East like India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Hong Kong. This weakened the firm’s dependence on OEC. The firm worry of losing technology capabilities provided by Airborne because of the OEC alliance compelled the CEO to start developing its own IT system. He recruited a former employee of Airborne to assist in this objective and successfully managed to do so in two years time. In 2003, Airborne was acquired by DHL and withdrew its support to Aramex. Luckily the firm had ventured into various markets and had developed its own package tracking and tracing system. The company also called a meeting of other members in the OEC alliance to convince them that despite Airline walking away from the alliance, it was in a position to maintain their alliance.

Ghandour (2011) argues that by the time Airborne moved out of the alliance and switched its system from Aramex, the latter was able to switch its new system on. This is because that moment offered Aramex an opportunity to build its global leadership position. He further argues that though the firm loss of Airborne had an impact on the firm, it was a blessing in disguise because their partnership had hindered Aramex from realizing its full potential. However, in spite of the firm being listed in NASDAQ, it was not able to get the capital it needed. Political instability in the region made investors to lose confidence with the firm. Ghandour partnered with Abraaj Capital to return the firm into private ownership. There years later the firm was listed in the Dubai Stock Exchange where it continues to source for funds to date (Williams, 2013).

Aramex CultureThe company continued to develop a unique identity as a global leader in logistic industry. It was known as a non-bureaucratic, non-hierarchical, entrepreneurial, and encouraging environment. The company values entrepreneurs and recognize the need to work with small firms in expanding its businesses. In 2003, for instance following a wave of consolidation in the industry, the firm lost a significant proportion of its US market. To address this challenge Ghandour initiated his own strategy of acquisition and alliances to equal its competitors. The company continues to acquire local operators, and has recently acquired logistic firms in Britain, Ireland, and Egypt. Ghandour believed that entrepreneurs existed everywhere where the firm needed a business partner. In addition, the company attracted a younger workforce with 45 percent of the entire workforce being under 29 (Augustine, 2009). To prospective employees it offered access to international opportunities and professional growth. In addition, the firm offers relatively high degree of local autonomy to work stations not common in most of the multinational companies. This enables the firm to provide services that other international express companies would not bother to provide. For instance, the firm in United Arab Emirates and Jordan delivered notification for courts. This created an intensive knowledge of the local market that Aramex operates.

Aramex Services and Global PositioningThe company prides itself as a global service provider. It offers a wide range of services in categories like international delivery, freight forwarding, domestic express delivery, integrated logistics, supply chain management and warehousing, information management solutions, and E-business solutions.

International express delivery involves shipping of packages and documents for clients in various sectors like banks, pharmaceutical, trading, regional distribution and manufacturing, which needs speedy delivery. The freight forwarding category encompasses all transportation via land, air, and ocean. This is mainly for large packages, which are not time sensitive. In domestic express delivery category the firm offers door-to-door delivery of packages urgently needed within a city or country. This can either be same-day or the next business day. The firm also offers warehousing and inventory management systems for clients’ products, from the time they leave business premises up to the time they reach end user. According to AUGUSTINE (2009), this category emerged from increased demand for these services by companies due to changes in global economy. These firms needed the warehousing services to enhance the logistics solutions. The firm also has information management solution services under the brand name infoFort. This provides clients in North Africa and Middle East information management solution. This encompasses information confidentiality, preservation, accessibility, business continuity and compliance issues relating to data and information.

Following recent growth in online business due to expanding internet use the firm has also developed e-business solutions. The company operates an online shopping delivery services known as Shop and Ship. This is a delivery service enabling thousands of online shoppers in various parts of the world to get goods purchased from UK, US, and China via online stores delivered to them. This service is offered in over 25 countries in Europe, Middle East, Asia, and Africa (Aramex Overview, 2011). Despite recent growth in online business, some firms in America as well as eBay traders do not ship sold items overseas. Recognizing this gap Aramex developed the Ship and Shop where it offers Middle Eastern online shoppers American Addresses where they can have their goods delivered. The firm then delivers these items to the buyers in other parts of the world (Bangkok Post, 2006).

The firm has a dedicated website where the Shop and Ship service can be accessed. This is www.aramex.com/shopandship. This website provides crucial information to the firm’s customer through mailbox accounts. Customers can also be able to truck their shipments and calculate the rate of shipment as well as convert currency. The site also links users to other popular sites. The mailbox for Shop and Ship enables users to access Mailboxes in the US, where they can get internet orders, magazine subscriptions, correspondence, and special offers that would be impossible to get under any other ordinary international addresses (Middle East Company News, 2004).

ConclusionThe lesson from this analysis is that Aramex growth has developed as a result of two major reasons. The first is because of the first mover advantage. The firm was able to develop a competitive advantage over its competitors by venturing into local markets they feared to enter or disregarded. Secondly, its ability to maintain global alliance also gives it advantage over its competitors. Its ability to build alliance in different countries gave it a cheap means to compete with its main rivals without having to engage in an investment race with them. As a result the firm has been able to grow its revenue from $125 million in 2005 to closer to $845 million by 2012 (Robert, 2013).

References

Augustine, G. (2009). Aramex: Delivering the Future (A). William Davidson Institute Case 1-428-776.

Ghandour, F. (2011). The CEO of Aramex on Turning a Failed Sale into a Huge Opportunity. Harvard Business review, 43-46.

Middle East Company News. (2004). Aramex Complements ‘Shop and Ship’ Service.

Robert, K. (2013). Case Study: Developing a Global Operation: Aramex’s New Strategies at New Stages. Financial Times.

The Bangkok Post. (2006) How Delivery Companies are Consolidating.

Williams, J. (2013). Ordering off the menu: Entrepreneurship Arab-Style. INSEAD.

HITT Contracting Incorporation

Student’s name

Institutional affiliation

About HITT Contracting Inc.

Founded in 1937, HITT Contracting is among the leading general contractors in the South Florida market with offices in Atlanta, Washington DC, Houston, Dallas, New York, Santa Clara, Fort Lauderdale, and Charleston. HITT Contracting specializes in law firms, corporate interiors, hospitality, financial institutions, healthcare construction and government construction projects in various regions, including West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and greater Miami. Regarding ownership, Russell Hitt’s son and son-in-law, Brett Hitt and Jim Millar respectively, are co-chairs of the company’s Board. The two share ownership responsibilities. Initially, HITT Contracting was founded by Myrtle Hitt and Warren Hitt in 1937. Until his death in September 2020, their son Russell A. Hitt served as the company’s chairman emeritus. Together, fathers and sons of the Hitt family have led the organization’s growth into among the top 25 general contractors in the United States. The company maintains a workforce of over 1,000 team members and continues to bring on board self-driven candidates to join the team and contribute to its ongoing success. In furtherance of the company’s mission, the company uphold various core values, including working hard, staying humble, elevating the business of building, being good, taking the high road, attention to detail, and delivering with passion. This text provides an analysis for HITT, including competitive analysis, company analysis, product analysis, customer analysis, and market analysis. The text further delves into how HITT’s services can be developed in markets in developing and developed countries and discusses the future of marketing.

Competitive Analysis

HITT Contracting’s primary competitors are Turner Company, EllisDon and Clark Construction, PCL construction, Ellisdon, Shimmick Construction, Novo Construction, McCarthy. AECOM, LERNER, and Hensel Phelps. The company which has its headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia has revenue of 2.4 billion dollars, with its main business being provision of commercial real estate services for corporate education, hospitality, office, government, and healthcare sectors. HITT Contracting’s main source of competition has to be Clark Construction whose president and CEO has a CEO rating of 91/100 compared to HITT Contracting’s CEO rating of 74/100. Clark Construction has a competitive edge in the sense that its revenue and employees are higher than HITT Contracting’s. Clark generates revenue of 5 billion dollars and employs over 4,200 employees compared to 2.4 billion dollar revenue and a workforce of about 1,000 employees. Turner Company is also proving to be a source of competition generating a revenue of 14.4 billion dollars and over 10, 000 employees. Turner’s CEO rating stands at 74/100 which is the same as HITT Contracting’s. Additionally, EllisDon is a source of competition producing a revenue of $4.4 billion, a CEO rating of 81/100 and employing about 5,000 individuals. PCL Construction is another notable source of competition for HITT Contracting. PCL has an employee workforce of 4500 individual and an annual revenue of $6.3 billion. Worth noting, Dave Filipchuk, the company’s President and CEO has a CEO rating of 76/100 compared to HITT Contracting’s CEO rating of 74/100. Other potential competitors include Donhoe Companies Inc., Keller North America Inc., and James G. Davis Construction Corporation, with 1,400, 2, 400 and 584 employees respectively.

Company Analysis

Doing business as Hitt Contracting Inc., the company has hit the nail on the head in matters general contracting. The corporation provides construction services for corporate building and interiors in nearly all sectors ranging from technology to healthcare. HITT Contracting handles historical renovations to eco-friendly projects. HITT Contracting conducts business in various industries including the construction of buildings construction, non-residential building construction, renovation and repair, commercial and office buildings, and commercial and institutional buildings. According to Improvements-Institutional, 2018 data center HITT Contracting also operates in industries in construction such as land subdivision, building equipment contractors, residential building construction, street and bridge construction and utility building construction. HITT Contracting Environmental Social Governance (ESG) ranking is 1.0 with an ESG industry average of 2.68. The company has an average annual revenue of 1.22 billion US dollars. Hitt Contracting is the ultimate parent company with one subsidiary and 11 branches. HITT Contracting is mostly classified as a company with operations in Nonresidential Building Construction industries. Some of the strengths that come with being an employee of HITT Contracting Inc. are outstanding management and leadership, room for personal development and a conducive work environment. Additionally, the company provides good work pay and employee benefits and supportive team members. On the other hand, some of the perks of working at the company include young and inexperienced personnel in preconstruction, high levels and stress and lean corporate resources.

Product Analysis

HITT Contracting Inc. works with construction professionals to provide clients with a variety of services that range from service and emergency work to base building construction and renovation and corporate interior fit-outs. With HITT Contracting Inc., it is more than construction; it is shaping possibilities, building dreams, and defining spaces that surround us.

With an experience of over eight decades in service provision that goes beyond the client expectations, HITT Contracting has a portfolio of award-winning constructions particularly for commercial build environments. They deliver projects that are redefining commercial real estate in America and beyond from office spaces and mixed-use industrial campuses of the future.

The Company has notable projects including Intelsat, that features a six-level monumental stair and multipurpose room with 28 ceilings that can fit up to 330 individuals. Another notable product is located at the Radio Oncology Center at George Washington University Hospital. It is an occupied renovation that entails a CT scanner and two linear accelerators. The Verizon NAP of Capital region also features five independent data centers featuring 187 million dollars and a 508 unit 21-story and 19-story tower worth up to 150 million dollars.

Customer Analysis

As regards customers, HITT Contracting Inc. provides services to customers that are in need of services ranging from renovation to build base construction to emergency services, and interior fit-outs. They provide services to clients in the corporate arena as well as public business. HITT Contracting Inc. values their customer experience which is why they employ client-centered strategies to ensure customer satisfaction. In 2019, HITT Contracting Inc. set aggressive goals with the aim of genuinely embracing the customer experience. A year later, they chose customer experience pilots to help take the management program to the next level. The program approach had four phases. They audited the existing feedback from partners and clients to determine the feedback loopholes and generate insights for improvement. They further facilitated the first wave of journey maps and outcome-oriented client personas. They further carried out an analysis of the corporate training program and make recommendations to inject client experience into the programming. They further revised the organizations approach to brand and purpose to ensure it aligns with the renewed commitment and client experience. Some of the solutions that were implemented as a result of the program were utilizing technology for client feedback, evaluating partner and client feedback collection, and redefining survey questions. As a result, various changes were realized. There was a deeper team and leadership engagement, increased visibility for the firm, and more knowledge of the client’s expectations and sentiments. Additionally, HITT Contracting Inc. saw better brand and purpose alignment, increased knowledge about client sentiment and expectations, better understanding of client feedback system, and corporate brand architecture. In essence, the client expectation program helped HITT Contracting Inc. to deliver robust journey maps into driving a customer-centric culture and innovative customer experience.

Market Analysis

As far as the market goes, HITT Contracting Inc boasts of clients in matters construction from across the world. HITT Contracting Inc. entered the Houston Market in 2016, making the company’s latest acquisition of trademark. They announced the taking over of a Houston-based Trademark contractor that had an experience of over 30 years. The chairperson, Bret Hitt, noted the company’s excitement to welcome the contractor on board. The purpose of the collaboration was to create a bigger impact on their clients within Texas and beyond. The acquisition of the trademark allowed HITT Contracting to expand their ability to cater to clients in key sectors such as technology, healthcare, commercial base building construction, and corporate interiors. They move was 55 new office employees operate with the organization’s trademark. To further expand its operations, HITT recruited additional construction talents. Worth noting, the synergy between the teams allowed both organizations to view the acquisition as national experience to push them into getting to the next project in size, volume, and scope. Across the United States, HITT Contracting is ranked the leading commercial construction company in the field with its annual revenue amounting to 1 billion dollars. Worth noting, HITT Contracting is ranked by ENR as among the 100 largest general contractors. HITT Contracting continues to maintain its regional offices in South Florida, Atlanta, Charleston, Denver, and satellite offices in Dallas, Baltimore, Seattle, and Richmond. HITT Contracting maintains client-oriented team that meets the need of all programs that require changing the building shells and complete owner fit-outs. Worth noting the company has a wide range of employees including trained and skilled in-house, to provide round-the-clock support to clients following initial occupancy. The company’s way of maintaining excellence and quality speaks to its core mission and its structure. HITT Contracting Inc. teams are often organized into expert market sectors that have a specialty in various aspects, including technology, paint and service, law firms, industrial services, hospitality, healthcare services, government, and building and interiors. Additionally, there are other divisions that complement the market sector teams, including preconstruction, subcontractor relationships, and sustainable construction.

Product Expansion in Markets in Developing and Developed Countries

For HITT Contracting Inc. to expand its construction services to developing and developed countries, it will need to employ a variety of tactics, including collaboration and building from the ground up. According to the hitt.com website, For HITT Contracting to be the renowned construction guru, it has had to collaborate with other contractors. Collaborations are particularly viable for developed countries such as other states where it has not yet established subsidiaries and other countries such as Canada, and across Europe. HITT Contracting has more chances of success when it works with subcontractors as it places them in a position to reach a greater clientele. Without a doubt, new building technologies, approaches, and materials have the potential to completely change the future of construction. Compared to developing countries, developed ones are quick to accept innovation. HITT Contracting remains committed to the ever-changing construction industry. Innovation in the construction sector derives sustainability and well-being and learning and solutions for all stakeholders and partners. As regards underdeveloped countries, HITT Contracting Inc., should start with building sustainability from the ground up. Using built strategies such as mass-timber construction ensures that structural wood remains connected with fasteners. This would make the building not only sustainable but also safe. It would still remain as strong as concrete or steel. Worth noting, mass-timber constructions are not only easy to bring down, but they can also be reused when no longer in use. Recycled finishes and materials can be used throughout the solar panels and entire building to ensure the facility accesses all the energy it needs. With such solar panels, it is possible to input charging stations for visitors.

The Future of Marketing

The changing face of marketing can be best described using the changing marketing channels and the growing consumer dominance. Old school marketing only employed traditional channels of marketing such as broadcasting and print media. However, we are living in a digital age where new school marketers continue to employ traditional methods but combine them with digital technologies bringing deeper and improved customer experience. It is important to care about consumer behavior it speaks to the customer experience. Today client needs have taken center-stage. As creators come up with new products and services they are keeping the needs and wants of their customers at the back of their mind. This shows that, without a doubt, customers have dominated the marketing field. There is need to anticipate future customers as they are bound to be even more essential as end-users of nearly all company products are changing in location, number and makeup at an ever rising rate. Worth noting, there has also been a significant rise in the market for personalized services with consumer services now accounting for 40-50% of consumer purchases. Additionally, customers’ tastes are also becoming more flexible, varied, and demanding. For instance, the rising demand for wood products; the traditional manufacturer today sells a variety of products that never existed years ago, but due to collaborative marketing and product-based research, they are able to get products that meet the market demand.

References

Improvements-Institutional, C., & Improvements-Non-Institutional, C. (2018). Datacenter.

Hitt.com