Protection of human rights and armed conflict Essay

Protection of human rights and armed conflict - Essay Example Humanitarian intervention is primarily motivated by humanitarian objectives but in most of the cases there are strategic motives attached to the military action and the integrity and sovereignty of the state against which the action is taken is challenged which is totally against the UN charter and international law. There are no criteria established for humanitarian intervention to decide when, how and under what circumstances it becomes inevitable to intervene in the internal affairs of a sovereign state. The issue of humanitarian intervention has become the most debatable one ever since the end of the Cold War period because there are two schools of thoughts, one which considers it to be very legitimate, legal and essential for the establishment of UN human rights charter in each and every country of the world while others challenge its legality on the grounds of being against the sovereignty of a state (Murphy, 1996). The essay discusses the legality and effectiveness of the huma nitarian intervention with reference to various incidents of humanitarian intervention and peace operations in different regions of the world. Various different definitions have been presented by scholars from different schools of thoughts. ... The supporters of humanitarian intervention make the objective of provision of fundamental human rights to each and every individual in this world the basis of their support of external interference in the affairs of a state. The scholars and debaters who do not support the idea of humanitarian intervention argue on the basis of the Article 2(4) of the UN Charter which restricts the use of force against any sovereign state. They further argue that humanitarian intervention for the restoration of fundamental human rights can be used as a way of achieving the political and strategic goals by the countries that are imposing a military expedition on a country and this kind of abuse of humanitarian intervention is very easy to carry out. Under such circumstances the humanitarian intervention can never be effective enough to achieve the primary goals of the protection of human rights (Jokic, 2003). There are incidents in which humanitarian intervention has aggravated the violation of human rights in the affected areas. The military personnel of the peace keeping forces are sometimes involved in the violation of human rights. The deciding authority, the UN Security Council in most of the cases is a big question on the legitimacy and efficacy of the humanitarian intervention because certain states have political and strategic motives associated with the governments of certain states. For example recent scenario in Sudan where most of the states in the United Nations Security Council were in favor of a military intervention by UN forces, China had other plans because of its ties with the Sudanese government based on oil supply contracts between the two. In the following pages the effectiveness of humanitarian intervention

Compliance and Coding Management 1 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Compliance and Coding Management 1 - Assignment Example The current staff of the hospital includes: coders in the HIM department for coding inpatient services; a front office employee phone answering, helping the person who walks in without having an appointment, retrieving and filing the records of the health departments of hospitals; the CFO who does various jobs which includes organizing budgets, organizing accounts, evaluating operational outcomes, and making income tax returns; nursing staff; hospital charge master coordinator who is just enjoying the position and get the information of hospital through phone call while staying at home. Basis of clinical database in hospital is produced by the coded data. Several departments of the clinics and hospitals use the abstracted information that is gathered for every patient. For instance, for clinical analysis, improvement in services of the hospital as well as usage of the provided services the department of quality management uses such information daily. A database produced by gathering of financial and clinical data is called a decision support system. Such systems render important data regarding the business of hospital in both financial and clinical conditions. For instance, information could be collected in order to compare the actual money spent and the hospital service charges cost. This information is further utilized by the financial for forecasting and budgeting. Persons with insurance contracts could use this financial and clinical data to discuss contract’s payment. Therefore, the use of codes for decision support provides helpful information regarding the business of the organization in both financial and clinical. This coding process can provide help to the coders that are in the department of health information management (HIM) and enables them to do their jobs with the essential information for exact coding. In the give scenario there are only threes, therefore the manager of the HIM department

Activity Based Costing Essay Example for Free

Activity Based Costing Essay Activity based costing (ABC) is a relative new way to allocate costs to specific processes and services. This system assures that the costs are accurately distributed to the products or services that generated them. ABC illustrates costs more accurately, giving management insight to the cost associated with certain business activities. ABC extends the decision-making skills of management by expanding on traditional costing (job order costing/process order costing) techniques. However, since ABCs introduction in the 1980s, many corporations are not using ABC, despite gained managerial decision making capabilities. Even by the mid-1990s, ABCs use has not spread throughout the accounting industry and its use is not obvious (Selto Jasinski, 1996). The following article will discuss the pros and cons of the ABC method. ABC is an extension of traditional product costing techniques. These techniques are called job order costing and process order costing. A job order costing system arranges costs for each unit as it goes through a production process. A process cost system collects costs in work in progress account. The numbers of units worked are recorded for the accounting period. These systems alone do not accurately illustrate costs incurred. Instead, these two costing techniques generally lump costs into 3 main categories (cost centers). These three categories are direct materials, direct labor and overhead. Cost drivers are then assigned to represent the relationship between the cost and the process it is allocated to. ABC provides a better map of the costs of manufacturing products or distributing services. ABC uses a multitude of activity centers, which are the equivalent to the previously mentioned traditional cost centers. Each of these activity centers has its own cost driver and driver rate. ABC identifies many different costs to products by adjusting the cost driver and driver rates to specific activity centers. This process avoids across the board allocations of cost. For example, a product, which takes up .03% of space in the warehouse, would require .03% cost absorbed by product sales revenue. If the depreciation unit requires 5% cost to replace equipment at a latter date, 5% is the driver rate for that particular product. Unit, batch  and product level costs can be determined with ABC. The following steps can summarize the ABC process. The first step is to identify the activities that consume resources and allocate costs to those activities. For example, purchasing materials, record keeping, labor, materials, miles driven, machine hours and number of customers served are activities, which consume resources and needs costs to be assigned to them. The second step is to distinguish the cost drivers that are related to each activity. For example, if machine hours an activity used in the process, then the number of hours used in production of one unit would be the particular cost driver rate. The last step is to allocate costs to products by multiplying the cost driver rate by the number of cost driver units consumed by the process. There are many inherent strengths in the ABC model. The ABC model allows costs to be allocated to many different activity centers. Few corporations can focus on undifferentiated product lines and be successful. Having multiple product lines means the company has multiple cost drivers associated with each different product line. ABC is helpful in selecting which products are successful and which ones should be eliminated. Accurate cost information is key in determining the actual costs of frequent product changes. This cost is important because costs can be a good indicator of the justification or termination of varying product lines. Product lines have become more complex. Product lines of past were much simpler. For example, the Model T Ford came in one style and one color, black. Today, Ford cars have many different colors and styles. These different styles all have different cost drivers and activity centers. ABC illuminates hidden costs when high volume sales are not present and product differentiation is. This is advantageous because unprofitable lines can be replaced with lines that are profitable. Not many years ago, labor comprised 25 to 50 percent of a products cost. However, since the 1960s, labor is increasingly less involved in the  production process. For example, the textile industry replaced 100-year old shuttle looms for European air-jet looms, doubling output with less labor. In steel, the Nucor corporation used continuous casting machines to yield labor costs of $60/ton verses traditional steels $130/ton. Labor cost today is infrequently the driving force behind costs it was during the development period of cost accounting (1930s). Instead, indirect costs have replaced labor as the dominant portion of costs for some products (Kelly, 1991). To use labor as the major basis for allocating as job costing or process costing accounting does, may lead to inaccurate decisions by management. The accounting profession has largely overlooked ABC. Among reasons cited for low adoption were employee resistance and the organizational changes essential with the use of ABC (Ness Cucuzza, 1995). Some trace the source of hindered adoption of ABC to technical as well as cultural issues. Others feel that ABC would be more widespread in industry if it were marketed better by the accounts themselves (Brausch, 1992). There are several reasons for ABC low adoption rate. Complexity is an obstacle to implementing ABC. ABC requires detailed records of the costs associated with producing products and services as compared to traditional methods. This detailed record keeping requires more effort from the accountants and is more time consuming. The complexity of ABC can contribute to more errors. ABC can require more time to check and recheck to uncover errors. ABC generally requires more effort on the part of the accountant verses traditional methods and reduces the adoption rate of ABC. Another reason for not using ABC is the increased economies of scale. Many corporations are standardizing their products to reduce the costs to manufacture them. For example, Coca-Cola distributes its products in many different countries. The product varies very little in respect to packaging and manufacturing. Traditional methods of accounting can assign costs more easily, quickly and accurately for those products that have little or no product variation. ABC is a valuable tool in calculating the costs of producing varying product  lines. These differing product lines require more extensive accounting practices than traditional costing methods provide. The information obtained from ABC can help promote product lines that managers feel are profitable between those which should be eliminated. Labor is less frequently the major ingredient in the production process. ABC addresses this concern by examining and illustrating the overhead costs associated with particular activity centers. ABC describes these over head costs more accurately and is beneficial when increasingly more complex manufacturing processes are used. Adoption issues should be addressed to implement ABC method when costing decisions matter to managers. Bibliography: ReferencesBrausch, J.M. Selling ABC: New Cost Systems Can Flounder if They Are Not Marketed. Management Accounting, February 1992, pp. 42-46. Geishecker, M.L. New Technologies Support ABC. Management Accounting, March 1996, pp. 42-48. Kelly, K. A Bean-Counters Best Friend. Business Week, October 25, 1991, pp. 42-43. Ness, J.A. and T.G. Cucuzza. Tapping the Full Potential of ABC. Harvard Business Review, July/August 1995, pp. 130-131. Selto, F.H. and D.W. Jasinski. ABC and High Technology: A Story with a Moral. Management Accounting, March 1996, pp. 37-40. 17

The effectiveness of dispute resolution techniques as used in hong kong

The effectiveness of dispute resolution techniques as used in hong kong Construction in the past Years ago a construction project was a relatively simple arrangement. The owner retained an architect or engineer to develop the design and prepare the specifications for the desired project. The owner and architect or engineer then engaged the general contractor to perform the physical construction of the work leaving the methods of performance to him or her. Contractors and subcontractors were relatively straight forward, simple agreements without extensive exculpatory clauses. At that time, contracts were completed with appropriate time extensions with liquidated damages or pay for delay are depending of who was responsible for delay. Usually the work was of excellent quality because all parties of the team were working together. Nowadays, everything among the construction industry become complex and likewise resulted in a complex dispute resolution whether for a settlement of minor issue. Construction Claims In many construction projects, the argument always arisen among the parties, i.e., in between the contractor, consultant, material supplier and employer and in relation to the conditions of contracts, construction design, buildability, construction methodology and construction standard and etc. Likewise the argument will gradually step into a claim as the parties are intents to preserve their rights, interest and responsibilities as the argument of the works will always result delay and disruption to the construction progress and consequently incurred in an additional time and cost to the project under several particular circumstances. Nowadays, the construction projects are becoming more and more complex due to the innovation, evolution and technology development in the industry, the understanding and interpretation of the project requirement may differs among the parties (Malak and Saadi and Zeid 2002). In the meantime, the increased complexity of construction project, the construction processes, specification, documents and conditions of contracts has been contribution to higher possibilities of conflict that results a higher frequency of claims issue. There are many different types of construction claims are into categories relative to terms and generally defined in a contract. The parties are required to process the claim in accordance with the requirement specified in the main contract. Normally the claims are raised by the contractor as they were the first party acknowledge the construction progress is delay or disrupted by some kinds of event and responsible to identify the circumstances for reporting to the employer. The employer will then require assessing the claim issue. However, the basis of the identification of claims issue is often not exhaust enough by the contractor and therefore the employer will have a difficulty during the assessment process that results an adverse desire to the claimant, which is the contractor. Consequently, the claims cannot satisfy the claimant by extension of time or additional money during the construction period and become a higher degree of dispute that is requires further dispute resoluti on. All claims have the potential to be time consuming and expensive once the claims has different understanding among the employer and contractor (Barnard 2005). To reduce the potential time cost and expensive, usually the associated parties in the claims will proposed to a dispute resolution, i.e., Litigation, Mediation, Conciliation, Adjudication, Arbitration and etc. for minimize the unnecessary cost. Though these dispute resolutions are very common, the effectiveness is questioned by the industry due to the higher cost and time are still required for processing these resolutions. Research Aim, Objective(s), Hypotheses AIM The aim of this research paper is to investigate the effectiveness of dispute resolution techniques as used in Hong Kong. And, the investigation is concentrate on the review and quantifying the process and outcome effectiveness of one of the common use dispute resolution Mediation. OBJECTIVES * To conduct a critical review of literature relating to the definition and process of Mediation. * To conduct a critical review of literature relating to the history of dispute resolution of Mediation in Hong Kong. To review and investigate existing common use of dispute resolutions in Hong Kong. * To research and detail the actual processes, the difference in between these dispute resolutions, analyse the advantage and disadvantage of these dispute resolutions and summerise the general conclusion of these resolutions. * To collect data by face to face interview through the professional body that has experience involves in construction claims and mediation process. * To summerise and analyse the effectiveness of mediation which in the basis of time cost and reflection by the disputants. * To draw conclusion on the quantified effectiveness of mediation to testify the recognition by the construction industry and evaluate the future development of the applicable of mediation. Literature Review How claims propagate to a dispute A claim may be defines as a request, demand, application for payment of notification of presumed entitlement to which the (claimant), rightly or wrongly at this stage, considers himself entitled and in respect of which an agreement has not yet been reached (Barber and Hughes, 1992). For protect their own interest, the claimant will promptly reserves his rights to claim and presents a detailed account of the claims only a the need of the project where they can take advantage of any losses and delays and incorporate them into a claims. Therefore, the prevalence of the reservation of rights approach a construction claims. Normally, the contractor is the host and navigate the claims as the change to the project is always request by their employer, owner, consultant, employer or employers representative and the proof of contractor is breach the contract by the employer is often a difficult task (Hassanein and Nemr 2007). The change orders were the most prevalent causes of claims. The frequent appearance of a change order on a project is due to the engineer do a less thorough job in the design and planning stage and thereafter, the employer try to minimum the costs by not planning the project as real-time since initial planning. As a result the employer is put in a position where they are less likely to anticipate adverse conditions before they arise and are less capable of dealing with the variable. Accordingly, numerous cases had been reported about the contractor was received direct inductions from the employers representative or consultants due to their poor management in the pre-contract phase and outdate realization of the project. The consequence was additional incurred expenses. The increasing scope of work and poorly coordinated designs result change order and easier to propagate a construction claims. In addition, the differing site conditions, defective construction documents, suspensions of the work at the direction of the employer or consultant, wrongful delays in handling shop drawings, late deliveries of owner-furnished equipment and materials, interference by other prime contractors, lack of site access and etc. are easier to constitute a contractor claims once the poor management practice occurs in the employers team. The construction project is often delayed by the change and a claim may arise on account of a delay disruption. The nature of the construction claims leads to adversarial relationships regarding impacts and changes and often results in disputes. Background of Mediation The settlement of disputes arising from construction industry by methods other than litigation is common practice. The main reason for this is, where the substantial questions of the dispute are matters of fact rather than of law, a final and conclusive decision can be obtained in a manner which is quicker and cheaper than the formal legal. Construction disputes have used mediation since 1985 (Phillips, 1997). Compared to litigation, mediation has proved to be a faster, less expensive, more confidential, and more satisfactory way to resolve disputes. There is a national trend in favor of alternative methods of dispute resolution and away from the trench warfare style of litigation which has become so costly in recent decades. Mediation reflects a shift in the balance of power between employers and their lawyers. In scorched earth litigation the dispute is in the hands of litigators whose strength lies in motion practice and mammoth discover regimens. Mediation cuts through the posturing and tactics of litigation to get the merits of the dispute, where the employer is more of an authority, and to get to settlement negotiations, where the employer controls decision making (Fisher 1994). In fact, Mediation is a popular mode of dispute resolution in the United States (Bush and Folger 1994). As it is a non binding, consensual process of resolving conflicts through settlement conferences expedited by an impartial third party who facilitates negotiations (stories and their interpretation) between the disputants (Gillie et al. 1991;Rondeno and Rumbaugh 1999). Mediation may be considered a form of distributive justice, even though the contending parties control the discussion of the conflict and is ultimate resolution. It can be entered into voluntarily or as a result of a court order, and it does not bind the parties in any way other than by mutual agreement. Obviously, the mediation has been introduced and widely applied as a settlement method of dispute to construction industry for more than twenty years. As mediation describes a voluntary process which either side may abandon at any time without prejudice, whereby each side to a dispute is brought together before a neutral mediator, whose function is to assist the parties to arrive at common position by joint open session and private caucus (Hills 1995). During this process the mediator acts only as catalyst, not expressing his or her own opinion and not disclosing confidential information imparted by one of the parties, to the other. Through this process the parties move closer together until they reach a common position when settlement is reached. Because the mediation process itself is non binding and entirely without prejudice, it is necessary to record the agreement, in contract form, if it is to have legal effect. Although mediation is not regulated process, some rules do exist and are published by a few organizations that is applicable to Hong Kong construction industry. For example, the Construction Industry Mediation Rules published by the National Arbitration Committee in the United States, and the Hong Kong Government Mediation Rules published by the Government of Hong Kong. Mediation Process The Mediation is begins with the agreement of disputants that intents to settle certain amount of money and employ a mutually agreed mediator to commence mediated meeting to define issues and confirm each sides commitment. Agreement to mediate in the event of a dispute is either through terms of the contract (such as a mediation clause), or by mutual consent when the dispute arises. More commonly, one party approaches the mediation company to begin mediation proceeding. A representative then contracts the other side inviting them to cooperate in a mediation and consequence assists the disputants in negotiating a settlement. This is a form of collective decision making in which the mediator facilitates voluntary agreements between the parties in dispute. During this decision making process, the mediator compiles information, evaluates alternatives, and makes suggestions to the disputants aiming for a consensual agreement. The mediator will meet each party in turn to assist them to exa mine and highlight the respective strengths, and weaknesses of their case and, if he is so authorized, carry offers from one side to the other until the parties reach a common position, as a result, the mediator helps in breaking barriers and pulling communalities. In these contexts, mediation is regarded as nonthreatening, and effective in suppressing or even settling construction dispute. Thus, mediation is used because of the prospect of achieving settlements that are mutually satisfying, win-win situation, cost effective, flexible, speedy, confidential, and voluntary. At this point a settlement is usually agreed and, if the parties so wish, a contract will be drawn up to make the terms of the settlement legally binding (Hills 1995). Why Mediation This method is aimed to employ an independent third party for assist to agreed certain specified desires from the disputants in a short time and most likely they will satisfy the mediation result as the lightly litigation is applied and cost saving in comparing with other dispute resolutions. And, mediation can restart the usual course of construction claim resolution by carving out one or more of the simpler claims for early agreement. Even if the parties cannot agree that those compromises will be paid right away, at least they can stipulate that they will be paid as part of any arbitration award or court judgment. The real value of such partial settlements is that they improve the atmosphere. They demonstrate to each side that the other is acting on good faith and deserves some credibility. A good mediation advocate helps identify the clients real interests and needs, so that it is possible for the parties to reach a bargain. For example, a contractor may be less interested in mon ey than in having additional time to complete the job, or in obtaining future work, while the owner wants the project completed as quickly and as economically as possible. Because the parties craft their own settlement, they are more likely to honor their agreement voluntarily. Mediation also provides a forum wherein the aggrieved party can present its position or defense directly to the opposing party rather than through an attorney (Trantina 2001), thereby giving the aggrieved party voice or recognition of being heard. Also, mediation can preserve the partys relationship (Lederman 1997). Mediation display of commercial acumen and far from being soft, it is a continuous process of structured, condensed, guided and intense negotiation requiring quickness of mind, flexibility and imaginative thinking. And mediation can be used at the same time as litigation or arbitration procedures or can replace litigation. So it is possible to litigate or arbitrate to show serious intentions but t o negotiate with mediation to get a better result. Even the mediation fails, it has more benefits than risks. Mediation can be tried fast and at little extra cost. Parties are free to leave the process if it is unproductive (Harmon 2003). At the same time, using mediation helps clarify the issues, helps with preparation for trial or further negotiations and encourages a realistic assessment of the case more rapidly than the adversarial process. Conclusion The principle finding of this paper is aimed to have a brief review of an understanding of mediation in construction industry. An investigation is also held for realised the consequential effect is resulted by construction claims to the industry. Nevertheless, the outcome of initial finding on the literature review is not ideal as original thought. The construction claims detailed in many literature papers are mainly focusing on the claims effect how delay and disrupt the project that very limited reports are specified, i.e., the outcome effect of mediation, the problematic occurs during the mediation. For the research aim regarding dispute resolution in this report is assess the effectiveness of the mediation. As this report is only focusing the dispute resolution on Mediation, quite a lot of literature reports actually already have concluded the effectiveness of this resolution methods. Unfortunately the concluded result is limited to list out the advantage and disadvantage of this resolution and leads to have a personal (author) bias which seems not neutrally enough(Yiu Cheung Mok 2006). Furthermore, it is not difficult to have the knowledge of the process of dispute resolution but the key information or real mediated case is hard to obtain. Most likely the reason is mediation is not open to public. As a result, the critical information of real case for consolidates substantiation to this report is relatively very limited. In summary, the topic actually has a greatly development space as the gap of the above said research objective do exist in the industry. The general description on the outcome effect of mediation by limited reference to real dispute case is the key finding during this investigation of literature review. And as above mentioned the papers are only listed out the particulars of the mediation without any consolidated data, i.e., amount to settle, time consumed and cost of mediation. Accordingly, the mediation application has not been clear identified for which scale or what kind of disputes. The difficulty of data collection is recognised and foreseeable. Thus, the further development of the final report will be initially focusing on the real case data collection and the development of quantify effectiveness of mediation. Methodology Based on the concerning to the objectives of this research paper, the research methodology is considerate to choose combining a case study and face to face interview with associated professional body in the construction industry who has similar experience that involves in the construction claims and mediation process. The presentation of a case study can reflected the cause and consequence of a claims event as a full story broad and accordingly indicate how the claims falls into a dispute. From the review of the claims process by a case study method, we can easier to understand the fundamental reason why the claims event is arisen and defining the claims type or determining the validity of claims by the point of view as an external third party. Thereafter, based on the stances of the relevant parties on the claims can evaluate the necessarily of the dispute as the claims somehow is without any contractual ground backup but become as a dispute shortly. For the method of face to face interview that is an effectiveness and straight forward path to obtain the result. The professional bodies who has experience on a claims and mediation process are able to tell what the consequence and subsequence of a construction claims and how the dispute resolution process. Moreover, the method for assess the effectiveness of the dispute resolution is by quantified the time cost by these peoples contributed on each case. The case study will select the construction project that has a dispute for detail analysis and illustrate the disputes among the construction industry in Hong Kong. The case study will be considered a recent completed bridge project in Hong Kong. This project is one of the longest cable stayed bridges in the world. The bridge was just completed recently and has 2 years delay from the originally planning. Mediation has had been carried out for settle the claims dispute in early construction stage. For the face to face interviewer selection, it is very depend on the availability of those personnel. Nevertheless, the target interviewer is decide to meet minimum 4 professional body involved in this project, assuming the key data can be obtained among these professional body. Restraints/Limitations In this research paper, it can be foreseeable the difficulty to systemize and identify the dispute nature among the construction industry. Initially, to collect the claims issue event from the as-built real construction project is time consuming and require lots of contacts to meet this objective but the outcome may not be satisfied to achieve the original idea as the industry always keep the claims as a confidential issue and not open to irrelative parties. Eventhough the claims was settled completely and not necessary proceed to kinds of litigation or arbitration, the information regarding the settlement definitely involves a sum of monies that the industry still inclined not to release the details as a reference for any further similar claims. Whilst the peoples who involves in the claims process of a construction project are very limited to Claims consultancy, Q.S. or senior manager. These peoples are always difficult to reach and as the industry norms, the fact of the claims event may not present thorough. It means the realistic of claims event may be questionable due to the limitation of the sources. Nevertheless, for simplify the evaluation of the effectiveness of the dispute resolutions is quantifying the time cost and feedback from the disputants, further measure the applicable frequency of this resolution. Research Programme Please refer to Appendix A Ethics and Safety Approval Please refer to Appendix B REFERENCES: Fisher, T. (1994) Construction Mediation. Dispute Resolution Journa, March 1994, pp.8-16. Harmon, K. (2003) Resolution of Construction Disputes:A Review of Current methodologies. Leadership and management in Engineering, October 2003, pp.187-197. Flake, R. and Perin, S. (2003) Mediating Construction Disputes:What Works and What Doesnt. Construction, May/July 2003, pp.24-34 Hassanein, A. and Nemr, W. (2007) Construction Claims in Egypt:Contrasts and Similarities With Published Literature. AACE International Transactions, INT.04, pp.1-5 Mcdonald, P. (1984) Construction claims costing for owners and contractors. Construction management and Economics, 2, pp.1-12. Baki, M. (1999) Delay Claims management in Construction A Step-by-Step Approach. Cost Engineering, 41(10), pp.36-48. Chester, M. and Hendrickson, C. (2005) Cost Impacts, Scheduling Impacts, and the Claims Process during Construction. Journal of construction engineering and management, January 2005, pp.102-107. McDuff, C. And Ray, M. (2002) Total Cost Construction Claims Tactics. AACE International Transactions, CDR 11, pp.1-3. Goyal, B. (1996) Consturciton Claims and Disputes:Causes and Cost/Time overruns. Journal of construction engineering and management, June 1996, pp.197-198. Brooker, P. And Lavers, A. (1997) Perceptions of alternative dispute resolution as constraints upon its use in the UK construction industry. Construction management and Economics,15, pp.519-526. Thompson, M. and Vorster, m. and Groton, J. (2000) Innovations to Mange Disputes:DRB and NEC. Journal of construction engineering and management, October 2000, pp.51-59. Cheung, SO. and Yiu, TW. and Yeung, SF. (2006) A study of Styles and outcomes in Construction dispute Negotiation. Journal of construction engineering and management, August 2006, pp.805-813. Treacy, T. (1995) Use of alternative dispute resolution in the construction industry. Journal of construction engineering and management, January 1995, pp.58-63. Mcgreevy, S. (2005) Arbitration, mediation, ligtigation:Whats best?. Mcgreevy on Law. Joyce, W. (2008) Returning Arbitration to an effective process in construction contracts. Dispute resolution journal, July 2008, pp.15-18. Shapiro, J. (2002) using Mediation and Arbitration to Resolve Construction Disputes. Business Credit, November 2002, pp.59-61. Kuzma, S. and Hoffman, D. and Bradley, L. (2002) The Impact of Daubert on Expert Testimony in Construction Disputes. Construction Law and Business, 3(1), pp.19-23. Gransberg, D. and Joplin, A. (2000) Developing Construction Claims for Arbitration:Two Arbitrators Viewpoint. Cost Engineering, 42(7), pp.29-31. Yiu, TW. and Cheung, SO. and Mok, FM. (2006) Logistic Likelihood analysis of mediation outcomes. Journal of construction engineering and management, October 2006, pp.1026-1036. Spalj, G. (2005) Construction Disputes. Construction Bulletin, 14 October 2005, pp.3-6. Hills, M. (1995) Building Contract procedures in Hong Kong. 3rd ed., Hong Kong:Longman.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome SIDS and African Americans Essay -- Crib

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and African-Americans Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is a condition that many people still are trying to figure out why it happens to these babies. This syndrome is described as an unexplained death of an infant younger than one year of age. SIDS is frightening because it can strike without warning and affect a good, healthy infant. Most SIDS deaths occur at night and without warning. SIDS victims may have been down for sleep for as little as ten minutes, they show signs of struggle or suffering. Although SIDS is commonly associated with an infants sleep time, and often occurs in the crib. This event is not limited to the crib and may occur anywhere the infant is sleeping, deaths have occurred in infant seats, car seats, strollers, and in the parents' bed. Infants that die a SIDS death do not show signs of suffering, it appears as if they simply fell asleep and did not wake up. Commonalities that define a SIDS death are: †¢ the major cause of death in infants from 1 month to 1 year of age, with most deaths occurring between 2 and 4 months †¢ sudden and silent death in a infant that was seemingly healthy †¢ currently, unpredictable and unpreventable †¢ a death that occurs quickly, often associated with sleep and with no signs of suffering †¢ determined only after an autopsy, an examination of the death scene, and a review of the clinical history †¢ designated as a diagnosis of exclusion †¢ a recognized medical disorder listed in the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision (ICD-9) †¢ an infant death that leaves unanswered questions, causing intense grief for parents and families Prior to extensive research in S... ...t will provide the basis of eliminating SIDS as a cause of infant death. (Goyco, 1990) Works Cited Brandenburg, Mark A., Child Safe : A Practical Guide for Preventing Childhood Injuries Corr, C.A., Fuller, H., Barnickol, C.A., and Corr, D.M. (Eds).Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: Who Can Help and How. New York: Springer Publishing Co., 1991. Goyco, P.G., and Beckerman, R.C. "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome."Current Problems in Pediatrics 20(6):299-346, June 1990. Willinger, M., James, L.S., and Catz, C. "Defining the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS): Deliberations of an Expert Panel Convened by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development."Pediatric Pathology 11:677-684, 1991. National Center for Health Statistics. "Advance Report of Final Mortality Statistics, 1988."Monthly Vital Statistics Report, Vol. 39, No. 7, Supp. 1990, p. 33.

The Clinic :: essays research papers

The Clinic The Clinic is one of a series of Alex Delaware novels written by Jonathan Kellerman. Alex Delaware is a psychology doctor who is often employed by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) to provide psychological profiles of both victims and killers. The book is 465 pages long. In this novel Dr. Delaware has been asked to provide a psychological profile of the victim of a particularly gruesome murder. The victim is Professor Hope Devane, who was found murdered under a large elm tree in front of her home. She was stabbed three times; once in the heart; once in the groin; and once in the back. The only clue was a bicycle track left at the scene. The murder had occurred three months ago and the case had been turned over to a different detective, Milo Sturgis, due to the lack of progress in solving the case. Milo Sturgis is a personal friend of Dr. Alex Delaware and requested his assistance. Very little was known about Professor Hope Devane and Detective Sturgis asked Dr. Delaware to compile a psychological profile of her. Professor Devane had written a male-bashing book entitled â€Å"Wolves and Sheep.† The book had created quite a controversy and Professor Devane had appeared on numerous talk shows. Dr. Delaware discovered that Professor Devane had set up a committee at the university where she was employed. This committee was established to assist students who claimed to have been sexually harassed by other students. There were only three cases handled by the committee before the head of the university dissolved it. Detective Sturgis and Dr. Delaware decide that it would be a good idea for Dr. Delaware to locate and interview both the members of the committee and the individuals involved in the three cases. There were only three members of the committee. The members were Professor Hope Devane, another professor at the university, and a student named Casey Locking. The professor who served on the committee told Dr. Delaware that she only sat in on two of the cases and then dropped out because she felt the committee was too radical. She also said that Professor Devane exhibited signs of someone who might have been abused herself. Dr. Delaware interviewed the students involved in the three cases, with the exception of one young woman who seemed terrified. This girl claimed to have been raped by a fellow student who was a drama major. The Clinic :: essays research papers The Clinic The Clinic is one of a series of Alex Delaware novels written by Jonathan Kellerman. Alex Delaware is a psychology doctor who is often employed by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) to provide psychological profiles of both victims and killers. The book is 465 pages long. In this novel Dr. Delaware has been asked to provide a psychological profile of the victim of a particularly gruesome murder. The victim is Professor Hope Devane, who was found murdered under a large elm tree in front of her home. She was stabbed three times; once in the heart; once in the groin; and once in the back. The only clue was a bicycle track left at the scene. The murder had occurred three months ago and the case had been turned over to a different detective, Milo Sturgis, due to the lack of progress in solving the case. Milo Sturgis is a personal friend of Dr. Alex Delaware and requested his assistance. Very little was known about Professor Hope Devane and Detective Sturgis asked Dr. Delaware to compile a psychological profile of her. Professor Devane had written a male-bashing book entitled â€Å"Wolves and Sheep.† The book had created quite a controversy and Professor Devane had appeared on numerous talk shows. Dr. Delaware discovered that Professor Devane had set up a committee at the university where she was employed. This committee was established to assist students who claimed to have been sexually harassed by other students. There were only three cases handled by the committee before the head of the university dissolved it. Detective Sturgis and Dr. Delaware decide that it would be a good idea for Dr. Delaware to locate and interview both the members of the committee and the individuals involved in the three cases. There were only three members of the committee. The members were Professor Hope Devane, another professor at the university, and a student named Casey Locking. The professor who served on the committee told Dr. Delaware that she only sat in on two of the cases and then dropped out because she felt the committee was too radical. She also said that Professor Devane exhibited signs of someone who might have been abused herself. Dr. Delaware interviewed the students involved in the three cases, with the exception of one young woman who seemed terrified. This girl claimed to have been raped by a fellow student who was a drama major.

Monogamy Versus Polygamy and Other Forms of Marriage

â€Å"I believe in monogamy if that is what a couple decides upon together, but it all depends on the personal history and culture of the two involved. † -K. D. Lang. The traditional family system–a lifelong alliance of a man and a woman–has in the past served as an institution for mobilizing the economic, moral, and emotional resources needed to raise children, (Bergmann, 1996). In many cases, marital satisfaction is influenced by the husband’s supportiveness, maternal employment and the age of the husband. However, â€Å"a 50 percent divorce rate in the USA makes a mockery of the beautiful brides’ pictures that appear in newspapers across this nation. It suggests that America's belief in a lifetime monogamous marriage has degenerated into the mere acceptance of serial matrimony† (Miller, 1989). Roget’s Thesaurus defines monogamy as â€Å"a kind of marriage. † In other words, there are other kinds, and perhaps one of these might suit us a little better (Preston, 2011). Monogamy is the only form a legal marriage in Western society. Monogamy can mean marriage to only one person for a lifetime or, as is more common today, marriage to one person at a time, aka â€Å"serial monogamy. † Monogamy is usually between opposite sex couples, though same-sex monogamy is becoming legal in some states and countries, (Libertine, 2008). â€Å"Society expects marriages to be both, but studies that have shown that ten percent of babies are fathered by men other than their legal fathers indicate that the two don’t always go hand in hand; that while social monogamy might be ubiquitous, biological monogamy is not†, (Libertine, 2008). Monogamy can mean marriage to only one person for a lifetime or, as is more common today, marriage to one person at a time, aka â€Å"serial monogamy,† (Libertine, 2008). Monogamy is usually between opposite sex couples, though same-sex monogamy is becoming legal in some states and countries (Libertine, 2008). Monogamous marriage defined as sexually exclusive, though we must distinguish between social monogamy and biological monogamy. The assumption is that this has been the one â€Å"right† way to be married since ancient times, until threatened by the sexual revolution starting in the 1960s. According to a report released by the Census Bureau in October 2006, legally married heterosexual monogamous marriages are no longer the majority of American households, though various forms of marriage-clone relationships continue to flourish. Many other more popular types of marriages do exist. Polygamy, also known, as polygyny is either man or a woman can have more than one spouse. Polyandry, although much less common this is when one woman has several husbands. It has occurred in Tibet, Mongolia, the Canadian Arctic, South America, Nepal, Bhutan, among other places. Polyandry is especially suited to populations that have more males than females, which is perhaps why it is less common than polygyny, because females outnumber males in most societies. In all marriages, there are obligations and duties that the couples agree upon once entering into marriage. Pinning down the No. 1 duty of a spouse can be a tough call, but there is evidence that honest communication is the most important role a married person can play (Herrington). A 2005 study examined the relationships among communication, sexual satisfaction, and marital satisfaction, demonstrated that communication and sexual satisfaction independently predict marital satisfaction, (Litzinger & Gordon, 2005). However, the findings go on to say, â€Å"if couples have difficulty communicating but are sexually satisfied, they will experience greater marital satisfaction than if they have a less satisfying sexual relationship. † Thus, sexual satisfaction may partially compensate for the negative effects of poor communication on marital satisfaction (Litzinger & Gordon, 2005). Herring also pointed out in her article the ever so important sharing of responsibilities. Studies revealed that when one partner feels family duties are shared equally, he is more likely to consider the marriage a happy one. This can prevent one spouse from feeling that he shoulders all of the burdens of life, which often leads to marital strife. Helping to absorb the stress of daily life helps couples feel their relationship is fair, and is an important obligation for married people (Herrington). Sharing responsibility is often connected to the sharing of financial responsibility. The role of economic forces in the development and operation of families, he suggests reasons why the development of nontraditional, non-nuclear families is congruent with economic laws, and why their development is to be expected, today and even predicted in the future (Westley, 1998). Well-known economist Gary Becker asserts â€Å"the primary motivating factor in human action is self-interest, an indisputable basis from which to begin†. Although most economists agree with this concept of human behavior as it relates to economics, Becker also understands how this same concept applies to marriages. People will marry when they think that they can achieve a greater degree of utility in that state than when single, and they divorce when they feel that they can achieve a greater degree of utility in that state than when married (Westley, 1998). The traditional family system has its advantages and disadvantages however, â€Å"whatever the character of society or state, polity or economy, religion or culture, parents cannot escape responsibility for the quality of their children as citizens† (Halsey, 1997).