Job Order versus Process Costing Techniques Research Paper

Job Order versus Process Costing Techniques - Research Paper Example Costing is one of the counting techniques used by companies’ manufactures goods and services to ascertain the labor, material expenses, and overheads incurred in operations. This is very crucial costing enables a company to know with certainty the materials needed, labor requirements and the overheads incurred for planning purposes. Costs are first accumulated after which they are assigned to products and services. Job-order and process costing are the two main product costing techniques usually employed for accumulating and assigning costs to services and products. Process costing, according to Finkler, Ward, and Baker, are a costing technique, which involves assigning all units produced within a given period to the same cost (34). Job-order costing, on the other hand, is a costing system that ascertains separately the costs incurred for producing the units for each job (Finkler, Ward, and Baker 34). The two costing techniques have certain differences, which makes them suitab le for certain companies and not in others. To begin with, before assigning costs to products and services, it is always necessary to accumulate the costs involved in the operation. This ensures that the company effectively determines all the overheads, labor, and material expenses involved in the operation. The two systems have several differences that distinguish one from the other. Firstly, in job-order costing system, jobs are given varying degrees of attention and skills from each operation or production department (Kinney and Raiborn 207). In contrast, in process costing system, the out-put units produced are given equal attention from each operation or production department.... Thirdly, in job-order costing system, costing is done to meet specifications of individual customers. This implies that products and services are produced in line with the requirements of a given customer. Therefore, in the job-order system, production is normally preceded by sales. In contrast, in process costing system, sales are preceded by production since production is for generating inventories for future sales. Therefore, under process costing system, there is no need of attempting to identify labor, material, and overhead costs with the specific orders made by customers. This is because each order forms just one of the many filled from a continuous flow of almost identical units from the line of production. Therefore, in process costing, costs are accumulated by departments, but not by orders, which are then assigned uniformly to all units passing through the department during a specified time. According to Finkler, Ward, and Baker, costs are not accumulated using job cost sh eets (Oliver 56). Fourthly, the two costing systems differ in accordance with how the unit costs are determined during operation. In this regard, in the job order costing system, unit costs are ascertained continually as soon as each job is completed. Process costing system, in contrast, involves periodic determination of unit costs. Additionally, in job-order costing system, material required for jobs depend on the order received. As such, the stock held is small in job costing. In process costing, on the other hand, materials required for output are known with certainty. Therefore, the material stock kept on hand tends to be higher than the job-order costing. In addition, most jobs, in job-order costing are directly traceable to other jobs, implying that a

Broken Homes Essay Example for Free

Broken Homes Essay He made it sound like that’s the reason why I became a secularist. Having a bad experience growing up, growing up without a father or being in a broken family are common misconceptions that the theists think about the secularists. Both of my parents consider themselves as cafeteria Catholics, for short, secular people. They may be annulled, but they said that they felt happier when that came. According to the elders, people wouldn’t say that they came from a broken family because of heavy religious influence which makes them think that they are heretics. At the present time, people are very open about it and it is accepted in the society. Today, the religious community are alarmed with the boom of divorce within their society. According to this, 20% of Catholics and Protestants and 40% of Jewish marriages end in divorce after 5 years. Also, the Barna Research Group stated that in the United States, 11% of the adult population is divorced, 25% of adults have had at least one divorce during their lifetime and divorce rates among Christians are significantly higher than those of other religious denominations, and much higher than atheists and agnostics. The results from their research about divorce rate by religion show that: 1. Non-denominational (Evangelical Christian congregations that are not affiliated with any specific denomination) – 34% have been divorce 2. Baptists – 29% 3. Episcopal – 28% 4. Pentecostal 28% 5. Methodist – 26% 6. Presbyterian – 23% 7. Lutheran – 21% 8. Catholic – 21% Their research proved that the conservative Christians have the highest divorce rate, while the mainline Christians have a lower divorce rate. They found some new information that states that atheists and agnostics have the lowest divorce rate at all. The Associated Press confirmed the results of the research. There was a point in time where the Baptists had the highest divorce rate of any Christian denominations. Another research about divorce rates by religion stated that: Jews – 30% have been divorced Born-again Christians – 27% Other Christians – 24% Atheists and agnostics – 21% Ron Barrier, spokesperson of the American Atheists commented about the research. He said: These findings confirm what I have been saying these last five years. Since Atheist ethics are of a higher caliber than religious morals, it stands to reason that our families would be dedicated more to each other than to some invisible monitor in the sky. With Atheism, women and men are equally responsible for a healthy marriage. There is no room in Atheist ethics for the type of ‘submissive’ nonsense preached by Baptists and other Christian and/or Jewish groups. Atheists reject, and rightly so, the primitive patriarchal attitudes so prevalent in many religions with respect to marriage. StopTheReligiousRight.org also commented: We hear an awful lot from conservatives in the Bible Belt and on the TV about how we all should be living. Certainly a culture that teaches the conservative religious values of the Christian right must have clean living written all over it. And lots of ripe fruit from their morally superior lives abounding. It doesn’t. Far from it. People that talk the loudest may be the ones walking the slowest. Joining its history of Biblically correct bigotry and discrimination, it is an area with the highest divorce, murder, STD/HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, single parent homes, infant mortality, and obesity rates in the nation. As a region, the Bible Belt has the poorest health care systems and the lowest rates of high school graduation. So, before theists say something about secularists growing up in broken families, they should look at the statistics and see the reality about what’s happening in the religious community. Copyright  © 2000 to 2009 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance Originally written: 2000-APR-27 Latest update: 2009-JUL-20 Author: B.A. Robinson Youngblood One broken family By Joyce Raboca Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 00:51:00 12/18/2008 Filed Under: Social Issues, Charter change, Graft Corruption Jose Rizal wrote a chapter in ?El Filibusterismo? ironically titled ?Maligayang Pasko? [Merry Christmas]. Basically, it narrates the fate of the Family De Dios, who had something other than a merry Christmas. The daughter, Juli, became a maid; the grandfather, Tata Selo, went mute; and the father, Tales, was kidnapped by rebels. All this while the Spanish priests went merrymaking over the ill fortune of this family. While I do love this lesson in Filipino, I can?t help but feel sadness, even bitter resentment, over how our fate has never really changed from that time. We Filipinos are still a broken family, especially this Christmas. Before I continue, let me first give a Merry Christmas greeting to every uncorrupted politician, tooth fairy, reindeer, principled Philippine president, and elf out there. As a teenager in her senior year in high school, I have definitely felt the Christmas spirit from such characters. As I was scanning the news with my dad the other day, I read about an ?uncorrupted politician? whose case was dismissed because he was not put on trial early enough. They used this fancy label for it too: ?clear transgression of the constitutional rights of the accused.? I was a little confused and asked my lawyer father to explain it to me. I had to digest his answer for a while and, being naà ¯ve, I had to ask for some clarification. ?So the court said that because the trial took too long to process, he can go free asked my father. ?Does that mean all the thousands of cases that have been sitting around with the Sandiganbayan for more than five years are being dismissed as well Apparently not. Just when I thought it was never too late for justice to be served (especially in the Philippines, where the justice system is always 10 years too late), connections once again overpowered justice. But the wrongly accused and impatient defendants have to be friends with the ombudsman first, I believe. So thanks to the uncorrupted politician, I have finally realized what  Christmas is all about. The tooth fairy has also decided to visit and spread the Christmas spirit in the form of plundered money. Hooray for those who put morality under their pillow! In recent weeks, another former top official decided that lying, stealing and making a run for it should merit him freedom and a gift. Perhaps he wants his teeth back? But teeth cannot be grown back once you?ve put them under your pillow, and toothless is the man whose honesty has been bought by hundreds of millions of pesos from the tooth fairy. I will definitely bear that in mind this season. Maybe the tooth fairy will come and leave me a few billion pesos in exchange for my honesty as well. Our painfully principled President has decided to steal Santa?s reindeer this year and ride him across the country. I believe his name is Cha-cha. Although she says that the reindeer is bringing Santa?s big bag of solutions to the country?s problems, I now have doubts that Cha-cha the reindeer ever belonged to Santa. After all, the song never mentions a reindeer named Cha-cha. Hmm ? that seems a little bit suspicious. I just hope she won?t be riding that reindeer in 2010. That would be a heavier weight on all of us (and not just on Cha-cha) come next Christmas. As for my own life, college is around the corner, and I?m waiting for Santa?s elf to come ask me what I want for Christmas. Other than a box of transparent candies to send to the government, I would like to get into the top two colleges to which I applied for admission. January 2009 is acceptance month and I am hoping at least that Christmas stays bearable ? maybe even enjoyable ? until the results of the exams come out. And when those results come out, I hope I won?t come down with a case of ?senioritis,? a sickness common to high school seniors after being accepted to a college. The symptoms include lazing around, slacking off, and developing grade apathy. That would not be a good thing, especially since our parents are Santas (shh, don?t tell them I know). As for all of you, be happy with the shallow merry-making for now, because we Filipinos are not going to find merriment in having Spanish priests running the country this Christmas. Maybe next year we won?t lose our voice amid the injustices, like Tata Selo in ?El Filibusterismo.? Like Juli and Tales, maybe next year we will be free from injustice and the craziness of our politics. Maybe next Christmas, the reindeer, the elf, and the tooth fairy will bring nationalism, honesty and justice back to our country. In the meantime, Merry Christmas!

History of Iron Smelting Technology in Sub-Saharan Africa

History of Iron Smelting Technology in Sub-Saharan Africa Introduction: The arrival of iron smelting technology in sub-Saharan Africa played a significant role in shaping the historical record of the area by bringing profound changes to the lives and societies of its inhabitants (Haaland Shinnie 7). In the parts of Africa south of the Sahara and south of the Ethiopian highlands, there has been no archaeological evidence supporting a Bronze Age (Van Der Merwe 463; Alpern ; Holl 6) and the evidence archaeologists do have point to iron being the first metal used to replace stone tools (Fagan 1). One area of intense debate regarding the African Iron Age is the process in which the technology of iron smelting arrived in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the past half-century, the interpretations and reconstructions of the origins of iron smelting in sub-Saharan Africa have changed considerably. The initial theory was based on an unquestioned belief of the superiority of Ancient Egypt over sub-Saharan Africa (Kense 12). Based on this framework, the site of Meroe was pr oposed by Arkell as an important link and the general belief was that the collapse of the Kingdom of Kush precipitated the spread of technology and Meroitic culture into the southwest (Kense 13). However excavations conducted in the 1960s determined that the iron smelting furnaces found at Meroe mostly dated to the first few centuries B.C.E (Shinnie 30) and its pivotal role in the spread of iron smelting technology was shown to be increasingly hard to defend (Kense 13). Three theories regarding the origins of iron smelting in sub-Saharan Africa have emerged and are currently disputed amongst scholars (Holl 7). Two of the theories are diffusionist meaning these theories claim the technology originated elsewhere and was transported into the region. These theories are based on the premise that iron smelting originated somewhere in Anatolia and from there the technology was adopted by other populations and spread throughout the Mediterranean and into Africa. The main diffusionist theory was first proposed by Raymond Muany in 1952. He argues that since the Phoenicians had iron by about 1100 B.C. and that they started colonizing Northern Africa at around the same time; it was possible that the knowledge of iron smelting was transmitted into sub-Saharan Africa with the Berber tribes living in the Saharan Desert as a medium (Alpern 46). The other diffusionist hypothesis arose as a counter to early iron smelting furnaces found west of Lake Victoria in Tanzania. This hypothesis proposes that the technology came from Arabia via the Horn of Africa (Alpern 80). The theory that has gained the most acceptance recently is the one arguing for the independent invention of iron smelting in sub-Saharan Africa (Alpern 41). A slew of archaeological discoveries in the past twenty years have strengthened the case for independent invention. Some people have even gone as far as arguing that, based on controversial discoveries made in 2008, inhabitants of sub-Saharan Africa were the first to smelt iron, preceding Anatolia by about 700 years (Pringle ). The strongest case against independent invention is the complexity of iron smelting. Iron requires specialized knowledge in order to transform iron ore into usable iron (Kense 19) and it has long been held that people without prior knowledge of smelting techniques would not be able to smelt iron successfully (Sassoon 5). Two areas of sub-Saharan Africa have emerged as candidates for areas where iron smelting could have developed, the Western Africa region around the Niger-Nigeria border or north-western Ta nzania. This essay will argue for the independent discovery of iron smelting technology in sub-Saharan Africa based on discoveries made in Western Africa. Background: To understand why there has been such a strong opposition to the idea of sub-Saharan Africa independently inventing iron smelting technology, it is necessary to consider the difficulty and skill required to smelt iron. It is hypothesized that iron was first used as a flux, a substance that is smelted together with the desired ore in order to make the slag, or waste rock, more liquid, in the smelting of copper (Wheeler Madden 114). The iron mixed with slag would have been spongy at the temperatures inside a copper smelting furnace. It could only then be shaped into something usable through repeated hammering and heating (Wheeler Madden 114). The difficulty in creating iron objects is testament in the value iron objects had during the early and mid Bronze Age. In Egypt, for example, Tutankhamen was wrapped in with a golden dagger and a matching iron dagger with a gold hilt (van der Merwe 466). So although ancient smiths, masters of smelting bronze and copper, knew about iron, the diffi culties in smelting the metal took a long time to overcome. The smelting of iron occurs when iron ore is heated together with a charcoal fuel. This causes the iron in the ore to fuse chemically with the carbon from the charcoal. The more carbon dissolved in the iron, the lower its melting point. The amount of ore to fuel, and the supply of combustion air determine whether cast iron, steel, wrought iron, or a useless lump of metal will form (Alpern 82). Copper on the other hand melts readily at 1084ÂÂ °, temperatures that can be reached in a charcoal fire or during ceramic firing (Holl 6). In sum, the reduction of iron ore requires much more sophisticated expertise than does the smelting of other metal ores. Without pre-existing furnace technology, the likelihood of stumbling upon the process required is slim (Sassoon 5). Due to these foundations and a lack of archaeological evidence supporting very early iron smelting in sub-Saharan Africa at the time, Mauny proposed the most plausible scenario for the diffusion of iron metallurgy (Alpern 45). He speculated that when the Phoenicians settled in North Africa, the Berbers living in the region, being from a nomadic warrior culture, would have been keen to acquire improved weapons made from iron metal. These Berbers living near the coast would then pass on this technology to their fellow Berbers living in the Sahara (Kense 24). He then suggested that the technology could have been taken south into the sub-Saharan savannah by fleeing slaves, or deliberately transmitted to the lands of black farmers where both iron ore and the wood to fuel smelting furnaces were relatively abundant. The farmers would in turn supply the Berbers with raw metal for ironworking in exchange (Alpern 46). Mauny offered some linguistic evidence for his model. Derivatives of the Phoenician word for iron, barzel, are found in Berber vocabularies throughout the Sahara and also in the Teda (Tubu) language of Tibesti and the Fezzan.20 Mauny also saw affiliations with the terms for iron among several savanna-dwelling black peoples, including the Bariba, Jukun, and Kanuri.21 He might have added that Carthaginian influence on the Berbers may be attested to this day by the Tifinagh alphabet of the Tuareg, which is thought by some scholars to derive ultimately from a Punic script. There is a strong case that Africa independently invented ceramics, however there does seem to be evidence for Berber transfer of metallurgy across the Sahara, but it comes not from Niger but from Mauritania in the far west. Ancient copper artifacts began to be noticed in that region in the early twentieth century. By 1951 enough had been found for Mauny to wonder, in print, whether Mauritania had experienced a Copper Age.70 An answer came in 1968, when French archeologist Nicole Lambert began excavating what was known as the Grotte aux Chauves-souris (Bat Cave) on a hill called the Guelb Moghrein near Akjoujt in western Mauritania. It was not a cave at all, but an ancient mining gallery dug by humans following a rich vein of malachite ore. The ore was not only extracted, but locally smelted, as furnace remains and slag attest. Four other ancient exploitation sites were found later on the Guelb Moghrein. Ra-diocarbon datings, eventually calibrated, are nearly all in the range 800 to 200 cal BCE. Subsequently at least three other metallurgical centers from the same period were discovered in the Akjoujt region. The number of ancient copper objects found in the western Sahara and attributed to the Akjoujt industry exceeded 160 at last count. The great majority are weapons: arrowheads, lance points, and daggers. Tools include hatchets, pins, awls, burins, and hooks. There are the inevitable personal ornaments-rings, earrings, pendants-and some ingots. All the items are very small and very light; when the number reached about 140, the total weight barely topped two kilograms. They were produced in a Neolithic context in which stone tools vastly outnumbered the metal ones, so one can hardly speak of a Copper Age on the basis of present evidence. How did copper mining and working get started at Akjoujt? It is possible the industry was indigenous, but no one yet seems to have made a real case for that. Lambert saw a resemblance between the Akjoujt products and those of the El Argar culture in southeastern Spain, where copper was being manufactured by at least 1700 BCE and bronze some 200 years later. She thought the few ancient brass and bronze artifacts also found in Mauritania might have been imported from the western Maghreb. She noted that chariot engravings had been found on rocks in three places near Akjoujt and thought they might be road signs indicating an early traffic between Morocco and Mauritania.71 Mauny discerned Phoenician or Carthaginian initiatives behind the Akjoujt industry, with Berbers actually importing the technology, but Lamberts idea of an Iberian connection might have some merit.72 In the late 1960s and early 1970s, British archeologist Colin Renfrew, in a sweeping challenge to the then-reigning diffusionist orthodoxy, suggested that copper metallurgy was independently invented on the Iberian Peninsula long before Phoenicians or Greeks reached the western Mediterranean. 73 Since then much evidence has accumulated that he was right, and that Iberian copper metallurgy dates back at least to 3000 BCE.74 It also seems that the technology crossed from Spain to Morocco before the Phoenicians set foot on the Moroccan coast. Until the mid-twentieth century, it was thought the western Maghreb had not experienced a Copper or Bronze Age. Finds of metal objects, ancient mines, and, especially, rock engravings have undercut that notion: copper in Morocco may date all the way back to the third millennium BCE, according to some leading researchers.75 Rock art in the High Atlas shows weapons typical of the El Argar culture, especially daggers, halberds, and axes.76 Conceivably, cuprous objects reached Morocco in exchange for two North African products, ivory and ostrich eggshells, that have been found in third- and second- millennium-BCE graves in southeast Spain.77 But no certain proof of early copper smelting has yet turned up in the Maghreb. Did the Akjoujt copper industry, whatever its origins, lead to an independent invention of iron metallurgy? The malachite of Bat Cave occurred in a matrix of hematite and magnetite that was discarded in the smelting process. There is no evidence that the coppersmiths ever produced iron, although the raw material was at hand. However, proof of ironworking from the same period has recently been found some 250 miles south of Akjoujt in the middle Senegal river valley. At a site called Walalde, iron artifacts dating to somewhere between 800 and 550 cal BCE have been found, and in a second phase of occupation, from ca. 550 to 200 cal BCE, clear evidence of iron smelting has been excavated. The latter phase also yielded three copper artifacts with a telltale chemical signature of the Akjoujt ores-more than 1% of arsenic and a smaller amount of nickel. Further excavation and study are required to evaluate the find, but it is clearly an important contribution to the history of metallurgy in sub-Saharan Africa.

Fanon and de Beauvoir: Opposing Discrimination Essay example -- Psycho

Fanon and de Beauvoir: Opposing Discrimination All modern (i.e. post-paleolithic) religions contain the "Gnostic trace" of distrust or even outright hostility to the body and the "created" world. Contemporary "primitive" tribes and even peasant-pagans have a concept of immortality and of going-outside-the-body (ec-stasy) without necessarily exhibiting any excessive body-hatred. The Gnostic Trace accumulates very gradually (like mercury poisoning) till eventually it turns pathological. Gnostic dualism exemplifies the extreme position of this disgust by shifting all value from body to "spirit". This idea characterizes what we call "civilization". -Hakim Bey, â€Å"Information War†, c-theory a022 Struggles against ‘injustice’ in the 20th century tend to take a drearily similar form. First the advocate recognizes that not all people are equal, next demands that some irrelevant differences are ignored, and finally tries to make all people people again. This method has become so popular it has been applied â€Å"all the way down† the ladder of inferiority, to declare politically-irrelevant unequal treatment on ‘every possible’ basis. The effort is, in a sense, a drive to move from the â€Å"created† world outside the ‘body’ to a cheery world of equality in the mind. This hostility to the body and exoneration of a universal subject, unfortunately, is also precisely the basic cause of the discrimination one must condemn in step one of struggles for equality. The subject is a problem for many reasons, but the explicit proclamation of the inferiority of some to others relies purely on an ability to say what a person is or sho uld be, and what not. If some are treated as less than human, it may well be because of the category of human itself.... ...attempt to initiate some oppressed groups into the class of oppressors. What may well be needed instead of trading places in the system of constructed identities centered around one ideal subject is a rethinking of the subject itself, a problematization of the role of self that Fanon and de Beauvoir are so anxious to expand just enough to allow in their chosen group. The analogy to Moses is apt, the Gnostic impulse here can be seen in both thinkers as they rescue their people from the servitude in one land, take them through a long initiation process to the promised land, which is disappointing, and then allow them free reign as stable subjects to wage war against their own enemies and dominate the Canaanites as they had been dominated. There is a perverse specter of the golden rule being obeyed: discriminate against others as you were once discriminated against.

Tiger Mom Essay

In reading â€Å"Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom† by Amy Chua, I was surprised how Chua shared in detail about her life journey as a parent and raising two children. This is a book about Amy Chua’s experiences in raising her two daughters, Sophia and Luisa (Lulu), in what she believes is the â€Å"Chinese mother† style of parenting. She is quick to point out in the first chapter, entitled â€Å"The Chinese Mother,† that she uses the term â€Å"loosely† as it would be ridiculous to try to assume that every mother from China is a like a tiger mom.Just as â€Å"Western parents† would not be an appropriate label to place on every parent from Western countries. In this same chapter she references a study where â€Å"50 Western American mothers and 48 Chinese immigrant mothers† were polled on the role of parents in children’s academic success; with â€Å"70% of Western mothers believed ‘stressing academic success is not good for t he children’ or ‘parents need to foster the idea that learning is fun’† versus nearly â€Å"0% of the Chinese mothers felt the same way.† Although she states there are several studies that support this theory, I would not put too much credence in this particular study since the pool is too small and there are a lot of â€Å"Western American mothers† with different style of parenting. A â€Å"Western American mother† can be from as far west as Hawaii or from as northeast as Maine; then there is everyone in between.She also gives us a list of what a Chinese mother’s belief system entails: â€Å"schoolwork always comes first; an A-minus is a bad grade; your children must be two years ahead of their classmates in math; you must never compliment your children in public; if your child ever disagrees with a teacher or coach, you must always take the side of the teacher or coach; (6) the only activities your children should be permitted to do are those in which they can eventually medal; and that medal must be gold. † This list seems a little extreme to me, but I guess it just depends on what you are brought up to believe is the norm.When you do not know anything different, this is normal, expected and accepted. As I began to read the book, I quickly realized Amy Chua is very pro â€Å"Chinese† parenting style. In chapter four, â€Å"The Chuas,† she described how her and her sisters were to speak only in Chinese in the home; â€Å"drilled math and piano everyday;† and they were not allowed to attend sleepovers at friends’ homes. Yet, she also tells of the time when she forged her father signature in order to apply to a school in the East Coast after her father had already said she was going to attend the University of California at Berkeley, where he was a professor.Here I saw a bit of a rebellion, which she will come to see later in the book with her daughter Lulu. Throughout the book, I saw many examples of how Chua compared â€Å"Chinese† parenting to â€Å"Western† parenting. This is especially true in chapter 10, â€Å"Teeth Marks and Bubbles. † She tells the story of how she had called her eldest daughter, Sophia, garbage for something Chua believed to be â€Å"extremely disrespectful†, although she never mentioned the offense. She says her father had called her the same thing when she was disrespectful to her mother. However, according to her, it did not damage her self-esteem.However, when she retold this story at friend’s dinner party, she was immediately looked upon with disdain and felt shunned by those around her. She goes on stating the three big differences between the mindsets of Chinese and Western parents. First, Western parents worry about a child’s self-esteem and are more concerned with the child’s psyche, whereas Chinese parents don’t. Chinese parents â€Å"assume strength, not fra gility, and as a result they behave very differently. † Second, Chinese parents feel their children should be indebted to them for the sacrifices the parents made on their children’s behalf.Therefore, they â€Å"must spend their lives repaying their parents by obeying them and making them proud. † Most Western parents do not feel the need to apply that same pressure on their children. Third, Chua claims Chinese parents believe they know what is best for their children and feel entitled to supersede all of their children’s choices and/or decisions. In this particular instance, I believe a most parents, not only Chinese parents, believe they know what is best for their children. Chinese parents take it a step further and do not allow choices for their children, whereas Western parents do allow their child to have choices.Although Chua argues in favor of the Chinese parenting style, she is merely stating the differences between the two approaches and the one she prefers. She lets us into her world and walks us through her trials and tribulations with the â€Å"Chinese mother† approach she elected to follow. Where this style of parenting had worked with her and her sisters and to some extent her eldest daughter, Sophia, however Lulu was not so accepting. Near the end of the book, specifically in Chapter 31 â€Å"Red Square,† everything comes to a boil as she has, yet, another fight with Lulu at the GUM cafe.After the fight, Chua runs away into the Red Square to be with her thoughts, then has an epiphany and realizes that Lulu was rebelling against her and her â€Å"Chinese mother† style of parenting. When she returns to the cafe, she informs Lulu that she had won and she would be allowed to make her own choices and quit the violin. Do I favor this type of parenting? The style of parenting Chua describes in her memoir is that of an authoritarian parenting style, which â€Å"emphasizes high standards and a tendency to control kids through shaming, the withdrawal of love, or punishments† (http://www.parentingscience. com/chinese-parenting. html).This style I do not agree with. In fact, according to Dr. Gwen Dewar, â€Å"authoritarian parenting is linked with lower levels of self-control, more emotional problems, and lower academic performance. † Dr. Dewar is more in favor of an authoritative parenting that involves the same emphasizes of high standards, but also involves â€Å"parental warmth and a commitment to reason with children† (http://www. parentingscience. com/chinese-parenting. html).There is nothing wrong with wanting the best for your children, wanting them to succeed and instilling a hard-work ethic and providing guidance, however it should not be at the expense of the child’s psychological well being. Even though it looks like Chua’s daughter, Sophia, had benefited from this style of parenting, they may just begin to realize they could have possibly achieved the same results without the extreme harassment. Only time will tell if Chua’s daughters will end up resenting her as her father ended up resenting and detaching himself from his family after disagreeing with his authoritarian mother.Especially Lulu, who was the most difficult one. As stated in the beginning, this is a book on how a â€Å"Chinese mother† style of parenting was used by Amy Chua and the results she had with this style. Although, I may not agree with all of the aspects of this style, it does have its pros; such as wanting your child to the best that they can be and its cons; such as the belittling of a child can never be good. This was never intended to be a â€Å"How to Guide† to parent your children, as Chua stated in an interview after the book was released (http://abcnews. go.com/US/tiger-mother-amy-chua-death-threats-parenting-essay/story? id=12628830).Chua has received a lot criticism from many people, but I agree with her, this is n ot a guide to parent a child. The reason being is that each child is unique in its own way. What may be a good approach for one, it not necessarily good for another. As she acknowledged in her book, â€Å"When Chinese parenting succeeds, there’s nothing like it. But it doesn’t always succeed. † However, at the end of the day you make the decision you feel is right for you and your family and adjust, as needed, as you go along.

Concept of Decision Support (DS)

Concept of Decision Support (DS) Decision Support (DS) is a term that is frequently applied in a number of contexts which are associated with decision making. For instance, it is usually mentioned in relation to Data Warehouses as well as On-Line Analytical Processing (Watson, 1998).Advertising We will write a custom coursework sample on Concept of Decision Support (DS) specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It has also been established that Data support is closely associated with Data Mining. Data mining entails analysis of data obtained from different perspectives then the same is summarized to obtain useful information which the businesses can use in cost cutting or increasing their revenue. Decision Support appears to be both simple and spontaneous in nature. In fact it is always loosely defined. It should be noted that to different people, the term implies to different things and also in diverse contexts. In the recent times, the term is mainly linked to Data Warehous es as well as On Line Analytical Processing. However, ten years ago, the term was linked to Decision Support Systems (DSS). Before then, it was closely connected to Decision Analysis (DA) as well as Operations Research (OR). This has brought about a lot of misunderstanding and confusion, thereby bringing about the need for clarification. Decision support system (DSS) may be defined as an information system which supports decision making within organizations and businesses. It should be noted that for a system to qualify to be called a Decision support system, it has to be computer based. This kind of system has been proved to be of great benefits to the various departments of organizations including the planning department as well as the operations departments since it helps in coming up with rapidly changing decisions (Eta, 2007). It should be noted that DS also incorporate knowledge based system. A Decision Support System which is properly designed will aid decision makers to gath er vital information from numerous documents, raw data, personal knowledge, as well as business models so as to not only identify but also to provide solution to problems and also to come up with decisions.Advertising Looking for coursework on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More A number of information may be gathered by decision support. These include records of information resources, relative sales information between two or more periods, as well as the anticipated revenue figures (Sprague and Watson, 1993). The term Knowledge worker is used to refer to the workers who are involved in decision making as well as analysis of information within the organization or business. In a number of instances, it is applied in the broader perspective of knowledge management (Yoram and Adi, 2005). Decision support system (DSS) supports decision making within organizations and businesses. Therefore, Decision Suppo rt System is of great use to the knowledge workers as it will help facilitate the decision making process. In addition, Decision support is also of great benefit to knowledge workers as it encourages the exploration as well as the discovery of new ideas. It also promotes learning as well as training; exposes new techniques of thinking about problems and also helps knowledge workers in generating evidence when supporting a given decision (Mallach, 1994). In sum, it makes work easier for knowledge Workers. To me, the most valuable information system tool that can be applied for decision support in my organization is the clinical support decision system (CSDS). Clinical decision support system (CDSS) is specifically designed to help physicians as well as other professional health workers who are charged with decision making roles like determining diagnosis of the data of the patients. CDSS link the observations made by the health workers with the exact health knowledge so as to influen ce the decisions made by the health workers for better health care (Silver, 1991). Information storage and data management in the clinical set up is very important in the management of any health facility. This is because it helps in tracking the trends of the epidemic and for planning purposes. This system if employed within the clinical systems, record keeping and tracking of trends can be made very easy, hence increasing the efficiency.Advertising We will write a custom coursework sample on Concept of Decision Support (DS) specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Clinical Decision Support System uses the patient data so as to come up with an advice that is case-specific. It should be noted that it majorly uses knowledge management so as to provide clinical advice based on the information provided by the patients. Clinicians use CDSS in analysis as well as diagnosis of the information provided by the patients. They help clinicians in decis ion making. Previously, the clinician would just input the information provided by the patient and just rely on the output provided by the CDSS. The clinician would just use the output in decision making. However, clinicians now have to use the output of CDSS together with their knowledge so as to come up with improved analysis as well as conclusion (Sauter, 1997). When applied in a health facility, CDSS will be of great benefit to the facility as it will result into improvements. Indeed it is beneficial as it also provide recommendations rather than just assessment. It also eliminates much paper work. I strongly feel that it is the most relevant for my organization. With the reduced paper work, it implies that more patients will be treated within the shortage time possible. References Eta, S.B. (2007). Clinical Decision Support Systems. New York, NY: Springer. Mallach, E.G. (1994). Understanding Decision Support and Expert Systems. Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin. Sauter, V. L. (1997). Decis ion support systems: an applied managerial approach. New York, John Wiley.Advertising Looking for coursework on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Silver, M. (1991). Systems that support decision makers: description and analysis.  Chichester ; New York, Wiley. Sprague, R. H. and H. J. Watson (1993). Decision support systems: putting theory into  Practice. Englewood Clifts, N.J.: Prentice Hall. Watson, H.J. (1998). Decision Support in the Data Warehouse. N.J.: Prentice- Hall. Yoram, R and Adi, K. (2005). Decision Support Systems. Vol. 41 Issue 1, p1-19, 19p.